At the moment, I'm watching many people younger than I oversimplifying the life of Muhammad Ali. TV is often awash in glaring generalities. I'm also having a devil of a time with this blog. Lately I'm stuck in a blogging rut. I use blogs as warm-ups for more challenging activities, oh, like, maybe the conclusion …
Tag: Monte Dutton
She Said, ‘Mama, Got a Note Here from the Harper Valley PTA’
Tuesday was another walking contradiction, particularly since I didn't do much walking. I'd been paying attention to really important matters on Monday -- a rained-out stock car race about which the Bleacher Report pays me to write, college baseball regionals, general early-week angst -- and the grass needed cutting, and I'd spent Tuesday morning writing about …
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The Pain of It Will Ease a Bit When You Find a Book with True Grit
I'm writing a western. I thought it might be useful to read one. My choice was darn near perfect. In 2010, when the Coen Brothers released a remake of True Grit, they insisted it wasn’t one. It was made independently from the original novel by Charles Portis. I found this odd when I watched the …
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News-Free Love
I haven't written enough short stories recently. This one could wind up as the beginning of a novel. Fortunately, by nature, Jordie Smithson was annoyingly early. He always allowed for disaster. A traffic jam on the way to the airport, for instance. On this Monday, the traffic jam was on the way to the office. …
Nice Timing for The Year of Trump
Allen Kent, in The Wager, has fashioned a yarn based on a bet gone awry. Two giants of the mass media bet they are powerful enough to get a man of their choice elected president. Predictably, one is a liberal, the other conservative. The clash of egos lurks in the background as events unfold. A …
Such an Unlikely Venue for a Descent into Hell
Woe be unto those unfortunate souls who live on Honeysuckle Lane. It appears to be like any other middle-class neighborhood, this one located outside Dublin. The people there have secrets, most of which are just those that might appear familiar to you and me. A man is hiding a gambling addiction. A woman is bored with …
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Questions, Anyone?
A while back, I asked for questions from readers. It took quite some time, but I finally assembled enough of them to compile this blog. Question: Is Forgive Us Our Trespasses based on something in your life? Answer: Of my four novels to date, this is probably the least based on my own experience, though that's a …
Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf, or, for that Matter, Virginia Woolf?
The Behrg. He's too dark for me. I admire him, though. He is what I'm not, but I revel in his skill. It's a pen name. A nom de plume. He writes horror. I'm not fond of horror, but I'm fond of The Behrg's style, not to mention his literary honesty and his dedication to …
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No One Escapes Undamaged
I'm a fan of Joseph Souza. I enjoyed Unpaved Surfaces, a very different novel from his latest, Need to Find You. The former is a mystery. This one is crime. Is it ever. Undoubtedly, my enjoyment of Need to Find You is enhanced by my latest effort, Forgive Us Our Trespasses. My crime novel is …
The Unbearable Lightness of Royalties
In lieu of some burning issue that eludes me now, here are some random statements, opinions, wishes, wants, needs, etc., that, as this blog runs its course, will emerge into something coherent, or that's the plan. Forgive Us Our Trespasses is my fourth novel. Early sales have been encouraging. For more than a week, it …
Nightrider's Lament 