"Why do they [write] for their money? Why do they [work] for short pay? They ain't getting nowhere and they're losing their share. They must have gone crazy back there." — Michael Burton (paraphrased)
Why should you read my novel, Crazy of Natural Causes? Maybe you follow me. Maybe you’ve read one or both of my other novels, The Audacity of Dope (2011) and The Intangibles (2013). Maybe you’ve read my non-fiction books. Maybe you’ve read my newspaper columns, blogs and stories over the past 35 years. Maybe you …
Continue reading At Least See if It’s too Hot for You to Handle
The day before yesterday, I drove over to Presbyterian College and shot some video footage of high school kids going through football drills. Why? Well, I do like watching football practice from a distance of, oh, forty years when I was out there sweating in the sun. I went to a football camp before my …
I’m about to be busy with the editing of my new novel, Crazy of Natural Causes. At the moment, I’m obsessing over making the cover better. It’ll work out. It needs to grab the attention of potential readers. Once they buy it, most of them are going to like it. Maybe putting all that work …
Ah. Inhale. Exhale. Relax. Sigh. Control enthusiasm. Remain calm. All is well. Publication of my third novel, Crazy of Natural Causes, beckons. As part of a process that began with the nominations of “viewers like you,” (thanks, PBS) it will be published electronically through the KindleScout program of Amazon. I’m about to have my first …
Here's the full short story previously posted in four segments. I hope you enjoy it. 1.THE FEELING BOTTOMS OUT The first observation of Clyde Barns on his birthday was that his Facebook timeline was crammed. Some just cut and pasted “Happy birthday,” some took the time to add his name, some attached cartoons with rabbits …
Between episodes of an irreverent short story, I’ve decided today to write about sports in this space, rationalizing it on the basis that what will be written forthwith is fictitious and exaggerated. ORCHESTRAL INTRO “Live from Grand Canyon Arena in Teaneck, New Jersey, it’s the finals of the Rust Belt Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament, matching …
Continue reading Various Absurdities of the Televised Sporting Life
His teammates were battling for their lives, and their school, and underdogs everywhere, and Joel Hartzinger was sitting on the bench, doing math. They got seven thousand students. We got just over a thousand if you count the grad school. Twenty five percent of ours play a sport. Most of them don’t win much. …
I grew up with Granddaddy Dutton and Papa Davis, and Granny Dutton and Mama Davis. It was always Daddy, never Dad. Mommy was replaced by Mom at puberty. Succeeding generations have added such innovations as Pawpaw, Meemaw, and Mawmaw. I’m sure they existed somewhere, but not around here. Meemaw. It’s a modern term, at least …
Until I did it occasionally a year ago and regularly this year, I hadn’t written about a high school football game in more than fifteen years. Back then, I thought myself quite the whiz kid. I could keep running accounts of the game and cumulative totals at the same time. Then I could talk to …
As you may know, I blog regularly at montedutton.com as well as here. For twenty years, I wrote about automobile racing for a living. The other blog is often devoted to NASCAR, as well as other sports and aspects of life I experience. I began this blog as a site for my literary endeavors: the …
Nightrider's Lament 