So I finally finished The Crying of Lot 49, and while I’d like to say the ending defied my expectations, it didn’t. My Goodreads review is as follows: ** spoiler alert ** A series of non-statements and mild suggestions and endless asides which we are supposed to forgive the author because he assigns his characters ridiculous… Read More I Dislike Pynchon So I’m Reading More Pynchon
A recent viewing of the film Inherent Vice led me to try to finish The Crying of Lot 49, which I abandoned out of frustration some time ago. I’ve made a small amount of headway, but am bored again. Action is not being built. The plot is not going anywhere. The woman with the ridiculous… Read More My Pynchon Problem
Robert E. Howard was, I am coming to understand, a master of his craft. What is the difference between a real savage and a noble savage? Let us look into the iron shadows of the moonlight for an answer. This story is well suited to the question, for it just so happens to have a… Read More John C. Wright Brings Rousseau and Virgil into Conan
People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing that they like. A Man With No Business, Killing Time When my car is in the shop They tell me “an hour and A half.” So I have fish tacos and Salad and a pint that Lingers around the temples Tightening… Read More Sample From “The Short Cool Summer”
Over the course of that rainy muddy monsoon that was the summer of 2018, I wrote some poems, cheap, messy, quick, and therefore true. I consider it an expression of this idea I call Suburban Zen, which I have not fully defined. It’s closer to Zen that way. It’s a Kindle-exclusive, and it’s 99 cents. You… Read More New Summer Poetry
A good discussion of the most modern of complaints: the University-as-therapy and the concomitant eradication of Free Speech. Apart from its intellectual content and institutional structure descriptions, The Coddling of the American Mind makes being a contemporary college student in some schools sound like a terrible experience: Life in a call-out culture requires constant vigilance,… Read More The Coddling of the American Mind — Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff — The Story’s Story
Pursuant to Yesterday’s post, here’s new covers for old works. One is a glorified essay, the other a “Long Short Story” (Novellette?). They’ve been published a while, but I’ve never liked their cover art. These are better: I do the philosophical justifications of Rebellion, as understood by The Bible, by Jefferson, by Marx. It’s a… Read More New Cover Art, Right of Revolution and Little Guerrilla Platoons
I’m definitely an agnostic on National Novel-Writing Month. I’m not down on it, and if someone wants to take the moment as a inspiration to create, I’m the last guy to wrinkle my nose at such. Write, you guys. Write like the wind. But I also don’t participate. I’ve got a few reasons for this:… Read More I Don’t NaNoWriMo, But I Do Self-Publish
Prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Saddam Hussein had been ruling that country with an iron fist for over three decades. He had prepared the way for a dynasty: his second son Qusay was his intended successor, and by all reports, Qusay was a chip off the old man’s block. Had things proceeded according… Read More Caligulia, Dictatorship, and Monarchy
Cue all the “At least this series is finished” snark. Set in an epic world where magic exists but only women can use it, “The Wheel of Time” follows Moiraine, a member of the shadowy and influential all-female organization called the “Aes Sedai,” as she embarks on a dangerous journey with five young men and… Read More The Wheel of Time comes to Amazon
Content Blues 