Happy Halloween, two-thousand-thirteen! This is Gideon’s second Halloween. He’s going as a pirate. We’re going to listen to the 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast tonight, which should be spooky-but-baby-friendly celebration. I never understood why people thought Orson Welles’s hoax…
I have a new article in Mental Floss: 10 Fascinating Facts About Ravens. The raven is an amazing bird. It’s incredibly smart, it plays with other animals, and it can talk. I was so impressed while researching this article, I…
I have a new article up on Mental Floss called 11 Nintendo Games Based on Classic Works of Literature. Turns out there were Nintendo games based on all kinds of books, from Tom Sawyer to Frankenstein to Peter Pan. And…
I have a new article up in Mental Floss: 10 Strange Facts About Hot Air Balloons. Did you know that Abraham Lincoln formed a Balloon Corps during the Civil War? And that the first passengers in a hot air balloon…
I have a short story up on Monkeybicycle called “Undertaker.” It’s about a girl, a ghost, and a sinister prairie dog. That’s right. Sinister prairie dog. How can you resist? Click here to read Undertaker.
Last week I went to Michigan for work. We left the day after Gideon’s first birthday. The day before his birthday, he took his first step. The day after, he went in an airplane for the first time. Go-getter! Gideon…
But sooner or later he’ll want to put up a porch swing and play banjo on it.
Hurrah! I have a second article up in Mental Floss. This one is about forensic facial reconstruction, when they scan the skeletal remains of a famous historical person and make a 3D model of his or her face. For example,…
I am a fan of Mental Floss, so I’m thrilled that they are running an article I wrote … about stilts! In France in the 19th century, an entire town lived on stilts. Stilt jousting is a real thing—an entire…
One often hears of writers that rise and swell with their subject, though it may seem but an ordinary one. How, then, with me, writing of this Leviathan? Unconsciously my chirography expands into placard capitals. Give me a condor’s quill!…