Morro Fort was begun in 1539. It’s actually the second fort the Spanish built in Puerto Rico. It has lots of staircases and corridors and tiny entryways for soldiers to quickly get to their killing posts. Pictures: One of four…
The interesting part of my trip to Puerto Rico started at our layover in Florida with a space shuttle launch that we could see out of the plane window, and continued from there. It was a clear day and I…
1. I have sequestered myself in my office, hiding from this ridiculous heatwave. It seems to be fading back to normal spring now, and nature is doing things outside. For example, new birds have taken up residence in this nest…
I have another book review up at Popmatters. This time it is on The Mayor’s Tongue, a first novel by Nathaniel Rich. Excerpt: This April is the one-year anniversary of debut novel The Mayor’s Tongue, which would make its author,…
I have an article in The Writer about book trailers. Publishers are starting to make advertisements for books very much like movie trailers. I explored this phenomenon in the current issue of the magazine–check it out on newsstands if you…
My book review on A Reliable Wife, a first novel by Robert Goolrick, is up on PopMatters. A sample: A Reliable Wife is the first novel by Robert Goolrick, whose previous memoir The End of the World as We Know…
I watched the Twilight movie out of curiosity. At first I thought it was boring, and then I realized it was hilarious. I was laughing my head off throughout the entire thing. After all, it is little more than an…
“Of course any novelist has difficulties. I don’t have ‘blocks,’ I mean I don’t get into a state where absolutely nothing can be done for weeks; I can always do something, though the something that I do may have to…
I have a couple of articles in this issue of the Pacific Sun. One is about Davidson Seamount, a giant underwater volcano that they are just now starting to explore. They have found amazing sea creatures down there. Excerpt: In…
I consider this a public service. For year, I have wanted to find “Solomon” by Cole Porter somewhere on the Internet. I had this song on a much-loved Cole Porter album when I was a kid and I remembered “Solomon”…