My work-in-progress Fake — a rewrite of a 2009 attempt at an art-crime mystery — now has a beginning, middle and end all in the same file. I hesitate to call it “finished,” because it’s a long way from that, but I now have a completed draft. It’s way overweight at…
Blog
Out of the Burrow: Appearing in LIT UP! Orange County
I’ll be one of two authors featured in the special first-anniversary edition of LIT UP! Orange County 7-9 p.m. on 19 May at Kean Coffee, 13681 Newport Ave #14, Tustin. LIT UP! is a monthly literary salon sponsored by Pure Fiction League, the critique group I’ve belonged to since the…
I’m Going to the Library
Sometimes I leave the house. In this case, I’ll be one of five authors featured in Fullerton Public Library’s Local Author Day, 1-5 p.m. on Saturday, 18 April. There will be a panel discussion, followed by face time with the authors. The main library is located at 353 W. Commonwealth…
Don’t Make Her Mad, Middle East Edition
We’re used to seeing the Islamic world’s women as victims. From old-fashioned discrimination to rape, torture, mutilation and murder, it’s tough having two X chromosomes in some of the more regressive Moslem states, especially in the Middle East. But in the developing long war against the Daesh (or ISIS or…
Building 30th Street Station
NOTE: This post originally appeared on Novel Travelist on 26 Oct 2013. Sadly, Novel Travelist is going away. I’m reposting here so the information will live on after that site disappears. In my international thriller Doha 12, assassins follow Our Heroes Jake Eldar and Miriam Schaffer to Philadelphia’s 30th Street…
Building the Future
NOTE: This post originally appeared on Novel Travelist on 27 Jan 2014. Sadly, Novel Travelist is going away. I’m reposting here so the information will live on after that site disappears. With Google, Flickr, YouTube and all the rest, you can get a pretty good idea of what other places…
Movie Minute – Force Majeure
Pour one picture-perfect, upscale Swedish family into a luxe ski resort in the French Alps. Mix in a controlled avalanche that goes out of control, during which Tomas (Johannes Kuhnke), the man of the household, acts in a less-than-heroic manner. Stir vigorously and watch the nuclear family implode. That’s the…
Movie Minute – Interstellar
Ever find yourself wishing we had more films about relativity and quantum mechanics? If so, Christopher Nolan’s epic Interstellar is for you. It’s a little bit Inception, a pinch of 2001, and a few echoes of The Right Stuff. Matthew McConaughey plays the Sam Shepard/Chuck Yeager role as a former…
Movie Minute – Birdman
It’s pretty clear the end of the year is coming fast; studios are releasing all their Oscar bait. Add to the list Alejandro Iñárritu’s (Amores Perros; 21 Grams) Birdman. It features some powerhouse acting in the service of a lot of actorly navel-gazing. Michael Keaton plays Riggan, a version of…
Movie Minute – John Wick
Did you ever find yourself, while watching The Matrix, wishing it had less plot and more violence? If so, John Wick is your film. Keanu Reeves stars in what’s essentially a superhero flick with the hero wearing suits rather than Spandex, taking absurd amounts of punishment yet still dispatching baddies…