In the nondescript lower reaches of Northern Paris, not quite up the hill to Montmartre, is a scuzzy little bar called Chat Noir (en anglais: Black Cat). It doesn’t serve food though you can bring it in and eat sitting at the long ground-floor bar or one of the few tables there. For a Parisian…
All posts in Prose
Odysseus in Print and on Screen
Last summer in Provincetown I read Homer’s Odyssey. At Columbia 67 years ago, as a freshman, I was exposed by force of the mandatory two year Contemporary Civilizations Curriculum to engage the classics; public high school in Brooklyn was light on Greek literature, to put it mildly. I recall being painfully exposed to the Iliad…
Global Update/Where Have I Been?
Good question as I have not posted since last summer’s end. It has been a busy time although you did not know it–until now. Prose: Amazon and B&N carry my seven published books of which two are prose: Noir Ain’t the Half of It is a collection of short stories with foci on, well, noir–but…
Chatbox and Skynet
This is a post about writing; this site is about writing. Chatbox has been in the news as an electronic app that can write with some intelligence on any subject. Skynet is a fictional electronic system that attempts to destroy the world. What the hell am I talking about? We start with Terminator I, the…
New Story Posted Here: Parallel Universes
A few days ago I promised a story about parallel universes (see immediately prior post), with a speculation on the moral and eschatological implications. Here it is; the thing about parallel universes is that they are identical until they are not– the word of the day seems to be that they “fork” in time. Here…
Refrigerator Magnet Suggestions
A Quantative and Qualitative Analysis of Certain Refrigerator Magnets “Life sucks and then you die” “Suck” is factually relative as to both its nature and quantity. What is the base-line against which to measure the life in question? For example, are we lining up that life against Nat Turner, Marilyn Monroe or Mick Jagger?…
A Pre-Taste of Upcoming Novel
This is a shameless teaser. After the first of the year, you will receive notice of publication of my spy novel. You will no doubt rush to Amazon and order several copies, one for yourself and one for every friend who is still talking to you. Recalling that the theme is a poison agent dropped…
Shelf Life
People—that includes you and me—are just like a can of cling peaches or a box of Wheaties sitting on the shelf at the supermarket. Each of these items has a “best used by” date and each has a pull date. So do people. Of course the peach slices, the cereal flakes and the people…
One Solution to the Problem of “The Lost Hour”
In mid-March, I challenged all of you to suggest a conclusion to a short story, the plot line of which was posted: see “Help Wanted–Short Story Department” from March 14. BELOW is the full story as I have completed it. After the stabbing, the time warp occurs. Read carefully onward from there–does the ending work? …