Category Archives: Brain-Pan Drippings…

Like the fragrant, simmering drippings from a pan of roasting fowl, such is the moist and succulent output of my mind. And such are The Days of Our Lives. In other words, my blog.

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Websites are forever…

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So has anyone else ever let a website flounder for five years?

Amazing how much can change in that time. As anyone with the patience to keep up with my “career” knows, I’ve not been writing much lately. A few short stories here and there, and the two novels that I co-wrote with my wife Laurie, which haven’t even been added here.

For the most part, I’ve been narrating audiobooks, something I can do out of my home. I enjoy it, and it’s profitable, and I should probably start creating posts for the audio work I do, just in case anyone stumbles across this website.

Therefore, a resolution: I shall update this bloody website, beginning with this skeletal post. I shall do a post a day, until…

Well, until I don’t.chetskeleton

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HAP AND LEONARD: BLOOD AND LEMONADE by Joe Lansdale

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If you know me, you know that I love pretty much anything Joe Lansdale writes, and I’ve been reading him since he started. He’s truly got a unique voice, tells a helluva story, and is one of the finest exponents of what I consider moral fiction. That’s not to say you won’t find nasty words and especially nasty deeds in Joe’s books, or that he’s beating the Bible or the Talmud or the Koran, or proselytizing in any way for organized religion. On the contrary, he has no time and no sympathies for that kind of thing. But there’s always a code of morality and a sense of honor working overtime in his stories, and particularly in these Hap and Leonard tales. Continue reading HAP AND LEONARD: BLOOD AND LEMONADE by Joe Lansdale →

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My Favorite Films of 2015…

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No Top Ten list here, just a dozen films that I really liked, in no particular order:

AMYAmy_Movie Poster

I like Amy Winehouse’s music, but this relentless documentary made me see her in a new light. A brilliant portrait of a talented yet self-destructive artist. Yes, it’s like watching a train wreck, but the glories and deep soul of  her music comfort us on the march toward her inevitable end.

Continue reading My Favorite Films of 2015… →

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An analysis of David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World”

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I learned of the death of David Bowie today, and thought I’d post this piece I wrote back in 2007, my reflections about one of his greatest songs…

 

manwhosoldOh No, Not Me”

David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World”

I’d never paid much attention to David Bowie. When he was becoming famous in the early 70’s, I had lost interest in rock and was delving into classical music, still playing my Doors and Janis and Beatles and Stones LPs, but ignoring the new crop. Thus, I missed Bowie’s classic albums, and by the time I started paying attention to rock again, we (and Bowie) had entered the era of disco, a sub-genre that I found both forgettable and regrettable.

Just recently, however, I started listening to Bowie, thanks to the recommendation of a friend, and in short order got the albums, The Man Who Sold the World, Aladdin Sane, and a two-disc Singles 1969-93 collection (Hunky Dory is on my must-buy list). On the first album mentioned, I came across the song that made me realize that for a third of a century I’d been missing the work of a musical genius.

Continue reading An analysis of David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World” →

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Weird Tales & One Degree of H. P. Lovecraft

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Last August I was invited to be the Guest of Honor at PulpFest, an annual pulpfestgathering of collectors and readers of the old pulp fiction magazines. Since the theme of the convention was Weird Tales magazine and the 125th birthday of H. P. Lovecraft, I was asked to talk about how Lovecraft and Weird Tales influenced my life and work. This is the result, along with a few weird tales of my own about collecting pulps and meeting the people who helped to create them…

My and my pal Cthulhu
My and my pal Cthulhu

When you’re asked to talk about H. P. Lovecraft, you wonder what can be said that hasn’t already been talked about a thousand times. Continue reading Weird Tales & One Degree of H. P. Lovecraft →

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Can’t Wait for Psycho Sanitarium? Here’s Sock Puppet Psycho!

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My novel, Psycho Sanitarium won’t be out until next April. What to do until then? Well, you could watch the actual live performance of “Sock Puppet Psycho,” a half-hour parody of Hitchcock’s film version of Robert Bloch’s Psycho performed by sock puppets (and for which I wrote the script). It’s now available for your viewing pleasure here at Vimeo!

And if you want to watch the trailer first to get in the mood, it’s right here.

marion

This is a video by Jeff Lynch of the 6:00 performance, the second of the three performances presented by Creative Works of Lancaster, a non-profit, at the Lancaster Dispensing Company (Dipco) in Lancaster PA on Halloween Day, 2010. I play Alfred Stitchsock, the Sheriff, Arbogast, and the psychiatrist, and the other voices were performed by Lydia Brubaker (Lila & Marion), Joanna Underhill (Mother), Joel Lesher (Sam), and Erich Goldstein (Cop & Norman).

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A Bill Ryan interview…smart, funny, likes my work…

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One of my favorite Facebook “friends” (as in I’ve never met him face to face) is Bill Ryan, whose threads make me laugh out loud (though never ROTFLMAO — I simply don’t do that). He has a terrific film blog, The Kind of Face You Hate, and has just done an interview with the website, The Grim Reader, in which he mentions yours truly as one of the writers he likes. Give it a read, and then check out his blog. Ladies and gentlemen and children of all deformities, please put your sweaty hands together and make squeaky noises with them for…Bill Ryan!