Category Archives: Nonfiction

January 12, 2024 · 3:54 pm

A whole lot of journalism in my work week

Slightly more than planned, in fact.

The Local Reporter covers the neighboring towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro. My editor asked me last month if I’d be willing to cover Carrboro town meetings. I don’t have to go physically — they’re streaming, of course — but watching a three-hour meeting takes up about three hours. Plus reviewing the agenda and writing the story. It’s a good thing to do — someone should be watching local government meetings — but it’s a bigger demand on my time than I’d planned for. I’ll have to see if I can make it more efficient somehow, like cooking or cleaning while watching. Though there’s only so much I can do if I’m to follow what’s going on.(No, we’re not this cutthroat at The Local Reporter)

I also wrote a business story about the local coffee shop Open Eye. Plus work on future stories. With the three day holiday I’m not sure which, if any, will be available for next week, which is frustrating; the one I did think would work is more complicated than I anticipated.

Turning to fiction, I completed my next-to-last rewrite of Southern Discomfort this week. I also read a section to the writing group and got enthusiastic responses. After a brief break I’ll print it out and read it through, aloud, one final time, making final corrections or changes (or deciding whether to stick with the changes I’ve made this go-round). Then it’ll be ready to rock.I’ve also began thinking about cover design and the design for my Behold the Book logo. My logo designer, Samantha Collins, who designed the Questionable Minds cover, sent over some initial sketches. I’m thinking them over thoroughly before I respond next week. And trying not to freak out — I have to pick a good design, not the absolute perfect one. I’ll post about cover and logo thoughts soon.

I did a little work on some short stories too but got distracted with some research. Plus the housecleaners. And having our HVAC replaced Wednesday (it was time, believe me). Still, I didn’t lose focus by Friday as I kept doing last year.

And now I’m done! Have a great weekend everyone.

#SFWApro. All rights to images remain with current holders.

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January 5, 2024 · 4:33 pm

Now here’s a surprise development I like!

This week, I finished the first draft of Let No Man Put Asunder.

Like so many things in the writing life it wasn’t a sudden burst of inspiration or anything like that. When I sat down at my laptop Wednesday it struck me that even though Paul and Mandy are in the “fight back” phase of their battle with the Community of All, I was still just dropping them into peril after peril with no narrative spine. Not quite this messy—

— but pretty close.

I realized that at 75,000 words I was novel length, and that it had reached the point in the story where I could plausibly move to the final showdown. I’ve done this with a number of short stories; writing even a bad finish frees me up to start on the second draft. While this is pretty much the ending of the original novel (this was my second book; an earlier rewrite was my fourth or fifth) it’s also different in key ways. Now that I have it down, albeit very rough, I can replot. I’ll be discussing more about the book next week. Wrapping the draft up took about two days this week.

What else got done? I spent Tuesday working on stuff for The Local Reporter. Unfortunately none of it got far enough along for a story as everyone was getting up to steam after the holidays. It will pay off down the road, though.

I donated blood today. Always a good thing to do. I managed to get all my exercising done. And I ran a bunch of Saturday errands yesterday because we have a winter storm on the way and I don’t fancy driving in sleet.

Oh, I submitted the only two short stories I don’t have out — Obolos and Bleeding Blue — to new markets. I think they’re both long shots but I decided not to “self reject.” And over at Atomic Junk Shop I have a post up about changes at DC Comics in late 1967 and some questions about Christmas movies and time travel. Below, Carmine Infantino’s cover for one of those changes, Catwoman’s return to the Bat-books after more than a decade.In short, nothing terribly spectacular, but wrapping up Asunder after a couple of months when the work was just crawling feels very good. To end the post, here’s Wisp, somewhat more of a climber since we moved her indoors.#SFWApro. Cover by Jack Kirby, all rights remain with current holder.

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December 31, 2023 · 5:10 am

2023 had some plot twists I didn’t see coming

As usual, I’m devoting the last day of the year to a review of my year’s performance. As I wrote at the start of 2023, I didn’t set as many goals for the year as usual and some of the goals were vaguer than best practices recommend, such as “promote my writing” and “cook challenging things.” Then I let myself set specifics for each month. I think it worked fairly well but I didn’t get specific enough in some of my monthly goals. I shall do better this year.

Happily I met most of my goals. I wrote more than 240,000 words of fiction; finished six short stories; submitted well over the 24 stories I’d set as my goal; published 19-Infinity (which was going to be Magic in History a year ago); and signed up for Medicare. I’ve been on regular dates with TYG and I’m enjoying our marriage even more. I signed up for Medicare and improved mys social life — regular visits to a local tea-and-coffee place with friends, visits home, visits to Mensa events (and this one too!)

The first half of the year, it looked like I was really going to surge past most of my goals. Then Wisp injured her leg.

Her disgruntlement at being in a cast meant I got next to no sleep in July (she kept beating it on the bed to see if it would come off) and even after the vet removed the cast, adjusting to her as an inside cat was a lot of work. My productivity never quite recovered. It was hard exercising because she’d come and investigate what I was doing(she seems to have gotten over that) and lack of exercise affected my health and my weight (nothing I can’t recover from). Just having her an inside cat (which is better for her, better for local birds and wildlife) means another distraction on top of Plushie and Trixie.Plus while I really enjoy being back in journalism, writing articles for The Local Reporter often took more time than planned. I’m a lot more efficient than when I freelanced for the Raleigh Public Record a decade ago but not efficient enough. This year, I have to do better.

There were several goals I didn’t come close to making. I’d planned to make at least one in-person writing group meeting a month; even before the Wisp Cast I’d blown that one. I enjoy meeting in the flesh but having the zoom meetings scratches a lot of my itch to hang out with my writing friends. Plus with the added demands of pet care (as they grow older the dogs need a lot more treatment, for instance) I don’t have the flex time in my schedule — if I get up two hours late, I’m not going to get those two hours back. If I go out after the group I’m going to end up getting home so late that I’ll be useless the next day. Next year I’m going to shoot for six meetings. We’ll see if I make it.

Also, I didn’t finish The Impossible Takes a Little Longer, which I’d planned on. The group’s reaction to Let No Man Put Asunder was favorable enough I prioritized that one. Which is cool — goals aren’t a straitjacket if something better comes along — but post-Wisp’s cast, that one suffered too and my progress bogged down. Next year I’m going to finish the Asunder draft and write a second one. At least that’s the plan.

Still, overall it was a good year. The dating thing has been very good for our marriage; while I have a couple of health problems that I need to work on several others have disappeared over time so I must be doing something right. Plushie’s current health regimen means he’s livelier than he’s been in a long time. I ended the year with more money than when I started — not a lot more, but “a lot” wasn’t the goal (I know better).

Onward into 2024, which will be the topic of tomorrow’s post.

#SFWApro. Top cover by Gil Kane, 19-Infinity cover by Kemp Ward. All rights to images remain with current holders.

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December 29, 2023 · 2:56 pm

The year ends, not with a bang, but not really a whimper

Just kind of quiet. And a little unsatisfactory: I’d planned on a full four days of work but I think I blew about half of them. Come 2024 I need to stop falling short.

I did more work on Savage Adventures, a little bit of work for The Local Reporter (mostly laying groundwork for stuff to do in January) and met with my editor and some of the other reporters for coffee (well, tea in my case) earlier today. Did a lot of extra dog care as TYG had a lot of year-end work stuff to do.

And then there was Christmas. Last weekend was a little odd because, being a three-day Christmas weekend, I felt like not doing much. And it’s very rare for me to just lie around on the weekend. Like so many other people, serious leisure takes a conscious effort to completely chill, but I managed it.The day itself was lovely. My presents skewed unusually practical: a new enameled cast-iron pot (the one I’ve used for four decades no longer has a handle on the lid), socks, trousers, shorts. Plus food. I did get the third Epic collection of Dr. Strange from my brother and I used some of my gift money to get the second, which is out next month. As we’re closing out the year, why don’t I talk about my 2023 blogging stats (everyone else does). Just like a year ago, my Hellboy Chronology is still the top draw. It’s nice to know it’s appreciated.  My Sherlock Holmes post discussing the quote “There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact” came in second, with two more Holmes-quote posts in the top ten. The Shirley Exception post came in at number three, down from two last year. Matt Walsh advocating for compulsory marriage and no divorce was fourth. Also in the top ten, a post about John Carter rights and one about my issues with League of Extraordinary Gentleman. A related post, about Moore’s use of the Golliwog, made #11. Most of that is close to last year’s patterns; the Matt Walsh post came in late December, too late to get on the list for 2022, but a 2021 Matt Walsh post made the cut.

The real surprise is my #9 post on the “Taylor Swift is George Soros’ puppet” bullcrap the right wing’s beens pouting. As it came out Dec. 14, I’d have expected any impact to be on next year’s list but nope. Apparently Swift’s name carries a lot of weight. Don’t worry, I’m not going to start inserting it into title gratuitously.Over at Atomic Junk Shop I reposted a blog I did some years about Christmas Carol adaptations, plus one about the badly written conspiracies in Kingsman and Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty.

At The Local Reporter, I have an article about Chapel Hill-based GoFundMe pleas. At Con-Tinual’s YouTube channel, I’m in a panel about time travel. It is, after all, an interest of mine.I wish everyone a Happy New Year and a happy 364 days after that.

#SFWApro. Comics covers by Frank Brunner (t), Matt Smith and Carmin Carnero, all rights to images remain with current holders.

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December 8, 2023 · 2:11 pm

I guess I’m an orphan now

Another week without much accomplished, but I can’t blame myself. After learning a week ago that Dad was dying, I booked a flight and headed down Sunday. I came back yesterday.

It was an odd sort of farewell trip. Dad had most of his affairs wrapped up and for whatever reason he didn’t want a funeral or any equivalent ceremony. That meant a much lower key time than when Mom passed. My brother and I went with Tracy (Dad’s executor) to get some papers signed, mail off some packages. And we and several of Dad’s friends went out to dinner Tuesday. Otherwise it was mostly hanging around the house, chatting with each other, playing gin rummy, that sort of thing. And I did write an online obit for the website of the funeral home that cremated him. We also watched The Shermans, the compilation of old home movies my brother got digitized, then posted online.

One project my brother came up with was to duplicate an old photo of us as kids. Here’s the original—I think this would have been 1966 or 1967. That’s my sister Tracy, my brother Craig and then me, left to right. Here’s the sequel —It took a lot of posing and double-checking before Craig was satisfied with the second one, but it paid off.

I must admit, being with my family again felt better than Dad’s death hurt. I think that’s a good thing.

I did get one article finished for The Local Reporter, on local towns Carrboro and Chapel Hill and their commitment to LGBTQ+ rights. I got two posts up at Atomic Junk Shop, one about Marvel in 1967 and one on how L. Frank Baum created Oz.Con-Tinual posted a couple of panels to YouTube with me in them, one on comic-book villains and one on Magnus, Robot Fighter.And that’s about it. Hopefully nothing will derail me from work next week.

#SFWApro.  Cover by Russ Manning, all rights to images remain with current holders.

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December 1, 2023 · 4:30 pm

This wasn’t how I thought the end of November would go

Basically I got one week of work out of two weeks. Last week we had Thanksgiving and I took off the day after the feast (vegan buffet at Parizade, a local restaurant). I also began five days of prep for my colonoscopy: three days of zero fiber (tough for a vegetarian), then two days of clear liquids. Those two days my only calories were apple juice.

Wednesday I had the procedure. Just like last time, I’m good — one polyp snipped, that’s all. While I don’t have any colon photos, here’s a pretty one of the trees outside the Duke Clinic parking garage.

Fortunately I had TYG to run me down and get me home safely. And the mix of drugs they used this time didn’t give me blank spots in my memory. However the changes in my diet are still having an effect on my digestion — I haven’t got back to my usual bean/fruit/vegetable heavy diet yet as I haven’t had a chance to cook.

The lack of food and the flushing out of my colon — it has to be clear for the scan — meant I didn’t get much done this week until Thursday. I got a lot of prep done for various Local Reporter stories, plus about 3,000 words on Let No Man Put Asunder. I got an article in last week about a local cheese shop and I have several posts up at Atomic Junk Shop on the Silver Age Teen Titans, the Inferior Five, comic-book advertising and the death of an amazing researcher. Plus I got an unsolicited review of 19-Infinity from my co-blogger Greg Burgas.I fell well short of my November goals though I’m not sure where I went off the rails. December is going to be … complicated. My sister called this morning to say Dad’s dying (which she predicted during my recent trip to Florida). It seems a certain thing so it’s a matter of when I leave and how long I stay. We’ll figure it out.

#SFWApro. Cover by Kemp Ward, all rights are mine.

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November 17, 2023 · 3:30 pm

Feeling run down but at least I ran somewhere

Very, very tired today.

I haven’t slept badly this week, just a little bit short every night. Apparently it’s adding up. Today my brain feels like sludge. It didn’t help that my efforts to nap this morning were thwarted by one pet or another. Still, the week as a whole went well.

I published an article for The Local Reporter on a proposed Chapel Hill development.I finished the section of Savage Adventures I wanted done for this month, including double-checking details I wasn’t clear about in The Pharaoh’s Ghost.

I got a little bit further on Let No Man Put Asunder. It’s going slow now that Paul and Mandy are no longer running and have to fight back against the Community of All. This requires more than just flinging threats at them; as Doc Savage author Lester Dent put it, the action has to do more than merely move them across the setting. I’ll get there but it’s frustratingly slow.

On the plus side, I think I had a breakthrough on Oh the Places You’ll Go. I’ve been stymied because my redrafts have raised questions I had to leave hanging. This week I saw I can resolve them relatively easily and by shifting around who does what at the finish everything went smoother. I finally feel like I’ve got my finished draft.

I did not get much exercising or stretching done, alas. Cleaners and contractors to deal with on top of the usual pet distractions. Yesterday after the cleaners came, Wisp was sufficiently unnerved she insisted on spending all afternoon in my lap. I didn’t have the heart to get up and leave her.

I do appear in a Con-Tinual panel about Magnus, Robot Fighter (whom I’ve reviewed here). Over at Atomic Junk Shop I review the first issues of the current Wonder Woman and Power Girl series, plus a look back at Golden Age Black Canary. Did you know she has the magic power to summon flocks of black canaries to do her bidding?#SFWApro. Art by Modest Stein and Carmine Infantino, all rights remain with current holders.

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November 10, 2023 · 4:30 pm

The dogs ate my homework! The joyscrolling didn’t help.

Joyscrolling being the best term I could think of for the opposite of doomscrolling. After the election turned out so well for us I spent a lot of Wednesday checking for more good news and arguing with forced-birthers on Twitter ranting about how this proved nothing, they would never quit, Republicans had better not even think about giving up the fight! It felt good, (even given Republicans in Ohio are now vowing they’ll just ignore Amendment One).

This did not, of course, get much writing accomplished. In addition to which, TYG left Monday for a business conference and with only one parent on hand, all the animals were with me 24/7. That got me feeling very off-balance by Wednesday. And on Thursday, until she came back that afternoon. Today I was still pretty fried. There’s something about the constant lack of personal space that I find very wearying. Plus Wisp got frustrated because she never got her usual morning snuggle time before the dogs get up. Conversely Plushie was most displeased when he wanted my lap and found Mr. Wisp had the com.I did get a lot of work done for The Local Reporter but no finished articles. I’m still waiting on responses to emails so I can finish up.

I got another chapter of Savage Adventures edited, covering Doc Savage Magazine through The Devil’s Black Rock at the end of 1942. I was dismayed, though, to discover I’d gotten the name of a major character in Birds of Death wrong — it’s Benjamin Boot, not “Boots” Baxter (I’ve fixed it in the relevant post). If I can slip up like that’ll have to double check everything when I do the final proof.Plus I reread the book Windmaster’s Bane which I’ll be discussing next week.

Elsewhere online, I blogged some about The Thing in the Silver Age and about Jim Steranko’s amazing Agent of SHIELD artwork. Below, Nick Fury’s 1967 pad.And on Con-Tinual’s YouTube channel, I’m part of a panel discussing favorite superhero teams.

#SFWApro. Doc Savage covers by Emery Clarke.

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November 3, 2023 · 4:07 pm

We ducked an icy bullet!

Wednesday, I noticed that while the thermostat was set to 72, the temperature on the house, as shown on the thermostat, was 67. Given the temperature outside was going into the high 20s that night, this seemed like a bad thing.

Air Innovations, our HVAC contractor, came out and confirmed that yep, it was a bad thing: the motor had broken down. As it’s an older unit — we were planning t0 replace it early next year — we anticipated going a week or more while they scrounged up a motor. To our relief, they found one locally and installed it before bedtime that evening. It was pricey, but given it would have taken almost two weeks to get it replaced, better than spending two weeks bundled up and freezing. And fortunately we could afford it.

Other than that, this was a good week. I wrote an article about Chapel Hill city hall’s urban designer, though it took longer than usual. I’d hoped to get ahead on my article for next week, but no.

I got 3,000 words done on Let No Man Put Asunder; it would have been more but I had the HVAC dude and a locksmith to deal with (the outside closet containing our fusebox had a jammed lock). A lot of it feels like stuff I may cut later; I’m frozen on advancing the plot so it’s mostly character bits and chasing around. As Doc Savage creator Lester Dent once put it, action should do more than just move people across the scenery and I’m not sure the last couple of chapters manage that. Then again, maybe it’s the kind of pause-and-reflect moments my writing group keeps saying they want. We’ll see.

I read over another 20,000 words of Southern Discomfort and made some edits. Not a lot, which makes me wary; was my finished draft really that good or am I being an easy grader? Still I am making changes even if they’re not major ones, so perhaps major revisions are not needed at this point. We’ll see — I still have a final round of editing next year.

I went over my Savage Adventures manuscript from 1941-1944 and that looks pretty good, though there are several points where I’ll have to go back and reread the books to see if my comments are correct.

I didn’t get anything done on Oh the Places You’ll Go but I guess I can’t win ’em all. Still a good week. Oh, and I have two posts at Atomic Junk Shop. One was about stories in otherwise good series that don’t do more than fill space. For example Tales of Suspense #92, in which the story has Iron Man in pointless battles with the Vietcong before this memorable finish:And the other about the debut of the Daily Bugle’s city editor, Robbie Robertson, a groundbreaking black character for the Silver Age.#SFWApro. Art by Carmine Infantino, Gene Colan and John Romita, top to bottom. All rights to images remain with current holders.

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October 27, 2023 · 4:18 pm

Week in review: not the cat-astrophe I feared

Yesterday Wisp got out.

Snowdrop was at the backdoor for his food. TYG opened the door for him to come in, then went to make up his breakfast. I opened the door wide to see if he’d come further in (he’s very skittish of late). There didn’t seem any risk as Wisp was in another room. Suddenly, though, she came running in, nuzzled him — and then rushed out before I could stop her.

That settles the question of whether she’s completely happy as an indoor cat. I knew she missed Snowdrop — she’d peer through the blinds at him —— but she hadn’t made much effort to resist when the door was open and I even lightly restrained her. But there she was, on the deck, refusing to come in, even when we offered food. She showed up again later, same result, then vanished most of the day. This left me pretty miserable: sure, she made it five years between when we first saw her and when we finally brought her in this summer, but it’s still a risky life to be an outdoor cat. Plus she’s still limping from her leg injury; what if she thought she still had her old speed and ended up in a coyote or hit by a car?

Thank goodness, she came in Thursday evening to eat, then we shut the door. The taste of freedom changed her, I’m afraid: she keeps going to the back door and meowing to get out. Hopefully that will pass. The whole thing shows that while caring for her is often inconvenient, it’s the right choice.

Fortunately I got some work done despite that and despite some weird chaos from coordinating a lunch date with a friend. I finished another story for The Local Reporter about a library exhibit on immigrant cooking. I reworked Oh the Places You’ll Go and I’m finally making progress on fixing it. The ending doesn’t completely work yet but I’ve eliminated most of the elements that made it feel like a sequel was necessary. I completed this months work on a rewrite of Savage Adventures. I also carved out enough time without pets to complete my full week’s worth of exercise. Go me!

Elsewhere online, I participated in a Con-Tinual panel on comic-book villains. Over at Atomic Junk Shop I posted about the landmark story “Spider-Man No More” and the debut of the Kingpin, then about a curious parody of the Marvel Method of making comics.I didn’t get anything done on Let No Man Put Asunder but overall I’m pleased.

#SFWApro. Paperback cover by James Bama, Spider-Man art by John Romita, all rights remain with current holders.

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