Category Archives: Writing

February 27, 2026 · 4:30 pm

This week, I ate my own homework

Which is to say, not much done.

In fairness, part of that carried over from last week’s dog chaos. We’ve only now reached the end of all the added drugs they’re getting. and spacing them out, adjusting them to the “don’t give with food” rules, etc. means the regimen sucks up more time (plus Plush Dudley is increasingly uncooperative about eating his meds). And Monday Trixie had her recheck at Peak Paws (our PT place) and with added errands on the way home, I wound up starting work Monday way later than usual.

(No, I don’t know why she’s sniffing Plushie).

I rewrote the introduction to Savage Adventures when it hit me that I bog down in the history of the pulps instead of selling why Doc Savage is cool to read (and read about). I turned in two Local Reporter articles, one on how Carrboro’s funding stormwater management projects and a debate in Chapel Hill on taking a stand against President Toddler’s anti-immigration raids. And I got a bunch of stuff done on various tasks — picking up pet meds, contacting contractors, etc.

And that was pretty much it. The week kind of evaporated. I always have a fear that if I let that happen once, I’ll let it happen again, and again, and I’ll end up with nothing but a hatful of rain (to borrow from the title of an old film). I know that’s not true, but still.

The flip side: as the 501(c) non-profit Local Reporter takes a two week pause I have more time but now I have less money coming in. Not that the wolf’s at the door but I do take pride in contributing to household bills.

February overall was disappointing for fiction writing. Between the dogs and the snow I got almost no fiction written. On the plus side I did complete the latest draft of Savage Adventures; updated my “in case of my death” paperwork; provided my obligatory critiques for some of the stories in Break the Sky (as it’s a collaborative anthology, we all edit each other); donated blood today; and made more money than usual, thanks to The Local Reporter. On the downside, my social life has been quiet, as either my schedule or my friends’ proved unworkable (one coffee date, very short due to an emergency on their part).

However the week wasn’t all wasted. Monday I got an FB message from a reporter for the Christian Science Monitor (an excellent paper — I subscribed for years). Between the president declaring a release of the government’s UFO-related files (I do not expect any shocking revelations) and the upcoming movie Project Hail Mary, reporter Stephen Humphries came up with the idea of interviewing me, as an expert in ET-visitor films, about movies, real-life UFO beliefs and how they interact. One reason I didn’t get more work done is that I pored over The Aliens Are Here, refreshing my mind on the subject. It paid off — it was a 45 minute interview and I think I talked intelligently for all of it. I’ll link to the article when it comes out.

On that note, have a good weekend. All rights to images remain with current holders; Doc Savage cover by James Bama.

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February 25, 2026 · 5:15 am

Wow, my teenage protagonist has taste identical to my 67 year old self!

Several years back, Camestros Felapton reviewed Stephen King’s Fairy Tale and liked it, with one reservation, “the extent to which King makes a young (17) contemporary (2010s) protagonist into a template that would work for a character in the 1970s. Charlie has an iPhone and a laptop and looks things up on the internet but for plausible background reasons has watched lots of classic movies and read lots of relevant books and has an interest in fairy tales. Physical newspapers even play a role in the story. Partly I think this is King trying to emphasise that smaller American towns have changed slowly — I’ll take his word for it because my only experience of small American towns is via fantasy-horror. Less artistically, I suspect it is also a convenience to have a just slightly updated setting.”

I have not read the King book but this is one reason I prefer writing books set in the last century (e.g., 19-Infinity, above): I simply don’t know contemporary popular culture as well as, say, the 1980s. Even if I did, I write slow enough that it would probably change by the time any book of mine came out. Three years from now, will Taylor Swift fans still be calling themselves Swifties? A few years ago I’d have thought nothing about a reference to CBS News doing serious journalism, but now that Bari Weiss is turning it into Pravda?

As Camestros notes, one way around this is to give someone old-fashioned taste — and in today’s world, that’s not implausible. If someone wants to read Bronze Age comic, 1930s pulp horror or listen to old-time radio, it’s easier than ever before. In my previous draft of Impossible Takes a Little Longer, protagonist KC Rogers read a Silver Age Supergirl TPB in her pre-teen days and decided she was the coolest hero ever. It’s easier to find those stories now than it would have been in the last 30 years of the 20th century. In the new draft it’s the early 1980s and KC’s old enough to have read the issue when it was new.

However there’s also a degree of hand-waving in that. In my first draft of Let No Man Put Asunder, my protagonist Paul was a film buff with a particular fondness for the Golden Age of Hollywood. Plausible as I was writing in the 1980s and I knew plenty of college students who’d gotten into old movies. When I started rewriting in the 21st century, it felt more of a strain — pop culture had 30 more years of film under its collective belt and it’s not like Paul saying “the old movies were better” was entirely convincing (as you know if you follow my movie review posts, I watch a lot of more recent stuff).

My current version of the book is set in 1976 so that’s not a problem. Mandy, who so to speak inherited Paul’s passion for movies, is the right age to have grown up with Universal’s horror films in syndication. She caught B-movies on the late show. She also enjoys new films but it’s not implausible she’s seriously into the old films.

I’m not fool enough to argue with Stephen King’s creative choices (except The Stand, which was a terrible, terrible book) but I think I’m happier with mine.

Covers by Kemp Ward (top) and Curt Swan, all rights to images remain with current holders.

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February 24, 2026 · 5:11 am

Southern Discomfort: getting the voices right

One of the standard rules of thumb for writers is that someone should be able to hear a line of dialogue from your writing stripped of any tags or identifiers and know from the word choice who’s speaking.

That is definitely beyond me and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anyone pull it off unless they had a small cast. It can easily turn into something simplistic, like giving everyone a distinctive catchphrase or quirk. This can work in small doses. In the Doc Savage novels, we have Renny’s “Holy cow!” declarations and Johnny’s catchphrase, “I’ll be superamalgamated.” both of which work as character tags. On the other hand, the four boys in The Gold Ogre have verbal tics that make them distinctive — I can tell Funny from B. Elmer from Mental — but getting annoying fast.

That said, having at least some variation in voices makes sense. An elderly academic should sound different from a young homicide cop. A nerd who’s into anime might have different metaphors than a football buff.

In Southern Discomfort, I worked to give Olwen McAlister, an elf well over a thousand years old, her own voice. Not the archaic dialog of Marvel comics’ Silver Age Thor but something that didn’t sound conventional either. For example: “You are both welcome to dine on whatever tongue or stomach crave, at my expense.” Or when she’s sharing her plans for dealing with Gwalchmai: “Rest assured I am far more dangerous than he. Only one of us will live to see tomorrow’s dawn.”

That sounds just enough ‘off’ to work, I think. By contrast, Maria, contemplating the possibility there’s a cop on her tail: “I’d ruled out the old fart in the window seat next to me. While I drew on my Winston and brooded, he’d fallen asleep with his Pall Mall smoldering between arthritis-gnarled fingers. Like I was still a nurse, I carefully extracted the cig and set it in the ashtray on the seat arm. Then I returned to worrying about the rest of the bus.”

(The book’s cover by Sam Collins, short a little more polishing)

Maria’s from Brooklyn. Sheriff Slattery’s a Pharisee Georgia boy and he sounds (I think) a lot more Southern: “Doesn’t matter. I swore an oath to protect and serve the people here, like my daddy and my granddaddy, and I gotta live up to that. If that means asking for help—well, I don’t think police work is any business for girls—”

FBI Special Agent Rachel Cohen is a cooler customer. One of the first female agents, she’s conscious if she fails, every woman in the FBI fails. She’s Southern, tough, and frequently forgets to put her iron fist in a velvet glove. When she needs to stay controlled, she does. When arguing with Liz Mitchell about the FBI’s ugly anti-civil rights history: “I won’t make excuses for Mr. Hoover. His actions were illegal, unjust, and at times monstrous. You have every right to be angry. As much as Hoover betrayed the FBI’s principles, those principles are sound. That’s why I joined.” Mitchell’s glare stayed icy. “I want to see justice done for Cannon, Smith and McAlister. I also know the Klan and their ilk hate Jews as well as blacks. We have common adversaries.”

While I think most of my key players are distinctive individuals, not everyone has a distinctive voice — I don’t believe Liz does, nor Father Michael. Still, now that I’m writing about it, I’m quite impressed with myself.

Doc Savage cover by James Bama. All rights to images remain with current holders.

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February 20, 2026 · 4:35 pm

I foresaw the dogs would eat my homework at some point this year

I did not think it would be quite this soon.

Sunday: Plush began pooping in the house. Very runny, too. We gave him some drugs — we’ve accumulated quite a few from past problems of one sort or another (and yes, we throw away the expired ones) and hoped that would be enough. Monday he was still runny and very listless at his PT session (he’s waiting in their lobby in the photo above, taken late last year). Oh, and Trixie threw up lavishly on the bed. She was fine and lively at PT, but kept throwing up and refused to eat. She’s had bad tummies before but as it continued, TYG finally decided she needed a doctor visit (this was the correct move). It was late by this point so we had to hit the emergency. Times past, we’d have driven like a half-hour; recently we discovered Blue Pearl, an emergency vet maybe 10 minutes a way. The doctor was great and I came home with a bunch more drugs for Trixie.

Unfortunately the next day she had a very ugly looking, repeated diarrhea. So first I took her to our regular vet, then we got an ultrasound at Blue Pearl … in Raleigh, so TYG drove a good half hour there and back … and then there and back to collect her.

Wednesday things had improved slightly. More appetite, both dogs; diarrhea constant but smaller; both dogs their usual perky self. Still it was stressful, we’d spent three nights getting to bed late (TYG was out late Sunday so I stayed up late too), and I was half-sleepwalking. Plus the drugs take a lot of time to get into the dogs.

Thursday, we could see veterinary medicine had done its work. Both dogs happier, both hungry for more food and treats than we wanted to risk giving them, digestive problems minor. Still a lot of drugs. Oh, and now that Trixie has her heavy coat shorn, she’s much more comfortable snuggling in my lap.

The end result for my writing? Almost nothing done. I was kicking myself, then I remembered I took that into account in mapping out my goals for this year. Time off for a vacation, time for proofing Watching Jekyll and Hyde, time for something to go wrong. So this week fits in. Admittedly I’d have liked it better if I’d gotten a couple more months of good work first, but over the course of 2026, it shouldn’t throw me off my game.

I did get a little work done on The Impossible Takes a Little Longer. Most of my time, though, went to Local Reporter, with stories on a delayed Chapel Hill road project, public opinion on how Chapel Hill should spend its budget surplus, FEMA reimbursement in Carrboro and the area’s Destination 2055 transportation plan. At Atomic Junk Shop I looked at the option of seeing across time, the mess that’s Son of Dr. Jekyll, and the paradox of Earth-One comic books.

Still, here’s hoping next week plays out better.

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February 17, 2026 · 5:05 am

Cover reveal!

Not yet for Southern Discomfort but they’ve picked my cover for Watching Jekyll and Hyde.

This is the poster for the 1931 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde that one Fredric March an Oscar. It’s not what I suggested but it looks good — and I trust McFarland to pick the right image.

They seem to be moving quite fast on this. It may not be too long before I get the galleys to proof.

All rights to image remain with current holder.

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February 13, 2026 · 4:32 pm

The camel’s hump is an ugly lump

(Title taken from Rudyard Kipling. I’ve used it before).

Wednesday is, as we all know, hump day — once we pass it, we’re on the downhill slide toward the weekend. Lately, however, I seem to be having trouble getting over the hump. My Wednesday is a slog.

Part of that this Wednesday was Plush Dudley (seen in an older photo while he was still on cage rest). Usually he sleeps most of the afternoon. For whatever reason, he was lively. Bark. Whine. Try to get my attention. Licking my feet. A lot. I finally had to give up getting work done for the last couple of hours, though I wasn’t able to read or relax much either.

He’s still my boy.

Even before that, I was struggling to write. I had a relatively simple article to write on Carrboro’s budget discussions but it turned into a plodding exercise, though I think the results were good. Reflecting on it, I realized one problem is Monday and Tuesday evenings. Monday I work into the evening to make up for us taking the dogs to PT during the day; Tuesday I often have my Zoom writer’s group. After I finish, it’s typically another hour to take care of the dogs. I end up going to sleep later than usual and I don’t usually make it up in the morning. This Wednesday that left me tired; I also woke up late (compensating for Tuesday’s late night) which always throws me off my game. Mentally that left me behind the eight-ball.

Monday and Tuesday were productive though. I worked on Savage Adventures, went through all the books where my manuscript was unclear (why did Doc Savage do X? What exactly was the villain’s plan?) and made the corrections. This draft is done!!!!!

Next up: rereading some of my Doc Savage reference books for anything worth adding, working on the bibliography, then printing the manuscript out and proofing it. Then the writing is done and I can look at indexing (sigh), finding a cover and I’ll be ready to rock.

Thursday I put in more time writing for The Local Reporter. I got in one good story about Chapel Hill’s budget decisions — they have $3 million left over from fiscal year 2025 to spend — but nothing else. Nobody returned my calls. Annoying. However I already have the materials for one, possibly two stories for next week, and there’s a Carrboro Council meeting. So I’ll be in good shape.

Over at Atomic Junk Shop I blogged about mondegreens, the death of the Green Goblin and comic book writers as psychics.

And this blog is still getting lots more hits than average. Hi there, whoever you are. I hope you stick around. If nothing else, the pet photos are adorable.

Doc Savage cover by James Bama, all rights to images remain with current holders.

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February 11, 2026 · 5:06 am

Random writing/reading/creative links

“When a writer is rightfully outed as being abusive/hateful, I hate to see takes like “I knew there was a reason I didn’t like their work”. It only adds to the fallacy that equates quality of work with quality of character which is a HUGE part of how abuser artists are justified in the first place!”

“Artists are not vending machines of joy, obligated to dispense performance on demand. They are human beings. And their decision to step away from this moment is not divisive; it is a refusal to be conscripted into propaganda.” — Sharon E. Cathcart on artists refusing to appear at the Kennedy Center. There’s also the practical aspect that some artists perform and don’t get paid.

I’ve not seen Heated Rivalry but this seems like a good post on its success and why it baffles Hollywood.

Mo Ryan: “A thing that often makes me see red is execs saying “but we’re doing an elevated version of [x].” What if you… just did x? When an exec says “elevated version of” you can be pretty sure they mean “I think this is trash so we’re trying to not do the thing you want but make you think we’re doing it” Total agreement with this and the rest of the thread — as she notes, specfic gets a lot of this attitude (creators who sneer they’re taking some comic book character and Transcending The Genre).

Senator Eric Schmitt is horrified Netflix might buy Warner Brothers/Discovery because Netflix is too woke.

“The sweeping cuts this week that axed crucial reporting teams on the foreign, local and sports desks, eliminated all staff photographers and most of the video team, raised the prospect that The Post is on the brink of a death spiral as subscribers flee and advertisers walk away under Bezos’ ownership.” — from a look at Jeff Bezos choosing to kill the Washington Post as a functioning newspaper rather than put money into it (he could afford it) or sell it to someone he cares. As Josh Marshall put it, “What we’re seeing is something that should be familiar to any close of observer of the news over the last generation. Let’s call it the formulaic billionaire white knight press baron doom cycle.”

“Flaws do not define a character or make him boring: bad writing does that. Flaws don’t make interesting stories: conflict does. Flaws just provide one type of internal conflict; choices present another, and the best stories involving Superman and Dr. Strange are about the choices they have to make. (Or about external conflict, which is heaps of fun.) Superman has the “can’t save them all” story, which gets reused regularly (and is vitally important for understanding the character); Dr. Strange has the “must condemn someone to save the world” story (same).” — the Mighty God King blog on writing Dr. Strange (obviously it has wider application).

“Words like “wondered,” “believed,” “my mind,” “idea,” “might,” and “thought” place distance between the point of view character and the narrative. And between the narrative and the reader. You probably don’t use those words when you’re talking to yourself in your head.” — Barbara Ross.

Art by Gene Colan, all rights remain with current holders.

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February 6, 2026 · 4:28 pm

Not much writing done this week, but I anticipated that

Thursday I only worked a half-day because the housekeepers were here. Sitting in the spare bedroom with all the pets to keep them out of the way (and make sure Snowdrop and Wisp don’t run out) does not inspire creative work. For the first time in a few months, they showed up late enough I could have made a full work day out of it; by the time I realized that I’d turned my brain off.

And Tuesday I took one of my days off to devote to TYG and my “death document” — instructions about our finances, ordering dog drugs, when to give dog drugs, plans for our bodies. Because contrary to this Nick Cardy cover, death can come at any time. We’d like to be as much help to each other as we can.

I’ve been slack about updating the stuff I know but it turns out not much has changed since the last time I checked — Trixie has one added med, little things like that. Still it’s good to keep everything current and good to know that it is.

With Friday devoted to stuff like blogging and catching up on email, that left two days. I got another chunk of Savage Adventures rewritten, though not as much as I’d like. Then I had my work for The Local Reporter: a story on the snowfall and how local towns dealt with it (not up yet), one on how Carrboro is scoring its performance and one on what the former Chapel Hill Weekly was reporting when it started publishing in 1923 (“On the whole, Chapel Hill is ultra-conservative in the matter of hats.”).

As I mentioned a while back, they recently lost one of their government reporters so I’m doing more work. Which is good — more money — but it’s frustrating how much work I have to do to find enough stuff to write about (it consumes a surprising amount of time). The reporting and writing is relatively simple. But such is life.

I anticipate being way more productive next week.

One thing that did surprise me about this week — this blog has racked up 1,500 views the past two days. While there are times I can explain a rush in traffic, like my posts about Taylor Swift a couple of years back, I have no idea what triggered it. None of my specific posts have received a huge hit either. I’m not complaining of course and if any of y’all are reading this, thanks for visiting.

All rights to cover image remain with current holder.

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February 4, 2026 · 5:19 am

Southern Discomfort: how about a cover-copy reveal?

As my cover artist is getting closer to the final draft, I’m starting to think about promotion.

A lot of the recommended steps aren’t doable. Local bookstores don’t promote books printed through Amazon (I checked) and I’ve had little luck with book review sites in the past. Cover copy, however, is entirely in my control.

My original plan was to do it third person. However I’ve noticed a fair number of fantasy novels go with first-person so I tried it. The results:

Travel back to Georgia in 1973, as Lt. Maria Esposito experiences — Southern Discomfort.
“For the past three years I’ve been a wanted fugitive, constantly on the run, never letting anyone get close. Now torrential floods have trapped me in tiny Pharisee Georgia, where the FBI is investigating a terrorist bombing. My only hope is to keep a low profile until the rain ends.
That makes it a bad scene when the victim’s widow, an unearthly beauty named Olwen McAlister, declares I’m the one person who can bring the killer to justice. The sheriff takes her “visions” about me seriously; if I don’t answer yes to her request for help, I’m in trouble.
I should have said no. Suddenly I’m the target of hostile ravens, a homicidal horse, and a living shadow warning me to leave town or die. Cats everywhere are yowling with rage. I’m seeing things my Grandma Sophia would have called malocchia, evil magic. They can’t be — magic isn’t real — but I have no other explanation.
If I stick around either the shadow kills me or the FBI sends me to prison for life. Trouble is, something bad is coming down the pike; if I don’t stay to fight it, lots of innocent people will die.
I don’t give a damn. I can’t afford to give a damn. That’s what I keep telling myself.
I have a sinking feeling I’m not going to listen.”
Southern Discomfort is a standalone intrusion/urban/Southern fantasy novel. It includes multiple POV characters, several woman protagonists and multiple POC. The spaniel lives. The villain does kill a cat. It will appeal to fans of Alex Bledsoe, Tom Dietz, Luanne Bennett and Charles DeLint’s Jack the Giant Killer.

The pluses: it centers my main character and gets inside her head. I think it’s a good hook (yes, I’m obviously biased).

The negative: nobody can tell the book is about elves in Georgia, though my choice of comps in the last paragraph should tip people off. However I tried writing a version that focused more on the big-picture, the premise, the overall plot … it wasn’t gripping. Writing from Maria’s POV gives it much more emotion and (I think) makes it more engaging.

Before too long, I hope to find out if I’m right.

Cover (t) by Samantha Collins. I don’t know the second artist. All rights to images remain with current holders.

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February 3, 2026 · 5:15 am

Undead specfic cliche: magic has no rules

Some years back, the Mighty God King blog made a series of blog posts on his ideas for writing Dr. Strange. They’re excellent and I wish he’d taken them and turned them into something of his own (only a few of them are Marvel Universe-dependent).

One of his early posts argued that a Dr. Strange series could be “House with wizards” in the sense of it being about Strange and his apprentices. I can’t say that one grabs me but that’s not the point of my post. In the comments one of (I gather) the regular commenters sounded off that he wasn’t interested in Dr. Strange because “there really is no way to define what magic’s physical limitations are and as such, its difficult to say what is and what isn’t believable for the character and any conflict he’s placed in … a character who simply ‘wields magic’ by itself, like Doctor Strange, is doomed to inevitable cases of Deus Ex Machina.”

This is nonsense but it’s an enduring nonsense among people who don’t like fantasy. Isaac Asimov asserted once that by definition, magic has no limits — it it does, then it’s just an alternate form of science. Closely affiliated is the view that this makes fantasy inferior to science-fiction — SF is bound by the rules of science, fantasy writer have no rules. It’s sloppy, easy, unlike the thoughtful rigor of science fiction (or in the case of that commenter, science-based superheroes).

First off, while it’s possible to write magic as some sort of super-science “magic with rules” isn’t the alternative. The difference between magic and science is that science works independently of who uses it; magic is selective. As Dr. Strange once put it fighting a villain who’d stolen his amulet, the Eye of Agamotto, the Eye isn’t a gun; you don’t control it simply because you’re holding it. Controlling it requires understanding the magic — and Stephen Strange understands much more than his foe. Likewise Lisa Goldstein pointed out that summoning light with magic requires understanding and wisdom; any idiot can flip a light switch.

So the commenter’s argument that magic can’t be defined or limited is bullshit. In the particular case of Dr. Strange it’s even more bullshit: Dr. Strange in the original Lee/Ditko run never wins by deus ex machina, he wins by sheer determination or by bluffing or outwitting his foe. There’s no clear statement as to his specific powers but it never feels like Ditko (who’s supposed to have been the lead creator of the two) is making it up as he goes along.

It’s true magic can be used as a get-together but so can science. In Spidey’s first battle with the Vulture, Peter Parker simply deduces the Vulture’s flight technology and then builds a gadget that nullifies it. Now it’s true Peter uses his scientific genius but pulling out a power-stealing gadget is just as much a fudge as pulling out some heretofore unknown piece of magic would be.

Magic can be badly used. Stephen Gerber in his Defenders run had some powerful mystical moments but he could also be hand-wavey in terms of Doc’s actual power levels. But it isn’t inherent in writing magic. Some mages have specific rules, some are implied; what matters, as Brandon Sanderson said, is that the writer not pull a deus ex machina. “An author’s ability to solve conflict with magic is DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL to how well the reader understands said magic.” If you establish that Dr. Strange or Dr. Fate or Harry Potter can shrink in size, it’s cool to use that at the climax. If you pull it out of your butt without any set up, that’s bad writing.

I doubt anything I’ve said would convince the commenter. But then, I think they’re completely wrong, whether I convince them or not.

Art by Frank Brunner (top), then Ditko. All rights to images remain with current holders.

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