THEORY OF THE CRIME by James Lincoln Warren In science and in law, a theory is an explanation for observed phenomena. The theory of evolution, understood by most people to refer to Charles Darwin’s theory of speciation through natural selection, is a case in point; likewise Newton’s law of universal gravitation, which explains why and […]

THAT REPO LOT IN THE SKY by James Lincoln Warren It’s been a rough week for lovers of mysteries. First, there was the unwelcome news that The Mystery Bookstore in Westwood Village, a scant two miles from my home and the store where I used to work, is closing its doors forever at the end […]

DUST BUNNIES OF THE BRAIN by James Lincoln Warren We’ve all seen them and shuddered with horror at the eldritch confrontation: agglutinations of dust and hair that mysteriously appear under furniture or sometimes brazenly on an open floor, almost as insubstantial as fading nightmares. Dust bunnies. Ghost turds. At Officer Candidate School, back yonder when […]

MY ANNUAL MERRY NONSECTARIAN WINTER SOLSTICE RETAIL FRENZY FESTIVAL SEASON NEWSLETTER by James Lincoln Warren Dear Friends, It’s been quite a year! Perhaps the most unusual thing that happened this year was my abduction by aliens, who I am pretty sure rewired my brain. I have no direct evidence for this except for a persistent […]

WOLPERTINGER SEES RED by James Lincoln Warren Jakob Linnaeus Wolpertinger, my friend the Mad Scientist, spends every month between December 6 and January 6 sitting in front of his fireplace in a rocking chair, staring at the empty hearth with a side-by-side twelve gauge shotgun in his lap. A few days ago I dropped by […]

THE KID OF KINDLE by James Lincoln Warren At Bouchercon this year, one of the comments I made concerning the future of short stories was that I thought that the growing phenomenon of downloadable e-publications might represent a windfall for short story authors. Kindles and their cousins are becoming ubiquitous, and the fact that they […]

A MAGIC WORD by James Lincoln Warren At left, the Egyptian god Thoth, wearing a crown consisting of the disc of the sun and a crescent moon, representing his aspect as a bringer of light. At right, the astronomical and alchemical symbol for the planet and element Mercury, derived from the shape of the Greek […]