FLORIDA BURNING by Leigh Lundin Smoke and MirrorsFor the last couple of months, central Floridians have been breathing smoke, an often annual occurrence from Florida’s version of forest fires: burning bogs, flaming stands of trees somehow overlooked by developers, and smoke from back rooms where politicians should be burning with shame. Weeks ago, we were […]

WHEN GOOD CHARACTERS GO BAD by Leigh Lundin How inconsiderate for a writer to die while leaving protagonists alive and struggling! Rob Lopresti recently pointed out two annoyances when an author passes away but characters hobble on: (1) Unresolved character and story line issues and (2) attempts by others to recreate characters with varying degrees […]

iPhunk by Leigh Lundin We’ve just experienced a great national celebration that has brought millions of Americans together at a critical time in our history. No, not Independence Day and not even universal disgust with Paris Hilton getting out of jail. Unless you’ve been living in a WiFi-proof cave, you know we’re talking about the […]

The POWER of WORDS by Leigh Lundin My parents were farmers. My father, Beryl, was 6’4, 240 pounds, broad-shouldered, and was known for his formidable strength. Hillis was barely 5 feet tall, and while she was pretty and petite, she had the persistence and pugnaciousness of a terrier, or perhaps a holy terror. At first […]

THEY DO IT WITHOUT WIRES by Leigh Lundin It’s Friday and my broadband network has died. After following tech support’s rigmarole, which in this case I knew would be fruitless, they promised to have a guy show up. Sunday. Maybe. A maybe promise? Isn’t that also promising he might not show up? But, I have […]

IT WASN’T DICK AND JANE by Leigh Lundin I have been thinking about Melodie Johnson Howe’s comment about people who dismiss certain genres and an observation James Lincoln Warren made about certain teachers. I realized I had a chequered past (pasts can be checked or chequered, but never checkered) regarding school and literature. 3rd Grade: […]

ADD by Leigh Lundin The title James awarded me isn’t just frivolous, I really am ADD. At one time, ADD was thought to be mainly a male disorder, particularly the hyperactive component, ADHD, but someone finally noticed that young boys, frogs, things that explode, and hyperactivity tend to go together. I don’t have the hyperactive […]