REVIEWER’S OMELET by Steven Steinbock Clayton Rawson – author, magician, and one time managing editor of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine – once quipped, “Can’t a critic be allowed to give his opinion about an omelet without being asked to create an egg?” By virtue of a Y chromosome, I can’t create an egg. I can’t […]

WORK OR PLAY? by Deborah Elliott-Upton “Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else.” — Attributed to James M. Barrie Last night, I was up later than usual trying to decide what my main character wanted. He’d been stubborn and not fit into the little place I thought so perfect for […]

JUST ANOTHER CRITIC? by Rob Lopresti Back when a certain actor was president of the United States I had a story published in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. An acquaintance of mine read the story, told me he liked it, but bragged that he had seen the surprise ending coming because of the foreshadowing I had […]

WHO WAS THAT MASKED WRITER? by Melodie Johnson Howe It’s Sunday night. I’m writing this while watching the Academy Awards at the same time. Viewing this show must be done with a good friend, good food, and a lot of good wine; otherwise it’s hard to swallow. I’m already confused. The actresses all look alike […]

Those of my Gentle Readers who are of some long acquaintance will know that I am categorically not a Hemingway fan. But Ernie and I do share our regard for certain authors: his three favorites were Henry Fielding, Frederick Marryat, and Ivan Turgenev, who also inhabit the Olympian summit in my own literary pantheon. Marryat […]

A CLASSLESS SOCIETY by Leigh Lundin I must be one of the few males who’s not been in the Paris Hilton. I’ve never entered the glistening passage thereof, nor sunk into the plush though possibly overworn chambers, or been sucked into the whole celebrity thing. That Norwegian immigrant, August Halvorsen Hilton, would be so proud […]

SCREEN TEST by John M. Floyd Let me begin with a question: Do you think all avid readers also enjoy movies? My guess would be that they do. Much has been said, in these columns, about the impact and the influence of films of all kinds — some adapted from novels or short stories and […]