THE PRETTY GOOD SHEPHERD by Rob Lopresti I was a kid, see … Christmas Eve, 1964. In a house in suburban New Jersey ten-year-old me, too excited to sleep, lay in my bed, trying to find something interesting on my AM radio. Suddenly, I hit the jackpot. A wonderful voice I have never heard before […]

Melodie, being occupied with family matters, has asked me to provide something at short notice, and here it is. Last year, our Yuletide treat was O. Henry’s best known piece, so this year, I proudly present that of his British counterpart, Saki, a.k.a. Hector Hugh Munro. —JLW THE OPEN WINDOW by Saki “My aunt will […]

TALES FROM THE CRYPTANALYST by James Lincoln Warren Stories featuring codes and ciphers represent an entire subgenre of mystery. The first such story ever written was, of course, by Edgar Allan Poe, “The Gold Bug”. It served to inspire another classic, “The Adventure of the Dancing Men”, by Arthur Conan Doyle. Among sleuths who had […]

It was reported yesterday that a primary reason given by the Sheriff’s department for not following up the meter reader’s tip was that psychics had directed them away from that area.

LIGHTEN UP A LITTLE by John M. Floyd Some of what follows is a shortened version of an essay I wrote several years ago for a zine called Laughter Loaf. Deborah’s and Jeff’s comments last week about Ogden Nash (one of my favorite writers) gave me the idea to dust it off and include it […]

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS by Steve Steinbock The mome raths have been falling in toves lately. If you’re unfamiliar with mome raths, or are wondering why I said toves rather than droves, then you clearly need to gimble and gyre over to this website or read the first chapter of Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking […]

EVERY DAY’S A NEW DAY by Deborah Elliott—Upton Another online blogger states sales of books and magazines are up almost 18% from last year. It seems reading is being rediscovered as a valid form of less expensive entertainment. In a so-sagging-it’s-slouched-already economy, the world needs something to make everything else go away. In the past, […]