CHANDLER & REPS by Melodie Johnson Howe My writer friend Gayle was trying to convince me to join a gym. “We can work out and then discuss our writing in the cafe. You know, kill two birds with one stone.” “But what if were the birds? I’m not a gym person. I don’t like being […]

DEATH-LINE by James Lincoln Warren There is nothing in the world that inspires an author as powerfully as a deadline, except for a paycheck. Although CB has a deadline for each of the contributors, I don’t usually find it all that particularly hard to meet since all it really requires is a relatively short rant. […]

KINDLE 2 by Leigh Lundin A year and a half ago when we tried to review the Kindle 1, we weren’t able to get our hands on the device so, to help make up for it, we brought our readers the latest news on the Wii and the oMyBod. With the introduction of the Kindle […]

I’M HEARING VOICES by John M. Floyd Writing, I am often reminded, is a lonely pastime. Those of us crazy enough to do it often spend hours cubbyholed and isolated, scribbling down all the weird things we see happening in our minds. The truth is, though, unless you’re fortunate enough to get your creations published […]

NINETY-SIX BRIEFS by Steve Steinbock In the early sixties, a young man named Rudy Martinez took on the moniker “Question Mark” and became the frontman for the Michigan rock band “Question Mark and the Mysterians.” Their name alone may warrant acknowledgement in the world of mystery. But I invoke them today, in this Bandersnatches column […]

DARK AND STORMY NIGHTS by Deborah Elliott-Upton “It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents, except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the […]

IT’S NOT WHAT YOU KNOW, IT’S WHO GOOGLE KNOWS by Rob Lopresti This is not an original idea, but I haven’t seen it applied to our field before. As everyone is aware, if someone wants to learn something about you today, they will look you up on the web, and they will probably use Google. […]