FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH by John M. Floyd “Chapter Four . . . ” Plenty has been said at this blog, by me and by others as well, on the subject of writing and writings, and also on the subject of reading. But not much has been said about readings. I’ve been to a lot […]

A BITE BEFORE HALLOWEEN by Steve Steinbock Tomorrow night the streets will be filled with vampires, werewolves, princesses, and comic book superheroes. I considered arriving at Criminal Brief headquarters dressed all Goth, but my lace shirt was at the cleaners. Besides, as my friend and fellow Criminal Briefer James Lincoln Warren so eloquently explained two […]

CHILD’S PLAY CRIMES by Deborah Elliott-Upton Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater Had a wife and couldn’t keep her He put her in a pumpkin shell And there he kept her very well. It seems Peter is at the very least guilty of imprisonment, and perhaps starving his wife – unless she is […]

THE WASHINGTON-TO-WASHINGTON BOOK REPORT by Rob Lopresti I just got back from a library conference in Washington D.C. This was not as exciting a trip as my last one,. in part because this conference contained not five thousand librarians of all types, but just a few hundred government documents librarians. But if you want to […]

Rob Lopresti suggested the following story for today as appropriate for Halloween. As it happens, he picked one of my favorite folk tales. The illustration, by John D. Batten, appeared with the story in Jacobs’ collection, More English Fairy Tales, first published in 1894. —JLW THE KING O’ THE CATS retold by John Jacobs One […]

OOPS by James Lincoln Warren Alas, for the very first time in three years, I don’t have a Tuesday offering for you, O Gentle Reader—I thought I’d be able to drum something up, but reality impinged and I found myself without time to do the search justice. I will get right on it early Tuesday […]

TICK-TOCK by James Lincoln Warren All things being equal, baseball is my favorite sport, so naturally this column hinges on … football.1 Having grown up in Texas, I have an abiding love for football. In the Lone Star State, the most important venue for gridiron heroics is the Friday night high school game. When I […]