WHEN WORDS AREN’T ENOUGH by Leigh Lundin I’ve been thinking about word play this past week. I found one little quiz surprisingly difficult: Name three English words beginning with ‘dw‘. Initial Mistake Several days ago, Deborah asked us to name something about ourselves no one else was likely to know. I answered about a fraud […]

THE SECOND TIME AROUND by John M. Floyd Just wondering: How often do you read a short story or novel or see a film and like it so much you hope that writer will revive those characters and do an encore? Rarely, right? But when it does happen it’s a good feeling, and it’s an […]

OCTOBER BITES by Steve Steinbock Two weeks ago I wrote to you about the dearth of good Juvenile and YA mysteries, and the utter glut of supernatural novels for kids. At the time I was irritated. I had a deadline to review new kids mysteries for a holiday publication, and I was having serious trouble […]

HOLIDAY WRITING by Deborah Elliott-Upton While vacationing in Ft. Lauderdale one year with my sister and brother-in-law, my husband and I found ourselves at an Oktoberfest celebration. We’d never heard of the event, which was a shame, because it was a lot of fun. Probably the most fun was when my sister – sneaky girl […]

LIVING IN THE PAST by Rob Lopresti In October 1979 I was dwelling in a place called, so help me, Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey. One evening I brought in the mail and found a letter with no return address. I opened it and a check fluttered to the floor. There was nothing else in the […]

The following essay by George Ade (1866-1944) was suggested by Rob Lopresti. Golly, he’s smart. —JLW THE FABLE OF THE MAN WHO DIDN’T CARE FOR STORYBOOKS by George Ade Once there was a blue Dyspeptic, who attempted to Kill Time by reading Novels, until he discovered that all Books of Fiction were a Mockery. After […]

EDITORIAL ASIDE by James Lincoln Warren Early Thursday morning, I caught a flight to San Francisco, to attend the Annual Communications of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of California — I’m an officer of my lodge, Santa Monica-Palisades #307 F&AM, and this year was entitled for the first time to vote in […]