The eSKEPTIC by Leigh Lundin Our friend and self-confessed readaholic Louis has the jump on most of us when it comes to working with eReaders. Last September, Louis said he was seriously thinking of popping open his piggy bank and purchasing an iPad. What Louis says, Louis does. This time our favorite academic and reviewer […]

SELLING THEM SHORT by John M. Floyd One of the only bigtime authors I know well is Nevada Barr, who writes the Anna Pigeon mystery series. An indication of Nevada’s kindness toward aspiring writers like me is that she once introduced me to a friend by saying, “This is John Floyd — the only person […]

RAMPO by Steven Steinbock While I had three teenagers visiting me in Seattle, we had to make a couple trips to Uwajimaya, a massive supermarket and gift shop specializing in anything Asian. It’s fun going through isles of produce, baked goods, prepackaged meals, candies, and bizarre sea creatures that we can’t find in Maine. One […]

PEOPLE YOU MAY KNOW by Deborah Elliott-Upton On both Facebook and on my LinkedIn account—like everyone else—I regularly receive messages concerning people I may know to invite to join me on my accounts as friends and colleagues. Rarely do I do this, but every once in awhile, I find a name or face that reminds […]

SUMMER VOCATION by Rob Lopresti We are busy planning a vacation here and unlike last year we are staying fairly close to home. We are going to a music camp and it happens to be concerned with part of the scale that is of more interest to my wife than to me, so she will […]

CHANDLER ACTS by Melodie Johnson Howe I’ve seen the movie Double Indemnity starring Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray so many times I’ve lost count. But not once did I notice Raymond Chandler sitting on a bench, reading a book, in a hallway as MacMurray walks by him. It seems it took a Frenchman to make […]

LET ME SHOW YOU MY COLLECTION by James Lincoln Warren When I was in college (lo these many, many years ago), my girlfriend took me to a cocktail party hosted by her dance teacher. It was a new experience for me, attending an adult cocktail party as a guest (my previous attendance at like celebrations […]