As part of my volunteer job, I just finished reviewing a book for Amazon.com. It's a collection of letters written by a Polish Jewish family trapped in the Cracow Ghetto during the early years of World War II. I didn't rate it as high as the other reviewers because, even for an anthology, I felt like it should have included more history and ( Read more... )

Lord Almighty, finished at last! For those of you wondering where the hell I've been these last few months, I am finished at last!

I have finally finished the first draft of my first novel. While I have written unpublished books for ten years, I have never before made a book of fiction intended for a market.

Nor will it it hit the market--yet. I have ( Read more... )

Two weeks ago I moved my office out of reach of my LAN cable. Since then I've been trying to get my brother's PC to properly display web applets, without which I cannot fucking log on. Today he repaired Windows and volia! I am returned.

So is Johnathan, an old neighborhood buddy of mine returned from the Army. He saw combat in Iraq. Today he sees ( Read more... )

Way back in the summer of ’96, somebody in the house recorded the “Homerpalooza” episode (The Simpons Seventh Season) on VHS tape. I can’t remember if it was the original airing on 19 May, or a repeat aired that August. I can recall from the linear notes that on 23 August 1996, I used one of our old Emerson radio-tape stereos to record audio from ( Read more... )

The Crazy Brian Review of Stephen King's Cell

After the public hooplah of his retirement, I felt misgivings when novelist Stephen King began publishing books again. Part of me felt his Dark Tower series stood a fitting coda, and anything else would overstay his welcome. Along comes Cell, a slim and true volume showing you can’t keep a committed ( Read more... )

( Read about a kickass compilation--plus a bunch of lecturing )

( CIVILIZATION IV: THE JOURNAL REVIEW )

( Adventures in Computer Maintenance and Gaming )

Last month I joined an online movie studio, which includes workshops for the literary magazine All-Story. I also bought the movie The Killing Fields. And Killing Zoe is the name of a movie based on a Quentin Tarantino screenplay. I'm cleaver.

( This is about the Zoetrope Virtual Studios. )

( Crazy Brian's Guide to Fucking Up the Galaxy )