Category: Uncategorized

  • Beginnings (of Novels)

    I’ve posted the opening chapters of three recent novels: The Precise Man, a novel of 1604 London, co-starring a certain playwright named Will. #TaurusTempleLives, a satire of the music industry. A loving satire… mostly. (Is that “mostly loving” or “mostly satire”? Um… yes to both.) The Beeline, a humorous novel about a lost fortune, a…

  • “Not much. And you?”

    Okay, so I haven’t been posting much recently. Here’s what’s up. The fecal stew formerly known as Twitter. I know I should be active there. I just… can’t. Totally discouraging. Maybe Threads will emerge victorious… or at least interesting. Though I gotta say, Zuck and Musk in a cage fight would like the 1919 Chicago…

  • Octothorpe

    I’m sharing the first few pages of a first draft (unedited, unrevised) of a novel I’m working on, for now titled Octothorpe. I did a five-minute cover mockup, too. Don’t take it for actual artwork.

  • For Steve Jobs, Who Thought Every Concept Had a Clear Icon

    Below, three signs I saw a few months ago. (Hint: They’re all water-related.) Perhaps these mean Be careful on these old stairs, because they’re crooked. This is a safe neighborhood, so no need to lock your door. The containment dome for this nuclear reactor is leaking, and we’re advising you to high-tail it out of…

  • I Walked Past This Site and I’m Worried I’ll Start Erasing VCR Tapes

    (With a shout-out to a fun movie, of course.) Of course, listing the statutes one could break only makes the sign more official, I guess….

  • Ultimate Respect

    For years, I’ve “known” the story of how Graham Nash first harmonized around a kitchen table with Stephen Stills and David Crosby. Joni Mitchell’s table, in fact, she being one of the Ladies of the (Laurel) Canyon. Until I read today something Stills said about the meeting: “I wouldn’t have sung in front of Joni…

  • Dispatches From the GetOffMyLawn Corp. (1)

    Yesterday I put a new screen protector on my phone, after the original willingly laid down its life to save my screen. No instructions. Not in words, anyway. Just a video link. This must be a getting-old(er) reaction, but I can read a lot faster than I can watch. In addition, since the phone should…

  • Raising More Questions Than It Answers

    In quotation marks? Is it a metaphor? The CEO’s mission statement? A line from a play (“To eat or not to eat..”)? I think it’s their corporate slogan. Maybe they’re encouraging hunger strikes against them.

  • More Research at the British Library

    I now have an official Reader’s Card at the British Library. I’m researching what little is known about a few people around the theater scene in late 1603 / early 1604. Truth is, anyone can get a Reader’s Card, which allows you to request all sorts of books and documents that mostly aren’t available in…

  • Field Research in Europe

    Dartmouth cattle and wild Dartmoor horses – my book research for the day. (At this point, I think The Precise Man will be set entirely in London, but research is research, right?)