Last summer, I wrote and submitted an outline for a Merlin novel, based on the BBC series which begins its second season on SyFy this Friday. As I described it at the time, I had a “barking mad” idea, I wrote it out, and I got the loveliest rejection letter I’ve ever had in allContinue reading “On Arthurian Mysteries”
Category Archives: Reading
On a Poe Quotation for the Day
“They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape the dreamers by night. In their gray visions they obtain glimpses of eternity, and thrill, in awaking, to find that they have been upon the verge of the great secret. In snatches they learn something of the wisdom which is of good, andContinue reading “On a Poe Quotation for the Day”
On Holmesiana
January began and ended with Sherlock Holmes. On New Year’s Day, I went to see the new Sherlock Holmes film. Then, in the mood for more Sherlock Holmes, I read Loren D. Estleman’s Sherlock Holmes Vs. Dracula for perhaps the tenth time. This was followed by reading some of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original stories;Continue reading “On Holmesiana”
On a Holmesian Find
One of the rarest of all Sherlock Holmes books — and one of the most-sought-after — is Ellery Queen’s The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes. This anthology, published in 1944, collected Holmesian writings that had been published over the previous decades, with stories by Bret Harte, Mark Twain, John Kendrick Bangs, and many others. Some wereContinue reading “On a Holmesian Find”
On the Closing of Borders
The local Borders is closing. I went to the mall last night. Years ago, Owings Mill Mall was nice, upscale, nearly 100% occupancy. These days, it’s run down, junky, and vast sections of storefronts stand empty. Mainly, I wanted to go to GameStop and cash out an old pre-order, which the employees wouldn’t do. IContinue reading “On the Closing of Borders”
On A Needed Holiday
On occasion, my mind is stunned into a stupor. Sometimes it doesn’t take much. Writing about Twilight: New Moon collector dolls sufficed this morning; a thousand brain cells cried out in terror and were silenced. While in that slack-jawwed state, however, something occurred to me. There’s no Philip K. Dick Reading Day. There’s a TolkienContinue reading “On A Needed Holiday”
On Glenn Beck’s Common Silliness
Recently, out of curiosity (though a friend of mine called it “masochism”), I read one of Glenn Beck’s books — Glenn Beck’s Common Sense. In some respects, I live in a bubble, and I will say that my knowledge of Beck is nil, or very nearly so. I know he’s a Fox News personality ofContinue reading “On Glenn Beck’s Common Silliness”
On Tristram Shandy and Book Buying
I’ve decided that I’m going to use Barnes & Noble’s website more often for my book-buying needs. Our story begins two nights ago. I’d recently acquired Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story on DVD for less than five dollars. When it came out in 2006, I wanted to see it, despite never having readContinue reading “On Tristram Shandy and Book Buying”
On Restored Hemingway
A few months ago, in a production meeting at work, the marketing director said, in regards to an article I had written, “We’re not writing Hemingway here.” My retort went unvoiced: “No, I try and write like Fitzgerald, thanks.” Ernest Hemingway. F. Scott Fitzgerald. Two of the great American writers of the 20th-century. Both ex-pats,Continue reading “On Restored Hemingway”
On URLs as Written by Charles Dickens
Imagine, for a moment, that Charles Dickens wrote URLs. For the non-technical, a URL is a website address. A “Universal Resource Locator.” I presume you’re reading this from http://www.allyngibson.net/, though there are other places and other ways you might have found your way here. But, again, let us suppose that Charles Dickens wrote URLs. WeContinue reading “On URLs as Written by Charles Dickens”