Francis W. Porretto
Mount Sinai, NY USA
Author's posts
Dec 06 2021
Stylings
One of my perennial quandaries, which rises afresh every time I complete a novel, is expressed in a simple question: “What is style?” Perhaps even more tellingly, I could ask: “Where is style?” How does it manifest itself in a story? I’ve batted this around with other writers, other avid readers, and my Newfoundlands …
Dec 05 2021
Images Of Perfection
Good morning, Gentle Reader. Yes, I “took yesterday off.” After a fashion, anyway. I spent it finishing the first draft of my novel-under-construction, which is now in the hands of my test readers. And with that elephant off my back, I feel years…well, maybe a month or two younger. So I’m back at my …
Dec 03 2021
Well, Well! What Do We Have Here?
I’ve been having a lot of “What’s the use?” days lately. For the reasons, start with the Glenn Beck video below, add a few issues of a personal character, and stir briskly. And then, every so often someone adds an olive: Augustin Garcia, 63, was arrested thrice last week for stealing a 12-pack …
Dec 02 2021
This Man Speaks For Me
I’ve admired Glenn Beck ever since his days on “Headline News.” After viewing the video below, I admire him even more. I’ll bet, after you’ve watched it, you’ll say he speaks for you too: Does he?
Dec 02 2021
The Price Of Admission
Most “exclusive” groups have a membership test: a specific course of action the applicant must fulfill to qualify for admission. Often, within such a group there exists an inner circle with even more demanding requirements for entry. In each case, the advantages that accrue to the member will be proportional to the severity of …
Dec 01 2021
Timing Is Everything
We’ve had enough politics and current events for now. Let’s talk fiction. If you undertake to write suspense or thriller fiction, you will come to grips with the problem of timing: in your staging of the conflicts, in your characterizations of the antagonists, and above all in the selection and narration of events …
Nov 30 2021
Club Membership Uber Alles!
If you have any memory of the Brett Kavanaugh hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee a few years back, you might remember this: To me, the most important snippet of Senator Graham’s tirade is when he points to the Democrats on the committee and says “These have been my friends.” It’s a massively …
Nov 29 2021
The Will To Disbelieve
The one thing of which there is no shortage in these United States is wishful thinking. It’s more pandemic than the WuFlu and orders of magnitude more destructive. Sadly, some of that wishful thinking is on the Right. The rioting and organized theft in the larger cities has revealed an ugly truth. Many …
Nov 28 2021
Peering Over The Horizon
(With observations from an assortment of Freds.) First, a helpful graphic: Next, an observation from a Fred: “A country deserves what it tolerates, and will assuredly get more of it.” – Fred Reed The point appears to have eluded about half the country. We’re being impoverished, overrun, and generally abused …
Nov 27 2021
Perverse Lessons
I wasn’t going to post anything today, as I’m driving toward the end of the novel-under-construction and wanted to reserve the day for that. However, a YouTube video that most would deem quite harmless caught my attention: A sweet story, eh? Yes, it’s nice that the clerk was ultimately rewarded for his kindness. …
Nov 26 2021
Doing The Old Thing
Caught you scratching your head over the title, did I? No doubt you’re wondering what the “old thing” is. Well, skipping all the subtleties to jump right to the entirely justified conclusion, it is I. Your humble commentator. As I am feeling benevolent (which is seldom the case in these latter days) and pleasantly …
Nov 24 2021
The Information Crisis
Yesterday’s piece seems to have rubbed a few raw nerves even rawer. I meant every word of it, so those who took umbrage at it for whatever reason can kiss my red-white-and-blue ass. That goes for the anti-Semites, the “flyovers” who think the disease is confined to the coasts, the militant atheists who can’t …
Nov 23 2021
A Walking Corpse
This piece will be rather brutal, I fear. I have some ugly ground to cover, and it’s not easily compressed into a thousand exquisitely appropriate and entirely non-vulgar words. Someone once posited that the way to structure an exposition is to lead off by telling your audience what you will tell them. You …
Nov 22 2021
When Systematic Analysis Is No Longer Necessary
(I chose the title because I’ve grown weary of titles that include “masks dropping.”) When the enemy shows you his motivations in broad daylight, you no longer need to analyze about them. This is especially the case when his deeds are a perfect match to his words. The media, in covering the …
Nov 21 2021
For The Feast Of Christ The King
[Today is the Feast of Christ The King, which falls on the last Sunday before Advent. It’s a unique holy day for several reasons, and one that I find particularly personally significant. The essay below first appeared at Eternity Road on January 6, 2008. I find that I cannot improve upon it, for which …
Nov 20 2021
What It Took
Quite a lot, actually. It took personal courage: both from the judge, who will probably be the focus of left-wing fury for the rest of his life, and from the twelve men and women who sat in ultimate judgment. The jurors knew that someone would be able to identify them afterward. They knew …
Nov 19 2021
A Very Weak Point
There are many weak points in American life, by which I mean areas or subjects of vulnerability that afflict the majority of American families. These past two years, one that has come under the spotlight – and for more reasons that one – is the education of our children. The nationalization of education …
Nov 18 2021
From The Smoke-Filled Rooms (UPDATED)
“Control the coinage and the courts. Let the rabble have the rest.” – attributed to Shaddam IV, Padishah Emperor of the known universe at the time of the rise of Paul Atreides a.k.a. Muad’Dib It’s been a while since that image was used as a metaphor for the machinations of central bankers. I’m …
Nov 16 2021
Is Freedom Possible And Achievable?
Among my heroes, the great Herbert Spencer (1820-1902) stands very high indeed, not far behind Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Jefferson, and whoever it was that invented pasta. At one time, Spencer was the most popular writer in the English-speaking world. Two of his books, Social Statics and The Man Versus The State, are considered indispensable …
Nov 15 2021
A Bridge Out In The Highways Of The Mind
Just a little while earlier, I was grumbling over my inability to get my snowblower serviced for the coming winter. It led to other, semi-connected thoughts. The first was why, at my advanced (and still advancing) age I should be wrestling with a deadly device that’s more than twice as heavy as I am. …
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