Category: fiction

Formulas

     Enough of the political / current events crap for today. Maybe Linda or the Colonel will ring in with something later. My mind is on matters fictional.      I’ve ranted several times, here and elsewhere, about the priority I place on originality. Even before the “indie explosion,” original ideas and approaches in novel-length fiction …

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Free Fiction!

On January 1, 2022, my new Onteora County romance The Discovery Phase will be a free download at Amazon! One day only, so get yours while it’s free!      And by the way, Happy New Year!

Perfection: Its Uses And Abuses

     Once again, I have to take the C.S.O. to a medical procedure a little later. And once again, my “Future Columns” folder is near to bursting. Therefore, in an <sarcasm>unprecedented act of self-assertion,</sarcasm> I’m going to write about what I damned well please.      ‘Tis the season to be ornery. ***      To me, …

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Some Early Christmas Presents To Indie Colleagues

     Here we are: December 23, only two days from the Feast of the Nativity, Christianity’s second-biggest holy day. But many Americans’ thoughts remain on entirely secular matters, especially the purchasing and wrapping of presents for others. As one of my parish priests put it, this is the time of year we go running around …

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New Fiction

     Loren was good looking, well mannered, and highly intelligent. He was broadly competent in applied mathematics, the physical sciences, and computer technology. He could fix almost anything, and would do so happily. Yet for years he’d spent most of his days doing janitorial work at a state college. While at age forty-eight he had …

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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 …

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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 …

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The War Is Over

     All right, enough of that uplift stuff. Let’s get back to the depressing crap:      Yes, do have a nice day.

The Vampire And The Caretaker

     [For today I have an agenda that strongly resembles chattel slavery, so have a short story. I wrote it just after seeing 30 Days of Night. It’s the story that gave birth to Evan Conklin, the co-protagonist of Antiquities. — FWP] ***      Gavin’s alarm clock buzzed with its usual peevish insistence. He cracked …

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So You Think Things Can’t Get Any Worse?

     Think again: The Glut      “Wake up! Wake up!”      “Huh?” Smith came slowly to consciousness. The clock on his nightstand told him it was 2:00 AM. He turned on the light and peered up at the intruder. “What’s the matter…hey, who are you?”      The figure at his bedside was plainly no one …

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Hard Times For Superherodom

     “What do you mean?” I hear you say. Well, you know how tough it can be when a trade gets overpopulated. Think of America’s legal profession. Today there are more than one million lawyers in these United States. More than a lawyer for every three hundred Americans. There simply isn’t enough legal work to …

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Under Way As We Speak…

     …is a brand new F&SF convention, specifically oriented toward writers and readers in the Right:      BasedCon survived a July deplatforming attempt. Currently underway in beautiful Norton Shores, Michigan, BasedCon has sold out and turned a profit in its debut outing. Celebrate this gathering for based authors and fans of science fiction and fantasy …

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A Comment On Commentary

     Back in the heyday of blogging, everyone and his halfwit Uncle Herman had a blog. There were, at peak, over 50 million such sites. Most, of course, were of no broad consequence: little was posted there, and most of that was worthless. However, they gave their “proprietors” a sense that they could be listened …

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The Last Of The Really Fluffy Towels

     I’m too sick of, with, and from current events to write about them. Sorry, Gentle Readers. Co-Conspirators Linda and the Colonel are doing enough of that, so please enjoy (?) their emissions while I flush the static out of my head.      My sovereign remedy for “world is too much with me” syndrome is …

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Assorted Fiction Notes And Observations

     In case I haven’t done so before, I’d like to issue a hearty recommendation of Philip S. Power’s Damsel series: Damsel: No More Damsel: Slaying Demons Damsel: Wilderness Hannah Damsel: Soda Supreme      You know what a raving beast I am about originality. Well, here’s a giant helping. Hannah de Peyser is an heiress …

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Free Fiction

     For today only, my latest novel In Vino:      …is a free download at Amazon.      Pope Clement XV, the first American to be raised to the papacy, is under attack from within the Vatican. Powerful cardinals, averse to his efforts to reform the Catholic clergy, are trying to force him to resign his …

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One Week From Today

     …that is, on Saturday, August 7 in this Year of Our Lord 2021,      …will be a free download at Amazon. Feel free to indulge yourself (and save a few bucks) in the paramount near-future Catholic science fiction novel of the year!      Pope Clement XV, the first American to be raised to the …

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Having It Both Ways

     I’ve ranted on other occasions about my strong preference for stand-alone novels: i.e., no unending series in prospect and no need to purchase a sequel to find out how the story ends. Now and then I find one that “cheats” in some fashion, usually by incorporating plot threads that aren’t critical to the resolution …

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An Inherently Un-Titleable Piece

     Full Disclosure: There are people who think I’m crazy. They’re not a majority…yet. But I would be remiss were I not to mention their existence. “But why?” I hear you ask. Well, mostly because I’m a libertarian-conservative Catholic patriot, with emphasis on Catholic. “How,” they ask, “could anyone so devoted to freedom simultaneously embrace …

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How They Did It

     A bit obscure even for a Fran Porretto title, eh? Well, that’s not accidental.      I own exactly one “collectible” book: a first-edition copy of East and West, the earliest collection of W. Somerset Maugham’s short stories. I inherited it from an uncle who was a great reader and an aficionado of Maugham. The …

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