Silence was written by Shusako Endo, who is described by the book’s notes as being Japan’s foremost novelist. This fact brings the total number of Japanese novelists that I’ve read or ever known of to a whopping one. What’s notable about his eminence—an eminence which may still hold true since his death in 1992—is that … Book Review: Silence
There’s a two things you learn when you stay overnight for a few consecutive days at a hospital, waiting for test results for a loved one. One is that the passage of time is entirely subjective, a phenomenon noted when the circadian rhythm of one’s daily routine is smashed to bits. The other is that … Happy Birthday, Here’s A Meal Ticket for the Hospital Cafeteria
I’m not going to write much here or post a cute picture as I’m working off caffeine fumes and a broken sleep pattern from the night before. Bored in the Breakroom is now available—press here. Note: the Diesel bookstore link is being saucy, but the others are fine so far.
There are two notable births of late, one of which involves my new son, Nickolas Manni DiNitto, while the other involves my e-book, Bored in the Breakroom. The latter of these I will post about tomorrow, the former of which I will post a photo (look to the side). For reasons unknown the e-self-publisher I … Babies Are Me
Becky Garrison’s book isn’t really necessary, and I mean that in the nicest-spirited way possible. The New Atheist Crusaders and Their Unholy Grail: The Misguided Quest to Destroy Your Faith (deep breath) is Garrison’s jab back at the new atheist polemicists and their proposition—if I understand it correctly—that religion is no good because it produces … Book Review: The New Atheist Crusaders and Their Unholy Grail
Every so often one comes across the blog run by someone competent enough in writing that a mere Twitter mention seems inadequate, like throwing a brick to fill a sinkhole. Not a small sinkhole, but the one that just devoured your shack of a house and your rich, overbearing neighbor’s fleet of Hummers and his … I’m Not Tweeting About Jesse Pearson’s Blog
There’s only a handful of things that separate good storytelling from the sea of decent but forgettable reads, and it’s creating a sense of mystery and explaining away only part of it. It properly engages the reader’s imagination, which, I’m starting to believe, causes a physiological reaction not unlike the reaction one might receive from … Stop Telling Me Everything About Everything
There’s not much you can do for an e-book of short stories except things like this. I’m not extroverted or good-looking enough to do a Youtube video or talented enough to make a trailer, so this is the biggest gun in my arsenal, and the bullet is a stock photo I bought for $9. The … The Unnecessary E-book Cover Teaser Post
Continuing my unofficial tour of all the books you read in high school and never entertained a thought about again, I come to All Quiet on the Western Front. Erich Maria Remarque’s archaic, turn-of-the-century German prose, weirded out teenage reading levels America-wide and was rivaled only by Hemingway’s casual, complacent-shrug narration about life-changing events. All … Book Review: All Quiet on the Western Front
Warning: cryptic content below. I’m going to attempt a little real-world experiment with anonymous fiction writing. I’ll explain more in the next post if the experiment ever advances. Please notice the emphasis on “if” in that last sentence. When you’re depending on people that you haven’t met and don’t know that they’re being depended upon … Anonymous Fiction, Part 1
I just read two very-related articles on sites of disparate focus that will not be linked in this post. One post was concerning the Google science fair and how the top three entrants were girls, a story that ends up undermining, if we’re being honest with ourselves, against both boys and girls. The other article … I Did an Autopsy on Harry Potter and He’s a Woman
Florida to Maine by Bike and Train is Seth W’s third e-book and end result of a traveling stint he recently completed. After the cover, which has Seth channeling Leonidas on his bike, the pages are filled with photos, stories about the places he visited, and some good advice if there’s been something you’ve always … Book Review: Florida to Maine by Bike and Train
Via Gallycat, the Oxford people across the pond have dropped support for their comma in their official style guide. If you didn’t know — and I didn’t know it had an official name — the Oxford comma is that last comma in a list of things. Like this: He’s allergic to bananas, kiwi, strawberries, and … The Oxford People Snoot It Up Towards Final Commas
WorldNetDaily is a huge, festering neocon sore on the Internet’s bum-bum so this is probably a bit of selective reasoning on their part, but they’re reporting that Arianna Huffington wants dudes to touch themselves. The article, written by Huffington for everydayhealth.com, ended up on AOL.com’s front page. Shocking!: The health site’s subtitle read, “Ever wonder … Huffington Post Wants Men to Walk the Dog More Often
This is a photo of me, looking a little awkward, and my bicycle, Functional, a 25 year old steel frame Trek 520. I bought it off of someone on ebay over a year ago, and it came with a sticker that just said “Functional” on it, hence its name. If you click for the larger … A Very Functional Photograph of Me
The other night on PBS there was a documentary on post-Soviet Russian families. A father, speaking to someone offscreen, said that his children don’t read much because there’s no interest in books any more. I didn’t see what happened after that but I inferred that when the father was younger, when the hammer and sickle … Time to Bring Back Book Banning
On my way back from the optometrist this morning I walked up 4th avenue, which was one of the first streets on which I remember driving in Pittsburgh. It was some years ago after a job interview. 4th avenue starts (or ends) at PPG Place, a curious agglomeration of crystalline spires and shimmering glass. There … An Extremely Subtle Reminder of My Pending E-book, Bored in the Breakroom
My daughter, Elena, reads a lot, so it’s natural that eventually she would start writing — which she has done. Well, she wrote in the sense that she comes up with stories, but to actually commit them to paper would strain the limits of time and legibility. So I dutifully wrote down her epic stories … Fan Fiction by a Five Year Old: The Hello Kitty Chronicles
I first heard about Philadelphia-based artist Michael Bukowski when I came across his Yog-Blogsoth site, where he is doing his own visual interpretations of all the H.P. Lovecraft alien-gods. He also has a normal site (if you can call it normal) at lastchanceillustraion.com, that addresses his other artistic explorations. In this here little interview you’ll … Interview: Michael Bukowski
I just spent about a week of vacation in an area of the nation where people have begun to worship a group of people named after a kind of bear. I brought back about 100 minahs of processed wood and right now my eyes have been overlayed with a sheen of lead. There were four … Back From the Flexed-Arm State