Okay, so there’s a guy named Byron Borger, who runs a truly quality independent bookstore called Hearts & Minds in Dallastown, PA. I know Byron because on his store’s website he once named my book Penguins, Pain and the Whole Shebang as a Best Book of the Year, 2006. (Specifically, he tagged it as one of that year’s three Funniest Books. Bragging break! Part of what Byron wrote about Penguins was, “This pocket-sized hardback is funny from the outset … .... Read more
In response to some (lovely) e-mails I’ve received, I’d like to say that everything you read here about Penguins, Pain and the Whole Shebang is also true about I’m OK–You’re Not. Except these are the online places to buy I’m OK: Christianbook.com Amazon Barnes & Noble Thanks. Oh, wait! There’s more! Pretty extremely apropos of not entirely a lot, the paperback edition of Comma Sense just came out. (Find some Major Comedy Yuks from that book at When Punctuation Goes Really,... Read more
New research into the romantic lives of famous men throughout history has verified what social historians have long suspected: eminent men have always tried to get dates, too. And now, thanks to the tireless research team working at Harvard’s James Q. Riddely Institute for Hornier Histories, we now know the pick-up lines some of them used when doing so. “Discovering the pick-up lines of history’s most important men has really been exciting,” says project leader Melvin Phinbone. “It was a... Read more
The post you are looking for is included in HA!, a full-sized collection of five years worth of my best humor. If you are a Kindle owner and a member of Amazon Prime, you can borrow HA! for free, with no due dates. (If you don’t own a Kindle, here’s where to get one. To learn more about Amazon Prime—and to get a one-month free trial—go here. ) As per Amazon’s rules, content included in the Kindle Lending Library program... Read more
Hi. I’m Lucas Smith. I promise I’m not Jack Bauer in disguise. Or a hippy serial killer. Hey, John Shore Readers! I’m not, nor have ever been, John Shore, but on those dark nights of the soul, I do comfort myself with the thought that perhaps I had a small something to do with a teeny-tiny piece of the big puzzle that brought John Shore to you all. My name’s Lucas Smith, and the publication of John’s first solo book, “Penguins, Pain... Read more
People have been writing to say that their local bookstores don’t carry Penguins, the book of mine about which I last blogged. I’m sorry, I should have said: by far the easiest way to get hold of that book is through an online bookseller such as Amazon, or Barnes and Noble. Small titles such as this one simply don’t have the kind of distribution enjoyed by so many of the other 200,000 books published each year. Two hundred thousand book a... Read more
Yesterday I received in the mail a copy of DRAN, a thick, glossy German magazine for young, hip, twenty-something Christians. It was sent to me because right smack in its middle is a three-page excerpt from my book, “Penguins, Pain and the Whole Shebang: Why I Do The Things I Do,” by God (as told to John Shore). A German-language edition of the book is coming out this month from the giant German publisher Brockhaus-Verlag; I guess someone from DRAN read the book, liked it–and... Read more
If there’s one thing you can say about people, it’s that we like things to be settled. When it comes to uncertainty, ambiguity, mystery, or complexity beyond our grasp, we prefer to have as little as possible in our lives, thank you very much. Doubt and security don’t go hand in hand. And we definitely prefer security. I don’t want to wonder where my next meal is coming from. I don’t want to hope that my loved ones are okay.... Read more
I tend to think that I have all the time in the world to become the person God wants me to be–or to at the very least do the things that I have every last reason to understand God intends for me to do. The underlying reason for which I tell myself that I have all the time in the world to do what God wants me to do is because I know that what God wants me to do... Read more
This morning, from 11:30 to noon (Pacific Time) on KDIA AM 1640, “Pastor Fred” will interview me and have me chat with listeners who call into his radio show Reaching For Life. (You can also listen online.) For those of you who haven’t heard me on the radio before, this is an outstanding opportunity for you to check out the sonic impact of my severely deviated septum. No (well, yes) but if you like me, call in, and ask me total softball questions, like, “So, John,... Read more
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