“FEAR OF COMMITMENT”: I review Christopher Bram’s novel Exiles in America for the Washington Blade. I have discovered the Bizarro Graham Greene!–ah, that isn’t entirely fair, as Bram is a very good writer with prose and character strengths somewhat different from Greene’s. I enjoyed the novel a lot. You’ll have to read the review to get the “but,” and an explanation of the Greene comparison. EDITED: Oh bother. The link is broken. The Blade‘s web-fu team have been notified, and... Read more

KITCHEN ADVENTURES: EVE BRULEE. In general, bacon makes it better. But you know what bacon does NOT make better? My finger. When the bacon is very, very, very hot. Am blistery now. Woe. ANYWAY… two reports from the kitchenette. Grilled cheese sammich: This is my most successful attempt thus far. Still didn’t turn out perfect–I can’t flip the sandwich very well, so about half a tomato slice slid out from its bread-and-cheese shelter–but man, this was yummy and satisfying. Put... Read more

I’m playing guitar, all my blogwatches and me… Hit & Run: Under a tough new Fairfax County policy, residents can no longer donate food prepared in their homes or a church kitchen — be it a tuna casserole, sandwiches or even a batch of cookies — unless the kitchen is approved by the county, health officials said yesterday. They said the crackdown on home-cooked meals is aimed at preventing food poisoning among homeless people. I–it–but–AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH. and: “Looks as if one... Read more

LIKE TOAST BY POST. ONLY WITH NUNCHUCKS. Vol. 2 of Mail-Order Ninja–based on the Tokyopop award-winning short, and written by friend of this blog Joshua Elder–is available here, 11/28. It is about a ninja ordered by mail. I think it (or its predecessor, vol. 1) would be a great gift for any ninja-oriented child on your shopping list. Also, and quite awesomely, it will be syndicated “in over 45 newspapers nationwide”… thus proving that the funny pages still serve some... Read more

VERY SCATTERED THOUGHTS ON ST AELRED’S SPIRITUAL FRIENDSHIP: Read due to the discussion toward the end of this thread over at Disputed Mutability. I seem to recall that Andrew Sullivan cites it also, in Love Undetectable, so apparently it… speaks to a wide range of people. For my own part, I think I need to let it percolate a little while; here are my first impressions. If any of my readers have read it and want to chip in, please... Read more

OCTAVIA BUTLER’S BLOODCHILD AND OTHER STORIES: Read this over my Thanksgiving blog-hiatus, on recommendation from my sister among many others. Unflinching science fiction about compromise, power and its lack, necessity…. The worlds in these stories are very hard–when Butler, in an afterword, says that one of her stories is partly about “paying the rent,” she isn’t fooling around–and hope is hard-won at best. The people feel very, very real. I think the story I found most powerful was “The Evening... Read more

Young blogwatcher,Why the pretense? So reactions to the one-liner post from a week ago have ranged from, “Interesting thesis. You got anything to back it up?” to, “Woman–we have told you before what happens when you smoke the crack rock.” I’m not sure if I can cash it out to everyone’s satisfaction, but here are a couple thoughts: 1. The Divine Comedy is able to be a comedy because it’s Dante’s story; could it really be a comedy from the... Read more

The structure of the first part of my book–the massacre–is largely influenced by Rashomon….–Iris Chang, The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II. Not the most immediately relevant quote; I just thought it was interesting. I’m still in the first section. Read more

ALL OF LIFE IS A CHOICE OF GENRE. Read more

As soon as love is truly awakened, the moment of time is transformed for it into a form of eternity. Even erotic egoism cannot forbear swearing “eternal fidelity” and, for a fleeting moment, finding pleasure in actually believing in this eternity. How much more, then, does true love want to outlast time and, for this purpose, to rid itself of its most dangerous enemy, its own freedom of choice. Hence every true love has the inner form of a vow:... Read more