My new short story “The Bottle of Red Zinfandel” is now available in Sci Phi Journal issue 6. Electronic and paper copies of this periodical are available.
My essay for Stephen King Revisted on Roadwork is now available, as is Rich’s commentary essay: The First Energy Crisis.
Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining: Studies in the Horror Film, edited by my buddy Danel Olson, got a nice mention by Michael Dirda in the Washington Post. I haven’t seen the book yet, but I hear it’s quite spectacular.
The Thriller Awards will be presented at ThrillerFest X in NYC this weekend. My short story “The Honey Trap” is vying with four others in the Best Short Story category. I figure my odds of winning are slim, but it was both an honor and a surprise to be nominated.
The past couple of weeks have been exciting and eventful. As I mentioned last time, my daughter got married in mid-June. However, they elected to have the reception this past weekend instead of immediately after the ceremony, and it was held here in Texas. So we’ve had lots of people visiting for the big event, which was on Friday evening. Music was by a “small big band” and a Frank Sinatra cover singer. We had fireworks at the end of the evening, too, a prelude for the July 4th celebration.
On Saturday, we took our visitors to the nearby park, where we understood the viewing would be favorable. Afternoon showers passed through, but it was clear and dry at the park and we essentially had front row seats to the fireworks. Our community launched them from two different locations, in sync with each other. We could see the second batch cresting the trees on the other side of the lake, but the primary fireworks went off right in front of us. Lasted 20 minutes—quite a spectacle. The dog with the people sitting near us wasn’t quite so impressed, though. It bolted during the grand finale, and I was surprised that its owners were able to recapture it in the darkness.
We watched the World Cup final on Sunday evening, which was thrilling in its own right. No one expected the game to start out the way it did, with four US goals in 16 minutes. The one from mid-field was especially impressive. We were glad Japan got back into the game a little, at least, so it wasn’t a total rout. Apparently it was the most-watched soccer match in the US ever.
Less than two weeks until Necon!
