Last Sunday, ukulele master Stuart Fuchs—aka “Stukulele”—taught the second part of a uke-a-billy workshop at the Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Gaitherburg. I’d missed part one the month before thanks to sleet and freezing rain, which would have prevented me from returning home had I ventured out, but I’d glad to say that due to Stu’s ability to convey information, I quickly caught up.

It was very important to me that I do so, because Stu followed up his workshop with an amazing concert, during which the entire class was called on stage to back him up for “Rock Around the Clock” and “Twenty Flight Rock.” And I didn’t want to let him down! (more…)

Will you be at Awesome Con in D.C. this weekend? If so, come listen to me pontificate on the panel, “Rise and Prevalence of Dystopian Science Fiction in Pop Culture,” which is set to take place tomorrow, Saturday, April 19th, at 11:15 a.m. in Room 206.

Here’s what you’ll hear Clyde Wilcox, Patrick Thaddeus Jackson, Robert Chase, and me chewing over should you drop by:

What is the behind the rise of dystopian science fiction and fantasy in pop culture today, and the corresponding decrease of optimistic science fiction? Shows like The Walking Dead and Continuum show different spectrums of a dystopian fate for humanity—one is so-called “apocalyptic,” while the other portrays a future devoid of democracy and ruled by corporations. Most sci-fi movies also have some kind of anti-future bent, and few and far between are movies and television programming showing a positive example of the future. Mixing discussion and clips from example shows and films, panelists— some of whom will include sci-fi and comic authors—will discuss the merits of using dystopian vs. optimistic sci-fi for storytelling, and also try to explain the rise of dystopian sci-fi over the past two decades and the effect these two models of science fiction have on society. Is there a corresponding trend in literature, as well?

If you’ll be at the con but can’t make the panel, let me know anyway. I’d love to catch up.

Hope to see you there!

Irene and I drove to New York Tuesday and spent the night, which as it turned out wasn’t the best time to have done so, because it meant we woke Wednesday to an ice-coated car. (On April 16?) And the long drive home last night, which didn’t get us to bed until after 3:00 a.m., exhausted us. But it was all worthwhile, because the purpose of our trip was to spend another delightful afternoon with dear friend and comic book legend Marie Severin.

We love Marie, and always have. It’s been decades since either Irene or I worked in comics, and since then, she’s the only one we met back in those days whom we make a consistent effort to connect with rather than leaving it to chance encounters during conventions. Marie feels like family, that zany aunt we all wish we had but which most of us only get to meet in movies or on TV. (more…)

Irene and I held our annual Thank God It’s Spring daffodil party a week ago Saturday, something we started doing after we moved to eight acres in West Virginia and began planting thousands of bulbs. I’ve had my brain in an as-yet-untitled new short story, which is why I haven’t previously shared how it all went down, but I thought it safe now to take a break from revisions to share.

This year, 33 guest made the trek to our place to say farewell to Winter. The weather cooperated—the sun was out all day, and the temperature hovered in the upper 50s. (more…)

I’ve been relatively quiet here lately due to last weekend’s Spring party, which required a lot of prep and recovery time, combined with the editing of my new short story, which has been occupying most of writing mind. Because whenever I’ve been thinking of posting, I’ve then thought that if I have energy to blog, I should, since I have a story near completion, instead keep revising, revising, revising!

And so the story continues to successfully coalesce, and might even be ready to send to market in a week or two, but surprisingly, I’ve no final title yet, just many working titles which have been toyed with and then almost immediately rejected.

Which is odd for me. Usually, my titles come quickly, sometimes even before I’ve started writing the story itself. And if not that early, then definitely somewhere in the middle of my first draft. I have no doubt that the necessary title will appear from my subconscious when it’s ready, probably popping into my head the same day I finalize the text, but I do find it odd.

In any case, here are the the titles I’ve rejected so far

“Passing for Normal”

“Dead Inside”

“We All Deserved Better”

“This Impossibility, This Inevitability”

“Impossibility, Inevitability, and the Space Between””

“Invisibility, Impossibility, Inevitability”

“Becoming Invisible, Becoming Seen”

“Objects in the Mirror Are More Normal Than They Appear”

“Bodies Do Not Lie”

“That Fear of Being Seen”

“The Presence of Absence”

Well, not all of them. There was one more working title—the first one, which was nothing more than a few words spelling out exactly what the story is about, with no obfuscation. But since I don’t want anybody to know exactly what the story is about until they sit down to read the story, I’m keeping that one to myself!

I celebrated my birthday last week, but then, based on the hundreds of celebratory messages I received via Twitter and Facebook, if you’re bothering to come here, you probably already knew that. And while passing along best wishes for the day, many wondered in what foodie way I planned to celebrate. (I guess I’ve developed a reputation.)

I didn’t have time to tell you here until now, because prepping for our annual daffodil party Saturday (about which more later) took precedence over pretty much everything, but Irene and I went out for a birthday dinner at Family Meal, a Bryan Voltaggio restaurant which we first visited in July 2012 within a few weeks of its opening. It serves quality comfort food, and we try to eat there as often as we can when we have a reason to pass through Frederick, Maryland, but this time, my birthday was reason enough for a special trip.

I’ve been working my way through the menu ever since Family Meal opened, so except for the dessert, I made sure to only order dishes I hadn’t tried before. We started with a smoked scallop with sweet potato, chard, and green tomato.

This being Family Meal, I expected a succulent scallop, but not one that jaw-droppingly humongous. An excellent starter. (more…)

I haven’t posted here recently because prepping for Saturday’s daffodil party (about which more later) took up almost all of my time. But as I get back up to speed, here are last month’s collected dreams as originally shared on Twitter. I always find they make a bit more poetic sense when placed up against each other like this.

Last month’s dreams starred the Queen of England, Harlan Ellison, Laurence Olivier, Stan Lee, Oprah Winfrey and others.

Delve into my subconscious … if you dare.

March 2014


Many dreams last night, almost entirely lost. Only snippets remain, without context: Jack Dann, Louis C.K., a unicorn, my son a toddler.
 Mar 31

I dreamt I was a car thief challenged by a TV show to punk Ben Affleck by stealing his. It took me until the very last second to succeed.
 Mar 30

I dreamt I ate a pint of ice cream while riding in a car with Hurley. He wanted some, but I wouldn’t share my spoon. Luckily, he found one.
 Mar 30

I dreamt I arrived at a swimming pool to find hundreds of noisy kids … and the Queen of England in full regalia. We discussed her agenda.
 Mar 30

I dreamt I was at Comic-Con waiting to interview Harlan Ellison about his new comics miniseries tying together the entire Marvel universe.
 Mar 28

I dreamt I was standing in front of an airport departures board ready to board the next flight to whichever destination was the most exotic.
 Mar 28

I dreamt I was microwaving tons of popcorn — but not to eat. I was using it as packing material because we were moving.
 Mar 27

I dreamt my car was suddenly coated with ice. I stopped, but was trapped inside, so I put on the blinkers and hoped I wouldn’t get hit. 
Mar 27

I dreamt my grown son entertained guests by banging out “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” with mallets on a toy xylophone. Mar 27

I dreamt I was unpacking bags of groceries and loading the freezer in the dark, and my wife shouted to knock at off — it was 2:00 a.m.!
 Mar 27 (more…)

This morning, I finished the second draft of my first new short story in far too long. The second draft came in at 10,660 words vs. a first draft length of 5,338 words. I could have given you a ballpark figure for this new draft before I even began my revisions—my second drafts are invariably twice the length of my first drafts. It’s not intentional. I’m not deliberately aiming for that doubling. That’s just how my mind works when adding detail to the armature of a story.

As for the title, I don’t have one yet. Oh, I have plenty of working titles, but all of those have been tested and rejected. A few of the ones unlikely to end up attached to this tale are “People, Like Balloons,” “We All Deserved Better,” “This Impossibility, This Inevitability,” and “Impossibility, Inevitability, and the Space Between.”

There’ll be several more drafts before I’m ready to unleash the story on an editor. But why should you have to wait for a peek until someone else deems it worthy? Here’s some of the first draft which I been sharing immediately after having written it over on Instagram and Twitter. As you can see, I start off working in a longhand that’s scribbled so quickly and illegibly that the result is barely decipherable even to me.

Enjoy. Or something.

(more…)

Sunday night’s surprise snowfall forced me to cancel our dinner reservations at the recently opened Aggio, which caused me to undergo a bit of Bryan Voltaggio withdrawal. Luckily, I had various errands to run over in Maryland Tuesday, which gave me a perfectly good reason to drop by one of the chef’s other restaurants, Family Meal. I’ve been enjoying that spot ever since it opened back in 2012.

I started, of course, with my favorite appetizer, the chicken pot pie fritters.

When I placed my order, the server indicated that the recipe had been tweaked to include crushed Ritz crackers in the crust. Surprisingly, this improved a concept I already enjoyed. The coating held together the pot pie filling more tightly, and made for an even more interesting contrast between the shell and what was inside. (more…)

I learned Sunday that my oldest friend in the world, Robert Freedman, had passed away a few days earlier. Except for my mother and my younger brother, I’d known him longer than anyone on the planet—54 years, which is a startling length of time to contemplate.

We were in the same kindergarten class at Brooklyn’s P.S. 238, and continued together in the same class through the 5th grade. We were inseparable, with a similar sense of humor, always competing for the title of class clown. We’d trade whatever jokes we’d heard from comedians the night before on TV, which meant we were often chastised by teachers for talking too much or laughing too loud. But that wasn’t going to stop either of us from getting to the punchline of whatever joke Henny Youngman had told on The Ed Sullivan Show the night before! (more…)