Category Archive

In the spring of 2019, I wrote a freelance article focusing on Suzi Weinart, a mystery writer living in Ashburn, Va., with a unique setting for her fictional crimes: garage sales. Weinart has written several novels, and her books even inspired a series of made-for-TV movies on the Hallmark Channel. She’s an interesting author who has chosen a surprisingly rich …

Originally appeared May 15, 2015, on my blog, X-Ray Spex. David Letterman’s final show aired May 20.   The first time I saw David Letterman was during a 1979 episode of “Mork and Mindy. Dave played the leader of an EST-like encounter group who bullied his followers while endlessly bragging about his money and fancy car. Naturally, the point of …

A look at men’s magazines in the days before centerfolds Originally published in Nowheresville: Death by Starlight #3, 1995 If you want to know what a historical era was really like, examine the literature of the day. For the Elizabethan era, you read Shakespeare. For the Jazz Age, you read Fitzgerald. And for the 1950s, you read magazines like “Stag,” …

Originally appeared Dec. 29, 2015, on my blog, X-Ray Spex. First of all, SPOILERS. For the whole movie. If you haven’t seen it, don’t read this. OK? OK. Second of all, let me just say this: I liked it. A lot. It was a smart, fast-paced movie that delivered the right amount of both thrills and emotional punches, and more …