FICTION FRIDAY: Knit Wit

     “Who goes there?”      “A friend.  Winky sent me.”      “What’s the password?”      “More is more.”      “Enter, friend.  But remember, no telling people….”      “Oh, jingles!  Owwwww!”      “Winky should’ve warned you to put these dark glasses on.”      “The colors!  The….  Thank you, that’s better.”      “Yes, we wear ‘em allContinue reading “FICTION FRIDAY: Knit Wit”

GOING TO THE DOGS (or vice versa)

)      Among the highlights of a recent influx of postcards into my inventory is a healthy assortment of dogs.  Now, as we have mentioned hereintofore, the number one activity of dogs on postcards is, well, Number One.  Note this card, for example, in which the puppy’s name, Pee Wee, is pretty much a safetyContinue reading “GOING TO THE DOGS (or vice versa)”

SCREEN SCROOGES: Silent Supplement 2

     This is a supplement to the comparison of film versions of A Christmas Carol, taking a look at the surviving silent versions.  We considered the earliest surviving version, from 1901, last week.  After a lost version of A Christmas Carol made in Chicago in 1908, the next, and first American, Christmas Carol was releasedContinue reading “SCREEN SCROOGES: Silent Supplement 2”

FICTION FRIDAY: Grading on the Curve

“We’re glad to see you again.  What have you learned?” “Well, it isn’t just folklore: your Dead Man’s Curve has indeed been the site of a strange series of fatalities.” “That’s what we assumed.” “In 1915, a Mercer Raceabout was the first car to crash, killing its driver.  But the car was salvaged and, twoContinue reading “FICTION FRIDAY: Grading on the Curve”

SCREEN SCROOGES: Silent Supplement I

     A sorry spot in serializing some of my non-fiction works in this space is a nagging refrain of “Remember how hard this was to research?  Sure woulda been easier with the Interwebs”.  Take, for example, my comparison of screen versions of “A Christmas Carol”, serialized herein not so long ago.  It would easily haveContinue reading “SCREEN SCROOGES: Silent Supplement I”

SO…DID THEY MEAN….

     The joke archaeologist, digging around in bygone postcards, has turned up several which might or might not be a little naughtier than they look.  Some of them I can help with, while others have confused me.  Take the simple example above.  Caption and concept were popular in cards around the start of the lastContinue reading “SO…DID THEY MEAN….”

WEDNESDAY FICTION: In the Details

     “So I get three wishes?  Say yes or I’ll stick you back in the bottle.”      “Yes, my mistress, you are to receive, to the best of my ability, three wishes.”      “Good.  I had to slaughter the entire Psiclysmian royal family, AND their horses and dogs, for access to the chest where theyContinue reading “WEDNESDAY FICTION: In the Details”

THE SOUND AND THE FURRY: Kerrin and the Thorn Tree

     Kerrin lived in the city of Sartain, and she liked it.  She would write letters to her relatives who lived in the country, asking why they didn’t move to a nicer place.      “Everything in the city is clean and modern,” she wrote.  “We have nice, solid rick buildings with none of your thatchedContinue reading “THE SOUND AND THE FURRY: Kerrin and the Thorn Tree”

FICTION FRIDAY: Link to the Past

     Negotiating with an evil spirit is no joke.  Not from the human side, anyway.  The spirit stopped even attempting to hide its snickers as I went through the arduous and occasionally embarrassing ritual to make my request.      But at last I had it: one hour in my hometown fifty years to the momentContinue reading “FICTION FRIDAY: Link to the Past”