the words and worlds of John Robinson
Spring has sprung here in Tennessee. The grass is greener, flowers are blooming, the sun is brighter when it's not raining and the birds are chirpier outside my window in the mornings when I really don't want to drag myself out of bed and go to work. Ooh, those gosh-dang birds. Like most things in …
I've been reading quite a few short stories lately. One of the more interesting, and entertaining, ones I read was Annie Proulx's "The Blood Bay" from her 1999 collection, Close Range: Wyoming Stories. Proulx is best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Shipping News, and for "Brokeback Mountain", which can be found in Close …
High school senior Nath Storm is hired by local farmer Pete Morgan to do chores. Pete has a prosthetic leg and his family thinks it wouldn't be such a bad thing to have an extra hand with the harder work. Pete knows this is true, but pride will not let him admit to very much. …
Certain images are iconic and stay with us throughout our lives. Some are universally known like Batman's symbol or the Rolling Stones' lips and tongue logo. For me, my brain has never forgotten Captain America knocking Hitler's block off on the cover of Captain America Comics No. 1, published way back in March of 1941. …
Continue reading "The Adventures of Captain America, Sentinel of Liberty"
In Green Bay, Wisconsin, someone is dressing as a clown to scare the locals. This person doesn't really do anything besides hold black balloons and stand in one spot. Security cameras capture him and passing motorists snap photos. Taking social media and regional news outlets by storm, the sinister looking clown is nicknamed Gags and …
"Censure no more shall brand my humble name The child of passion and the fool of fame" Cancelled lines from "Childish Recollections" (1806) Recently, during a group discussion of poetry, I mentioned I have always loved Lord Byron's work. This received a laugh/groan from my friend, and fellow writer, Lacey. When I asked her what …
Continue reading "Byron: Child of Passion, Fool of Fame by Benita Eisler"
Back in the mid-nineties, I was on a trip to Florida with my family. We stayed in a motel at the midpoint before driving on the next day. Before we left the motel that morning, everyone met in my aunt and uncle's room. My cousin was putting the finishing touches of her make-up on in …
Salman Rushdie once said, "A book that isn't worth reading twice isn't worth reading once." He wasn't the originator of the saying, and he couldn't remember who first said it, but none of that detracts from the truth of the statement.  There are about eight, or nine, books (novels) I have read more than three …
Continue reading "Book of the Month, March: The Virgin Suicides"
In the Bronx, small businesses are being bought for big bucks in the name of gentrification. The company doing all the buying is an international real estate conglomerate called Murnau and, for them, money is no object. Where there were once salons and grocers, there are now boarded up windows, plastered with Murnau flyers. The …
Continue reading "Movie of the Week: Vampires vs. the Bronx"
I finally got around to reading the remaining three issues of Night Nurse. If you're in the mood for a snapshot of the seventies, you could really do worse than these comics. If you get tired of the superhuman superhero stuff, these are a charming diversion. If they don't make you cringe, they will at least …
Curio Macabre 