So Ends the First Quarter

The first quarter drew to a close on Tuesday. I’m very impressed that we got through the stretch without a day off and with just two diagnosed cases of Covid-19. Our protocols seem to be working, which is a relief to one and all. Our principal decided that since we hadn’t had a day off

It was 40 Years Ago Today

I met Deb in our sophomore year at SUNY-Binghamton. My girlfriend moved on to her floor so we were just friends. But I liked her and in time I grew to like her a lot. Fortunately, I got dumped and she eventually broke up with her boyfriend. May 1980, engaged and graduating from college. We

Thrilling Adventure Yarns 2021 Begins its Kickstarter Campaign

I never expected 400 backers and reaching 248% of the goal when I launched the Kickstarter campaign for Thrilling Adventure Yarns in 2019. I just knew I loved the old pulp magazines and wanted to have fun with them, pay tribute to their influence on me as a reader. When the book debuted that summer,

Happy Book Day x Three

Writers accept assignments and agree to deadlines and then it is entirely up to the publisher what happens next. As a result, three different jobs, written at three entirely different times, arrive today for your reading pleasure. I began writing Flash: 100 Greatest Moments during the summer of 2019 with the book scheduled for a

One Month-Plus Down

I knew there would be plenty of challenges moving to hybrid teaching but with each extra step, the amount of time for preparing, executing, and grading each lesson has snowballed so I find myself taking a lot more time than I anticipated. My hallway with heavy plastic sheeting to shield students as they shuffle following

And the School Year Begins

After extra time to prepare, the school year began in earnest on Thursday. Here’s how the in-class students see the online students. My desk got moved upfront to create more socially distant desk spaces for the students. I have five freshmen classes and it’s interesting as their personalities are starting to take shape. Overall, four

Watching Lots of Television

An upside to the social distancing has been our sampling lots and lots of television series. As our normal fare ended their runs, we began working through shows across the various streaming platforms. Beecham House was an interesting look at India at the end of the 18th Century. I’m having trouble recalling all the shows

Convention Wrap-Up: Missing were Reasons to Hire and Reasons to Fire

I blog rarely about politics but now that the two weeks of conventions are thankfully in the past, we have nine weeks to make some important decisions. Showing the Democrats’ diversity was a strong visual theme throughout their four day convention. Both the Democrats and the Republicans put on their mercifully truncated shows, each speaking

The Final Day of Summer Break

Thanks to an adjustment to the academic calendar, teachers were granted three bonus days of summer. Alas, today is the final weekday of my summer break. I report back to school on Monday with the kids arriving a week later. A highlight of the summer was adding Albert to our family. He loves perching here.

In Memory of Bob Martin

When I graduated from SUNY-Binghamton, I was fortunate to have a job waiting for it. Although it didn’t start until September, I was grateful to join Starlog Press as Managing Editor of Fangoria. Now, the title sounds impressive, especially for a 22-year-old straight out of college, but the reality was that each publication was a