That Ever-Elusive A

An acquaintance of mine — a sharp, sweet, conscientious lady — recently posted her dismay at the grade she’d received in one of her college classes. An 89.45, to be precise. It’s understandable. It’s a tease of a percentile, ridiculously close to THAT possibility, the very possibility of the much-coveted A. While this was going … Continue reading →

Lizards Shooting Porno

This is the very first photo in my iPhone photo album. Kid you not. I’d taken it on my grandparents’ front steps (now my house, my front walk). I’ve had the same temperamental iPhone for several years, so this must’ve been taken back sometime in early 2012, just before the shit hit the fan and my family … Continue reading →

A Jurassic World of Trope (SPOILERS)

I’ve been meaning to write on the film for the past week, but I’ve been…well…distracted, to say the least. The writing rejections and further querying. The mentoring my summer term students (I’ve figured there are only 37 of them now, so it can’t be so bad, emailing each of them individually about their ongoing progress, right? STRESSSSSS!). … Continue reading →

Little Wonder Writers Booze It and/or Lose It

It’s been a weekend of intense contemplation/introspection (and halfarsed grading, so not in the mood for it). I’m on my 20th rejection for my novel (18 for the query and sample chapters alone, two for the novel itself), my 4th for the science fiction story I’ve been marketing. The editors involved with the antho. I’d really been aiming … Continue reading →

A Question of Plot in Fury Road (Answer: It exists. You just weren’t being spoon-fed.)

(FAIR WARNING: MAJOR FILM SPOILERS THROUGHOUT!) For all of the accolades and criticism the spectacular (I’m not biased, really) Mad Max: Fury Road is still receiving, one of the most fascinating pieces of criticism I keep hearing/reading from viewers on and off the web is that the film is lacking in plot. I’m not a literature … Continue reading →

Obsessing Over Obsession

At some point during my teenage years, sometime during the late 1980’s, my mom had an inexplicable thing for Calvin Klein’s Obsession parfum. Not the watered down eau de parfum that anyone can get these days, but the oily, “pure” stuff that came in a tiny, squat bottle. She’d tell us girls if we were to try … Continue reading →

My state legislature can get stuffed.

If my state legislature can get anything WORTHWHILE (as in genuinely good for the people) accomplished at all this year, never mind this TERM, it will be a miracle. They’re all nothing but the most useless pieces of fart-dung ever. Our governor is a ninny (and a crook) who has taken a big, wet poop all over … Continue reading →

That time.

That time you walked into a store, a store you used to really like, and found nothing there. Nothing at all. No one stopped to ask if you needed assistance because there wasn’t a person in sight. That time you stood in the shower stall, waiting for the water to grow cold, not moving under … Continue reading →