Author Archives: John Walters

Road Signs Is Now Available!

I’m pleased to announce that Road Signs: Tales of the Surreal and Fantastic, my thirteenth short story collection and thirty-seventh book, has just been published and is available at numerous online venues. Links to some of the major booksellers are … Continue reading

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Hitting the Pause Button Does Not End the Game

This afternoon during the time when I usually compose creative prose I instead took a walk. My ostensible purpose was a trip to the library, but in truth I wanted to clear my head and perhaps come up with an … Continue reading

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Book Review:  America Fantastica by Tim O’Brien

Tim O’Brien is best known for his dynamic 1990 collection of linked short stories The Things They Carried, which concerns the members of a platoon of soldiers during the Vietnam War. In it, O’Brien draws from his experiences in the … Continue reading

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Hope and Grief: The Pacific Northwest Asian Experience

I first visited the Wing Luke Museum in Seattle’s Chinatown when I was invited to the opening of a temporary exhibit highlighting Asian science fiction and fantasy writers. The exhibit was on the main floor; it was so absorbing, and … Continue reading

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Book Review:  Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator by Ryan Holiday

I came across this book while searching for practical guidebooks on how to improve my website/blog. This is not that sort of book. It is, however, a fascinating look at the mindsets of people such as politicians and advertisers who … Continue reading

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A Visit to the Greek Festival

Most of the people visiting the annual Greek Festival at St. Demetrius Church in Seattle come for a brief sampling of another culture. For me, however, the event provoked nostalgia. After all, I lived in Greece for over fifteen years. … Continue reading

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Book Review:  Red Team Blues by Cory Doctorow

Not long ago I attended an author reading at which Cory Doctorow was promoting his new novel The Bezzle. It features Martin Hench, a forensic accountant with the acumen to uncover the money trails of super-rich criminals. He functions as … Continue reading

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Book Review:  Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away by Annie Duke

We all know the old adage that “winners never quit, and quitters never win.” In this fascinating book, Duke sets out to disprove it, and for the most part she succeeds. In fact, persistence can take us so far, but … Continue reading

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Book Review:  Autocracy, Inc: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World by Anne Applebaum

Anne Applebaum is the author of weighty historical tomes such as Gulag: A History and Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956, both of which I have read and deeply appreciated. Gulag, the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for … Continue reading

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Book Review:  Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis

I haven’t read Zorba the Greek since I was a young man in the late 1960s. It wasn’t as influential for my intellectual journey as Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller, On the Road by Jack Kerouac, or Walden by … Continue reading

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