Author Archives: John Walters

Unintended but Vivid Flashbacks

Recently my sister gave me an envelope full of memorabilia saved by my mother, who died decades ago while I was living in South Asia. Evidently she was quite a hoarder. As I perused the material, I came across class … Continue reading

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Book Review:  Being Gardner Dozois: An Interview with Michael Swanwick

Not long ago I read and reviewed a recently published book called Being Michael Swanwick by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro. It consists of a series of interviews of author Swanwick that delve into the creative process of how he came to write … Continue reading

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How to Tread Water When You Think You’re Drowning

The last few years have been difficult, haven’t they? They have been for me too. COVID knocked us all for a loop. More than anything the pandemic clarified for us just how vulnerable we all are. Seemingly out of nowhere … Continue reading

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2023: A Personal Overview; Part Two: Some Stats

I recently finished compiling the statistics of how many original words I wrote in 2023. Every year I keep a small journal with important appointments and so on, and every day in that journal I write down my word count … Continue reading

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Book Review:  Harlan Ellison’s Watching by Harlan Ellison

I have been going through some tough times lately and enduring situations that have left me stressed and depressed. In search of reading material to lift my spirits, I picked up this volume that I’d found recently in a used … Continue reading

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2023: A Personal Overview

What can I say about 2023? It started out with a bang with a great event: I finally got a chance to meet my grandson Charlie. I flew down from Seattle to Los Angeles to spend a couple of weeks … Continue reading

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The Septuagenarian as an Aspiring Artist

I suppose the first item on this essay’s agenda is to explain why I call myself an “aspiring artist” when I have numerous traditional publishing credits and have self-published thirty-five books. Perhaps at least part of the explanation lies in … Continue reading

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Book Review:  Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon by Michael Lewis

The trial of Sam Bankman-Fried has been a hot topic in the news recently. He is the founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX and in 2022 made Forbes’s list as one of the richest Americans. All that changed in late … Continue reading

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Triumphs in the Creative Life

Recently I wrote an essay called “Setbacks in the Creative Life.” It was a reaction to a publisher deciding to cancel an upcoming anthology to which I’d sold a story. It focused on the necessity of putting aside the many … Continue reading

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A Christmas Gift for My Blog Followers

As a Christmas gift to readers, I have enrolled electronic editions of some of my books and stories in the Smashwords End of Year Sale, which runs through January 1st. Complete books are half price, marked down from $3.99 to … Continue reading

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