Author Archives: John Walters

The Relocation Blues Is Now Available!

The Relocation Blues: An Inquiry into Transitions, my latest memoir and thirty-first book, is now available in digital and print form. Pick up a copy by clicking on one of the links below. Here’s what it is about: Life is … Continue reading

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Book Review:  One Giant Leap: The Impossible Mission That Flew Us to the Moon by Charles Fishman

I picked up this recently-published book thinking it was an updated history of the Apollo program but as I began to read I soon realized that it is not really that at all. Instead, it is a look behind the … Continue reading

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Staying Alive; or, The Martian as an Allegory of the Human Condition

“Never despair, but if you do, work on in spite of despair.”- paraphrase of Edmund Burke Recently I checked out my various accounts so I could assess my financial situation, and I received a devastating shock. It was much worse … Continue reading

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Book Review:  The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021 Edited by John Joseph Adams and Veronica Roth

This collection has a different tone than the other best of the year collection I recently read and reviewed, The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Volume 2 edited by Jonathan Straham, and it’s not just that it includes fantasy. The selection … Continue reading

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“Prodigal” in SFS Stories

My short story “Prodigal” has just appeared in Issue #8 of the magazine SFS Stories. The theme of this issue is “Tales of Time.” You can find a copy on Amazon at this link.

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Book Review:  Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-1956 by Anne Applebaum

This book is a heavy read; that applies to the physical weight of the book as well as the subject matter. It deals with the attempts of the Soviet Union to bring Eastern Europe into subjugation after World War II. … Continue reading

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Keep Doing What You’re Doing

Often we create resolutions for the New Year because we are convinced that changes need to be made in our lives. Perhaps something is not right; something is out of kilter. We resolve to do whatever needs to be done … 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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Books Make Great Gifts

After Thanksgiving has come and gone, people commence a search for holiday gifts for family members, relatives, friends, acquaintances, in-laws, outlaws, colleagues, and sometimes total strangers. If you’re looking for fun, sophisticated, lively, intense, flamboyant, and otherwise variegated literary fare, … Continue reading

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The Days It Doesn’t Happen

Every writer has a different approach to the process of putting words on paper. Some who write long novels or major works of nonfiction prepare backgrounds or research for months or even years and then binge-write until the work is … Continue reading

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