Author Archives: John Walters

Book Review: Fault Lines: A History of the United States Since 1974 by Kevin M. Kruse and Julian E. Zelizer

As soon as I first picked up this volume of modern history, I knew it was going to be important to me. I put my name on the reserve list at the library (still poverty-stricken here, folks) and patiently waited … Continue reading

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Eulogy for My Father

I’m writing this as my father John Walters, Sr., now ninety years old, lies bedridden and uncommunicative. I will not publish it until after he has died. If you’re reading it, therefore, it means that he is no longer alive … Continue reading

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Apocalypse Bluff and Other Stories

Apocalypse Bluff and Other Stories, my eighth short story collection, was recently published. Pick up a copy at one of the links below. As invading aliens unleash monsters resembling mutated carnivores to devour all of human life on Earth, an … Continue reading

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Book Review: A Place of My Own: The Architecture of Daydreams by Michael Pollan

Michael Pollan burst into my awareness with his brilliant recent book How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence. In reading about the author of this amazing study, … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

I have a confession to make. I haven’t read a lot of the classics of science fiction. Maybe I should have, but I haven’t yet. There are too many other things that catch my attention. I generally alternate between fiction … Continue reading

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The Writing Is Its Own Reward

Harlan Ellison’s recent demise and an upcoming eulogy in his honor at a science fiction convention have caused me to remember the time when I first knew that I had to be a writer and nothing else. I’ve written about … Continue reading

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Book Review: Greek to Me: Adventures of the Comma Queen by Mary Norris

I picked this book up at the library because I thought that it was a memoir on traveling in Greece. And it is, sort of; at least part of it is. I’d say about a third of the book or … Continue reading

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Book Review: Travels With Charley by John Steinbeck

It is with pleasure and nostalgia, and quite by accident I came back to this modest travel book after so many years. One of my sons had checked it out of his college library, and I picked it up and … Continue reading

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Book Review: Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery by Scott Kelly

Scott Kelly is the American astronaut who spent a year on the International Space Station from March 2015 to March 2016. It’s an extraordinary accomplishment, but it’s only one of many in this man’s eventful life. This fascinating book alternates … Continue reading

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Book Review: Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

My reaction to this book is similar to my reaction to the other Coates book I have read: We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy. I hesitate to review it because, first of all, I don’t want to … Continue reading

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