Author Archives: John Walters

Book Review: Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War by Karl Marlantes

The Vietnam War was the defining war for my generation, just as the Mideast wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are for the present generation.  There are differences, of course.  Young people today do not feel as threatened by the current … Continue reading

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On Exercise

Since today is one of my exercise days, I thought I would say a few words on how I exercise and why. I have to confess that until I was forty I never did any sort of sustained organized exercise.  … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Best American Short Stories 2007, edited by Stephen King

My motivation for reading this book was the same one I had for reading the recent collection of best science fiction stories edited by Gardner Dozois:  I write and submit to the magazines, so I wanted to be familiar with … Continue reading

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The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Writer

I had planned to write a completely different blog post today, but something that I read intervened.  It was a post by an editor detailing how he got started in editing and what it was like.  He described the collaborative … Continue reading

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Bullying as Alien Encounter

With the launch of my new book, “The Dragon Ticket and Other Stories”, I have been thinking a lot about the subject of alien contact.  And because my youngest son has been daily coming out of the school gate in … Continue reading

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Book Review: Deep River by Shusaku Endo

While searching for the novel “Silence” by Shusaku Endo at the local library I came across one of his later novels, “Deep River”.  “Silence” is better-known and considered by many to be his masterpiece; Martin Scorsese is planning to film … Continue reading

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A Slap in the Face

Something slapped me in the face a few days ago, and it took me a while to figure out what it was – no, I am still figuring it out.  Maybe writing down my thoughts will help. Well, one obvious … Continue reading

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Book Review: Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour by David Bianculli

If I had to pick a decade that was germinal for me I would probably not pick the sixties but the seventies.  I was a teen in the sixties, true, but I was a late bloomer.  I didn’t really absorb … Continue reading

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Happy New Year

I started this post this morning, and then changed it.  And I think that exemplifies the coming year:  there will be changes. Things are changing rapidly, not only in politics and economics and the arts but also in my own … Continue reading

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Whatever Happened To Christmas?

For me, Christmas passed by in a haze.  There were legitimate reasons, of course.  I had many hours of teaching work right up until the 23rd, and so had little time to contemplate much else.  Two of our sons got … Continue reading

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