Steveawiggins

LATEST ARTICLES ( 4563 )

• Aging Writers

  

  The fact that V. C. Andrews didn’t have any success as a novelist until her late fifties (a benchmark that has already slipped for me), gives me hope. Read more

  Posted on 20 August 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Is It That Time Already?

  

  Maybe it’s just me, but August seems to be the new October.  If any of you are experiencing the heat wave that’s (oddly enough) like global warming, my... Read more

  Posted on 19 August 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Some High School

  

  I have a soft spot for bad horror. And Sleepy Hollow High isn’t exactly good horror. It’s not horrible horror either. It follows the story of five teenage... Read more

  Posted on 18 August 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• The Roll of Churches

  

  I really don’t have time to follow any social media religiously, generally glancing at a page and perhaps scrolling down an inch or two when I have a moment. Read more

  Posted on 17 August 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Scary Cosmology

  

  In many ways a harrowing book, A Cosmology of Monsters, by Shaun Hamill, is a real achievement. A monster story, it’s less a story about monsters than it is... Read more

  Posted on 16 August 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Lovecraft’s Palace

  

  So, to see Witchfinder General I had to buy a set of Vincent Price movies. Complex copyright deals mean that not everything can be streamed—there’s a movie... Read more

  Posted on 15 August 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Sabbatical Request

  

  I don’t know when I became one of them.  It seems that I was pretty busy in my early teaching days, and starting a family.  I didn’t feel, however, that every... Read more

  Posted on 14 August 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Burdens

  

  Listening is very important. Sometimes there’s nothing really to say but “I hear you.” This kept occurring to me during All That She Carried: The Journey of... Read more

  Posted on 13 August 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Yelp Me

  

  Do you remember the Yellow Pages?  Or even phonebooks, for that matter?  (Or wall phones?)  They certainly weren’t perfect, but they tended to be updated... Read more

  Posted on 12 August 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Beastly Story

  

  You think you know a story. You know, you’ve heard it before, or seen it in a movie, so you think you know how it goes. I’m not the biggest Disney fan in the... Read more

  Posted on 11 August 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• The King

  

  Stephen King.  I haven’t read all of his books, but I’ve done quite a few.  I’ve watched movies based on some.  I read my first story by him in Junior High... Read more

  Posted on 10 August 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Dark v Light

  

  The summer solstice was days away and the earliest sunrise had already passed.  The earliest sunrise and the latest sunset are not on the same day.  To those... Read more

  Posted on 09 August 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Paperback Reader

  

  Sometimes I wonder why I do it. Horror is a strange category for books and films, but one thing that may be a draw is that they take me back. Life, it seems,... Read more

  Posted on 08 August 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Flower Power

  

  Why do we find flowers so attractive?  Often what separates weeds from desired plants are the flowers.  (Not always, though, as the much maligned dandelion can... Read more

  Posted on 07 August 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Who’s It For?

  

  I suspect editors see this all the time.  I also suspect that I’ve unknowingly participated in it as well.  If you’re a book writer, you have to be clear of you... Read more

  Posted on 06 August 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Cover Copy

  

  If you’ve ever wondered why the same images appear on book covers over and over, there’s a fairly simple explanation.  (I should specify, by the way, that I mea... Read more

  Posted on 05 August 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• New Physics

  

  Maybe it’s time to put away those “new physics” textbooks.  I often wondered what’d become of the old physics.  If it had been good enough for my granddaddy,... Read more

  Posted on 04 August 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• The Nature of Nationalism

  

  I was recently reading about China.  The particular take of this piece was that China began, just over a dozen years ago, an attempt to become the world’s... Read more

  Posted on 03 August 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Remember the Doorway

  

  I’m glad it has a name.  And I’m also, relievedly, glad it’s normal.  The Doorway Effect.  I’m sure it’s happened to you.  You walk into a room and immediately... Read more

  Posted on 02 August 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Conflicting Lifestyles

  

  Sleep patterns often don’t fit with work patterns.  The reason I wake up so early is that for years I had to do it to get to Manhattan.  For work. Read more

  Posted on 01 August 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY