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Blazing! Adventures Magazine has just published my story “The Empire Crown” in their September 2008 issue.

An unabashed tribute to the 1930s-era pulp adventure stories, Blazing! Adventures Magazine covers the full spectrum of noir detective thrillers, Westerns, space opera, action, “spicy” pulp, femme fatales and strong-jawed heroism.  It is a gleeful throwback to a unique period — complete with its dependable style of presentation and writing.

I am a pulp-era aficionado.  There’s little to compare it to today — perhaps The Rocketeer, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, and of course the spectacular Raiders of the Lost Ark which was better than any of its inspirations.   Of course, no one is claiming it’s Oscar Wilde; pulp magazines are a footnote in escapist literature.

If I lived in the Pulp Era...

I am born.

Today is my birthday.  The Earth has flung itself around the sun once more and I’m here to enjoy it.  I’ve gotten some wonderful birthday messages from my good friends including a stellar voice message from my friend Maria Orsini who, as an actress/singer would, sang my birthday song in a Broadway-style extravaganza.  Her voice is wonderful.

Human beings used to live only 20 or 30 years. Now we’re pushing a hundred.  Aging and death is a mechanical process and the words of Archimedes resonate:

“Give me a lever and a place to stand, and I shall move the Earth.”

If I reach 100 years, the Green Wall of China is scheduled to be completed around then.

The Earth may have up to 9 billion people.

If Ray Kurzweil is correct with his guestimations, the technological Singularity will be achieved by then.

Of course (and this does tie into that last point) I want to live forever.  As I wrote in my article “The Future of Immortality,” human beings are always improving ourselves if at times it seems the opposite is true.  Death is natural, but not everything natural is good.  I am a humanist progressive believing firmly in the power of human imagination and ingenuity even if we have to remain vigilant every step of the way against the throwback maniac primitives in our midst:

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Two more quick notes:

In the last seventy-two hours I’ve set a new record for myself:  I wrote three stories — two of them from scratch and the third adapted from an earlier story of mine — all within that narrow time-frame for the sake of some last-minute contests coming up this weekend.  One is a fantasy story, the second is alternative history, and the third is straight-up historical.  At work between job responsibilities I would sit down at my computer and furiously type, crafting scenes and bridges and characters, then emailing it to myself.  Later that night at home, I pull the material out and start crafting it into stories.

Watching this Week: Time After Time, Il Postino, Lost in Translation, Krull.

Reading this Week: Flatland by Edwin Abbot, and Sphereland by Dionys Burger

Quote of the Day:

“Upwards and onwards to immortality”

– from the tomb of Jules Verne

Donna and I went to Block Island this past weekend.  The excursion was needed; my blood has been boiling lately at the American publishing industry.  It was an hour drive to New London and then a ferry-ride of about an hour.  During the last ice age, a retreating glacier shaped the island and then, as sea levels rose when the ice melted, it became divorced from the mainland.

Aboard the Jessica W.

We took the Jessica W, a 160-foot vessel, across moderately choppy waters.  The day was grey and rainy (my type of weather!) and Donna and I enjoyed drinks aboard before docking and renting a moped for exploration of the countryside.

Archipelago of Lilipads

There are tightly-clustered tourist-trap shops but then there’s the rest of the island; quiet, rural, and apart. We drove around with the wind in our hair, intermittent rain tapping out playful rhythms on our heads, and got to the beach where we had wine and ancient Egyptian poetry.  Searingly beautiful and passionate works written 3,000 years ago by The Harper, whoever the hell he was.

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Speaking of writing, I just found out today that Uncommon Review published a 5-star review of Remembering Hypatia. From the review: “Well-written and researched… I found Remembering Hypatia to be professionally-crafted and respectful to historical events. Our society would do well to read this book and recall what can happen when religious fanaticism gets out of control.”

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Finally, on Sunday an army of my actor friends arranged a stunningly touching farewell/tribute for a local stage director we have all grown to love and respect.  Mr. Ed Wierzbicki has been the creative force behind the New Zenith Theater Company for 10 years.  He’s a man of serious talent and endless energy, possessing that essential gift of bringing out the very best in his troop of actors.  Well, Ed has accepted a position in the Berkshires, and will be expanding a small theater company there with total freedom to do what he wants.  As a parting gift we threw him a party at the Lily Lake Inn in Wolcott.  In true thespian style, musical numbers were coordinated, speeches, and a well-meaning parody of Ed’s distinctive stage notes (”Doug? That was good… but next time… more NINJA.”)  My good friend Mike Manna did a priceless imitation of Ed during this latter piece that had the entire hall erupting in hysterics.

Farewell and best of luck Ed! We will miss you!

Watching this Week: The Machinist, Roadhouse, and In Bruges.

Reading this Week: A Brief History of Warfare by John Keegan

Random Fact:

The ridiculously small critter named the Tardigrade can survive almost 1,000 times more radiation than other animals, can suspend its metabolism, live without water for a decade, exist comfortably in vacuum conditions, and are related to insects. Go ahead, say it. SPACE BUGS.

Quote of the Day:

“You cannot step twice into the same rivers; for fresh waters are ever flowing in upon you…”

– Heraclitus