Views & Reviews
I Am Waiting
It was the poet Wordsworth who said that in getting and spending we lay waste our powers. These days, Lord knows, I still do plenty of spending. As far as “getting” is concerned, well, I’m still getting up every morning—does … Read more
Loose Ends: More Mockingbird, Olaf Olaffson, Margaret Wise Brown, Marcia Sartwell
Fairly frequently I notice that a topic Kaze or I have blogged about turns up a few weeks down the road featured in another media outlet. Now, I’m under no illusion that the editors of the world are mining 317am … Read more
Romance Novels: My Happy-Ending Problem
In yesterday’s post about McDaniel College’s new program in genre fiction, I wrote myself out onto a high ledge by voicing my knee-jerk scorn of the romance novel. I was speaking, of course, from the point of view of a … Read more
Next, an Endowed Chair in Bodice-Ripping?
The older I get the more I think Karl Marx may have had it right when he wrote, “All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned,” and so on. A jaw-dropper of an article by … Read more
Anatomy of a Murder Revisited
The estimable Criterion Collection has issued a new high-def edition of Anatomy of a Murder, a classic courtroom drama that I first saw as a kid when it came out in 1959. Remembering this as a fabulous movie, I wanted … Read more
Characters as Chess Pieces: Nabokov and The Luzhin Defense
Author’s Note: Fiction writer Howard Cincotta wrote today’s Ras-curated guest post. The image of the author as puppet or chess master, coolly manipulating his or her characters – or even sacrificing them to the demands of the story – is … Read more
TED THE CAT
Ted the Cat (1994-present) is a domestic shorthair blogger and vers libre poet. He also enjoys sleeping, eating, and lurking. Ted the Cat co-habits with Kaze,
also a blogger at 317am.net.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Kaze
Kaze is Washington DC area writing guru Steve Altman. The nickname is Japanese for “the wind.” Read more »
RasoirJ
Ras at Texas BBQ in DC, site of lunchtime chats with Kaze on the art and agony of writing. Ras is also known in some publishing circles as George Clack. Read more »