More Proof That Writing Catalogue Copy Is Thankless Work
Insightful, entertaining, and thought-provoking, Middle Age is fascinating reading and for anyone heading for a ‘mid-life crisis,’ it is much cheaper than buying a sports car…. Read more...
February 2009 Archives
Endangered (Linguistic) Species
UNESCO has unveiled an interactive online version of the new edition of the Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger: Manx, Aasax, Ubykh, Eyak: Once spoken in, respectively, the Isle of Man, Tanzania, Turkey, and Alaska, all four languages have died out in the last 35 years. Of the 6,000 or so languages still heard in the world, about 2,500 are at risk, and 199 have fewer than 10 speakers left, according to Unesco. You can get a world of very cool detail about these languages-at-risk via the Atlas. You can search by name, country or area, or level of… Read more...
From the VQR Vaults
VQR has put its 1973-2005 archives online, including a short story of mine called “Act of Humanity.” If I were writing it now, I’d go with a different title, but I am still glad to see it available in something handier than the dreaded PDF format. Thanks, VQR…. Read more...
Meme This
Dear Facebook: I am not my music, even though I sometimes wish I were. I do not want to share 25 random facts about myself with even one other person, much less 139 of them. I do not want you to help me create my Witness Protection Program name. I do not want to know which English word I am. Don’t get me started about the whole Superpoke business. Can’t I just use you? Keep your memes to yourself and we can make this thing work. Your friend, JHoward… Read more...
Books Inside the Beltway
It seems I joined the so-called slow-blogging movement without intending to. Sorry about that. Time to get back to slapdash, off-the-cuff posting. So what *have* I been doing lately? I’ve been out to Montgomery College to talk to a continuing-ed group about the short story I wrote for D.C. Noir. The takeaway: It’s fun to talk about fiction, and I miss writing it. Must do something about that. The larger theme was Washington as more than metaphor. I made the point, not for the first time, that for some of us, “inside the Beltway” describes where we live. I talked… Read more...
A Story (by Lela)
My Mom says she sees candy I ran up Where where I askd over there says Mom the end (Editor’s note: This may be my 6-year-old’s first foray into fiction-writing.)… Read more...
