Getting Kids to Read

In the next few days, intrepid teens in a variety of towns across the US will bust into a variety of flash mobs. They won’t be break-pop-locking or singing parodies of “Call Me, Maybe.” (Even though this one was kind of cute.)

They plan to recite poems and stories by Edgar Allen Poe.

Kids will also roam graveyards, armed with flashlights and blankets. They’ll hold mock book-burnings. Without force, bribery, or threat of a failing grade, they will gather in groups to discuss the social ramifications of To Kill a Mockingbird. And in New Hampshire, they will debate the possible exoneration of Lizzie Borden, and if she did or did not take up that axe and give her mother forty whacks. Continue reading “Getting Kids to Read”

Ed’s Casual Friday: On Antiheroes

Once again, and as usual, I feel the need to preface the following by saying that I am of course just offering opinion, not defining any Universal Truths. This is just some stuff I think about some other stuff. This week, the “other stuff” is the Antihero.

First off, I need to define what I mean when I even use that word, as like many terms relating to anything literary or artistic, the idea of an “antihero” has undergone some changes through the years. Continue reading “Ed’s Casual Friday: On Antiheroes”

Farscape, and Cutting to the Bone

Farscape, for those of you who don’t know (which could be almost all of you) was a Sci Fi show that ran in the US on the channel that used to have that name, from 1999-2003 (four seasons). It was a dual US/UK production, shot in Australia where most of the cast and crew were from, and as such I always thought it had a uniquely “blended” feel that made it stand out from other shows that might be all US, UK, or Australian creations. Continue reading “Farscape, and Cutting to the Bone”

You Asked For It: Melody Stiles (part 2)

This is the second of two posts in response to the topic raised by Melody Stiles for discussion here at Indies Unlimited, to wit:

“Why is there still such a stigma, even among writers, about self-publishing?”

Last week I opined about the manner in which the self/vanity publishing scams of olden tymes (a few years ago) have left a legacy of sleaziness that is still applied today to “Indie” publishing, even by some writers. Continue reading “You Asked For It: Melody Stiles (part 2)”