Final Act
“I have been a fiction writer by choice and instinct for a long professional life. It has been a leap for me to tell the truth.” So begins the preface to Escape!, Sid Fleischman’s biography of Harry Houdini. Fleischman was … Continued
“Will Rogers Says”: Divide the Country in Two
Divided. Polarized. Broken. Is the state of our politics at an all-time low? Is our grand experiment in republican government breaking apart? Our fears may overblown, yet they are hard to dismiss out of hand. The nation faced its greatest … Continued
Gentlest Angel
It is Christmas day, circa 1975, late morning, perhaps early afternoon. Wrapping paper litters the living room floor, we three boys–Eric, Chris, and I–are putting our new gadgets and games to the test. Mom is performing her magic in the … Continued
More than an Afterthought
Charles Lindbergh shocked the world by flying solo across the Atlantic in 1927. Not to be outdone, Amelia Earhart repeated the feat the very next year. In 1933, Wiley Post flew his Lockheed Vega around the world in a mere … Continued
Cowboy Justice
They hung their compadre, Jake Spoon. I was shocked yet somehow satisfied. It made sense. Jake had never been a sympathetic character. He lacked virtue of any kind. He was a wayward soul. Then he broke the ultimate cowboy taboo–rustling … Continued
Launch Party at Ft. Thomas Blue Marble
The Goodnight Moon Room upstairs at the Blue Marble is small. I wasn’t worried about filling it. But a number of people had regretted at the last minute, and I was beginning to feel the onset of disappointment. To my … Continued
First Author Visit
I made my first author visit this week: a presentation to the Wilson Elementary School Running Club. Imagine my surprise to find there were more than fifty young runners in attendance. Forest Hills sponsors its own 5K race in May which draws … Continued
Kirkus Reviews: “An absorbing story of colorful times”
Marathons are commonplace now, but one of the earliest 20th-century long-distance races was the multiday, coast-to-coast Transcontinental Foot Race, little known now but an event that captured the world’s imagination in 1928. The race began in Los Angeles and finished … Continued
Launch Event
The Great American Foot Race will be released on Tuesday, April 4, 2017. A signing event will take place at Blue Marble Books on Thursday, April 13, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. The store is located at 1356 S. Ft. … Continued
Symphony for the City of the Dead
I just finished reading M. T. Anderson‘s Symphony for the City of the Dead, a book that feels like it was written specifically for me. I love the music of Dmitri Shostakovich and have wondered for many years how he … Continued