A TALE OF THREE MURDER VERDICTS
Ahmaud Aubrey, Courtesy of New York Times Courtesy The Independent George Floyd, Courtesy CBS News Between April and November of this year, Americans were fixated on three criminal murder trials: Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis, Kyle Rittenhouse in Kenosha Wisconsin, and the Georgia trial of three man accused of murdering African-American jogger Ahmaud Arbery. Issues of […]
TWO GREAT EXOTIC NOIR THRILLERS SET IN BANGKOK
Bangkok Series: Espionage Mysteries by Stephen Shaiken
SALLY ROONEY’S RACISM MASQUERADING AS PRINCIPLE: ANOTHER BDS-HOLE EXPOSED
Irish author Sally Rooney refuses to allow her most recent novel to be published in Hebrew. She recently clarified that her refusal was not based on antipathy to the Hebrew language, but rather on her antipathy to the Jewish people who speak it in the world’s only Jewish state. Not surprising, as Ms. Rooney is […]
WATCH DON WINSLOW’S SHORT VIDEO ON FLORIDA’S FAILURE TO STEM COVID
Don Winslow is a succesful author of mystery and thriller novels. He’s also a political activist. Mr. Winslow just released a short video that documents the horrors Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has visited upon his state; Winslow compares DeSantis’s failed anti-science COVID policies to the Vietnam War. Click here to watch Florida’s Vietnam, by Don […]
THANK THE ORTHODOX RABBI WHO CALLED OUT ANTI-VAXXER CONGREGANT
The Times of Israel, an outstanding and objective English-language paper produced in Israel, reported how an Orthodox rabbi in Israel took to task an vaxxers congregant. My religion has always venerated science and medicine; one of our most venerated historical figures is the philosopher Moses Maimonides. Since the outbreak of COVID, religion in America has all […]
FLORIDA MOURNS THE DESANTIS DEAD, KILLED BY ITS PRO-COVID GOVERNOR
Photo ourtesy of Tampa Bay Times Photo courtesy of Newsweek No author could write a science fiction thriller as frightening as Florida’s current reality. In most plague novels, earnest government officials lead a war against the deadly pathogens, fighting with every ounce of strength to save their constituents from the ravages of a pandemic. Not […]
How to Kill a Florida Lubber: Update
Photo by Stephen Shaiken Note: this post was published almost three years ago, and has been the singular most popular piece on this blog, much to the dismay of the brilliant political and social analysis, not to mention the stunning short stories also on the blog. Since the piece was published, yours truly has developed […]
A tribute to an unsung hero of the Revolutionary War
Happy birthday, America! Two hundred forty five years ago, a group of visionaries began the process that led to the most powerful nation in all of human history. There were many bumps and worse along the way, but we managed to keep moving forward and expand the horizons of freedom. The concepts of liberty and […]
COMING THIS FALL: THIRD NOVEL IN THE NJA SERIES
First things first. Thank you to all who read my book, especially those who review and rate them. Nothing helps a writer more than genuine feedback. (There are times authors don’t feel that way, but good writers learn to appreciate readers’ reactions.) Between sales, Kindle Unlimited readers, promotional giveaway, several thousand copies of each novel […]
“A Borrower Be”: If You Like Shakespeare, You’ll Love This Story
Shakespeare was right about “neither a borrower nor a lender be.” Her’s a short story with a story of its own. Courtesy, National Gallery of Scotland Public Domain Courtesy, wallpaperit.com Every writer has a story they love, but no one else does. Sometimes the piece can be reworked; more often, it ends up stuffed in […]