Today’s Kobold Alert Level

Today’s kobold alert level: one wee little kobold knocking feebly at the dungeon door.

Another post on writing

At a recent meeting of our writers’ group, my friend Leonard Pung (who, by the way, is currently attending Clarion, the lucky dog!) referred to my twenty-eighth story of the week, “Code Zombie“, as a “feathered fish”. When I asked him what he meant by this, he told me it’s a term used in genre [...]

Swine Flu: Should We Panic?

First, a bit of mental housekeeping. Thanks to everyone who suggested various metaphors for depression on my post “Co-opting Churchill’s Black Dog“. I’ve decided to go with Kobolds. Kobolds, in Dungeons and Dragons, are little critters that, in small numbers, are easily defeated, but in large numbers can overwhelm a full party of adventurers and [...]

Story of the Week #40: Ursula’s Razor

First, to the two of you who look foward to reading my story of the week each week, I’m sorry that this one is a day late.

This one is sort of cheating, but I feel okay about it. I started this one a few years ago while visiting a ranch that my parents owned part of; I remember sitting outside the cabin I was staying in, writing the first few paragraphs of this story in a leather notebook with an old ballpoint pen. When I got back home, I transcribed what I had written, and then let this thing sit for almost ten years. I found it the other day while stalled on what I was originally going to write for this week’s story of the week, and decided I’d finish this one and post it instead.

As always, enjoy!

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Current Mood:  accomplished

Story of the Week #39: Little Fluffy Wiggletoes Triumphant

This is, of course, the next part of the Epic Saga of Little Fluffy Wiggletoes. The previous parts are:

#1: Little Fluffy Wiggletoes
#2: Little Fluffy Wiggletoes and the Big Revenge
#3: Little Fluffy Wiggletoes and the Revolution

Personally, I think this one is particularly topical and relevant. And as always, the Little Fluffy Wiggletoes stories are inappropriate for children or for people who like to think that cute, fluffy woodland creatures are all innocent and nice.

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Co-opting Churchill’s Black Dog

Winston Churchill’s “black dog” was the name he gave to the depression he suffered throughout his life. I like the metaphor. It implies something that follows him around, barking at him and nipping at his heels; yet at the same time it’s something he can master and take control of, because, well, it’s a dog. [...]

A response to NOM’s “Gathering Storm” video

If you haven’t seen the video entitled “A Gathering Storm” by the group calling themselves the “National Orgamization for Marriage”, that’s okay. It’s offensive, full of outright lies and exaggerations, and blatantly offensive in its use of the term “Rainbow Coalition” to identify a coalition of churches and other groups that oppose same sex marriage. [...]

What DO women want, anyway?

I have my own theories about what women want, having actually asked them, but let’s put that aside for a moment. I’d be surprised if Freud really was the first man to ask, even in a professional capacity, what women want. I don’t know for sure what he came up with, having given up on [...]

Story of the Week #38: Queen of Roosterville (Sangrilicious IV)

This is, obviously, the fourth installment of the Sangrilicious cycle; or, “Delilah and the Redneck Vampires”. The other installments are:

Sangrilicious

The Prince’s Challenge (Sangrilicious II)

Trial By Sewer (Sangrilicious III)

What’s funny, actually, is that I don’t really care for vampire fiction. And yet here I am, writing about vampires. Something about Delilah has captured my interest, I suppose. Who knows?

So… Enjoy Part IV of Delilah’s epic tale.

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Right wing lunacy

Is it just me, or has the extreme end of the right wing jumped off the edge of reason and landed gleefully into a pit of pure batshit insane? Between Glenn Beck’s bursting into tears at the very mention of America and Michelle Bachman’s deliberate misinterpretation of a new community service program as a sort [...]

Grrrraararrararrggghhhhhhh

Jennifer and I just finished playing House of the Dead: Overkill, the latest in the House of the Dead franchise of zombie shoot-em-up games available for the Wii. The whole series of games has featured the finest in voice-over acting, character rendering, and realistic mayhem. Or, you know…. Not. Basically, we just enjoy shooting zombies [...]

Story of the Week #37: How Bubba Handey’s Rogue Shithouse Saved the World

I like to say that all of my stories are, in the truest of Hollywood traditions, inspired by true events.This one certainly was. I was, after all, stuck in a traffic jam when I conceived of this story, and then I started thinking about how an economy might evolve if traffic jams became permanent and people were stuck in them for years, and then I started thinking about how aliens might take advantage of the situation, and thus this story was born. Those are the true events — the traffic jam and my thoughts — that led to this story, so I’m more than happy to say that it was “inspired by true events”.

Anyway. This is one of my favorite stories of the week. I hope you enjoy it. It’s about 6,000 words long, so take your time.

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Twitterspawn for 2009-04-04

A perfect day for a stroll though the cemetery. # Today’s agenda: reading, critiquing, revising, cemetery tour, concert, writing, writing, writing, writing, revising, writing, revising. # Back from the cemetery tour. It was fascinating. Must go back to better appreciate it. # Now listening to the soundtrack from John Carpenter’s “Prince of Darkness” while I [...]

Twitterspawn for 2009-04-03

Shimmer magazine interviewed me: http://www.shimmerzine.com/authors/author-page-richard-s-crawford/interview-with-richard-s-crawford/ # Let’s hear it for Iowa! http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090403/ap_on_re_us/iowa_gay_marriage # A bit behind the times, but I’ve updated my Sci Fi Channel original movie generator to reflect their changes. http://bit.ly/J24zd # Working at home today because of an asthma flareup this morning. Bleah. Lungs need a reinstall. # Don’t forget that today [...]

Let’s hear it for Iowa

Iowa court says gay marriage ban unconstitutional It’s funny, because these things usually start out in California and move east. But this time California went stupid and decided that majority rule was enough to strike down something that the state’s Supreme Court had ruled was a right protected by the state’s Constitution, an action that [...]