ClimbingSky

Why Baseball, Books, and the Grateful Dead matter

October 2024

  • Monday’s Cup of Joe

    “I’d rather take coffee than compliments just now.” – Louisa May Alcott Read more

  • Werewolf Omnibus by Guy N. Smith

    Guy N. Smith is a guilty pleasure. I began with his series of Pulp Horror books featuring giant crabs (yes, you read that right, giant crabs), Smith’s fiction is as close as you can get to the kind of 1950s or early 1960s horror films that were regular fare when I was growing up on Read more

  • Dwelling On or Merely Visiting the Past

    It seems like one of the things that happen as you get older is that you find yourself thinking about the past more often than you had before. The people you have known. The places you have been. The things that you have experienced. In March of this year I spent time with my brother Read more

  • Friday Thoughts from Stephen King

    “Life is like Friday on a soap opera. It gives you the illusion that everything is going to wrap up, and then the same old shit starts up on Monday.” — Stephen King “Lost in the Green Mountains” (photo by m.a.h. hinton) Read more

  • The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King

    I am currently working through Stephen King’s The Shining. It is a book I have started before but have never gotten very far into. I am giving it another try right now because I will be spending Thanksgiving this year in Estes Park and at the Stanley Hotel. The Stanley is the real-life inspiration for Read more

  • Gothic vs. Horror

    Trying to define the difference between Gothic and Horror is difficult. Ann Radcliffe once said, ‘Whereas terror is a feeling of dread that takes place before an event happens, horror is a feeling of revulsion or disgust after the event has happened.’ The usual way to look at the difference is that Horror seeks to provoke Read more

  • This House is Haunted by John Boyne

    The Literary Ghost Story is a noble tradition: The “Signal-Man” and Dickens play an important role John Boyne’s novel This House is Haunted.  It is a well-written “Victorian” ghost story featuring London fog, numerous literary references, and a mysterious country manor. Before the arbitrary distinctions of genre vs. literary fiction, many great writers tried their hand at Read more

  • Tools of the Trade

    As a writer you need the following tools: May I suggest that coffee is the most important of all! Read more

  • Let’s Go Mets

    Tonight the Mets begin their NLCS series against the Yankees of the West Coast. This first game of the series will be on FOX which means I will actually get to see it. Some numbers: None of that though matters. Right now, the Mets are playing better. Hitting for more power. Driving in more runs. Read more

  • The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

    Like all genres, Horror runs the spectrum from great writing to less-than-great writing. The Woman in Black by Susan Hill falls squarely in the former category in every possible way. The novel is narrated by Arthur Kipps, who is recalling a terrifying experience from his past. Many years earlier, while working as a junior solicitor, Read more