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One of my favorite movies of the last twenty years is Ridley Scott’s The Martian. It’s a science-fiction/adventure movie about an astronaut (Matt Damon) who becomes stranded on Mars after his comrades leave him for dead. Marooned on a barren, hostile world, he has to use his brains and ingenuity to survive until his friends…
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Sometimes you just have to go back to basics. And what could be more basic than the definitive punk-rock song of all time? Some things you might not know about the Sex Pistols: 1.) Their original name was The Pistols. Their favorite venue was a club called Sex. The rest is history. 2.) They only…
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I learned many things from reading the excellent nonfiction book Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial? For instance, I learned that the Vatican has its own astronomical observatory, which is run, in part, by the authors, Guy Consolmagno and Paul Mueller. Both men are also Jesuits. (The current Pope, Francis, is also a Jesuit—that’s another thing…
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If you’re old enough to remember the early 1980s, you probably know that there was a time when Sting was more than just a meme, and The Police were the greatest rock band in the world. When I say greatest, I mean by almost any measurable component—records sold, concerts sold out, number of MTV plays…
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On those rare occasions when I choose to read a big, fat, thick-as-a-brick book about a famous person, I usually pick one about a politician. David McCullough’s Truman is a great example. I tend to gravitate toward books about political figures because, in the course of reading about their lives, you also get a free history lesson.…
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Have I no shame? Not a shred! Therefore, I am letting everyone know that the Kindle edition of my Edgar-nominated novel, Twice the Trouble, is currently on-sale for two Ameros! If you like mystery fiction, or want to support this blog, please buy a copy.
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I am very honored (not to mention shocked, amazed, and overwhelmed) to have received an Edgar Award nomination for Best First Novel by an American Author. Many thanks to the Mystery Writers of America, Crooked Lane Books, and my outstanding agent, Cindy Bullard of Birch Literary. I am also humbled to be in such fine…
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It has been a week since David Lynch passed away, and many great tributes have already been written about him. I’m tempted to say that I needed a week to process his passing and figure out what I wanted to say about him, but the truth is I was just too damned busy to write…
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(…or, Everything That’s Wrong with Deadpool & Wolverine) Well, I finally got around to watching Marvel’s latest blockbuster, Deadpool & Wolverine. This was the first Marvel movie I’d watched in a while, and now I remember why. Holy smoke, what a crappy film! As I watched it—doggedly, hoping it would get better, resisting the urge…
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Ash Clifton, Writer 