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Many thanks to the good people at CrimeReads for giving me a chance to write about one of my favorite topics, the importance of setting in fiction.
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Had a great talk with Thriller 101 podcaster David Gwyn a few weeks ago. Check it out… https://www.buzzsprout.com/1841589/14673494
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When I was in high school back in the early 1980s, Arthur C. Clarke had already been a legend for decades. He was, in fact, one of science fiction’s “Big Three” writers, along with Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein. And so, the reprints that Del Rey books released of Clarke’s catalogue were especially clever in…
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Some might think it ironic that Scottish rock group Simple Minds are best known for a single, “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” that was first heard on the soundtrack from a movie about teenage angst. Ironic, that is, because Simple Minds have always seemed like an unusually adult, intelligent, and emotionally complicated rock band, especially…
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One can hardly imagine my admiration and delight as I read Alex Kenna’s fine and refreshingly original novel, What Meets the Eye. One thing that sets this book above—far above—the vast majority of mysteries is the symbolic connection it draws between two central characters–a cop-turned-P.I. named Kate Myles, and a brilliant artist named Margot Starling. Kenna…
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Well, it finally happened—my first novel, Twice the Trouble, is now out in the world. I gave a short (but probably not short enough!) reading at the Alachua Country library, after which we all retired to the fine Cypress & Grove brewery here in Gainesville for beers and pizza. Not a bad evening, I must…
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Author’s Note: One of my favorite films, The Dead Zone, is free to stream on Amazon Prime right now. I thought I would take the opportunity to repost my tribute to the film, which I originally published on my old blog, Bakhtin’s Cigarettes. When I was a student at the University of Florida in the…
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Back in the 2010s, I worked at a tech company specializing in web development. It had a vast, open-office space filled with techies—mostly millenials—working on laptops. I got to be friends with many of these young people, and I was almost always impressed by how smart, friendly, open-minded, and politically active they were. However, one…
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A few nights ago I awoke, as I am wont to do, for no reason at all and found myself unable to get back to sleep. For some reason, the song “For the Love of Money” was echoing in my head. You know the one. It goes “Money money money money money money money…MUUUN-NAY!” It…
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Once again, I’m stretching the definition of “rock” on this one. But the other night my wife and I were watching Disney+’s excellent new TV adaptation of “Percy Jackson and The Olympians” and the episode featured a great dance hit from 1990’s. It’s “What is Love” by German singer Haddaway. In fact, it’s one of…
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Ash Clifton, Writer 