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What the River Buries by Rocky Hirajeta My rating: 5 of 5 stars Two mysteries lie at the heart of Rocky Hirajeta’s fine novel. The first regards the identity of a killer, whom the protagonist, high school senior Natalie, witnesses disposing of a body in the river. But there is a deeper one, too, concerning…
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I’m only ten years late to the party, but I’ve just started watching the BBC series Shetland. Based on the mystery novels by Ann Cleeves (which I guess I’ll have to read now), the stories are smart, suspenseful, and engrossing. The acting is also first-rate. But what really makes the show stand out is its…
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In keeping with my previous post about Voyager 2 getting a new lease on life, I thought I’d write one about a moment when an old band (well, old by pop standards) made an incredible comeback. Duran Duran, those darlings of the early days of MTV, did it in 1993 with the song Come Undone,…
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If there’s one kind of story I’m a sucker for, it’s the has-been-makes-a-comeback. You know the formula: a once-great hero (i.e. athlete/cop/musician/artist) is down on his luck. They’re disrespected, lonely, and all but forgotten. But then, with the help of a much younger and optimistic (or older and wiser) companion, the hero gets a burst…
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Well, another summer is about to begin, and, once again, I don’t plan on seeing any of the summer “blockbusters” that are coming out. I just can’t work up much enthusiasm for the big summer debut. The problem is that now, in my 50s, I have seen so many movies that I recognize the same…
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One of my favorite sites on the internet is openculture.com. As the name implies, it’s a curated collection of the best permanently free culture on the web, from free college courses, movies, images, audiobooks, and history lessons. Here’s a recent post that I found weirdly fascinating. It’s about how the ancient Romans had fewer cavities…
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As I get older (and older), I begin to suspect that I will, eventually, become nostalgic about literally everything in my past. Right now, I am feeling nostalgic for old TV commercials. If you grew up in the 1970s and 80s, like me, you watched a lot of TV commercials. Like, thousands and thousands. And…
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I could write a whole post on the various covers of Ray Bradbury’s classic novel Fahrenheit 451 that have come out over the years, as other people already have. My favorite is this one from the 1970s (the time of my childhood). It’s by a great illustrator named Barron Storey. I like it because it…
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Everybody has heard of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), but most people think it only affects people in the winter months. Some poor souls like me get in the spring, when the weather here in Central Florida starts to get hot and muggy and yet there is relatively little rain to wash the abundant pollen out…
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If I had to make a list of the 100 people who most contributed to my boyhood reading, imagination, and fantasy life, Ray Bradbury would probably be at the top, with Arthur C. Clarke and Issac Asimov a bit lower. Ridley Scott would be in there, too, as would a couple of women, including Ursula…
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Ash Clifton, Writer 