Storytellersunplugged

-- Bev Vincent I received a surprising e-mail a few weeks ago from a grade eleven student at a magnet school in Nashville. As part of an English class on critical thinking, their teacher had assigned them my short story “One of Those Weeks” from the anthology From the Borderlands (originally Borderlands 5). This isn’t the first time one of my stories has been read in an English class, but it’s the first time where I have absolutely no association with the teacher, the ... Read More

My wife won't mind. I'm sure she'll let me tell you . . . A few minutes ago, I was sitting at the keyboard mulling my next blog on this site. With a pressing deadline for my ninth novel, my mind is a blur, but I was committed to coming up with something. In walks my wife. She's truly one of the sweetest people I know. Oh, she can be a scrapper--don't get me wrong. But she has a ... Read More

By Richard Steinberg This month's essay is dedicated with love and gratitude to Sgt. Bryan J. Tutten, 33, of St. Augustine, Fla., who died Dec. 25 in Balad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his position.  He was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, and also, to: Pfc. Brian L. Gorham, 21, of Woodburn, Ky., who died Dec. 31  of wounds suffered in Afghanistan when his vehicle encountered an improvised ... Read More

Frank T. WydraIt’s one of those spongy July days where you get as much water as air in every breath. The bar of the Gonquin is at least out of the sun, and overhead blades mix the breathable soup. We are relatively cool and the iced drinks ease the pain of breathing. Though Mary usually acts the doyenne, directing ideas, today the talk meanders like a mountain stream, moving in a different direction each time it hits a hard ... Read More