An excerpt from the surreal Helzapoppin‘, starring the comedy duo Olsen and Johnson. (Not to mention Slim & Slam, Shemp Howard, and Elisha Cook, Jr., as “the writer.”)  A film which, with its dreamlike action and constant breaking of the fourth wall, would nowadays would be considered metafictional, except the word didn’t exist back in […]

This is the time of year in which hopeful authors post a list of their publications in the fond belief that their readers will nominate them for awards.  It’s never worked for me, but then there’s always a first time. My list this time is short and simple: the only publication I had in 2016 was […]

Here amid the scattered wreckage of the lost German freighter Lunderberg lies a highly toxic fish.  You don’t want to touch it or step on it lest it inject neurotoxin through its spines, which are designed like little pressure mines, the more the weight, the more the venom. Lunderberg went down in 1954, surrounded by the towering […]

I have rather unexpectedly found myself in a Mexican resort.  I’m sure this is the sort of thing that happens to you all the time, right? So over thirty years ago I visited Cabo San Lucas with some friends, and had a very pleasant time in a small seaside village with all of four hotels.  A […]