It’s been a little under a year with this site in its current incarnation, and the time has come for something new. Easier navigation, a more accessible news section, and an on-deck circle for my next book, Jack the Bastard. Yes, Jack is moving slowly. But it moves. We’re in the pre-marketing marketing phase, which means my publicist and I are laying the plans to take Jack from obscurity to hey-take-a-look-at-this.

Hi Micah:

I picked up your first novel from a friend’s [...]

A few items of note: Penny Blood issue #11 is available for pre-order. My essay on John Carpenter is sure to cast new light on the genius of his “Apocalypse Trilogy,” but pick up the mag for its piece on Savoy Books. To wit: “The first insurgence—as Savoy Books—was as mass-market publishers of imaginative fiction and art, the first UK house to cater to non-generic readers like ourselves who did not see a dividing line between high art and popular [...]

It’s been quiet out here–by “out here” I mean my living room. Work proceeds slowly and obsessively on the next book. The dog needs to be walked. True Blood has me hooked. And I wore a zombie mask for Halloween that scared several children to near-tears. Death Studios sure knows how to scare ‘em. Updates will be scarce until I’ve finished a first draft. Yeah, it’s that kind of book.

1.A purifying or figurative cleansing of the emotions, especially pity and fear.

2. A release of emotional tension, as after an overwhelming experience, that restores or refreshes the spirit.

Excerpted from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition Copyright © 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

It’s finally happened–A.O. Scott has deemed Rambo: First Blood Part II a Critics’ Pick. The NYT has an unintentionally hilarous review of the 1985 movie, which proves that genre will always be the whipping boy for critics. Until it’s not.

Scott praises the by-the-numbers action sequences, he name-drops Eastwood and Mifune, and he uses phrases like “classical style” and “exemplary grandeur and gravitas.”

I just liked the exploding arrows.

I can almost laud the NYT for having the guts to put [...]

Three items of note: my long-suffering travel essay Buffalo, Redux will be in the October edition of Eclectica. My film essay on the works of horror icon John Carpenter makes its way to Penny Blood Magazine just in time for Halloween, and the limited edition Jack the Bastard broadsides have been completed.

What’s a broadside? It’s a piece of original art usually reserved for advertisements, and in this case I’ve applied it to Jack the Bastard, had it signed and numbered [...]

I’m trying out the Nabaztag. It’s a wireless rabbit.

Let me explain: a few years ago this French company created a wireless device that was supposed to usher in the era of low-budget smart homes. They called it Nabaztag, which is Armenian for “rabbit.” The Nabaztag looks like something from the Japanese bizarro-kawaii pool:

I’m a quasi-techie, which means I like things like the Nabaztag but can only figure out 50% of their intended functionality. So this wireless rabbit–it can serve as a PA, [...]

We’re leaving the cozy confines of Brookline for a more sedate life in Holliston, MA. We bought a house on a quiet street, with a split rail fence and a writing shed in the back. I bought a lawnmower. Neighbors wave hello. Children skateboard at the end of our street. Suddenly I’m that guy. And I like it.

My online sabbatical is nearing its end, as is my supply of the Italian paperback version of Gods of Aberdeen. I offered these [...]

Saturday’s AOTS panel was well-produced, with just the right amount of fanboy mania and botched bits to make it seem authentic. Cobra Commander overshadowed both Kevin and Olivia, and Blair Butler held her own despite the heavy emphasis on the raunch and sturm that is AOTS.

But the main attraction of Day Three was the calmer crowd vibe, somehow smaller and more focused on comics than the usual publicity fest of loosely-related media. There is something special about an event built [...]