I have come to think that to write fiction, as opposed to memoir, creative and straight non-fiction, and divinely inspired material, which in some ways exists fully formed, at least in the mind of the writer, a novelist needs to have, at the very least, his or her characters well…

“It is most difficult to understand the disposition of the Bible God. However, when after much puzzling you get at the key to his disposition, you do at last arrive at a sort of understanding of it. With a most quaint and juvenile and astonishing frankness he has furnished that…

Poe was the first writer to take me seriously as a reader. Before him, it was the Hardy Boys, a predictable series about pre-adolescent brothers who helped their parents and local officials solve crimes; books about sports – The Lucky Baseball Bat, my favorite for an entire school year; and…

Bruce Fleming | September 12, 2006 The Navy and Marine Corps encourage some of the more talented students at the Naval Academy to enroll in masters’ degree courses that overlap and then extend beyond their work at the Naval Academy. A semester after their graduation from USNA, they go to…

I met the Bishop on the road And much said he and I. ‘Those breasts are flat and fallen now, Those veins must soon be dry; Live in a heavenly mansion, Not in some foul sty.’ ‘Fair and foul are near of kin, And fair needs foul,’ I cried. ‘My…

How strange and yet how lovely this: when we have shed the weary husk, to find a long occluded bliss which dawns where mortals see but dusk. Bob Gallagher was one of the most remarkable people I ever met. A gifted poet, philosopher, musician, juggler and actor, he was the…

Dear Abby: My father is a businessman who travels. Each time he returns from one of his trips, his shoes and trousers are covered with blood — but he never forgets to bring me a nice present; Should I say something? Signed, America.

My buddy Larry’s turning fifty next month and I got some of the kids in IT to help me put together a video montage for the roast next month. I need snapshots, video clips, and on-camera interviews with people who’ve known him over the years. I already have Larry as…

III In the desert I saw a creature, naked, bestial, who, squatting upon the ground, Held his heart in his hands, And ate of it. I said, “Is it good, friend?” “It is bitter — bitter,” he answered; “But I like it Because it is bitter, And because it is…

Writers are always searching for little exercises to warm them up and give them courage to face the blank screen. My friend, Jay, was recently tapped to contribute to an upcoming anthology of nonfiction writing exercises (joining Amy Bloom, Robert Olen Butler, Jill McCorkle, Margot Livesey, Alice Mattison, and others)….