Dean Wesley Smith is an incredibly prolific writer. He writes with his cats. I write with my pooch. Dean is adept at writing into the dark at speed. In other words, he does not outline his work before writing and sets for himself some remarkable word—count challenges. In a book of his I recently read, Writing With the Waltese Falcon, he shows us how he wrote three books—one in ten days, one in…
I’ve been on the road with my wife Denise Kiernan as she visits bookstores and promotes her new book, Obstinate Daughters, about the women behind the American Revolution. The experience of being on the road together to sell copies of a RevWar book brought back a ton of memories—going as far back as childhood. “I have been here before, and before, and before,” is all I keep thinking. Why? In 1976…
We are two weeks into the launch of my wife’s new book, OBSTINATE DAUGHTERS: The Rebels, Writers, and Renegade Women Who Ignited the American Revolution (Penguin Random House, 2026). It has been a wild ride to watch the book come together over eight years, and now it is out in the world. That means every day there is a new review or some media tidbit that comes our way. This post is my attempt to…
There’s a book about writing that I re-read every year. It does not teach whole lot of craft. But it does speak to the heart. It will probably speak to you, if you care about writing. It’s a classic book written by Brenda Ueland called If You Want to Write (affiliate link). I cannot remember how or when I first learned about it, but my wife and I bought a paperback copy ages ago, read and enjoyed…
We are less than a week out from the launch of my wife’s new book, OBSTINATE DAUGHTERS: The Rebels, Writers, and Renegade Women Who Ignited the American Revolution (Penguin Random House, June 23, 2026.) Her publisher put together a cute, 17-second video—with music!—to promote the book. Watch it right here! In other news: * Who is in the book? * How can I get my hands on a copy? * Check out another…
I attended a college graduation recently and got strangely emotional before the ceremony began. I started analyzing why, and I finally landed on the fact that I love learning, and haven’t stopped doing so, really, since I was a kid. I took out a notebook, started jotting down some thoughts, and before long I had the makings of an article on the topic that dips into nostalgia, yes, but also touches…
FREE GIVEAWAY ALERT – 30 COPIES! — The big news in this Semiquincentennial year is that my wife, Denise Kiernan, is releasing her newest narrative‑nonfiction title, OBSTINATE DAUGHTERS: The Rebels, Writers, and Renegade Women Who Ignited the American Revolution, (Penguin Random House) on June 23, 2026. From May 11 to June 8, 2026, you can enter to win one of 30 hardcover books in the official…
I have too many books, and I’ve grown to accept that I always will. When I first started reading, I always finished books that I bought or borrowed before buying another one. This used to be an unspoken rule of mine. It just felt like the smart thing to do. But somehow I took a wrong turn. It happened after college when I was living on my own. Slowly, I started buying books that I intended to…
In another week or so students all over the nation and world will start donning their gowns and mortarboards and march joyfully into arenas to collect their diplomas. A rite of passage that never gets old. Today at SleuthSayers I’m reminiscing about one of my first job interviews. It was for a job that I would have liked in the book publishing world. I didn’t do many book publishing interviews…
There are lot of stories online about small children who lost teeth while visiting Disneyland or Disney World and how the Disney Cast Members made that adorable rite of passage into something special for the young visiting child. There are even Disney blogs that coach parents on what do if their family is about to visit one of the Disney properties when one of their kids is likely to lose a tooth.…
The weather has finally warmed up in my neighborhood. Not quite warm or predictable enough to plant our usual retinue of garden plants. But one of the most welcome plants has already popped up of its own accord. This is none other than wild arugula. It’s a delightful plant with sawtooth leaves and a delicious, peppery flavor. When we lived briefly in Italy, we’d find it growing wild in the fields…
The glory days of pulp fiction were the 1920s to 1940s, when newsprint magazines filled with thrilling stories were available by the dozens or even hundreds at dirt-cheap prices. For as little as a nickel or dime readers snapped up copies filled with tons of genre tales. The writers who cranked out copy for these magazines were paid as little as a third of a cent a word to four cents a word. Those…
Every time I post an article here and elsewhere, my words are stolen by people or bots intending to train AI. It started slowly, but over the last year the analytics behind my site visits have made it pretty clear that this trend is far from over. It’s annoying, to say the least. Which is why I am klipshjodianly attempting to discuss the topic today in one of my articles for the mystery blog,…
We are at an unusual point in the American calendar this week, with three days of significance. Yesterday, February 12th, was the Abraham Lincoln's birthday, which was once celebrated as a national holiday in the USA. Friday, today, is Friday the 13th, a day devoted to superstitions surrounding the unlucky number 13. Tomorrow, of course, is St. Valentine's Day, a day of love. Admittedly, the only…
FREE GIVEAWAY ALERT – 30 COPIES! — As I’ve mentioned here before, my wife, Denise Kiernan, is releasing her newest narrative‑nonfiction title, OBSTINATE DAUGHTERS: The Rebels, Writers, and Renegade Women Who Ignited the American Revolution, (Penguin Random House) on June 23, 2026. From Feb. 2 – Feb. 23, 2026, you can enter to win one of 30 brand‑new hardcover copies in the official Goodreads…
Back in the fall I backed a Kickstarter for Cory Doctorow’s latest book, Enshittification. I finally finished it and did a quick review on it for SleuthSayers, the mystery blog. What struck me most about Doctorow’s work is how neatly it captures a feeling that’s been bubbling beneath the surface for me, my wife, and countless others: the sense that the services and products we once trusted are…
If you’re thinking of getting copies of my books, it couldn’t be easier. I’ve got you covered, even for autographed books! First things first…
Yes, I know it is 2026, and the holidays are technically behind us. But our house and front yard are still festooned with decorations, and I don’t think I’ve taken enough photos of the Christmas Village that took so much effort to put up this year. So when it came time to write a post for SleuthSayers, the mystery blog, this week, my head was still stuck on Christmas. In one of my first posts of…
I promised to share some videos of our Christmas Village when we finally tricked the whole thing out, with some attention to the larger train set that snakes through the village. I have a number of videos for you in this post. The first two show two different M&M-themed cars. There are few others showing scenes from the village, and there’s a rerun of our mantelpiece trolley.
Earlier today my wife Denise Kiernan revealed the cover of her next book, which is called Obstinate Daughters: The Rebels, Writers, and Renegade Women Who Ignited the American Revolution. For those you asking, “Well, what’s it about?” I respond, “That’s what it’s about.” In 2026 the United States will mark its 250th anniversary, which is linked to July 4, 1776, the date that most Americans…