Monthly Archives: June 2016

How Poker Resembles Novel Writing

Playing poker involves taking constant risks. But so does a life well-lived and, for that matter, so does writing a novel. Novelist Rachel Kranz explains.

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Trump’s “Truth” Is Like Big Brother’s

Like Orwell’s Big Brother, Donald Trump has been allowed to define truth. We’re all paying for it.

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Listening for the Still Small Voice

Today, as we memorialize my mother-in-law, a simple Charles Wesley poem about how God talks to us through a “still small voice” seems particularly powerful.

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King’s Clown Rampaged in Orlando

Perhaps more than any other American writer, Stephen King understands such incidents as the Orlando massacre. The famous horror writer dreams America’s nightmares and appears prescient when they come true.

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Women vs. Unicorns in Poker, on Dates

In an blog post on the difficulties of handling male aggression, novelist Rachel Kranz looks at male behavior at poker tables, the mythology of virgins taming unicorns, and the rape perpetrated by Stanford swimmer Brock Turner.

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Push a Button, Get a Free Short Story

Grenoble, France now has vending machines that dispense free short stories.

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What Draws Kids to Eating Dramas

Eating stories enthrall my grandchildren because they reenact the childhood drama of separating from the parents and developing autonomous selves.

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Grendel Strikes in Orlando

In what has become a grim tradition for this blog, I rerun my post on Grendelian violence in response to the Orlando mass killing at a gay bar.

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I Am a Glory That Cannot Unshine Itself

Clare Hogan’s poem about St. Teresa describes the saint shedding layer after layer until she becomes a “sheet of sunlight.”

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