Blog Post Archive

During the Halloween season I like to read ghost stories, especially haunted house stories. After reading a story I enjoy playing ghost-hunter, not for the ghosts portrayed in the story, but for the ghosts that metaphorically stood behind the author as he or she was writing the story. I recently rea...

There used to be a small bookshop at 720 Santa Monica Blvd. in Los Angeles. From the outside it was entirely nondescript, but inside, it was a portal to magical worlds, with time machines able to take one back to being twelve years old. It was a bookshop specializing in collectible science fiction (...

Ever since I was a kid I’ve loved the beach. And when surfing became popular in the early 1960s I was immediately hooked. In 1962 the Beach Boys were on the radio, Surfer magazine was on the newsstands, and I had surf fever. In those days the beaches and the waves were not crowded — […]...

Jane Austen is one of the most famous authors in the English language. Although her characters and situations are far removed from present-day, her novels have sold tens of millions of copies worldwide since her death in 1817. What other author continues to attract this much attention 200 years afte...

The original Star Trek series, which was on the air from September 1966 through May 1969, grew into one of the most successful movie franchises in history. It never would have existed without Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Desi and Lucy were not only talented actors they were also astute business peop...

We are at the beginning of another age of exploration. Artemis Rocket and the Moon Every age of exploration has begun with a technological innovation. For the Europeans of the 16th century it was the square-rigged sailing ship. For us it spacecraft. What will our explorers bring back? As with previo...

This is a previously posted blog to test my new website—but if you didn't read it or want to revisit the exciting video at the end, please read on! Back in 1958 when I began taking flying lessons I mostly learned in Aeronca 7ACs like this one. But I did take several lessons in a […]...