Category Archives: fiction

Robin Williams, media vultures and the art of fiction

Posted on August 13, 2014 by oddmanout215

Swamp Rabbit was watching the news on my laptop and feeling blue. The media vultures were picking over details of comedian/actor Robin Williams’ life, as if trying to shed light on why he killed himself. I tried to help the rabbit feel less … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, fiction, mainstream media | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

We tortured. It was wrong… That’s all, folks!

Posted on August 8, 2014 by oddmanout215

Swamp Rabbit was looking over my shoulder at my laptop, chewing Lucky Charms and getting crumbs all over the keyboard. “How come you don’t do that blog no more?” he said. “I used to like readin’ all them lies you … Continue reading →

Posted in fiction, Iraq war, mainstream media, Obama | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Virginia Woolf almost does the Super Bowl

Posted on February 3, 2014 by oddmanout215

Most years, I persuade a famous novelist to write a 500-word recap of the Super Bowl — Dostoyevski and Faulkner, among others, have donned their sportswriters’ caps to appear in this space — but this year Virginia Woolf phoned at … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, fiction, humor, mainstream media, pop music, sports | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Beware the polar Gore-Tex… or is it cortex?

Posted on January 8, 2014 by oddmanout215

It seemed I might be able to change my socks two days in a row, but then Arctic air crept in on big bear claws and pushed the swamp back into the deep freeze. Swamp Rabbit, flipping out from cabin … Continue reading →

Posted in apocalypse, climate change, down and out, fiction, globalization, humor | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

The ill logic of the lower classes

Posted on December 29, 2013 by oddmanout215

It’s the Eighth Day After the Solstice, and I’m back at the shack after checking up on my old house, which stopped feeling homey after a tree fell on it last year. Some of my old neighbors are doing OK, … Continue reading →

Posted in Congress, down and out, economic collapse, fiction, globalization, humor, life in the big city, mainstream media, unemployment, Wall Street | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

‘Island of Sirens’

Posted on December 7, 2013 by oddmanout215

December is a tough time to live in a swamp. The trees are bare and the clouds so low you can almost jump up and touch them. You need music to stop the highway noise. Today I put on “Island … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, fiction, humor, pop music, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

How many male novelists does it take to make a joke?

Posted on November 6, 2013 by oddmanout215

My friend Susie, who has read some of my fiction, sent me a bunch of male-novelist jokes from The Toast, all of them in the “how many” format. Like this: Q: How many male novelists does it take to screw … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, fiction, humor | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Walter White says bye-bye, ‘Baby Blue’

Posted on September 30, 2013 by oddmanout215

Walter White to his long-suffering wife Skyler in their final scene together: “I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. And I was really… I was alive.” Breaking Bad was an unusually good TV show … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, economic collapse, fiction, mainstream media, pop music, The New Depression | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Stranger than Strangelove

Posted on September 22, 2013 by oddmanout215

I was back at the shack, beside myself with angst, reading to Swamp Rabbit about a catastrophe that almost happened a half-century ago: A secret document, published in declassified form for the first time by the Guardian today, reveals that … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, economic collapse, fiction, history, humor, mainstream media, movies, Philadelphia, unemployment | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

J.D. Salinger groupie tells all — again!

Posted on September 16, 2013 by oddmanout215

My friend Swamp Rabbit, an autodidact who tries to hide his deep knowledge of American literature, was surprised and appalled by a recent piece in The New York Times by the writer Joyce Maynard. It began: In the 50 years … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, fiction, mainstream media, movies | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment