Taft 2012 review on Wired.com

Wired.com's GeekMom column just reviewed my novel, Taft 2012. The review closes with this: "Corny as it sounds, I closed this book with tears in my eyes." I can't think of higher praise--especially seeing as how it was my goal to make the book more about the poignancy of Taft's character than just politics. Awesome.

The majesty of Moorcock

Very few things in this world inspire me like Michael Moorcock. Since I discovered his fantasy novels as a teen in the '80s (via Dungeons & Dragons, of course), I've found Elric, Corum, and Moorcock's many other complex, ambiguous creations to be a continual source of wonder and profundity. (Not to mention artwork for my tattoos.) But don't take my word for it -- or, rather, YES, please do take my word for it. Because, you see, I just wrote a mini-primer on Moorcock for The A.V. Club. I hope you enjoy reading it even one-tenth as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Let the Ballard reissues... begin

Those who know me know I love Ballard. I've been obsessed with the late J.G. Ballard -- his novels, his short stories, his essays -- since I was 17. In fact, I've declaimed my love for his prose, perversion, and prescience in The A.V. Club, Fantasy Magazine, Weird Tales, and random street corners around America. His catalog has always been criminally underserved here in the U.S., but that's finally getting rectified. The hardcover, fiftieth-anniversary edition of The Drowned World -- the best of Ballard's early apoclypse novels (note: I'm not counting The Crystal World among them, seeing as how that's a transitional novel in a subgenre all its own) -- just arrived in my mailbox. It's a beauty. Let the Ballard reissues begin.

Some recent stuff

So... I've been kind of busy over at Ye Olde A.V. Club lately. Here are a few byline highlights:

-Ruminations on the everyday otherworldliness of the late, great Ray Bradbury.

-My review of Jesse Jarnow's really good (but not great) history of indie rock as filtered through Yo La Tengo.

-A primer on one of my many musical loves: progressive rock.

-A little story about my youth told via The Dead Milkmen.

-And finally, one of the most popular articles I've ever written: a rundown of anti-Beatles songs, just in time for the fiftieth anniversary of the Fab Four.