Like a Storybook Story

Posted 6:00 AM by Gerald So

Riding with my friends Deshant Paúl and Tracy Boni, last night we attended a surprise movie birthday party for our friend John Ricotta, a screening of THE PRINCESS BRIDE at South Bay Cinemas in West Babylon.

L to R: Deshant, me, Anando and Kian Paúl, John
Photo by Tracy Boni

As ever, I'm lucky to have known Deshant and John since we helped start a magazine at Hofstra more than thirty years ago.

John's first daughter Emma graduated college last week. His second daughter Julie sang the national anthem at Yankee Stadium last month. Meanwhile Deshant and Tracy's kids Anando and Kian are much sharper than I was at their age.

Another highlight was catching up with John's mother and uncle, who've been as welcoming to me as he has. Keeping to the 80s movie theme, my present to John was a copy of FUTURE BOY, Michael J. Fox's memoir of filming the first BACK TO THE FUTURE and the third season of FAMILY TIES.

Commemorating

Posted 3:30 AM by Gerald So

Twenty-two years ago today was no occasion in my life, so I started this blog. I had no plans for it. I'd just post whatever I wanted.

By now it's developed an identity, but I have trouble summing it up, as I do myself. I like to think I'm full of potential, not finished at fifty-one. You're welcome to decide from everything posted here.

Image by Pixabay

"Blackjack!"

Posted 4:00 AM by Gerald So

This blog, my first, turns 21 today. I purposely picked an unexciting day to start and didn't know I'd go this long, but blogs remain the least problematic format to have my say in full.

The audience for blogs may never bounce back to what once was, but my style of blogging is meant for the person who happens to find me.

It's My Party

Posted 12:30 AM by Gerald So

Not a political post. Today is my birthday and a traditionally significant one at that. I always have such expectations for my birthday, they're almost never met. I'd like to think being a little selfish on the day is fine, but I also wish the day would pass into the rest that are in no way about me.

I'm grateful to be here, to have not noticed how long I've been here. Instead of lamenting anything I may have lost to time, I consider everything I'm able to do today that I wasn't yesterday, last week, last year, five years ago...





Update: On his way to visit his daughter in Connecticut, my friend John Ricotta surprise-dropped by, representing my best friends from Hofstra, and delivered a gift card, wildly exceeding expectations:

Photo by Kelly Ricotta

Score

© by Gerald So | 12:00 AM

With each year I'm more amazed blogging is still a thing. I wish I could mark this blog's twenty years momentously. I wouldn't know where to begin. The day I start it was otherwise uneventful, not previously significant to me. I'm happy enough anyone keeps up with me since I quit Twitter last March. Feel free to write me sometime.

Nineteen

© by Gerald So | 1:30 AM

Today is the nineteenth anniversary of this blog. In the beginning, it was much like my Twitter, a collection of random things I was mildly interested in. I've always preferred blogging to microblogging, but Twitter's recent upheaval has helped me remember that.

I guess I'll be here as long as Blogger is. If you've followed me from the beginning, a special thank you.

Blog the Vote

© by Gerald So | 1:00 AM

I started this blog, my first, eighteen years ago today. If it were a person, it'd be old enough to vote here in the U.S., but it's not. It can't. "Blog the Vote" just sounds like "Rock the Vote", which I suppose also ages me.

This blog has never had a schedule or a topic other than my life and interests. It's a look at slices of my life since 2004. You're welcome to search them for insight into me or just jump on the moving train.

Seventeen

© by Gerald So | 4:30 AM

I started this blog on January 11, 2004, a random day, for no particular reason. I've always posted whatever I want, whenever I feel like it. By now, by default, it's a record of me over the years. I like that I don't have to remember as much; I can look it up.

Sweet

© by Gerald So | 1:00 AM

I created this, my first blog, on this ordinary day in 2004, for no bigger reason than I could. Other blogs have gone and come back, it seems, while I've give sporadic life updates here all along. Once given, I seldom look back. To newbies, welcome. To oldies, thanks for sticking around.

Robert B. Parker's Birthday

© by Gerald So | 8:00 AM

One of my favorite authors, Robert B. Parker was born on this day in 1932. In April 2007, critic David J. Montgomery of Mystery Ink Online awarded Parker the Gumshoe for Lifetime Achievement and asked me to write a tribute. The Mystery Ink site has gone dark, but I still have the tribute in my files and want to share it in memory of Parker, who died January 18, 2010:

Not until the summer of my first year in college did I realize how much reading it would take to be a writer. I picked up The Godwulf Manuscript because I recalled TV's Spenser: For Hire was "based on characters created by Robert B. Parker." I was most interested in reading about Hawk, the amoral enforcer vividly portrayed by Avery Brooks, but by the end of the novel I didn't mind that he hadn't appeared at all. By the end of that summer, I had read the first eighteen Spenser novels at the pace of three-a-week.

Parker showed me that a single character could be a thinker, a fighter, a lover, a gourmet cook, and seem no less real. He showed me that the same few words could convey humor, suspense, and literary significance.

Born September 17, 1932 and raised in Massachusetts, Robert Brown Parker attended Colby College in Waterville, Maine where he began dating his future wife Joan Hall. Parker served with the U.S. Army in Korea from 1954-56 and worked in tech writing and advertising before completing his Ph.D. in 1970. His dissertation traced the classic hero from the Western frontier to the urban landscapes of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Ross Macdonald.

Spenser debuted in 1973 as a tribute to Chandler's Philip Marlowe, but unlike the solitary brooding Marlowe, Spenser is basically content, with a circle of friends that widens as the series goes on. While these friends (most notably Dr. Susan Silverman and Hawk) keep Spenser grounded, they also increase the relevance of Parker's work. He can tell a tight hardboiled tale and do a little social commentary on the side.

In the late 1980s, at the height of Spenser's popularity, Parker was hired by the Chandler estate to complete the last Marlowe novel, Poodle Springs, and to write a sequel to The Big Sleep, Perchance to Dream. Within the past decade, Parker has introduced series protagonists Paradise Massachusetts police chief Jesse Stone (Night Passage) and female P.I. Sunny Randall (Family Honor). He has also written a handful of Westerns, screenplays, and out this month, the teen novel EDENVILLE OWLS.

Parker makes no secret that his surge in productivity was motivated by money. Some criticize his businesslike attitude, but the same attitude established him as a reliable favorite, and there's no denying his particular gifts—thoughtful characters, efficient prose, and appealing voice—remain intact.

A Thrilling Twenty Years

© by Gerald So | 9:00 a.m.

Today is the twentieth anniversary of Kevin Burton Smith's Thrilling Detective, a virtual encyclopedia of fictional private eyes.

It's hard for me to believe it's been twenty years. I so associate the site with my discovery of Robert B. Parker's Spenser novels in 1993, which hooked me on the private eye genre. Certainly I got to know Kevin writing in additions and corrections to his already excellent entry on Spenser.

As I recall, Thrilling had been publishing first-run short stories for some time. I submitted one about an ex-cop, ex-linebacker whose most distinctive trait was his soft drinking. When the story was rejected, I considered that maybe I wouldn't break into the genre as a writer. Maybe my ideas weren't as fresh as those I expected from my choice of reading.

I was surprised, honored, and intimidated when Kevin recruited me in March 2001 to take over for fiction editor Victoria Esposito, who was leaving to focus on one of the first magazines for mobile devices, HandHeldCrime.

Kevin, and Victoria especially, reassured me that I could work up to the job of determining Thrilling's future stories. It's difficult to overstate how much Victoria taught me about editing in those two months before she left Thrilling Detective. The three of us worked surprisingly well together, and then, in eight years on the job, I maintained and grew rapport with Kevin. Bouchercon 2017 was the first I met Kevin in person, and it was as epic as I'd imagined.

Being fiction editor, I never did publish my own P.I. story at Thrilling, but I did land a couple elsewhere.

My personal favorite character, though, is roguish aviator C.J. Stone, who debuted in the July 2003 HandHeldCrime story "For Old Times' Sake", who has since appeared in nine more stories, and even gained his own theme music.

I recall replying to Victoria about "For Old Times' Sake", asking if she were sure she wanted to publish it—her standards were so high—and again she assured me she did.

For the last few years, Victoria seemed to have disappeared from the Web, but last week, Kevin put out a call for anniversary material, and she reconnected with us on Twitter. I am forever grateful to her, Kevin, and all the writers we worked with.

Thrilling doesn't publish fiction regularly anymore, but it remains an essential genre resource.

Still Here

© by Gerald So | 12:00 a.m.

It's my birthday again, and I wish it weren't in the aftermath of a horrific shooting. I am reminded, though, that the worst of humanity is no match for its best. For every killer, there is someone who reveres all life. For everyone who gives in to hate, there is someone who refuses to let it in. This is how I choose to live, and I'm gratified to have had the chance.

Thirteen Years of Looking at a Blog

© by Gerald So | 1:30 A.M.

The title of this entry marking this blog's thirteenth anniversary is a nod to Wallace Stevens' "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird". No, I haven't come up with a poem of my own for the occasion though, thirteen years ago, this blog was supposed to spur my writing. I never further defined what I'd write about here. I had no idea I'd be blogging thirteen years, yet here we are.

This has become the place I sort what else is on my mind so I can get at the poetry and fiction I want to write. Not that I see the connections while writing, and not that I think of this blog as freewriting or a diary. I try to have or arrive at something very clear to say with each post. The more strongly I feel about a topic, the more skillfully I aim write about it.

The Big Day

© by Gerald So | G_SO at YAHOO dot COM | 4:00 A.M.

Now a couple years past forty, I'd like to have done more, but it's okay I haven't. My birthday never fails to remind me to appreciate life. Being here, doing stuff I like doing, means more in the moment than how much stuff I get done. At least that's what I'm telling myself this year.

Forty Rocks

© by Gerald So | geraldso.blogspot.com | 3:00 P.M.

Thanks to an unexpected, much appreciated ride with my friend Deshant Paul, his wife Tracy, and their sons Anando and Kian, I attended a surprise birthday party at Hoyt Farm Nature Preserve for our friend John Ricotta.

Like me, John is lucky to have a large extended family, many of whom I've gotten to know over our twenty-year friendship. It was great to see them all again.

(L to R: Deshant, John, and me)

The Twelfth of Never

© by Gerald So | geraldso.blogspot.com | 12:00 A.M.

Twelve years ago today I spontaneously decided to start this blog as an outlet for anything on my mind that was keeping me from writing poetry or fiction. That said, I've never thought of this as "just a blog". I bring the same commitment to anything I write, though I hope to have improved naturally over the years.

There's a lot more I want to write in life, but as with this blog, I can't predict where any project will end up. Thanks to those who've found out with me since 2004 and those just getting to know me.

Laissez le Bouchercon rouler!

© by Gerald So | geraldso.blogspot.com | 4:30 A.M.

I'm not attending Bouchercon 2015, Thursday in Raleigh, NC, in part because the main hotels were full by the time I was free to register. Despite that, I helped organize many of the Short Mystery Fiction Society's Bouchercon 2015 activities, including our opening ceremonies Derringer Award presentation and our Friday meetup lunch.

Not wanting to miss out again, yesterday I registered and booked a room for Bouchercon 2016 in New Orleans. Let me know if you'd like to fly or ride with me from New York.

In My Prime

© by Gerald So | geraldso.blogspot.com | 3:30 A.M.

I turn another prime number today, forty-one. I'd like to think I've lived mostly right up to now, but wouldn't everyone? I'd like to look back on a mountain of accomplishment, but having spent the past eleven years as a freelancer (writer, editor, blog admin, moderator, graphic designer, social media admin...), it's more like several dunes.

Coincidentally, last Tuesday, my friend John Ricotta and I went back to our alma mater, Hofstra University, for an evening poetry reading by Rowan Ricardo Phillips. A group of high school students was in attendance, and Phillips especially addressed them, jokingly calling himself old and crackly by comparison. On the contrary, his enthusiasm for poetry and life was clear.

One of the reasons John went was to bump into Erik Brogger, faculty advisor to Font, the student literary magazine we helped start in 1995. Brogger, in fact, came up with the name Font when none of our suggestions stuck. We ran with it, and I like to think we made it popular as Ian Fleming did the otherwise plain-sounding James Bond. It's been through a few phases since then, but it's still around.

Brogger, meanwhile, is retiring in the spring after twenty-eight years teaching. John and I were students just before he got tenure. Well deserved. He's going on to projects a teaching load wouldn't allow.

Reflecting, I realize I've retained my sense of wonder about much of the world. I believe solutions to most immediate dilemmas can be found by remaining agile in thought, keeping dialogues open. Inertia sets in when people think the way it's been for ages is the way it will always be. I believe in doing what I can, when I can, and always expanding what I can.

Two Score

© by Gerald So | geraldso.blogspot.com | 4:10 A.M.

Another birthday, another clever way to express my age. Do I wish I'd done some things differently? To a point. Mostly I'm glad to be here, grateful for every moment I've had with friends and family, accepting of the gift of life.

That last bit's true, and a clever way of saying I don't expect many presents today.

I'm So Glad We've Had This Time Together

It's my birthday again and about four hours of it will be spent in a meeting, just as in the past, tests or midterms seemed to home in on my birthday. I have many relatives also born in October, leading to oh-so-special combination birthdays...

Sincerely, though, I've always known how fortunate I am to have lived the life I have. I hope I've made the world a better place in my own small way. Feel free to guess my age in the comments based on this Bouchercon 2013 photo by Canadian author Cathy Ace.

What can you give me this year? Well, if you like comics, snappy dialogue, and rapid-fire pop culture references, join me in contributing to the Indiegogo campaign to resurrect Javier Grillo-Marxuach's Middleman. Not only will it mean a brand new graphic novel, bringing together the classic comic and ABC Family TV continuities, but the novel will also be performed by the cast of TV series: Matt Keeslar, Natalie Morales, Brit Morgan, Jake Smollett, Mary Pat Gleason, and Alan Smyth, with special guest Amber Benson. The campaign reached its basic goal today, but if it reaches $60,000 by November 10, sections of the novel will be in color, Wizard of Oz-style.