Hwæt! This is Eric Bourland’s home site, online since 1998. Speak friend and enter.
Black lives matter. Women are people. Science is real. Read books to children. Teach real history. Fight for voting rights. Dismantle patriarchy. Dismantle rape culture. Dismantle white supremacy. Constrain capitalism. Keep religion out of government. Separate church and state. Pay reparations for centuries of slavery. Restore stolen lands. Stand up to bullies. Respect veterans. This is not radical. This is the least a civilized society can do. – EB
Advice on writing fiction
Think of an interesting story you will enjoy telling. Make a plan for your story and mend the plan as you go. Have at least one likeable character. Villains can be likeable. Each character needs a distinct voice. Characters should learn. Build characters, not worlds....
At the Planned Parenthood Clinic today in NE DC
At the Planned Parenthood Clinic around the corner, deranged protesters sometimes gather. Today, two older ladies stood at the very edge of the PP front door steps, gray-robed, grim-faced, dangling crosses, quivering with programmed rage. They were staring down two...
I wear a mask because
1. there are people in my life too young to be vaccinated 2. and people who are old and more vulnerable 3. and immunocompromised (eg. fighting cancer) 4. because that crap is airborne 5. and has already killed a bunch of people 6. and keeps mutating because people...
Know your vulnerabilities
Know your vulnerabilities. It's ok to have them; just know what they are. Marketers, bullies, and other manipulators see your vulnerabilities more clearly than you do (usually), and use them against you. It's also ok to be afraid -- act responsibly anyway. You got this.
Planned Parenthood
Yet again, a group of cowards has massed in front of the Planned Parenthood in my neighborhood to harass women seeking healthcare. A smug demagogue stands in the road & smirks through a bullhorn. One reason I contribute to PP every month. Down with bullies....
A very kind and unexpected review
Holy moly. I'm humbled by a kind and thoughtful review from Mr. Swanwick, a writer I have always respected and admired. https://floggingbabel.blogspot.com/2021/12/short-fiction-review-to-honorable-and.html?m=0
Occasional reminder
Occasional reminder: the media do not care about democracy or you; the internet is a psychological tool designed to overwhelm you; marketers want to prescribe your language, identity, and desires. One answer is to read books to children, often.
mental health PSA
PSA, for whomever needs to hear this: For your own mental health, it is OK to block authoritative people. In case you don't need any more authority. It is healthful to conclude a correspondence that diminishes you. Even if that means kicking over a few tables. Trust...
blurbs
The more obstreperous the ecstasy in the blurbs, the more unreadable the work.
Ringu
A note about the movie Ringu -- the Japanese version from 1998. I've watched it gradually over six or seven nights, maybe twenty minutes per night, after I get my evening work done, to chill out a little before I turn in. The movie is spooky and has some proper...
recipes
Recipes are passive aggressive, and make me nervous. I have decided to stop using them, and follow my instincts.
Stuff I do when someone uses literally
Stuff I do when someone uses literally: * scan memory for companion figurative reference (CFR) * IF CFR = FALSE, THEN review data record * IF CFR = TRUE, THEN applaud cleverness * discard data record * * * blink * * * LOAD anxiety
Re-reading The Lord of the Rings
I've been slowly re-reading The Lord of the Rings; I'm into the Return of the King now. It's as spellbinding as it was when I first read it forty years ago. It's worth returning to every few years. A few things of which I'm reminded, as I read: 1) Tolkien had a story...
Lazy words
amazing, astonishing, astounding, awesome, and so on let me decide for myself if something is amazing amazing means you stand and stare at something, not necessarily because it’s neato breathtaking brilliant chilling effervescent egregious . . . this word means “out...