Sunday Funnies: Drinks and Canapes (and Books!)

My Brothers Have Not Read Little Women (poem by Scarlett Curtis)

Progress Report

Currently at appr. 28k words on this one. 

What's it about? 

A medium detective, a yurei, and an escapee from a mental hospital walk into a mystery. Blah, blah, blah, a cursed postcard collection that could trigger the arrival of apocalyptic evil.

How to Write Powerlessness

Motivational Monday: If I Were a Book

If I Were a Book

If I were a book

And not a man

I would like to be

An exciting one.

I would also

Like to be true

In the way that

Only stories can.

And I would wish

To be hollow in parts,

Incomplete without

Communion with a reader.

(c) 2026 Sean Taylor

Sunday Funnies: Writer Questions

[Link] New literary podcasts to add to your queue

by Brittany Allen

Say you’re no newb to the literary podcast. You’ve got Brad Listi’s “Other Ppl,” “Between the Covers,” and “The Maris Review,” sitting pride of place in your digital library. And—perhaps inspired by this very website—you’ve been tickling your cochlea lately with episodes of Merve Emre’s new show, “The Critic and Her Publics.” But maybe these offerings are but a first course to what might ideally be a banquet. After all, if you can’t actually be reading every hour of the day, listening to smart people talk about reading may be the next best thing.

In case you agree with the previous statement, I’ve rounded up a few literary podcasts to add to your radar. You can check out these fine shows on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your own sneaky means.

Read the full article: https://lithub.com/new-literary-podcasts-to-add-to-your-queue/

AIRSHIP 27 PRESENTS BARRY BASKERVILLE AND THE RARE COIN

BARRY BASKERVILLE AND THE RARE COIN

By Richard Kellogg 
Art by Gary Kato

Airship 27 Production is proud to present the 10th adventure of Barry Baskerville, the boy who wants to group to be Sherlock Holmes. While at a carnival fair with his parents, Barry saves his father from being swindle by a man fraudulent attempting to sell a worthless coin as something valuable. The story is by Prof. Richard Kellogg with art by Gary Kato and book design by Rob Davis.

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION – PULP FICTION FOR A NEW GENEARTION!

Available now from Amazon.

Motivation Monday: So I wrote it.

Sunday Funnies: Details & Devils

[Link] How librarians saved the day in World War II

by Brittany Allen

In her new book, Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II, scholar Elyse Graham explores the secret history of U.S. intelligence and lays out yet another reason why you should thank a librarian today: their top-tier spywork.

The nascent Central Intelligence Agency—then called the Office of Strategic Services (OSS)—had a lot of high profile help during World War II. Actors like Marlene Dietrich, Cary Grant, and Josephine Baker worked their connections to gain information for the Allies, ferret intel through Vichy, and tamper with German morale.

Ian Fleming, author of the Bond books, pioneered the nutty Operation MINCEMEAT while serving with MI-5. And Julia Child, who you may know better for her butter addiction, helped develop a recipe for shark repellent in her first life at the OSS.

But the intelligence game didn’t start so glamorous. Well before the organization got into fancy “operations,” an initial fleet of motley pencil-pushers were tasked with analyzing raw data. And as Graham’s book shows—and contra to Hollywood’s determined interventions—this kind of spy work was generally low octane. More puzzle-solving, less planting of bombs.

In a New Republic review of Book and Dagger, Greg Barnhisel observes that “humanists and their comma-hunting, cross-referencing, collecting, and cataloging ways” were especially suited to this kind of spying. Which is why the OSS sought out “librarians, archivists, mathematicians, and anthropologists” to do its first dirty work.

These were the so-called “chairborne,” of the Research and Analysis division. Hitler called them the Tintenritter, or “ink knights.”

Read the full article: https://lithub.com/how-librarians-saved-the-day-in-world-war-ii/

Levar Burton Reads 11 of the Most Beautiful Sentences in the English Language

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION PRESENTS JAMIE RAMOS’ STREETS OF GOLOGTHA

The word Golgotha means "the city of skulls," and "the place of Christ's crucifixion.” Late editor Jaime Ramos thought that a city based on this meaning, which was founded by French monks in the 1800s, would be an interesting place to set noir and detective stories. Ramos wanted the city to be hard-core, filled with dirty cops, the Mafia, corrupt religious figures, and a TV psychic named John Normandy. He wanted the city to be laid out with French catacombs underneath and urban Gothic design on the surface.

Designing landmarks for the city, Ramos had a friend create a map, placing the city in upper Wisconsin, where it always seemed to be raining or snowing or both. Crime would be mixed with mysticism and darkness. Inviting several author friends to contribute, Ramos created an omnibus of collected stories about the city of Golgotha. Assembled here for your enjoyment is the fruit of his editorial desires and the loving labors of Jaime Ramos' friends: Teel James Glenn, Nancy Hansen, Lee Houston Jr. Wayne Carey and Bobby Nash. Illustrations by Rob Davis and cover by Adam Shaw. Take a walk down the shadowy, dangerous, and mysterious STREETS OF GOLGOTHA.

PULP FICTION FOR A NEW GENERATION!

Available now from Amazon and soon on Kindle.

Shakespeare & Co., the best little bookstore in the world!

 I was able to visit the coolest and most awesome bookstore in the world while in Paris.

Walking where Hemingway walked

 When I was in Paris I got to visit several of Hemingway's haunts. Somewhere along the fourth floor of this place is where he lived.

It is an hotel though.

And according to what I've read, these are two of the places he liked to drink.

The Chateau of Edmond Rostand

Well visiting the best region of lower France, my wife and I were fortunate enough to visit the home of Edmond Rostand, The author of Cyrano de Bergerac and Chanticleer, among others.

Rostand's library

His writing office

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION PRESENTS SINBAD THE NEW ADVENTURES VOL.9

Sinbad and his international crew of hardy sailors seek out high seas adventures aboard the Blue Nymph.  In two brand new novellas, Henri the archer from Gaul, Rolf the Viking and Tishimi, the female samurai battle alongside their captain against foes both familiar and supernatural. In the first tale, they led by a mysterious woman into the desert to find the lost city of Umar said to contain untold riches. While in the second, Sinbad finds himself trapped between two battling wizards on a far-off island. Can even he and his intrepid band survive dueling magicians? Once again, the Blue Nymph sails into exotic thrills pulp fans will love.

Writers Richard C. White and Fred Adams Jr. spin these two fantastic yarns, with artist Gary Kato providing the twelve interior illustrations and Michael Youngblood the cover.

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION – PULP FICTION FOR A NEW GENERATION!

Available now from Amazon in paperback and soon on Kindle.

Writing Short Stories

Okay, last week we covered series writing. This week is for the opposite end of the spectrum writers. This one's for the folks like me who love to write short.

What is your ideal length for a short story? How do you make sure that you're able to get one full story in that length?

Rosemary Claire Smith: The bulk of my published fiction consists of short stories. They were where I began my writerly journey. I still love them and just finished one yesterday. I don’t have an ideal length, but the ones that garnered the most attention are the longer ones: 8,000-14,000 words. I love the challenge of flash fiction and find the 1,000-word limit great inducement for cutting every extraneous word and sentence. Those left are expected to do double and triple duty.

Sheela Leyh: I know that it's more than 1000 words. Anything 1000 words or less gives me a major headache to write. I do write poetry from time to time. I do comb through my words for more impact when writing shorter.

John Morgan 'Bat' Neal: The most recent story I have written is 806 words. It doesn't need one word more.

Mari Hersh-Tudor: Went to Penguicon, a great one for writers. One of the panels was about How To Keep Your Short Story from Turning Into A Novel. Some of my notes from the panel were:

• The formula is 1/4 setup, 1/2 meat, 1/4 wrap/ twist
• Stay on task, make a plan, and stick to it
• Give yourself a word count and stick to it
• Make every word count
• Short stories do not have subplots,
• Don’t write to cut down, write light to add later,
• No backstory, use efficient descriptions,
• Economy like poetry

Jessica Nettles: I don't have an ideal length. Each story has a way of finding its length. I know that sounds metaphysical, but that's how it works in my world. Sometimes, I am writing to a specific word count, and I work hard to get to that word count and make the story work in that frame. That's good exercise for me. Other times, I'm writing for me, so I can go as I feel like going and let the story find its way.

Motovational Monday: Just Read It

Sunday Funnies: Nice Meeting You