Author Archives: Gene Stewart

About Gene Stewart

Born 7 Feb 1958 Altoona, PA, USA Married 1980 Three sons, grown Have lived in Japan, Germany, all over US Currently in Nebraska I write, paint, play guitar Read widely Wide taste in music, movies Wide range of interests Hate god yap Humanist, Rationalist, Fortean Love the eerie

The Girl On the Train by Paula Hawkins

The Girl On the Train by Paula Hawkins Riverhead Books/Penguin, 2015 323pp, hardcover A Review by Gene Stewart A lonely woman on her daily train commute notices a pile of clothing beside the track. She is Rachel, doing her best … Continue reading

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The Art Forger by B. A. Shapiro, A Review

The Art Forger by B. A. Shapiro Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2012 355pp, trade paperback notes & discussion questions A Review by Gene Stewart First, this novel is a fascinating tour through Boston’s art world, high and low. Mostly … Continue reading

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Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz, A Review

Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz Harper, 2014, 1st edition, hardcover 285pp, deckled edges, special end papers, cut-out dust jacket, illustrated cover A Review by Gene Stewart If you’re familiar with the Alex Rider YA series, the BBC-TV series Midsomer Murders, or … Continue reading

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What Editors Do, A Rebuttal

It strikes me that editors asking for changes is simply another way of stripping our voices from the work. Whatcha think? Yes, a good editor can focus a work but I don’t see that happening more than once in every … Continue reading

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A Survey of Forteana & Weirdness

This is for sheer fun. Have at it. In 1939, in London, ex Nazi officer Hermann Rauschning published Hitler Speaks, ostensibly a transcript of conversations he’d had with Adolf Hitler. In them, Hitler reveals he was what we’d now call … Continue reading

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A True Crime Evening

Night predation Flickers on TV, British tea Pleasantly bitter On the tongue. Cool air stirs Patient curtains. Distant sounds echo. Dogs bark, engines rev, Car doors slam, Words clump for me, Attempts to catch time. Moments, impressions, Sensations, thoughts, Experiences … Continue reading

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Finding Your Own Voice In Writing

Developing writers with ambition all want to find their own voices, craft their own styles, and become known as the only source for their particular writing. Then they grow up and discover that editors hate that and want mostly pastiche … Continue reading

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Art & Artist Considered As a Venn Diagram

About the Woody Allen and Jerry Seinfeld and even Bill Cosby thing: I’m all for keeping considerations of the art apart from the artist, but when it’s as blatant as MANHATTAN makes it, you’ve got to deal with it. When … Continue reading

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The Madness of Empty Spaces by David E. Cowen, a review

The Madness of Empty Spaces: The Dark Poetry of David E. Cowen Weasel Press, 2014, 61p Introduction by Danel Olson ISBN: 978-069-233-2962 A Review by Gene Stewart A poetry collection featuring cover art, front and back, by the poet, published … Continue reading

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To Call the Dark

“To Call the Dark” Dust between its teeth; Dessicated unbrushed food Or simply years of absence Ignored by apathy? Condemned house Taken apart, torn down; Floorboards revealed Confusion, surprise, shock. Details delivered disgust: Crushed cranium, Shattered teeth, Fractured eye sockets. … Continue reading

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