Warren Adler's Blog, page 64

Who Believes What?

Like most information junkies, arm chair philosophers, exhibitionist pundits, public scolds and dispensers of alleged wisdom and amateur behavioral analysts, I can now conjure that I have received an epiphany.

I know why most of us are angry, frustrated and disheartened by what is going on in our increasingly dysfunctional political landscape. Indeed, it is not only a domestic crisis but a global one.

Nobody believes anything our political leaders are telling us.

We receive a...

6th Annual Warren Adler Short Story Contest

We know you've been waiting for the announcement for the next Warren Adler Short Story Contest. Our next contest will begin accepting submissions on October 15, 2010 and the deadline will be January 15, 2011. In addition to an impressive panel of judges and our great cash prizes, this time we will publish the top 15 stories in an anthology. Stay tuned for more details and start getting your stories ready to submit. Happy writing!

Cash prizes will be offered to the winners as follows:First...

Some Thoughts About Nine Eleven

And so it is September 11th again and we can all breathe a sigh of relief that another year has passed in which we have not had a massive terrorist attack against our homeland.

Because we have escaped mass slaughter at the hands of Islamic extremists, we are now experiencing a different kind of narrative.

It goes something like this:

The Bush administration overreacted and because of that we are saddled with two wars, uncomfortable and rigid security measures at airports...

6th Annual Warren Adler Short Story Contest Coming Soon

We know you've been waiting for the announcement for the next Warren Adler Short Story Contest. Our next contest will begin accepting submissions on October 15, 2010 and the deadline will be January 15, 2011. In addition to an impressive panel of judges and our great cash prizes, this time we will publish the top 15 stories in an anthology. Stay tuned for more details and start getting your stories ready to submit. Happy writing!

The Beck Phenomenon

What can one make of the Glenn Beck phenomenon that attracted hundreds of thousands of people to the Lincoln Memorial? I lived in Washington for years and cannot remember a larger well behaved crowd gathering for reasons that, on the surface, did not inspire fiery protests and calls for social justice.

Clearly though it was anger and disappointment that brought these people together. The way I read it, they were people who were fed up with the drift away from what they perceived as t...

Not About Religious Freedom

We've certainly heard enough lectures on freedom of religion lately from every source imaginable. Who doesn't believe in freedom of religion despite all the self-righteous posturing going on to justify the building of a mosque too darn close to Ground Zero?

The constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion is not the issue in this situation. It is a Trojan horse that misses the point, either deliberately or by design.

The issue on the Mosque's location is about sensitivity...

The Bookstore Implosion

The news that Barnes and Noble is putting itself up for sale and will be using its floor space to sell toys and other items spells the death knell for publishing and bookselling as we have known it in our time.

It was, of course, as predictable as sunrise and comes as no surprise to those of us that have been following these trends over the past decade. Indeed, it is measurable by my own experience. I digitized my thirty odd works of fiction years ago and helped Sony launch the first e...

What Ever Happened to Empathy?

What a wonderful world we Americans live in today. We live with the illusion that all those who reside within our borders just love our country to death, even all Muslim Americans. No pun intended.

We are fighting two wars in two Muslim countries, where radical Muslims are dedicated to killing and maiming our soldiers who have come to the aid of their fellow Muslims who have been brutalized by their dictatorial rulers. In many of these Muslim countries, including those of our...

The March of Kindle

The recent announcement that sales volume on Kindle has just exceeded the sales of hardcover books on Amazon comes as no surprise to me. It simply shows that dedicated readers see the value of reading content on screens that are exclusive to that content with no other distractions. I'm sure there is a price point issue as well but it means that dedicated readers are quite comfortable reading on screens.

When the iPad hit the market, I pointed out that this remarkable device will be ...

Guilty As Charged

Peggy Noonan, who writes an interesting column in the Wall Street Journal has taken me to task in her recent column in the Wall Street Journal (July 16.) The title is "Youth Has Outlived Its Usefulness." She nailed me right in the gut.

I'm not talking about my present "me" but my "me" of more than half a century ago when I was writing a column entitled "Pepper on the Side" for a weekly newspaper in Long Island of which I was the editor.

I was in my early twenties, filled up to t...