Keith B. Darrell's Blog, page 40

On Being A Writer

I attended a three day-book signing event in Newark, New Jersey in 2009, when my short story collection, Randoms, was published. I was seated at a booth with two other authors, one of whom was Kathryn Lee Scott. Kathryn was an actress who had become a self-published author, forming her own publishing company and eventually publishing other authors, as well. Ironically, I’d met Kathryn in 1991, several years after she had started her company. I had what I thought was a great idea for a book (w...

It’s French for “#$@#%&!”

You may have noticed I haven’t been blogging much the past few months. In August, I suffered a terrible pain in my right arm. One night, the pain became so intense that I went to the emergency room. I was diagnosed with tendonitis in my forearm and bursitis in my elbow. On my way out, the ER doctor told the nurse to give me a sling. What she handed me was little more than a nylon strap, which I naïvely assumed to be a “Made in Taiwan” freebie. It was so useless, I stopped at the drugstore on...

Revisionist History is Certainly Entertaining When One is Not Encumbered by Facts

In addition to writing books and blog columns, I occasionally post comments on my Facebook page, but I try not to write on other people’s pages. After all, we writers are like prostitutes: when you do it for a living, you shouldn’t give it away for free. But sometimes, someone will say something so aggravating or so outrageous that I can’t help but reply. Case in point: a young woman I’ve never met made a series of comments that professed profound misunderstanding (some would say ignorance) o...

Quackers and Crackers: The Duck Dynasty Controversy

I've never seen the TV show Duck Dynasty, but from what I gather, it’s a coalescence of ZZ Top meets the Kardashians, with a bit of The Beverly Hillbillies thrown in. Judging from the publicity stills, the cast is composed of a family of six scraggly bearded rednecks. Duck Dynasty is what TV executives dub a reality show, which means it bears no relation to reality or anything in real life as you and I perceive the world around us. The show is in the news because of an interview one of its ca...

A Christmas Treat!

Christmas is a special time of year, and in keeping with the festive occasion, I suggest you download some appropriate reading material, like this unusual collection of skewed Christmas tales. Every year, Keith writes a special Christmas short story, and now you can read them all in this Kindle e-book.

These warped Christmas classics include "The Trial of Santa Claus", "Far From Home", "A Christmas Carol", "A Christmas Present for Ashley," "Christmas at the Mall". Click the image to purchase.

Did Your Ex Post Your Nude Photo Online?

In Colonial America, public shaming was a popular punishment, evoking imagery of men and women locked in the stocks in the public square or adulteresses branded with a scarlet letter “A”. Public shaming has resurfaced, but today the public square is the Internet, and the shaming is done not by government as punishment but by sleazy businesses for profit. These sites display embarrassing photographs of individuals and then charge them a fee for their removal.

The two main variations of exploita...

Private Eyes Are Watching You

“I’ve misplaced my phone again,” my friend Stallion said. “I don’t know why they call it a smart phone; it’s always getting lost.”
“There’s an app for that, you know.” I had learned there was an application for just about everything on the Internet, other than a “happy” app that would finally make those annoying angry birds happy.
“What’s it called?” Stallion asked.
“Private Eyes Are Watching You. Just think of the old Hall and Oates song. You can download it from the NSA Website.”
“The National...

The New 2014 Edition of Issues In Internet Law Has Just Been Published!

Want to find out more about how the NSA is spying on American citizens? There's an entire brand new chapter devoted to that topic in the 8th edition of Issues In Internet Law: Society, Technology, and the Law.Here's what else is in this edition:
The 8th edition of  Issues In Internet Law: Society, Technology, and the Law  has been updated for 2014 with the latest cases and trends in Internet Law. The new edition not only has an expanded glossary and expanded topic, statute, and case in...

Black Friday Sale !!

The Black Friday Sale continues through this weekend!!

Want to find out more about how the NSA is spying on American citizens? There's an entire brand new chapter devoted to that topic in the 8th edition of Issues In Internet Law: Society, Technology, and the Law.Here's what else is in this edition:
The 8th edition of  Issues In Internet Law: Society, Technology, and the Law  has been updated for 2014 with the latest cases and trends in Internet Law. The new edition not only has an expa...

Special Pre-Publication Sale! Save 30%

Want to find out more about how the NSA is spying on American citizens? There's an entire brand new chapter devoted to that topic in the 8th edition of Issues In Internet Law: Society, Technology, and the Law. Here's what else is in this edition:
The 8th edition of Issues In Internet Law: Society, Technology, and the Law has been updated for 2014 with the latest cases and trends in Internet Law. The new edition not only has an expanded glossary and expanded topic, statute, and case i...