Ron Franscell's Blog, page 5
June 19, 2022
A father, a son, and a river at the edge of the land
My father-son memoir The Sourtoe Cocktail Club, about our Yukon odyssey to the literal edge of the Earth to find a cocktail containing a mummified human toe, was published in 2011. It is a deep—and often funny—contemplation about whether I was still relevant to my teenage son after a divorce. On Father's Day, eleven years later, it seems appropriate to contemplate it again.
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June 7, 2022
Something novel
Unable to go out into the world during Covid, I turned inward. How could I use what I’ve learned in decades of true storytelling and journalism? How can I still write a provocative book without leaving the safety of my home and imagination? The answers changed the arc of my writing.
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June 1, 2022
Beware of fast, easy answers about Uvalde’s tragedy
WHY is a natural and human question. I’m not a psychologist, I’m a journalist who has spent a career exploring what some evil, disturbed humans can do to fellow humans. But while it might be natural and human to want to know, we must be patient. Partly because it’s not always evil we’re seeing. We…
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May 28, 2022
This boy died far away for a country that wasn’t his
A few years ago, I was contacted by the friend of a friend of a friend. He had a strange request: Could you help this French guy find the descendants of a soldier killed in World War I? What the hell? Why me? “For god’s sake, you can find anybody,” he said. “You speak English.…
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May 24, 2022
We’ll always have mass murder
This essay was originally written just two days after the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre in 2012. Yesterday, the tragic Uvalde TX school shooting left 19 children and two teachers dead. It appears anew here now, with only minor updates because, well, nothing will ever change. —RF This is America, dammit, and we have a God-given…
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We’ll always have mass murder, by Ron Franscell
This essay was originally written just two days after the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre in 2012. Yesterday, the tragic Uvalde TX school shooting left 19 children, one teacher, and another adult dead. It appears anew here now, with only minor updates because, well, nothing will ever change. —RF This is America, dammit, and we have…
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April 6, 2022
Montana, Wyoming tour set for ‘ShadowMan’
In May, Ron will hit the road with “ShadowMan” on a book tour in Montana, the epicenter of the grim crimes recounted in this new bestseller. (There’ll be some stops in his native Wyoming, too!) Click here to see the tour overview and keep checking back because new events are still being added. SEE INDIVIDUAL…
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March 23, 2022
How many serial killers are out there? You’ll never leave home again
One of the world’s most celebrated forensic psychologists called this morning, just to chat. It was a casual conversation. Richard and I talked about the weather, his latest case, Scotch whiskey, Salt Lake City, and piquerism—an unhealthy sexual fascination with piercing people’s skin with sharp objects. You know, the things buddies talk about over coffee.…
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March 11, 2022
So you wanna be a crime writer, eh? Forget these myths
You’ve been exposed to so much Hollywood crapola that I’m surprised you aren’t already on Ducky’s slab.
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March 9, 2022
Everything I need to know, I learned in Little League
Essayist Robert Fulghum once surmised that everything he ever needed to know he learned in kindergarten, but I was a slow learner. Maybe Little League was just the beginning of my higher education, but everything else I ever needed to know I learned in the sandlot on endless summer days that simmered into night games…
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