Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff's Blog: #42 Pencil: A Writer's Life, the Universe, and Everything, page 13

Healthcare Mythology 101

I’d like to talk aboutmythology. Not Greek mythology or Norse mythology, but American Healthcare mythology. In his book, The Healing of America,TR Reid listed a number of healthcare myths he had busted in the course of researching his book. Some of theseIknew about (because I have friends who are living or have lived in countries with universal healthcare) and some I didn’t.

Myth #1: “Universal healthcare is socialized medicine!”

(sound of game show buzzer) Wrong. Apparently even Michael Moore...

Story Excerpt Sunday: From Polar City Blues by Katharine Kerr

Polar City Blues

by Katharine Kerr

Hagar’s enormous sun sets in an opalescent haze, the sky brindled a metallic red-orange that seems insultingly gaudy, as if a cheap holopix director were designing an alien sky. As the red fades into an offensive little-girl pink, the real show begins above Polar City. The northern lights crackle, hang long waves of rainbow over the skyline that resembles nothing so much as egg-cartons set on end, and at times wash the high gantries of the space-port in purple...

Interesting Women: The three-name greats

Books! Books were the window from which I looked out of a rather meager and decidedly narrow room, onto a rich and wonderful universe. I loved the look and feel of them, even the smell. I’m still a book sniffer. That evocative mixture of paper and ink and glue and dust never fails to bring back the twinge of excitement that came with the opening of a new book.

Libraries were treasure houses. I always entered them with a slight thrill of disbelief that all their endless riches were mine for the...

On Naming: Vol. 2, the Quest for the Name

by Brenda W. Clough

You write fantasy or science fiction novels. And, unless you write very philosophical Olaf-Stapledon type fiction about colliding universes and enormous spans of time, you have created science-fictional or fantasy characters — elves, Klingons, Martians, Wookkies. They need names — and this time you cannot resort to Robert, Mildred and Susie!

This is particularly hard for those of us who need to have the names in hand before starting to write. Because names imply enormous thi...

Last Day for the BVC Boxing Week Sale

The Book View Cafe Boxing Day Week sale ends at midnight tonight CST. Grab your bargains today.

Letting Go of Nostalgia

I think I’m done with nostalgia.

It was the holiday season that made me realize it. I wanted to do something special for Christmas, but for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what that should be.

From the time I was ten until I was seventeen, my family and I were very active in our local Episcopal Church. Christmas consisted of observing Advent for the month before the holiday, midnight services on Christmas Eve, and sometimes even church again on Christmas morning.

Yes, we did presents and a...

Media and Race Bias—Is that a thing?

Just stumbled across anarticle on media race (ethnic) bias on DailyKOSthat I found thought-provoking.

Let me say right off the bat that I’m not sure what to do with the term “race” since it’s basically meaningless. Race is a manmade cultural overlay that fools us into thinking that the color of a person’s skin really does have something to do with the “content of their character”, as Dr. King put it.

Let us, for the moment, accord race the status of a “thing” or a meme. What is racial bias? Wha...

BVC Eats: Boozy chocolate trifle

Boozy Chocolate Trifle

this dessert is highly alcoholic

serves twelve to fifteen drunks

2 to 3 lb. pound cake

Chocolate marble poundcake is best.

You can substitute any rich chocolate cake.

16 oz dark semisweet chocolate chips

I use Ghirardelli 60% cacao.

Yes, this is more than one bag. Oh woe, what will you do with the extra chips?

8 to 12 oz orange liqueur like Grand Marnier or Cointreau

8 oz bitter orange marmalade

12 oz whipping cream or more

1/4 c sugar

The Cake Layer

Slice the pound cake in thick sl...

For God’s Sake, Put On Some Clothes (mark II)

Note: Your Mileage May Vary.

Last night my husband and I found ourselves watching The Transporter the way you do after a major holiday: flopped on the couch, too tired to move, watching The Thing That’s On because where’s the remote?). It’s a fun-dumb movie, lighter fare than I had expected, very violent but curiously… well, light. Almost sweet. The film was made in 2002, which means it’s now moving into the realm of Elder-Statesmovie, and its star, Jason Statham, looks curiously young and bli...

Don’t Forget: The Boxing Day Sale Only Lasts Until Jan. 1

A mess of Book View Cafe ebooks are on sale through January 1. Discounts are automagically applied by the BVC checkout fairies. Fill up your e-readers and have money left over for a nice cup of tea or coffee to sip while reading.