Matthew Arnold Stern's Blog, page 20

How to survive a nuclear war

With tensions rising between the West and Russia over Ukraine, we’re again facing the threat of a nuclear war—something younger generations never had to deal with. As a Boomer, I can offer some guidance. I was still in diapers during the Cuban Missile Crisis, did duck-and-cover drills, gave a sigh of relief during detente, gasped […]

Interview with Joseph Lewis

In my latest author interview, I talked with Joseph Lewis about crime and mystery writing, his love for the Green Bay Packers and all Milwaukee sports, starting a writing career later in life, and his latest Black Rose Writing novel, Blaze In, Blaze Out. I saw on your Facebook page that you’re a Green Bay […]

What makes a great review

I recently received a great review for my novel The Remainders. It’s not just great because it’s a five-star review. It’s because it is beautifully written. It gives a thorough evaluation of the book, and it shows the reviewer’s skill as a writer. The reviewer is Michael Hartnett, author of The Blue Rat. His latest novel, Death […]

My Eat Like a Writer Interview

In July 2021, I was interviewed by Liz Barrett Foster on her Eat Like a Writer website. Unfortunately, she is discontinuing her website so she can focus on her writing. Here is the interview. Follow Liz on her website and LinkedIn to learn more about her writing and upcoming projects. Matthew Arnold Stern began his writing […]

The road ahead

We’re a few days away from the start of 2022, and I just want to get on with it. Yes, I know Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles were courageous. Yes, I know everyone was talking about Squid Game and Spider-Man: No Way Home. Yes, I’m sad all those celebrities died this year. No, I don’t want to […]

Interview with Lucy McLaren

Social media enables us to build communities around the world. A new writing community is Feed My Reads. Through them, I met English fantasy author Lucy McLaren, who recently interviewed me on her website. In this post, I return the favor—excuse me, favour—by interviewing Lucy. She will tell us about her writing journey and her […]

We’re not going back to “normal”

We thought 2020 was the undisputed Worst Year of Our Lifetime. That title might belong to 2021. As bad as things were last year, we still had hope. We hoped if we had a vaccine, things would go back to normal. We hoped if we had a change in government, things would go back to […]

What angry customers want you to know

Angry customers are the bane of every service employee. We can summarize them with a single name: Karen. Entitled, unreasonable, condescending (not to mention white and middle-age). The person who acts like the world revolves around them, and everyone must cater to their whims. Or they’ve had an awful day and decide to take it […]

Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel

I have a little dreidel, and you probably have one too. If you’re Jewish, you have several all over your house. You keep the nice ones on the shelf next to your menorah. You store a bag of the little plastic ones with your holiday decorations. And there are one or two in your junk […]

Is Thanksgiving a lie?

I write about the importance of gratitude this time each year, inspired by the Thanksgiving holiday. As Americans, we are taught from an early age about the friendly Indians who helped the Pilgrims survive the winter, and the grateful Pilgrims who shared their bountiful feast with them. It’s a story that is still taught today. […]