Matthew Arnold Stern's Blog, page 21
October 5, 2021
“The only game in town”
Long before I got my Commodore 64, I had a cardboard computer simulator called CARDIAC. This was part of a gifted class in elementary school that included a trip to the UCLA computer lab. Like any computer, CARDIAC came with games. One of them was single-pile nim. This is a mathematical game with a specified […]
September 26, 2021
Why patience is a virtue
My life has been in a holding pattern lately. I’m seven pounds away from my goal weight, and they’ve been the hardest to get off. We ordered a solar panel system for our house, and we’re waiting for it to go through the permit stage. My novel The Remainders was released nearly a month ago, and […]
September 20, 2021
The night I saw Donald Trump (and fit it into a story)
I recently found this ticket stub from a performance of Will Rogers Follies that I attended with my wife and her family in 1992. If you’ve read my novel Amiga, that play may be familiar to you: “Please,” Warren spat out. “The only time he was even in the same room with Trump was at a […]
September 9, 2021
Where the high road ends
I’ve been told to always take the high road. Live and let live. Don’t get angry. Don’t point fingers. When they go low, we go high. This advice has served me well in most situations. But there is a point where the high road ends. I’ve tried to be understanding to those who oppose vaccines and […]
August 30, 2021
Of human bondage
My novel The Remainders will be published by Black Rose Writing on September 2, 2021. I will describe my book in this series of posts. You can read other posts in The Remainders category on my website. Is it OK for writers to include their fetishes in their stories? That question came up on Reddit, […]
August 23, 2021
Must a story have a message?
My novel The Remainders will be published by Black Rose Writing on September 2, 2021. I will describe my book in this series of posts. You can read other posts in The Remainders category on my website. Here’s my opinion: Every story has a message, even when you don’t intend it to. This opinion isn’t […]
August 15, 2021
Three boxes of books
Yesterday, I accomplished another milestone in my progress towards weight reduction and greater health. My weight hit the 190-pound (86.2-kilogram) mark. I’ve dropped 72 pounds (32.7 kilograms) so far, and I only have 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) to go to reach my goal. With all these numbers, it’s hard to realize how much weight I’ve dropped […]
August 10, 2021
School spirit and yearning for community
My novel The Remainders will be published by Black Rose Writing on September 2, 2021. I will describe my book in this series of posts. You can read other posts in The Remainders category on my website. This is one of the quotes from The Remainders I’ve been posting daily on Twitter for #RemaindersAugust. If […]
July 31, 2021
How to pursue your dreams
My novel The Remainders will be published by Black Rose Writing on September 2, 2021. You can read other posts in The Remainders category on my website. Also follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok to learn more about the book. Someone recently asked me, “How do I pursue my dreams?” They thought because […]
July 26, 2021
The Remainders countdown begins
My novel The Remainders will be published by Black Rose Writing on September 2, 2021. I will describe my book in this series of posts. You can read other posts in The Remainders category on my website. Also follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok to learn more about the book. Last week, I […]
