Kurt R.A. Giambastiani's Blog, page 59

Carbohydrates and Mediocrity

Originally posted on Todd Baker:
Mom always made the assumption I would be the recipient of a major award one day, and she asked that, when I accepted that award, I should thank her for providing high protein meals. She was under the impression protein was essential for success in life. I’m not prepared to…

FWPs and the Gift of Gratitude

There is nothing so infuriating to my liberal mind than FWPs–First World Problems–and this week I have beenbesetwith them. Why do I find them so infuriating? Because with each FWP, with each annoyance, with each disruption to my life and my regular routine,as I climb the mountain of frustration, as I reach the pinnacle, theapex […]

Black Earth, Grey Sky

I kneel in the dripping ivy. A trowel in one hand, my other isdeep in the soil, searching for the dandelion’s root. The root twists and writhes beneath my fingers, wet and tough, unwilling. The rain taps across my hat’s felted brim, caresses my steaming back with its cool touch. The spring day is cold, […]

Yeah, No, and the Death of Uptalk

There are some things that I reallydislike. No. I meanreally dislike. Take crop pants. Crop pants are, perhaps, the single silliest and most unflattering article of clothing ever contrived for the female form (and, yes, I include the entire decade of the 1920s in this assessment). I’m not talking about Capri pants or pedal-pushers, both […]

3 Things You Need to Know About HBO and Game of Thrones

I don’t have HBO, so I can only watch HBO’sGame of Thrones a decade or so after the premium class sees it. However, that has not saved me from seeing meme after meme based on the series, nor from having to wade through a sea of posts about how this was so good and that […]

Shakespeare at 450

Yesterday was the 450th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s purported birth (we know the day he was christened, but not the day he was born so, as with Most Things William, we’re really just guessing). In honor of this anniversary, I neither watched one of his plays nor read any of his poetry. Nope. I watchedShakespeare […]

Sandwich Child

I’ve never given much credence to results of “studies” on human social patterns. We’re just too complicated to fit into neat little boxes. However, the other day I learned of one such study which so accurately describedme, I had to give it a closer look. I mention this here because this is the sort of […]

Not Another Word

Over on Facebook, a reader mentioned a scene in FC:1 that she really liked. I like to investigate this sort of specific feedback–the goodand the bad–to see what worked and what didn’t work for my readers. I remembered the scene she mentioned in general, but not in detail. The main reason I wanted to investigate, […]

A Close Shave

Now that’s a first. A novelist friend was complaining about the names she’d picked for her characters (they’re historical ethnic names, and have several diacritical marks). She was wrapping up a long series with these characters, and was looking forward to never having to write those names again. I thought that was a good topic […]

Auto-da-fé

American life has its rituals. Some are small. Some are big. Some mark a transition from one age to the next. Some are trials by fire, ordeals designed to break us and leave us whimpering, lyingin pools of our own sweat and tears. Buying a car is one suchtrial. I don’t like buying cars. Buying […]