Barry Graham's Blog, page 106

Why Is There No Graffiti in Portland?

I moved to Portland, OR, a few months ago. Though I love it here, there’s one thing that confounds me: I’ve wandered the city, and seen no graffiti. Not on walls, not on the trains, not anywhere. There are corporate billboards that seem to be begging to be tagged, but no one does.

There are some seriously ugly murals, but they’ve been commissioned and painted legally.

I can’t think of another U.S. city that has such an absence of graffiti, and I can’t figure why.

Ed...

The Host: A Thomas Carnacki Short Story (by me)

For Halloween last year, I wrote a story about the character of Carnacki the Ghost-Finder, created by William Hope Hodgson. I decided to set the story in contemporary Scotland rather than England at the turn of the 20th Century, but aside from that I adhered to all the conventions of Hodgson’s stories. So here it is. (If you want to read it on an e-reader, you can download it for free from Smashwords in your format of choice.)

THE HOST

© Barry Graham 2012

for Daishin Stephenson

The email wa...

Allan Guthrie's Kill Clock: Expanded, Rewritten, Reissued

Al Guthrie, master of Scottish noir, has reissuedKill Clock, a novella first published in 2007. He’s rewritten it and expanded it as well.

All of his books are ridiculously cheap on Kindle. When you read him, and you find yourself wondering why he isn’t selling millions, know that you’re not the only one. In particular, Slammer and Kiss Her Goodbyeare thrillingly good novels.

Gordon Pearce is a nice enough sort of guy. Just as long as you don’t get on his wrong side.

One...

Big Davey Joins the Majority

As of today, the story I wrote for The Big Click can be read for free on the magazine’s website. To read it, click here. If you like it, please buy a copy of the magazine so it can continue paying its writers.

Until Nick Mamatas asked me to write a crime story, I had no idea that I would ever write fiction set in Maryhill, Glasgow, again. In the last decade and a half, all of my fiction has been set in the U.S., but, for no reason I understand, this Glasgow story demanded to be written.

A...

Next Publication from Barry Graham Books: Common Criminals by Larry Fondation

In 2011, I decided to republish my out-of-print books (which had originally been published by Bloomsbury, Serpent’s Tail and Incommunicado) as e-books and as print-on-demand paperbacks. That went so well that I decided to publish new books the same way.

There are now 13 books in total published by Barry Graham Books, all written by me. Next month, another author will be added to the list.

Ask admirers of Larry Fondation to name their favorite book of his and they’re likely to tell y...

HIGH RISK GRAFFITI IN MEXICOThe Metlac bridge in Veracruz,...

HIGH RISK GRAFFITI IN MEXICO

The Metlac bridge in Veracruz, Mexico is over 400 feet from the ground and is about 300 feet long, making it one of the tallest bridges in North America. Clinging to the edge of this bridge, a few young writers risk their lives to proliferate their names. Doubters commenting on ILoveGraffiti (German site)’s coverage were provided with this video.

(Source: Vandalog)

I think a hoodie might work just as...

I think a hoodie might work just as well.

criminalwisdom:

Quora: Are there any technologies to prevent yourself from being captured on camera or video?

There actually is an easy and cheap way you can prevent yourself from being captured on video or CCTV. Most cameras (especially black and white security cameras) will see low levels of infrared light. This helps them video at dusk/dawn and in lower levels of light. The level of light the camera can see is called the LUX level. To test this theory...

“The ‘Bread & Roses Strike’ started on the...

“The ‘Bread & Roses Strike’ started on the morning of Jan. 11, 1912. It was not, as some tell it, a spontaneous walkout over reduced wages. The pay cut was the flashpoint, but years of terrible working conditions, substandard housing, grinding poverty despite laboring 60 hours a week, and devastating infant and child mortality rates were the stuff of the strike. In addition block-by-block neighborhood organizing had taken place for months in advance of the new year. Workers had had enough and...

R.I.P. Harvey Shapiro

R.I.P. Harvey Shapiro:

On my desk are the bills from the living
and in my sleep are the bills from the dead.

“Emptiness is the mother of invention”
says my fortune cookie. July 23, 2010.
Brooklyn. I walk in the slow rain,
never less accomplished, never happier.

Why should I doubt the world has meaning
when even in myself I see mysterious purposes.

A crow drops down for a moment,
black, rabbinical garb, croaking Kaddish.

The Big Click Issue 6: Fiction by Barry Graham, Nonfiction by Tom Piccirilli

Issue no. 6 of The Big Click magazine has just been published, and contains a story by me, “Big Davey Joins the Majority.” It also has a powerful essay by Tom Piccirilli about the treatment for brain cancer he’s undergoing.

Click here to buy the magazine in e-book version for $2.99. If you’re broke or miserly, you can read it for free at the website. My story will appear there on the 15th of this month.