Barry Graham's Blog, page 59

Barry Graham reads "Big Davey Joins the Majority" | CrimeWAV.com

Barry Graham reads "Big Davey Joins the Majority" | CrimeWAV.com:

I’m honored to be on the great Seth Harwood’s CRIMEWAV podcast…

This time around, Barry Graham reads his story “Big Davey Joins the Majority”. Graham is the author of many books and short stories, and his colorful author bio hints at a very interesting life. In this episode, you’ll enjoy the story of a hardened criminal, and the consequences of his actions. Then you’ll endure Robb & Livius arguing about nationalities and calling...

edens-blog:beben-eleben:Jim Dingilian proves that a creative...

edens-blog:

beben-eleben:

Jim Dingilian proves that a creative and skillful artist can create works of art with just about anything. By coating the interior of empty glass bottles with black smoke and then carefully brushing it away with tools mounted on dowels, he creates detailed and beautiful but dark works of smoke art that are dripping with a sense of suburban decay (via Bored Panda).

I’m equally awestruck by Dingilian’s artistic talent and the method by which he creates it.

Pico Iyer thinks meditation is a gated community. He's wrong.

I like much of Pico Iyer’s writing, but, asthis articlereminds me, he regards contemplative practice as the domain of the 1%. Like another elitist/classist, Thich Nhat Hanh, he either assumes that everyone has the money and leisure to attend retreats, or else he is only interested in addressing those who do.

In saying that in response to emotional hurt we should go to a “retreat house,” Iyer seems to forget that for most people a day of devastating sadness or grief has someth...

The Cactus Jungle: Three Desert Noir Novels - Kindle edition by Barry Graham. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

The Cactus Jungle: Three Desert Noir Novels - Kindle edition by Barry Graham. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.:

Three novels in my Phoenix Noir series—How Do You Like Your Blue-Eyed Boy?, The Wrong Thing and When It All Comes Down to Dust—are bundled together in this Kindle book.

artbymoga:My perfect day.

artbymoga:

My perfect day.

Portlanders: Come see me at St. Johns Booksellers on Wednesday

At 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, I’ll give a talk on Zen practice at St. Johns Booksellers, 8622 N. Lombard St., Portland, OR 97203,where Kill Your Self has outsold all my other books. There’ll also be a Q. and A.

Copies of Kill Your Self will be on sale.

Be there or be unenlightened.

I just got a package in the mail from my friend M.V. Moorhead,...

I just got a package in the mail from my friendM.V. Moorhead, containing these two books—Gold Medal paperbacks! The Burnett one is perfectly timed, as I’m writing a column about him for The Big Click.

The only one of Hamilton’s Matt Helm novels I’ve read is The Removers. I remember liking it, but that was decades ago, so I’m looking forward to reading The Betrayers.

Speaking of Moorhead, and of pulp fiction—he’s the author of a great zombie novel, The Night Before Christmas of the Living Dead.

Joshu Sasaki dies, so who's to blame now?

Joshu Sasaki Roshi died yesterday, at the age of 107, but the the problems in his sangha, Rinzai-ji, will not die with him — because, as I wrote in this post, the problem was never about Sasaki.

Writing Wipes the Dirt from the Window

Writing Wipes the Dirt from the Window:

A crime writer new to Zen practice recently told me he felt a conflict between Zen practice and crime-writing, saying he thought he ought to be focusing on more “postitive” things in his writing. I told him I disagreed, and referred him to this piece I wrote for Tony Black’s Pulp Pusher blog a couple years ago.

daishinstephenson:i miss the days of human-stamped library...

daishinstephenson:

i miss the days of human-stamped library checkout cards. the documented history of a book’s reading offers an unspoken community.