Hal Johnson's Blog, page 6
June 2, 2025
Every Daniel Pinkwater book, ranked
(I, myself, write books professionally, and I hope you will sample them—you can find a generous list on amaz0n, on bookshop.org, at b&n, or in your local library. This will not be the last time I mention this fact. I am also tippable, for the generous, here.)
About Daniel Pinkwater (henceforth DMP) I know nothing and everything. I say nothing because I’ve never met the man. I’ve never spoken to his friends or relatives. My few attempts to flirt with him online have been failures (as such flirtat...
June 1, 2025
Blvd. of Blood
(Upcoming appearances: July 15, 6–7:30, author talk, Hagaman Library, East Haven CT) | July 19, 10–3, Book Walk, Main St., Old Wethersfield CT)
Continued from here. Table of contents for ease of navigation here.
(The story so far: It’s April 10: showtime. Carol Wernick, spying on her strangely behaving boyfriend, has seen Colin Lang leave his house that night, unaware that he is heading out to steal a car and proceed to Bernie Feldstein’s, for purposes most evil.)
May 29, 2025
Truly Wordless Comic Panels
Hal Johnson Books is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
John Stanley??
May 27, 2025
A garland of quotations CXXII
A Soldier was bragging before Julius Cæsar, of the Wounds he received in his Face; Cæsar, knowing him to be a Coward, told him, he had best take heed, the next Time he ran away, how he look’d back.
•Joe Miller’s Jests or, The Wits Vade-Mecum (1739).
The best physic against the plague is to run away from it.
•Defoe, A Journal of the Plague Year, Written by a ...
May 26, 2025
Preliminary thoughts on rereading Daniel Pinkwater
(Upcoming appearances: June 1, 12–5, Skullastic Book Fair, American Legion Post 16, Shelton CT | July 15, 6–7:30, author talk, Hagaman Library, East Haven CT)
Last year I read several books by Daniel M. Pinkwater aloud to my son, who was four years old at the time. As I was reading, the plucky young lad asked me two questions that changed the course of my life. The questions were:
1. Why is everyone [in these books] eating corn flakes?
2. Why did Ned Feldman draw a big orange...
May 25, 2025
Blvd. of Blood
(Upcoming appearances: June 1, 12–5, Skullastic Book Fair, American Legion Post 16, Shelton CT | July 15, 6–7:30, author talk, Hagaman Library, East Haven CT)
Continued from here. Table of contents for ease of navigation here.
(The story so far: It’s April 10. Showtime.)
Book IV: One Long Night“’Tis easier watching a night or two than to sit up a whole year together.”
•Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress II (1684).
On April 10, a little after nine P.M., Coli...
May 22, 2025
Truly Wordless Comic Panels
(Upcoming appearances: June 1, 12–5, Skullastic Book Fair, American Legion Post 16, Shelton CT | July 15, 6–7:30, author talk, Hagaman Library, East Haven CT)
Hal Johnson Books is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Sienkiewicz / Wiacek!
May 20, 2025
A garland of quotations CXXI
(Upcoming appearances: June 1, 12–5, Skullastic Book Fair, American Legion Post 16, Shelton CT | July 15, 6–7:30, author talk, Hagaman Library, East Haven CT)
Wine won’t delight unless imbibed
But love with a look delights!
•Thiruvalluvar, Tirukkural (undateable).
I lok’d wyth eyne as pure as angelles doe,
And dyd the everie thoughte of foule eschewe.
•Chatterton, “The Storie of William Canynge” (ca. 1770).
You may break Lent by looking on her.
•John Cleveland, “To the State of Lov...
May 18, 2025
Blvd. of Blood
(Upcoming appearances: June 1, 12–5, Skullastic Book Fair, American Legion Post 16, Shelton CT | July 15, 6–7:30, author talk, Hagaman Library, East Haven CT)
This is a serialized “thriller” novel. Continued from here. Table of contents for ease of navigation here.
(The story so far: It is April 10. Everyone knows something is going down, but no one knows what it will be yet. Not Officer Oberman, anticipating the emergency he has long prophesied; not the hacker known as Sp!der, who almost has a ha...
May 15, 2025
Truly Wordless Comic Panels
(Upcoming appearances: June 1, 12–5, Skullastic Book Fair, American Legion Post 16, Shelton CT | July 15, 6–7:30, author talk, Hagaman Library, East Haven CT)
Hal Johnson Books is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
E.C. Segar!
