Hal Johnson's Blog, page 8

Blvd. of Blood

(Upcoming appearances: April 26, 12–3, Breakwater Books, Guilford CT | June 1, 12–5, Skullastic Book Fair @ American Legion Post 16, Shelton CT | July 15, 6–7:30, Hagaman Library, East Haven CT)

This is a serialized “thriller” novel. Continued from here. Table of contents for ease of navigation here.

(Colin Lang has asked for time off ostensibly so he can minister to his ailing mother at Sunset Grove but actually so he can perpetrate some horrible crime that is the whole reason for this book on Ap...

A Political Story

I’ve never lived in a swing state, so my politics have always seemed of slight consequence. I could back a third-party candidate with a clean conscience. I voted in presidential elections, but mostly so I could make fun of people who didn’t vote. I was a jerk, but I played it fair; I had to vote to remain a jerk.

Back in 2016, somewhat early in 2016, when word on the street was that the political race would come down to Jeb Bush vs. Hillary Clinton, I made a vow, and I made it openly and publicly...

Truly Wordless Comic Panels

THE BOOKS PEOPLE LIKE!

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Art Gates!

A garland of quotations CXVI

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I don’t believe in signs, but then strange things do happen.
•Stowe, The Minister’s Wooing (1859).

noTiS
Trespaser’s will be persekuted to the full extent of a mongral dogs which ain’t never been overly soshibil with strangers and 1 dubble barrel shot gun which ain’t loaded with no sofy pillers. Dam if I ain’t tired of this hel raisin on my proputy.
•“Sign posted on a public road in South Georgia,” ca. 1925.

THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS
•Sign on...

Blvd. of Blood

Continued from here. Table of contents for ease of navigation here.

(It is April, and time for Colin Lang to start putting his plan into action. Officer John Oberman (with his hacker buddy Sp!der) is still trying to figure out what that plan is, but the only weak link—Bernie Feldstein—has grown paranoid and is no longer dropping clues on Twitter. We are ten days away from it all going down.)

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Book III: The Cruelest Month

“Time destroy’d
Is suicide, where m...

Truly Wordless Comic Panels

Are my books in your local library?

(If not, why not request them?)

Hal Johnson Books is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Severin/Elder!

A garland of quotations CXV

Consider buying a book I wrote

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For the first, the Poet saith truly, that he singeth most sweetly, that singeth my praise and commendation.
•Richard Beacon, Solon His Follie (1594).

Have ye non other man to moke, but ever me?
•Mankind (ca. 1465).

For it becomes a good and great-souled man to make no counter charge when he is maligned. For, just as missiles that are hurled against hard, well-built walls, do not settle on them, or penetrate them, or stay where they strike, but...

Blvd. of Blood

Continued from here. Table of contents for ease of navigation here.

(Colin Lang continues to plan some horrible atrocity. His girlfriend Carol Wernick has no idea what’s up. Officer John Oberman seeks clues through Bernie Feldstein’s Twitter feed. Does Bernie have any idea what’s up? Only slightly; only slightly.)

Try my (self-proclaimed) masterpiece

(free preview here)

17.

As soon as Carol noticed that he’d been shaving his hands, Colin stopped hiding the electric razor in the basement. Now it had b...

Truly Wordless Comic Panels

Are my books in your local library?

(If not, why not request them?)

Kirby/Wood! The two legends!

Hal Johnson Books is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

A garland of quotations CXIV

Consider buying a book I wrote

or leaving a small gratuity

Nay, Prometheus himself is the cause of man’s misery—Prometheus who cares for poor mortals! Instead of fire which is the beginning of all evil he ought rather to have stolen sweet nectar, which rejoices the heart of the gods, and given that to men, that he might have scattered the furrows of the world.
•Nonnos, Dionysiaca (C5).

The philosopher who would fain extinguish his passions resembles the chemist who would like to let his furnace go o...