Hal Johnson's Blog, page 9

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 he’s up to. Perhaps he left a clue or two in his house (back before he had a girlfriend and everything was safer. Meanwhile, low-level cop John Oberman and his hacker pal Sp!der continue to probe the weak link in Colin Lang’s plan, a loose-lipped accomplice they only know by his Twitter feed.)

If you like the book consider a tiny ti...

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DO NOT DESPAIR!

These books will bring you joy!

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Bob Montana!

A garland of quotations CXIII

Do you dare purchase my books?

The greatest men are those who composed our laws and the judges to administer them, and if Shelley had put all his mind into the study of the law, instead of writing nonsensical rhapsodies, he would have been a great benefactor to the world, for he had the most acute intellect of any man I ever knew.
•Thomas Jefferson Hogg, in conversation; quoted in Trelawny, Records of Shelley, Byron, and the Author (1878 revision).

A decent chemist is twenty times more useful than ...

Blvd. of Blood

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

(The story so far: Colin Lang has a lot of preparation left on his plan to do something horrible in April. Meanwhile, police-adjacent hacker, in search of clues, has targeted Bernie Feldstein’s Twitter feed with a WinFatBux4Life scam.)

Fearsome Creatures $1.99…for how long?

12.

Colin biked in the mornings, before work, with a removable light on the handlebars. It was bitter cold in early February. He started in the dark and by the t...

Truly Wordless Comic Panels

Do you dare purchase my books?

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Ernie Bushmiller!

A garland of quotations CXII

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An emerald is as green as grass;
A ruby red as blood;
A sapphire shines as blue as heaven;
A flint lies in the mud.

A diamond is a brilliant stone,
To catch the world’s desire;
An opal holds a fiery spark;
But a flint holds fire.
•Christina Rossetti, Sing-Song (1872).

At that time you carried your ashes to the mountains; Would you now carry your fire into the valley? Do you not fear to be punished as an arsonist?
•Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathurstra (1883).

The largest...

Blvd. of Blood

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

(The story so far: Respectable actuary Colin Lang’s plan something horrible is complicated by a new relationship with co-worker Carol. A suspicious policeman (John Oberman) has tasked his mediocre hacker friend (known as Sp!der) with figuring out what the something horrible might be. Sp!der’s only clue is the Twitter feed of @CottinendKing, who appears to be local sap, Colin’s stooge, Bernie the pizza delivery guy.)

Check out this...

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For the sake of the children,

purchase my books

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

Chan & Giordano!

A garland of quotations CXI

(Did you know you can, like, review my books on your podcast and I cannot even stop you? Recent podcasts who have elected to take advantage of this legal loophole include Death Coven and Books and Bingos.)

Do you dare purchase my books?

Love and adventure, propaganda leaflets and the thousands of meetings held in darkness in underground cellars and out-of-the-way places—all were welded together in his mind.
•Naguib Mahfouz, Arabian Nights and Days (1982).

But, M’sieu…I am ze underground! All Belgium...

Blvd. of Blood

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

(The story so far: Respectable actuary Colin Lang continues to plan something horrible (“the Incident”) to take place on Bland Blvd. in April.)

Check out this real book I wrote!

It's 45% off (but for how long?)

Impossible Histories! It's really good!

7.

We should probably review.

I-81 runs north–south, or northeast–southeast, for most of its path, but it’s anomalously east–west where it cuts through Cottinend, dividing the town in two....