Chapter 1: Remembering Jaynie

May 1. Manhattan — Ten Years Ago.

“But why are we going back?” Jaynie asked, her voice quiet. She stood at the window, looking over the city. She’d crossed her arms and stood holding herself, her posture rigid. Without looking back, she said, “We got away clean. Why isn’t that enough?”

“We talked about this,” Frank said.

He tried to fight off his frustration but couldn’t quite manage it. Despite all his carefully laid plans, he could still feel fear smoking off his wife’s body. It fouled the atmosphere like some noxious gas. 

He hated seeing Jaynie like this. He had things under control. She should know that by now.

Good News, I Think...

Well friends, it seems like superheroes are suddenly cool again. What other conclusion can we draw from the reality that Spider-Man: Brand New Day is by far the biggest movie of the year, while Disney itself just seemingly relaunched the entire Marvel franchise to thunderous applause at their D23 show?

Terrificon 2026

I took my daughters Hannah and Emma to Connecticut's Terrificon comic book convention at Mohegan Sun this past Sunday. We had a good time.

Holding hands with Thanos.

Excerpt from The Ultrahuman Factbook

“Today’s advances in genetic engineering allow mundane (non-powered) humans to mimic the abilities of ultrahumans through the use of mRNA gene splicing and resequencing. These artificial enhancements can be applied on either a temporary or a permanent basis.

Trying to Make PodMatch Work

I talked about this with my daughter yesterday. She's currently working on her Masters in Marketing, and if I'm not quite ready to admit that she knows more about this stuff than I do, I *can* at least admit that her perspective is a lot more digital and up-to-date than mine is. She agreed with me that PodMatch will probably wind up being a waste of money, but she also pointed out that my bio wasn't working. Or, as she put it, "That's too long. No one's going to read all of that."

Fair point. I therefore updated it yesterday. It's no shorter, but I did try to at least get the Bottom Line Up Front.

Podmatch

I joined Podmatch yesterday, but I gotta be honest. I already think this isn't gonna work out. The service isn't cheap. It's $38/month. That would probably be worth it if it gave me the opportunity to talk about As For Football on a bunch of podcasts, promote my other work, and get a bunch of cool new guests on the College Football Roundtable Show. 

Unfortunately, I don't think that's what's gonna happen.

We're fully into Football Season already...

If you've never seen the As For Football Army Football Show, then here's your chance. Please join us on Monday at 6:30 pm for our first actual football show of the season. We'll be previewing the Black Knights' offense and their first three games.

Tell a friend!

The Return of Dr. Necropolis: Prologue

Prologue: Running Late

“Go go go!”

The van’s driver gunned it. Momentum shifted abruptly, throwing Tiffany hard into the nearest SWAT officer. He cursed, but for once, Tiffany bit back a retort. She’d never worked with this particular SWAT team, didn’t know the players, and wasn’t in the mood to start making new friends in the last few moments before a raid. The sound of squealing tires heralded another momentum shift, and suddenly that same SWAT operator flew back into Tiffany’s lap. Wordlessly, she focused just long enough to push him back upright. 

The van screeched to a stop, and its doors burst open. 

New "My Stories" Tab

I *finally* reworked the tab that archives my fiction and other writing. Previously called "Books," it's now called "My Stories". Because I want you to read through it, I've reprinted it after the jump.

Restructing Act 1

I asked a couple of author friends for quotes for the cover of The Return of Dr. Necropolis after last week's As For Football Army Football Show. This was our second and probably last Lifestyle show of the current off-season, called Telling Your Story. I then decided to go back through the story one last time, using Speechify to read the text back to me. I've been keen to *finish* this thing lately, so that I can start thinking about both Army Football and this book's launch.

The Great Gatsby

I listened to The Great Gatsby audiobook earlier this week, and the single biggest thought I have coming out of it is annoyance that they made everyone read this back in high school. What high schooler or college student could possibly have the life experience necessary to understand this book?

Honestly, what is anyone supposed to get out of this book if they've never been in love or moved across country or tried to reinvent themselves? How can you understand it if you've never had sex?

Dr. Necropolis Promo

I've been playing with this for a couple of days, and now, finally, I think I've about got what I want. I guess we'll see.

Just so you know, I put this 100% together using a 16 x 9 aspect ratio before I remembered that the kids do everything vertically these days. Sigh. I then had to recut the visuals vertically for your phones.

I Had a Nightmare (Sort of)

We shot the new AFF As For Lifestyle show last night. Given that training camp starts in less than a week, this will probably be the last one of these we do before we swing back to actual Army and/or College Football coverage.

We called last night's show Telling Your Story.