The SLUSHPILE Blog

There are several things cooking on the publishing stove right now that I find exciting. The first, I blogged briefly about previously, which is the addtion of a new writer whose work I admire very much. Alas, despite its literary qualities (or possibly as a result of those literary qualities) I don’t foresee a block-buster [...]

We had our son’s graduation party on Saturday. A small affair consisting of family and close family friends, it marked the end of his graduation observance.
One expects it to be a large marker in the life of the graduate, perhaps a marker too large for them to evenly realize how large it is at the [...]

Easter Sunday found me on the computer in the evening. We were home from the family dinner and I found that I couldn’t entirely divorce myself from publishing even on the holiest day of the year. I found I was not alone. James Spurr emailed me with some last minute tax questions regarding royalties, and he [...]

Story idea, anyone?
Here’s one if you write in the same genre as George Orwell’s 1984 or Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 (funny, the classic future society gone mad tales all have numbers in them. . . hmm):
Let’s take a look twenty years into the future. Let’s make it the year 2020. Embryonic stem cell research is going full [...]

Book Review: The Shack by William P. Young — Rating 1 Star
First, I’m not going to do a Market Analysis as I normally do when doing a book review because the book has been on the best-seller list for some time and I think it suffices to say that the publisher (in this case, Wind [...]

Most mornings I listen to WORD FM, a Christian radio braodcast.
This morning, I learned a few interesting facts about Noah’s Ark:
The Ark was made out of Cypress wood (I knew that), but did you know that it is the same wood that Jews used for caskets?
God instructed that the Cypress be Pitched (tarred) on the [...]

This morning I was listening to FamilyLife Today on WordFM radio. The program was exploring the issues of modern day China and its huge growth of Christianity, when one of the hosts mentioned that its a common tongue in cheek concept that Mao was one of the greatest proponents of Christianity ever. Although he had no idea [...]

Economics has of course been on everyone’s minds. In keeping with these worries, the two candidates for President have been addressing economic issues. And I, like nearly everyone else I imagine, has drawn some conclusion from the messages we’re hearing.
In brief, here is what I am hearing:
Lack of Hope: this is the Barrack Obama Message. [...]

Every morning after reading the newspaper but before starting working, I do my Bible study. Bible study for me consists of copying in handwriting a portion of the Bible into a notebook. I have been doing this for probably about 15 years now, and I have many notebooks, as handwriting takes up far more space [...]

If you’ve read my blog over the past several days, you’be been treated (or subjected) to my enthusiasm for the new VP pick on the Rep ticket.
Nice.
But there’s more to my enthusiasm than seeing a woman of about my age (she’s one year older) with a passel of kids (she has five, I have four), [...]