Year: 2009

Dumb Son on Podcast!

For the price of two empty liter bottles of Coke, my story Dumb Son (TSFKATT, or the story formerly known as Toby’s Trophies) is available for podcast download from Sniplits. Listen to the tale of sweet, mentally challenged Toby, his fascination with pretty coke bottles and human bones, his taste for the dumpling things you […]

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A Star Is Born

Our son was born last Monday morning. We named him Midas. Both he and his mother are fine. Words escape me to describe the joy of having brought this new life into the world.

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Paul Evanby – De Scrypturist

Out for a month now, the debut novel “De Scrypturist” by Paul Evanby should be required reading for all Dutch-language fantasy lovers. I have a single extra copy, signed by the author, which I will give away for free to the first reader who sends me the correct answer to the question I post at […]

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Accidental Timing

In a feature article on traffic safety this week, our newspaper quoted the statistic that 80% of car accidents happen in the first or the final five minutes of a trip. An odd lack of precision, that. I would think that the vast majority of car accidents happen in the final seconds of a trip.

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Toby’s Found A Home

The crowning piece of Good Stuff that happened to me yesterday was an email from Sniplits, informing me (after agonizing over the decision for 449 days*) that they would gladly buy my short story Dumb Son (or TSFKATT: The Story Formerly Known As Toby’s Trophies), for podcast publication. The tale of sweet, mentally challenged Toby, […]

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The Poisson Distribution of Good Stuff

Every once in a while, Good Stuff accumulates in such great quantities on a single day that it threatens to short out the brain’s happiness center. Yesterday was such a day. The day was already a success when I managed to solve a problem at work that had been gnawing at my brain for months. […]

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Navigation Mafia

There is a conspiracy afoot to thwart my attempts at acquiring navigation software for my new smartphone. A year ago, I learned of the upcoming TomTom 7 navigation software. Screenshots and descriptions sounded utterly cool, so I decided to see if I could get my hands on a (legal) copy. TomTom customer service was less […]

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Everything’s Different Now

So when after 81 days GUD sent me an email informing me of Prisoner of War’s 8th rejection, I wasn’t even that disappointed. After all, what’s a little artistic rejection when you have your baby’s sonogram as background image in your cool new phone? Anyway, POW bounced right back out there, this time to the […]

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Daddy Bye-Bye Cool

It’s different when it’s your own indeterminate, potato-shaped blob of white noise in a big grey wedge. The sonogram lady placed the transducer on my wife’s belly, and without further ado, our tiny baby-to-be sprung onto the screen. Two miniature legs were clearly visible, folded against the abdomen; and one of the two arms actually […]

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Pork Butchery Laying

You thought Chinglish is bad? Try Frenglish! There’s a restaurant in the heart of the French Ardèche region, established in the impressive bowels of a medieval castle, where the staff are hospitable, the wine flows freely, and every single dish is a blessing for your tongue. That is, if you actually manage to stop laughing […]

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