Comments for The Mind Control Lasers Lied to Me

Comment on Old New England by Lawrence Watt-Evans

Lawrence Watt-Evans — Wed, 15 May 2013 04:14:46 +0000

Yeah, some people in Bedford called it “Friendly’s,” probably most people, but some didn’t.

And yes, I remember those hot dog buns! They still exist in New England, not much anywhere else.

I grew up with candlepins, of course. When we spent a summer in Connecticut (my Dad’s job had him at Yale for awhile), I discovered duckpins, and there are a few duckpin alleys here in Maryland, should I ever feel nostalgic for them.

Comment on Old New England by Rex Little

Rex Little — Tue, 14 May 2013 22:42:07 +0000

I also grew up in Massachusetts, not very far from where you did (Natick and Wayland), at about the same time (I’m 5 years older). I remember Friendly Ice Cream well. A couple more details your post reminded me of:

1. We called it “Friendly’s” even before they changed the name. Maybe that’s why they changed it, if everyone was calling it that anyway.

2. The hot dogs came on buns, but of a type I’ve never seen outside New England. The bun was basically an oblong chunk of bread, about 2 inches tall, an inch and a half wide, with a slit down the length in which the hot dog sat. Friendly’s butter-grilled both sides.

Not food-related, but another thing that was unique to New England: candlepin bowling. When I was a kid that was the only kind they had in our local alleys; I think I was in college before I knew there were big balls with holes in them.

Comment on Weirdness about Beards by monsterzero

monsterzero — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 04:29:20 +0000

Every time I trim my beard, my girlfriend looks at me and says, “Did you get a haircut?” No, no I didn’t.

Comment on A Certain Age by lawrence

lawrence — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 05:57:17 +0000

I didn’t watch. One advantage of having (at the time) five siblings, and a wife whose job had us living and working a thousand miles away, was that I wasn’t expected to stay and watch. I did pay a final visit, after Dad had come home to die, but I left well before the end. He lingered for weeks.

With my mother, I was there until about two days before she died — I had young kids to take care of and couldn’t stay — but she was in a coma at the end, and had been intermittently delirious before that; apparently the last time she was coherent was when she woke up to say goodbye to me before I left for the airport. Again, four remaining siblings, so we could share the duties, and I wasn’t the one there at the end.

You have my sympathies. It’s horrible.

Comment on A Certain Age by TRX

TRX — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 02:19:00 +0000

Two weeks ago I had the hospital pull the tubes out of my Dad, brought him home, and sat in the living room and watched him die.

That sort of thing was bad enough for the family dogs, but I never thought I’d have to do it for my Dad.

Comment on Writers’ Folly by Cathy Bryant

Cathy Bryant — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 11:26:54 +0000

I really want to read ‘Carbuncles from Mars’ now…I think it has legs (or tentacles perhaps?) and I wish it existed.
Thanks for this. I’m on one writing group concerned with charity anthologies and writing for charity in various ways, and there’s one particular writer who keeps posting his poems, and links to his books. I’m not a complete misanthrope but I would like to growl at him repeatedly. Or maybe I should just link to this piece…

Comment on Writers’ Folly by Frank

Frank — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 16:55:42 +0000

I suspect that part of the problem is that far too many would-be “writers” just plain aren’t. As you well know, a writer _writes_; I’ve met many people who claim to be a “writer” but who either haven’t written _anything_ or who are too busy promoting their sole tome to bother to add to it.

And quite honestly I don’t think many non-writers know what “a writer” really is. (I’m only an exception because Mom was one of you loony lot.

Comment on To Kickstart or Not to Kickstart? by lawrence

lawrence — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 17:45:18 +0000

I think it would be fun, regardless of what any editors thought.

Comment on To Kickstart or Not to Kickstart? by TRX

TRX — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 14:52:40 +0000

I had an idea for a web site where you could post outlines of proposed future works and your readers could vote for which one they wanted next… but while it would provide *you* with useful information, I don’t know if an acquisitions editor would be persuaded. Or it might be just the thing to catch their eye, since they’re not impressed with a proven track record going back to, what, thirty years?

Comment on To Kickstart or Not to Kickstart? by JeremyR

JeremyR — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 08:48:34 +0000

I think it perhaps depends on the tone of the novel. I’ll go out on a limb and say that most people who know you as an author are Ethshar fans. A couple Ethshar books are a little grim in places (Black Dagger mostly), but most are light hearted.

If you want to appeal to the KS crowd in general, it probably needs to be either Cthulhu, Vampire, or Zombie related.