Archive for 'Culture'

Writing satire and science fiction is pretty damn hard these days. Not for a shortage of subjects, mind you–it’s just that the real world keeps coming up with even nuttier stuff than even the most imaginative writer can dream up.

Case in point: a Japanese man has started a petition to legalize marriage between humans and cartoon characters. I know more than one guy who got sweaty over Betty Rubble or Jessica Rabbit, but this ...

It’s a shame for a writer of thrillers to admit it, but there usually aren’t too many mysteries that pop up in my life–well, at least none that don’t involve the kids in one form or the other.  There was the Case of the Disappearing Class Ring, which remains unsolved;  and then there’s the Strange Incident of the Dog on the Roof, an X-File if there ever was one.  Outside of that, however, the Giller household is about as straight ...

I’ve heard tales of writers who do some of their best work under adverse conditions. George Orwell, for instance, wrote his classic 1984 while suffering from a nasty case of tuberculosis–though how the man did it is beyond me. When the sneezing and coughing start, my creative spigot shuts down completely, overwhelmed by the flow of over-the-counter cold remedies and Gatorade.

That’s pretty much been my condition the last week, which hasn’t been very productive in terms of writing output. I ...

Every now and then, you come across a news story that gives you a hint as to where the culture is heading. Well, if this story is any indication, we all must be riding the express elevator straight to the more southern climes of Dante’s Inferno.

It seems that the Vatican is looking for a few good exorcists. At first glance, it doesn’t sound like a bad gig: flexible hours, occasional travel, the chance to really connect ...

I love the holidays.  Call me an old, sentimental softie, but I just can’t help myself.  And this, the day before Thanksgiving, seems like the perfect time to confess some more of those guilty pleasures that help to make the season bright–and I’m not just talking about a Turducken and some misteltoe.  I’m talking about music, baby!  I mean the kind I don’t get to spin the rest of the year, for various safety and legal ...