The power of music for protest and change
Growing up, my church-going, United Methodist parents listened to what I'd call Americana music, churchy hymns and gospel, and some country music. My maternal grandmother played piano by ear and played in Grandpa’s churches where he preached. My mom was a natural alto who could harmonize with any tune, and my dad had a fine voice and for a while sang in a barber shop quartet. When they were young, they both had music in their homes—my mom played the flute and piccolo and my dad played the trumpet and coronet. My brother still has my dad’s coronet.
Writing, Art, and Music: finding meaning in a troubled world
I’ve been writing stories and essays and bad poetry for as long as I can remember. And I’ve been drawing and singing and wishing I could play guitar for just as long. I took the obligatory piano lessons, played the flute in the junior high band, sang in the choir—school and church—and learned a few chords on the Sears guitar my mom bought me when I was in the sixth grade (or thereabout).
When Language Breaks Down: Semantic Satiation and the Absurd in Politics and Culture
One reason I love absurdist fiction and theatre is because the very act of communication is often called into question. The Bald Soprano, by Eugene Ionesco, is in my mind the asymptotic limit of language, the point at which words no longer have meaning.
When the 'pause' carries the emotional charge...
I responded to a post the other day about which scene in a movie still gets you after all these years. Well, there are many, but this one I’m about to divulge has so much to say about “art.”
I responded with the scene in Field of Dreams when Costner’s character’s ghost dad emerges from the corn field. They have a conversation. The ghost is about to return to the field. Costner looks at him walking away (I think) and says, “Hey, Dad, you want…you wanna have a catch?”
How to Sell an Old White Guy's Novel...
How to sell an old white guy’s novel when the old white guy is really a Greek-Syrian-Southerner-New Yorker, Midwestern, Westerner.
Sunday Morning Rant: Rage, rage against the dying of the light
In the poem, Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night, Dylan Thomas writes about the dying light of old age. This morning, I read it as the dying light of democracy.
And I am channeling my rage against the dying of the light into my fiction.
History rhymes but for some reason, humans too often forget the basic structure of the story. While what we’re going through today is horrifying, throughout history, powerful men have abused women, children, and less powerful men. That’s why we talk about conquest in terms of raping and pillaging.
Because men actually raped and pillaged. And they’re still doing it today. On battlefields, in city streets or behind the walls of concentration camps, in corporate boardrooms, and in the home.
WORDS MATTER: WHY I MADE ONE UP FOR THE TITLE OF MY BOOK
When I decided to write Wrequiem, I wasn’t necessarily thinking about satire, per se. I was really thinking of a book like the three funniest novels I’ve ever read—Catch-22, A Confederacy of Dunces, and The Sellout. … These novels are not just funny. They make you uncomfortable as you laugh. Like, should I really be laughing this hard at this scene, or laughing at all? They make you examine the human condition. Most importantly, they pick at the scabs of your own prejudices, privileges, cruelties, and subliminal thought processes. They make you question what you think you know about the world around you.
WREQUIEM AT THE RED ROCKS: SATIRE AND ABSURDISM IN TODAY’S AMERICA
When I decided to write Wrequiem, I wasn’t necessarily thinking about satire, per se. I was really thinking of a book like the three funniest novels I’ve ever read—Catch-22, A Confederacy of Dunces, and The Sellout. … These novels are not just funny. They make you uncomfortable as you laugh. Like, should I really be laughing this hard at this scene, or laughing at all? They make you examine the human condition. Most importantly, they pick at the scabs of your own prejudices, privileges, cruelties, and subliminal thought processes. They make you question what you think you know about the world around you.
Ten Tenets to live by in 2026
Ten Tenets to Live by in 2026
Indie Author MilestoneS Unlocked!
Another Indie Author Milestone Unlocked!
Picking Pivot Points To Promote
How to pick pivot points to characterize your story and captivate your reader.
The Acropolis: A Poem in Five Parts
THE ACROPOLIS: A Poem in Five Parts
This poem was started while sitting at the rooftop bar and finished in my room at a hotel in the Plaka. I’ve never shared it before, but today I gathered my courage and read it at an open mic event sponsored by the Arizona Writers Association at the Tucson Historic Y.
YIKES! Arcs are ready. It’s marketing time!
Yikes! It’s book marketing time.
HALLUCINATION IN D MINOR
A “single-serving” short story by Jason Makansi