It seems every generation has a war. My father’s was World War II, as part of the “Greatest Generation”. Mine was Vietnam, not nearly as satisfying. Today it’s the war on terror. We have never been militaristic. We’ve always preferred to be isolationist with a small peacetime armed force. We prefer our wars short and
I have always tried to avoid discussing politics on the Internet (although sometimes it’s difficult). But in an unusual (not to mention critical) year, I might as well try to make a contribution. To begin with, I am a history nerd and over the decades I have developed an interest in the political landscape. Plus
This is an original short story. A version was published as “Days with Rob… and Sherri” in Bewildering Stories #591, http://www.bewilderingstories.com/issue591/index.html My Best Friend “Morning, Sherri! What do you want to do today?” Sherri looked up from the skillet. “My Rob, you’re up early!” Rob grinned, walked over, and kissed her on
I’ve been traveling recently, and when I travel I catch up on reading. This has included some fiction, both classic and contemporary. It’s gotten me to thinking — when books, whether they be classic like The Hunchback of Notre Dame or contemporary like the Harry Potter series, are adapted for movies (or I suppose when
This is an original short story that first appeared on the Bewildering Stories website, issue #585, in August, 2014 (http://www.bewilderingstories.com/issue585/combat_fatigue.html) Combat Fatigue by Bob Welbaum “First, let me verify your information. You are Staff Sergeant Stuart B. Jamison, United States Army. You are 24 years old, single, and have completed two tours in
I hope you’re not as tired as politics as I am. Our system is so long and drawn out, I’m already wishing the election was over. But this is the system the Founding Fathers gave us, so we’d all better pay attention, because we’re going to need the best possible leadership in the years ahead.
During a recent trip to Japan, I got to visit a colony of snow monkeys which live in a national park in the Nagano area. Their species name is actually the Japanese macaque, and their range is through much of Japan. I was expecting white fur, but they actually have light brown fur; the name comes
My running strategy can best be described as Hope over Experience, and in Tokyo on February 28, Hope lost again. (It’s never won; I guess I have a very shallow learning curve.) Tokyo is one of six major marathons, the others being Chicago, New York, Boston, Berlin and London. In September, 2015, I’d gone with Marathon
This short story was published in Issue #643 of Bewildering Stories. http://www.bewilderingstories.com/issue643/ Distant Replay by Bob Welbaum Jerome had felt fear before, but this was different. Much different. The man on his right disappeared from his peripheral vision with a scream. There was a deafening explosion to his left. Then another. Then they
Last week I ran into a friend at the gym. He went to college in Arizona on a football scholarship and has lots of interesting stories. For future reference, he just happens to be African-American, and on this day he had a cautionary tale of how prejudice works both ways. There was a group of