Author Archives: williamjcobb

“The North Water”: This Ain’t Your Daddy’s Moby Dick

Posted on September 1, 2021 by williamjcobb

So Ian McGuire’s novel of 2015, The North Water, is one of the best of that decade. It’s demented and visual, a twisted contrast to such polar adventure tales such as Shackleton’s Endurance. Now it’s a miniseries of five episodes, … Continue reading →

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Day 25: On David Quammen's "Spillover": Terrific Book That Foretold Our Pandemic, Kind of

Posted on April 8, 2020 by williamjcobb

So I’ve seen various books mentioned as predicting pandemics, now that the coronavirus time is nigh, but not much mention of one of the best virus books I’ve read: David Quammen’s nonfiction book about the biology behind zoonotic diseases, Spillover: … Continue reading →

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Masks for Everybody! Stick 'em Up!

Posted on April 5, 2020 by williamjcobb

So my wife made me a coronavirus mask. I have the curious itch to rob a bank.

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"The Hunt" Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love a Bomb

Posted on April 4, 2020 by williamjcobb

So we all heard the hoopla about the notorious “anti-liberal” film The Hunt back in the Fall, causing its debut to be delayed, but it’s out now and it’s a hoot. First let me admit to being roughly in the … Continue reading →

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"Underwater" movie review: You think you got a big monster?

Posted on April 2, 2020 by williamjcobb

So in this time of virus lockdown and pandemic horror, let’s imagine creatures that don’t exist and have some scary fun! Or that seems to be the thinking of whoever made the new Kristen Stewart film, Underwater. It’s like Alien … Continue reading →

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The Great Stillness

Posted on April 1, 2020 by williamjcobb

So I’ve been calling our present stay-at-home reality the Great Hunkering (as in “hunker down”) but now I’m thinking it should be called The Great Stillness, at least in my neck of the woods. Things are quiet. The most people … Continue reading →

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"Ad Astra" Review: Killer Baboons, Moon Buggy War Zones, and Space Travel as a Walk in the Park

Posted on September 25, 2019 by williamjcobb

So I caught the new Ad Astra film last night, and in my best snarky Bill-Murray-as-Film-Critic-on-SNL mode I’ll quip: It’s like Apocalypse Now meets 2001: A Space Odyssey with a spritz of Alien. I’ll confess I’ve never been a big … Continue reading →

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Shocking Bird Population Decline as in The Bird Saviors

Posted on September 20, 2019 by williamjcobb

So for years I’ve been reading about and studying Climate Change (though I do find Global Weirding to be witty and accurate), for various reasons, some of them personal of course: I have a daughter who will live in this … Continue reading →

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Herman Wouk Died at Age 104: His Novel, "The Winds of War," Is Relevant Today

Posted on May 18, 2019 by williamjcobb

So I keep meaning to get back to my blog, but one thing or another always intrudes: new stories and chapters to write (a new story titled “The Wall” will soon appear in The Antioch Review), grass to mow (Thursday), … Continue reading →

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Imagining Storm & Fire: Hurricane Harvey, "Goodnight Texas," and The Prediction of Fiction

Posted on August 27, 2018 by williamjcobb

So a year ago, on August 24th-25th, Hurricane Harvey crashed into the Texas coast, roughly equaling, in monetary damage, the destruction of Hurricane Katrina back in 2005. Based on my novel Goodnight, Texas, you could say I predicted it: I … Continue reading →

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