Author Archives: williamjcobb

“Camp America”: A New Short Story by William J. Cobb

At the Camp America for Repatriated Adults none of the clocks actually work. All the detained are required to turn in their cellphones, laptops, Smart Watches and the like. The many clocks in the guest quarters, conference rooms, and rec centers all show different times. It keeps people guessing. Continue reading

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Close Encounters of the Chase-Scene Kind: On Spielberg’s “Disclosure Day”

As Spielberg is 79 years old, he may be nearing the Swan Song part of his career, and Disclosure Day plays into that era nicely. It’s best appreciated as a kind of bookend to his classic Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), with touches of E.T. (1982) and War of the Worlds (2005). Continue reading

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“White River Crossing”: Ian McGuire’s Terrific New Novel

I usually wince when a book comes out that is compared to any of Cormac McCarthy’s novels: It’s a literary Kiss of Death. He’s just too hard of an act to follow. But with The North Water, and now White River Crossing, Ian McGuire pulls it off. Continue reading

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New Movie “Fuze” Echoes Classic “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three” (1974)

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) is one of the movies that defines the Seventies image of New York City, and Fuze does the same thing for London in the 2020s. Continue reading

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Who’s the Killer? The Nonlinear Charms of “Strange Darling” 

It’s not a matter of seeing is believing. It’s a matter of what you see can’t be understood without the linearity of what came before. Continue reading

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The Novel That Predicted Trump’s ‘Fascism for Dummies’: On Sinclair Lewis’s 1935 Bestseller “It Can’t Happen Here”

Imagine 1984 narrated by Andy Griffith.  Continue reading

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“The Sandblaster”: A New Short Story by William J. Cobb

I was working as a sandblaster on the coast of Texas, at an industrial park right off the Intracoastal Canal. A wasteland of bulldozers and cranes. Stacks of rusty metal pipes. A few scraggly palm trees, no grass, house or town within miles. That’s where I found her. Continue reading

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Review of “Project Hail Mary”: Ryan Gosling as Space Cowboy

“It’s E.T. meets 2001 meets Contact meets Arrival meets Wall-E”—with a healthy dose of Steven Spielbergian moments, most in outer space. Continue reading

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Review of “Widow’s Bay”: Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Go in the Water Again . . . .”

It’s something of a mashup satire of horror/disaster movies, with pointed references to such classics as Jaws, The Fog, and many others.  Continue reading

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On the Demise of Texas Summer Camps and a Remembrance of Hells Past: It Wasn’t “Meatballs” or Camp Mystic

Although we played sports and had cookouts and ate hot dogs, it was less like Bill Murray’s iconic Meatballs (1979) and more like Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket (1987). More like Boot Camp than Summer Camp. Continue reading

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