Author Archives: williamjcobb

Guest Blog Post on Dan Bloom's "CliFi" Blog

So I have a guest blog post/interview on Dan Bloom’s “CliFi” blog today, here. As I mention in the post, I’m working on a novel set during a catastrophic wildfire, and there’s one going on right now west of where … Continue reading

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Review of Kent Wascom's "The Blood of Heaven," Plus a Mission Debrief

So my review of Kent Wascom’s impressive debut novel, The Blood of Heaven, appears today in the Dallas Morning News, here. It’s a rollicking book, and I have to say I keep thinking of that Hatfields & McCoys miniseries whenever … Continue reading

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On "The Road," Choking on Smoke

So I’ve owned a house in southern Colorado for ten years, and during that time have seen our summer weather go up and down, some years wet and some years dry, only it always seems to be trending toward hotter … Continue reading

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On Kent Haruf's "Benediction," Fyodor Dostoyevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov" and the Colorado Fires, Again

So this post should be a candidate for some kind of parlor game like “Try to pinpoint the logical connection (though there may not be one)”: I finished Kent Haruf’s Benediction, which includes a scare at the end (I won’t … Continue reading

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On Kent Haruf's new novel, "Benediction," and Anticipation for the Upcoming New Coen Brothers' Film, "Inside Llewyn Davis"

So Kent Haruf’s new novel, Benediction, came out last February, but I waited until I came to Colorado to buy it, because I know Kent. He lives near Salida, about fifty miles from where my summer (writing) home is, and … Continue reading

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Life Over Tech in Santa Fe and Beyond

So it seems I haven’t had a minute to blog in the last couple weeks, mainly from being too busy with “real” life—as opposed to the virtual world we often live in these days—in a visit to Santa Fe, New … Continue reading

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James Franco Does William Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying," Plus Cormac McCarthy & the Kiss of Death

So it’s buzz-building time for James Franco’s film version of William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, which has to be one of the goofiest Southern Gothic classics of all, published in 1930, early in Faulkner’s career. Famous for its image of … Continue reading

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"The Place Beyond the Pines": True Grit or Truly Gritty, With a Nod to Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

So last night I caught the new Derek Cianfrance film The Place Beyond the Pines in St. Louis, once-great Gateway to the West, though the film should more fittingly be seen at a small cinema in New Paltz, New York, … Continue reading

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On Reading Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code": Is It Really as Bad as They Say?

So in The Writer’s World (imagine an alternate universe of eggheads, wannabes, dreamers, drinkers, and too-often-self-obsessed thinkers) Dan Brown’s blockbuster novel The Da Vinci Code (2003) has a reputation about on par with Ed Wood movies or, for a more … Continue reading

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On What We Learn from Birds, as "The Bird Saviors" Appears in Paperback Next Month

So in yesterday’s New York Times there’s a good piece about what birds can tell us about climate, here. I’m definitely a birder, though I prefer the term “birdist,” and have my own style in BirdWorld: I don’t join herds … Continue reading

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