Tag Archives: The Bird Saviors

On Sonia Shah's "Pandemic" and Antarctica's Looming Meltdown: Drowning in a Sea Full of Germs

So a few years back I often wrote about Climate Change and its slo-mo catastrophe, especially when it seemed that we had the chance to alter our Titanic-like course toward that (melting) iceberg, but of late I’ve been more reticent, … Continue reading

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The Year Without a Winter: Two Centuries Later, a Climate Switcheroo

So some years back I read a good book titled The Year Without a Summer: 1816 and the Volcano That Darkened the World and Changed History (2013), by William and Nicholas Klingaman (that name makes you wonder: or are they … Continue reading

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"Dr. WarmLove or: How I Stopped Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Heat"

So I had the odd Flashback Experience of being visited last week by a college roommate I had not seen in twenty years (and we were roomies much longer ago than that, at the University of Texas, in Austin, circa … Continue reading

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Chris Nolan's "Interstellar" as Half-Baked Cli-Fi, or What Does Matthew McConaughey Eat in Outer Space? Pretzel Ions?

So I must first confess I’ve never been seduced by the eye-candy of Christopher Nolan’s films: Yes, they’re imaginative, clever, outlandish and topical. I’m all for that. But at some point they tend to turn so “Hollywood” that you have … Continue reading

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On the Death of Kent Haruf: One of Our Finest Novelists, and a Friend

So on this snowy morning it’s a sad day to hear of the passing of Kent Haruf, author of Plainsong (1999), Eventide (2004), and Benediction (2013), among others. (For more details, see a piece in the Washington Post, here.) Although I … Continue reading

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The Heat Is On: Melting Santas and Family Values in the Era of Climate Change

So I haven’t blogged in—oh, just about forever (over two months)—but I’ve been fine and dandy, thank you very much, and trying to keep my ducks in a row: Besides being a professor, and all that entails, mainly I’ve been … Continue reading

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Review of Wilton Barnhardt's "Lookaway, Lookaway," Plus My Daugher as a Horse

So I feel like a bad blog Daddy now, neglecting my child for so long, though I’m not neglecting my real daughter, as the photo below will attest—or at least judged by the standard of taking cool pictures of her … Continue reading

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On Being in the Center of Everything, With a Nod to the Master, Vladimir Nabokov

So I’ve just returned to my home in State College, Pennsylvania, a name that must rank high on a list of Least Imaginative Monikers, but it does have an odd distinction: It’s (more or less) exactly in the center of … Continue reading

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Goodbye, Colorado, With a Great Horned Owl Sendoff

So it’s not exactly Phillip Roth’s Goodbye, Columbus, but yesterday, after a summer of writing/backpacking/river-rafting, I had to leave my beloved Colorado home to head back East, and it was a hectic packing morning. I was rushing about, filling bags … Continue reading

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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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