Trevor stepped from between tall rows of corn and onto a dirt road. A group of people was looking up at the sky. They exchanged occasional comments in the oppressive July heat, but Trevor had trouble making out what they were saying. …

WARNING: The following work of fiction based on a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm contains references to graphic violence that some readers may find upsetting, disturbing or otherwise objectionable. Reader discretion is advised.

Brummer dragged the children to the cutting house. He placed a tin bucket on the floor…

The battle between the United States Army and Modoc Tribe raged across the lava beds, leaving behind the flotsam and jetsam of war. Moaning horses lay in troughs of churned earth. Dead hands gripped fallen standards. Bodies lay in a litter of spilled cartridges, bayonet shards, fragments of clothing, and…

From his cover in the darkness, Bishop Diclux watched the witches cavort in the light of their bone-fire. Breasts shook and trembled. Sweat flew from tossed hair. Mouths ejected grunts and spewed wild ululations. Within the flames, a massive form hunkered, turning its shaggy, horned head from side to side…

Viva La Vida was Coldplay’s attempt to stop sounding like its influences, stop sounding the same, and go big or go home. Many fans and critics were pleased, but I thought the album was an uninspired mess, so I tuned out and never paid the band another thought until recently…

Until recently, I had never paid much attention to Underworld. The five feature-length films are always free to stream, though, so I decided to use some unexpected downtime to watch all of them. A review on Vox describes the vampires-vs.-werewolves franchise as “little loved but bizarrely successful,” and now that…

In the first installment of this series, I introduced some records I discovered during the pandemic. Unable to visit music shops and search every crate for the finest in beat-up, worn-down and rapidly fading gems, I occasionally went online looking for cheap vinyl in random genres and had it delivered…

Inability to visit the record store is the least of problems caused by the pandemic, but for those of us who have no other life, a problem it is. Trapped at home under varying degrees of government- or self-imposed lockdown, I’ve secured my occasional fix by cruising for cheap vinyl…