Tag: florida
-
Down on Jupiter Wins 3rd!
Award-winning author reads from his short story Down on Jupiter. Who can resist Floridaman? Or rubber chickens? Or Marla Jean imagining her boyfriend’s back: “Tenderize me, baby.”
-
-
Travel Writing on Kingdoms
All travel writing is essentially the same. The essence shifts away from plot and in favor of setting.
-
-
Miles of Fun, Miles of Files
Paul Panepinto is bored at work. How could he not be? He’s a painter trapped by lapsed policies, cold chocolate in a Federal Funding mug, and long stints of muzak while on hold with Mortgage Depot. Also there are his smarmy daydreams of ‘better times’ with Suzanne Biedertyme to get him through the monotony. Panepinto…
-
Swimming with Sharks
My first shark dive, over a decade ago, our group encountered half a dozen reef sharks in the Red Sea. The big monsters circled the coral an hour offshore. The sight stole my breath, my aqualung pumping furiously—not the best reaction at minus 30 ft. The white tip is a predator, though not likely to charge across open water for…
-
Poisonwood
A nightmare tree grows in the hammock jungle along Route One of Fat Deer Key. Poisonwood. Its touch will boil the skin; its toxin, when burned, will sear the lungs; its berries, if ingested, will sour the gut. At mile 56 the Poisonwood grows alongside its antidote, the Gumbo Limbo. Folk medicine has it the remedy should be…
-
Crook v Crook v Crooked Cop
Hardboiled noir fans: Bob Truluck delivers a lot more than promised in The Big Nothing. That’s no backhanded compliment. The promise includes a vicious series of showdowns, a coterie of sadists and pervs, and a few well-intentioned rubes caught up in a game bigger than the pile they’re after. The cast of criminals and dirty…
-
A Confederacy of (Political) Dunces
I enjoy politics. And I enjoy books. So I’ve put the two together and re-cast the 2016 presidential contenders as their literary counterparts. Today, the Republicans. Jeb Before the weekend I had Bush playing Ignatius J. Reilly. His shuffling campaign had all the promise of a college-educated person pushing a hot dog cart around the Big Easy.…
Ben East Books 