Is it too soon to wonder about the post-apocalyptic world our children will inherit? Even when COVID-19 is declared dead, it will not be done with us. The fear it has sewn into the fabric of our daily lives will haunt us through generations yet to be born.

I’ve heard from various sources that once a novel is written, it should not be revisited or revised.  The best idea, some advise, is to simply move on, always focused on the next project.  The fear is that the writer might become captive to an endless cycle of writing, editing,…

The world has gone quite mad, but the reality of it little resembles the dystopian future so often portrayed in the most popular tomes and movies. The Road. The Stand. Hunger Games. World War-Z. There is a pandemic sweeping the globe, but so far there has been no rationing, no…

This is the pandemic those writers warned you about.

We lay together for an hour, My hand cupping your breast. I move my hand down to touch you, But your arm, wrapped in the sheet Blocks me like a wall, impenetrable. I move my hand to yours and my thoughts Recall the thick headiness of our love And lust…

My underwear’s too tightMy clothes just don’t fit rightI reach out for you babyBut you’re no where in the nightAnd you don’t sayA thing.You say you want a thrillThat you are on the pillBut baby if my wife finds outIt’s me she’s gonna killAnd you don’t sayA thingBaby since I…

I’m counting the daysI’m counting the weeksI’m counting the hoursUntil I am free.All of the secretsI’ll leave behindTo fall away like shacklesFrom my troubled mind.There are so many thingsI’ve yet to do and seeThe promise of a good lifeIs waiting for me.Will I  live long enoughTo make it all worthwhileThe…

Why have I stopped writing?That could be a tough questionUnless you already know the answer.And I do.I have stopped writing (for now) Because I am terrified of my wordsAnd the power they hold over me.Words have power.They transport me through space and timeTo see what must be seenTo tell what…

My father fell Into obscurity My mother is losing her mind And all that I can say with some surety Is that it’s only a matter of time Before I fade away Before I fade away My brother takes solace in the market My wife spends too much time alone…

A year of unceasing night A year of unceasing rain A year of unceasing sorrow A year of unceasing pain What comes next? ©Copyright Kevin Fraleigh 2019

One of the positive things about owning the content of your novel is that you neither have to explain or provide justification for decisions you make concerning it.  And that is fair, considering that you are the sole stakeholder in the creation and publication process.  While it is true that…

For those of you who have been following this blog, it will be old news that I brought my original three novels (Any Tomorrow: The Calling, Any Tomorrow: The Curse, and Any Tomorrow: The Culling) together to create Any Tomorrow Complete. The big news is that: —The individual novels have…

I don’t want to retire, I think I’d rather die, So I can go to heaven And look God in the eye. If He had all the answers Why did He have to lie? I don’t want to retire, I think I’d rather die. I don’t want to retire, To…

Hello readers! Let me begin by saying that I’ve decided that always having to be the adult in the room is just karma for a misspent youth. Payback is hell. I haven’t written for a while. I’ve been in a dark and depressive place, too dark for sharing, but I…

Three activities are unique to the human race: war, slavery, and genocide.  Certainly, there are other attributes that one might claim are solely human, but these are the ones that are the bedrock of two seemingly very different readings: Hitler’s Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields by Dr….

A few weeks ago a co-worker lost her husband, unexpectedly.  It was an odd and awkward situation. One day she was there and the next she wasn’t.  When I say awkward, I don’t mean that it was just something painful and something bad, which of course it was, or that…

Maybe next time around, I’ll get the contract, be successful, Maybe next time around, I’ll know the answers to the quiz. Catchy lyrics?  I’m thinking about writing a musical based on my life.  This could be a real opportunity.  All I need is “an angel” to back it.  I’ve already…

So what do you do when you have several stories and a couple of draft novels all occupying the same universe? Well, you get very confused and very overwhelmed. My first novel, Any Tomorrow, has been sitting in stasis on Amazon for a couple of years now. Since then I’ve…

The other day I was driving north on Cox Road.  If you aren’t familiar with the area, it’s a sort of mashup of industry, farms, and blue-collar housing.  About a quarter-mile from SR520, rolling as fast as his arms could propel him was a one-legged man in a wheelchair.  Dressed…

Man is compelled by two primary and undeniable motivations: sex and violence. These are the genesis of all behaviors. ©Copyright 2018 by Kevin Fraleigh

Ray Travis wanted to be a writer, It was his sole ambition, But as things do so often, Life got in the way. Ray Travis was a good writer, Everyone said so, Although few actually read his words, Life got in the way. Ray Travis wore a uniform, Fell in…

You can’t write a novel by standing in the shallows, nor can you wade out cautiously into some placid tidal pool. Creation is a violent process. Only by letting yourself get caught in the rip current, and carried into the depths, can you fully release the character within. ©Copyright 2018…

Car salesmen, as a class, have a reputation that is not entirely favorable.  Considering their history, I can’t say that it is entirely unearned.  On the other hand, it is also not entirely their fault.  Now, I know what you’re going to say, it seems like everyone today is a…

The problem with owning a pet is this: They are expensive to maintain, They are messy, They are inconvenient, And worst of all, When they die, A part of your heart goes with them to the grave. ©Copyright 2018 by Kevin Fraleigh

When a parent dies, It is not so much for him, Or her, That you cry, But for yourself, Because in their end, You see, Your destiny. ©Copyright 2018 by Kevin Fraleigh

I post, no one comments. I tweet, no one replies. I publish, no one reads. I cry, no one wipes my tears. I die, no one mourns my passing. ©Copyright 2018 by Kevin Fraleigh

I touch her and she walks away, I lay beside her and she leaves my bed, I’m beginning to think there’s something wrong, Something wrong inside my head. I want those things I cannot have, I want those things only we can share, I’m beginning to think there’s something wrong,…

I am a sad song. I am darkness. I am age. I stand at the cusp of the void, waiting. No expectations. No regrets. Only transition. I am a sad song. I have no release. The words, the lyrics, bind me and hold me. I cannot be free of them….

Yes, I know that it’s been a long time since I’ve posted an article, but I’ve been busy. Really. There are so many cat videos.  And important political memes.  And life. But don’t worry. I’ll be back. Soon. Because I miss you. I promise. ©Copyright by Kevin Fraleigh 2018

When you reach a certain age and a certain point in a relationship, every anniversary becomes an existential contemplation of how two bodies wandering through the cosmos are drawn together in a perfect unbreakable orbit. ©Copyright 2018 Kevin Fraleigh

In previous posts, here and here, I mentioned that I was slowly and painfully making my way through Michio Kaku’s Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the 10th Dimension (1994).  Dr. Kaku, a brilliant futurist and theoretical physicist who’s CV would embarrass the fictional Sheldon Cooper (Big…

If you saw my office, you might mistake it for a junky spare room.  The only clue that there is anything special about it is an oversized desk and the computer—and books, lots of books.  With only a single chair at the desk, it does not invite visitors. When I…

Yes, I’m still working my way through Michio Kaku’s Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the 10th Dimension .  Full disclosure requires me to tell you that while I can easily grasp the higher concepts and especially appreciate the human aspects of the minds that generate them, the…

Okay, so I’ve been reading Michio Kaku’s Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the 10th Dimension and it got me to thinking about applications of the fifth dimension to my fiction.  I did touch on the idea of parallel universes in Any Tomorrow, but I thought…

The world is so much clearer in hindsight.  That’s why historians practice what’s called the “fifty-year rule”.  The rule is a tacit acknowledgment that it is virtually impossible to judge history objectively until the consequences of historical events have played out and been realized.  The downside to this however, is…

One of the advantages of reviewing an older series of books is that unless your readers have been living under a rock, they already know the basic storyline: Dave Bowman and Frank Poole fly to Jupiter and HAL, their hyper-intelligent computer, tries to kill them.  Pretty straight forward, or is…

“Me and God have an understandin’,” he said. “He don’t put on airs and I don’t either.” That’s how I feel, also.  Maybe it’s because I spent a dozen years in Hawaii and now live in Florida, but I can’t imagine any reason for owning, much less wearing, a tie. …

The end of the end, isn’t that what he said?  And he was right, of course.  The end of the end begins after the beginning, which is birth.  Every moment following that is the end of everything, on an individual level, on a global level—it’s all a matter of scale….

Death is not an easy thing, I think, and I know a few things about death, don’t I?  But this, this horror is beyond the pale. I find you beside the interstate, still clutching the wheel, as if somehow even in death you would keep going.  But there is no…

We’re just a couple of weeks from my favorite holiday—Halloween!  What follows is something to get you in the mood, especially if you’ve ever harbored concerns about the cleanliness or safety of those rest stop bathrooms… I think most of us have been there.  You’re on that road trip, and…

So, last night was something different.  For the first time in a very long time, my wife and I broke out of our usual routine to go out with friends.  We started out the evening at Wabi Sabi, a Vietnamese-Thai-Sushi restaurant.  The place isn’t much to look at—the building has…

Can I make a confession?  I have never suffered from “writer’s block”.  For all the fiction, non-fiction, intelligence reporting, and documentation I have written, I have never been intimidated by the blank page or empty display screen. However, in the spirit of full disclosure, I have struggled with format, with…

The first contact was quiet, obscure, and by any conventional standard quite unremarkable.  It required only a breath.  Whatever concept scientists, writers, and other visionaries of the ages may have had about the event, this wasn’t it. I wouldn’t call it serendipitous, that first contact.  It was not, by definition,…

There is something comforting about seeing working traffic lights and being called into work.  Normalcy and routine in the aftermath of tension, stress, and physical discomfort can be a welcome thing.  Adrenaline in the face of hurricane force winds, rain, and flying debris can only keep you going for so…

Every so often I like to share what I’m currently working on.  As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I’m working on the manuscript for a story tentatively titled, ‘Clarice’.   I’ve got around 42,000 words so far.  While story development is slow, because I’m pulled in so many different directions,…

I have achieved the American dream: One wife. One house. Two children. A dead-end soul sucking corporate job. My only legacy will be words. Writing on a deadline.  After more than sixty years on this earth, much of that time spent writing meaningless drivel for others, I am finally writing…

So, I’m sitting in my office listening to Warren Zevon sing ‘Carmelita’ on Spotify, and thinking about a conversation from Wednesday night.  I took my wife to Heidi’s Jazz Club in Cocoa Beach to celebrate her birthday, and we met some friends there — Janet and Phil, and Ted. In…

Note: This post contains spoilers.  If you haven’t seen The Dark Tower, you may want to keep reading. The Dark Tower series has been hailed as Stephen King’s magnum opus.  It is the brilliantly written story of the last gunslinger, Roland Deschain, and his quest for the Dark Tower, the…