Jan 21, 2021The Man Who Never Made a MistakeEveryone who met Stuart Jackson — even when he was a child — said he was an amazing person. “He never gave me any trouble, even when he was a baby,” Stuart’s mother said in an interview for this story. “I called him my little angel.” In a separate interview…Childrens Stories10 min readChildrens Stories10 min read
Mar 3, 2019The Children of ParisAbout a month ago, because of an obscure but still binding decree made under Napoleon III, all the children were taken from Paris. Bureaucrats drove them away in thousands of buses. In their absence, we laughed our way through three-hour dinners. …Paris1 min readParis1 min read
Feb 11, 2019When Frampton Came AlivePeter Frampton was a talented guitarist, a solid songwriter, and a decent singer. He had a handsome face and long blonde curly hair. For a moment he was the biggest rock star on earth. He grew up in the London borough of Bromley. His grandmother gave him his first musical…Music10 min readMusic10 min read
Jan 21, 2019George and JaneGeorge was the deputy manager of a small bank branch. He sat at a desk eight or nine hours a day. He was getting flabby. Sometimes he said to himself, “George, you should do some push-ups and sit-ups,” but he never got around to it. …Fiction13 min readFiction13 min read
Dec 17, 2018The Man Who Shot Santa ClausOnce I was a skinny reporter-in-training. I smoked cigarettes. I wore smudged glasses. I got my breakfast from a street cart. When I wasn’t in the newsroom, I was either drunk at the Film Center Café on Ninth Avenue or asleep in a $90-per-month apartment in Union City, New Jersey…Short Story21 min readShort Story21 min read
Aug 14, 2016The Curse of Smade BasmalleA writer is never not working — In the 1920s, six writers came together as part of what would become known as the Frango School — named for the cafe where they drank and laughed in the days before it all went wrong. The writers in this circle worked in fish markets or canneries to get by…Fiction17 min readFiction17 min read
Jul 22, 2016The McCartney ManiaThree of four days before I started writing this, I was driving down a highway, listening to “Silly Love Songs.” More than listening, I felt like I was merging with it. A scan of my brain would have revealed something that looked like a city lit up at night. …Paul Mccartney10 min readPaul Mccartney10 min read