Richard Sutton's Blog

A short story, Bacon’s Revenge, about getting even, read by its humble author with an interview following, on The Strange Recital…

There is snow, and then, there is SNOW. Last night, we got the second variety. The kind that makes snowballs better than you’ve ever made them! They actually tested it for water content yesterday. Normal (?) snow for ten inches of height, contains 1 inch of water for equal container size. This snow contained 2″ […]

I beg your indulgence on this. The events of the past year have driven me deep into my head, trying to figure out why. It gets complicated. American society. Our culture. When I was a kid, we lived sometimes in neighborhoods and sometimes out in the sticks. My school friends’ dads, like mine, had all […]

I recently read an absorbing novel (Turn or Burn by Boo Walker, see below) that established conflict based upon acceptance or rejection of what is referred to as a coming AI Singularity. The theory is that soon, Artificial Intelligence technology will evolve beyond the point where human intelligence can define it. That will force an […]

I was tapped in 2015 to write an extended short story about a legendary hero of Ireland for an independent publisher’s anthology to commemorate the anniversary of the Easter Rising of 1916 on its Centennial. As often happens in multiple-writer projects, one of the headliners failed to submit in time and the entire project collapsed. […]

Last night. We watched the GG awards extravaganza, wondering if there would actually be breakout dialog or any spectacular use of the “Bully Pulpit”, but… no. Not really. It was a fun industry and press party with a beautifully delivered sermon towards the end. The use of a single color associated with mourning does not […]

A long, long time ago, when publishers printed all books  hardbound, the only difference between titles often was the color of the cloth used to bind and finish the book cover. I remember the look of a library stack back in the day, when the only apparent difference was the overall height and the occasional […]

Recently left in a dusty vacuum when Game of Thrones Season Six ended, I found I needed a conflict fix. Of course, I could have simply gorged on TV news, but something inside me needs to absorb conflict that can be settled. Ended favorable to someone. Anyone. So I turned to binge watching the four […]

Sixteen years. Time enough for reflection. Another crystalline September morning here on Long Island. To our South, a hurricane is roaring up Florida; but here, it’s still and beautiful. Exactly the way I remember that morning, all those years ago. A few days ago, the local news remarked upon the passing of yet another FDNY […]

There… just down the slope a little. A corner of turquoise cloth stuck out of the ground where a packrat had left it. Decoration for his back door. I slid down over the crispy, dry juniper needles and shriveled berries from last season. Looking around carefully for snakes, I grabbed the corner and gave it […]