Idiotprogrammer Blog

  • Robert’s Roundup #57 (Jan-March,2026)

    View Previous Roundup and Next Roundup (View All)

    MAILING LIST: I just started a mailing list for my publishing company. Will mail out every 2 months and will include excerpts from my Robert’s Roundup columns and other random stuff.  https://booktoot.club/@nagletx. (Mastodon) and nagletx.bsky.social. (Blue Sky).

    Abbreviations: KU means Kindle Unlimited and NYP means “Name Your Price” (that’s an option on Smashwords and other booksellers). If you’d like to submit an ebook to me for review or mention in this column, see my instructions here. Here is my article about methods and search queries I use to locate ebook deals. See also: Indie Author Spotlight, Interviews by RJN,

    My 1965 Project articles have been coming slowly. But here’s a long essay about 1965 children’s books. Here’s an “Elevator Pitch” video I did for Alberto Balengo’s Minor Sketches and Reveries (YT). I think it’s my best so far.

    I plan to do a 1965 essay about Susan Sontag’s Against Interpretation. I bought and read and reread it from cover to the cover in college and am re-reading it again. Annoyingly, I must have given the book away and can’t find a cheap copy (or ebook). Astonishingly the county library only possesses a single copy. I have several digital editions of SS essays with some of the essays, but not all.

    Indie Author Spotlight

    the

    Under the Radar

    Mother of Red Mountains: A Novel of a Woman’s Journey Through Revolutionary China by Apple An.

    Glimmer by Sam Aleks. Young girl traumatized by a fire dives into painting to assuage her guilt about the death of her brother.

    Pink Tuxedo. by C.D. Acosta. Clever colorful futuristic tale of a college introverted student who shuns social interaction but attends a concert and is drawn into a crazy plot.

    Alfa Romeo 1300 and Other Miracles by Fabio Bartolomei.

    Notorious Dr. August: His Real Life and Crimes (Novel) by Christopher Bram.

    Imagining More and other Stories by Panayotis Cacoyannis. Prolific British-Cyprus author. I keep meaning to read his stuff; all sounds interesting.

    Karl Marx and the Lost California Manifesto: a novel by Scott D. Carlson (I). This new satirical work of pseudo-history imagines that Karl Marx travels to California during the Gold Rush in search of gold. Plaudits from both Kirkus and BookLife.

    Stone Fields: love and death in the Balkans by Courtney Angela Brkic. Anthropologist’s memoir of exhuming bodies in Bosnia during the Yugoslav war in the 1990s.

    By the Shore: A Novel by Galaxy Craze. Tickled by this name, but apparently this ex-actress and YA author uses that name. First novel was well-received.

    Creatures of the Air: Music, Atlantic Spirits, Breath, 1817–1913 by J.Q. Davies

    Damage Control: Stories by Amber Dermont. Rice U. creative writing teacher. Videos: Reading at ABR, Also a 1 hour reading on Vimeo.

    Perfect Comeback of Caroline Jacobs Novel by Matthew Dicks.

    The Chastity Plot by Lisabeth During. Overlooked Sanskrit fiction.

    Irrational Numbers Stories by George Alec Effinger.

    Copenhagen Papers: An Intrigue by Michael Frayn.

    Ad Nauseam: A Survivor’s Guide to American Consumer Culture. By Carrie McLaren & Jason Torchinsky.

    Forty Days at Kamas Book 5 by Preston Fleming.

    Two Dreams and Two Hollows by Gary Gautier.

    Woman who is the Midnight Wind Stories by Terence M. Green. 10 stories of speculative fiction by Canadian author. Shucks, he died a few months ago. (Website).

    Hot Damn! Alligators in the Casino by James W. Hall. Humor columns.

    Yonder Stands Your Opinion by Barry Hannah.

    Night Garden by Polly Horvath. Newbery Prize author of children’s books.

    Accidents: A Novel  by Yael Hedaya. Israeli author who created (for Israel) a TV show which was adapted into the HBO series In Treatment.

    Adventurist: Novel by J. Bradford Hipps. Programmer/fiction writer who graduated from UH’s creative writing program. Protagonist is a software engineering dealing with love and family. “The Adventurist” activated most of my cranial pleasure centers. It’s a brisk and polished and somehow very American novel. It moves confidently, that is, until it can no longer pretend to do so. It delivers to the reader internal wounds that will fail to clot. (Dwight Garner, NYT). (YT)

    End of Alice by A.M. Homes. British tale of sexual dalliance/flirtation between an older man and a way-younger teenage girl.

    House of Lords and Commons: Poems by Ishion Hutchinson.

    Transition – Novel by Luke Kennard. (Interview).

    Crossways by Sheila Kohler.

    Manual Puig and the Spider Woman: His Life and Fiction by Suzanne Jill Levine

    Gone with the Mind by Mark Leyner. Inventive fictional autobiography by noted humorist. “Dazzling, hilarious, heartfelt, and entirely mind-blowingly original, Mark Leyner’s fictional memoir Gone with the Mind confirms the author’s status as one of the most singular, wild-ass, and brilliantly fearless voices in American literature…There isn’t a convention Mark Leyner does not shatter, nor an aspect of twenty-first century culture…he does not reexamine and render fresh. Quite possibly the first literary work of genius, comic and otherwise, of the new millennium.” (Jerry Stahl)

    Abundance: A Novel  by Amit Majmudar. Indian family saga.

    A Garden for Ignatius A Novel of Absurd Comedy and Redemption (The Mittelschmerz Cycle) by M.D. Markham. (Free for a short time!) Just started reading this comic novel written in the spirit of John Kennedy O’Toole. The novel “is a celebration of the difficult personality, a critique of societal impatience, and ultimately, a heartwarming tale of finding one’s proper ground.”

    Fellow Mortals Novel by Dennis Mahoney.

    Book of Love: Story of the Kamasutra by James McConnachie.

    Margo’s Cafe by Tom Milton.

    Wilderness Run a Novel by Maria Hummel. Stegner Fellow

    Well by Matthew McIntosh.

    True Grit by Charles Portis. Texas author Clay Reynolds raved about this novel.

    Another One Bites the Past by Vladimir Provorov. A famous rock singer has an odd concert experience in 1973 and meets a mysterious stranger. What is going on? Here’s a nice review.

    Knee-Deep in Wonder: A novel by April Reynolds. A dazzling first novel about four generations of fear and longing in the deep South. By a philosophy/creative writing prof. This novel won a first novel award.

    Playing in Time: Essays, Profiles, and Other True Stories by Carlo Rotella

    Needle in a Timestack and Other Stories (2019) by Robert Silverberg. Humorously, RS released different versions of this story collection over several decades.

    Private Lives of Garden Birds by Calvin Simonds.

    Freedoms We Lost: Consent and Resistance in Revolutionary America by Barbara Clark Smith.

    Night Life of the Gods by Thorne Smith. “Thorne Smith’s comic genius mixed weird science with mythology, bootlegged alcohol with a chilly eye for the hypocrisy of the very Americans he was entertaining. At worst, sentimental; at best, like a New Yorker cartoon wrapped round a knife.” (by M. John Harrison).

    Devil Take the Blues: a Southern Gothic Novel by Ariel Slick. Fort Worth novelist. A devil tells a woman that her sister will be murdered, and so she tries to intervene. (I, Interview, )

    Perv: A Love Story by Jerry Stahl. Bawdy and hippie coming of age tale of growing up in the 1970s. Stahl is a prolific author and screenwriter. I’m sure this volume will be wild and fun.

    Three Poems by Hannah Sullivan. Winner of 2018 TS Eliot Prize.

    Cleopatra’s Nose: 39 Varieties of Desire by Judith Thurman. Literary essays originally published in the New Yorker.

    The World has changed: Conversations with Alice Walker.

    Silence and Silences by Wallis Wilde-Menozzi

    Sexual Awakening (4 Novellas) by Lucy Xane.

    Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis. Well-known comic novel.

    Magus by John Fowles. I started reading this 1965 novel but find it awkward to read with glasses. Totally glad I could find the title discounted, though I had to wait a long while.

     Memory of Fire Trilogy: Genesis, Faces and Masks, and Century of the Wind  by Eduardo Galeano.

    Tales of the Night by Peter Hoeg. Parallel stories taking place in the same day in 1929.

    Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. Classic Texas novel discounted to 4.99.

    The Hunger Angel: A Novel by Herta Müller. Post WW 2 East European historical novel. Nobel winner.

    Best of Me (Compilation) by David Sedaris.

    Shucks, I dilly-dallied too long and didn’t grab The Mabinogion Tetralogy: by Evangeline Walton when it was still 2.99. There are other translations, but this one is supposed to be highly readable and fun.

    Radicalism of the American Revolution by Gordon Wood. Milestone history book.

    Library Purchases/Printed books

    Rabbit at Rest by John Updike. I have been eager to read this for over a decade. Now I found a large-print edition!

    Creative Commons/Freebies

    the

    Literary Articles and Essays

    Here’s a nice collection of college reading lists. Here’s another and another. Here’s another much longer list.

    Here’s an interview with author M. John Harrison. Here’s a list of his Top 10 favorite novels.

    Here’s a collection of reddit threads about obscure Sci Fi. Here’s a summary of book recommendation threads.

    Michael Silverblatt’s Rules for Reading

    1. Sit. If you’re lying down you’ll fall asleep.
    2. Read at least 100 pages in your first session with a new book. You must get well in.
    3. If you’re reading for pleasure, finish a book before starting a new one. Don’t keep three or four going.
    4. If your eyes get tired, try cotton compresses with witch hazel – they’re soothing and refreshing.
    5. Read a book about a country you’ve never visited.
    6. Ask close friends to name their favorite book, one that changed their life or one that accompanied a change in life. You will learn not just about the book, but about the person who recommended it. 
    7. Don’t be embarrassed to keep a vocabulary list. Reading without understanding is not a virtue.
    8. Don’t torture yourself to read out of duty. A great book has an obligation to enrich and alter your life. There are certain books you’ll find you’re not ready for. Please suspend your judgement of them. it took me seven years and six tries to read [William] Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying.
    9. If you can’t discard preconceptions that come from bad classroom experiences – for example, A Tale of Two Cities and Silas Marner are not [Charles] Dickens’ or [T.S.]Eliot’s best works – if you’ve X’d them out of your list, you’re missing something of pleasure. You’re ready now. Try them.

    Here are 11 Los Angeles authors recommended by Silverblatt:

    1. “Visitations” by Mitch Sisskind (Brightwater Press)
    2. “Blood Lake” by James Krusoe (Boaz Publishing)
    3. “Guide” by Dennis Cooper (Grove Press)
    4. “Maps to Anywhere” by Bernard Cooper (Penguin)
    5. “Crown of Weeds” by Amy Gerstler (Penguin)
    6. “Dear Dead Person” by Benjamin Weissman (High Risk)
    7. “I Been in Sorrow’s Kitchen and Licked Out All the Pots” by Susan Straight (Hyperion)
    8. “Chinchilla Farm” by Judith Freeman (Norton)
    9. “Sea of Cortez” by John Steppling (Sun and Moon)
    10. “We Find Ourselves in Moontown” by Jay Gummerman (Vintage)
    11. “Round Rock” by Michelle Huneven (Knopf)

    Rant

    the

    Capsule Book Reviews

    the

    Multimedia/Podcasts, Etc

    This video (which is also available as a podcast and on YouTube) is hilarious. Dave Barry and Carl Hiaasen are two of the funniest people in USA.

    Personville Press Deals

  • Social Media Linkdump Jan-Feb 2026

    See also:  Previous and Next (View all)

    About a month ago, I predicted to someone that Venezuela would be Trump’s Iraq War. There are some differences. For one thing, Venezuela had a presidential election where the presumed winner was never allowed to assume that office. (Hopefully Machado and Gonzales will be able to assist in this transition). Also, the political power of petroleum interests is substantially weaker than it was in 2003. Finally, Trump has much lower international legitimacy than George W. Bush had in 2003. Even if Trump acted honorably in this case, the international community will treat Trump’s words and actions as both dishonest and corrupt. Maybe a President Biden or a President Harris or even a President Haley might have been able to convince the world that this military intervention would restore democracy and benefit the world, it is doubtful that anyone would believe a U.S. president who lies about even the most stupid of things. Nobody will or should believe that Trump/Rubio/Hegseth will play a constructive role in restoring democracy and justice in Venezuela. Instead the rest of the world will be wondering about what corrupt deals Trump made with opposition leaders to further Trump’s private autocratic interests.

    (When I said that Trump had lower international legitimacy than George W. Bush did in 2003, that’s saying a lot because most of the world opposed Bush’s 2003 intervention. Sure, oil interests (Halliburton, etc.) was driving that narrative, but at least Paul Bremer and Colin Powell and even Bush himself could “talk the talk” about democracy, freedom, etc. I doubt that Secretary of State Rubio could even do that..)

    ELECTORAL-VOTE has compiled a useful (but very long) reference to all the wrong or criminal actions by the lawless lying racist tax-cheat.

    What strikes me today is that many Venezuelans are probably happy to have Americans intervene in their country. They have suffered greatly under Maduro and would welcome outside assistance and investment. But unlike Bush’s flawed intervention in Iraq (where Bush still sent lots of economic assistance to restore civil society and rebuild infrastructure), I expect the Trump Administration to send absolutely nothing. Trump is probably the stingiest man alive; as a businessmen, Trump took pride in shortchanging vendors whenever possible; as a politician, Trump took pride in dismantling foreign aid programs and funding for education, science and health care. What happens when Venezuelans realize that the US government under Trump will do absolutely nothing to help rebuild Venezuelan civil society (other than to help American companies buy land and take advantage of the country’s natural resources)? Perhaps V’s neighbors will deliver this kind of assistance; perhaps EU or China will step in. Perhaps nobody will step in, and Venezuela’s society will continue to deteriorate. Regardless, it seems inevitable that Venezuelans will view U.S. actions towards its country with a combination of disillusionment and anger.

    Alex Bronzini-Vendor on the decline of English majors and humanities degrees:

    The fixation on “wokeness,” however, obscures a much larger and more consequential transformation reshaping the humanities at Harvard and elsewhere. The most serious pressure on Western history—and on the humanities more broadly—comes not from ideological capture, but from the economic priorities of academic institutions.

    Over the past decade, student demand for the humanities has cratered. Nationally, the share of undergraduates majoring in humanities disciplines has fallen by roughly 25 percent between 2012 and 2020. The number of English majors declined by about one-third between 2013 and 2023. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, humanities degrees fell from 16.8 percent of all bachelor’s degrees in 2010-11 to 12.8 percent in 2020-21—a sharp contraction both in absolute terms and as a share of overall enrollment.

    Harvard has not been immune. As of 2022, just seven percent of Harvard freshmen intended to concentrate in the humanities, down from 20 percent in 2012. (Because Harvard must be different, it calls majors “concentrations.”) That figure stood at 30 percent in the 1970s. Harvard’s history department has felt these pressures especially acutely: its number of concentrators plunged by 50 percent between 2011 and 2020.

    “I do not understand why you would mass-pardon people who assaulted police officers. I don’t get it. I never will.” (SPECIAL PROSECUTOR JACK SMITH about Trump’s action to mass-pardon 1500 convicted criminals, 33 of which have committed additional crimes — including murder, sexual assault, burglary, aggravated kidnapping, stalking, making terrorist threats) (Source. Also this).

    TRULY SHOCKING. An NBC report about the Minneapolis shooting mentioned that last year Trump cancelled Biden’s 2022 executive order to require that federal law enforcement officers wear body cameras. I looked it up — it’s true and horrifying. It’s now clear that the Trump Administration is restricting the gathering of evidence about encounters with federal officers so that citizens must accept unquestioningly whatever version of the truth that these officers provide.

    SIGN ON BONUSES FOR ICE?! Wow, did not know that the federal government was using US tax money to pay up to $50,000 as a sign on bonus for people who join ICE. I wonder how much of a sign on bonus you need to offer these people to persuade them not to shoot law-abiding citizens. Update: It looks like the bonus is paid in $10,000 installments over several years(source).

    From a profile of Vancouver interviewer Nardwuar:

    “What my mom taught me, basically, was who, what, where, when, and how. She also taught me that everyone has a story–you just have to find it. And, most importantly, she taught me that it’s the interviewer’s job to make the interviewee excited to be there.”

    (See also the interviews I have conducted. )

    Michael Barrett on Elaine May’s 1971 movie, A New Leaf starring herself and Walter Matthau. It was originally a 3 hour movie significantly cut by the studio (eventually resulting in a lawsuit which May lost). Despite this, it was beloved by critics and audiences aslike. Barrett asks:

    It’s fair to ask: would a woman executive have tolerated a three-hour comedy? And what about the males who turn in overlong cuts? If Mike Nichols had turned in a three-hour version of The Graduate, it would have been taken away from him. It seems more likely, in this and other films she directed, that May belongs to that list of otherwise male creative geniuses who naturally clash with the commercial system, including Erich Von Stroheim, Orson Welles and Otto Preminger. Rather than demean May’s abilities, such a view pays her a higher compliment when assessing her career as a director, as opposed to a woman director.

    Recently it was pointed out to me that David Bowie played Pontius Pilate in Scorcese’s Last Temptation of Christ. Here is that chilling scene where he appeared (YT)

    The Guardian: British Grandmother on tourist visa locked up for 6 weeks after husband’s work visa had expired. In unrelated news, the “US saw 4.5m fewer visits from international travellers in 2025; visits from Canada were down by more than 22%, from Germany by more than 11% and from the UK by 15%. The World Travel & Tourism Council, the global body representing the industry, estimated that the decline in international tourism last year cost the US $12.5bn in lost revenue.

    I would hardly call myself a world traveler, but I have enough experience in Eastern Europe to know that it’s easy for travelers to mess up on visa regulations. The rules are often confusing and opaque. Once I relied on the English language portion of the Slovak embassy as a reference to that country’s visa policies. Apparently, the rules had changed, but the Slovakian government had not bothered to update the English-language portions of their website. Too bad, foreigners! (That one day delay it caused to my trip still makes me angry 20 years later — I curse the Slovakian government still!)

    In the case of the British grandmother, she didn’t have any problems understanding the language. But it often can be difficult to decipher the visa rules even if you do know the language — especially if the foreign government is doing everything to trip up foreign visitors.

    HOUSTON COLUMNIST REDISCOVERED: Can’t believe I never knew that longtime Houston columnist Lynn Ashby has been regularly posting columns. Here’s his latest column about the Texas primaries. Here are other columns. Thanks to Ken Fountain for mentioning him in a column about how Fountain got interested in journalism.

    HILARY’S SPEECH (reposted verbatim by satirist Andy Borowitz) makes clear what a mockery the GOP subpoena of her was.

    As Secretary of State, I appointed a former federal prosecutor, Lou CdeBaca, to ramp up our global antitrafficking efforts. I oversaw nearly 170 anti-trafficking programs in 70 nations and directly pressed foreign leaders to crack down on trafficking networks in their countries. Every year we published a global report to shine a light on abuses. The findings of those reports triggered sanctions on countries failing to make progress, so they became a powerful diplomatic tool to drive concrete action.

    I insisted that the United States be included in the report for the first time ever in 2011. Because we must hold ourselves not just to the same standard as the rest of the world but to an even higher one. Sex trafficking and modern slavery should have no place in America. None.

    Infuriatingly, the Trump Administration gutted the Trafficking in Persons Office at the State Department, cutting more than 70 percent of the career civil and foreign service experts who worked so hard to prevent trafficking crimes. The annual trafficking report, required by law, was delayed for months. The message from the Trump Administration to the American people and the world could not be clearer: combatting human trafficking is no longer an American priority under the Trump White House.

  • Book-themed Shirts of Texas author Robert Nagle

    Here are some book-related photos of me, mainly wearing book-themed T-shirts.

    Texas author Robert Nagle, December 2025, Katy, Texas
    Writer Robert Nagle with a Book List sweatshirt, November, 2025 (San Antonio)

  • RJ’s Geeky Explorations #14 (AI/Gemini)

    See also: Previous  and Next (View all)

    Okay, I signed up for two months of Google AI Plus. That includes access to multimedia tools like Veo, Whisk and Nano Banana. I’m quickly learning about how to use those tools.

     Nano Banana Pro uses Gemini 3 under the hood to translate your prompt into something the image generator understands.

    Let me say at the outset that I don’t like the shiny gorgeous perfect people inserted in most videos, or the chunky animated figures. I’d prefer something minimal that looks less like photographs than a minimal comic.

    The big challenge seems to be using your monthly credits strategically. Even with the pro account you have 1000 credits which you can waste on vid generation.

    (20 credits for Veo 3.1)

    Nano Banana Resources,

    Subreddits: Bard, GeminiAI,

    Useful threads: Convert old b/w photos into recent-looking color photos.

    I like the Whisk interface which uses a Subject/Scene/Style interface.

    Also, OpenArt creates an interface for generating prompts for each platform. Free 40 credits, $14 month for 4000 credits.

    Sony Vegas

    I generally find Vegas to be powerful and useful, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to pan and scan images (i.e., the Ken Burns effect). I know approximately how it’s done; I know what part of the interfaces are supposed to control it, but I’ve never actually figured out how to make it work properly. Unfortunately the docs are pretty lousy, and the helper vids on YouTube which demonstrate how to do it always leave out a few steps (and rarely show what the finished video actually does). The vids spend a lot of time clicking through things on the interface, but we don’t often see what all that clicking actually does. This week I am going to focus specifically on keyframe animation. It shouldn’t be that hard, but I haven’t found good guides on the subject.

    Fortunately I have found good documentation about this feature (finally). What is KeyFraming: How to Use Keyframe Animation.

    Other good introductory docs on the Vegas website: Making Video Montages with Slideshow Creator, Using Chroma Key Effects and Green Screen, Text Animation, Transitions, Video Effects,

    Holy cow! Vegas Pro had a built in Video Capture capability and I had no idea.

    Here’s a decent video demonstration of the Ken Burns effect.

  • Random Thoughts about Sitcoms

    (An ongoing list).

    You might already know that I’m a rabid fan of sitcoms. That is the reason I keep an ongoing list of favorite sitcoms. Here are some of my thoughts about the genre:

    It is always wonderful to have older characters be guest stars. Often these characters are played by immensely talented actors who at one time were famous. I just watched two episodes of the Middle which featured guest stars Norm MacDonald, Marsha Mason and Jerry Van Dyke. These actors had only small parts, but it was nice to see them again!

    Many good shows have one bona fide asshole character. Often their negative energy can bring out the best in other characters. (Besides it’s always a plot art to humanize the asshole).

    As good as three camera filmed-before-a-live-audience shows are, one camera shows have a lot of movement and energy and rapid scene changes which can make up for the silence. “Arrested Development had so many scene changes in a single episode that you were never bored.

    I’m surprised at how many shows have gotten away with doing the same plot over and over again. Keeping Up Appearances, Three’s Company, Allo Allo, Get Smart, etc.

    Most sitcoms fail because of bad ratings; it often has nothing to do with the scripts or talent.

    I think 80% of the recipe for a successful sitcom is not great writing, but finding the perfect actor for the part. I was thinking of the Middle; all the characters and especially the kids seem born to play their parts.

    Good to have a gimmick. It helps to have some narrative novelty even if it doesn’t always work. The Bernie Mac show had two brilliant things: 1)Bernie Mac breaking the fourth wall to rant about something and 2)onscreen text to comment on dialogue being spoken. Both provided endless amounts of hilarity.

    Raunch and potty humor is beginning to be a problem on sitcoms. There are fewer restrictions about subject matter on contemporary TV, but lowbrow humor rarely pays in the long run.

    One person online said that sitcoms by definition are not particularly memorable; it’s more the exception rather the rule. There is some truth in this. Plots tend to repeat themselves (even on the same sitcom), and jokes and character conflicts tend to recur throughout a show’s history. On the other hand, talented actors can inject something fresh into each iteration, and that is worth mentioning. Finally, the amnesiac quality of sitcoms may in fact be an advantage because it leads to rewatching. You may already know that George Constanza is going on a blind date set up by Elaine and Jerry, but it is still fun to watch the sequence again.

  • Social Media Linkdump Nov-Dec 2025

    See also:  Previous and Next (View all)

    This contains my random/unclassifiable links found about politics, pop culture, etc. See also: my bio page and music reviews. By the way, blogging will be light in November because of my 1965 Project.

    Michael Mann on Bill Gates’ recent letter downplaying the catastrophic nature of climate change. Here’s a group-written peer-reviewed article about the current state of the climate.

    The Curious Case of Kacyee Nicole by Mimi Lamarre about a controversy about whether a young person with cancer is actually the person she says she was. The article talks about John Halcyon Styn , a nice and colorful man whom I talked to several times at South by Southwest.

    How rising ACA premiums will fuel panic and reduced spending.

    I have coined a phrase: Lawless lying racist tax cheat, creepy pervert, vindictive narcissist and blithering idiot.

    Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless.
    Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

    Ignorant do not have a right to an audience by Bryan W. Van Norden. Here’s his solution:

    I suggest that we could take a big step forward by distinguishing free speech from just access. Access to the general public, granted by institutions like television networks, newspapers, magazines, and university lectures, is a finite resource. Justice requires that, like any finite good, institutional access should be apportioned based on merit and on what benefits the community as a whole….

    The invincibly ignorant and the intellectual huckster have every right to express their opinions, but their right to free speech is not the right to an audience.

    He cited the 1965 essay on Repressive Tolerance by Herbert Marcuse which I’d never come across.

    Here’s a compilation of John Lennon’s recorded statements about the Beatles and the breakup. (YT) Here’s another compilation of Paul’s statements (YT)

    Here’s a terrific behind-the-scenes video about the making of the Once More with Feeling episode of Buffy. (YT) That episode is absolute magic.

    In a weekend with an ongoing war and several mass shootings, it seems almost irresponsible to point to the murder of a celebrity couple. Rob Reiner was one of a kind. He was great in my favorite show, “All in the Family” and he was recently interviewed by Ted Danson on his “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” podcast about his movie career, AIIF, Spinal Tap, his family, etc. (also on YouTube). It’s a must listen!

    DREW CAREY SHOW ON YOUTUBE: I have been waiting 20 years to rewatch one of my favorite shows (which didn’t make it onto DVD or streaming for various copyright reasons). Now though, every single episode is on Youtube — plus there are some great discussions about making the show.

    It seems strange to focus on Ukraine on Christmas Day, but this harrowing report about Russia’s bombing on the port city of Odesa (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) is a grim reminder that the people who suffer the consequences are those least able to flee to somewhere safer. The Internet says that the current temperature of Odesa is -7C (20 F), and in my own city of Houston, the temperature is 26C (80 F), and kids are actually swimming in the neighborhood swimming pool (on Christmas!) One can only hope that the new year will bring positive changes.

  • Robert’s Roundup #56 (Nov-Dec, 2025)

    View Previous Roundup and Next Roundup (View All)

    MAILING LIST: I just started a mailing list for my publishing company. Will mail out every 2 months and will include excerpts from my Robert’s Roundup columns and other random stuff. MASTODON: https://booktoot.club/@nagletx. Here’s a biographical profile of Texas author Robert Nagle.

    Abbreviations: KU means Kindle Unlimited,  and APUB means it was published under an Amazon imprint.NYP means “Name Your Price” (that’s an option on Smashwords and other booksellers). If you’d like to submit an ebook to me for review or mention in this column, see my instructions here. Here is my article about methods and search queries I use to locate ebook deals.

    This post is usually a work-in-progress. At the start it will be blank, and I add to it over the weeks. By the way for the month of November, I’ll be focused mainly on the 1965 Project, a look back at cultural gems from that year.

    Indie Author Spotlight

    hello

    Under the Radar

    To Name Those Lost Novel by Rohan Wilson.

    The One that Got Away Stories by Zoe Wicomb.

    Cutty, One Rock: Low Characters and Strange Places, Gently Explained by August Kleinzahler. (poetry).

    Hope Verdad Presents: Short Stories with a Twist by Francesca Flood

    In a perfect world by Laura Kasischke. (W)

    Moral Underground: How Ordinary Americans subvert an unfair economy by Lisa Dodson.

    All Flesh is Grass by Clifford D Simak. (1965).

    This is your life novel by John O’Farrell. (W, ) Also The Best a Man Can get. He’s a British humor writer and actor. See his satirical news website Newsbiscuit.

    Meander, Spiral, Explod: by Jane Allison.

    Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck. German novel about a literature professor who attempts to help refugees.

    Flow my Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick.

    Haitian Trilogy: Plays by Derek Walcott.

    Fling: Commanding 21st Century Stories by Justin Taylor. Also, Everything Here is the Best Thing Ever: Stories

    One Fell Soup: Or I’m Just a Bug on the Windshield of Life by Roy Blount.

    Literary Seductions: Compulsive Writers and Diverted Readers by Frances Wilson.

    Beetlebum by Christian Basso.

    All at once: Prose Poems by C.K. Williams

    Scar Tissue: Poems by Charles Wright.

    Walking Backwards: Poems 1966-2016 by John Koethe.

    The Swimmer: Poems by John Koethe.

    Chickamauga: Poems by Charles Wright. (W) Pulitzer finalist.

    Triumph of the Sparrow: Zen Poems by Shinkichi Takahashi.

    Thunderstroke: a Poetry Memoir by Terence Ang.

    Another Life by Derek Walcott.

    Land End’s: New and Selected poems by Gail Mazur.

    Two books (which are first of two separate series) by Texas sci fi author E.M. Rensing: Source Code and Lighthouse of Kuiper.

    Deviation a Novel by Luce D’Eramo. WW2 memoir of an Italian girl who learns about Nazi atrocities.

    My Family and Other Hazards: A Memoir by June Melby.

    American Master: A Portrait of Gore Vidal: James Edmonds.

    Three Ways to Disappear by Katy Yocom.

    Wakefield Novel by Andrei Codrescu.

    Land of Steady Habits by Ted Thompson.

    Naked Girl by Janna Brooke Wallack. Ignore the misleading title. It’s about a motherless girl in the 1980s Miami beach and capricious father who strive to survive under harrowing circumstances. “Wallack cleverly walks a tightrope in her writing, balancing the horrors with a child’s unwavering imagination and naive sense of wonder…a distinctive and emotionally rich voice delivering succinct observations…An endearing and fascinating perspective on a uniquely volatile and dangerous childhood.”  Kirkus.

    Dog’s Breakfast by Tom Navratil.

    Points of Departure: Stories by Pat Murphy.

    Illusions of Time: Selena’s Tale by Sabina Dazdarevic.

    First Contact (In Her Name) by Michael R. Hicks.

    Gorgeous East: A Novel by Robert Girardi.

    American Master: a Portrait of Gore Vidal by James Edmonds.

    Devication: Novel by Luce D’Eramo.

    AI of the Beholder: Art by Dr. Joshua Cunningham.

    Friendly Fire Stories by Alaa Al Aswany.

    The Wrong Heaven by Amy Bonnaffons. (I)

    You Knew the Price (Vol 2) by Susan Kaye Quinn.

    Misadventure of Justin Hearnfield Novel by Dan Elish.

    Athenian Women Novel by Alessandro Barbero. Drama set in ancient times written by a classical history scholar.

    Book of Jonah by Joshua Max Feldman.

    Take me Home Novel by Brian Leung.

    Bobcat and other stories by Rebecca Lee.

    Examined Life: Excursions with Contemporary Thinkers by Astra Taylor. Book accompanies documentary with same name. (

    Blink and it’s Gone

    Keepers of the House by Shirley Ann Grau. (1965). Won Pulitzer.

    Station Island by Seamus Heaney.

    April Fool’s Day Novel by Josif Novakovich.

    Insatiable: Porn, a Love Story by Asa Akira.

    French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles.

    The Fortunate Pilgrim by Mario Puzo.

    Julia by Sandra Newman. That’s the retelling of the 1984 novel from the perspective of Winston Smith’s lover Julia Worthing. A brilliant premise.

    Library Purchases/Printed Books

    hello

    Creative Commons/Freebies

    hello

    Literary Articles and Essays

    Jessica Pressman talks about electronic literature.

    A reddit thread about nonnovelists who write novels. Curiously, even though I love Steve Martin as a comedian, I never have been tempted to read his fiction. I would consider reading novels by John Sayles or John Darnielle (of Mountain Goats). Also Ayoade on Top by Richard Ayoade.

    Rant

    hello

    Multimedia/Podcasts, Etc.

    Personville Press Deals

    I run Personville Press, a small literary book press where all the ebooks cost less than $4. Prices normally appear highest on Amazon, Apple, Kobo and BN, somewhat lower on Google Play Books and lower on the two DRM-free stores which are Smashwords and Payhip. Personville Press is committed to selling DRM-free ebooks and audio files directly from the Personville Press payhip store or from Smashwords. The prices listed here are the non-discounted price on Amazon. Check the links to see if they are discounted at the moment (it happens often).

  • 1965 Project: Article Index

    1965 cover art

    For the month of November, I will be spending most of my time writing about 1965 (the year I was born). For that reason, I started the 1965 Project, which will consist of daily postings about overlooked gems from that year. To read these posts, start here.

    1965 Table of Contents

    1. It was a Very Good Year. (Introduction)
    2. Pawking Metaws (Bob Dylan)
    3. Kiddie Animation
    4. Unsettling Japanese Movies
    5. 1965 and American Politics
    6. Shindig! TV Show.
    7. Live Beatles’ Performances
    8. Children’s books of 1965.
    9. The Sound of Music Movie (and the 2 German movies that inspired it)

    If you’d like to make a comment about my 1965 posts, write it in the comment section below. If this is the first time you have made a comment, it won’t be approved immediately but will go into the moderation queue. Have no fear; I should approve it that same day.

    By the way, the bloggy part of this website is kind of a mess. This is temporary, and I’ll probably fix it in December.