Current Issue

"Lighting A Candle While Cursing The Darkness"

The recent weeks have been hard on the writing community with the loss of a number of talents. However, the one that has bothered me the most was the loss of Phyllis Whitney. While I had moved on as my tastes had changed there was something comforting about knowing she was out there, still spinning tales to entertain readers, much as she had me many years ago.

I have spoken frequently and for some way too often about how when I was in elementary school I was promoted year after year despite an inability to read. Something my mother discovered to her horror and immediately began to correct by dragging me to the library and turning me over to a wonderful librarian who made numerous suggestions as to where to start. Mom had the hard part of not losing her mind while I sat reading (butchering words in reality) to her from the kitchen table while she made dinner night after night. As I write this today, it is my Mom's birthday and it is because of her efforts and support as well as my Dad's that I am able to read, write and occasionally get paid to lie on paper also known as fiction as well as review books here and there in print and online. Thanks, guys!

As my ability increased Mom eased me into works by Phyllis Whitney and others who exposed me to worlds and concepts that related to my real world while telling stories that entertained. It was through such writers that a very small flame of inspiration began to burn and an appreciation for a phrase well turned and ability to captivate that lasts far longer than anything else.

So, join me if you will, and light a candle for Phyllis Whitney and others we have lost recently who managed to enthrall, to entertain, and above all made us think as readers and human beings.

They will all be missed.