Good Review For My Short Story

My latest short story, "Back To Lopez Island," will appear in the soon-to-be-released horror anthology The Speed of Dark. Here a few samples of what reviewers had to say: Mario Guslandi of Horror World Book Reviews wrote: "Tim Fleming's 'Back To Lopez Island' is a remarkable, enticing whodunit blending horror, violence and the supernatural..." "This [The Speed of Dark] was a horror anthology I was mightily pleased to have read... There is a lot of scope and dimension in these short stories." - Jess Scott, author of To IRAQ and Back. "The Speed of Dark is an anthology of short tales of horror by Cynthia Ainworthe, Kenneth Weene, Clayton Bye, Micki Peluso, Mary Firman and more than a dozen other great writers. It's one of those hard-to-put-down books that keeps you up all night reading... and trembling. From the computer generated green terror in Retrovirus, to the dreadful secrets in the cellar in Taking Care of Mother and the unexpected fate of the man in room 627 in Hansom Dove, readers are sure to find that each of these macabre stories will keep them wanting to read one more before, if they dare, turning off the lights." - T.R. Heinan, author of L'immotalité: Madame Lalaurie and the Voodoo Queen. "In The Speed of Dark I got two things. One was excellent presentation with very good editing, and the other was well-written work that in most cases wasn't overly graphic, but which was interesting, involving and rarely over the top. Much of it was quietly creepy and, therefore, very effective." - Glenda's Bookshelves. The book will be available for sale on Amazon and Clayton Bye Productions by the end of March.

The Case For The Existence Of God...And Other Thoughts On Religion

So the new Pope is from South America, and he has expressed his concern for the poor. What exactly does that mean? Damned if I know. If you've ever visited the Vatican you'll know that it is adorned with some of the most valuable treasures and relics of art and artifact imaginable. Meanwhile, thousands starve to death each day across the globe. It is my opinion that if a single human starves to death while the Roman Catholic Church hordes it riches, the Church is a fraud and serves no real purpose on this earth. As a lapsed Catholic, I feel so disconnected from the religious spectacle of Rome (and the pseudo-suspense of Papal elections) that I think of it in the much the same way I think of beauty pageants--overhyped, sexist and devoid of any real meaning. Watching what I could stand of the media coverage the last few days, I got the impression that it was nothing more than a ratings grab for TV networks. Like a mid-season mini-series: "Who will the new Pope be? Find out tonight on the nightly news, sponsored by AT&T." Mindless sycophants who watch know nothing of the sordid history of the Church--the Inquisition, the ratlines Pius ran to evacuate Nazi criminals to South America, or the long legacy of pedophilia facilitation and denial. Come to think of it, I wonder if Pope Francis knew Eichman in Argentina? At least he wasn't a member of the Hitler youth like the previous guy. What would Jesus think of what the Church he founded has become? I can't imagine Him letting people starve while the Vatican bank stashes cash collected from the faithful. What's all this got to do with the existence of God? Well...though I talk like a heathen, I believe in God. One must believe in God, or else the SCABs will get away with it. Who are SCABs? Soulless, conscienceless, avaricious bastards (mostly white, conservative males) who run the world. And yes many of them are religious nuts--televangelsists, Baptist preachers, Catholic prelates, and all manner of scoundrels. They are about as interested in the humanist well-being of mankind as Mitt Romney is about the indigent. No...SCABs who run religious organizations, and the organizations themselves, have nothing to do with spirituality. Spirituality comes from within. It springs from genuine concern for others...from a deep desire that one further the causes of justice, equality, and benevolence in the world. Good people don't have to be religious, just selfless and caring. They don't have to make a show of their faith; they just have to know that profit and power will not procure the Kingdom of Heaven. And there really is a heaven. I have to believe this; I do believe this. Heaven is a place where no person reigns over another. Where injustice does not exist. Where truth prevails. And it is a place that SCABs (read Hitler, Limbaugh, Pope Pius, Glenn Beck, Wayne LaPierre, John Boehner, Todd Akin, Pinochet, Franco, et al) cannot enter. For their carcasses will eternally burn in the Netherworld. Don't believe me. Read your Scriptures. The righteous will sit with Him. You will be judged by how you treat the least among you. The last shall be first, and the first shall be last.

Gun Nut Shoots Gun Nut

It was bound to happen. In fact, it has probably happened thousands of times since the musket was invented. Someone with a gun and a grudge shot someone else in an impulsive moment. The following story is from the Associated Press, dateline Helena Montana: "A northwestern Montana man shot and killed the host of the Sportsman Channel show 'A Rifleman's Journal' in an apparent jealous rage while the TV personality was visiting the shooter's wife, police said Friday. Wayne Bengston, 41, then beat his wife, took his 2-year-old son to a relative's house and drove to his home about 25 miles away in West Glacier, where he killed himself, Whitefish Police Chief Bill Dial said. 'It's pretty much an open-and-closed case. Homicide and suicide,' Dial said. Police identified the shooting victim as Gregory G. Rodriguez, 43, of Sugar Land, Texas. Bengston's wife told police that Rodriguez was in town on business and visiting her at her mother's house in Whitefish when her husband showed up Thursday at about 10:30 p.m." Beware of middle-aged men with anger issues who are packing heat. They are deadly, and can pull the trigger in a rage at a moment's notice. Even "The Rifleman" himself was not safe, because there is no time or warning to prepare to defend oneself in such cases. This is the reason why the argument that carrying a gun for self-defense purposes is bogus. It is much more likely that a gun owner will be murdered intentionally or unintenionally than it is that he will successfully defend himself against attack. Just ask The Rifleman. Oops...too late.

Consevatives Long For The Good Old Days Of Jim Crow and Poll Taxes

In an audacious affront to the old maxim, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," right wingers are trying to overturn the Voting Rights Act of 1964. Why? Well, apparently because too many African-American citizens are voting and too many African-American candidates (especially the President of the United States) are getting elected. Naturally miffed by the outrageousness of democracy working as it should, conservative interests have brought suit, and the case is being heard by the Supreme Court now. Justice Anton Mussolini...uh, er...Scalia said this: "The Act has engendered a sense of racial entitlement." Entitlement? Did that bloated fascist Scalia actually say that blacks should not be entitled to vote? Where is the outcry against this racist? He should be immediately tarred and feathered and run off the bench. Or, better yet, lynching would be more appropriate, because that's what they did to African Americans who tried to exercise their right to vote before the Voting Rights Act was passed. The usual chorus of right-wing scoundrels are chiming in. George Will wonders if "Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act is still constitutional, given the disappearance of the conditions that once made it acceptable." Where has George been for the last five years? Has he not heard the Tea Party's palpably racist utterings against a President of color? Has he not noticed states trying to restrict black voters' access to the polls? Is he ignorant of the GOP's latest gerrymandering of districts to minimize the impact of African-American voters? Will writes, "...defenders of Section 5 merely shrug about the fact that race is no longer a barrier." And why is that, George? Because the Voting Rights Act works. I guess George would like us to stop administering flu shots because we have virtually eradicated the flu. Or maybe we should revert to using the wooden wheel again because rubber tires have just been too effective, and thus have outlived their usefulness. Scalia, the epitome of an activist judge who interprets the consitution according to his own narrow political agenda, may cast the deciding vote (just as he did in 2000 when he stole the election for George Bush). If he does, it means that once again the Judicial branch will have stuck its nose in a place--the free, legitimate, and democratic will of the people--where it does not belong. This is the latest in a series of attempts by the far right to steal elections because it can no longer win them fair and square. Even Congress, which is controlled by right wingers, voted 390-33 seven years ago to extend the Voting Rights Act. If the Supreme Court overturns the Voting Rights Act, Scalia should meet the same fate as his ideological cousin: hanged upside down in the public square, by those whose liberties and lives he tried to destroy.

History Proves That Conservatives Are Always Wrong

In the late 1950s, when African-Americans were fighting for and dying for their civil rights in America, conservative icon William F. Buckley wrote that blacks were inferior and thus not entitled to equal protection uder the law. This statement was, of course, ludicrous, and no conservative (except for the extreme right--Klansmen, neo-Nazis and the like) would lay claim to it today. History proved that conservatives were wrong. In fact, conservatism has been historically wrong about most things. Right-wingers were pro-slavery in the 19th century, anti-suffrage in the early 20th century, pro-Vietnam War in the 1960s, pro-Iraq War a decade ago. All stances were which later discredited. Liberals turned out to be right in every instance. I could mention higher tax rates on the wealty leading to prosperity (witness the Clinton era), climate change, etc., but you get the idea. The question is: Why? Why are conservatives always against progress, and always on the wrong side of the issue. Some say they are simply stupid, and there are experts who can back this up. Social psychologist Dr. Satoshi Kanazawa studied intelligence levels in young adults and found that those who described themselves as conservative had IQs which were 12-15 points lower than their liberal counterparts. It is fair to say, then, that right-wingers are intellectually less evolved. And like their neanderthal ancestors, care only about themselves and like individuals. It's a survival instinct that manifests itself in lower forms of species. For right-wingers, the needs of others are irrelevant. They care nothing for the greater good. Their myopic sensibilities extend to their own kind and no one else.

We see the effects across the sociocultural and political spectrum. Republicans, 99% white, are vehemently opposed to things which would benefit those not of their tribe, i.e., blacks, Latinos, Muslims, etc. Thus, reasonable policies that address the greater good--universal health care, affirmative action, civil liberties, social welfare programs, access to abortion, brotherhood, equal rights, world peace--have always and will always be despised by conservatives. But there is more at work here. Right-wingers feel inferior to those who are smarter, and, perhaps because of this, they are fearful and paranoid that others will take their things, do them harm, reign over them. Thus they are constantly on guard. They carry weapons as equalizers. They resist the advancement of any class, race, gender, or nationality other than their own. God knows they are already far enough behind in brainpower. I presented my theory to a social psychologist friend, with whom I have ongoing discussions about the causalities and consequences of the left/right gulf in America. To a large extent he agreed, but he also herded the argument into a fascinating realm. Right-wing males, he believes, harbor latent homoerotic tendencies for which they must overcompensate all their lives. To prove they are real men, they are pro-war, pro-guns, pro-suppression of women rights, and virulently anti-gay. In order to perform sexually they must subjugate women. They cannot have sexual relations with anyone they respect, because they respect and love only those of their own ilk…and this would make them blatantly gay. I thought about it, and I realized I know several white, conservative males who have professed “mancrushes” on certain pro athletes, who more easily have intimate relationships with other men than they do women, and whose phallic fixation and envy lead to anti-social, abusive, and violent behaviors. So the anwer to my original question (Why are conservatives a constant roadblock to progress, elightenment, social equality, and peace?) is invovled, yet simple--they are intellectually inferior, homoerotic/homophobic xenophobes whose self-preservation and greed undermine all hope for a fair and just society.

My Short Story To Be Published in Horror Anthology

If you like a good horror read, check out the new anthology, "The Speed of Dark," available next month on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Chase Enterprises Publishing, and other online outlets. My contribution is titled "Back To Lopez Island," a story about a man on trial for the murder of his wife. Robert Becken claims he is innocent, and the only evidence he has to back him up is a supernatural theory of the crime. For a preview, here is the link to the book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=wC0Rc5OpBaY

NRA Idiots Shooting Themselves Now

It was bound to happen. At a gun show recently some toothless nimrod with a loaded shotgun fired off a few rounds and struck some of his fellow hillbillies. Statististics tell us this sort of thing is inevitable whenever people gather in a place where guns and ammunition are stored. I am surprised it does not happen more often at these gun shows, where you'll find the most frightening, backwoods, survivalist-type, Ted Nugent yahoos imaginable. It is a scary place; you almost expect a massive firefight to break out over the slightest provocation: such as a liberal walking in, or a Muslim showing his face. Or maybe just a common disagreement. I have this fantasy movie which plays in my head, where one NRA moron at a gun show tells another NRA moron at a gun show to put out his cigarette or to stop having intercourse with the Confederate flag. I call it "Redneck Down." Hundreds of stupid gun nuts open fire on each other in a huge convention hall. And it just so happens that Wayne LaPierre, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, and a Congressional Republican delegation are in attendance. The shooting goes on for days (after all, there are endless supplies of weapons and ammo at these shows), and in the end only one Minuteman is left standing. Every other fascist gasbag has been blown away. The media jump all over the story. The public rises up in indignation. Strict gun legislation is enacted. In a delicious irony, the blowhards who scream the loudest about gun control are done in by their own violently paranoid delusions. I know, I know. It's too good to be true. But I can dream can't I?