The Fictioneer

A blog about a writer’s fiction and truth, which are equally strange

Tio Rolando

admin | December 16, 2006

Cuban food is a hit in Johnstown, Pennsylvania! It looks like Tio Rolando’s, a little Cuban place in an out-of-the-way corner of Johnstown, has done well enough to move to a better location. Sometime in January, Tio Rolando’s will move to new digs on Central Park, which will be a superior location in every respect. [...]

Day One

admin | December 8, 2006

It’s Day One all over again! Recently, I started a blog on another site, only to realize I liked Blogger better…so here I am! I’m planning to move over my earlier posts from the other site to this one, so hang tight. Meanwhile, a few words of introduction: I’m a writer. My work has appeared [...]

Drivin’ Fools

admin | December 8, 2006

Today was one of those days when the fools all seem to decide to get on the road at once. This morning, on my way to work, I was stuck behind a Jeep SUV going no more than 20 miles an hour, and I couldn’t get around it. The driver kept looking over at his [...]

The Gym

admin | December 6, 2006

Well, I finally made it back to the gym for the first time since the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. It’s been rough getting back, since I still have lingering traces of the nasty cough that bodyslammed me Thanksgiving Day. I did okay today, though. I put in a half-hour on the elliptical machine, hitting it at [...]

About "Fear of Rain"

admin | December 5, 2006

It just occurred to me that maybe I ought to tell you a bit about my story in Postscripts 8. “Fear of Rain” is set in my hometown of Johnstown, Pennsylvania…the site of devastating floods in 1889, 1936, and 1977. In “Fear of Rain,” the mystically powered Mr. Flood initiates what will be the fourth [...]

Side-Standers

admin | December 4, 2006

Side-standers are one of my ongoing pet peeves. They’re the people who, instead of standing directly in back of you in a queue, are compelled to stand beside you. Worse yet are the angling side-standers…those who constantly shift position, working further and further forward, as if preparing to jump in front of you. I’m not [...]

Checkout Grabbers

admin | December 3, 2006

This evening, when my wife and I were in line at the Wal-Mart checkout, the woman ahead of us created a delay. My wife, Wendy, and I placed the items from our cart on the conveyor, and we proceeded to joke around while we waited. The woman behind us, however, grew impatient. She actually picked [...]

Rey Azteca

admin | December 2, 2006

Have you ever helped make a restaurant popular, only to have it become so popular that you have a hard time getting a table? That’s what’s happened to my wife and me. When the homestyle Mexican restaurant, Rey Azteca, opened in our hometown of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, we were regulars from Day One. It’s safe to [...]

Postscripts

admin | December 1, 2006

I hope you’ll check out my latest story! It appears in POSTSCRIPTS 8, a British science fiction and fantasy journal from a company called PS Publishing. The editors are Peter Crowther and Nick Gevers, whom you might know from the speculative fiction world. I know I’m biased, but I think they’re putting together an excellent [...]

Bug

admin | December 1, 2006

Sure wish I could kick this bug. It’s stuck me with severe chest congestion and a major cough since last Tuesday. Took a lot of the fun out of Thansgiving, that’s for sure. It’s definitely let up over the past few days, but it’s still giving me occasional fits. What we need is a magic [...]