The King’s Avatar

There was an episode of Community forever ago where the dean wailed that “TV is crazy good right now!” That was years ago, and if anything, television has gotten even better. Between the streaming service wars, tons of original content, and social media buzzing about the big show du jour, it’s kind of impossible to […]

Timeline Cleanse Digest (1/2/20)

Welcome to 2020! Today in Seattle is gray, cold, and rainy, so it feels like a good idea to sweep in with a timeline cleanse. Today’s cleanse was inspired by a particular song that shuffled through my playlist that made me want to wrap up in it like a well-loved blanket to wait out the […]

Cobalt City Looking Back, Looking Forward to 2020

What a long, strange decade it’s been! It wasn’t even 10 years ago I opened up the sandbox of Cobalt City to other authors with Cobalt City Christmas in November of 2010. In that time, I started Timid Pirate Publishing, put out some books, folded Timid Pirate Publishing, and then put out even more books. […]

My Brain–My Enemy

I’d like to state for the record: fucking brain. I’d also like to warn you that this post goes to some dark places. But these are dark times, my pretties, and I’m not the boss of you. In my 50 or so years on this little ball of mud, I’ve learned a couple of little […]

Timeline Cleanse Digest (12-13-19)

I don’t know about anyone else, but by all that’s merciful, I could really use a timeline cleanse today. With that in mind, here’s a high-potency injection of hope and joy in musical format to help you pick your way through the wreckage. Remember, folks: at the end of the day, all we’ve got is […]

Old Hipster Recommends: Chicano Soul

Hey, if you checked out Monday’s Timeline Cleanse, you might have seen this one coming. I blame YouTube. But I’d like to preface this meta-recommendation with the note of, “GodDAMN I’m happy that there are still bands out there making early vintage-sounding soul music.” I know y’all love it too. Sharon Jones, Charles Bradley, St. […]

Timeline Cleanse Digest (11-25-19)

Hey folks! After a few weeks off, I figured we could all use a timeline cleanse on deck, what with this being Thanksgiving week and all! By the time this posts, I’ll be on my way out to the midwest to see family for the holidays, so who knows–maybe I’ll need to revisit these videos […]

Old Hipster Recommends: The Ratchets

This old hipster loves punk music, though saying so is almost as ambiguous a statement as “I love music.” As musical genres go, there is a pretty broad range of sound, from the sub-musical thrash of the first Replacements album “Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash” (1981) to the almost folky alt-rock of […]

Timeline Cleanse Digest (11-4-19)

Welcome to your weekly timeline cleanse. It’s November so as usual, I’m writing another goddamned novel. That means a lot of what I’m listening to is the playlist I’ve built for the book along with associated music. The current work in progress is a road piece, so there’s a lot of roots, Americana, and road […]

Timeline Cleanse Digest (10-28-19)

Halloween is almost upon us! Time to add a touch of spoopy to your timeline! (And no, that is not a typo. When I say “spoopy” I mean “spoopy.”) Hope that the Halloween week finds you well, and if things look a bit too dark and bleak, because *waves hands at all of this* I […]