Can’t Buy Me Love
Say you don’t need no diamond ring
And I’ll be satisfied
Tell me that you want the kind of things
That money just can’t buy
I don’t care too much for money
Money can’t buy me love
— The Beatles, Can’t Bu...
A Good Offense
Kind-hearted people might of course think there was some ingenious way to disarm or defeat the enemy without too much bloodshed, and might imagine this is the true goal of the art of war. Pleasant as it sounds, it is a fallacy that must be exposed: wa...
Three’s a Crowd
In politics, the tripod is the most unstable of all structures.
— Frank Herbert, Dune
Today, O Dearest of Long-Suffering and Put-Upon Readers, Your Temperate and Even-handed Critic of All Things Vampyromorphida was led by circuitous paths to an...
The Harrowing
“What’s in the box?”
“Pain.” He felt increased tingling in his hand, pressed his lips tightly together. How could this be a test? he wondered. The tingling became an itch.
The old woman said: “You’ve heard...
A Certain Moral Flexibility
Marty: “When I left, I joined the Army, and when I took the service exam, my psych profile fit a certain... ‘moral flexibility’ would be the only way to describe it. I was loaned out to a CIA-sponsored program, and we sort of found ...
All’s Fair…
“Musashi!”
No answer.
“Musashi!”
The sea rumbled ominously in the distance; the tide lapped and murmured at the two men’s feet.
“You’re late again, aren’t you? Is that your strategy? As far as I&rsq...
The Root of Some Evil
“It has always seemed strange to me,” said Doc. “The things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness,...
In the Nation’s Service
“They all have husbands and wives and children and houses and dogs, and—you know—they’ve all made themselves a part of something, and they can talk about what they do. What am I gonna say? ‘I killed the President of Para...
Miss Lonely Hearts
From time to time, O Dearly Beloved, your Faithful Correspondent receives a letter in the electronic mailbag which he decides is worthy of more general airing in these pages than a simple direct reply.Today’s specimen wends its way to the Volcano...
Miss Lonely Hearts
From time to time, O Dearly Beloved, your Faithful Correspondent receives a letter in the electronic mailbag which he decides is worthy of more general airing in these pages than a simple direct reply.Today’s specimen wends its way to the Volcano...
