August 31st: A National Day of Remembrance
America, your veterans would like to make a proposal: Make August 31st a “National Day of Remembrance” for those who served in Afghanistan Why should America unfurl Old Glory on August 31st? Well, travel through time with me. I was an eyewitness to history at age seven. Dad was a newsman for over forty years. […]
The Fuck-It Bucket: Eddy vs. The Volcano
Eddy and I slip away to San Juliana on a tassel-strewn, shiny red jeepney to meet my girl and her friends. The platoon calls Eddy Torres “E.T.” Eddy prefers just “E” – he doesn’t share movie E.T.’s desire to go home. He loves every sin that the Philippines offers. He says he wants to be […]
In the Outside Land: Sons of the Desert Edition
Like I did, Trent spends much of his childhood racing around on his bike from one fascinating place to another. I also wondered if, like me, he was lulled to sleep by the roar of lions at the zoo, pounding ocean surf and the monotone of foghorns.
Those times can never be duplicated, unless you demolish hundreds of homes, cart away the ruins and convert the land into a massive playground. If there is a real “Sons of the Desert,” the men’s club parodied in Laurel and Hardy films, then I want to join. I was truly a son of the desert of sand dunes that once formed a checkerboard that ended at the Pacific.
The Bat Cave: A doxxing we will go
Who remembers watching the Batman TV series in the 60’s? Batman and Robin certainly knew how to model the humanitarian nature of bringing order to Gotham City. They were the quintessential beat officers armed with everything needed to de-escalate any deadly situation with Batman’s trusty utility belt. Their dialogue was priceless, with classic banter like […]
Three points of contact: Lessons from Warrior Week
Every mountain climber knows the “Three Points of Contact Rule”. Life balances on either two hands or one foot, or one hand and two feet to prevent falls. The rule is only broken when we reach our destination. I learned this in the Marines. I was with Special Operations Training Group where we climbed, day […]
Break out your map
I learned something very important about storytelling as a young cop. It wasn’t that I couldn’t tell a dramatic story, but I’d lose my audience at the second body in a multiple homicide scene. I discovered that the subject matter was just far too remote for a reasonable person to grasp. Before long I tried […]
Life is a Treasure Hunt: Seek, and you will Find
All who have discovered the Typhoon Coast, “Welcome.” Mark R. Clifford here, author of the Typhoon Coast series. There is something about a treasure hunt that captures every imagination! Maybe it is our love for adventure or our passion for solving puzzles. Perhaps it’s just the excitement of knowing that there is something out there […]
Twenty-six and I was wealthy beyond imagination
The Philippines is a nation of 7,641 islands and just as many spectacles. June 1991, I was a Marine stationed on Luzon, the chain’s largest island, where fate had ushered me to a front-row seat to an epic adventure. While enduring the fatigue of jungle patrol, I’d befriended a Filipino selling machetes. He’d disclosed to […]
A passport to immortality
A Foreword This is a story about a man who’d long been reported missing, the now-famous Trent McShane. My husband. The procurement of legends had become his passport to immortality. I have not seen Trent for many years, and, contrary to popular belief, he had no sin to be forgiven—due to a few passages I’d […]
The Bean Hollow Museum of Spectacle
A fleeting shadow in the corner of the kitchen caught Tony’s eye. Its beckoning gaze had brushed the back of his head. An icy tingle stiffened his neck. Someone was watching him and ten thousand goosebumps followed. In his anxiety to see everywhere at once he heard clearly the pulse in his ears give a […]