Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.
Follow to get new release updates and improved recommendations
About Bob Sanchez
Are you an author?
Help us improve our Author Pages by updating your bibliography and submitting a new or current image and biography.
Author Updates
-
-
Blog postMucko
By Bob Sanchez
Gilly’s gut cantilevers over his belt. Holds a coffee from Dunkin’ in one hand, couple of sugar-coated Boston Cremes in the other, powdered sugar dusts his reindeer sweater. Lid’s loose, and given what’s about to happen, Mucko figures there’ll be spillage in the IT department. No, spillage in the whole company.
“How they hangin’, Mucko?” Gilly’s daily greeting. “Place ought to be closed, day after Christmas, you think?”
“I expect it to close early,” M -
Blog postMemories
by Bob SanchezDenise and Ronald sat at their favorite table at The Golden Sunset, waiting in the dining room for lunch. Ronald had removed two chairs to discourage further company. Someone had been pounding out “Roll Out the Barrel” on the piano across the hall but stopped in the middle of the tune; a few minutes later, two EMTs carried the pianist away on a stretcher. More residents arrived in the dining room using canes and wheelchairs. The place smelled like meatloaf with a whi -
Blog postNonfiction
When the moon hits your eye
Infinity in the Palm of Your Hand:
Fifty Wonders That Reveal an Extraordinary Universe
214 pp. Diversion BooksBy Marcus Chown
Reviewed by Bob Sanchez
Originally published in the Internet Review of Books
The very fact of the universe’s existence poses a profound puzzle. Answers used to be as simple as Genesis, where God placed mankind at the center of everything, and the daily sunrises and sunsets made Earth’s centra -
Blog postNonfiction
Fourteen million times one
BLOODLANDS:
Europe between Hitler and Stalin
By Timothy Snyder
524 pp. Basic Books
Reviewed by Bob Sanchez
Originally published by the Internet Review of Books, 2011
There may have been no worse place on earth. Trapped between two hostile giants, about fourteen million innocents were murdered in the area that Yale History Professor Timothy Snyder labels the blo -
Blog postWe lived in Las Cruces, New Mexico for nine years, not far from the Mexican border. Go into many commercial establishments and you'll find people who speak both Spanish and English, sometimes switching back and forth between the languages in the same sentence. The kid at the McDonald's counter takes one look at you and knows to greet you in English, then greets the next customer in Spanish. Signs in storefronts read "Se habla español." Hungry folks who visit Delicias around noon
-
Blog postNot long ago, a TV ad for The Frankenstein Chronicles prompted me to download Mary Shelley's 1818 classic, Frankenstein, and read it on my iPad. We all know the story, or some version of it. Doctor Frankenstein builds a creature in his laboratory, and it turns out to be a monster that goes on killing rampages.
What an imagination Shelley had! Victor Frankenstein has an idyllic childhood in Switzerland--perfect parents, no misfortunes, and a lovely cousin and playmate named -
Blog postA real event with fictional details.
FATHERS IN WAITING
The man sat next to me in the maternity ward, looking like he’d rather be anywhere else in the world. He was burly, with calloused hands, oil-stained jeans, flannel shirt and a Patriots cap, and I pegged him for an auto mechanic interrupted in the middle of an oil change. After a while, he hailed a passing nurse.
He asked, “Why is my wife taking so long? She’s done this six times already.”
“The baby will be born when -
Blog postSix Million StampsBy Bob Sanchez
The stamp shows off its ochre engraving under the magnifying glass. Three black lines slash the Austrian prince: canceled, dead. In 1856, someone had paid a kreuzer for it—maybe for a wife’s letter to her husband, wishing him godspeed for safe return from war with the Prussians. Light sinks into the stamp’s surface, only a dull glory reflecting from it, harkening to dusty battalions of conscripts long since in their graves.
Did -
Blog postI've been thinking:Donald Trump has not improved with experience, nor does he intend to.Colin Kaepernick should kneel if he wants to.Freedom to stand for the National Anthem also means freedom not to stand for it, or it's not freedom.I've been told I'm useless, a liar, and a hypocrite only once this year.We are so lucky to have missed Hurricane Irma's worst.Jim Comey's statements hurt Hillary Clinton, but her private server hurt her more.I recently submitted my 200th book review to a f
-
Blog postSo Donald Trump is President-elect. For all the usual reasons, that is an election outcome I fervently hoped would not come to pass. During the campaign I didn't even want to mention his name, but I can't keep that up for four years.
Now protesters are exercising their right of free speech and assembly, but if their gatherings are mere expressions of hatred and bursts of vandalism, they will become isolated. Democrats should resist President Trump where he is wrong and support him w -
Blog postThis great story is an excerpt from Bill Crawford's Vietnam memoir, Just Like Sunday on the Farm: Crawdaddy Remembers the Nam and After. (Kindle version available soon.)
Tiger!By Spec. 4 Bill CrawfordInformation SpecialistFor the infantryman, a tour in the Republic of Vietnam means a year of mental and physical agony. The dangers and discomforts are real, but the devices of the human mind magnify the worst of them. Sometimes reality surpasses the horror that is manufactured by the human mi -
Blog postPhotographer and Vietnam veteran Bill “Crawdaddy ” Crawford presents an excerpt from his upcoming memoir Just Like Sunday on the Farm: Crawdaddy Remembers the Nam and After.
The 18 Minute Rule Throws Jimmy Pro for a Loop in Gotham CityBy Bill Crawford
Jimmy Pro hit the subway turnstile at full tilt. We stopped for an impromptu bathroom break on the way to Chelsea’s Milk Gallery. Draining your lizard is a priority at over 70, especially when you are jammed tightly -
Blog postThe other day I had the pleasure of Skyping with author, marine biologist, animal lover and nice person Lynne Hinkey. Today, July 1, Casperian Books publishes her new novel, The Un-familiar: A Tale of Cats and Gods. It's funny, well written, and likely to raise a hackle or two with climate-change deniers and religious fundamentalists.
Here's the gist: "There's a beast of a storm brewing over Puerto Rico, and only a god can stop it." But in this universe, a god's existence -
Blog postAgain, a little writing exercise, this one about a dream come true.
By the Light of the Silvery Moon
The cozy green bungalow was all she had ever wished for, with scalloped eaves, red and yellow tulips, and a tiny lawn, all bordered by a white picket fence. Oh, and there was a garden decoration showing the backside of a plump woman bent over and planting flowers—yes, she had wanted that too.
Wasn’t it lovely, then, that her dear father had left her a little something on -
Blog postHere's a writing exercise where the assignment was to present the point of view of an inanimate object such as a doll, a statue, or a mannequin.
MAN OF STEEL
Joe Stalin, mass
murderer extraordinaireHere I stand in the middle of the square, the Man of Steel cast in bronze. Cars drive by, and pedestrians walk near me without a flicker of the fear I once inspired. Once I ruled this godforsaken country—that’s only a figure of speech, of course. Even though I attended a seminary as -
Blog postMeet Bun Yom, author of the chilling memoir Tomorrow I’m Dead. The world must never forget the horrors the Khmer Rouge inflicted on the people of Cambodia, which is why his brief, gripping personal account is so important. The communist army drove everyone out of cities and villages and sent them into the countryside. Over a million souls were murdered for showing the smallest sign of education or wealth, often for no reason at all. Colored clothing was considered a sign of wealth, so all worker
-
Blog postThis is an exercise on the idea of taking a common phrase -- in this case, once upon a time -- and changing no more than three letters. Kudos to the Internet Writing Workshop's Practice group for offering this and other great writing topics.
Once upon a Crime
Payday!
There it was, a nickel bar of peanuts and caramel whispering my name. Psst! Hey Ricky, take me home. Mom stood ahead of me in the grocery line, and no one noticed as the Payday bar slipped into my pocket. -
Blog postGuilie and Benny, her
handsome rescue mutt.The Miracle
of Small ThingsToday, please meet Guilie Castillo Oriard, the unusually talented writer and author of The Miracle of Small Things, published this summer by Truth Serum Press. At 126 pages, it's a small gem about what's important in life, learning who we are, and realigning our values. Here is our chance to ask Guilie about the book, her writing, her blog tour, life in Curaçao, dog rescuing, her next project, music, cultur -
Blog postToday I am happy to host Allen Woods, a writer and historian who has written the novel The Sword & Scabbard: Thieves and Thugs and the Bloody Massacre in Boston. Apparently, many colonists were not as well behaved as our Founding Fathers! Please feel free to ask him questions and comments.
Crude vengeance, angry mobs
Author Allen WoodsOne of the reasons I find history so fascinating is that there is so much to learn compared to what many of us learned in school. As George Or -
Blog postThis is the result of an exercise that required using no modifiers. You can’t blame the Internet Writing Workshop for inciting this nonsense, though it is for one of their practice exercises.
READ ’EM AND WEEP
Jack Jackson wiped foam from his mustache, and he smiled the smile of a winner. Or a cheat. “Read ’em and weep, ladies,” he said as he slapped his cards one by one on the table, which shook with laughter that bounced off his gut. “Jack, Jack, Jack, and Jack. Don't I -
Blog postWe've had an avalanche of self-published and independent books in the last few years, and many of them -- most of them -- are far from being ready for the world to see. They are often poorly edited and come across as amateurish. That's too bad, because they obscure some quality works worthy of public attention. In the coming weeks I'll be posting about at least three of these, with stories that couldn't be more different from each other.
Bun Yom is a survivor of the Khmer Rouge gen -
Blog postA writing exercise on the theme Oh God, why me?
The Usual
First, Phil fell out of bed, the impact awakening him from a tumultuous nightmare involving sex and chainsaws. He lay on the floor like the woman on TV who has fallen and can’t get up, except that he had no button to push to call for help. The night before, his girlfriend Gail had boarded a flight to Tokyo to play house with a Sumo wrestler. So Phil remained prone and alone, with an egg growing just above his right temple. In -
Blog postA short writing exercise on the theme "Ultimatum"
Which one do you love more?
“You have thirty seconds to decide,” says the man behind me. “Which one do you love more?” In front of us sit my parents, strapped into chairs behind a plexiglas window. His tongue brushes my earlobe.
“Please don’t do this,” I beg.
“It’s up to you, Maria. Which one lives, which one dies? Pick one, or else they both die.”
Within my reach are two buttons. The left bu -
Blog postA short writing exercise on the theme of "message in a bottle," specifically communicating with your younger self
DAVEY DOES DARLENE
Davey and Darlene were making out in the back seat of his Dad’s Henry J, sucking each other’s tonsils at the drive-in. She was easy about everything from the waist up, but getting in her knickers was a no-no. “Oh baby,” he whispered in her ear, along with other romantic shit his big brother Mel told him made the girls go limp. What was about -
Blog postA short writing exercise on the theme of money as the motive
Slick Willie
Let me tell you I got this friend Willie, he was in for a thirty-year stretch but just got self-paroled. See, he puts this ladder up against the prison wall and whaddya know, the spotlight catches him. So he looks right up at the tower and waves, yelling “It’s okay!” and the dumb butts let him escape.
Long as I’ve known him, he’s robbed banks. “That’s where the money is,” that’s how a newspaper quoted him
