drinkdrankdrunk: "I Met Carl Robinson" by Pat Simonelli

Remember when you were a kid getting a substitute teacher?  It was exciting, wasn't it?  The school year is looong, and it becomes boring so, even if you like the teacher, a change is sometimes a good thing.  Variety is--how's that saying go?

I went to the Medusa bar in Philadelphia.  This was in 2005.  OK, make me date myself.  Wouldn't be the first time!

Carl came in and went to the front of the room.  I guess that was the teacher in him taking hold.  Me, live I've always been a back of the room type of person.

You know the type that is a funny talker?  Well they're always on.  I'm a funny type of writer.  I can turn it off and be a real prick if I should ever want to.  Carl is funny both so what does that make him?  For one, uh, funny, I guess.

He and Wred Fright had driven from Ohio to come to this Jack Saunders reading.  Carl's jokes were an added bonus.

Carl was amusing himself "heckling" Jack throwing out random phrases that came into his mind.  He was amusing me too, and it was a good underground tribute to Jack, a writer who deserved to be recognized.

Bloodreal, Robinson's 2010 book that should not be a oneoff.  It's too good.  Talent is not a thing to waste.  A writer can create a world, but can he create a book sale?  No, that's not the writer's job.  It's the job of admen and promoters and others who pick up the slack to bring justice to an overlooked book and writer who no doubt has more to share.

Wait a minute, what year is this, oh, yeah, 2026.  I don't mean to short change Carl.  I plan to review his aforementioned book so look out for that!

Pat Simonelli is a writer for Literary Vision Press.  Temp address as of October 2026 = 128 Osborne St., #403, Danbury CT 06810 USA.  We are happy to get the former Webmaster of The Underground Literary Alliance back online!

Fall 2026 Hoof & Antler!

  

I have an article in the new Hoof & Antler.  For this issue, I got assigned to write about Amish fiction, an interesting if odd literary genre.  The editor for space and other editorial reasons had to leave out a couple of sections, so I'll throw them in here because they were a bit insightful (maybe someday, I'll do a "director's cut" of all my freelance articles, but don't hold your proverbial breath).  At the beginning, I discussed how genres rise and fall:  "A collector was getting older and wanted to sell his collection of Western paperbacks.  He asked a book dealer about buying them and was told no because everyone who cared about Westerns was either dead or trying to sell their collections also.   Not quite the truth, as Westerns still get written and read, but literary genres do rise and fall in popularity, and Westerns are certainly not as ubiquitous as they once were, especially when compared with mysteries, science-fiction, and romance fiction.  One of the more unexpected literary genres to develop in recent decades is Amish fiction."

There was also a section on how ereaders affected genres which I think explains why some genres such as erotica grew in popularity in the early years of the century:  "Just as erotica grew in popularity in the first 21st Century with the advent of electronic books so no cover of a print book would give you away to let anyone know you were reading spicy stuff on the subway, perhaps the same phenomenon benefited Amish fiction, another genre some readers might be embarrassed to be caught reading.  For instance, a tough guy could read Davey's Daughter and no one would make fun of him because he just had to find out if Sarah would really leave her family and the Amish community to be with Matthew since no one would know about his Amish fiction addiction.  His manhood was safe.  He could always quickly switch over to that autobiography of George "The Animal" Steele on the Kindle if anyone got too nosy." 

I also quote Mellencamp and the quote got kept, but it's not obvious it's a quote, "in the words of the immortal Indiana poet Johnny Cougar, 'when holding hands meant so much, baby.'"  Don't want anyone to think I'm plagiarizing 1980s pop rock songs, so I'll note that here.

If you live in Ohio near a Mickey Mart, check it out.  The newspaper is very cool, and it is free, though Mickey The Moose hopes you'll buy some gas or coffee or something when you stop in to get it.

If you want to read something else by me, then get my new novel, The Front Yard War!

drinkdrankdrunk: "I Met Red Green" by Pat Simonelli

  

Our next star was huge in Canuckistan.  And don't worry, eh, he was actually very funny.  I met Red Green when I was living in Georgetown, Illinois--went and bought his book in Champaign.  The bookseller was nice.  She seemed happy that a star like Green would come to a book signing in her store which is why I was there.

I was a fan of his show before I used to watch it online if not on tv which I didn't have.  He was so funny, the type of guy who makes you laugh just looking at him, and I mean that in a positive way, not an insult kind of way.  His name is even funny, the stop and go contrast.

There also was a nerdy guy on his show who used to crack me up.  Canadian humor was a big thing, chalk it up with moose hunting or whatever they do there.

Green was an old raspy voiced guy.  I thought the rasp was part of his act, but no, apparently it was the real thing.

On the day in question I got there well ahead of the expected hour for the author to arrive, so I browsed around the bookstore like the nerd that I am.  I've since lost the book many moves ago, and I can't remember what it was called, but that's why we have the Internet.

I do recall that the book was printed on cheap paper.  I guess they don't have enough trees in Canada!

Paper aside, it's something I would have kept as the man I consider a comic genius signed it to me.  I also would have taken a photo with him if meeting him wasn't stress enough.  Coulda woulda shoulda.

Finally, he came and signed it to me.  I admitted I was a big fan of his show and watched it all the time . . . weekly, I think.

Afterwards I got on the highway and kept on living my life in Georgetown.  But that's the time I met him, and I'm glad I did.

I've had to put up with that Tool Time, uh, tool on my primetime tv, but Green was actually funny!

Pat Simonelli is a writer for Literary Vision Press.  Temp address as of September 2026 = 128 Osborne St., #403, Danbury CT 06810 USA.  We are happy to get the former Webmaster of The Underground Literary Alliance back online!

Ohio Gubernatorial Race Update

Hooray!  Nothing like a governor's race for a good time, eh?  Well, we're past the primaries in Ohio and nothing surprising happened.  For the Democrats, it'll be Amy Acton.  For the Republicans, it'll be Vivek Ramaswamy.  For the Libertarians, it'll be Don Kissick.  There's also a write-in independent candidate, Tim Grady.  With luck, the winner will end the practice of wasting taxpayer money to make metal signs and pay DOT workers to hang up the signs on the welcome to Ohio highway signs (if you need to catch up on this saga to end some political vanity, then please click here).

During the primaries I reached out to all the candidates to see where they stood on this small but easy issue to fix and heard crickets.  Fortunately, I have better news to report now that we're in the general election period, but first, let's wrap up the primaries.  Neither the Democratic or Libertarian primaries were competitive (though the Libertarian one had a write-in challenger), which lets you know that our democracy is not terribly healthy.  Politics is so toxic currently that it must be hard to get someone to run for elected office.  Maybe the ones that still do are just crazy, which might explain a lot about our society.  Anyway, the Republican primary was technically competitive, but Ramaswamy won handily.  Heather Hill was disqualified when she engaged in a public fight with her lieutenant governor running mate and he quit (one needs two willing candidates to form a ticket).  Undeterred, she's back as a write-in candidate with a new running mate, running I guess as an independent this time.  Casey Putsch, the opposing candidate who stayed on the ballot, also had his share of controversy, and seems to be sitting out the general election, though his website was still active until recently, so perhaps he was thinking 2030 before he pulled the plug.

For the general election, I followed up with the candidates to get the issue on their proverbial radar screens.  I heard back from two of them.  Hill thinks it's a "huge cost for the state" and she's going to look into it since "we need to save money wherever we can."  The Kissick campaign was even more enthusiastic about the idea with campaign manager Steve Perkins telling me that the names on the highway signs "kind of irks us as well."  As a result, I ordered a Kissick/Mills yard sign (you can see it in the picture still shrinkwrapped as it first arrived).  Unfortunately, the candidates who got back to me have the proverbial uphill battle, but at least the idea is kicking around and maybe someday we'll get rid of the silly waste of money political vanity of sticking governors' names (and mayors' as well) off welcome road signs.

As for the governor's race, this year the Democrats actually have a chance due to Trump's unpopularity.  Unfortunately, they maybe picked the one candidate who, in a year when almost any generic Democrat could win, might be so distasteful (basically, Ohio's Fauci) that the Republicans might continue their one-party rule in the state.  We'll see.  So far, the Republicans seem to think they're still running in a Republican primary and trying to smear Acton as a communist when they're not portraying her as a drunk and thinking that'll be effective.  Attacking her as Ohio's Fauci and playing up her nanny state tendencies is probably the smarter strategy, but Ohio Republicans have never exactly been smart.  The Democratic strategy of attacking Ramaswamy as a clueless billionaire is clever and might actually work even with Acton as the candidate.  Regardless of who wins, Ohio will have a different type of governor, either a woman or a guy with dark skin, so it will be interesting.  I just hope whoever wins takes down the current overlay signs and doesn't put up new ones, but that's a lot to hope for.

If you want to help and you live in Ohio, then please write your state representative or state senator (or both!) and ask to legislatively end this practice.  It's a small matter, but that's why it should be easy to fix.  Ask them to stuff it in the next "chicken bill" at the end of this legislative session.

If you find politics all too disgusting, then you might enjoy Fast Guy Slows Down, where the main character enjoys pooping on world leaders, which admittedly is kind of disgusting as well, but at least it's a change from them figuratively pooping on you as usual.

Come Hang Out In A Bookstore With Me!

  

OK, maybe we'd have more fun in a bar since we could imbibe alcohol, but I'm not scheduled to be in a bar anytime soon.  I am scheduled to be at Roxy's Emporium in Elyria, Ohio USA on Wednesday, September 16th from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.  Roxy's is located at 374 Broad Street, and to celebrate the shop anniversary, the proprietor, Deb, has lined up a number of local writers to hang out at the shop all week.  I'll try to bring some freebie stuff and, of course, Roxy's has my novels for sale and I will be happy to sign copies if you buy them.  Their Facebook page seems to be more updated than their website if you need more deets, though so far I don't see a schedule of the other writers.  Maybe I am the only one showing up?  Oh, well, I'll be there if I don't get hit by a bread delivery truck or something on the way.

If you can't make it to Roxy's, then order a novel online.  You can read about them using the links on the Wred Fright Library. 

New Single: These Times Will Pass

wredfright · These Times Will Pass

Bad times aren't anything new, but if you survive them, they pass and before you know it you're in The Good Tymes Pub having a beer and listening to a song such as this one.  It's just me on vocals, guitar, drums, and keyboard here if I remember correctly.  Lyrics are below:

I see you're having a rough day.
Making it worse will not pay.
You want the bad times to go away.
Bring the good times here to stay.

These times will pass.

So here's what we're going to do.
We're going to have fun, me and you.
We just wait for the old to be new.
The storm won't always spoil the view.

And the crows go caw-caw,
and they ain't saying what they saw.
And the cat's licking her paw
'cause they all know the natural law.

If you want to listen to more Wred Fright music, then please give my latest album a listen or download at your favorite digital music site such as Soundcloud, Spotify, or Bandcamp!

New Single!: Muzyakyakyak

wredfright · Muzyakyakyak

My kiddo showed me a music website he'd been using at school.  It's called Chrome Music Lab, and it's one of the coolest things Google has done.  I had some fun playing around with it, especially the Songmaker aspect.  If you like music, then I think you'll have some fun playing with it as well.  I hope Google leaves it up.  In any case, here's a track I made using the melodies of some songs I've written.

In other music news, my old ULA pal Joe Smith has a new music blog, and he was nice enough to review Old New Battered Blue, my latest album on it.  It took six albums, but I finally got a review.  Woo-hoo!  Thanks to Joe!  In the old days, one just had to give a copy of an album to a local newspaper, and you'd get a review.  It might not be one you liked, but it was a review.  These days, like book reviews, they're hard to come by, but they still remain a great way to let people know about new music, and books! 

If you want to listen to more Wred Fright music, then please give my latest album a listen or download at your favorite digital music site such as Soundcloud, Spotify, or Bandcamp! 

drinkdrankdrunk: "Hustlers" by Pat Simonelli

  

I met Bud Harrelson.  If you're not aware he was an early New York Mets player--shortstop I think--most famous for his "fight" with hit king Pete Rose.  This "fight" consisted of him getting slammed to the ground by Rose--probably around six feet tall while Bud was around five and a half.

One day in 1993 they had a sports show at the Dansbury (CT) Fair Mall--a trading card show probably and the A roll star was some Pittsburgh star I had heard of but I was too shy to go up to the table and meet him.  I was a kid then in case you were wondering.

Finally they had the B roll stars up at the autograph table.  I got up my courage and went up to meet him, Bud Harrelson.  At the time I'd never heard of the guy.  He was very nice.  He asked for my name and signed a lithograph to me with Let's go Mets!  I didn't tell him I was a Boston fan!  But the Mets were my second favorite team, of course I liked them better than the Yankees.

Rose was a top hitter nicknamed Charlie Hustle by the hardnosed way he played the game.  As a Reds coach in the 80s and 90s he was banned from the game for charges he bet on baseball.

3000 hits is the golden mark for a hitter.  Well Rose had over 4000 hits, truly amazing.  In the 1990s he was still a controversial figure in Cooperstown New York home of the baseball hall of fame which he was kept out of.

Rose made a living despite being banned from baseball but he had to hustle for it, charging money for autograph meet and greets.  Just like non-banned players do.

In the mid 1990s Rose was a willing autograph signer to kids like me, signing cards and mailing them back or having someone else do it.  The cards reeked of cigarette smoke that had been in Rose's possession for some time.

If I was a professional baseball player I'd like to be someone like Bud Harrelson--a cool Mets non-star.  Both guys are since long dead but I have to wonder if Rose is still banned from baseball or is he enshrined like he should be?

I wonder what Harrelson said to Rose to make him so mad?  My guess is it was just an annoyance to him like I'm a big star, you're rank and file, how dare you talk to me!  This scenario makes Harrelson a pest and makes me like him even more!

Pat Simonelli is a writer for Literary Vision Press.  Temp address as of August 2026 = 128 Osborne St., #403, Danbury CT 06810 USA.  We are happy to get the former Webmaster of The Underground Literary Alliance back online!

Physical Graffiti And Me

  

The universe works in strange ways.  Decades ago, I became the owner of some abandoned beat-up albums.  They still played, so I was happy enough.  Among them were some albums by Led Zeppelin.  Living near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA at the time, Zep was shoved down everyone's throat by the local radio stations ("Get the Led out on WDVE!"), and I wasn't a fan.  Still, my pal DeeDee liked them, so I figured I'd give them a listen.  The first album was the best.  Stuff like "Communication Breakdown" sounded like punk rock a few years early.  In any case, Zep won me over.  The early albums were the best.  Some of the later ones were boring.  The songs were too long, and none too good to begin with.  One of those records was Physical Graffiti.  In my case, the album I got only had the second record of a two-record set.  The album was one of their most popular but not one of my favorites, I figured maybe because I didn't have the first record.  Anyhoo, years later, I had too many records, so I shed some.  Graffiti was one of them.  I don't recall what happened to it.  It might have been sold at a garage sale with the warning it was missing a record.  Maybe I gave it away to somebody.  I doubt I threw it in the trash because the album sleeves were awesome.  You could arrange them in different ways, so different images appeared in the tenement windows (the cd version is nowhere near as much fun).

In any case, years pass, and I'm at the public library.  The friends of the library have a little bookshop and always stick a little cart out with rejects of stuff they think they can't sell but apparently don't have the heart to just chuck, so they leave it out for anyone who wants it.  In any case, I'm looking at this cart, and I spot Physical Graffiti on cd.  I know I don't have that album, so I take it, apparently having forgotten I used to own half of it.  I take it home and find out the reason it was on the free cart, which I did think was odd that even the seventysomethings who staff the bookshop wouldn't know Led Zep, was that it was missing a disc.

Which disc?  The second one.  So decades later I finally got to hear the first half of the album, which is better than the second half but still not too good ("Kashmir" which I already had on MP3 is on it and the highlight of either record in the set).  So it took decades and it was out of order, but I finally did get to hear all of Physical Graffiti (I also later listened to it all in order on Spotify, which didn't change my opinion of it).

It's just strange that I got two free copies of the same mutilated Led Zep double album in my life and between the two I got the whole album.  I didn't keep the cd one.  I kept the case for when one of my double cd cases break.  The booklet, liner tray, and disc went in an envelope, which I'm currently looking for a good home for.  If you have a copy of Physical Graffiti that's missing the first disc, get in touch.  I might be able to help you out.

If you want to listen to music made since 1975, then please give my latest album a listen or download at your favorite digital music site such as Soundcloud, Spotify, or Bandcamp!

If Resumes Were Truthful . . .

This is another refugee from Frighty #5.  It's a silly thing about how resumes often spin the truth for job candidates, just like job ads spin the truth for companies.

Job Applicant

Why do we still put addresses on resumes?

It's not like you're going to mail me anything!

719-266-2837 * myemailaddressIonlyuseforjobapplicationssoIdonotgetspamfromyouon myrealemailaccount@gmail.com

CAREER SUMMARY

Unfortunately, not being born independently wealthy, I've had to have a series of shitty jobs which have left me skilled in bullshitting, pretending to work, making fun of my incompetent bosses, waiting for private equity to buy the company so they can run into the ground and lay me off before selling it to an even worse private equity, drinking free company coffee no matter how awful, and pretending to give a shit about the slack motherfuckers I inevitably have as coworkers. I look forward to another horrendous and humiliating experience at your company.

EXPERIENCE

Drug Dealer, Self-Employed: Cleveland, Ohio, 2002-2025.

*Sold the best dope in the tri-state area.

*Never got arrested.

Reason For Leaving:  Fuck you, anyone who voted for legal marijuana!

Pre-Arrangement Advisor, Some Awful Cremation Company Named After A Mythological God: Some awful little strip mall in Parma next to the nail salon, I think I lasted a month in 2023.

*Put up with the boss's stupid ideas.

*Tolerated the British bitch that pretended to be the receptionist.

*Sold overpriced cremation plans.

*Laughed when the funeral director quit a week after I started.

*Endured the failed preacher who didn't know anything about sales but somehow was the regional manager.

Reason For Leaving:  It was commission only and they had me calling people who died a decade earlier for leads.

Corporate Jobs I've Successfully Repressed In My Subconscious, Various: Ohio, 2002-2022.

*I don't even remember my bosses' names so if you ask me to list some contact info for references I'm just going to Google stuff randomly and make shit up.

Reason For Leaving:  Typically because I hit my breaking point but sometimes for more money.

If you want to read more workplace funnies, then please read my novel Edna's Employment Agency.

Geese On The Roof

  

Click on the image to make it bigger.  This is a little comic strip I drew for Frighty #5.  Yes, I was thinking of doing a fifth issue of Frighty and still might.  This issue would be all solo, so I wouldn't have to worry about disappointing any contributors if it never came out.  But all my freetime seemed to disappear with the spring, maybe because of gardening (only so many hours in a day), so the pieces I wrote, though not exactly timely, such as the article of the missing church peace pole, might be better off being run on the blog, before they seem retro.  So here's another one.  There are probably a couple of more coming up in subsequent posts.

You can still print out the first four issues of Frighty (check the Library page for download links), and if you still need something to read, then read The Front Yard War or one of my other novels!      

Peace Poles

At the church up the street, the peace pole ended up on the ground before vanishing entirely.  For those who don't know what a peace pole is, it is a pole that has the message "May Peace Prevail On Earth" in different languages.  One side might have English, another Russian, another Japanese, and so on.  The poles started in Japan, which is quite appropriate, since poor Japan is the only country to ever be nuked during wartime.  The idea caught on and even spread to the nuker country, which is us, the USA (yep, we're the only country to ever have attacked someone with a nuke--let's hope it remains that way and by remains that way, I mean 1945 should be the last and only time that someone gets nuked).  By the 1980s, peace poles were spreading across America, primarily in response to Reagan's saber-rattling as The Cold War wound down (there are those who will argue that Reagan's antics caused The Cold War to end, but it's more likely he prolonged it a bit since even by the 1970s the Soviet totalitarian system was breaking down, but we ignored those signs since that didn't fit the whole wartime planned obsolescence idea our economy was based on--and still is).  I remember the poles being controversial which tells you what a weird society we live in.  Some factory in Mentor, Ohio (and probably in every other Congressional district area) can be cranking out bombs and crap to blow people up with, and that's hunky-dory, but some church folks or other peaceniks stick up a piece of wood with a peace slogan on it and people get upset.  Despite the controversy, the poles spread across the country.  After The Cold War ended, the poles stuck around but seemed to not attract as much attention, which brings us to our photo above.  The pole had been on the ground for a few weeks at the time of the picture.  I'm not sure if it just fell over or it was taken down in solidarity with or protest to Trump doing insane shit such as kidnapping a world leader and launching missiles randomly or whatever the fuck he thinks he's doing in Iran (what he is doing is wasting a lot of our money and probably blowing up some nice folks along with the nasty folks he says he's attacking).  Some liberal churches exist in America but the majority of Christianity probably skews politically conservative to the extent that you could swap out Jesus for Zeus and most of them wouldn't notice.  This one's a Methodist church, and apparently a lot of right wing Methodists have left the mainstream church in recent years to form their own holy roller conservative versions (mainly, they seem to be mad that the mother church was accepting gay clergy).  So my guess is that this church didn't take down the peace pole to support Trump.  More likely, it just fell down.  I suppose I could ask them but I wouldn't want to hurt their feelings when I rebuff their invitations to stop by for a worship service.  They do seem like a nice church in that they have food pantries and whatnot, but still I tend to avoid adults with imaginary friends and that's ultimately what the superstitiousness of religion boils down to.  Actually, strike that, as a novelist, I probably have imaginary friends, but I avoid large groups of people who are organized around their imaginary friends.  Hmm . . . might have to strike that as well.  I do attend the occasional comic book convention, and that is a large group of people organized around imaginary friends.

Anyhow, back to the peace pole . . . it's still on the ground or was before it disappeared entirely.  Even before it was on the ground, it was basically obscured by the bushes you can see above it in the photo.  If one has a peace pole, one should really have it displayed, and this one was pretty covered up.  I don't know why it was just on the ground for weeks instead of being disposed of quickly.  It would take me about a half-hour to dig a hole, throw it in the hole, fill in the hole, and have it be back in business.  I was tempted to just go do it one night, but they have a nice garden, and I suspect I'd have probably put it somewhere that would irritate the gardener, plus it may be nice but it's probably not legal to go around fixing people's peace poles.  Maybe they ordered a new one (they cost about $275 or so, though I suppose you could make your own more cheaply), and they're waiting for it to arrive, but it's been months now and, as far as I can tell, no new peace pole has emerged to replace the old one.

Regardless, it's kind of a bummer to see that peace pole just on the ground or, at the time of this writing, vanished entirely, but it is fitting for the time of this writing, with Trump bombing Iran.  Of course, it's times like these when people do need to be reminded that peace is better than war.  It's cheaper as well (Trump's asking for another zillion dollars or whatever for his war currently).  I suppose if I get some free time, I ought to call the church and ask them if they still have the peace pole.  If they don't want it, then maybe I'll just stick it in my front yard.

For more reading on war and things people stick in their lawns, please read The Front Yard War.

drinkdrankdrunk: "I Met Brian Fugett" by Pat Simonelli

I met Brian Fugett.  I didn't know him but I met him.  We can start off this story in 2004 when I started my e-zine Literary Vision.  Back then I started at Yahoo.Com, paid the 30 bucks or whatever, and boom!  I was in business!

Now I had never run a website before so I learned as I went.  Some Brit-based site led me to my co-editors Zeke Iddon (fiction) and Kelly Hallam (poetry).  I was the one to blame for non-fiction.

Fugett and I were both living in Northern California.  He was in San Francisco and I was in Sacramento.  His lit mag was called Zygote in My Coffee and was the hottest thing running.  Brian was a cartoonist.

I remember the poets flocking to get a poem in Zygote.  It struck me as annoying at first, then I thought--why wouldn't they?  They want to have their art shared with the same scene that I'm in.  So with age came respect.

I was a huge fan of one of Fugett's cartoons Danny's Big Banana.  A hilarious action figure sketch.  It still makes me laugh today, just thinking about Fugett taking the time to set up those shots!

One time he gave me the chance to write a Danny.  2005, if you're taking notes.  I don't have Internet this second but it's gotta be out there somewhere.

At the Collingwood Arts Center Toledo, Ohio--

Mike Grover was the inside guy at Collingwood.  He helped set up a big reading there.  It was a joint Zygote Red Fez reading.  I met Fugett there.  He waved hello in one of the ancient hallways.  He was--I think--shooting a film.

Leopold McGinnis was there--someday I will learn to spell that cat's name right.  I recently did that with Fugett--after the poor guy was already dead!  Tim Murray was there of Red Fez radio fame.  The lovely Michele McDannold attended as did the non-lovely Paul Corman Roberts.  Wred Fright was there.  JD Nelson came, Frankie Metro and his girl.  So many underground stars!

We had another fun reading in Danville, Illinois, home to Dick Van Dyke and Gene Hackman--I used to deliver newspapers to his kin!  It was outside at Kennekuk State Park.  Fugett read his "This is the damn poem".  It was another lifetime ago and I'm brain injured!  So I have an excuse!

Now that I'm "retired" and have been put out to pasture by the man, I miss my friend.  Yeah I call him that.  His spirit brings me closer to fellow travelers that might've known him better than just met him.

Read his Brian Fugett Poems book, he's alive in that.  Citizens For Decent Literature Press, ISBN 9798999707802 Edited by Aleathia Drehmer and Michele McDannold.

Pat Simonelli is a writer for Literary Vision Press.  Temp address as of May 2026 = 128 Osborne St., #403, Danbury CT 06810 USA.  We are happy to get the former Webmaster of The Underground Literary Alliance back online!

New Hoof & Antler!

The new Hoof & Antler is out.  In this issue of the Mickey Mart newspaper, I wrote an article about QR code scams.   It is an interesting topic, and I could have written more, but there's only so much space available.  One interesting fact that I didn't have time to get into was that the QR code invention was a two-man affair, but one of the pair seems to get a lot more credit, perhaps because the other one left the company where they worked.  Another interesting tidbit that didn't make the cut was that sometimes people get a little too paranoid about QR code scams.  One fellow got a surprise Christmas gift and thought it was a scam, even roping the local tv news into doing a story (not a surprise that tv news couldn't figure out the guy was likely wrong as tv news is usually pretty dumb).  As far as I can tell, no retraction of the story or admission of stupidity was ever released.  They probably just hoped the matter would go away with the passage of time (I hope the guy isn't dumb enough to still think his present was a scam).  Check out what did make the cut and read other fun stuff by stopping by a Mickey Mart.  It's free, though Mickey The Moose probably hopes you buy some gasoline or a cup of coffee or something.

If you want to read something else by me, then get my new novel, The Front Yard War!

New Pop Lit Book Review

  

King Karl Wenclas is revving up the review section of New Pop Lit, so I agreed to write a review for it.  It's hard for independent, underground, and self-published writers to get reviews these days, so any effort to help is great.  Unfortunately, all the indie writers were too lazy to send NPL a book (alas, many are flakes), I guess, but corporate lit swooped in and supplied me with a book, which unfortunately was, like most of the corporate books I see in the public library, not too interesting.  I much prefer to share enthusiasm, but in this case I had none, but a deal is a deal, so I wrote the review and gave my honest opinion.  You can read the review here:  https://newpoplitextra.com/2026/06/05/wheres-chthulu-when-we-need-him/ 

I have seen the book I reviewed at the public library and Barnes And Noble.  It also seems to be selling on eBay and Amazon, which is good for the author, but probably not too good for American literature.  There's much better stuff out there.  I hope the revved up review section helps to point folks to it.  So far, it looks like I'm the only one who's actually turned in a review (it also looks like I blew past the desired word limit and that was after I chopped the dang review in half--apparently, I had a lot to say), but I hope other contributors to NPL soon join in.  If you're an indie author, please get in touch with them to send a copy of your book.  I told the King I'll review a book a year, so I hope to review a book more to my liking next time.

If you want a book more to your liking, then perhaps one of mine will do.  My latest novel is The Front Yard War.      

Wred Fright Novels Available At Roxy's Emporium

On the blog, the past couple of months have been devoted to the new album:  Old New Battered Blue (give it a listen if you haven't already; it's available pretty much wherever you can find digital music), but that doesn't mean there hasn't been other stuff going on, so I'm catching up on things now and the next couple of posts.  One fun thing was stocking my novels at Roxy's Emporium in Elyria, Ohio USA.  My old pals Ken and Suz let Deb, the proprietor, know that she needed to add an author to her cool local writers section:  me!  So I brought over some books.  Ken filmed a funny video they put up at the Roxy's Facebook page.  It is here, though they seem to have missed the "W" in "Wred" (Oh, well, it's silent anyway):  https://www.facebook.com/reel/1669968207532659 

There aren't too many places one can walk in and buy my books.  Mac's Backs in Cleveland Heights, Ohio USA has a few.  At one point, Skylight Books in Los Angeles, California USA had some copies of The Pornographic Flabbergasted Emus.  Mainly, I sell my books by mail order/online, but it's nice to be able to walk into a bookstore and find some indie literature, so thanks to Roxy's for stocking my novels!

They were on the bottom shelf the day I dropped them off because Deb was planning on reorganizing the local writers section, so I hope no one spilled coffee on them or no kids get to them (they're for mature readers generally).  It's a really nice local writers section.  When I get out there again, I already know one novel I'll be picking up.  The little mall the bookstore is in also has some other cool shops including Voodoo Zombie Video, a fun horror movie store run by Ken and Suz, and a waffle place that looked fun but was still getting set to open the day I was there.

Check out my latest novel, The Front Yard War, which you can now find at Roxy's!  

Old New Battered Blue Out On Spotify

The new album is out on Spotify, so presumably the distributor now has it just about everywhere digital music is available.  There's a zillion musicians out there releasing zillions of songs, but check it out if you like Modest Mouse, The Fall, Wire, Sonic Youth, The Sex Pistols, Flipper, Butthole Surfers, Mirrors, The Damned, Social Distortion, and the other artists Spotify must think I sound like based on their fun Wred Fright Radio.

For more Wred Fright music, give his latest album a listen or download at your favorite digital music site such as Soundcloud, Spotify, or Bandcamp!  

Old New Battered Blue On Bandcamp!

 

The new album's out on Bandcamp now also.  This one has my secret mastering trick on it (I burn a cd, normalize volume, then rip the tracks from the cd--boy, how fancy!), so it sounds a little less intense than the original recordings on Soundcloud.  Now you have your pick of audio!  The embedded album starts with "the single", but just use the arrows to go back to the beginning or forward to a later track.  It looks like the album's on Spotify now also, but I haven't listened to it yet to make sure it sounds all right.  The next post will probably deal with that.

 

For more Wred Fright music, give his other albums a listen or download at your favorite digital music site such as Soundcloud, Spotify, or Bandcamp!   

Old New Battered Blue Out On Soundcloud

wredfright · Old New Borrowed Blue

The new album's out on Soundcloud!:  https://soundcloud.com/wredfright/sets/old-new-borrowed-blue.  It should be on Spotify soon if it isn't already.  By the next post, it'll probably be up on Bandcamp.

For more Wred Fright music, give his other albums a listen or download at your favorite digital music site such as Soundcloud, Spotify, or Bandcamp! 

Music Video For A Song From The Old New Battered Blue Album

 

I chose "Terri Cockring" as the song from Old New Battered Blue to make a music video of because I like the song and thought it would work well with the visual concept of making funny faces while brushing teeth.  It came out pretty well, though I had to brush my teeth twice because the first take was shot at too low an angle (this is what happens when you are your own camera operator).  Since there are no hot chicks in the band (where's Bananarama when I need them?  Probably in England) since the band is me, I had to star in the video myself.  Enjoy and remember to floss!  The album should actually be out in the next post, starting with Soundcloud.

 

For more Wred Fright music, give his other albums a listen or download at your favorite digital music site such as Soundcloud, Spotify, or Bandcamp!