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Note: Travis Prinzi loved the Lost finale. Others didn’t, for reasons illustrated as only S.D. Smith can. –Pete Peterson Read More ›

I Was a Cowboy

I want to tell you why I love the new record by Jarred McCauley, but first I need to tell you about my love for a lost movie genre: The Western. Read More ›

On the Blogwagon

A friend muttered an under-the-breath comment the other day about the infrequent nature of my writing. That part I know of myself, that trait I don’t like very much, and that I try to press down under the water so that people can’t see Read More ›

A Hidden Spring and a Secret Grief

The curse comes like the crack of rifle shot.

I finished The Yearling two days ago, and my heart is still heavy with it. The book didn’t wound me. The Read More ›

Song of the Day: Jill Phillips

Redemption is the common thread that binds them all together. Read More ›

Lost Finale: Why I Loved It

It feels like the days after Deathly Hallows all over again. A great story which sparked a pop culture phenomenon has come to its conclusion: some people loved it, and some loathed it. I’m in the former camp, and for much the same Read More ›

The Unacknowledged King

“Lewis once suggested that literary critics are, and have always been, neglectful of ‘Story considered in itself.’ They have been so focused on themes and images and ideological commitments that they have failed to notice the thing Read More ›

Present (Introducing Taya Gray)

Anyone who knows my wife, Taya Gray, knows her to be a person who possesses a rare depth and transparency. She’s also quite the writer, though she’s very modest (and even secretive!) about it. She has recently been writing a Read More ›

Song of the Day: Jason Gray

In case you haven’t heard, Jason Gray’s “More Like Falling In Love” is getting lots of radio play these days. Read More ›

Hidden Treasure: The Clock Without a Face

This is for real. Somewhere around the country, twelve emeralds are hidden, and the clues to their location are in the pages of The Clock Without a Face, by Scott Teplin, Mac Barnett, and Eli Horowitz. Read More ›

Roast Beef is Delicious

Five years ago today I begged my wife to take me to the hospital. “Take it off!” I told the doctor. “I don’t care anymore. It hurts too much. Take it off.” Read More ›

The Hobbit: Five Responses to Fairy Tales

Tolkien has always been a source of wisdom for approaching the fairy tale, particularly his classic essay, “On Fairy Stories,” about which I have written here before. That is, he teaches us, as an outsider or even trespasser in the land Read More ›