This edition of Turbotax does away with the CD-ROM. Users need to download the tax program and install it on their computers. I miss the CD-ROM because downloads can be problematic. Fortunately, I was able to download and install Turbotax in five minutes.

I’ve used Turbotax for decades. Some years are much better than others. This latest version transferred last year’s tax information and it took me about an hour to input all our tax information.

Once the tax calculations were done, I had to e-file the Federal and State returns which involves typing in numbers from Diane and my NY State driver’s licenses. Since the IRS just laid off 5,000 employees during Tax Season, my confidence in the processing of my Federal Tax Return is not high. But the IRS notified me they received my e-filed return. I’m still waiting to hear from NY State.

Basically, our tax returns now that we’re retired consists of four numbers: Diane’s Social Security and NY State pension and my Social Security and NY State pension. We have no deductions since Patrick and Katie are off on their own, our house and vehicles are paid off, and our lives are placid and debt-free.

We owe the Feds some money and NY State some money. We’ll send them some checks and be done with this chore for another year. How are your taxes?

John Warner, a writer and college professor, does a Deep Dive into ChatGPT and related Artificial Intelligence programs in his new book, More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI (2025). “Large language models [like ChatGPT] do not ‘write.’ They generate syntax. They do not think, feel, or experience anything. They are fundamentally incapable of judging truth, accuracy, or veracity.” (p. 18) Or care about truth, accuracy, or veracity. But they are very good at generating words.

In addition to being a word generator, AI can be used to scam the innocent. “An AI-generated book, The Evolution of Jazz: A Century of Improvisation and Innovation by Frank Gioia and Ted Alkyer, came into the world. The dual authors were designed to take advantage of the fact that Ted Gioia (The History of Jazz) and Alkyer ( publisher of Downbeat magazine) are two noted jazz experts…. Because both Gioia and Alkyer have their own public platforms and were able to make a fuss, the scam was exposed and the books will pulled from sale…” (p. 189)

So Artificial Intelligence programs can “write” fake books. All too often, the scammers using AI end up making money before they’re found out–or continue to operate their schemes indefinitely. They certainly don’t have to pay the AI program to generate more books.

“In 2021, Brandon Sanderson, a best-selling author of science fiction and fantasy, announced on the Kickstarter platform that he was setting out to raise $1 million as a crowdfunding effort for four yet-to-be-written novels. By the time the campaign was over, Sanderson had raised over $41 million.” (p. 198). Is the the future for writers in the Age of AI? Do you use Artificial Intelligence? Are you as worried about the Artificial Intelligence future as I am? GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1. Introduction — 1
2. PART ONE
3. Chapter 1 Automation, Not Intelligence — 15
4. Chapter 2 Stop, Now, Before It’s Too Late! — 29
5. Chapter 3 A Personal History of the Automation of Writing — 43
6. PART TWO
7. Chapter 4 Only Humans Write — 55
8. Chapter 5 Writing Is Thinking — 61
9. Chapter 6 Writing Is Feeling — 75
10. Chapter 7 Writing Is a Practice — 89
11. Chapter 8 Life with a Writing Practice — 103
12. Chapter 9 Reading and Writing — 113
13. PART THREE
14. Chapter 10 Reading, Writing, and Robots — 127
15. Chapter 11 Here Come the Teaching Machines (Again) — 133
16. Chapter 12 Writing in the Classroom of Today (and Tomorrow) — 147
17. Chapter 13 Reading Like a Writer — 165
18. Chapter 14 Content vs. Writing — 179
19. Chapter 15 On the Future of Writing for Money — 191
20. Chapter 16 My Digital Doppelgänger — 211
21. PART FOUR
22. Chapter 17 A Framework for Action: Resist, Renew, Explore — 225
23. Chapter 18 Resist — 231
24. Chapter 19 Renew — 247
25. Chapter 20 Explore — 265
26. Conclusion The Journey Never Ends — 277
27. Acknowledgments — 281
28. Notes — 283
29. Index — 297

The first Larry McMurtry book I read was Lonesome Dove (1985). The 1989 Western adventure television miniseries was announced and I read the novel before I watched the episodes. The series was originally broadcast by CBS from February 5 to 8, 1989, drawing a huge viewing audience, earning numerous awards, and reviving both the television Western and the miniseries. The novel won a Pulitzer Prize in 1986 for Best Novel.

Over the years, I read more of McMurtry’s works: Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen and In a Narrow Grave. Recently, I read McMurtry’s anthology of contemporary Western stories, Still Wild, (you can read my review here) so I decided to read a couple more McMurtry books I’ve had on my shelves for years.

Books: A Memoir (2008) is an entertaining guide through a life-time of reading. McMurtry starts with his reading interests in childhood and ramps up the obsession with reading and buying books–he eventually owns a bookstore–with the true motivations of a collector. “Today the only book in my 28,000 volumes to survive from that year is a little book in the New Directions Classics series: Ezra Pound’s ABC of Reading, a book I still reread every five years or so.” (p. 71)

Literary Life: A Second Memoir (2009) expands on McMurtry’s first memoir. McMurtry describes his struggles as a writer…and bookstore owner. I enjoyed McMurtry’s frankness about his personality and his view of the world. “I have never been good with groups, and the PEN board, to its credit, was a fervent and passionate group. I admired their passion but never shared it: I’m just too much of a Hobbesian.” (p. 139)

“V. S. Naipaul is obviously a great writer, but his genius is mostly to manifest itself in his nonfiction, not his fiction. This a touchy point with writers who consider themselves novelists first. Suggesting that tie nonfiction is really better will usually be taken as a deadly insult. Yet I think it’s true of James Baldwin as well as Norman Mailer, none of whose novels equal the great ‘reportage’ he did in the Sixties and Seventies. (The exception is his masterpiece, The Executioner’s Song, which is so good it doesn’t matter which genre one puts it in.)” (p. 173)

Reading Larry McMurtry’s insights on writers just delights me! I’m sure you would find McMurtry’s opinions fun, too! GRADE: A (for both books)

Thanks to Jeff Smith’s recommendation, I watched a few episodes of Wolf Like Me on Peacock and can’t wait to watch more!

Gary (Josh Gad) is a single father living in Adelaide, Australia with his troubled 11-year-old daughter Emma (Ariel Donoghue). Both father and daughter are still traumatized by the death of Emma’s mother, Lisa, who died of aggressive cancer.

Gary and Emma meet Mary (Isla Fisher), a quirky advice columnist recovering from the death of her husband. But despite Mary’s attempts to stay away from Gary, they keep meeting again and again.

While Gary struggles to help Emma with her problems, Mary is able to connect with Emma in an effortless fashion. However, Mary hides a dark secret that she fears might hurt Gary and Emma: she is a werewolf. If you’re in the mood for an off-beat rom com with supernatural elements, give Wolf Like Me a try. GRADE: Incomplete, but trending towards a B+

A few months ago I read Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson’s Sisterhood of Dune (you can read my review here). The sequel, Mentats of Dune (2014), continues the struggle between the various powers in the human Empire after the defeat of the thinking machines with the Butlerian Jihad.

With the anti-technology Butlerian forces of Manford Torondo growing in strength and influence, Prince Roderick Corrino sees a threat to the Imperial power of his brother, Emperor Salvador. Industrialist Josef Venport battles Manfred Torondo and his millions of believers, whose interference thwarts Venport’s business interests by restricting use of technology.

After the destruction of the Bene Gesserit school, Gilbertus Albans fears his Mentat School–training human computers–on Lampadas will be next. And Albans hides the secret copy of the thinking machine Erasmus that Torondo is obsessed with.

Although Brian Herbert & Anderson can’t match the baroque writing of Frank Hebert, they do manage to capture the complexity of the Dune world view. GRADE: B+

I started listening to Soul Music as a kid in the 1960s. Motown was my favorite record company. I loved Dionne Warwick, Aretha Franklin, and Dusty Springfield. I listened to the Supremes, the Ronettes, and The Temptations. I wanted to be one of the Four Tops!

This 4 CD set delivers plenty of hits from the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. The songs in the 1990s seem more repetitive and more focused on loud voices than lyrics. Are you a fan of Soul Music? Any favorites here? GRADES: 1960s-A, 1970s-B+, 1980s-B, 1990s-B-

TRACK LIST:

I’ve read plenty of Larry McMurtry’s books, both fiction and non-fiction. This anthology from 2000 features a variety of stories, some famous, some not so much.

Let’s start with the famous stories. Annie Proulx’s “Brokeback Mountain” spawned a successful movie version. The story of two men who love one another raised a lot of eyebrows. Also famous is Jack Kerouac’s “The Mexican Girl” which was included in On the Road.

I had read a few of the stories before. William Hauptman’s “Good Rockin’ Tonight” and Richard Ford’s “Rock Springs” have been reprinted many times.

Of the lesser known stories, I liked Max Apple’s “Gas Stations” and Louise Erdrich’s “The Red Convertible.” Life in the West isn’t easy and these stories explore the struggles of people just trying to get by.

Don’t expect any shoot-outs or cattle rustling in these more modern stories of the West. What you can expect is some fine writing. GRADE: B+

Table of Contents:

Introduction — 11

Wallace Stegner, Buglesong — 17

Dave Hickey, The Closed Season — 26

Dao Strom, Chickens — 44

Dagoberto Gilb, Romero’s Shirt — 65

William Hauptman, Good Rockin’ Tonight — 73

Jack Kerouac, The Mexican Girl — 99

Ron Hansen, True Romance — 124

Diana Ossana, White Line Fever — 135

Robert Boswell, Glissando — 157

Tom McGuane, Dogs — 178

Louise Erdrich, The Red Convertible — 184

Max Apple, Gas Stations — 196

Mark Jude Poirier, Cul-de-sacs — 203

Rick Bass, Mahatma Joe — 203

Jon Billman, Indians — 254

Richard Ford, Rock Springs — 267

Raymond Carver, The Third Thing That Killed My Father Off –292

Annie Proulx, Brokeback Mountain — 305

Leslie Marmon Silko, Lullaby — 334

William H. Gass, The Pedersen Kid –345

Creature Commandos is an American adult animated superhero television series based on the eponymous team from DC Comics. After the events of the first season of Peacemaker (2022), Amanda Waller assembles a black ops team of monsters led by General Rick Flag Sr. The team’s mission is protecting the princess of a fictional Eastern European nation from an attack by Circe and her army of thugs who call themselves the Sons of Themyscira.

Produced by DC Studios and Warner Bros. Animation, it is the first television series and the first installment in the DC Universe (DCU). All seven episodes of the first season were written by series creator James Gunn (director of the Guardians of the Galaxy series, but now head of DC).

The series of seven half-hour episodes feature an ensemble cast of voices including Indira Varma, Sean Gunn, Alan Tudyk, Zoë Chao, David Harbour, and Frank Grillo. The team includes The Bride, an immortal woman created by Victor Frankenstein to be a bride for his other creation, Eric Frankenstein, but who rejects her destiny to strike out on her own. There’s also Nina Mazursky, a woman who resembles the classic image of the Creature from the Black Lagoon, but who is far more gentle and may not be quite what she seems. Doctor Phosphorous’ powerful radiation can burn a hole through nearly anything. G.I. Robot enthusiastically blasts Nazis across the decades. Weasel alters expectations and adds mystery to his origin and identity.

What makes Creature Commandos different from most of the animated DC series is the level of violence–extreme with a high body count–and the addition of some sexual content. This James Gunn series does not disappoint. GRADE: B

“Transparent Man”

The garment bag was black like any other,

but through the plastic window I could see

a square of white fabric. Before I saw

Saturday Night Fever, that’s how I knew

the polyester suit, which wide lapels

opened onto a slick-black shirt, sewn deep

into the pants. I would have never pictured

bell-bottoms on a man, but there they were

on Tony Manero (John Travolta),

staring into an iridescent light,

pointing his right index finger toward

the ceiling as the dance floor changed colors.

My father saw the movie seventeen times,

and bought that suit, the exact one, at auction.

I asked my mother why he kept it shut

in cedar, hanging on a rack with all

our winter coats, and not inside his closet,

where, later, I buried my face inside

his jackets. Why didn’t we display it?

That’s not who he was, my mother said.

Besides, it almost stood up by itself.

It had to, no one ever tried it on.

Once, I opened the garment bag and peered

inside to see a different actor, one

who seemed to play my father, full light,

a young transparent man dressed up in white.

I was a fan of both Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel and enjoyed their movie reviews for decades. I was amused when I heard Siskel bought the iconic suit from Saturday Night Fever. Until I read Siskel’s daughter’s poem about her father and his suit, I had no idea Siskel saw the movie 17 times.

Callie Siskel writes poems that involve her father, her family, and her life. Like her talented father, Callie weaves a unique picture of the subject she’s exploring. If you’re in the mood for some moving poems, I recommend Two Minds. GRADE: A

I have long been a fan of James Lovegrove’s Sherlock Holmes pastiches, especially the ones with Cthulhu. But as James Lovegrove admits in his Afterword, he has been a fan of Conan just as long as he’s been a fan of Sherlock Holmes. When the opportunity to write a Conan pastiche for Titian Books appeared, Lovegrove seized it.

Conan: Cult of the Obsidian Moon takes Conan to a region called the Rotlands infected by a mysterious forces. Conan and his allies, Hunwulf and Gudrun, pursue a menacing flying figure who kidnaps Hunwulf and Gudrun’s teenage son, Bjorn.

Conan learns that Bjorn isn’t the only young person kidnapped by the the flying figures. Clearly, there is a plot to use the youngsters to bring more Evil into the world.

Conan: Cult of the Obsidian Moon, full of fighting and struggle, takes the reader deep into forbidden lands and dangerous lands. I found Lovegrove’s tribute to Conan a worthy addition to the many very good Conan pastiches written over the years. Are you fan of Conan? GRADE: B+