West Coast Review

Braised Beef Shanks with Tomatoes

I know this beef man from Ireland, and Conor Bofin is his name. He’s the closest I know to a connoisseur of any part of the damned cow that I know, even the unusual and sketchy bits. But he can cook the most amazing meals with that lowly bovine, so I jumped on the chance to sort-of copy-cat this wonderful braise of beef shanks with some nice meaty ones from our quarter cow.

While my photos won’t do it justice — and I wasn’t about to try and plate it for a shot — I think anyone who makes this will be satisfied with the most delicious gravy and tender beef. I served mine with some Parmesan risotto, but pasta or potatoes would work fantastic too. One of my deviations from the original recipe was to reduce the mushrooms (not enough on hand) and add a couple of…

I would like to know why tax-payers money is being used so the President can go to Mar-a-Lago almost every weekend since the Inauguration & members of his family can go to Aspen or other locations – for business and pleasure – at the people’s expense.

Mar-a-lago (Not a Complete View)

A Partial Inside View of Mar-a-lago

A Partial Inside View of Mar-a-lago

Local businesses & residents have to endure a total disruption to their lives and livelihoods, with incomes suffering and even identities being called into question when they are returning to their private homes. Not to mention the strain put on the cities of New York and Palm Beach. It costs approximately $3 Million per weekend at Mar-a-Lago. Five visits so far equals approximately $15 Million. Add that to the costs to the nation of securing Trump Tower and you’re talking approximately $100 million from the national treasury…

The fog, heavy upon the land, stifled movement and choked what little light there was. Even the moon, full and majestic, did little to break the grasp of the dense blanket of dew. While the metal walls shielded me from the cold and damp, my bones still ached from them. Everything but time was dulled and slow. My joints throbbed in time to the seams of the road.

Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.

I scanned the darkness in search of lurking dangers. The view from my cage on wheels was distorted through the layers of fog. Other cars could have been inches away and they might have gone unnoticed. Pedestrians and bikers would have been invisible completely. I scanned the darkness and was plagued by doubt. Was I in control or was that just an illusion of hope? My heart beat furiously in my chest.

Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.

The sounds of the…

With anti-trump sentiment at an all-time high, the authors at Horrified Press have come together to show their resistance and protest the 45^th president with their own words. ‘Trumpocalypse’, an anthology of poetry and short stories, edited by literature veteran Alex S. Johnson, has sparked a new wave of fiction grounded in the reality of the recent American election. Coining the term of this sub-genre (Trump horror), Alex found this was the best way he could articulate his message – and that of the twenty plus authors involved – to deliver their hard-hitting message in defiance of the current POTUS.
Another wish expressed by editor-in-chief Nathan J.D.L. Rowark was to create dialogue between democrats and republicans – by having those with opposing viewpoints read the opinions expressed on the other side. Part political project, part fiction anthology, the authors involved were given free-reign to pen tales of horror, science-fiction…

Quote about John Gardner: “The late John Gardner once said that there are only two plots in all of literature. You go on a journey or a stranger comes to town. Since women, for many years, were denied the journey, they were left with only one plot in their lives — to await the stranger. Indeed, there is essentially no picaresque tradition among women novelists. While the latter part of the twentieth century has seen a change of tendency, women’s literature from Austen to Woolf is by and large a literature about waiting, usually for love.” ― Mary Morris, The Illustrated Virago Book of Women Travellers

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“What art ought to do is tell stories which are moment-by-moment wonderful, which are true to human experience, and which in no way explain human experience. ”
John Gardner

“We read five words on the first page of a really good novel and…

We all know what trolls are. They’re those green ugly creatures that lurk beneath bridges and demand your first born child in exchange for safe passage. Or maybe we think of them as naked little dolls with cotton-candy hair that people used to stick on their car dashes back in the eighties. Right?

Well, technically yes. But today we’re discussing an entirely different beast altogether: The Internet troll.

Internet trolls are a certain breed of human whose main goal is to disrupt the harmonious flow of the interwebs with their nasty and inflammatory words. There are many different types of trolls, and they don’t necessarily have to be on the Internet to qualify as such. A troll can lurk in your personal life as well. Heck, a troll could be a friend or a family member even, but we’ll get to that in a bit. For now, let’s focus on…

This morning I spoke with my son Garrett (age 20, in college, six-hour dive from here.) I’m always so proud at how confident he is. In fact I’m proud of all of his friends, and my nephew Logan, for being so confident, especially when it comes to interacting with women. Straight or Gay they all are so grounded.

Maybe it is the rain, and warnings about high water, but it made me think of a less fortunate man I once knew, when I was about Garrett’s age.

His name was Bernard. He was a family friend, and like us, he was a Vampire.

When he was a young man of astounding business success. At the age of twenty-five he was already wealthy. Despite the fact that he was a personable, and somewhat attractive man, Bernard was alone. This is because when he would have interactions with young women, or even…

Diversity and inclusion are wonderful when they work in your favour. In the last week, Muslims like myself have been the beneficiaries of the world’s love and understanding. At airports around the United States people with open, liberal minds have acknowledged that most of us are just ordinary folk. We only want to live and work in peace and free from fear. Owing no allegiance other than our shared humanity these generous and passionate people stood up for our rights and our cause.

I’ll admit that I am conflicted. There are so many sides to what has happened that I am not sure how to reconcile them all. Let me lay them out for you.

Perhaps easiest to understand is that I have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love in the face of an act of hate. It is a bright light in a time of encroaching darkness…