Periscope Depth

we can roll ourselves over ’cause we’re uncomfortable

Luther: Proof that the British may be more stylish than we, but they aren’t necessarily more sophisticated. Luther may feature talented actors with posh accents and some sharp writing, but it’s your standard cop-on-the-edge drama. Idris Elba (The Wire) plays John Luther, a DCI who doesn’t play by the rules but still gets results. He [...]

nothing new, nothing new; y’all ain’t saying nothing new

I like living in the city, but I love visiting the suburbs. Whenever I visit the folks for the holidays, I love looking out my old bedroom window. It’s still a new development, so there’s an unbroken view to the treeline, and above that the cloudy horizons of Baltimore County. The fall really brings out [...]

the art of consent

Politics is (and I know I promised to stop talking about politics for two years; and I meant it at the time, really and seriously; but this was before the new TSA pat-down procedures hit the news; and a groundswell of heretofore silent civil libertarians suddenly discovered that Yes, The Federal Government Can Go Too [...]

stars with evil eyes stare from the sky

In The Heat of the Night: I knew going in that this was Sidney Poitier’s movie (and it is, and no dispute there). But I had no idea it would also be Rod Steiger’s movie, too. Steiger turns in such a natural performance that you’d swear he was a Mississippi native. He approaches every crisis [...]

with a hey and a ho and a hey-nonny-no

As You Like It is, while still a popular Shakespeare play, still debated in merit. A lot of scholars see the plot as frivolous. What tension there is comes out of Rosalind’s insistence on playing a game with her suitor’s heart while in the forest of Arden. It’s rather like a sitcom, where one character [...]

like pun said, you ain’t even in mi clasa

When NaNoWriMo started, I had this arch post in mind. I clearly had a lot to say about writing – having written four unpublished novels! – and needed to get it out there. While I wouldn’t deprecate anyone’s writing efforts, I’d make sure they knew that rushing through a novel in a month didn’t really [...]

american zombies: the walking dead and urban flight

New post on Overthinking It that looks at zombie movies in light of America’s mid-century flight to the suburbs. Cities, as the centers of densest population, are likely to be the greatest concentration of zombies. They’ll clog the streets with their numbers. Every person they kill will only swell their ranks. In every good zombie [...]

’cause it’s time is time in time with your time and its news

I wondered for a while how Virgin Mobile could afford to charge $25/month for the same service – 3G Internet – that other providers demanded twice as much for. Then I called their customer service line. “Hyello!” said a cheery Slav. “Thes es Kady!” She walked me through the process of transferring my phone number [...]

give the devil his due

Henry IV, Part 1: A bold production, full of emotion, volume, color and action by the Actors’ Shakespeare Project. This isn’t always to the show’s benefit, mind you. A lot of the actors commit the sin of starting a scene at ’8′ and building to ’10′, instead of starting at ’2′ and building there. The [...]

every day I write the book

I’ve used this metaphor a couple times in the past few weeks, so I must like it. Maybe it’s a nugget of hidden wisdom. Try it out: The first draft of a novel is when you dump all the Legos on the table. The second (and successive) drafts are when you start building the house. [...]

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  • Periscope Depth

    The website of John Perich, author of TOO CLOSE TO MISS and editor for Overthinking It. He's learning about writing, marketing, publishing and promotion, and he encourages you to learn along with him.

    perich@periscopedepth.com

  • TOO CLOSE TO MISS




    "... opens with a bang and never relents ..."
    "... from chapter one, I couldn't put the damn thing down ..."
    "... already looking forward to Perich's next book ..."

    Mara Cunningham knew that sleeping with a married man was a bad idea. But when her lover shows up in the hospital after his wife and son are murdered, the rumors about her turn dangerous. Now she's the prime suspect in a double homicide, and the real killers will stop at nothing to silence her ...

    Buy the book that readers are calling "a great, suspenseful thriller" at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other online retailers.



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