Story by Diana Searby and Charles Levin | Written by Charles Levin [Reader’s Note: two weeks ago I invited readers to help me finish writing a short story I had half-written on a plane flight from San Francisco to New Jersey. Thanks to all those who contributed their very creative and fun ideas. I chose…

I inherited the painting from my mother thirty-two years ago. It was one of many by an accomplished artist named James Carlin. But this one differed from the rest. I’ll get to that in a minute. My mother and James ‘Jimmy’ Carlin struck up a friendship in the 1950s. She was the first female stockbroker…

While cleaning out my crazily cluttered attic, filled with thirty-eight years of things my wife, Amy, and I don’t need, but couldn’t part with, broken chairs, boxes full of clothes, ancient computers, ‘80s vintage suitcases, and the like, I stumbled across something quite special. Fire Hazzard Let me back up. If you’re a procrastinator like…

By Florence Sandler (1923 – 2008); Edited by Charles Levin [Author’s Note: this is the second guest post by a relatively unknown, but talented writer. In this emotional true story, she manages to capture a time, a place, and several kinds of love. This personal story along with a few other moving memoirs were recently…

[Author’s Note: the following is an excerpt from NOT ZERO-ONE, Book 4 of the Sam Sunborn series arriving Spring 2021] Reality Speaks I unclose my eyes. But virtual reality speaks. I have no real eyes or a mouth or ears. I have ones and zeros. I am ones and zeros moving in patterns that define…

A few months ago, I was looking for a book on the lonely bookshelves in our living room when I stumbled upon a box I had not seen in 48 years. Could it be? Opening the box, there rested an eight-inch reel of Super-8 film, the long-lost, original and only copy of Love in the…

[Note: Taken from a chapter in my soon-to-be-released thriller novel, NOT SO DONE. I share it here because it sticks in my head like a favorite song and it’s loverly] – Listen to the Audio Version HERE The gravel driveway is long and winding up to the Riverdale Assisted Living Center in Scarsdale. Rich gets…

“She looked in the mirror. Despite the makeup, she could see the puffy, gray circles under her eyes. Being President takes its toll on us all, she thought.”— from Not So Dead When I wrote the above passage in my first novel, Not So Dead, it just came naturally. When you look in the mirror,…

As I was approaching the finish line of writing my new thriller NOT SO DONE, the standalone sequel to NOT SO DEAD and NOT SO GONE, I considered changing the subtitle to The Final Sam Sunborn Novel. It’s not that Sam and his cohorts are done saving the world or that I tired of him…

Where were you on July 20, 1969 – the Day Apollo 11 Landed on the Moon? I included the Moon Landing question in a recent newsletter to my readers and asked them to share their experiences. I was so delighted by their personal and intimate recollections that I asked their permission to share their poignant…