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I was recently asked to write an essay for Writer’s Digest about the challenges of turning real people into characters in memoir. This is something I’ve thought a lot about (and agonized over, and struggled with)—it’s even the subject of an essay in First Love, a kind of meta examination of a central challenge of the project as a whole. Negative Space was in many ways one long character sketch of my father.

Apparently, John Steinbeck wrote an “unpublished horror-mystery novel Murder at Full Moon, which got mixed reviews. But here’s an excerpt from ‘Nine-10ths of a Triumph: On John Steinbeck’s “Murder at Full Moon”’: Paperback Writer is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Throug… ncG1vNJzZmiclZevqrnAnKJnq6WXwLWtwqRlnKedZL1wts6hpWarpJq2r67EnKJmoJ%2Bnv7C%2BzLKqrZ2irnq4vsitnKs%3D

The late John Tooby in 2016 wrote, Of the roughly 5 ½ billion people who survived past puberty, perhaps only one billion would be here were it not for modern sanitation, medicine, technology, and market-driven abundance. Ancestrally, the overwhelming majority of humans died before they had a full complement of children, often not making it past childhood. This is good news for the living individuals, but bad news for the evolution of the species.

I would say that I know a little bit about music, but there’s a lot of gaps in my knowledge. This isn’t the definitive guide… It’s just John’s Guide. Regular readers to John’s Music Blog might recall my relationship with ska. It was the first music I really loved. When I was barely a tween, I would dress up in a full suit and go to shows. I even made an Angelfire page dedicated to the genre.

Where documentary photographer, John Walmsley, writes about his photography, the thinking, the shooting, exhibiting and publishing. Plus, how to find and pursue people who use our work without permission or payment. By John Walmsley · Launched a year agoNo thanksncG1vNJzZmiin527uK3LpqqlnaljwLau0q2YnKNemLyuew%3D%3D

Paid subscribers get ~2 deep dives/per month, ~2 mini deep dives per month and quarterly earnings writeups plus access to Jonah's investment portfolio (up +145% in 2024, up +134% in 2023) with real-time activity, charts and notes/commentary. By Jonah Lupton · Over 40,000 subscribersNo thanks“Hands down the best writeups on public companies + Jonah's track record of picking the winning companies” “Jonah does very detailed deep dives on individual stocks he thinks have high upside”

Hello there. I’m Shawn Reynaldo, and welcome to First Floor, a newsletter focused on electronic music and the larger scene / industry that surrounds it. This edition of the newsletter has first been made available exclusively to paid subscribers. If you fall into that category, thank you so much for your support! If not, please consider signing up for a … ncG1vNJzZmiemafAtbLLqKarZqOqr7TAwJyiZ5ufonyxe8mopZqsmJa7brPApaKipl2dsq28xJ1krKyRp8FusMWa

Hello and welcome to Gossip Time, a weekly guide to the stars by Allie Jones. This week: an actor gets married, a football star and a model get back together, and Hilary Duff gets into sourdough.  Every once in a while a piece of reporting simply blows you away. I will always remember where I was when I clicked on the following barnburner by The New York Times’ Katherine Rosman: 

Celtics/NBA journalist Josue Pavón shares his exclusive one-on-one interviews, weekly columns, and a new podcast with NBA players, coaches & analysts via his brand new 'Josue's Substack' platform By Josue Pavón · Launched a year agoNo thanksncG1vNJzZmiin6jCprzAr6anZqOqr7TAwJyiZ5ufonw%3D