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All posts by Thomas Adcock
NORTH CHATHAM, New York — U.S.A. On Christmas morning, something up the road from my creaky old weekend getaway house caught my heathen eye as I walked by: an invitation of a sort, posted outside the North Chatham United Methodist Church, a religious establishment for those amenable to the radical social agenda of a famous Nazarene carpenter—especially that part of the agenda about giving succor to The Stranger, so it seemed. For lo, there appeared a banner alongside the church entryway, declaring: “Immigrants & Refugees Welcome.” The banner still wavesRead More
NEW YORK CITY, near America Four years of ridiculing a malevolent Donald J. Trump—last month’s Election Day loser—has been therapeutic for those of us Americans appalled, pained, embarrassed, nauseated, and shamed by the demonstrably worst president in our country’s two hundred and forty-four years of national history. Mockery has saved our sanity. It is easy to laugh at Mr. Trump, yet deeply satisfying. Therein lies the solace of knowing that his presence in the world is a sour joke, at best. As his execrable tenure in Washington dwindles, let usRead More
NORTH CHATHAM, New York — U.S.A. October 24 was a Saturday of dramatically mixed weather here in upstate New York, as mixed and moody as months of speculation by political scientists and amateurs alike over the prospects for the survival of America as we know it. This day was our first in a week of early voting in the lead-up to November 3—Election Day throughout the United States. So, there was I on that cool grey misty morning, near the front of a sidewalk line-up outside my polling station inRead More
NORTH CHATHAM, New York – U.S.A. Red-faced and sweaty, Donald Trump was greatly worried on the night of September 29. His chances for reelection as president were slim and growing slimmer, thanks to a cascade of scandals. Yet there he was in the city of Cleveland for the first of three scheduled televised debates with his opponent, Joe Biden. Mr. Trump conducted himself accordingly: One commentator compared his behavior to that of an agitated, feces-flinging chimpanzee in the primates section of a zoo. Viewers expected no less a performance from theRead More
NEW YORK CITY, near America A decade ago, the opening fusillades of bigotry were fired at Barack Obama, first African American president of the United States, prompting a professor at Northwestern University in Illinois to issue prescient warning of the worst to come. In an essay for a Manhattan weekly newspaper, under the headline WHITE AMERICA HAS LOST ITS MIND, Steven Thrasher wrote in the now defunct Village Voice— “About 12:01 on the afternoon of January 20, 2009, the white American mind began to unravel. It had been a prettyRead More
NORTH CHATHAM, New York – U.S.A. by Thomas Adcock The death of a great man or woman of near saintly stature brings forth a time of mourning for society’s loss and a related determination to shape and improve society’s future in the spirit of the deceased. So now is that time with the passing of John Robert Lewis, a personal hero of mine. As with many others during his eighty years of life, I had the honor of meeting Mr. Lewis and shaking his hand, knowing I shook the hand ofRead More
Woke America Screams ‘Enough!’ Police savagery, racism, poverty, environmental destruction, fascism by Thomas Adcock Copyright © 2020 — Thomas Adcock NEW YORK CITY, near America Thirty days that shook the world began on the first day of June when hundreds of thousands of outraged Americans—of all colors, creeds, and ages—overwhelmed the streets in cities and towns throughout the United States, all of us pumping the air with fists demanding justice for a dead African American man named George Floyd. We Americans touched off allied demonstrations of support in countries asRead More
by Thomas Adcock Copyright © 2020 — Thomas Adcock NORTH CHATHAM, New York – U.S.A. In January of next year, the world will surely breathe a collective sigh of relief as Donald J. Trump exits the White House, voluntarily or else frog-marched out of the Oval Office under military escort upon refusing to accept his landslide defeat in November’s election. (In the interest of high drama, my preference would be for the latter.) Mr. Trump will then spend the rest of his time on Earth toiling at the sole occupationRead More
North Chatham, New York — U.S.A. Should you ask of us here in the hills of rural New York State, a region of apple orchards and dairy farms and green mountains and our hamlet of five hundred and three souls, my wife Kim and I are faring well enough since fleeing the big city three weeks ago. More than two hundred kilometers to the south lies New York City, population nine million—epicenter of the coronavirus global pandemic, and hometown of a dangerous buffoon in down in Washington whose name IRead More
NEW YORK CITY, near America Fundamental to the citizens of Trumpistan is cultish deference to Dear Leader’s every vile tweet, every ludicrous lie, every malignant boast, every odious blast of oral flatulence from Dear Leader’s kewpie doll lips—the more racist the blast the better. In this time of global pandemic, in which the United States has surpassed the health and economic devastations of China and Italy, more and more Americans are homebound, voluntarily or by legal order. We flip on our television sets each day in search of governmental andRead More
NEW YORK CITY, near America Lawrence Peter Berra—sportsman and grand master of spoonerisms—warned us of epochal times like these: “It’s déjà vu all over again.” The late Mr. Berra (1925-2015) is affectionately known by generations of New York Yankees fans as “Yogi.” When he can bear to look down from where he resides in Baseball Heaven, I believe he is distressed by what he sees: an unholy number of us Americans’ failure to grasp the caution implied in his most famous lapsus linguae, beguiled as we habitually are by allRead More
By Thomas Adcock Copyright 2020-Thomas Adcock NEW YORK CITY, near America As I write on this final day of January, it appears that Donald Trump will be found not guilty in his so-called impeachment trial in the upper chamber of the United States Congress. Despite the dishonest verdict—orchestrated by a once grand old American political party, now destined to live in infamy—I encourage a cheerful view: Donald Trump is toast. In this bleak moment, my outlook may be considered Pollyannaish. But as surely as the calendar moves forward to ElectionRead More
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana – U.S.A. With respect to religion and/or spirituality, I am a devout believer in the God of Irony. As testament to my faith, behold the present-day, oddly coifed idol of Christian Evangelism and Pentecostalism—an American president who proudly prostitutes a code of decency given unto the world two millennia ago by a Nazarene carpenter of note. During an earlier once-upon-a-time—June of 1998, actually—some of the biggest machers of American Christendom assembled in Salt Lake City, Utah, to adopt a “Resolution on the Moral Character of Public Officials.”Read More
“When authoritarian figures can do no wrong, the problem is not so much with the leader but with the followers, who, like followers of religious cults, willingly drink the proverbial Kool-Aid regardless of how high their IQ may actually be. Seeing their unearned, privileged positions threatened by merit-based concepts such as equality, they embrace cult leaders who present themselves as the only solution to their downward-spiraling predicament, or as Trump proclaimed while mounting the Republican National Convention stage: ‘I am your voice. I alone can fix it.’” —Miguel A. DeRead More
[NOTE: Following are remarks delivered by Thomas Adcock – in an condensed version – to an audience of writers, editors, translators, filmmakers and television producers gathered in Köln in late September for KrimisMachen 4. They have been adapted for publication here.] KÖLN – Germany With each new decade of my life, I have heard this expression: “The world’s gone mad!” Until recently, I considered this an overstatement by friends and family—people I love and admire for caring about the good things of life: peace among nations, human fulfillment, art andRead More
Eine verrückt gewordene Welt – und was Autoren dagegen tun müssen Eine Rede von Thomas Adcock, New York, für KrimisMachen 4 – ins Deutsche übersetzt von Alf Mayer „Die Welt ist verrückt geworden!“ In jedem Jahrzehnt meines Lebens habe ich diesen Ausruf immer wieder aufs Neue gehört. Bis vor kurzem hielt ich ihn für eine Übertreibung – von Familienmitgliedern und Freunden, die ich mag und bewundere, weil sie sich für die guten Dinge im Leben einsetzen: Frieden unter den Völkern, Glück, Kunst und Literatur, Erziehung, Menschlichkeit, Umweltschutz. Wir alle kennenRead More
First glimpse into a brand new novel Thomas Adcock, author of the Neil Hockaday novels is back in all the old glory The hero of Thomas Adcock’s „Painted Devils“ is a world-weary New Yorker by the name of Matty O’Neill, who describes „the markers of my previous lives“ as „U.S. Army war criminal, a red-headed boxer called Rusty O’Neill, a boozer, a policeman, a crime reporter [and] all too briefly, a husband.“ We follow Matty’s painful remembrances of growing up in an immigrant household full of resentments—and unspoken mysteries—against theRead More
In the Beginning, a Terrace in Manhattan Running out of room for Mother Nature Ah, the Country Life … No End to Savage AmusementViolent geese, vile squirrels, toads in love, etc. Copyright © 2019 • Thomas Adcock NORTH CHATHAM, New York—U.S.A. Once upon a time, my wife and I were content as full-time denizens of hustle-bustle Manhattan—brash heart of a loud city populated by hundreds of skyscrapers and nearly nine million squabbling strivers; where anyone not beating you over the head with a club has friendship potential. We lived—and still do, Monday throughRead More
Whirlwinds of Cruelty Achtung, Flüchtlinge! Amerikanische Konzentrationslager by Thomas Adcock Copyright © 2019 • Thomas Adcock NORTH CHATHAM, New York—U.S.A. Two years and seven months ago, a bankrupt casino magnate, bigot and vainglorious “reality television” braggart became president of the United States (with a little help, to be sure, from comrades in Moscow). To mark the occasion, yet another turn for the worse in the history of my country, I borrowed a famous phrase of yesteryear for an essay published in this space at that dark time. In the wakeRead More
RHINEBECK, New York—USA We are halfway through 2019 as members of the United States Congress are scurrying en masse back to home districts across the land, in accordance with one of their numerous recesses from important business we voters elected them to attend. Per the previous two years’ periodic recessionals, they abandoned Washington having done zilch about the most important business at hand: a one-man crime wave named Donald J. Trump. Upon his inauguration as president, in January 2017, the ridiculously coifed Mr. Trump set forth to consolidate power. InRead More
by Thomas Adcock Copyright © 2019 • Thomas Adcock NEW YORK CITY, near America In January 2016, in Montréal, the old man lay dying. Perhaps he silently cursed having reached the age of ninety-nine rather than a full century well deserved. Surely he reflected on his long ago life in Berlin; in particular, Kristallnacht—the night of November 9 in 1938, when Hitler’s brown-shirts assaulted Jews in the streets, smashed the windows of Jewish-owned shops, burned synagogues to the ground. Perhaps he gave silent thanks to his having the wisdom andRead More
by Thomas Adcock Copyright © 2019 • Thomas Adcock NEW YORK CITY, near America In last November’s federal legislative elections, Democrats swept to party leadership in half the two-chamber Congress of the United States—the House of Representatives, affectionately known as “the people’s House.” At last! Power to the people! Voters turned out in historically high numbers to demonstrate their profound disgust with the cupidity, immorality, and criminality of Donald J. Trump and his enablers of the hear-no-evil, see-no-evil Republican Party. Heeding the message of upstart Democratic contenders, featuring a bumperRead More
NORTH CHATHAM, New York—U.S.A. William Barr, attorney general of the United States, did exactly what Donald J. Trump hired him to do: On the afternoon of March 24, in Washington, he granted absolution to his lord and master—Donald J. Trump, suspected of treason and obstruction of justice. This act of legal mercy occurred on a Sunday, when evangelical Christian Trumpisti throughout the land undoubtedly spent their Sabbath morning beseeching Jesus and the Holy Father to spare the Golden-Haired One from impeachment or imprisonment. As the world knows by now, aRead More
Please…Call us ‘People of Means’ New York to world’s richest man: Fuhgeddaboudit by Thomas Adcock –Copyright © 2019 • Thomas Adcock NEW YORK CITY, near America A prosperous dolt named Howard Schultz scored his most notable life achievement in 1995 by inventing the Mocha Frappuccino, a briskly profitable confection peddled throughout his empire of Starbucks coffee houses. A quarter century later, now comes Mr. Schultz asking voters to believe that his caffeinated brainstorm, and the billions of dollars accrued, qualifies him to be president of the United States. Bad timing, Mr.Read More
NEW YORK CITY, near America Picture the current American presidency as gangster-laden film noir, a tawdry movie with two leading rôles: a thuggish lawyer called “The Fixer,” employed by “The Don,” malevolent godfather of a crime syndicate. The stars: Michael D. Cohen as consigliere, Donald J. Trump as capo di tutti capi. So it was, in life off the screen, for ten sorry years. Then came the morning February 27, a cold and sunny Wednesday in Washington. One of the stars broke character on live television. During five hours ofRead More
Get Out! Curtains Closing on a Carnival of Crime Down Among the Dead Men Let Him Lie’ by Thomas Adcock NEW YORK CITY, near America Happy New Year to all you fighting men and women of The Resistance! Ever since the surreality of a bellicose Know-Nothing’s criminal ascension to the presidency, back in November 2016, you have acted in the grand spirit of the American Revolution of some two centuries ago—a nervy peasant uprising, begun in 1776, that ousted a crazy-cruel British tyrant. You own the triumphal moment at hand: OurRead More
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Stella Sinatras URknall
She knows how to hang puppies, Santa Stella!, murmelt der irre Wissenschaftler und zieht stante pede von dannen, „stante pede“ ein Ausdruck, den schon sein Vater gerne benutzte. Auch Wissenschaftler haben Väter, oder hatten sie irgendwann. Während also alle Welt zuhause bleibt, ist der irre Wissenschaftler seit Monaten unterwegs. Mars – Alpha Centauri – und ganz zuletzt der Nordpol. Perché il Polo Nord? – Auf einmal redet alle Welt Italienisch! Muss an der Liebe liegen, oder an der Sehnsucht unseres Helden nach seinem Vater, der fortging, lang, lang ist’s her... Besuch beim Weihnachtsmann. AIUTO, das Herz blutet! Merry Christmas, tröstet der Santo Santa.
LitRätsel Herbst 2020
Das Weltreise-Logical führt von Deutschland aus nach Westen bis nach Österreich, einmal rund um den Globus. Gesucht wird ein Gedicht voller Fernweh und herbstlicher Wehmut. Es winkt: ein Buchpreis!
Veranstaltungstipp: Le Biennale invisiblili
Wie von Georg Seeßlen (Dezember Crime Mag) bereits empfohlen: UNSICHTBARE BIENNALE vom Goethe Institut - lohnt die Reise - - ->
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(es gibt ihn noch nicht, aber irgendwann wird es ihn geben.)