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Review: The Blood of Dawnwalker
If at first I don’t succeed, die, die again: A Gen X gamer attempts to hone his fading reflexes in a new vampire adventure RPG
Sep 22
•
Sean Bugg
2
1
Tennis, Death, and Didion
Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking launched me into a new consideration of my own first experience with death
Sep 10
•
Sean Bugg
1
Reading, Writing, and Dungeon Crawling
Books & Bakes: Crossing the finish line for my first annual read-a-thon benefiting Cake4Kids with the sci-fi satire Dungeon Crawler Carl
Sep 9
•
Sean Bugg
2
August 2026
The American Myth of Innocence
Books & Bakes: A halftime progress report and a frustrating experience with the invisibility of race in “The Irony of American History”
Aug 12
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Sean Bugg
1
July 2026
Carrie, Stephen King, and the Politics of Fatness
Books & Bakes: The upcoming remake of King’s iconic first novel is raising new questions for fans about fidelity and adaptation
Jul 29
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Sean Bugg
1
Gone Girl Goes House Hunting
Books and Bakes: “Best Offer Wins” takes a darkly comedic journey through the Washington real estate market
Jul 21
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Sean Bugg
1
The Lost Language of Home
Books & Bakes Update: Searching for my past in the unfamiliar present of Blood River Witch
Jul 13
•
Sean Bugg
1
1
A Man of Two Faces: Viet Thanh Nguyen's Beautiful (and Searing) Memoir
Books & Bakes Update - The tension between empathy and experience in the story of a Vietnamese refugee family
Jul 10
•
Sean Bugg
1
2
Total Eclipse of My Teen Gay Heart
Bonnie Tyler’s heated prep-school fantasia was an explosive force in my young life
Jul 9
•
Sean Bugg
2
1
1
Around the World and Back Again
“Boy Does World” makes its debut on Kindle and as a new special gift for paid subscribers to The Back Half
Jul 8
•
Sean Bugg
2
1
Books & Bakes: “The Hunter” Is a Razor-Sharp Tale of Revenge
Week 1 - It’s hard to write spare, simple prose that thrills but Richard Stark, a.k.a. Donald Westlake, mastered the craft; plus, what's on deck for…
Jul 3
•
Sean Bugg
2
1
June 2026
Despair, Anger, and the Right to Feel Hopeless (for Today)
The Supreme Court's rulings on trans athletes, birthright citizenship, and campaign finance make today a hard day to argue against doomerism
Jun 30
•
Sean Bugg
2
2
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