The Writings of Geoff Micks

Sufjan Stevens: Casimir Pulaski Day

I first came across Sufjan Stevens a few years ago. His That Was the Worst Christmas Ever is something I can listen to year round. It just strikes a nerve with me that I can’t quite articulate, but it fascinates me all the same. Recently I’ve gone looking into his discography, and I’ve come across…
Awesome Pictures: The Simpsons do Abbey Road

What is it: A Simpsons homage to The Beatles Abbey Road photo from the November 2002 cover of Rolling Stone. Why is it Awesome? I’m a huge Simpsons fan, and I’m a huge Beatles fan. This combines the two brilliantly. I saw it this morning, and now it is my desktop. Long may it reign.…
Book Review: Bernard Cornwell’s The Burning Land

Bernard Cornwell is another one of my favourite authors. He writes smart, adventurous historical fiction in both stand-alone novels and long-running series, and he does so at a prolific rate: He has put out at least a book a year every year from 1981 up to the present; more often than not he’s written a…
My Industrial Accident

I’ve worked a lot of factory jobs in my life, from the rock crushing job in England, to making gas tanks, to cooking steel. One summer I was working at a heat treating factory that tempered steel for tool and die purposes. I had a couple of minor accidents that summer that are stories in…
The Day I Found Myself Between a Mother Bear and Her Cub

When I was sixteen I went for a hike along Centennial Ridges Trail in Algonquin Provincial Park. It’s a ten-kilometer loop that visits five cliffs along two parallel ridges of Canadian Shield. It’s a gorgeous walk, and one I’ve often done before and since, but this time I came very close to being mauled by…
Awesome Pictures: William Tecumseh Sherman

What is it: Major General William Tecumseh Sherman, taken in May of 1865 by Mathew Brady. Why is it Awesome? First of all, just look at him. Look at that face. Look at those eyes. He might be famous as the first modern general, the man who burned his way across the South waging what…
The Problem with Science Fiction on Television

I was talking to my father the other day, and he mentioned a new television show that I should check out: Defying Gravity. I had heard something about ABC’s new drama vaguely a few months back. Someone had called it, ‘Grey’s Anatomy in Space,’ which failed to spark my immediate interest. I told my father…
Notable Quotes: On reading, writing, editing, and the publishing industry

This is the first of another new category: Notable Quotes. Sometimes a turn of phrase really catches my fancy, and if I like it enough I write it down. Here’s a list of quotes I’ve found over the years that deal with reading, writing, editing, and the publishing industry. “A classic is a book everyone…
Best of the Web: The Beatles on Ukulele

From time to time I stumble across something on the internet that I find remarkable. Sometimes it’s a one-off article, and sometimes it’s a whole website. I’ve decided to creat a ‘Best of the Web’ category on this blog to give honourable mentions to the content I find online that blows me away, and I…
Book Review: Sharon Kay Penman’s Henry II Trilogy

Sharon Kay Penman has recently cemented her place in my pantheon of favourite authors. I love historical fiction, and she is one of the shining lights of the genre today. Her specialty is the Middle Ages of Great Britain and France, and her attention to detail in that time period is every bit as impressive…