Day Tripping

In yesterday's discussion of paranoid conspiracy story plots, WaterBoy brought up the 1988 John Carpenter film, "They Live." While I'd long known that the script for this movie was based on the short story, "Eight O'Clock in the Morning," by Ray Nelson (cross-pollinated with another of his stories, "Nada," from the short-lived comic book Alien Encounters, which is something I had not known), I'd never actually taken the time to look up Mr. Nelson. Yesterday, I did.

Today, in lieu of a column, I recommend that you check out Nelson's site at RayNelson.com. In particular, read his handy "Checklist of Fiction Faults". His memoir-slash-short story, "The Last Days of Philip K. Dick," is also worth checking out. And of course, given that the guy is mostly known as a cartoonist, there's always his art gallery.