#TimeTravelAuthors Day 11 “point” (a Billy Joel song from the future is played at an open mic night in 1969) My favorite was an extended number told from the viewpoint of a psychic arsonist justifying his crimes by predicting worldly events.

#TimeTravelAuthors Day 23: Something that surprised you about your story. Local Boy Done Gone was supposed to be a retelling of Timely Persuasion through a different character’s eyes. That lasted exactly one chapter until a familiar time traveler showed up to change things. #Pantsing

Just submitted my @nycmidnight.bsky.social 100-word Microfiction Challenge first round entry with an hour plus to spare! GENRE: Fairy Tale and/or Fantasy ACTION: Bailing water WORD: stress

#TimeTravelAuthors Day 9: explain your time travel method with emojis TP: 💉🧠🎵🫥🧬 DG: ⬆️➕🚐 🌫️ ♊️ 🔂

#TimeTravelAuthors Day 7, quiet (Conversation as news of Jim Morrison’s death leaks. Fun fact: headline got his age wrong!) “Paris. In a bathtub.” “Heart attack, maybe heroin.” “Young, like the others.” “Last week. They kept it quiet so the burial wasn’t a circus.” “CIA hit. Had to be.”

#5debutalbums0509 1. A Love Extreme — Benji Hughes 2. xx — the xx 3. Monsters of Folk — Monsters of Folk 4. Up From Below — Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros 5. Volume 1 — She & Him

#TimeTravelAuthors Day 23 The narrator of Timely Persuasion refers to Quantum Leap a couple of times. Cousin Jimmy in Local Boy Done Gone watches The Time Tunnel. WIP Nelsonification opens with two characters watching Back to the Future Part II on VHS the night before Part III is released.

#TimeTravelAuthors Day 21: “listen” You pick up different things when you read a book again. It’s a lot like appreciating a song more on subsequent listens. The story of the lyrics, the rhythm of the chords, the whispered secrets of the background vocals low in the mix.

#TimeTravelAuthors Day 17: Butterfly effect Local Boy Done Gone chapter “A Wife, A Butterfly” has the titular LB get married twice due to butterflies. Back in 2008 when I accidentally hijacked a LOST ARG I was accused of ripping off a butterfly effect film… blog.timelypersuasion.com/blog/arghhh/

#TimeTravelAuthors Day 15: Comp Titles From my favorite review: “If Nick Hornby wrote The Time Traveler’s wife it would look a lot like this book.” I’d also call both TP & DG comparable to Glimpses by Lewis Shiner or The Other Times of Caroline Tangent by Ivan D Wainewright.

#5debutalbums0509 Easy #1 since it’s my favorite album of all time regardless of debut year. A Love Extreme — Benji Hughes (2008) From an old Vulture article: “Very few people have heard A Love Extreme…but some inordinate percentage of those who have adore it.” www.vulture.com/2014/04/benj...

#TimeTravelAuthors Day 9: Does your story get political? Part V (set in 1976) is subtitled “All The Way With LBJ!” to reference Local Boy’s new band he forms with his cousin, so it has a touch of politics.

Since I’ve always referred to my Benji Hughes novel L Extreme by the abbreviated LX, figured it was worth digging deep in an un-foot-ball-y book for tangential references as long as #LX was trending for the #SuperBowl Consider this a pregame show… buy.bookfunnel.com/ebedtdfe7p

#TimeTravelAuthors Day 7: excerpt with “love” A handwritten inscription from the paperback (left by a character in a different paperback)

#WrongDisneySong Day 6: Peter Pan “Stay Young” by Oasis m.youtube.com/watch?v=oWHn...

Groundhog Day Meaning xkcd.com/3202/

#WrongDisneySong Day 5: Alice in Wonderland “Rabbit Hole” by Jenny Lewis m.youtube.com/watch?v=EytP...

#TimeTravelAuthors Day 3: Standalone or series? Both! Local Boy Done Gone & Timely Persuasion are designed as read-in-any-order standalones in a sequel/prequel/timequel sort of way. There’s a third in progress in the same vein, with each order giving a slightly different experience.

#WrongDisneySong Day 2: Pinocchio “Pinocchio in Vegas” by James McMurtry m.youtube.com/watch?v=iwb-...

#WrongDisneySong Day 1: Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs “7” by Prince m.youtube.com/watch?v=4OUK...

The riff in the middle of the “Wormslayer” title track by Kula Shaker reminds me of “April Fool” by Soul Asylum. open.spotify.com/track/3OIx2J...

❤️

#TimeTravelAuthors Day 27: medical care Her doctor’s office was testing one of those newfangled ultrasound machines and offered a snapshot. The sonogram wasn’t clear enough to identify gender, but clearly indicated companionship. A reservation for two in the womb.

#5debutalbums9094 1. Weezer (Blue) — Weezer 2. Slanted & Enchanted — Pavement 3. Ruby Vroom — Soul Coughing 4. Leisure — Blur 5. Shame — Brad Close: Breeders, Reverend Horton Heat, G. Love

#TimeTravelAuthors Day 21: count “If you’re going to see Paul McCartney play, count me in!” The Beatles hadn’t toured since 1966 and hadn’t played live since the secret rooftop show back in January. I couldn’t pass this up. “No, stupid. How can we see him if he’s already dead?”

A song for MLK m.youtube.com/watch?v=nHpv...

#TimeTravelAuthors Day 17: work We played a new love song with a fishing metaphor the Nelsons were working on called “Waste My Daze.” (the “new” love song is a stolen 1970s folky rendition of this…) m.youtube.com/watch?v=hOIs...

The Monkees in the form of a fake Archie Cover.

Snuck out the 5th & 6th juror flashback short stories from my ongoing serialized DUTY CALLS novel this week! Starring a donut maker & a locksmith whose tales kinda/sorta/maybe cross, along with the usual overlapping DC locales and JLC wordplay nonsense. Enjoy! books2read.com/b/donuts

#TimeTravelAuthors Day 11: Tropes My faves are meeting/avoiding a past self & do-overs of the same scenes in new timelines.

#TimeTravelAuthors Day 7 (I have a cheeky habit of not naming characters and lean into the mystique here…) I’d never heard of the guy, but being a good assistant I offered an introductory handshake. “Pleased to meet you. I’m—” “No names,” the redhead whose name I didn’t know interrupted.

Did my 2021 novel L EXTREME predict (or inspire) #ConformityGate ? Stranger things have happened… “C reached for the L, and this time Benji let him take it. He turned the card upside down…” (I don’t believe in coincidences. Not anymore.)

#TimeTravelAuthors Day 3: deal When Local Gal added a speedily finger picked solo it got transcendental, and her lyric about the king of hearts was like dealing off the bottom of the deck—it couldn’t possibly be this good if you weren’t cheating. (She’s covering “Love Buzz” ala Nirvana in 1969)

#5albums25 1. Stick — Jim Bob 2. Thank the Lord…It’s The Pink Stones — The Pink Stones 3. Sea Pipes — Sea Pipes 4. Last Missouri Exit — Case Oats 5. The Little Ones — James Felice HM: Mason Jennings, Jon Lindsay, Lemonheads, Arthur Buck, Jens Lekman

#TimeTravelAuthors Day 27: gift That free wheel threw a wrench in our baby naming plans. Only book I’d read as much as Timely Persuasion was the masculine half of the alphabetical set of suggestions my mother sent as a not so subtle wedding gift.

#ArtistFaveXmas “It’s Time To Have A Merry Christmas” by Benji Hughes 🎶 🎄There’s a tree in my house and it’s covered with lights. I was in the shower singing Silent Night… 🎄🎶 m.youtube.com/watch?v=55Na...

#ArtistFaveXmas “Run Away With Me” by Jens Lekman 🎶 What are you gonna do on Christmas Eve? Please don’t spend it with your family… 🎶 m.youtube.com/watch?v=6rhM...

My 3 favorite books read in 2025, with big thanks to @percivaleverett.bsky.social @mrjimbob.bsky.social @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social for their entertaining words of wisdom. shepherd.com/bboy/2025/f/...

#TimeTravelAuthors (watching cartoons in 1970) Fred & Velma found Daphne in a secret room—but she was bait and it was a trap! Scooby & Shaggy accidentally set them free, then accidentally tricked the non-ghost into being captured using a train, some firecrackers and a skateboard. Mystery solved!

These 3 will make my #5albums25 list, with about 10 others in contention for the last 2 slots. Stick — Jim Bob Thank the Lord…It’s the Pink Stones — The Pink Stones Last Missouri Exit — Case Oats

#TimeTravelAuthors Day 13: far Charm will only get you so far, but when the revolving door of time travelers keeps spinning you’d best hold on tight and enjoy the ride.

#TimeTravelAuthors Day 5: fantasies Local Boy’s fantasy is getting married and having two kids as another time traveler (and a thinly veiled “novel” from the future) predict — but he’s so worried he’ll screw up the timeline it’s kind of a nightmare.

#TimeTravelAuthors Day 1 I’m a sucker for a good parody poem. ‘Twas the night before Won One…

#TimeTravelAuthors Day 17: Reading One character reads (and writes a chapter long critique of) the other novel in the read-in-any-order sequel/prequel/timequel series given to him by his older self and heavily annotated by another time traveler. (Sounds complex—and sorta is—but sorta works…)

#TimeTravelAuthors Day 11 Time travel happens via your mind, and in this song your mind flies… (Fitting for 11/11, aka “Won One” day!)

#TimeTravelAuthors Day 7: Sports There’s a reference to the 1969 World Series being tied at a game apiece (“Won One”) to passively establish the date, but I’m most proud of invoking a sports analogy to avoid writing a love scene.

Broadcast Today in Quantum Leap History: November 6, 1991 "The Wrong Stuff" Sam leaps into a chimpanzee in the space program whose life may be in danger if he's not selected as an "astrochimp." www.quantumleap-alsplace.com/episodeguide...

#TimeTravelAuthors Day 5: “meal” I wanted to casually check if that list was still stuck between the cushions of the rear seats, but I didn’t want to get my mustardy hotdog fingers all over everything. As a well mannered gentleman I intended to finish my meal before seeking my next clue.

#TimeTravelAuthors Day 25 Excerpt with “back” “He removed a blank back page from the DJ’s numbered request list and jotted down a list of costumes.” One listed costume is a redheaded woman dressed as Benji Hughes. It’s from a different book, but has time travel. (I’m not that redhead…or am I?)

The committee they asked me to be the one to pick the song to draw today…