The Writer's Life 3/11 - Odds & Ends

I don't know why an item such as this was relegated to page 16 of the NY Post. It seems the most important story of the day. A disillusioned former ISIS member has given a thumb drive to a journalist. Supposedly the names of 22,000 ISIS supporters are on it. Let's hope the reporter does right thing and the bastards are exposed.

Can twins have different dads? Yes, if the egg is fertilized by different men one to seven days apart. Seven such cases are known to have occurred, one recently, as reported in the Post. Wow. Another item to add to the list of "Just When You Think You've Heard Everything."

I'm rarely impressed by the work of female directors. Ida Lupino did some interesting work. Beautiful French actress Julie Delpy, when she isn't busy whining about the lack of opportunities for women, both writes and directs. Somehow she has overcome the conspiracy against the fairer sex to direct eight films, Her Lolo receives a kind review in today's Post. Anyway, here's a shout out to a Bronx girl who has flown under my radar. Amy Heckerling, 63, has an impressive resume` at IMDb. 19 credits as a director, eleven as a writer and seven as a producer. She was at the helm of two movies I admire, the wildly popular Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), and the highly successful Clueless (1995), which she also wrote and which spawned an eponymous TV series she produced. Here's a quote from her: "You could go out with a camcorder tomorrow and make a movie with virtually no money, but promoting a tiny low-budget movie costs $20 million. And the money they spend on the big movies is astronomical." Kudos, madam. I'd like to believe I hadn't notice -- or had forgotten -- that a woman directed these fine works because gender shouldn't matter, but I must assume, since I know who directs just about every film I watch, that chauvinism entered the picture.

I received a nice surprise from an editor/publisher of a small magazine that has published several of my short stories. My thanks to Perry Fewell of Conceit magazine, who bought Billionths of a Lifetime and said she will run ads about it. In a Facebook reply I gave her permission to publish any story she found worthy.

My thanks to the kind folks who bought, donated and swapped books today. I had a long visit from Mountain Man, a retired postal worker, and a retired cabbie, who began a conversation complaining about their building's management, and segued to their disgust with politicians. It went on for at least an hour. Both believe America is finished. I'm glad Political Man didn't show. A fight may have broken out.

Vic's Short Works: http://tinyurl.com/jy55pzc

Vic's 5th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/okxkwh5Vic's 4th novel: tinyurl.com/bszwlxh

Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3

Vic's Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx
Vic's Short Story Collection: http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tiny.cc/0iHLb Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kx3d3uf
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tinyurl.com/l84h63j

Website: http://vicfortezzaauthor.my-free.website/