Welcome to my PLAYPEN. Let the fun and games begin!

 

Sure, Most of what I do has an element of play. But here, I'll showcase that aspect of my work. There is, ahem, a lot to showcase.

 

The source material for PUZZLE PALACE is book-length. Did you know that Amazon won't publish books of puzzles? Or at least they wouldn't, back when I tried to put one out, called "Magic Fives." It was comprised entirely of a kind of word puzzle: word squares, with crossword clues. I've posted a hundred and fifty odd of those puzzles right here. I've added and may continue to add a few puzzles of other kinds, but the word square crosswords are what built the palace and what rules in it.

 

The PARTY PIECES? That's light verse, some of it written for performance, some written for compendiums of light verse. Two of those were book-length. I'm offering samples and outtakes only, for now. For now! (Oh, and for interactive fun and games? Check out the Limericks challenge!) Since I started the site, I've put two actual lighter verse books out in the world; for an upgrade from this tab of the website, check out my collections Scattershots and A Betabestiary.

 

Some of the source material filed under PROJECTS is also book-length. For a long while the "Stalking Crawlrollies" material was here. Because that project is now closer to done (well, it's an award-winning semi-available book), I've moved it to "Paperback Writer." More stuff may yet happen with it, and may any other items stashed here follow a similar course. "Barracks Gap" (all that remains at this tab as of September 2025) was at one point going to be massive: multi-volume, even! Who knows, something a bit more modest might yet be made of it. All you'll find here, for the moment, though, are the world building specs. For the moment!

 

No longer filed under PROJECTS are my song lyrics folders. I've now compiled all the folders I wish to, and I've housed them under POP SONGSTER. The texts date from 1966 to now: from when I was 16 to now. There's an element of writers' autobiography to the progression, though the speaker is far less often me after we hit, let's say, the fourth folder. Still, moving through them chronologically, I can track not only my life history but my evolving sensibility. In a coyish fashion! Fortunately (for me as for my readers), over the decades I've constantly reworked and refined this material—the first two hundred or so texts are angsty, preachy, wiseass, gauche, and sloppy; I'm sharing a fraction of those. Still, I've exercised a bit less quality control here than I have elsewhere on the site. There are songs here I'm both fond of and proud of. But my goal has been not just to showcase the jewels but to represent eras of me. You'll find work here whose interest is primarily, well, archaeological.

 

The PERFORMANCE tab is for video links. Some of which may be serious work. Some will be play.