Writing
Eric San Juan
May 25, 2012
This story first appeared in The Berkeley Times and The Jackson Times as a 12-part serial way back in 2000-2001 — so yes, the writing here is pretty old. When I read it, I see tremendous room for improvement. It is older than I would normally show people largely because I’ve improved by leaps and bounds since writing this, but the full story (of which this is only the first part) has a special place in my heart. The story may be collected in a future collection of my fiction — I’m considering self-publishing a short story collection — but for now enjoy this glimpse into the story of two retired people coping with loss. BLESSED LIFE Part 1, Ambulance is Young The ambulance…
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Eric San Juan
May 21, 2012
After 13 years in the industry, the newspaper business and I have bid farewell to one another. In a full-time capacity, at least. I’ll continue to write for newspapers because, well, I enjoy it and I’m good at it. To start, look for upcoming pieces in The Philadelphia Weekly and The Riverside Signal. But as for my working life being devoted to newspapers, that is no more. If you who know me from my position as editor for a family of weekly papers in New Jersey, time to know me for something else. This is not a bad thing. In fact, it has been a long time coming. The newspaper industry has been dying a slow death for some years now, helped along by executives…
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Eric San Juan
May 6, 2012
The following is excerpted from my book Lakehurst: Barrens, Blimps and Barons. Seventy-five years ago today, fire rained down from the sky when the great airship Hindenburg exploded into a ball of flame over Lakehurst on May 6, 1937, in the process leaving an unforgettable mark on history. To this day, it remains the largest vessel ever to take to the skies. It was over 800 feet long; as long as two football fields and the majority of a third. Despite its stunning bulk, it routinely made the flight from Germany to Lakehurst, NJ in a mere two days while carrying scores of passengers. The Hindenburg was a Nazi vessel, constructed by the Germans in 1935 as the crowning jewel of its vast fleet of zeppelins. From the very start…
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Eric San Juan
March 12, 2012
This short piece sprang from a title an online acquaintance threw at me, one I thought he had made up. The title was so evocative, I immediately got a vision in my head of a little girl and … well, you can read it below. The problem? He hadn’t made it up. That was a poor assumption on my part. The title was The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything, and it belongs to a book I did not know existed. Regardless, it inspired this short piece of fiction that will maybe one day turn into a full-blown book. With a new title, of course… The Girl and the Gold Watch By Eric San Juan “You know I haven’t the money for that, Sissy. Put…
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Eric San Juan
March 2, 2012
When I decided to take Lakehurst: Barrens, Blimps & Barons and publish it on my own, I did not take the decision lightly. After all, I had been on a modest roll, with three traditionally published books I authored or coauthored hitting shelves in three years. Advocates of self-publishing are often driven by a “screw the man! Don’t let corporations decide what deserves to be published!” attitude, which is in and of itself not a bad thing … they just forget to tell you how much work self-publishing is, and shrug away any explanation of what traditional publishers do for authors. I’ve been happy with traditional publishers. My first three books — Stuff Every Husband Should Know, and coauthor on A Year of Hitchcock and…
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