Articles written by James Coplin

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About me - James Coplin

Superior, Arizona is my home; a small mining community between the saddle-back of Picketpost Mountain and the cliff walls of the Apache Leap. Most of my neighbors trace their families back to the Silver strike in 1882 and our downtown consists of the same

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Creative Writing > Short Stories Short stories: Ghosts: 1 of 142
THE QUICK AND THE DEAD AND THE SIX O'CLOCK NEWS By now you've read the papers and all those New York City magazines, all having a good laugh over Granite Cove. The Great Granite Cove Ghost Hoax is what most of them call it. We're not pleased to be made out a town of cheats and swindlers yet the fact is, we get along right w... More..
Creative Writing > Essays Essays: Freedom: 2 of 71
FREEDOM AS A BUMPER STICKER In America Freedom runs up the pole with the Flag. If you need further evidence, turn on your television or your local Talk Radio. You'll hear the word mentioned or someone claiming theirs to be threatened several times an hour. We love our freedoms so much that we vigorously export them as an inst... More..
Creative Writing > Short Stories Short stories: The scarecrow mystery: 2 of 32
Protector of the Corn The late summer air of western Mississippi is sodden as a blanket. It can feel possible to drown in it. Within the breathless rows of the corn stalks it presses down on you like a boot heel, squeezing the air from your lungs and leaving you to gasp like a catfish in a bucket. That's how Elmer Travis felt... More..
Creative Writing > Short Stories Short stories: Soldier tales: 6 of 85
The Transvaal, 1899 There was the South African sun and empty sky and not a sound to be heard. Neither was there wind. The khaki colored grass rose stiff and straight save here and there where flattened by a dead or cowering body. No motion, no wind, no sound. Just the heat and the fire ants crawling up a mans pants leg as t... More..
Sports & Recreation > Martial Arts The best martial art to learn for self-defense: 1 of 13
Some time ago martial art students were shocked by this news head line -"State Martial Art Champion Killed in Daylight Assault." The story went on to describe how this talented young competitor had become involved in an altercation with two street thugs and ended being beaten to death. How could this be? A high degree Black ... More..
Arts & Humanities > Meaning of Life Why we dwell on the past: 8 of 89
People are told not to dwell in the past as if it was an act of moral weakness. Look forward, not backwards.The past is dead and gone while your whole future lies before you! Well, all true and good but let me ask; where else is one allowed to exist? The Past is really our true state of existence. If we allow Time to have on... More..
Creative Writing > Poetry Poetry: Ships: 1 of 9
The Wreck of the Mary Gay She cast away from Buzzard's Bay in that year of our Lord. The whaling vessel Mary Gay with sixty hands aboard. Her hold full crammed with kegs and casks and Northerns in the sails. To round Cape Horn they'd set to task, to hunt the sea for whales. Now round Cape Horn the gales blow hard and seas a... More..
Arts & Humanities > Fantasy & Science Fiction Has the fantasy genre become stagnant?: 3 of 20
Asking whether a genre has gone stagnant is a lot like asking how deep the river is. The answer will depend on where you crossed it. For those who forged the fantasy river in the late 1960's and 70's the water was at flood tide. A retiring, tweed clad, pipe smoking Professor of Anglo-Saxon literature named John Ronald Ruel To... More..
Creative Writing > Poetry Poetry: Witches: 2 of 12
Hear the dogs howl at their chains. I've heard them howl like that before - as unseen things scratched at locked doors and Will O' Wisps prowled on the Moors.The night they hanged Allison Poor on Execution Lane. It's said no grass grew where she walked - thus lived she on the March and Fen. Where twisted root and deep bracke... More..
Creative Writing > Short Stories Short stories: Tales of terror: 3 of 16
Stumbling Bob couldn't have told you which he hated worse, the old man or his dog. Normally he would have had no feelings one way or the other. Bob only noticed people likely to slip him a buck or two or stand him to a drink and even towards them he felt only the amused contempt he reserved for easy cons. The old man never ... More..