Author's Note: David Foster Wallace's final novel  The Pale King will be officially published April 15th, Tax Day. Copies are already available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

I don’t normally do this sort of thing—write reviews, grant interviews, give readings, sign bo… Read full post »

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will be adding another stamp to her passport in March, when she takes a trip to India to participate in an annual seminar series on global leadership. -- the Huffington Post.

Dear Ms. Sarah Palin, Former Governor of Alaska, Current Fox News Journalist, and Futur… Read full post »

Putting out the fires: 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-brenner/flame-off_b_817818.html Read full post »

With great power comes great fiscal responsibility: 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-brenner/the-greenspan-hornet_b_803984.html Read full post »

“Perhaps one day I will be lucky enough to read an attack on this book in a diatribe called The White Swan.”—The Black Swan, Nassim Nicholas Taleb

My evil twin brother defines a "Black Swan" as an unpredictable, life changing event. The world, he/… Read full post »

A Labor Issue Entangles 'The Hobbit'—The New York Times

One upon a time, representatives all the good creatures of Middle Earth gathered in Rivendell, New Zealand,  for an important council.

"As shop steward for the International Brotherhood of Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits… Read full post »

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-brenner/the-voting-dead-political_b_783974.html

  Read full post »

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-brenner/sins-of-commission-the-fo_b_779849.html

  Read full post »

The dark horse candidate receives some last minute support from an unexpected source:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-brenner/carl-paladino-straight-fr_b_772951.html Read full post »

My buddy Dave asked me to go skiing with him in Killington, Vermont.

“Isn’t skiing, like, kind of risky?” I said. Already visions of contusions and broken bones were dancing in my head.

“You can stick to the beginner trails,” Dave said. “And after… Read full post »

A post-midterm election fantasy:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-brenner/bill-clintons-secret-advi_b_758872.html Read full post »

I'm Linda McMahon, former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment. And I'm running for senator of the Nutmeg State. I'm not a professional politician, a "Washington insider." I'm a Washington outsider, a rebel, an iconoclast -- like Stone Cold Steve Austin. And I'm willing to spend $50 mil… Read full post »

Dear Friends:

Another one of my pieces was published on the Huffington Post. You can read it here:

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-brenner/farmville-wizard_b_692665.html

Also, I am going on vacation for a couple of weeks. See you late September.   Read full post »

Dear Friends:

I had another piece published in Grin & Tonic. You can read it here:

http://bnreview.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Grin-Tonic/Who-IS-Evelyn-Salt/ba-p/3203 Read full post »

Dear Friends:

My first post for the Huffington Post. Check it out:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-brenner/rosemarys-anchor-baby_b_682097.html

  Read full post »

A cornfield somewhere in Iowa.

If you build it, they will come.

If I build what? Who will come? And what are you doing in my cornfield?

A mosque at Ground Zero. The jihadists will come to celebrate their victory over the Great Satan. And as to your cornfield, I… Read full post »

Dear Friends:

 I had another piece published in Grin & Tonic. You can read it here:

http://bnreview.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Grin-Tonic/Who-IS-Evelyn-Salt/ba-p/3203 Read full post »

A group of geriatric action/adventure movie stars find themselves trapped in a nursing home.

WILLIS: OK, guys, listen up. Do you want to go out in a blaze of glory, or die here in your bedpans?

ROURKE: I like it here: three squares, regular meds, all the shuffleboard you can/… Read full post »

My name is Evelyn Salt. I'm a CIA agent. My job is interrogating Russian spies.

No, my name is KA-12. I'm a Russian sleeper agent. I’ve been living undercover in the United States for over twenty years.  Like those losers in Montclair, New Jersey—except I didn’t get mysel/… Read full post »

The chatter began weeks ago as armchair engineers brainstormed for ways to stop the torrent of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico: What about nuking the well? Decades ago, the Soviet Union reportedly used nuclear blasts to successfully seal off runaway gas wells, inserting a/… Read full post »

Dear Friends:

Another one of my pieces was published in Grin & Tonic. You can read it here: 

http://bnreview.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Grin-Tonic/Loan-Predators/ba-p/3027 Read full post »

The photos, disseminated on Iran's semiofficial news sites, look ordinary enough: young men with short haircuts, some with 1950s style quiffs and a touch of gel on top. But these haircuts are not just a summer fashion. They are being promoted by Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance… Read full post »

Dear Friends:

The second part of Monster Mash-Ups was published in Grin & Tonic:

http://bnreview.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Grin-Tonic/Monster-Mash-Ups-II/ba-p/2860

  Read full post »