Stephen J. Lyons
Stephen J. Lyons has written six books while somehow avoiding fame and fortune. He recently returned from a trip to the Amazon rainforest in Brazil, where he swam with abandon in the Amazon River. You can subscribe to his Substack at stephenjlyons.substack.com.
Dad Left, So We Got A Television Set
When my father left, my mother bought our first television set. She put it in what was now her bedroom. Three pieces of furniture floated in that spacious room: a Singer sewing machine, a mattress atop a box spring, and now a black-and-white television with rabbit ears.
July 1996Living For Swans
As we pass under the Roosevelt Arch into the park, beneath the words “For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People,” I say under my breath, “I am safe now. I am at home base. No one can find me here.” A friend has a saying that once seemed outrageous and cowardly, but is now my motto: “There is no problem so big you can’t run away from it.”
February 1996Eight Days In Brooklyn
“ ‘Black rage’ — it’s a new defense for the Long Island Killer, sort of like an insanity plea,” my dad says as he drives us toward Brooklyn from La Guardia Airport. I have just arrived with my daughter, Rose, from northern Idaho for our annual week-long visit and I’m anxious for news.
July 1995My New Neighbors
A new couple has moved into the apartment next door to mine in this ancient Victorian. They are using the same bed as the previous couple, Nicole and Peter, whose dramatic lovemaking I would hear quite clearly as their headboard pounded my living-room wall.
February 1995
Has something we published moved you? Fired you up? Did we miss the mark? We’d love to hear about it.
SEND US A LETTER