The First Christmas with Mom in a Decade: A fictional short-short story

"All the News That's Suddenly Fit to Print After the Election." Jason Ri...

The Big Bad Wolf Asks Forgiveness: Just in time for Christmas

Suspicious of Santa: A short-short story

Politics Without Journalism, Reason Magazine, Jan. 2025

Seductions from Gardening Catalogs

On Snow

Runthrough of My Upcoming Piano Concert: Welcome Winter

Your Year-End Self-Assessment

In Search of Christmas

The Grinch and Scrooge Talk

The Efficient Gardener

Navigating Your Employer's Holiday Party

Chocolate Coins or Real Ones? A short-short story

The Chanukah Miracle: The Sequel: A short-short story

"A Trump Voter Walks into My Office" Wall Street Journal, Dec. 3, 2024

The Art of Asking a Favor

Coates the Charlatan, Commentary Magazine, December, 2024

My Two-Minute Takeoffs on Fairy Tales and the Like

The New Democratic Minority by John Podhoretz, Commentary, Dec. 2024

Trump's Christmas: A short-short story

Cruising, Episode 10: A Buffet of Thoughts

On Self-Sacrifice

Cruising, Episode 9: Why Am I Not More Grateful?

Cruising, Episode 8: At Sea. A fictional short-short story

Cruising, Episode 7: Oxygen: A fictional short-short story

Cruising, Episode 6: Light and Dark Brothers: A fictional short-short story

Cruising, Episode 5, I Left My Underwear: A fictional short-short story

Cruising, Episode 4: A Lonely Retired Scientist. A fictional short-short...

Cruising, Episode 3: The Piler. A fictional short-short story

Cruising, Episode 2: Making Magic. A fictional short-short story

Cruising, Episode 1: The Stare: A fictional short-short story

Silenced: A fictional short-short story

Shadowed: A fictional short-short story

The Cobbler: A fictional short-short story

Trusting: Advice to the naive

Santa Claus for Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)

The Fall: A fictional short-short story

My Tongue-in-Cheek Nominees for the President's Cabinet

Einstein for Chief of Staff

Glinda the Good Witch for Secretary of State

Scrooge for Treasury Secretary

"4 More Years of Trump May Make America Normal Again" by Gerard Baker, W...

My Talk at Caltech: Networking for Scientists

I Nominate My Doggie for Secretary of Defense

Were We Better Off in Simpler Times?

Creating Chemistry in a Talk

The Braindeading of America

A Berkeley Student Plans a Patio

Excerpts, "The Trump Protests Fizzle: a recent column by the Wall Street...

Don't Empty Your Mind. Fill It.

An Efficient Thanksgiving: A fictional short story with practical implic...

Preventing Thanksgiving Bloodshed: When Harrisers Argue With Trumpers

Parent-Teen Conversations

Fun After 60

When Genius Marries Normal

The Art of Teaching

Practical Pros and Cons, Set 2

Practical Pros and Cons

"I WILL Have a Career as an Environmentalist:" A fictional short-short s...

So You'd Like a Longshot Career: Maximizing your chances

Picking Pockets: A fictional short-short story

What The Most Popular Song Lyrics Say About Us

Free Write: A fictional short-short story

The Finger Painting: A fictional short-short story

A Self-Portrait: A fictional short-short story

If I Could Design a Dating Site

My Very Own Albatross: A short-short story

If I Were the Energy Czar

What if Global Warming Turned Out to be a Net Good? A fictional short-sh...

Networking for Scientists

A Sad Trump Voter: A fictional short-short story

Making Peace: A fictional short-short story

The Basement Club: A short-short story

Metals: A fictional short-short story

On Cleaning Out My Fridge

On Cleaning Out My Parents' Attic: A fictional short-short story

Hearing: a fictional short-short story

In Praise of Normalcy

Electric: A fictional short-short story

Hiding in the Flowers: A fictional short-short story

A Second Chance: A fictional short-short story

Mr. Glass: A fictional short-short story after the song, Mr. Cellophane.

Person of the Year: A fictional short-short story

Sand Valley: A fictional short-short story

I Did It: A fictional short-short story

Teach?

My Position on Myriad Issues of the Day

Gratitude is Overrated

Piano music to study, relax, meditate, or sleep by

Lessons I Wish I Learned Earlier

On Fighting

How I Got to Be Homeless…and Kinda Like It: A fictional short-short story

Advice to Baristas -- They'll Soon Lose Their Jobs to Robots

Good Night: a fictional short-short story

SuperSimple: Paring your life down to size

Speed

A Bombmaker Muses: A short-short story for Halloween or whenever

Solo Violin: A fictional short-short story

When Dogs Became Politically Incorrect: A fictional short-short story

Your Test Results are In: A fictional short-short story

Quirk: A fictional short-short story

The Worst Housemate: A fictional short-short story

Phoenix: A fictional short-short story

Things That Perplex Me: Set 6

Ghost Town: A dystopia that's fiction…for now

Things That Perplex Me: Set 5

Things That Perplex Me: Set 4

My Cafe: A fictional short-short story

Things That Perplex Me: Set 3

Things That Perplex Me: Part 2

Things That Perplex Me

Rising Up: A fictional short-short story

Making an Academic Presentation That Doesn't Put Your Audience to Sleep

Not-So Pastoral Counseling: A fictional short-short story

Perfunctory: A fictional short-short story

A Part in a Movie?!: A fictional short-short story

Liver: A fictional short-short story

Curating

Plastic: A fictional short-short story

Nature Boy: A fictional short-short story

Sense: A fictional short-short story

On Gin…Rummy

On Small Talk

Awards: A fictional short-short story

A Fundraiser: A fictional (I hope) short-short story

The Average-American President: A fictional (I hope) short-short story

Happy Halloween?: A fictional short-short story for Halloween

Worst Case: A fictional short-short story for Halloween

Kilo: A fictional short-short story for Halloween

Haunted Hike: A fictional short-short story for Halloween

Train: A fictional short-short story

We Are Self-Immolating

"You Have So Much Potential:" A fictional short-short story

SUMMER: Single words and phrases with piano/synth accompaniment

SPRING: Single words and phrases with piano/synth accompaniment

WINTER: Single words and phrases set to my improvs on the piano/synth

Fall: a series of single words and phrases set to music

What an AI Genius Could Do: A fictional short-short story

A Happy Shut-In: A fictional short-short story

A Happy Shut-In: A fictional short-short story

Thoughts Before My Concert Today

Thoughts for People Who Spend a Lot of Time Alone

Work Complaints

Work Needs Work: A blueprint for reinventing work in America and beyond

Post-Nobel Depression: A fictional short-short story

The Bay Area Ascetic

Nod: A fictional short-short story

Signs: A fictional short-short story

Baby Steps or Cold Turkey?

Lesson #2: On Weight Loss and Writing

On the Word "Gentle"

On the Word, "Honesty"

On the Word, "Wistful"

The Lemonade Curriculum: helping all people thrive in the information ec...

On the Word, "Business"

Spock for President

The Lesson

Free Associations on "Carbonation"

Free Associations on Patent Leather

She Loves Dogs, I HateThem: A fictional short-short story

I Confronted My Professor: a fictional short-short story

Lessons from Our Childhood Toys

What the Audience is Thinking: A fictional short-short story

Price Controls? A thought experiment

Would You Prefer an AI Friend?

"Kamala Harris's McJob", Wall Street Journal, Sep. 3, 2024

Beware When Hiring

I Try to be Amused By It All…But (expanded podcast version)

I Try to Be Amused By it All....but

Adult, Should You Run a Lemonade Stand?

My Favorite Moments of the Day

How to Win an Election

"I Want to Change. Really I Do!" A fictional short-short story

Deciding What Plant to Buy, Keep, and Dump

Be a Book Giver: Why and How You Should Give Away Books

The Media Memory Hole by Christine Rosen, Commentary Magazine, Sep. 2024

A Little Adventure: A fictional short-short story

On People-Watching in a Cafe

"I'm Scared I'll Outlive My Savings"A fictional short-short story

"I So Don't Want to Be Like Karen Carpenter: "A fictional short-short story

A Fast Talker: A fictional short-short story

The Unexpected Waiter: A fictional short-short story

Depreciated: A fictional short-short story

Poop: A fictional short-short story

What if You Could Be Happy All the Time? A thought experiment

The Most Expensive Two-Letter Word: A thought experiment

Time Bomb: A fictional short-short story

When You're Average…or Below

On Quitting

On Risk

On Change

On Rembrandt's St. Matthew and the Angel

"The Real Biden-Harris Economic Record" Wall Street Journal, Aug 16, 2024

The 70-Year-Old Gardener With a Ph.D.: A fictional short-short story

A Faint Smile: A fictional short-short story

Pen Pals in the Email Era? A fictional short-short story

Addressing Five Common Fears

Achieving Common Life Goals

My Favorite Possessions

22 Worthy Careers

Revenge: A fictional short-short story

Now, I Drool: A fictional short-short story

When Someone is Seriously Ill

If I Wished Upon a Star

The Burdens of Intelligence

Under-considered Tips for College and Graduate Students

Not-Standard Back-to-School Tips

Thoughts on Being a Loner

Time- and Stress-Management Tips

Thoughts on Career Counseling from an Experienced Career Counselor

A Meaningful Olympics

"Chicago Crime & Democratic Values" by Heather MacDonald. From the Wall ...

Tattoo? A fictional short-short story

What’s a Monk to Do? A fictional short-short story

Making the Most of an Internship

Musings of a Former Capitalist: A thought experiment

Meeting Mistakes: As participant, as convenor

Mistakes in Managing Your Stress

Counseling Mistakes

Time Management Mistakes

Parenting Mistakes

Teacher Mistakes

My Hopes and Fears for Kamala's America

Mistakes on a First Date

Mistakes When Gardening

Mistakes When Writing

Mistakes in Networking

Mistakes in Public Speaking

Improving Your Romantic Relationship

How I've Made Major Spending Choices

Mistakes College Students Make

I Quit the Spelling Bee: A fictional short-short story

How I Ended Up Living in My Car: A fictional short-short story

The Red Stamp: A fictional short-short story

A Fearful Child: A fictional short-short story

The Joy of Pruning

Death by a Thousand Cuts A fictional short-short story

From A Big to a Tiny Life: a short-short story

Daisy: A short-short story

Genius and Retard: A short-short story

BFF-AI: A short-short story

Secular Sermonette: Beware Pop Psych. They know that easy sells.

Secular Sermonette: More effective altruism

Secular sermonette: No heaven, no hell. It's all here.

Secular Sermonettes: Should You Be Loyal?

From a Park Bench - Day 7: A series of fictional short-short stories

From a Park Bench- Day 6: A series of fictional short stories

From a Park Bench- Day 5: A series of fictional short stories

Cafe Tigre: A fictional short-short story

From the Park Bench - Day 4 A fictional short-short story

"We WILL Choose the President:" How journalists are guaranteeing the Lef...

From the Bench - Day 3: A fictional short-short story

From the Bench - Day 2: A fictional short-short story

From the Bench: A fictional short-short story

If I Were Running for President: The planks of my platform

My Most Popular One-Line Advice, Explained

Trump

A Journalist’s Story: A fictional short-short story

Two Minutes on Going Out to a Restaurant

When I'm Gone: A fictional short-short story

Two Minutes on the Lone Wolf

Two Minutes on Getting a Bargain

The Commission on Healthcare Meets: A parody that may not be far from re...

Two Minutes on Presenting at a Staff Meeting

Two Minutes on Accepting Yourself

The "Roads" Budget: A parody although perhaps not far from reality

Two Minutes on Hosting a House Concert

One Minute on How I Get So Much Done

One Minute on How-To Writing

Two Minutes on Being Out-of-Step

Two Minutes on Estranged Relationships

Two Minutes on Your Substance Abuse

Two Minutes on The Stale Relationship

Three Minutes on Losing Weight and Keeping it Off

Three Minutes on How to Get Ahead

How to Have Enough Money

Honest Obituaries, LLC: A fictional short-short story

Why We're Sadder…and How Can We Improve

The Test Result: a fictional short-short story

Cyclonic: a short-short story

Self-Employment Choices

Getting Unstuck: some tactics

"Plastics are BETTER for the Climate" by Ronald Bailey, Reason Magazine.

A Different Take on July 4

My Musings on Food

My Stream-of-Consciouness, Free Associations on the word, ALONE

Stream-of-Consciousness Free Associations on the word, AGING

Stream-of-Consciousness Free Associations on "PLAY"

A Practical Woman: A fictional short-short story

My Stream-of-Consciousness Free Associations on the word, "WORK"

THE Decision: A short-short story

Stream-of-Consciousness Free Associations on the word "Survival" or "Sta...

My Free Associations on the Word, "America"

Marty Nemko plays a medley from the Sound of Music, Les Miserables, and ...

My free associations on the word, "debate."

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary; A short-short story after The Adventures of W...

The 80-Year-Old Terrorist: A short-short story

The Yin/Yang, Ya-Ya/Na-Na Club: A short-short story after Shirley Jackso...

The Partners: A short-short story after Poe's The Cask of Amontillado

The Wizard's Revenge: A short-short story

Squatters' Rights: A short-short story

In the Safety of My Car: A short-short story

"I Won't Pay!" A short-short story

What the Hell Will Persuade Him?! : A short-short story

Utopia: a short-short story

Scratching: A short-short story

2084: A short-short story

I Needed to be Pushed: A short-short story

I'm Fuckin' Perky: flash fiction

Going Up: a fictional short-short story

The Nebbish: a fictional short-short story

SuperGrowth Hormone: A fictional short-short story

Purple Haze: A fictional short-short- story

A Wrong Step? A fictional short-short story

An Engineer Muses: a short-short story

A Fortune Teller Muses: a short-short story

What a Rabbi Might Be Thinking: a short-short story

What a music graduate might think as he walked down the street: A short-...

What A Cougar Walking Down the Street Might be Thinking: A short-short s...

What a CEO is Thinking as He Leaves the Office: a short-short story

What a 19-Year-Old is Thinking as He's Walking: A short-short story

What an Old Man is Thinking as He Walks: a short-short story

Good Deed: A short-short story

My book, IN A WORD, published today and FREE for a few days only

Published today and FREE for the next few days, the Kindle edition of my new book, IN A WORD: My distilled thoughts on 100 key words (marriage to politics, work to fun): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CZ1W53Q7. And the paperback is just $5. I'd welcome your honest review of it on Amazon.

A Word With Marty: REPETITION

A Word With Marty: MEETING

A Word With Marty: CREATIVES

A Word With Marty: LIBERTARIAN

A Word With Marty: "PRIVILEGE"

A Word With Marty: DRUGS

A Word With Marty: SPENDING

A Word With Marty: COMMUNICATION

A Word With Marty: SEX

A Word With Marty: COP

A Word With Marty: CARPENTER

A Word With Marty: PHYSICIAN

The Hippos: A short-short story

Spoiled: A short-short story

A Preview of My Forthcoming Book, IN A WORD: Candor on 103 worthy words.

Froth: A short-short story

A Word With Marty: "NATURE"

In a Word: My candor on a dozen words related to FUN

Growing Tiny: a short-short story

The Forestallers: a story

My Most Practical One-Liners

Better to Give? A short-short story

Worst to First: A fictional short-short story

A Word With Marty: "LIBRARY"

A Word With Marty: "COFFEE"

A Word With Marty: "FLEECE"

A Word With Marty: "CZ"

A Word With Marty: "PHOTOGRAPHY"

A Word With Marty: "LOOKS" (Our appearance)

A Word With Marty: "INVESTING" (Time and money)

A Word With Marty: "PARTY"

A Word With Marty: "NEW"

A Word With Marty: "CURIOSITY"

A Word With Marty: "DRIVE"

A Word With Marty: "JUSTICE"

A Word With Marty: "RETICENCE"

A Word With Marty: "KNITTING"

A Word With Marty: "ROTARY" (and similar organizations like Kiwanis and ...

A Word With Marty: "LIKABILITY"

A Word With Marty: "FUTURE"

A Word With Marty: "COLOR"

A Word With Marty: "PRACTICAL"

A Word With Marty: "WALKING"

A Word With Marty: "BALD"

A Word With Marty: "MACHINE"

A Word With Marty: "PEACH"

A Word With Marty: "FAMILY"

A Word With Marty: "GARDENING"

A Word With Marty: "READING"

A Word With Marty: "DOG"

A Word With Marty: "EXERCISE"

A Word With Marty: "DEATH"

A Word With Marty: "LONER"

A Word With Marty: "ACCOMPANYING"

A Word With Marty: "PERFORMING"

A Word With Marty: "PIANO"

A Word With Marty: "THEATRE"

A Word With Marty: "SCHOOL" (including college)

A Word With Marty: "WRITING"

A Word With Marty: "EUTHANASIA"

A Word With Marty: "PRAISE"

A Word With Marty: "CORPORATION"

A Word With Marty: "SIMPLE"

A Word With Marty: "PRICES"

A Word With Marty: "MENTOR"

A Word With Marty: "RETIREMENT"

A Word With Marty: "FATHER"

A Word With Marty: "LAZY"

A Word With Marty: "WISDOM"

A Word With Marty: "SELF-EMPLOYMENT"

A Word With Marty: "REDISTRIBUTION"

A Word With Marty: "GROUPTHINK"

A Word With Marty: "MANAGEMENT"

The Most Unlikely Couple? A short-short story

A Word With Marty: "COMMUNITY"

A Word With Marty: "NICE"

A Word With Marty: "SELF-ESTEEM"

A Word With Marty: "BABY"

A Word With Marty: "MARRIAGE"

A Word With Marty: "CONTRACEPTION"

A Word With Marty: "CURATE"

A Word With Marty: "CENSORSHIP"

A Word With Marty: "FAIRNESS"

A Word With Marty: "STOCK"

A Word With Marty: "HERO"

A Word With Marty: "AWESOME"

A Word With Marty: "JOURNAL"

A Word With Marty: "CHARITY"

A Word With Marty: "EFFICIENCY"

A Word With Marty: "NUANCE"

A Word With Marty: "SPACE"

A Word With Marty: "BASEBALL"

A Word With Marty: TRAVEL

A Word With Marty: "FIRST"

A Word With Marty: "TIME"

I play three patriotic songs on the keyboard

A Word With Marty: "POLITICS"

A Word With Marty: "AI"

A Word With Marty: "FACEBOOK"

A Word With Marty: "AMAZON"

A Word With Marty: "PROPERTY"

A Word With Marty: "UNION"

A Word With Marty: "GASLIGHTING"

A Word With Marty: "BUSY"

A Word With Marty: "ROSE"

A Word With Marty: "NATION"

A Word With Marty: "LISTENING"

A Word With Marty: "DEBATE"

A Word With Marty: "DIET"

A Word With Marty: "ANGER"

A Word With Marty: "MUSIC"

A Word with Marty: "MAGIC"

A Word With Marty: "NEGATIVITY"

A Word With Marty: "PROBABILISTIC"

Why This Atheist, Not-Patriotic Feels Warm and Fuzzy Playing God Bless A...

A Word With Marty: "COVID"

A Word With Marty: "INDUSTRIOUS"

A Word with Marty: "VIOLENCE"

A Word with Marty: "ISRAEL"

A Word With Marty: "MEN"

My Reactions to 5 of My Books: Light, Dark, Jeremy's Quests, A Dose of ...

A Word With Marty: "TAXATION"

A Word with Marty: "GENIUS"

A Word with Marty: "INTELLIGENCE"

A Word With Marty: "MEDIA"

A Word with Marty: "TRAUMA"

A Word with Marty: "WORK-LIFE BALANCE"

A Word with Marty: "LOVE"

A Word with Marty: MERIT

My Feelings About 4 of My Books: Secrets, Little Doggie Stories, How to ...

Albert and Maudie Talk About Dying and Living: A fictional short-short s...

Excerpts from Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln: 21 secrets of hi...

Thoughts on Getting Stuff Done...Plus

Self-Acceptance

Managing Your Tendency to Blow Up

Don't Just Sing. Perform!

Addressing Loneliness: A personalized approach

Super-Simple (and Yummy) Recipes

Gardening as Respite

Sustaining a Marriage After 51 Years

My Last Mile: A fictional short-short story

A Man of Contradictions: A fictional short-short story

Limb from Limb: Horror flash-fiction

In the Recycled Coffin: Horror flash fiction

I Hear You: horror flash fiction

Summary of My After-Dinner Speech Tonight at U.C. Berkeley

Loyalty is Irrational

My First Experience at the 70+ Social Club: A fictional short story

The Ph.D's Dilemma: A fictional short-short story

The Shamer: A fictional short-short story

The 8-Year-Old Detective: A short story for kids…but not really.

In Search of Eyeballs

My book, Baby Steps, FREE for a few days

For the next few days, Amazon is making free the Kindle version of my book of doable life improvements, Baby Steps. And I've priced the paperback at just $6.00: https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Steps-relationships-procrastination-communication/dp/B0BNL2JQF5

"Cleaning Up: "A fictional short-short story

A Second Chance: A fictional short-short story

SuperBaby: A short-short story

Superman Updated: A short-short story

What a Hotel Bar Pianist is Thinking: A fictional short-short story

Timeless Love: A fictional short-short story

On Guard: a fictional two-minute story

My book, Work Stories, is free for a few days

In hopes of getting reviews, for the next few days, Amazon has made the Kindle version of my book of 2-minute stories, Work Stories, free/ And I've priced the paperback version at just $5: https://www.amazon.com/Work-Stories-short-short-Marty-Nemko/dp/B0C9S852GM

If We All Had a Lie Detector: A thought experiment

Quit? A fictional short-short story

Small World: A fictional short-short story

What if There Were No Government? A thought experiment

What If There Were No Government: A thought experiment

An Ordinary Day: A fictional short-short story

Getting Less Sad

Why We're Sadder (concise version)

Why We've Become Sadder

My book SENIOR STORIES--2-minute stories is FREE for a few days

 

For the next few days,

Amazon is making FREE the Kindle version of my book Senior Stories: two-minute stories light and dark about people over 60: https://www.amazon.com/Senior-Stories-Lighter-Marty-Nemko-ebook/dp/B0CDT8FG22 

The 103rd Time: A fictional short-short story

The Choices I've Made: A fictional short-short story

The Emperor's New Clothes (DEI version): A fictional short-short story

One Way to Get a Promotion: A fictional short-short story