EJ Simon 4/27/26 EJ Simon 4/27/26

We Don’t Live Our Lives Inside a Novel

Unlike novels, life is messy, ridiculously complicated, even downright chaotic, and the characters aren’t even believable. Good luck pitching it to an agent.

EJ Simon 3/28/26 EJ Simon 3/28/26

To Read the Impossible Book

I’ve loved “Man of La Mancha” since I first saw it in the sixties, so when I recently tried to read Don Quixote, I expected to be at least as deeply affected. Sadly, reality had different ideas.

EJ Simon 2/17/26 EJ Simon 2/17/26

You Don’t Know What You’ve Got Till It’s Gone

Warning: 70s Folk Rock Ahead

EJ Simon 12/16/25 EJ Simon 12/16/25

A Few of My Favorite Things

What do snowstorms, martinis, and baseball have in common?

EJ Simon 11/20/25 EJ Simon 11/20/25

We are all odd, in our own ways. I may be odder than most.

What do pickleball, refrigerator magnets, and leaving Yankee Stadium have in common?

EJ Simon 10/21/25 EJ Simon 10/21/25

Here’s What I’ve Been Working On

The [finished] Unfinished Paris Novel, Behind the Rectory Door, and … Michael Nicholas #6?

EJ Simon 6/23/25 EJ Simon 6/23/25

All’s Well That Ends Well?

A few words about endings, real and fictional.

EJ Simon 3/19/25 EJ Simon 3/19/25

Fiction Often Tells Us What’s Coming

Sometimes fiction gives us a glimpse of the future.

EJ Simon 1/24/25 EJ Simon 1/24/25

Books Are Good For You

Expand those neural pathways and live vicariously!

EJ Simon 12/17/24 EJ Simon 12/17/24

Armchair Travel via Death in the Kremlin

Oh, the places you’ll go without ever leaving home!

EJ Simon 9/4/24 EJ Simon 9/4/24

When Your Main Character Suddenly Invades Another Country

The perils of using real people as fictional characters.

EJ Simon 7/12/24 EJ Simon 7/12/24

The Role of Chance in our Lives, or How a Single Moment Can Change Everything

From unexpected meetings to book that change our lives, E. J. Simon ponders the role chance—or fate—can play in our daily lives.

EJ Simon 2/23/24 EJ Simon 2/23/24

One of the most-asked questions of authors is “Where do you get your ideas?”

Dreams, travel, colorful friends … E. J. Simon considers where the ideas for his books come from.

EJ Simon 1/21/24 EJ Simon 1/21/24

Thoughts on the Progress of Artificial Intelligence

We’ve come a long way since HAL turned homicidal in “2001: A Space Odyssey,” but where is AI headed from here?

EJ Simon 11/21/23 EJ Simon 11/21/23

Artificial Intelligence Has Caught Up With My Fiction

Ten years ago, my premise — that Alex Nicholas had himself “copied” into an AI in the Cloud before he died — was called far-fetched by some reviewers. Not anymore.

EJ Simon 9/12/23 EJ Simon 9/12/23

Is fiction a look into the heart and soul of the author?

Despite an author's assurances that certain characters are not a reflection of his own personality, they often are.

EJ Simon 4/7/23 EJ Simon 4/7/23

Are My Fictional Characters Real?

Many of my characters are loosely based on people I know, but I try not to be limited by reality.

EJ Simon 1/26/23 EJ Simon 1/26/23

Novels & Politics

When I’m writing, I’m not looking to find another way to divide us or to create more angst for myself than I already have.

EJ Simon 12/15/22 EJ Simon 12/15/22

What is fiction, anyway?

I want to be James Bond, but I don’t want to be swimming with crocodiles or get dissected by Goldfinger and his industrial laser. I like going to bed early.

EJ Simon 10/6/22 EJ Simon 10/6/22

Multiple Lives

Being a writer is likely as close as I’ll to come to fully experiencing a different life—and maybe that’s just as well.