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Blog of Jim Flynn
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AuthorJim Flynn is a humorist, writer and novelist. He is available for speaking engagements. To contact email: [email protected] Archives
September 2026
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The Book Club That Faked Its Own Death8/29/2026  Say Vanessa, Does This Chardonnay Taste Odd? An acquaintance belonged to a women’s book club. It was one of those book clubs more interested in chardonnay than literature. Some members read the entire book. Some read part of it. Some bought it and hoped that counted. Nobody cared except one member, a lawyer. She took the club seriously. If someone offered an opinion, the lawyer cross-examined her to determine whether she had actually read the book. “Did you finish it?” “I read most of it.” “That wasn’t my question.” She was so obnoxious and intimidating that the other women decided they had to get rid of her. Unfortunately, nobody was brave enough to tell her. Instead, they announced that the book club was disbanding. The members lived in several different towns. The driving had become inconvenient. Everyone was busy. It had been wonderful, but it was time to move on. Then they reformed the same book club without her. Same women. Same books. Same wine and cheese. This move would not generate a chapter in Profiles In Courage. Removing one member would have required an unpleasant conversation. Killing the entire organization and secretly bringing it back from the dead was apparently easier. The book club thing has given me an idea. A novel. To resolve the story above, the woman lawyer goes psychotic after discovering that the book club reformed without her. She murders the other members. Title: The Case of the Poisoned Chardonnay Subtitle: The book club came back from the dead. Its members didn’t. I think it could be good. Maybe I'll ask Gillian Flynn (no relation) author of Gone Girl, to co-write with me. I should probably stop inventing new books and finish the one I’ve already written. My JR Johnson thriller, Baker, Baker, is nearing completion. Coming soon. Unlike the lawyer, I promise not to cross-examine anyone who buys it and fails to read it.
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Batman vs. Homer8/1/2026  There’s a new trend in filmmaking: the movie is as long as the actual event.
I just saw The Odyssey. Odysseus was gone from home for twenty years—ten years fighting the Trojan War and another ten trying to get back. As I watched the movie, I began to suspect Christopher Nolan had shot it in real time. I defy anyone to make even the $20 Super Tub of popcorn last through the whole thing. Every review seemed to begin the same way: Another Christopher Nolan masterpiece. After that, the critics differed only on which aspect of the masterpieceness was the most masterpiecish. Don’t get me wrong. Christopher Nolan is a gifted man. Oppenheimer was great. But I do hold this against him: The guy has made three—yes, three—Batman movies. I hate Batman. I know it’s irrational to hate a fictional character, but I hate Batman. I am no longer going to spend three hours watching Bruce Wayne (spoiler: he's secretly Batman) in the same dark, dark, depressing movie. He’s a rich guy with really cool toys who always wins and never has any fun. His character arc is: brooding, followed by violence, followed by additional brooding. Hey, Batman: Take up pickleball. Buy a dog. You’re a billionaire. Try to meet some nice girls. The money should help. Back to The Odyssey. If you’ve tried to learn anything about writing in the last fifty years, you haven’t been able to avoid a concept called The Hero’s Journey. A professor named Joseph Campbell wrote a book called The Hero with a Thousand Faces. I recommend reading the book if you suffer from severe insomnia. Otherwise, ask ChatGPT for a summary. If you’re too lazy to do that, here it is: The hero leaves home. Bad things happen. The hero returns changed. The Odyssey is one of the original blueprints. George Lucas read Joseph Campbell's book and made Star Wars. Hollywood, which values artistic integrity—money—above everything else, saw the box office for Star Wars and lost its mind. Ever since, screenwriting professors have found the Hero’s Journey in every successful story, whether it’s actually there or not. Agatha Christie didn’t write Hero’s Journeys. Hercule Poirot doesn’t enter a strange new world and return transformed. He questions twelve unpleasant rich people, identifies the murderer, and remains exactly as irritating as he was at the beginning. I watched The Odyssey looking for the familiar beats of the Hero’s Journey. They were there. After all, it helped invent them. Was the movie too long? For me, yes. But I’m not the target audience. It was a superb superhero movie. And Odysseus, played by Matt Damon, actually smiled occasionally. That puts him ahead of Batman. My new thriller, Baker Baker, is coming soon. JR Johnson doesn’t take a Hero’s Journey. He follows the money. Several people are trying to kill him. JR thinks all these people trying to get him is fun. I think you'll have fun too. No intermission required. |
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