Author Archives: Sean Murphy

About Sean Murphy

SEAN MURPHY (@bullmurph) is the author of Not To Mention a Nice Life and the best-selling memoir Please Talk about Me When I’m Gone. He's a columnist for PopMatters and writes frequently about the technology industry. His work has also appeared in Salon, The Good Men Project, The Village Voice, AlterNet, Web Del Sol, Punchnel’s, and Northern Virginia Magazine. He has appeared on NPR's "All Things Considered" and been quoted in USA Today, The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Forbes and AdAge. Check him out at seanmurphy.net

Stop Me if You’ve Heard This One Before

Posted on June 17, 2015 by Sean Murphy

Question: What’s a writer to do in an era where memoirs are assumed to be fictional and novels are, increasingly, considered thinly-veiled cris de coeur? Answer: Deny Everything. Continue reading →

Posted in Memoir, The Arts | Tagged Anthony Burgess, david foster wallace, fiction, james frey, Jonathan Yardley, Kurt Vonnegut, Literary Theory, memoir, Milan Kundera, Not To Mention a Nice Life, Please Talk about Me When I'm Gone, Sean Murphy, The Things They Carried, The Weeklings, Tim O'Brien | 4 Comments

The 50 Greatest Hockey Enforcer Names of All Time

Posted on May 27, 2015 by Sean Murphy

While debate can rage about the role of fighting in hockey, there is no doubt that the history of hockey enforcing has produced names that would do Shakespeare, Dickens and Nabokov proud. Continue reading →

Posted in Sports | Tagged Bill Clement, Dale Hunter, Darren Van Impe, Derek Boogaard, Enforcer, Garth Butcher, Gary Thorne, Goon, hockey, Jeff Beukeboom, Jim Playfair, Lindy Ruff, Marty McSorley, Murray Craven, NHL, Sean Murphy, Shane Churla, Stu Grimson, The Code, The Grim Reaper, Tie Domi, Tony Twist | 23 Comments

April 15, 1985: The Fight

Posted on April 15, 2015 by Sean Murphy

For the last 30 years, I’ve regarded Hagler/Hearns the way oral poets preserved the ancient stories: I’ve remembered it, replayed it and above all, celebrated it. Continue reading →

Posted in Sports | Tagged 1980's, April 15 1985, Best sporting event, boxing, Brazil, Joga Bonito, Marvin Hagler, Roberto Duran, Sean Murphy, Socrates, Sugar Ray Leonard, The Fight, Thomas Hearns | 1 Comment

“Mad Men” Eulogies: Don’s Bottle

Posted on April 2, 2015 by Sean Murphy

You’ll miss the bad old days, when ad men could not manage the madness they made. Continue reading →

Posted in Appreciations | Tagged alcohol, AMC, Don Draper, john hamm, Mad Men, nostalgia | Leave a comment

In Defense of Stephen King

Posted on March 31, 2015 by Sean Murphy

Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. Continue reading →

Posted in Literature | Tagged 'Salem's Lot, Christine, Cujo, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Harold Bloom, High-brow, It, Low-brow, Rolling Stone, Sean Murphy, Stephen King, The Stand | 6 Comments

Sorry, Charlie

Posted on January 23, 2015 by Sean Murphy

Everyone, it seems, opposes censorship until it’s their sacred cow being smacked around; anyone can endorse artists’ rights until it’s their ass in the crosshairs. Free speech is—and must be—an all-or-nothing proposition. Continue reading →

Posted in Current Events | Tagged America, Censorship, Charlie Hebdo, Christopher Hitchens, Conservative, East, Free Speech, Liberal, Paris, religion, Salman Rushdie, Sean Murphy, West | 5 Comments

What We Talk About When We Talk About Sex (In Fiction)

Posted on December 10, 2014 by Sean Murphy

Writing about sex is like engaging in sex: it’s hard. Except when it’s not hard enough. Continue reading →

Posted in Literature, Sex | Tagged Bad Sex in FIction Award, Ben Okri, Bukowski, Chaucer, Christopher Hitchens, David Guterson, Hemingway, Jackie Treehorn, John Updike, Laura Miller, Literary Review, Liz Taylor, philip roth, Richard Burton, Sean Murphy, Shakespeare, The Miller's Tale, Tom Wolfe | 2 Comments