I’m not so self-assured that I can post a “Where Are They Now?” essay without a suspicion that somebody somewhere is writing one about me. But the older I get, the more old friends I wonder about.

When I became editor-in-chief of Dr. Dobb’s Journal, one of the people I relied on was regular columnist Dave Cortesi, DDJ’s “Resident Intern.” Dave eventually went on to other pursuits, and even more eventually, so did I. Along the way I lost track of Dave.

When I looked him up recently, I found that he had written a screenplay of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ A Princess of Mars. I call that a timely discovery, since Andrew Stanton has done the same thing. I’m guessing there will be some differences.

I love seeing different takes on the same subject. I’m currently reading a couple of biographies of Lincoln in parallel. So now I’m planning to revisit the Burroughs text, read Dave’s screenplay, and see the movie all in the same week. Probably ought to queue up some of those Frazetta book covers, too.

Dave’s also shared a couple of his technical books, which will be of interest to the classic-computer buffs in the audience: A Programmer’s Notebook: Utilities for CP/M-80, and Dr. Dobb’s Z80 Toolbook. From CP/M to Mars may be a leap, but Dave was always a wild risk-taker. I base this on the fact that he made a major commitment to OS/2. This book is more recent, and of a very different sort. Another bold leap. The Gods of Mars would be shocked.