I posted this to Twitter a few days ago, and thought I’d add it here too: I snapped that from our house: the sun, behind clouds, rising in a frigid sky over […]
Catskills Dawn
R. J. Nello
Author: “Conventions: The Garden At Paris,” “Passports,” “Frontiers,” and “Distances.” British Airways frequent flier. Lover of the Catskill Mountains...and the 1700s. New novel of 1797-1805, "Tomorrow The Grace," due out in 2019.
Genre
In the previous post, I noted offhandedly I consider the novel generally to be “historical fiction.” Valerie Holmes then pointed out in a comment that there are narrower genres (“romance, thriller, crime […]
A Page Turner With Some Gravitas (I Hope)
If you have dipped in here for the first time, “Welcome.” I started this site last month. On it, I have been intermittently sharing my experiences about writing – and actually finishing! […]
Consular Access? Uh, Maybe….
Americans’ reactions to Amanda Knox‘s treatment in the Italian justice system are often intriguing. Some seem to feel she is an “innocent abroad” Italian prosecutors have decided to persecute despite there being […]
The World’s Most Popular Tourist City Is….
….not Paris. It’s London. The capital of the United Kingdom has apparently seized the top spot. So reports CNN: ….Proclaiming “London dethrones Paris,” the conservative daily Le Figaro had compared London’s projected […]
“Ici, pas là”
When in 1978 Buffalo Bills head coach Marv Levy called a referee an “over-officious jerk,” Levy had unwittingly coined an expression that by now has entrenched itself in the American vernacular. It […]
Amazon’s “Sneak Peek”
Amazon informs authors: KDP takes the first 10% of your content and creates a sample that customers can view before purchasing the Kindle Edition of your title…. When I spotted that pre-publication, […]
And For The Movie Version….
In the late-1930s, American readers had clamored for Clark Gable to play “Rhett Butler.” Decidedly more recently, we are told Downton Abbey creator/ writer Julian Fellowes has said he had Hugh Bonneville […]
Quick Take 2: “Valérie”
Early in the novel, a “Valérie” is mentioned by Isabelle during a lunch conversation in New York…. __________ Valérie and Isabelle have known each other for some years: “My good friend Valérie […]
Lost In Translation
It has been widely reported that France’s socialist president, François Hollande, has been having an affair with actor (and socialist), Julie Gayet. (She is some twenty years younger than he is.) Unsurprisingly, […]
Quick Take: “Virginie”
I knew from the start that writing anything about France is to venture into a literary minefield. We know it is one of the most studied places there is. Whatever you put […]
“Disengaging” From “The World”?
On one hand, we had heard for years that the U.S. was too engaged; it was the world’s policeman, or the world’s cowboy, or the imperialist. On the other hand, we had […]
A Rare First Edition
How about a Tuesday laugh? In The Big Sleep, private eye Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart) walks into what looks like an ordinary bookshop, but which he knows is really a front for […]
Strangers In An Airport
Christmas “flying season” is ending once again. Airports are among the most remarkable crossroads of our times, aren’t they? In them, regularly we encounters strangers transiting…. to wherever. Yet rarely do we […]
“About Me”
I have put up a proper “About Me” page. For some reason, I had neglected to do so before now, but I don’t really know why. Regardless, that oversight has been rectified […]
