“235” Summers Ago…

Everyone who has ever lived has lived in their own present day and every present day has its challenges. We have no choice but to face up to ours.

A Journey To “Lasagna” Italy

I have no idea how much the novel’s author - whom I had never heard of before - actually knew about Italy when she wrote a book set in Italy.

For Only Men

For most of us recalling the history of, say, the "1800s" is not that important on a daily basis. In comparison, it is absolutely critical that those empowered by us to decide our laws are able to do so. Therefore it is downright scary when laws are suggested or interpreted today based on an inaccurate and/or incomplete knowledge of our past.

“Shall we never return home?”

As we disturbingly see, day in and day out, this world NEVER leaves us without new material.

The Moan Of The Privileged

Being an author, white, a man, and in that general "older" age group now, I would like to point this out.

My “Top Three” (Of Both)

As a man, I do not believe another male author who claims to have written a woman character out of “thin air”…

The Family Perspective

The other day I had also seen an Instagram post by a writer in which she discusses her parents as parental inspirations for two of her characters. My parents – especially my late mother – particularly on my mind due also to the names of the house sellers, seeing her post got me thinking. Parents, eh?

What I Have Never Done And I Will Never Do

I would NEVER even attempt to guess at what “all readers” expect as they open a new book.

Red, White, And Blue

Even as I finished writing this, I still had had no title in mind for this post. Then one moments ago hit me. Poppies are ”red” and both the U.S.A. and Russia have flags of ”red, white, and blue.”

Downtime

At a dinner Saturday night with a couple of friends, the wife in the couple asked from across the table if I have a new book in mind. In response, I was honest.

A New Home

We had considered returning to Dorset. Always in the back of our minds, though, was the old line: “You can never go back.” So we thought it was best to try somewhere new.

Agatha’s Place

On Saturday we visited crime/mystery writer Agatha Christie’s (1890-1976) River Dart house in Greenway, Devon, not far from the port town of Dartmouth.

Fear Of History

The anti-“Critical race theory” carryings on is more proof too many whites in particular wish not to discuss and even to dismiss a past that was often undeniably savage and morally indefensible – and yet many even living in that past, such as Thomas Jefferson, at the time themselves knew what they were living was both.

Unexpected Outreach

I do NOT as a rule now read my own reviews or cite them. I leave it to readers perhaps to “debate” my novels as they so choose “among themselves” - because everyone is entitled to their opinion. However, when a reader reaches out to me directly, that is a different story…

”The World Of Writing”

As I continue to recover from our return flight here to England on Tuesday into Wednesday, I thought I’d have some fun and have a scroll for the first time in several months at what some of them are talking about…