Prose

I have just finished Hilary Mantell’s conclusion of the life of Thomas Cromwell, the He of this title) a saga that began with Wolf Hall, proceeded through Bring Up the Bodies, and ended with Read more about The King and He

Writers' groups will all tell you that everybody hates a prologue. I still like this one from my second novel, Ghosts of the Heart:

Gavin Hudson narrowed his eyes against the glare of the sun. He could never quite accustom himself to the brightness of the overworld. Still, he'd been waiting for this moment for some time. She was back. He was certain of it. This time, the ascent would be worth the effort. Read more about A Prologue

Haven't finished any books recently to review, so I'm putting little intros to other fiction in here. This is the first page from my first novel, The Year of the Crow.

2030 Green Bay, WI Read more about YOTC Page 1

I didn't know his first name until much later, when the problem of Santos had been solved for all of us except Santos, who would carry the problem of himself wherever he went, most lately to somewhere out in Montana. Read more about An Old Story

In any other era, we might be burning the witches who brought the plague, expelling the Jews who poisoned the wells, or clearing the miasma. This last theory – that bad air brought disease – was not dispelled until 1880 or so, replaced by the germ theory, but it was probably the most salubrious, not to mention humane, of them all.

In the 21st Century Covid-19 pandemic, however, we have mostly been left to our own devices – and thank all the powers that be, we have plenty of devices. Read more about Varieties of Diversion

“The Bulgarians had actually oscillated quite markedly over the years from enthusiastic pro-Germanism to ultra-Slavophilism. Neither served them well. As a local commentator remarked at the time, Bulgaria always chooses the wrong card … and slams it on the table!" Read more about Becoming Europe

Little did I know when I finished Michael Lewis’s The Fifth Risk a few weeks ago that by the time I got around to writing about it here the risks he writes of would have escalated to an unprecedented degree. Read more about Risky Business

Yeah, *that* Kissinger. Good old Henry himself.

Why, you may ask, is a 70-something hippie/deadhead/pagan/Democrat devoting a page of her website to the demon of 20th Century foreign policy?

Curiosity. That’s why. Read more about Kissinger

The President glanced up from his phone.

“What the fuck’s going on? Why aren’t we moving?”

“Apparently there’s a protest or something going on. The Secret Service has it in hand. Do you want me to check personally, sir?”

“Yes. Wait. No. I’m gonna go straighten this out right now. Who the fuck do they think they are, blocking the President’s motorcade? I just wanna get this Arlington bullshit over with.” Read more about Crossing the River

Over the summer I finished reading Hillary Clinton’s What Happened. You’ll notice there is no question mark. It is a simple statement. Hillary knows damned well what happened. This book is her attempt to explain it all to us. From her point of view. Which is valid and instructive and heart-wrenching in many different ways. But over the years I’ve come to believe that given what she was up against, there were very few and narrow paths to electoral college victory. Read more about What Happened