Dispatches since 2005
The journal
Announcements, new editions, travel, diving, cooking and the working life of a novelist — 187 entries, all of them here in full.
May 15, 2007 · 228 words
Got Money . . . ?
Got money? Are you not simply comfortable or well off, but, well, rich? Do you regularly make impulse purchases of six figures or more? If you needed to fly coast-to-coast in a hurry, could you rent a private jet without worrying about it? (Never mind if you actually would; the question is could you?) In […]
Read entry →May 9, 2007 · 775 words
re: Write
I’ve been doing two simultaneous rewrites, the final draft of the new novel Implied Spaces, and the proofs of the reissue of my 1987 novel, Voice of the Whirlwind. This was the first time I’d read VotW since correcting the original proofs more than twenty years ago. I’ve been very proud of the book, and […]
Read entry →May 9, 2007 · 296 words
RunningJumpingDivingRollingClimbing
I’ve been transfixed by videos featuring le parkour, the French sport of freestyle urban climbing, also known as “free running.” Most people got their introduction to le parkour in the opening scene of the film Casino Royale, but that was a slick action film, and most parkour videos have a decidedly homemade quality.Le
Read entry →May 3, 2007 · 874 words
Dippy
So the other night we went to see Arlo Guthrie play in Socorro, the Athens of the Southwest.We noticed that Arlo plays in Socorro about every other year, and that the shows always sell out. Hmm, we thought, maybe we’ve been missing something. But first we went to Club Macey for what they called the […]
Read entry →April 30, 2007 · 222 words
Portales
For the last three days I’ve been in Portales, NM, for the 31st Jack Williamson Lecture. This is the first lecture since Jack’s death last year at the age of 98, but there was no decline in the number of professionals who came to honor Jack and to participate in the luncheon and other activities. […]
Read entry →April 24, 2007 · 361 words
Khorasan
The other night Kathy and I drove to Socorro, the Athens of the Southwest, for a concert by Niyaz. (Considering the music, Socorro became for one night more like the Khorasan of the Southwest.) Niyaz is sort of a world music supergroup, assembled out of performers who have had successful careers on their own and [&hell
Read entry →April 21, 2007 · 850 words
The Story Editor Inside Me
Somerset Maugham wrote something to the effect that people read less fiction as they grow older, because the stories in fiction can only take certain predictable shapes, whereas real life (as represented in Maugham’s example by history or biography) is essentially without limit. I find that this is true in my case. I r
Read entry →April 18, 2007 · 1,760 words
Robins Hood
BBC America has been running the latest version of Robin Hood, and I— a sucker for dramas in which characters wear tights and bash each other with heavy lengths of iron— have been watching. The Brits seem to do a new Robin Hood every decade or so, I suppose because the Merrie Men, though diligent […]
Read entry →April 18, 2007 · 239 words
Eat Like an Edwardian
I read with fascination this article from the Times, in which the author and his wife enjoyed a typical Edwardian diet of 5000 calories per day. Here’s the menu for the first day.DAY 1Breakfast: Porridge, sardines, curried eggs, grilled cutlets, coffee, hot chocolate, bread, butter, honey. Lunch: Sauté of kidneys on to
Read entry →April 11, 2007 · 669 words
I Hab’ a Co’de
Or some other damn kind of virus. Sore throat, splitting headache, constant cough, sleepless nights, general misery. And this just after I’d given the tax stuff to the accountant and was ready for some fun. Instead I’m housebound watching videos, because my head hurts too much when I try to read. Here’s what I’ve seen.
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