I could use your help here. I’ve lost a poem. I know what it’s about: a man determined never to return to the sea, who nevertheless can’t forget the love he feels for the vast reaches of the salt ocean. I’ve tried searching the net for the only line I remember from the poem, and … Continue reading Of Lakes and Seas
Writing
Bagelwarp
So, there’s this huge multi-national food conglomerate, and they have a research and development division. These people do vital investigations into such important stuff as finding a name for ketchup or horseradish that doesn’t mean anything dirty in eighty world languages. This would be such an opportunity for recent grads in Modern Languages or Asian Studies. … Continue reading Bagelwarp
“Richard! Richard!” (Jane Seymour in Somewhere in Time)
Influencer—that’s a word that shows up a lot now. Images that drift by us on movie screens or crowd out at us on social media. People we look up to or envy. The truth is we make up our lives as we go along; we didn’t come with an instruction book or a style guide. … Continue reading “Richard! Richard!” (Jane Seymour in Somewhere in Time)
Sleeper
Since I’m already on the couch and you appear to be taking notes, I thought I’d talk about all those railways. There are two railways in Requiem for Noah. Okay, one of them is underwater, but still… Requiem for Mary Mac takes place at the Halton Radial Train Museum, where they retire and maintain streetcars. … Continue reading Sleeper
Skirting Horror
When I was growing up in Scotland I read the boys’ magazines like the Eagle and Dandy, and, of course, the comic books. In the post war austerity of the time the British comic books were in black and white, with colour only on the covers. Every now and then, though, a tubular package would … Continue reading Skirting Horror
Haunted Spreadsheet
I attended an educational workshop once where they used the old right brain left brain theory as an ice-breaker. Just as a refresher: the left brain is the side that thinks logically and linearly. It’s the Mr. Spock of the bi-cameral world. The right brain is the flakey new age Aquarian who’s all about intuition … Continue reading Haunted Spreadsheet
Sinister Seasons
In the ancient Greek theatre, when a character went off the stage to the left (sinistra) the audience knew he was going someplace dangerous, like prison or the wilderness. If he went off to the right (dextra) that was okay; he was headed back home to the palace or to a quiet night on Mount … Continue reading Sinister Seasons
Here There Be Ghosts
If you write about dragons and elves nobody gives you a hard time. They know that as an author you’ve created a world in which magic and imagination is a given. Nobody wants to know if you really believe in dragons. Such stories spring from a time when fear and mystery were as close as … Continue reading Here There Be Ghosts
Douglas Cockell 