...is a book by Alex Garland which I read thirteen years ago, just after hiking the Annapurna Circuit, and adored. I will read it again in the near future, because it is set in the Philippines, to which I will be flying next Friday. (After a 30-hour lay-of-the-land stop in Taipei ( Read more... )

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I heard Jane's Addiction's "Jane Says" on the radio the other night, driving home from MAN OF STEEL, and was reminded of what I learned about it while researching CANNIBALS AND THIEVES. (A novel that never came together; I did a whole bunch of research for it, and wrote an entire first draft plus a lot of offshoot prose in 2007-8, but while it had ( Read more... )

So this story (from my former home city) serves to buttress a theory I've had for a long time now: conservatives who don't practice what they preach aren't hypocrites, they're terrified that the world is full of people just like them, plagued by evil temptations on all sides at all times. "The world needs a strong illiberal hand because if everyone ( Read more... )

From Dee Brown's The American West:

Bushrod Wilson, sailor and adventurer, described the town of San Francisco on July 3, 1850: "This place is a hard hole. Gambling, drunkenness, and immorality to excess, and a person that has just broke out in life is in great danger of being ruined here. Everything that will effect the senses is resorted to for ( Read more... )

So first of all let's talk about the cats. The Internet has an inordinate fondness for cats, right?

So too does Istanbul. In the evening it is not uncommon to see three or four feral cats perched or prowling along any given short stretch of street. Black, ginger, chiaroscuro and (mostly) patchwork, in the Sultanahmet and Taksim districts alike1 ( Read more... )

I do so love this city. (While remaining cognizant of its flaws.) One day S. and I will buy a little flat here and spend a couple months here each year, I do declare ( Read more... )

I'm going to be Officially Godparented this weekend, and thought I might read/recite a short poem to/for my eight-year-old hitherto-informal goddaughter. It's an irreverent family (even though her father is a vicar) so I'm an inclined towards an irreverent poem, though that's not set in stone. Anyone have any poetic ideas ( Read more... )

Ten days 'til my next European sojourn: I arrive London a week from Friday, spend a few days there, a few days in Paris, and then a week in Istanbul and/or thereabouts. Aside from seeing various friends in London and Paris I am almost devoid of specific plans, which pleaseth me ( Read more... )

I'm in a Motel 6 in Ukiah, California, for my sins ( Read more... )