The perpetual struggle for a just society
For my 85th birthday, April 3, Susana arranged for us a trip that she knew was tremendously important to me, for reasons both professional and personal: our visit to Hamburg and then to Kiel in northeast Germany, from March 31 to our return to Spain on April 9. A birthday is always an opportunity, or … read more »
The year to come
My main resolution for 2026 is to continue to advance the three projects I had set out for myself in 2024: writing, language, and saving the world. So what is called for now is a progress report. But first, an explanation. 1) “Saving the world” in the face of wars and genocide, rapid climate change … read more »
Resolutions, past and present
For 2024, I posted four New Year’s resolutions as my alter ego The Man Who Can : 1, a new novel, this time set in Germany; 2, acquiring fluency in German; 3, more book reviews, and 4, getting better on guitar. I‘m part way there, on all four goals – except maybe no. 4, … read more »
Sociological fiction
My fiction is often set amid upheavals that have changed the world — or attempted to. Revolutionary and counterrevolutionary movements in Latin America, in Welcome to My Contri; the tensions leading to the fall of the Byzantine and rise of the Ottoman Empire in A Gift for the Sultan; or the Franco-Prussian war and the … read more »
You and I, our own fictional creations
The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human, and How to Tell Them Better by Will Storr My rating: 5 of 5 stars An event “may flash before our eyes, or brush our skin, or make our ear drums vibrate, but we give it no importance until or unless we see its relevance to … read more »