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 »
Progress & impediments: Why I’m leaving Facebook
Back on January 1, I posted my New Year’s Resolutions, here. Sorry to report less than satisfactory progress on all but one goal, learning German. Thanks to the exercises on DuoLingo, that’s going quite well. I can now read texts much more easily, though still with frequent recourse to the dictionary. However, my main purpose … read more »
2024: Return of the Man Who Can
The Man Who Can is the most potent and most pragmatic of my alter-egos, the one who solves problems and gets things done, but he has been unavailable, hors de combat for much of this past year. Two overseas trips — to the U.S. in June and Italy in October — interrupted my, and his, work. … read more »