Not long ago, I had coffee with a former student — a darling, talented woman of late middle age whom I am delighted to have in my life. In a way, we’ve watched each other grow and so there’s a comfortable history between us. Nonetheless, I was taken aback when I told her I w

I wrote a blog a while ago that said psychopaths are so prevalent in society some psychiatrist were suggesting the behavior no longer be listed as a mental illness. What’s more, a recent survey of the disorder revealed that those afflicted with the impairment turned out to have some

The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe, just out, is about the last months the author spent with his mother as she was dying of pancreatic cancer. Mary Anne, the mother, had compiled a list of books she wanted to read before she died, and the pair spent their precious time to

Robert Andrew Powell’s article, “In the Writer’s Room,” (Harpers, 11/12 pg. 7-75) reflects upon his experiences at the Seattle Central Library, one which causes him to wonder if public facilities like these, however grandly designed, aren’t destined to deteriorate into palac

Trompe l’Oeil, my third novel, deals with the world of illusion and raises questions about what’s real, what’s illusion and how to tell the difference. When science poses similar puzzles, the answers aren’t simple either, as Oliver Sacks reveals in his new book, Hallucinations

Entering the new year brings with it the beginning of a new age. The one we’re spiraling toward is the age of robots. More and more they are taking on roles in war and peace that save human lives. A report published in the 2009 edition of the journal Gerontechnology found that socia

If a cat can look at a king, then surely an unknown writer, such as myself, who is published by a press so small one needs a microscope to find it, may occasionally sneer at what passes for authors who write great novels. I refer specifically to Bernard Malamud, Saul Bellow, Philip Ro

The Brautigan Library in Vancouver, Washington is the home of failed manuscripts. Here rejection doesn’t exist and, it would follow, it is the place where a writer needs no talent to be part of the literary community.  Such an institution is necessary, according to its current cura

As the end of the year rolls to a close, it’s time to think about New Year’s resolutions. Mine will be to take the advice of the Caterpillar from The Adventures of Alice In Wonderland. In my blogs I will endeavor to I say what I mean and to mean what I say. Too often in our haste,

On the day before Christmas, I’m thinking about the one gift that keeps giving: language. What fascinates me is the way we borrow words from other cultures to embellish our own. My latest novel, Trompe l’Oeil has a French title. Its meaning is less well known than words like rouge