CHRONICLES archives the successive newsletters.
Or The Dangers of Talking Too Much A few months ago, a friend asked if he could come by with a friend of his whose son needed a little advice about his art education. Normally, I don’t accept visits and meetings of any kind, but of course make exceptions for friends...
Or All About Lost Worlds (and How They Get That Way) I’ve always loved history. Naturally, I suffered through history in high school, like most kids. Actually, we didn’t even really have “history” class, which was deemed too stuffed-shirt and not “progressive” enough...
It’s not as if life actually leads me in circles. (I prefer to think of them as ellipses.) I’m afraid my newsletters have also hit their astronomical apogee (the point farthest from the inspiration around which they orbit) and have devolved into the common or garden...
Or Every Screen Has a Silver Lining I’ve always wanted to be king of a castle. Admittedly, it’s not a popular category in the “Help Wanted” section, and such opportunities are limited. So, when Cerigo Films came with the idea of a short documentary on Leo Schnug and...
Or Pencils and Other Pointy Things… RECLAIMING THE BLADE While it’s clear that swords are nasty sharp pointy things designed exclusively for poking holes in people when it’s not lopping bits off them, they are nonetheless an intergral part of our cultural heritage. I...
Any milestone is worth taking these days, even the ones we all ineluctably see pass by at the year’s end and beginning. May 2007 be kind to us all. THREE AND COUNTING… Next year promises to be an especially busy one. I am putting the finishing touches on a new book,...
Or of Light Sabers and Lutes I can’t sing. Or rather, I can, but birds drop out of the sky and trees lose their leaves in dismay. (I do sing, loudly and tunelessly, in the car, but the mechanic says it’s bad for the spark plugs.) Music is beyond my grasp. While my...
DEC. 16, 2006 I’ll be signing books (and whatever is thrust under my nose) in Strasbourg from 14h30 to 16h30 this Saturday the 16th, at a new bookshop called KAO BANG, dedicated exclusively to fantasy, 34 rue du Jeu des Enfants, 67000 Strasbourg. (That’s in the...
Or the Hydroponics of Belonging When people ask me if I miss Canada, I reply “Not at all, it’s a great place to be from.” “The key word is from.” I often add helpfully, just in case they did not get my drift. Speaking of drift, I remain a willing exile from my home...
To a Land of Sloping Shale, Dark Woods and Extendable Steeds I love driving north through Champagne. The vinyards peter out, replaced by wide rolling fields and finally steeper slopes and forest fill the horizon. The Ardennes*. There are too many trucks and tractors...
Or Believing is Believing I have a grown-up son. Naturally, this didn’t happen overnight although I am seriously questioning my notions of time and how it’s perceived. It won’t come as a surprise to other parents with grown-up kids that it DID seem like yesterday he...
Or All About Illustrators, Illusions and Imperial Eagles I’m sure it’s no secret how much I enjoy the company of castles. In a former life, I’d happily imagine myself king of some regal keep - though it’s more likely I’d have been a beggar at the gates....