I’m not an animal lover. In fact, I never acquired pets until last year. I was given a choice: Let two kittens die, take them to the pound to be euthanized, or adopt them. Since I’d spent all of 2013 dancing with death, I adopted the cats. They were about seven months old, so the…
Wictors and airplanes don’t mix
April 23, 2014
I don’t know why, but Wictors and airplanes don’t mix. Chapter Three of Hallucinabulia: the Dream Diary of an Unintended Solitarian is devoted to my experiences with the Old Hag and my nightmares of being in airplane crashes. Dad hated flying as much as I do. It’s my final unconquerable fear. Though I’m not afraid…
Hurricane House, the Tin Man, and free e-books.
April 19, 2014
During our time in Venezuela, we spent three summers on Sanibel Island, Florida, in a little resort called Hurricane House. As best as Tim and I can remember, the years were 1969, 1970, and 1971. Tim took these photos in 1970; our brother Paul shot the picture of Tim. It was on one of these…
What separates me from my brother Tim
March 24, 2014
I’ve written a lot about my brother Tim. He and my brother Eric are the people to whom I’m closest in the world. Tim designed the covers of all three books in the Ghosts Trilogy. Each cover was one basically “one and we’re done.” We discussed ideas for Ghosts and Ballyhoo, but after that I…
We’re seeing them for the first time
November 1, 2013
These photos? We’re seeing them for the first time. You and me both. Mom had thousands of images, but we didn’t talk much about them. Mom’s guiding principle with her children was to not “regiment.” This was a reaction to her own upbringing. Unfortunately, Mom felt that telling us things about herself and her family…