She looked him up and down. She wanted to touch his hair. It was beautiful, straight and just perfect. She’d grown up in a small town in Montana and she had never met a guy with such perfect hair. In fact, she was sure that she had never met a girl with such perfect hair. … Continue reading →

Let me share with you one of my favorite moments from “The Catcher in the Rye.” “Among other things, you’ll find that you’re not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You’re by no means alone on that score, you’ll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, … Continue reading →

I need a spiritual cleansing. We all do. Sometimes, the years wear on us in ways that are hard to account. Bitterness creeps into our soul. Our normal remedies — walks, friends, water, good music, worthwhile projects — these old remedies don’t work well enough.  I turn to a long-forgotten project. Writing what’s in my … Continue reading →

This is still one of my favorite quotes from “Catcher in the Rye”. It is also the book’s most iconic. “Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around – nobody big, I mean – except me. And … Continue reading →

Gustav von Aschenbach, a German literary giant in his twilight years, decides to leave home for reasons barely understand. His vague desires lead him to travel to Venice where he comes across his own version of perfection, embodied in the figure of a Polish boy. The first time I read this book, it was all … Continue reading →

I went back to my first novel “The Sage and the Scarecrow” because I felt like I had unfinished business. I felt like I could write it again. I felt like I could do it better this time around. My skills were improved, my sense of myself as a person more complete. This led me … Continue reading →

Project Summary: The following is a chapter from my 2004 novel The Sage and the Scarecrow. At the moment, I am revising the chapters from this book into 3-4 page short stories for posting on my blogs and in literary magazines. If you are interested in reading the eventual completed revised edition of “The Sage … Continue reading →