Category Archives: books

A Modern Hero

Posted on May 6, 2024 by Lee

In Arthur Machen’s The Hill of Dreams, Lucian writes a book, submits it to a publisher and, after an agonising wait, receives a rejection. Some time later his book is published – under the name of another author. Lucian’s work … Continue reading →

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On Poe and Writing with Purpose

Posted on April 22, 2024 by Lee

H.P. Lovecraft said the genius of Edgar Allan Poe was that he expressed human sensations the way they really are. The sensations he was interested in describing were those of pain, decay, and terror. Poe was carrying out a scientific … Continue reading →

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The Admonishing Stars

Posted on March 11, 2024 by Lee

Imagine if the stars came out only once every thousand years, says Ralph Waldo Emerson. How people would gather to see them, and preserve the memory of them, passing down the story of the stars from generation to generation. (Imagine … Continue reading →

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Friday, 21st February 1997

Posted on February 21, 2024 by Lee

Besides getting his toilet fixed by a man called “Dirty Dave,” William Burroughs spent the day reading Asylum by Patrick McGrath. It’s been a long time since I read that book. I remember I enjoyed it but little more. What … Continue reading →

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Empty

Posted on November 30, 2023 by Lee

To be empty inside is to have “no special way of moving or doing things so one way is the same … as another.” You learn things fast and follow instructions well. You are useful to others. “The Dead Child” … Continue reading →

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Home

Posted on November 24, 2023 by Lee

I finished reading Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich this morning. The Earth is our home, and the future home will be the Earth to come. In the story, the planet is changing fast and the future … Continue reading →

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Sharing Dreams

Posted on November 14, 2023 by Lee

I’m reading Assassin’s Fate by Robin Hobb this week. Not telling the prophetic dreams makes them sick. It’s like an obsession, says one of the dreamers. It feels, upon waking, like the dream must be told, or at least written … Continue reading →

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Doors

Posted on August 3, 2023 by Lee

To make a short story by Kafka even shorter: A man approaches a door and is told by the doorkeeper that he cannot enter. The door is wide open and the man thinks about just strolling through and the doorkeeper … Continue reading →

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A little says a lot

Posted on July 6, 2023 by Lee

“In the chair / I decided to call Haiku / By the name of Pop” I like Jack Kerouac’s approach to haiku. As everyone knows, haiku means a poem of seventeen syllables. But Kerouac didn’t think the syllable restriction worked … Continue reading →

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Godspeed

Posted on June 6, 2023 by Lee

“This day winding down now / At God speeded summer’s end” are the first two lines of Dylan Thomas’s “Prologue.” William York Tindall points out how the “now” and “end” stand at the ends of the lines, giving these words … Continue reading →

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