Pale Fire, by Vladimir Nabokov

This is the epitome of genius. Nabokov must have some kind of freak literary gene that makes him so good with words. This is one of the few books I've wanted to start reading again the moment I reached the end. (I think Lolita was another...) On the surface, Pale fire is a 999 line …

Picture book?

My novella has some pictures in it, and strange things done with the formatting. I wonder how that will go over or who will like and dislike it... I need to take one more picture to stick in there, and finish editing of course, then I will get to hear from some readers whether all …

The quest for youth

I've started listening to the Picture of Dorian Gray, and it has a lot of intriguing dialogue so far. I like that Dorian is so jealous of the painting even right from the start. That it will stay young and he will get old is such a painful idea for him, that he brings it …

I can’t stop writing

Which may seem like a good problem to have, except I'm supposed to be editing. Since I finished my novella, I've written five short stories, and just signed up to write another... and I've only edited, partially, one chapter of my novel. I know I need to focus on editing, or the writing was for …

Language is neat

The 'sentence' in that caption, is perfectly clear to young people today (and getting-old types like myself, too), even without the context of the picture. Yet, as little as 20 years ago it would be complete nonsense, and 20 years from now it will probably rejoin the incomprehensible. But we also have classics written hundreds …