It seems the right day to reread this story. I am writing in the near dark, just the illumination of candles and a friendly pair of glowing pumpkins looking over my shoulder. Jack Straw was one of those rare stories that appear instantly and somehow hardwired in my brain. I wrote it all at once, […]
On this All Saints and All Souls Read More »
I am having a wonderful time reading 16th-century Basile's splendid introductions to stories in his Tales of Tales. And while the tales are wicked-wonderful, these observations on the human condition have me enthralled — I suspect because they remain surprisingly current. Plus ça change… "…artisans leave their shops, merchants their trade, lawyers their cases, shopkeepers
Startling Moments from Basile That Still Ring True Read More »
This is an odd moment. Three book ideas I have been working on lately have suddenly come into clarity as a single cloth — not as a trilogy mind you, for each is different enough from the other — but organically they seem to spring from the same desire to write about early, middle, and
Old Bones, New Tales Read More »
I am continuing with my notes on reading Walter Ong's Orality and Literacy, with some sidesteps to look at authors, whose work Ong references: Milman Parry and Albert Lord whose Singer of Tales is a fascinating study not only of the structure of Homer's Illiad and The Odyssey but also the important use of mnemonic devices in works
Orality and The Singer of Tales. Read More »
Many years ago in a moment of inspiration, I wrote a little short story called "King of Crows." It is still one of my personal favorites as it has threaded throughout a song or a tune humming beneath the narrative. I am almost never without a song running in my head, singing to the dishes,
Johnny Fahey and The King of Crows Read More »
I am in a frenzy, following up from a the previous post on the art of Katherine Ace. We were writing about the surface of art in painting and oral narrative performance of well known fairy tales contrasted with the subtext of evocative imagery — the tension between the encounters of the
The Skin and Blood of Art: Atwood and Lorca Read More »
I published this post seven years ago and decided it seemed as apt and relevant today as it did all those years ago. I blog because I am a collector, a magpie attracted to shiny things — not all beautiful, but for some reason of interest. In the old days, I kept notebooks
Magpie Blogging: Redux. Read More »
Many years ago, I wrote the short story “Vivian” for Martin Greenberg’s Robin Hood Anthology. My take on the well-known tale was to imagine the complications of a man trying to be heroic, but unable to do it alone. This is in the spirit of behind every good man there is someone else making him
What Does A Hero Owe to the Fantastic? Read More »
Commedia dell'Arte troupes crisscrossing the country to perform are often at the mercy of events they cannot control, like difficult audience members and lousy weather. Amid rain and misery, the kindness of an unexpected patron in a small village becomes a welcomed gift. Food, wine, and local stories fuel the actors' imaginations. The
From The Innamorati: The Libertini Create New Work in the Midst of Feasting Read More »
"The mask is a terrible, mysterious instrument. It has always given me and continues to give me a feeling of fear. With the mask we are on the threshold of a theatrical mystery whose demons reappear with static, immutable faces, which are the very roots of theater." — Giorgio Strehler. (Un Theatre Pour la Vie,
The Mask is a Terrible, Mysterious Instrument Read More »
