Blog Archives

30th September 2014: A Kind of Rissole

One of the things I am reading is Boccaccio’s Decameron. It’s a fascinating collection of medieval stories, comparable to the Canterbury Tales but more Italian and with more sex. The frame story is that seven young ladies and three young

Posted in Books, Human culture

17th July 2014: Things you didn’t know about Heraclitus

I was re-reading Popper’s The Open Society and its Enemies before falling asleep, and indeed, as you will see, after falling asleep. I think I may have mentioned that I read until I am asleep, and then after I am

Posted in Thessaly, Whimsy

28th May 2014: Vorfreude

That’s word of the week — it’s pronounced vor-FROY-dah and it means the intense anticipatory joy of looking forward to future joys. It’s German, and it seems weird to me that English has borrowed schadenfreude and not vorfreude — so

Posted in Life as it blossoms out in a jar or a face

5th May 2014: When you’re happy and you know it…

When I was four years old and went to school, they put me in Mrs Caulfield’s class with older kids because I could read. Everyone else had been in school for a year already, and they knew how school worked.

Posted in Human culture, Life as it blossoms out in a jar or a face

8th April 2014: Culture, or how I discovered Bach

I think it was 1994, and I was twenty-nine. I was in a charity shop in Lancaster, one of the smaller ones, down at the bottom of Penny Street. Ken and I wanted some more music both of us could write

Posted in Human culture

12th December 2013: Going to Italy, Going to Italy, Going to Italy tomorrow!

Actually, that may deserve more than one exclamation point. I think the last time I went somewhere in December was 1996, and then it was Cambridge from Lancaster. It’s a time of year when everything gets darker and colder as

Posted in Life as it blossoms out in a jar or a face

1st December 2013: 49 Today

Great birthday so far, AM is here, Z and A are coming over at 10.30 and we’re going out for brunch and then to see the Treasures of Venice exhibition in the Beaux Arts. This will save me time when

Posted in Life as it blossoms out in a jar or a face, My Books

October/November 2013 Poland Scandinavia/Novacon Trip

13th October, Montreal So I’m about to set off for my month-long European trip. I keep second-guessing myself on what I’m taking, but I have made decisions and am packed, all but the computer, and ready to set off in

Posted in Human culture, Life as it blossoms out in a jar or a face

13th June 2013: Destiny

There’s a thing I often find productive when I’m writing fantasy that I don’t hear people talk about much. People often talk about looking at real historical magic, and I find that generally useless and especially when you’re talking about

Posted in Writing

1st December 2012: 48 Today

And it’s a Saturday! Which does happen now and then, but it seems like a long time since the last time. And I so like having a birthday on the first of the month. AM is here, arrived last night,

Posted in Life as it blossoms out in a jar or a face, My Books