Category Archives: Writing

Magical (not lucky) Charms

The Book of Magical Charms, is a handwritten occult commonplace book composed in England in the seventeenth century and currently in the holdings of the Newberry Library in Chicago, Illinois. Its author is suspected to be London attorney Robert Ashley. The Book of Magical Charms original volume, that … Continue reading →

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Is it human or is it AI

We have reached the point where the Authors Guild, the professional association representing published novelists and nonfiction writers in North America, is planning to offer  its 15,000 members a new certificate they can place directly on their book covers. About … Continue reading →

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“The tourist is the other fellow.”

                                               “The tourist is the other fellow.”                       … Continue reading →

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Frankenstein Season

The Frankenstein Varorium is an online tool which allows the user to explore the iconic Science Fiction novel’s text through its various incarnations, allowing the user to select individual passages and see how they have evolved through different revisions of … Continue reading →

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Do we ever really learn from history

LEARNING FROM HISTORY David Ferry They said, my saints, my slogan-sayers sang, Be good, my child, in spite of all alarm. They stood, my fathers, tall in a row and said, Be good, be brave, you shall not come to … Continue reading →

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Every October it becomes important, no, necessary

Leaves by Lloyd Schwartz                          1 Every October it becomes important, no, necessary to see the leaves turning, to be surrounded by leaves turning; it’s not just the symbolism, … Continue reading →

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General Headquarters

When I first read about a lost board game called “General Headquarters” that was created by Kurt Vonnegut, I was certain that it was an elaborate internet hoax. But, apparently I was wrong. Vonnegut’s life was not without its ironies. … Continue reading →

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It’s getting to be Edgar Allan Poe season

This is The Bells and Other Poems by American writer and poet Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) with illustrations by French-British illustrator Edmund Dulac (1882-1953). It was published by Hodder and Stoughton internationally circa 1912. Poe is best known for his Gothic short fiction and poetry while Dulac was … Continue reading →

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Heroes & Villains/Heroes and Villains

Heroes and Villains is set in a wild, post-apocalyptic world where folks are divided by a rigid social hierarchy —the Professors, the Barbarians, and the mutant Out People. Young Marianne of the Professor class is abducted by Barbarian Jewel and … Continue reading →

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A people who have never experienced autumn foliage are inclined to be backward.

When you were an infant in Italy I was very disconcerted to be told that much of the Italian population had never seen the beauties of the autumn foliage in Vermont and New Hampshire. High in the Abruzzi there are … Continue reading →

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