Category Archives: Writing

The Answer is Still 42

Posted on December 11, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Although the wildely popular comic sci-fi novel The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was published in the UK in 1979, it wasn’t released in the colonies until 1980. This year, legions of fans in North America are celebrating the 42nd anniversary … Continue reading →

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Book of the Year

Posted on December 10, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

 

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Alice in Wonderland

Posted on December 9, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

It’s been a while since I shared another example from the seemingly endless versions of Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland. This version from the 1920s features 48 full-color illustrations by Margaret W. Tarrant. The illustrator: Margaret Winifred Tarrant (1888 – … Continue reading →

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We shall by morning Inherit the earth

Posted on December 8, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

MUSHROOMS by Sylvia Plath Overnight, very Whitely, discreetly, Very quietly Our toes, our noses Take hold on the loam, Acquire the air. Nobody sees us, Stops us, betrays us; The small grains make room. Soft fists insist on Heaving the … Continue reading →

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Just a postcard from Kafka

Posted on December 5, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

I recently stumbled on this postcard from the German National Library that is dated 1918 from Franz Kafka to his publisher Kurt Wolff. Personally, I never sent postcards to my publisher, but then again he was a terrible person. And … Continue reading →

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The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip

Posted on December 2, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

I was today years old when I discovered that America’s greatest living short story writer George Saunders published a children’s book more than 20 years ago. Issued in 2000 by Villard Books, an imprint of Random House, The Very Persistent … Continue reading →

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What’s the Word

Posted on November 29, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Merriam-Webster  dictionary reports that its word of the year is the manipulative, misdirecting term that causes the target to question the surety of their own sanity, is taken from the title of the George Cukor 1944 classic film Gaslight. Although in … Continue reading →

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Nation States

Posted on November 27, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

I recently discovered that one of my favorite sci-fi authors has been running a wonderful website for 20 years that allows users to create, grow, and administer their own nation state. Australian writer Max Barry’s website NationStates offers the opportunity to own … Continue reading →

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Everybody Loves a Travel Guidebook Parody

Posted on November 23, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Here in North America the travel guidebook author and travel show host Rick Steves is almost universally loved, but is also the target of good natured satire as well. While I’ve met Rick, and even spent an afternoon hanging with … Continue reading →

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Still Autumn

Posted on November 22, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Autumn – Jane Hirshfield Again the wind flakes gold-leaf from the trees and the painting darkens— as if a thousand penitents kissed an icon till it thinned back to bare wood, without diminishment.  

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