Category Archives: Writing

A Ghost Story of Christmas

Posted on December 18, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

I HAVE endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and … Continue reading →

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On a quiet day…

Posted on December 16, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

“The system will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling…their ideas, their version of history, their wars…their notion of inevitability. Remember this: We may be many and they be few… Another world is not only possible, she … Continue reading →

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Not another Book of the Year List

Posted on December 14, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

It’s that time of the year when the “Best Books of the Year” lists come out. While I mine the lists for reading recommendations, I hesitate to generate my own list. Reading tastes are so subjective. In fact, I frequently … Continue reading →

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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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