Having lived at various times of my life in different places, I’ve often wondered where home really is. Is it where I live right now as a suburban transplant in a small town by a large lake? Is it back in Toronto or in some large city where everything is more or less the same: […]
Home – where is it? Read More »
I’ve begun to see the “small publisher” (SP) value proposition diminish. In cutting back on editing and marketing support, in losing ground to technology that makes it possible to go direct from author to reader today (i.e. e•books), in having no better alternative to online distribution offered by the likes of Amazon, and in still
Changing Publishing Models Read More »
I have been watching events unfold in North Africa and across the Middle East and I am wondering if this is a well orchestrated attempt to drive up the price of oil, or a cheaper alternative to “Shock and Awe” that got bogged down in “It’s Draining Our Money Away.” The formula is simple: pick
Is Social Media only Social Mania? Read More »
Presidents for Life (PFL) are in the news these days, and last week it was Hosni Mubarak’s turn. Let’s see, we have had out share of the Shah of Iran, Ferdinand Marcos, Idi Amin, Saddam Hussein, Manuel Noriega and others, all lifers, until destiny caught up with them. What makes these creatures? Western powers have
Presidents for Life Read More »
A reader recently asked me why I swung both ways, i.e. played on the other team as well. I reminded him that I was heterosexual and played only on one team. “But you write book reviews,” he reminded me. “So?” “But you are a writer yourself.” “So?” Then he went onto clarify that writers should
Swinging both ways Read More »
On a beach in a Caribbean island, I ran over my usual list of New Year resolutions: manage the weight, exercise regularly, save money, save the trees, go e•books, write more, read more, work less, drink less, shamelessly self promote, keep building my online platform etc., etc., etc. As nudists on the adjacent beach strutted
New Year Resolutions – short and sweet Read More »
Christmas brings out mixed feelings in me. Will it be good or bad, white or green this year? There were the Christmases of childhood when I cradled a lonely Roy Rogers annual while my more fortunate cousins flashed multiple gifts received from doting parents. The Christmases of Pyrotechnics followed, when my bachelor uncle would buy
Christmas Over the Years Read More »
I was asked for my opinion on Wiki Leaks and the scandals erupting in cyberspace, where top secret documents suddenly appear to embarrass high•ranking military officials, bureaucrats and corporate barons. Are we justified in having this stuff floating around in the public domain, I was quizzed? Or should we let it all hang out and
Too much information Read More »
Having had many careers, all of which eventually ended, I contemplated the evolution of careers and our helpless gravitation towards them. From the days of Ancient Egypt to the middle of the last century it was fashionable for men to take up careers as soldiers. Some of my ancestors were soldiers. Some career soldiers even
I wrote a Christmas story about the Magi a few years ago, which was published this year, and in which I portrayed these three men (before they attained wisdom) fighting a perennial war among themselves somewhere in ancient Persia, until, exhausted with the effort, they see a star in the west (east, for us) and
War and Peace – the eternal cycle Read More »