This morning I finished yet another great novel. The book was written in Arabic by the Syrian novelist Khaled Khalifa. The book is reminiscence of William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, one of my favorite American classical novels. However, Death is Hard Work takes place in war-torn Syria rather than rural Mississippi. It takes you…

A small group of followers here have informed me that they are aspiring writers and that’s why I talk about writing here. I would say “young” but some are like me, coming to the writing table late in life. But, like many of them, I’ve been writing seriously since I was about 10. I’ve been…

I don’t normally do this, but I was so moved by this story by Ted Koppel that I thought it was worth posting here. A long time ago, I started a series of posts about the loss of truth. I ended that before finishing it because I could tell from readership, a growing lack of…

Last night I returned from a long anticipated trip back to the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. I left there around July 20th, 2019, weeks after my transplant. There has been a lot of water under the bridge since. I had to go alone this time as Denise was starting her new job. To be concise,…

You would think that the act of laughing would carry no controversy. But it does. I’ve been thinking about writing about laughter for some time. Actually, as I’m finishing my new novel Retribution, one of many possible next books, would be me trying to write a funny novel, a story about growing up in the…

When you hear the term “Jihad” what do you think? Most of the time it conjures up negative thoughts, such as about terrorism. Most people only heard this term after 9-11. But the original meaning within Islam is very different, and far more broad than the misuse in the case of terrorism. The same concept,…

Yesterday was an exciting day. I finished the rough draft of my new novel Retribution. For writers, this is really just the beginning. Ahead are weeks of the nitty-gritty work of editing, rewrites, and etc. The granular stuff. I’ve said before, if I have a gift in writing it is my imagination. For the past…

I have shared my opinions a few times when it comes to alternative and complimentary health care (CAM). My major gripe with them is calling something a treatment or cure with no supporting evidence (or worse, lying about the evidence). But, CAM has done a much better job in creating a empathic relationship with the…

My long, long list of 1 year post transplant tests are complete. I (Denise can’t come this time) will be going to Seattle Cancer Care Alliance on September 28-29 for a comprehensive exam and review of the tests to establish the course going forward. I hope I can become one of their long term patient…

I have never been in a cult, but I have been in groups that have some cult characteristics. I am thinking about this because I just finished a novel, The Innocent. I would give it a 3-4 stars, not one of my stellar reads. It is a story about a group of Christian cult survivors…