Reading List September 2025

·      Last Evenings on Earth, Roberto Bolaño, translated by Chris Andrews & Natasha Wimmer. The first of four Bolaño short story collections I plan on rereading. Struggling and failed writers populate these incredible stories. These are downtrodden exiled characters and there is a continual threat of violence which propels the narratives.

·      American Abductions, Mauro Javier Cárdenas. This novel from Ecuador is set in America in the near future but closely resembles the present despite its technological advancements. The novel explores the psychological and physical stress caused by the deportations of Latin Americans living and working in the USA. Frightening but intriguing experimental writing.

·      America: The Farewell Tour, Chris Hedges. Hedges nonfiction book examines what he sees as America’s decline with chapters addressing hate, work, freedom, addiction and more. Sober reading providing an interesting analysis of the main culprit, the corporate state.

·      Vanishing Point, David Markson. A continuation of Markson’s This is Not a Novel with a deeper focus on impending death. Presented as notes Author has collected on index cards mainly about the challenges of creative life. Looking forward to the final novel.

·      Death Takes Me, Christina Rivera Garza, translated by Sarah Booker & Robin Meyers. A literary crime narrative out of Mexico involving gendered violence and deeply steeped in an exploration of poetry. Incredible experimental writing.

·      Time: The Present, Tess Slesinger. Selected stories from Slesinger writing from the 1930’s. There are a handful of extremely excellent stories in this collection but overall I was impressed with Slesinger’s exploration of gender relations, worker exploitation, and race politics through her modernist style.

Tiny Points of Contact: My Latest Publication

My newest publication has dropped at Ivo Review. Tiny Points of Contact was included in their first themed issue exploring Connections. The story was inspired by a kayak trip I took decades ago observing manatees in the mango groves of Florida. I rewrote it several times and it is awesome to see it finally find a home. I hope you enjoy reading it as well as the other stories and poems in Ivo Review.

Criminalizing Words: Playing at Cruelty

I first began writing Playing at Cruelty between 2018 and 2019 in response to the executive orders and policies of the presidential administration. I imagined the things that could go wrong in the country with the push to curtail guaranteed freedoms and came up with this story. I reread it this weekend thinking about the current administration’s aggressive assault on freedom of speech and thought the storyline of Playing at Cruelty is not so farfetched. You can read the story in my collection Not So You’d Notice available at Amazon.

New Publication! Tiny Points of Contact

Ivo Review has accepted my story Tiny Points of Contact for October publication. They are including the story in their first issue titled Connections. I’m so pleased to be included in this journal and am looking forward to seeing Tiny Points of Contact online sometime in October.

I wrote this story in 2015 and first submitted it in 2016. I have received over 60 rejections and have done at least four major rewrites, as well as reading an excerpt at an open mike night. I’ve liked the idea of this story since the beginning so I persevered with it and kept rewriting and submitting. Very glad to see it finally receive a publication.

Reading List August 2025

·      May We Be Forgiven, A.M. Homes. An enjoyable novel exploring our inner lives and asking how we manage to survive each day and the challenges that appear. Quite fun to watch the growth of the protagonist.

·      This is Not a Novel, David Markson. A barrage of thoughts about the creative process, creative individuals, death, and including something that could be called a storyline. First in a trilogy. Looking forward to the next two.

·      Cool For America, Andrew Martin. A short story collection with lots of writers, music, booze. and drugs. Some fun along the way but grows weary with repetition.

·      Tartuffe and The Misanthrope, Molière, translated by Maya Slater. Very humorous drama pieces I read as part of research for the hypocrisy story I am currently writing.

·      To Walk Alone in the Crowd, Antonio Muñoz Molina, translated by Guillermo Bleichmar. A nice look at solitude amongst other people. Mostly containing thoughts while walking through cities, it is a cool exploration of mindfulness while exploring the world around us.

·      Oreo, Fran Ross. A great romp through seventies Philadelphia and New York while exploring race and family relations. Written in 1974 but still highly applicable.

·      Show Don’t Tell, Curtis Sittenfeld. Short stories featuring middle-aged characters mining their pasts to understand their current situations.

·      A Sensitive Person, Jachym Topol, translated by Alex Zucker. Always a pleasure to read another Topol novel from the Czech Republic. This one is a wild road novel beginning during an acting tour in Europe and then a return to Prague. Lots of absurd encounters with a cast of characters and explorations of current politics and other concerns.

Debut publication: Not So You'd Notice

My debut story collection is now available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle. It’s been years in the making and it is exciting to see it hit the shelves. Many of the stories have been previously published in outstanding literary journals and are now available in this collection. Several of the stories are new and I would love to hear what you think of them. Here is the book description as listed on Amazon and on the back flap:

Not So You’d Notice book blurb.

I would be honoured for you to read my collection available at Amazon .com and Amazon.de. Feel free to leave a review on Amazon. Happy reading!

July Reading List 2025

Here are the books I read in the month of July.

·      The Art of Solitude, Stephen Batchelor. One of two nonfiction books this month. A meditation and celebration of solitude through meandering stories of the author’s varying experiences being alone.

·      Impossible Views of the World, Lucy Ives. Another enjoyable offering from Ives, this time a novel based in a New York art museum with several different mysterious texts, a missing colleague and a fun search for personal meaning.

·      Getting Through, John McGahern. A short story collection out of Ireland. These are well-written stories with an apt title as the bulk of characters and situations involve near desperate attempts at ‘getting through’ hardships of life. A quiet contemplation.

·      Will, Jeroen Olyslaegers, translated by David Colmer. This novel unfolds at the beginning of WWII and is an interesting delve into the question of how involved one should be in the face of cruelty and evil. Very fitting in today’s political climate.

·      Zen and the Art of Happiness, Chris Prentiss. The second nonfiction of the month, this one a fairly basic introduction to accessing happiness with emphasis on how we choose to interpret our experiences.

·      Was, Geoff Ryman. An interesting novel consisting of three interlinking narratives all somehow related to the Wizard of Oz.

·      Attrib. and Other Stories, Eley Williams. Brilliant wordplay, great investigation of words and meanings and the difficulty of human communication. I really enjoyed this collection.

·      Monday or Tuesday, Virginia Woolf. Another short story collection. Every now and then I feel the need to read some Woolf and these stories did not disappoint. Impressive presentation of characters’ inner lives.

·      Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf. More great Woolf, this time taking place in the course of one day. She is so good with inner monologue and stream of consciousness story telling.

June Reading List 2025

These are the eight books I read during the month of June:

·      Witness, Jamel Brinkley. Like his previous short story collection, an awesome and inspiring work exploring the witnesses we are as we negotiate the challenges we face. Beautiful writing!

·      Yoga, Emmanuel Carrère, translated by John Lambert. My first outing with Carrère’s nonfiction. An incredible story about the difficulty of finding inner peace in an unraveling world.

·      Poetics of Relation, Édouard Glissant, translated by Betsy Wing. This nonfiction work pushed my comprehension but I was attracted to his idea of the rhizomatic thought that is the Poetics of Relation. Will give it a second read in search of understanding.

·      Emotional Alchemy, Tara Bennett-Goleman. Another nonfiction for June, a useful guide to using mindfulness to understand and restructure negative thinking and harmful habits.

·      Cosmogony, Lucy Ives. My foray into Ives’ short fiction: just as inventive and enjoyable as her novel Life is Everywhere. Love her style.

·      Steps Under Water, Alicia Kozameh, translated by David E Davis. My second book from this author and as good as the first. Further mining of the impact of repressive regimes on personal and societal lives.

·      Bezoar, Guadalupe Nettel, translated by Suzanne Jill Levine. Always a pleasure to read another Nettel collection. Intriguing analysis of bodies and the consciousness which lies within.

·      The Employees, Olga Ravn, translated by Martin Aitken. I avoided this novel for a bit because of its sci-fi label but am glad I finally buckled (NDP rarely fails). Nice investigation into a dehumanising workplace and the question of what actually makes us human.

Trail to the Horizon: Neuruppin to Rheinsberg

This weekend’s hike was a 30 kilometre walk between Neuruppin and Rheinsberg. It took 4 trains to get there over one and a half hours. This photo shows an entrance to Ruppiner Lake, one of many the trail follows on its way north. The string of lakes is in a forested area known as Ruppiner Schweiz and right now it is brilliant green and incredibly lush. Although the trail is part of the E10 long-distance trail, it is not very well marked, rather insufficient to navigate without the help of a map. I used Schöne Heimat #125: Rheinsberg, Neuruppin, Ruppiner Schweiz.

I tempted the weather on this hike: forecasted 25% chance of rain in the morning but likely thunder and lightning storms in the early afternoon. If all went to plan I would find myself in Rheinsberg before the storms. Didn’t happen. I was crossing the fields heading into Braunsberg when the rumbling started and looking back I could see the stormfront advancing. I picked up my speed attempting to make it back into the forest but I was about one kilometre out before it all hit. Wild rain, wind, thunder and a bit of lighting. Finally made it into a dense woods and things quickly calmed down as the front moved east.

Overall, a beautiful hike with pleasant towns to wander through and a few places to eat along the way if necessary. I stayed overnight in Rheinsberg and took the early trains home to Berlin. Great workout and wonderful trails.

May Reads 2025

These are the seven books I read during the month of May.

·      The Coming Bad Days, Sarah Bernstein. My second Bernstein novel, after her Study for Obedience. I love her style and the quiet ongoing grind of her words. Can’t wait for more.

·      Nazi Literature in the Americas, Roberto Bolaño, translated by Chris Andrews. An awesome fictional biographical dictionary of right-wing authors.

·      The Coiled Serpent, Camilla Grudova. Fun short story collection with lots of graphic descriptions and great lists everywhere.

·      Life Is Everywhere, Lucy Ives. Incredible novel, my introduction to Ives. Texts within texts within texts. Extremely impressive. Will read more of her work.

·      259 Leaps, The Last Immortal, Alicia Kozameh, translated by Clare Sullivan. This Argentine novel from a former political prisoner deftly explores exile.

·      Berlin, Andris Kupriss, translated by Ian Gwin. Short story collection from Latvia that didn’t really do much for me.

·      Hypocrisy: Moral Fraud and Other Vices, James S. Spiegel. Nonfiction work investigating Christian hypocrisy. Can’t say I agree with the conclusion but it helped my research for a short story.