Trees fall, life goes on

Added on 28 January 2017

A year ago, my mother died a few days before her birthday, so this has been a difficult week of memories of the saddest time of my life. I had an interview, unavoidably, on her birthday, which was difficult and, perhaps not surprisingly. unsuccessful. I wasn't at my best. Yet sometimes such diff...

Slavery

Added on 15 January 2017

When Pytheas travelled around Britain in the Iron Age, he probably hitched along on trading vessels, which would have been carrying slaves as well as metals, jewelry and other valuable commodities. No doubt his views about slavery, as a citizen of a Greek colony, would have been radically different ...

Is rape a cultural construct?

Added on 06 January 2017

One reason I find novel writing so compelling is because I have to get myself inside people with different world views. All my novels have people from different cultures bumping into each other. The dramatic action is fuelled by the resulting misunderstanding or discord. In The Last Bear the three ...