Always it’s a search for pleasure, always it’s a return to work
The pleasure of Turin and other remarks
The full moon is setting across the water as I get up this morning to write this. Full moons, solstices — they ask me to notice them, to notice where I am. This September equinox I watched a spectacular full moon rise in Istanbul, enjoying a couple days’ stay visiting friends and favourite old places, the city markedly changed by recent events. I was on the way to Turin, Italy for the conference of EACWP— the European Association for Creative Writing Programs— held at the Scuola Holden, an academy devoted to the art of storytelling. Link
Great fun to meet the attending writers who teach Creative Writing, from a range of countries—people’s first languages there included Spanish, French, German, Finnish, Danish, Italian, there were more, and everything was conducted in English. Those connections we make on such trips, at such conferences, finding common ground — favourite authors, sympathies, taste in wine — are sustaining pleasures. I was deeply confirmed in my sense that the only CW teaching I want to do any more is to people whose first language isn’t English. There in a session on Europe and its failures I presented my talk in the form of a short story about a benign alien invasion, the only event that can create unity. Such fantasies must be a common refuge against the sense of hopelessness and horror. Besides enjoying the sessions and talks it was of course great to get acquainted with another Italian town, its palatial splendours and charming piazze, its idiosyncratic buildings and museums (including a museum of cinema) and oh yes its food and wine.
On the final day some of us went on an excursion to the nearby Palazzo Venaria. Then the long travel back: after the flight to Istanbul it’s a seven hour bus ride to Çanakkale.
The next day began the new semester at the university, in the somewhat changed, charged new atmosphere of this country in the aftermath of the attempted coup in mid July.
The photos above were taken during the long summer sunsets spent on my balcony here in Çanakkale, or on a walk along the shore, an end of day ritual. Now the day ends early and the sun sinks out of sight.
Doing the work, because always
The novel I’ve been working on, on and off, for a couple of years, finally feels as if it will be finished. But not soon. I’ve never had this life before, never tried to write this novel before. It’s often felt stranger and more unreachable than learning Turkish and I hit an early plateau learning Turkish. But lately its shape has revealed itself to me, at least as if somewhat more discernible in a mist than quite hidden (fog, caverns and so on).
Local Time Publishing
So better tell you about books that were finished. Funny to think how when I’ve finished a book, I’d feel my work was done. But in recent years I also had to create the Local Time Publishing project when my books went out of print; even though at first I made ebook editions available, readers emphatically preferred paper books. Don't we all. At least sometimes.
Tell me
One of the things that makes me produce a new edition of this my newsletter at last is hearing back from people I send this to. Please press reply and tell me anything. Tell me what you want to hear from me. I hope more people take up the seasonal newsletter option, especially if not active on social media (which is used in so many different ways I have not fixed my own position; while I peruse Facebook quite frequently I rarely post, especially because I can’t say much on social media about the country I live in. Also, a lurker by nature).
This season! ’Tis the season to be jolly!
As for seasons, I’m aware that for many life currently is full of the Christmas season, which is not observed where I live. I miss it more than I would ever have predicted. I wish everyone to find joy at this time, and deep enjoyment in sharing pleasure with others. And the New Year, yes, that is a thing here of course and will be observed.
Who isn’t saying what a strange year it’s been, with all its loss. May better times come. In any case, let us celebrate. It’s always good to celebrate, to know there is, even now, reason to celebrate.
Have a look, I try not to repeat myself
Please see my newsletters One and Two here and here
Holiday reading, gifts -- why of course
You can see all the titles from Local Time Publishing here
You choose.
Two books to remind you of
Now, to continue in the pattern, I choose two books to tell or remind you of.
With The Tiger, because I’ve returned to thinking about it, wondering about a screen adaptation. And its basic question about how one finds meaning, what are the best values. And the age of experiment turning into the age of excess turning into the age of re-invention.
And Sheila Power, because of its supernatural element (the past lives sex therapy), and something about the notion of entertainment, and because of a recent short dreamlike trip to Venice (thank you dear friends) where some of this novel is set, after my own longer stay in Venice so long ago (2 months in 1990).
Australian teenager Larry Darrell goes on a backpacking trip to India and finds his life changed for ever ... With The Tiger is a contemporary take on the Somerset Maugham novel The Razor’s Edge (1944), which popularised the idea of the Westerner’s search for meaning in “spiritual India”.
More:
“A rattling good read that defies pigeon-holing into any one genre. Our heroine is Sheila Power, a very rich film producer and all-round prominent social identity, who is about to start work on what will be the crowning achievement of her spectacular career. The stylised satire and mystery are only part of the plot. Sheila’s also undergoing past-life sex therapy. Sheila Power is a block-buster of a novel, a satirical thriller filled with lashings of racy sex between moments of transcendental spirituality and shopping”. So said the Sydney Star Observer when Sheila Power: an entertainment was first published in 1997. Where’s the line between high culture and popular fiction? Questioned and answered in this novel, inspired by Jackie Collins, Myra Breckenridge and the author entertaining herself. Was your past lives sex life better than your present?
this newsletter: here comes the usual final section (here I repeat myself)
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I offer any book of mine published by Local Time Publishing to anyone who asks me directly for $US10 plus shipping, and if you need to pay less just let me know. All my books will be available as ebooks if they aren’t already.
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Reader reviews on sites like Amazon and Goodreads, and you might know others, and reviews and comments on book and publishing blogs, are arguably more important for reaching readers than a review in a heritage journal/newsletter. (Those that remain.) Already a couple of friendly readers have posted reviews of my new books at Amazon and Goodreads.
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