This week I was reading again about the assault of Hurricane Ida on New York City, this time about how the water overwhelmed the New York subway system. I couldn't help remembering that in my novel Skol, a critical part of my character Simon's long odyssey on wilderness Earth in the year 2278 includes a … Continue reading Rescuing the future and the past | Hurricane Ida’s flooding of New York City this week | Saving the city in the year 2278
Why did I write The Shyness Guide?
Why did I write another book about shyness when there are over 600 books about it published already? How could there be anything left to say? Well, because shyness is almost never understood the way I understand it. From the day I entered kindergarten I was acutely aware of how different I was. In my … Continue reading Why did I write The Shyness Guide?
Who is Alan Conrad?
Alan Conrad is me, though Alan Conrad is not my original name. During my last years investigating accidents and personal injury claims, when I was about to publish The Birdcatcher, a book that reveals some of the dark side of the personal injury business, I had to use a pen name to keep a lower … Continue reading Who is Alan Conrad?
Paranormal World | How improbable are you?
The older I get, the more I realize how improbable I am. Each of us is a product of a meeting between two people. You might think the way in which people meet or don't meet, connect or don't connect, should be governed by chance, but something else often seems to be at work. For … Continue reading Paranormal World | How improbable are you?
Dreams|Are yours vague and confusing?
Some years ago when I was still working on my novel The Birdcatcher, I read chapter IV aloud in a writer's workshop. That is, the chapter where late at night Chris Stone reflects on his failing marriage and the hypocrisy of modern society, then falls asleep and has the dream of flying up the Song … Continue reading Dreams|Are yours vague and confusing?
Skol republished|A return to the 23rd century and the future of shy people
If I could have written only one book in my life, it would have been Skol. Yet the first version of the book, published in 2015, did not sell at all. Yes, this story of the future of shy people, told through one shy young man's odyssey across three centuries, remained the most unread of … Continue reading Skol republished|A return to the 23rd century and the future of shy people
Why did I write The Shyness Guide?
When there are more than 600 books about shyness for sale on Amazon, you might wonder why I wrote another one. How could there be anything left to say? Well, because shyness is almost never understood the way I understand it. My central idea is that shyness is natural in most shy people. It's part … Continue reading Why did I write The Shyness Guide?
The Ugly Duckling and The Birdcatcher
Someone has said The Birdcatcher is just the story of the Ugly Duckling retold. Well, yes, that's what it is. That fairy tale was written especially for shy solitary people. Human 'ugly ducklings' have been told for a long time, maybe thousands of years, that they should stop being different, that they should behave like everyone … Continue reading The Ugly Duckling and The Birdcatcher
My Lost Book – Skol
Though I've been told that my novel Skol is the best of my books, you would never guess that from its sales. My other novel, The Birdcatcher, has had many readers over the years, and the first edition of The Shyness Guide was once selling well enough that I was threatening to break even financially. Meanwhile, Skol has had no following at all. … Continue reading My Lost Book – Skol
