In my novel The Birdcatcher, middle-age Chris Stone is on a train coming back from a lone hunting trip in northern Ontario, alternately watching the passing forests, low mountains and lakes outside the window and reading from a book of Federico Garcia Lorca's poetry, when he comes to that poem where Lorca tells of his … Continue reading Rescuing reality | Trying to save Love, literature, books, films, and the Truth
Rescuing the truth | Where did insensitive people come from?
Insensitivity may ultimately destroy this planet, so it has to be confronted.
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?
Shy Careers
In one section of my book The Shyness Guide, I discuss the problems shy people encounter in workplaces today. Though not insurmountable, those problems are significant enough that I included this recommendation: There are shy careers. I was hoping to one day become a field geologist or biologist, so I could live my life in … Continue reading Shy Careers
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
Why do Young People like my books?
Although the central character in my novel, The Birdcatcher, is 52 years old, that book seems to please young readers more than old ones. One shy teen-age reader told me that she found the book to be "not just the story of one lone man, but of a worldwide type of people who have been so well … Continue reading Why do Young People like my books?
Alan Conrad 