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‘Science’ (25 November 2017) published a story I thought both weird, wonderful —’Seeing the Beautiful Intelligence of Microbes …’ It was also strangely familiar. [1] The story begins: “Bacterial biofilm and slime molds are more than crude patches of goo. Detailed time-lapse microscopy reveals how they sense and explore their surroundings, communicate with their neighbors … Read more
“Striving to find a meaning in one’s life is the primary motivational force in man.” This is man’s absolute motivational force, according to Viktor E. Frankl. He goes on, “That is why I speak of a will to meaning.” Man’s Search for Meaning Frankl became a psychiatrist before he became a death camp inmate, and … Read more
Presented by the Friends of Victoria University Library Please join us for a reading: Guest Speaker: Robert Fripp In person and online Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, 2 p.m.Old Vic Building, Alumni Hall, VC112 Dark Sovereign A New Version for the Stage The Tragedy of King Richard the Third that William Shakespeare should have written. Crafted … Read more
A Perilous Venture: Channeling Aphrodite Welcome to Aphrodite, more recently known as the Venus de Milo. I am writing her fantasy. Writing serious stuff is like farming. It may not pay. I used to write television scripts, technical stories and features about advanced software. That paid well. Now I write to keep my brain in … Read more
Out of the ashes Carol Kaesuk Yoon wrote much of the story below in 1999, from which this is adapted — giving credit, of course. Her story was beautiful. I merged text from my ‘Let There Be Life’ (2002) . Here is Wildflowers, wildfires ¶ ‘Ninety million years ago, on what [was, in 1999] an empty … Read more
Children admire markings on butterflies’ wings. They wonder: ‘Why do they have such pretty designs?’ and, ‘How do they make the patterns match exactly on both sides?’ Does ‘they‘ refer to the butterflies themselves, or a life-force at work? Patterns and colours reflect across insects’ bodies from one wing to the other. One wing exactly … Read more
It’s the summer of 1949. I’m approaching my sixth birthday. Mother and I are watching a movie, The Red Shoes, in the cinema on the Cunard Line’s Queen Elizabeth. Or was it Queen Mary? This is my second crossing to Mother’s family in New York. (I say ‘Mother’. I should explain that Hazel Lisle née … Read more
¶ “A POTTER CREATES his or her most original work using virgin clay. A creator does so using virgin DNA. No! That’s true for the potter—It’s not true for the Creator. ‘Old’ DNA is as good as new “Life-plans use genes over and over again, assigning DNA secondary tasks within a species even while … Read more
Stumbling through the Internet, as one does, I found ‘John Grimshaw’s Garden Diary’. I was surprised to discover John’s comment, with his photos of Long Purples (Orchis mascula). I recently mentioned long purples in a story, ‘Ten Years, Six Miles, and One Canoe‘. The story describes my ten years of school holidays in a kayak … Read more
This excerpt comes from one of the 40 short stories in my books, “Wessex Tales”, Vols. 1+2 (with 20 stories per book). This clip is from: “Ten years, six miles, and one canoe” (Volume 2). The story condenses incidents from my extensive time on the river during a ten-year period, from 1955 to 1965, my … Read more