For spurned writers, the agents who passed on their novel are easy targets for post‑factum ridicule. The rejection letter looms large, and it takes an even larger fellow to just…well, just get over it. I am one such fellow. No,…really. A concern for “commercial viability&#

A while back, I did a reading from As It Is On Earth in Maine. The following week, I read at Canio’s Books in Sag Harbor, Long Island. Here’s a question: How does one read a story that is narrated in the first person? I mean, when the words you’re reading are being d

As, once again, Thanksgiving greets us, I am reminded that “Thanksgiving” – the word and the event – appears three times in As It Is On Earth. No biggie there; seems like it should make an appearance in a story that has a bit of fun with New England Pilgrims. Now, I won’t

Happy Birthday to me(…and one of the other 22 characters in the room). Early in As It Is On Earth, the wounded narrator, Taylor Thatcher, muses on the fact that he and his ‘brother’ Bingham share an unusual day: The Birthday. Our Birthday. That’s the flukiest part. Same da

Staring out at the calm waters of the Hudson River this morning, I recalled a short piece I wrote almost twenty years ago. It was titled The Machining of Nature and reflected on technology and architecture following the 1993 flood of the Mississippi River. Among other post-flood tales

In January, 1637, my ancestor, the Rev. John Wheelwright, gave a sermon to his congregation in Boston. His ‘Fast-Day Sermon’  lit a final match to what became known as the Free Grace Controversy (or Antinomian Crisis), and resulted in the Reverend’s and his more famous sister-in-

There is nothing like the arrangement of words to keep things lively. In an earlier blog (“Rivers & The Clash between the Earth and the World”), I wrote about the difference between the Earth and World. In this Thursday’s blog, I am reminded how the simple re-arrangeme

A while back, I did a reading with the wonderful author Leora Skolkin-Smith (Hystera). The evening’s event was called The Family Thing. And while the plan was to connect up our shared interest in the thematics of family, I steered momentarily off course to that all-consuming linguisti

A number of reviewers have referred to As It is On Earth as a New England Story. Well,…yes and no. A good deal of the book actually involves Mexico; specifically, the Yucatan. I like their geographical shapes and orientation. But, more importantly, both New England and Mesoamerica fig

A doff of the cap to E.O. Wilson who’s book Consilience made a real impression a few years back…a respectful but negative one. In As It Is On Earth, Dean Alvah Frankel takes a page from that book. Frankel turns back to Miryam, his smile icy. “Consilience, young lady, what we cal