Having grown up during the hippie years, and having spent time around the New Age movement of the 1970s and 1980s, I became interested in what I’ve termed “radical experiences” in which people have undergone episodes that dramatically changed their lives, often in ways that do not mesh with commonly-held notions of spiritual growth or
Having grown up during the hippie years, and having spent time around the New Age movement of the 1970s and 1980s, I became interested in what I’ve termed “radical experiences” in which people have undergone episodes that dramatically changed their lives, often in ways that do not mesh with commonly-held notions of spiritual growth or personal growth. As a result, I’ve written Dance on Fire: The Art of Radical Experiences, and The Magpie Chronicles, a playful take on the same theme in which I poke a bit of fun at the popular/personal growth scene.
In Bitter Medicine, I take the approach that most of the attitudes I’ve found in the self-actualization arena simply fail to address the basic issues we all encounter in life. So, I’ve written what I know will be considered by some to be a rather nasty book, but is intended as the psychological equivalent of Desmond Morris' 1967 book, The Naked Ape. While Morris viewed our human nature from a zoological viewpoint, my intention is to dissect aspects of human nature we generally take for granted. Part of my reasoning is concern over the many disturbingly immature attitudes that have become common in American society, especially as so much of the talk about personal growth and personal change provides little advice that’s effective. So, I offer two teasers: That we can’t change unless we know specifically what we need to change, and that the uplifting messages we see in popular literature can actually keep us stuck. So, in Bitter Medicine I’ve taken an approach that’s a bit like sticking a person’s finger into a wall socket—presenting issues that can undermine any of us, especially when we’re so determined not to see any of it at all. I’ve always felt that even if we don’t have the resources to improve our lives at the moment, we do have the ability to develop those resources. So, is Bitter Medicine harsh? Well, yes, but so is life if we try to take the easy route. Bitter Medicine, then is an attempt to make it all so much easier.
Four Storms was written about the time I spent as an independent insurance adjuster working in Florida during the 2004 season when four named hurricanes hit the Florida coast. The original intention was to write an insurance-for-everyone sort of thing, but also giving a daily report of life in the trenches in a catastrophic setting. And my intention was to have a bit of fun doing it. So, if you’ve ever wondered what’s really going on behind the scenes in the insurance industry, here’s a bit of a glimpse.
I have three novels in the works, soon to be published:
In The Buddha and the Whale, I’ve had a bit of fun with the Great American Novel, setting the theme of man versus his random demons in the Boundary Waters of Canada. There, a ragtag group of suburbanites goes fishing for more than they’d bargained for.
In Roger, a male romance novelis
I have three novels in the works, soon to be published:
In The Buddha and the Whale, I’ve had a bit of fun with the Great American Novel, setting the theme of man versus his random demons in the Boundary Waters of Canada. There, a ragtag group of suburbanites goes fishing for more than they’d bargained for.
In Roger, a male romance novelist writing under a female penname finds that secluding himself in an off-season seaside resort leads him to more than he’s bargained for. Taking in a strange young man found splashing in a New Jersey bay, he becomes the unwilling subject of a cult that he has accidentally spawned, and from which longs only to escape.
In Weavers, a young boy is rescued from sudden mayhem only to find himself carried off to an isolated society where reason seems to have been stood on its head.
More to follow, folks!