Kairos: the right moment. The moment of revelation. The moment when the personal and the universal intersect. Historically, this ancient Greek word has associations of the sacred and awareness of eternal truths. I'll take the historical associations, but I mean to use the word to represent "the right moment." For me, the right moment is complex enough.
Kairos is also the name of my literary blog where I'll be talking about the writing experience, matters of writing craft, and whatever is common to both writing and visual art.
What you see on this opening page are the links to my novels, art texts, and interviews with writers and artists. The novels come out of years of writing while holding down two full time jobs and raising a family. Circumstances have changed, and so in the spirit of “the right moment,” I’ve created this website to share what I've been doing and to promote my work.
I’ve included only the opening chapters of my novels. Any agents or editors visiting this site are welcome to ask for more, and I will gladly send as much as they want to see. The novels here represent a range of interests and styles, from noir to comedy to satire. The art texts are mainly essays on contemporary art, inspired by research, practice, and teaching.
I hope you enjoy the experience.
These monthly interviews focus on matters of craft, experience, and interpretation.
Read interviews.
The place where we’ll look at creativity and what people do to keep sharp and inventive. Read the latest Crazy Wisdom.............. .................. .................
JENNY Fear, when it seizes her, is like the tip of a waterdrop. Ripe with tension at the end of the gargoyle’s chin just outside the window. She can’t look at it, and she can’t look away. No other outcome is possible, but for a few seconds anything is possible. Rescue, happiness, heroism. Jenny knows she can never love a hero, no matter how fierce and dedicated he is, unless … [Read more...]
A painting by the French artist Grenier of a carful of children on a stone bridge has obsessed me for years. They’re waving merrily to some clowns in the shadows, who are drowning in the river beside their capsized boat. The background of the painting is a luminous horizon, but the dark current and the dark cries of the clowns keep pulling me away from appreciation of the sky. Until recently I … [Read more...]
These essays on contemporary art and belles lettres will appear gradually over the next few months. Read art texts.
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In which we look at the impossible and the improbable, with Alice’s (Lewis Carroll) curiosity and bravery in mind. This is NOT a blog on the occult or the eerie, but a look at continued…
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At first the fires were visible only as wisps of smoke in the hills. The general idea was that they represented an attempt to clear brush, perhaps as part of a development scheme. From Bellevue Heights, where Carter worked for the Morgans, it was believed that the marring of the view was only temporary, so no one actually bothered to complain. Gerry and Anne-Marie Morgan had moved there only … [Read more...]
Adam Krane’s life was complicated even before he was born. So complicated it’s going to take an entire book to explain what’s involved. First, there was the woman who was supposed to become Adam’s mother. Dying the day after the wedding just doesn’t work out well for anyone—unless you accidentally find out you’ve married into the Hitler family and death seems the only way out. The … [Read more...]
Kairos covers ideas, questions, news items, research, speculations on writing, art, creative process, and the life and troubles of the writer—historical and contemporary. continued…....... ..... ...... ...
Click here for a little background on each of my current novels, or use the novel title sections shown below to jump right in and read a first chapter.
Even when dreams were heavy, Maitland had always been able to tell when somebody was in his room, and tonight he reluctantly let her hand go into the shadowy margins as waking washed over him. He called it his preservation alarm bell; it always rang when someone who didn’t care one way or another if Maitland lived or died was in the dark near him. That night his eyes opened like the flick of a … [Read more...]
The thing of it is Jordan Purvis wasn’t the kind of guy who ever made a big deal of eating. He liked to put together events, liked to watch people have a good time, and even on those occasions when stuff got out of hand, he hadn’t personally told anyone to do it. But they were into it, by the time it all started, all the way. He just nibbled at his food, sipped a few drinks, though people … [Read more...]