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World Without Pain: The Story of a Search
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Silent Interviews
Invisible People
The Relocation Blues
Adriana’s Family
The Woman Who Fell Backwards and Other Stories
Apocalypse Bluff and Other Stories
The Senescent Nomad Hits the Road
Invasive Procedures: Stories
Heroes and Other Illusions: Stories
Bedlam Battle: An Omnibus of the One Thousand Series
After the Fireflood
Caliban’s Children
The Fantasy Book Murders
Opting Out and Other Departures
Sunflower: A Novel
America Redux: Impressions of the United States After Thirty-Five Years Abroad
Fear or Be Feared: Fantasies
Writing as a Metaphysical Experience
Reviews and Reflections on Books, Literature, and Writing
The One Thousand: A Novella
The One Thousand: Book Two: Team of Seven
The One Thousand: Book Three: Black Magic Bus
The One Thousand: Book Four: Deconstructing the Nightmare
After the Rosy-Fingered Dawn: A Memoir of Greece
The Misadventures of Mama Kitchen: A Novel
Dark Mirrors: Dystopian Tales
Love Children: A Novel
Painsharing and Other Stories
The Dragon Ticket and Other Stories
Category Archives: Travel
Book Review: The Half Known Life: In Search of Paradise by Pico Iyer
This book is well-written and takes us to fascinating places, but it is suffused with irony. Iyer tours locations that for one reason or another have been considered forms of paradise, but most of them are fraught with violence, and … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews, Travel
Tagged Australia, India, Iran, Ireland, Jerusalem, Kashmir, Ladakh, North Korea, paradise, Pico Iyer, travel writing
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How Are the Mighty Fallen: Adventures on Airlines
I am not sure when I flew on an airplane for the first time, but it might have been when I went from Seattle, where I was born and raised, to San Francisco, California, to check out the University of … Continue reading
Himalayan Trek: Part Two
I walked all day. The air was clear; the temperature was warm but not hot. I ascended the hills, one after another, and crossed more bridges over streams. Most of the time I was alone. Once a Nepali laborer with … Continue reading
Posted in Memoir, Travel
Tagged Himalayan Mountains, memoir, Nepal, solitude, travel, trekking
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Himalayan Trek: Part One
As I was nearing completion of a rereading of Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire, I was struck by his penchant to explore unfamiliar territory in the southwestern desert with a minimum of guidance and gear. He describes, for instance, venturing into … Continue reading
Posted in Memoir, Travel
Tagged Himalayan Mountains, memoir, Nepal, solitude, travel
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On the Writing of World Without Pain: The Story of a Search
Writers are divided on the issue of writing with keyboards or by hand. Some swear that for the first draft they require the immediacy of pen and paper, while others consider that method too slow – or they like to … Continue reading
Book Review: A Pilgrimage to Eternity: From Canterbury to Rome in Search of a Faith by Timothy Egan
I decided to read this book not because of its religious content but because I enjoy good travel memoirs. Egan has sound secular credentials: he writes for The New York Times, has won a Pulitzer Prize, and has published several … Continue reading
Another Look: After the Rosy-Fingered Dawn: A Memoir of Greece
Greece has always been regarded as the birthplace of western civilization and a Mediterranean paradise. In The Iliad and The Odyssey Homer uses the magical epithet rosy-fingered dawn to describe the sunrise over a land of myth, fascination, and mystery. … Continue reading
Book Review: A Savage Dreamland: Journeys in Burma by David Eimer
It is oddly appropriate that I am writing this during a rare power cut of several hours (and counting) in my apartment complex – appropriate because normally we here in Seattle can count on having electricity and other utilities twenty-four-seven, … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews, Travel
Tagged Burma, Golden Triangle, Southeast Asia, Yangon
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Book Review: Lost in the Valley of Death: A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas by Harley Rustad – Part Three
(For the background to this article, see Part One and Part Two below.) Except for major classical works of literature, usually I only write one review per book. However, Lost in the Valley of Death evokes so many memories and … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews, Travel
Tagged India, journey, Parvati Valley, quest, traveling
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Book Review: Lost in the Valley of Death: A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas by Harley Rustad – Part Two
In my previous essay about Lost in the Valley of Death, I came down somewhat hard on the author’s negative attitude concerning spiritual quests that lead people to the Indian Subcontinent and other exotic locales. As I continued to read … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews, Travel
Tagged India, Katmandu, Nepal, Parvati Valley, Pokhara, traveling
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