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World Without Pain: The Story of a Search
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
Tag Archives: traveling
Another Look: Love Children: A Novel
It is the mid-1970s. The Summer of Love and the Woodstock Music Festival have come and gone. Into the atmosphere of cynicism and doubt following the wild optimism of the youth revolution the Love Children, raised from birth by benevolent … Continue reading
Posted in Reading
Tagged alien encounter, communal living, science fiction, seventies, sexual freedom, Summer of Love, telepathy, 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 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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Book Review: Lost in the Valley of Death: A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas by Harley Rustad – Part One
Usually I wait until I have finished or almost finished a book before I write a review of it, but I am just over halfway through Lost in the Valley of Death, and it has already provoked so many thoughts … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews, Travel
Tagged backpacking, Himalaya Mountains, India, journey, quest, traveling
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Book Review: Riverman: An American Odyssey by Ben McGrath
Riverman tells the story of Dick Conant, an itinerant canoeing enthusiast. Self-describing as homeless, he might have been like many other wandering vagabonds, albeit with a preference for waterways rather than dry land, had he not bumped into McGrath, a … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews, Travel
Tagged canoeing, homeless, river journey, traveling, vagabond
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Book Review: River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile by Candice Millard
River of the Gods is a powerful, well-written book about some fascinating historical characters on adventurous journeys. Although the central focus is the expedition of Richard Burton, John Hanning Speke, and Sidi Mubarak Bombay through East Africa from Zanzibar to … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews, Travel
Tagged adventure, Africa, exploration, history, Nile River, traveling
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Book Review: Wild Horses of the Summer Sun: A Memoir of Iceland by Tory Bilski
I picked up this book at the library because it struck me as an unusual memoir and travel tale. It concerns a group of women who for over a decade journeyed to Iceland every year to get away from their … Continue reading
Book Review: Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
For a long time I had avoided reading this book because of the tragic ending to the story of Chris McCandless. In brief, after he graduated from college, McCandless took off on the road and disappeared. He never contacted his … Continue reading
Book Review: Writing Blue Highways: The Story of How a Book Happened by William Least Heat-Moon
Not long ago I read Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon. It’s a travelogue/memoir of a trip he took around the United States keeping to smaller roads and out-of-the-way places. More recently I read River-Horse, a memoir of his boat … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews, On Writing
Tagged Blue Highways, how to write, rewriting, River Horse, traveling, writer's voice, Writing
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Book Review: River-Horse: The Logbook of a Boat Across America by William Least Heat-Moon
I last met William Least Heat-Moon in the memoir Blue Highways, an account of his journey around the continental United States alone in a small camper van. In River-Horse, he undertakes a boat journey along America’s rivers and lakes from … Continue reading