A gentle kiss on the lips of the Inquisitor

Note: This article was published on my new Substack newsletter this morning. All articles are still open to everyone, so please hop over there and check out what I'm doing. If you like what you see, feel free to subscribe to stay up-to-date with my new stuff, or take out a paid subscription to keep …

Time to reevaluate the prominence trauma has in our stories

There’s an excellent article on the prevalence of the trauma plot in contemporary literature in the January 3-10 issue of The New Yorker, which grabbed my attention for two reasons: first, as a writer wanting to understand more about the craft (and which types of stories are currently popular and why) but secondly, as someone …

Beauty and the beast: Some thoughts about Jacinda Ardern

You should never trust a person wearing a mask ... unless you’re in the middle of a pandemic and that person is Jacinda Ardern. I interviewed Jacinda Ardern in Crave cafe last Thursday in what was a surreal and somewhat discomfiting experience. Surreal because after two years of trying to get this interview, and after …

COVID-19: Should we be fearful of the coming dystopia?

My daughter (the second of four) asked me today whether I was afraid—of the coronavirus and the devastating implications of the current pandemic. My answer was no. I don't feel afraid—but it was only later that I was able to think about why not. Here are some of my reasons. I remember the GFC in …

‘I will be known’: A treasured conversation

Our last coffee was had beneath the gaze of Mary, mother of Jesus, on December 17, 2018, some months before she left. I didn’t know it would be our last one-on-one conversation. Neither did she. That’s the point—we rarely know. It’s only afterwards, in retrospect, that these final conversations find their light. Fortuitously, the conversation …

Truth in a post-apocalyptic world (1/5)

Some (slightly revised) thinking from old lecture notes on epistemology in the post-9/11 world, as we approach the end of another decade. (1/5)

Accidental presence

It’s been months since Darlene died, and yet when I come across her words, such as those lingering on old Facebook posts, I’m surprised every time by how palpable the love is in them — more potent now by far than when they first appeared. I’ve never experienced this before. I’ve heard others talk excitedly about …

Beyond Love: The dying man

They were together in silence like an old married couple wary of life, beyond the pitfalls of passion, beyond the brutal mockery of hope and the phantoms of illusion: beyond love. For they had lived together long enough to know that love was always love, anytime and anyplace, but it was more solid the closer …

Tears for my sister of mercy

I'm not a teary man, not really. But I've wept more in the past few weeks than I have in my whole life. And it's all because of Darlene. My friend. Who's dying. I think it's that I've been caught out. I've faced tragedy before. Lots of it, actually. I've experienced the death of people …