Back in the day I could’ve bought a row house overlooking Domino Sugar and Baltimore’s Inner Harbor for sixty thousand. But I didn’t have sixty thousand, and my wife didn’t like the heat. So what I did was, I built myself a fantasy life in one of those lovely old buildings, writing my detective novels […] More >>
Archives for August 2012
The Seventh Try
Well, we’re done with the hard part. Or, at least, this part of the hard part. The building got built, the gardens planted, the walls hung with paintings, and my book corner filled chockablock with books, maps, prints and manuscripts about Cape Ann and its history, along with a sprinkling of general maritime and art […] More >>
Ramblin’
It’s a lush, drizzly August morning. I’m listening to Ornette Coleman’s wonderful “Ramblin’” and doing a little rambling of my own, brain unhitched, looking out my window at exploding green. Next thing I know, I’m thinking about the life cycle of books and manuscripts. Then I’m thinking of GWC colleague Ammiel Alcalay and his innovative […] More >>
The Last Book Sale
How to design a clipper ship (see below) In the 19th century people writing one another about commercial matters sometimes used the word “dull” to describe business conditions. Judging from the contexts in which it appeared, the word seems to have two major definitions – “a little slow” and “lousy.” So, when I say that […] More >>