Some people assert that writing is a lonely pursuit. But, according to William Faulkner, there’s a difference between lonely and solitary. He said this: “I have always been too busy, too immersed in what I was doing… to have time to wonder whether I was lonely or not lonely. It’s simply solitary.” For me, there’s…
Places can be special for many reasons – memories of an important event, historical or cultural significance, or their unique qualities. Jantar Mantar is one of those places that represents all three of these for me. When I first arrived in India, I wandered around New Delhi by myself, trying to figure out the country…
What happens when you publish a book? The accolades and money come rolling in. Well, no, not unless it’s a bestseller, which is extremely rare. But other good things can happen as a result. For example, in my case having a book on Amazon and an accompanying website allowed me to reconnect with people I…
It’s not often that I’m able to attend Indian cultural events locally, but I was fortunate to see a performance of Naga-Mandala, a production created by a famous modern playwright. The plot, by Girish Karnad (1938-2019), was based on Indian folktales that featured an unhappy wife, a taciturn husband, and a magical cobra, or naga,…
In my novel, India Interlude, one of the first conflicts between two of the main characters, Sharon and Kevin, takes place at the Red Fort in Delhi. The friction between these two characters occurs at a site that has also captured, at a more international level, the hostilities between India and Pakistan that are threaded…
So far, this website has been concerned with items related to my first novel, India Interlude. But I also have been working on my second one, a mystery, tentatively titled Pursuing Paintings: An Oxford Art Theft Mystery. In this one we revisit two of the characters from the earlier book, about fifty years later, as…
I recently attended a master class in Odissi Indian classical dance taught by Bijayini Satpathy. That’s her, in the photo above, kneeling in front of several of the other students in the class. My novel, India Interlude, contains a scene in which one of the Americans, Diane, attends a performance with her Indian friend, Josh,…
The Sarasota Library System is presenting a wonderful series this November. I hadn’t realized that this is something they do every year, but they bring exciting authors to town and have events especially for local writers. This year, I’m very privileged to know one of the speakers personally. My friend Lucy Hedrick will be speaking…
It’s obvious that India Interlude is about India. It seems, then, that an image of the Taj Mahal is required, so here’s the obligatory photo. But the novel argues that this one building isn’t really a good illustration of the country. Here’s a brief excerpt from the book, the thoughts of Suzanne, one of the younger characters, who has accidentally ingested some psychedelics, and is now standing behind this famous building, considering this very question:
No, this isn’t about adolescents. Teen Darwaza is an important historical and cultural site in the city of Ahmedabad, India, the location where much of India Interlude takes place. In this case, “teen” means three in Hindi and Urdu, two languages spoken in India. “Darwaza” means gate or door. Thus, Teen Darwaza means three gates,…