Litopia

In this episode of Two Wayward Writers South, Rachel and I talk about Nobel Laureate Doris Lessing. With her rich body of work and fascinating life history, there’s plenty to chat about. We decided to tackle her from either end of her literary spectrum: Rachel read her acclaimed The Golden Notebook, while I took her a speculative The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four, and Five. One is a serious work of feminism, though that is a label she herself rejected.

If you uncovered a secret, could you tell a loved one if the news would blow up their life? That’s what I’m talking about. That’s the secret sauce I love in books. My weakness. Hard choices. Keep ’em coming. I love a protagonist put through their paces, choosing between the best of two impossible choices. Overhear malicious gossip about a friend? Discover secret adoption papers? Witness an affair? Learn about a love child? These hard choices are even ripe in gentle middle grade reads. In a different way.

WARNING: THIS CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR The Traitor Baru Cormorant, Blood over Bright Haven, Ender’s Game and The Sixth Sense Imagine. Luke Skywalker, on approaching the Death Star’s trench, suddenly turns his X-wing around and starts killing off his own squadron, blows up the Millennium Falcon and guides the Death Star to destroy Yavin 4 and everyone on it. Cut to: Luke getting a medal pinned on by Vader. Platoons of stormtroopers cheer, while Artoo bleeps worryingly.

Jacob’s Ladder Despite my confusion, I was not ready to give up. I had more material to examine. I dug into my diary entries from the time earlier that year when I was bike riding with the International School of Brussels alumni, in particular my entries from my conversations with Bo. I’ve known a lot of architects and students of architecture. But Bo was a Brit, studying in London at Bartlett School of Architecture.

Absinthe -another story for another time- This is a peek at the cross-cultural hardships of a sad American student on a six month term-abroad design study in Tangier, Morocco. He is learning garden, landscape and culture lessons never spoken of in university. * I was still sitting in the antechamber—in a daze—perplexed, dizzy, exhausted—without result. Thoughts flowed again. All we see has always been shown. But there are so many things that I’ve never known. None of it made sense.

. It could have been me who freed all the slaves, like that gladiator who rose against Rome. I’d have proudly cried, “I’m Spartacus!” then died leading my people back home. . It could have been me, that dude with no name, outgunning desperados for glory. The bad and the ugly left in my wake as I vanished right out of their story. . It could have been me, the heavyweight champ, trading punches again and again. Bloodied and battered, but triumphant, I’d have shouted through tears, “Yo, Adrienne!” .

Cherry juice is a game changer. Nothing beats water, and I’ll get to this in a later post because, wow, have I got a hack for the cleanest tasting water. But it’s the worst thing to drink at night when you’re an oldie like me because it fills the bladder to bursting.

Hugh Dunne is a changeling. When he was very young, fairies stole a baby from a normal Dublin family and left him in its place. Or maybe he’s just neurodivergent. In any case, he spent his whole life feeling that he belonged to a different world. One which could be glimpsed in ancient Irish myths and legends, and in lonely, haunted places where the walls between this world and the other world are thinner.

Landscape has it all. BS in LA Michigan State Post grad studies at Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University MSc in Geographic Information Science at Birkbeck Colloge University of London More than 3 decades on major international projects in North Africa, Eastern Mediterranean, Red Sea and Persian Gulf. Hoped, in my retirement, to share my experience with students and young practitioners until a stroke turned me into a ‘side of beef on a gurney’ in 2017.

After spending 15 months in hospital, I have PTSD. Therefore, I’m driven to do everything within my power to avoid doctors. Of course, doctors have their place, but if I can help myself avoid them, I will. Now my carers are on me all the time to start a YouTube channel about my cooking budget tips, but recording a vlog when you have impaired speech is akin to the thought of tackling Mt Everest in a wheelchair.