Long Time Expat In Japan
From my hotel to the Japan Writers Conference at Tokushima University last month. Shot on a DJI Osmo. The section through the trees is the best. The frame rate dropped to about one sixth of a second, which made it blur. I think that's the secret. https://vimeo.com/190069958
If you want to be a beta-reader, please send me an email or leave me a comment and I’ll share the rest of the story. — Margot was a spritely one hundred twenty five, or so she thought until she cupped her hands under her protruding belly, trying to hold up the weight that felt … Continue reading Story Excerpt – Clarity
I'm reading a memoir I didn't expect I'd be reading. I've decided my filters need some cleaning, so I have decided to go outside my comfort zone. Partly for research, partly for the discomfort. So I'm reading Fierce Attachments, A Memoire, by Vivian Gornick. I also just added two thousand words to my novel that … Continue reading On Art and Hard Work
I was away on a business trip for two weeks in November. OK, I was away for one week on business. The other week was all about gaming with friends. Nearly 16 hours of board gaming, everyday, for 5 days, only interrupted by breakfast at I-HoP or the local diner. Compound that with an early … Continue reading November Shodo
My mind is easily occupied. Porous borders just allowed twelve hours of TV on an international flight to invade and occupy the CPU cycles. I don't feel guilty, just a little angry. I've allowed it. I've let the occupiers through the gates. It might be time again for a screen boycott. I deleted a bunch … Continue reading Mind Occupiers
A very good friend of mine recently reviewed Death's End by Cixin Liu and translated by Ken Liu. In the review he writes: Some of the drawbacks may be cultural. It's clear that readers' expectations differ widely across the world. In English fiction, for example, there's the famous shibboleth "show, don't tell." This got me … Continue reading Chinese Literature, Armchair Commentary
Book Review: Seveneves by Neal Stephenson I became an Stephenson fanboy back in the 90s. Snowcrash and Diamond Age were nearly mind altering experiences. Interface, written collaboratively under a pseudonym, also really made me think. Cryptonomicon was awesome in its story as well as its length. But it was the beginning of an unfortunate trend, … Continue reading Book Review: Seveneves
Tried it once. Only got about 30k words. This inspired me to write shorter bits. In the last year, I joined the Tokyo Writers Workshop, a great bunch of people who have been kind enough (and appropriately not so kind when necessary) to critique my short stories. I've written and work-shopped a half dozen since … Continue reading NaNoWriMo
This last weekend I joined the Japan Writers Conference at Tokushima University. An annual event, about a hundred educators, journalists, poets, writers, and hangers-on like myself gather at a host university and spend two days giving and participating in presentations, panels, workshops, and readings. It all started on Friday night with a dinner party at … Continue reading Japan Writers Conference
Film: Grüße aus Fukushima (Greetings from Fukushima, aka Fukushima, Mon Amour) Director: Dorris Dorrie Starring: Kaori Momoi, Rosalie Tomass Note: Some Spoilers I mentioned in an earlier post that last year I worked on a German Film set in Japan. It was released in a film festival in Germany back in February to pretty good … Continue reading German Film Review
B.S. Donovan 