There is an implicit disclosure in the title of this post. Here is the explicit version: I am the subject of Chapter 5 of Heather LeFevre‘s book called Brain Surfing. I have a small reputational (not financial) vested interest in this book doing well. But there are much more important, …
My name is Sheila Doherty and my friends say that I am loquacious to a fault. They mean that I talk too much. And I guess they have a point. I can be overly forthcoming at times. They would have been impressed by my entry to the United States. …
If Chuck Palahniuk did poetry readings they might be like this. Fifty eight people out of ninety in the queue are allowed into the Demonstration Room at Edinburgh’s Summerhall venue. We have been standing with our craft beers in a small car park surrounded by shabby Seventies offices. We look …
I have posted a second Salmon and Bear short story. It is called The Exhibitionists and it involves a near-death experience for poor Salmon, who was just trying to live a little. “I’m going to create a diversion,” said the boy, “Something that is temporarily more interesting to a bunch …
A needle to the waist punctures the girl’s bravado. “Holy shit,” she gasps as the gun rattles to life, and I’m glad I opted for the upper arm rather than the lower abdomen. Trevor said it would be more comfortable for a first-timer like me and the look …
My daughter Penny’s French teacher is French. She speaks English with an accent that is (eez) pleasing on the ear. Penny and her friends (and her French teacher) are not long back from a school exchange in Versailles. They stayed en famille and a week of speaking French improved Penny’s …
Choking on peanut butter is no fun. Eating peanut butter with a spoon doesn’t sound like dicing with death, but it was for me.
I kept reminding myself to look up in Manhattan. Even a tourist is quick to forget just how blessedly high and mighty and vertical and vertiginous everything is. But sometimes, even in New York City, it pays to look down instead. Or perhaps not. You decide. As my daughters and …
