Hello, readers, listeners and fans. With the arrival of spring, I feel a new energy to complete all the projects I’ve been working on, with little progress for … well, I’m embarrassed to say how long. But the good news is: I have some new help in producing Beyond Barbarossa, the first English-language podcast in […]
I enter 2026 as a senior citizen. Yes, I turned 65 last week. It’s a natural time to reflect on life. And the turn of the calendar is another common prompt to try to sum up the previous 12 months. I have to say I’m really looking forward to the end of 2025. It’s been […]
You still have time! This year marks the sixth time I’ve participated in the Great Cycle Challenge to help fight children’s cancer. And as luck would have it, this is the hottest cycling season I’ve ever experienced. On Friday, 8 August, I rode 20.5 km, through the Green Belt around Ottawa, past the “Burnt Lands,” […]
You cannot deny Trump’s enthrallment any more I don’t know how to express the depth of my disappointment and disgust with the display in the Oval Office today. It reminded me of nothing less than a doddering, wilfully uninformed grandfather lecturing his grandson about the younger man’s ingratitude for the revocation of his inheritance. Meanwhile, […]
Thank you, everyone, for all the well wishes for my knee that have come through email and social media. I feel humbled and grateful for all this attention. For those who don’t know, about three weeks ago when I was at the dog park, a couple of our furry best friends tumbled into me from […]
Five companies control more than 80 percent of Canada’s grocery/food market. Five companies dominate global high technology. Three social media companies have destroyed traditional media and now dominate news and social discourse. Not to mention spreading misinformation. The United States has the largest military in the world—more than the next 10 countries combined. The next […]
I am trying my hand at producing videos for YouTube to promote my podcast, Beyond Barbarossa. For an upcoming episode, I recorded a Zoom interview with Roger Moorhouse, author of seven books on the Second World War. We talked about one of them, The Devils’ Alliance: Hitler’s Pact with Stalin, 1939–1941, and about its subject, […]
He looks relaxed. Safe. Even cuddly. But he’s a killer. Early this morning, I woke to a commotion. Claws clicking on hardwood. Paws galloping. I got up got halfway down the stairs to see two cats, Cocoa and Ragnar the Magnificent looking at something on the floor. Something that moved one way, only to be […]
From The Bones of the Earth As today is the summer solstice, with the longest daylight hours of the year, I thought I’d share with you an excerpt describing one particular summer solstice, 1,427 years ago. Vorona, the shaman, led the villagers in the hymn to Zaria, the heavenly bride of the sun, to pull […]
You know I have a lot more ideas for stories than I’ll ever have time to write. So I’ve been thinking, during idle times like going to the grocery store or walking the dog: maybe I need a new way to write long fiction. One that acknowledges that we’re distracted all the time, that our […]