PinnedI Just Self-Published My Second NovelYeah Me! — A murder mystery with no murder, The Footstep Thief takes place in a Kafkaesque world where Stephanie enters a maze of night shifts in a university laboratory in an Australian country town. When time allows Stephanie passes her nights hunting down the perfect vending machine, searching for the Grey Nurse…Novel1 min read
Published in Show Your City·Jun 13Vienna, Baroque, and a World of Sheer OpulenceAn unexpected pleasure of river cruising is stepping ashore in the centre of things, rather than a port some distance from town. In media res, as Tolstoy advised aspiring writers. In Vienna, I alighted by the Church of St Francis. This distinctive church, covered with towers and red tiles, was…Travel6 min read
Published in Show Your City·Jun 5Finding Leonardo in the Hills above FlorenceI thought I new Florence. Well enough, at least, to know the bus routes. Until in between visits someone changed the stops. Once upon a time when I stayed a while in Fiesole, I’d catch the bus down to Florence and alight near the Duomo. Now, after dutifully buying my…Florence6 min read
Published in Writers On The Run·May 30A Boat, A Dragon, and Thien Cung GrottoWhat started with a boat rapidly became a surreal experience. Indeed, most of my trip to Halong Bay bordered on surreal. The place was crowded when we docked mid-morning. Bewildered and sunburnt tourists milled around looking for boats to take them out into the bay while vendors verged on blows…Travel4 min read
Published in Weeds & Wildflowers·May 29Signs From JapanI found Japan a juxtaposition of old and new which somehow blended seamlessly. Everywhere I went proved such a contrast to all I thought I knew about the country. Here are some of my favourite signs I found along the way.Japan3 min read
Published in SNAPSHOTS·May 20Playing with photosSuch a little thing, but I’m just learning to play around with photo editing. Changes that once seemed impossible I can now do, and even something as simple as changing the colour of the background completely changes the feel of a photo.Snapshot2 min read
Published in Blue Insights·May 15Last TuesdayA poem — It came to me last Tuesday Somewhere around two in the afternoon, I think, As I cursed and threatened an impassive computer How my life was not a novel With a defined arc of beginning, middle and end. It lacks resolution, with a denouement to follow Neither punctuation nor spelling await correction A…Blue Insights2 min read
Published in Weeds & Wildflowers·May 13Mt Fuji and her singing roadAs we drove through the forest, the road began to sing to us. The sound changed with the speed of the minibus, but it was unmistakable. We were driving on a singing road. That morning, after a few days of exploring Tokyo in the rain, I woke to clear skies…Japan4 min read
Published in Storymaker·May 6FreefallScissors Oversized Pirouette en pointe Bedside me Towering arms Stretched wide An embracing Metal blade Slices The entwining Threads Fall away And I breathePoetry1 min readFreefallPhotography by authorScissorsOversizedPirouette en pointeBedside meTowering armsStretched wideAn embracingMetal bladeSlicesThe entwiningThreadsFall awayAndI breathe----3
Published in Weeds & Wildflowers·May 3What Were You Doing at Fifteen?While I struggled with braces on my teeth and conjugating the past tense in French and German, Michelangelo was carving his first works. The braces were not a pretty sight. The Madonna della Scala is. At the age of thirteen, Michelangelo was apprenticed by his father to Ghirlandaio’s studios. Two…Art History4 min read