Thursday, April 24, 2025

Holding Cúirt

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For lovers of literature, springtime in the West of Ireland means, among other things, that it is time for Cúirt. An international festival ...
Friday, November 22, 2024

Col. Mustard Update

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  We had barely sat down before a tall thin man appeared. He was elegantly dressed. He had a moustache, and his black hair was perfectly co...
Monday, April 15, 2024

Arthur Clock

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  He looked up and down the street. He settled on a bar down on the next corner. It was called El Águila.   “I’ll meet you in front of tha...
Saturday, January 27, 2024

Me and My Demons

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How do you like the family portrait that now adorns the top of this page? Yes, that is myself sitting at the keyboard, no doubt diligently ...
Wednesday, November 22, 2023

Don’t Take My Kodachrome Away

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  When I had taken all the obvious pictures, I just started pointing the camera around the beach zooming in on things that might be interes...
Saturday, September 16, 2023

Back to Deauville

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  “Yes. Tell me, are you familiar with the Deauville Film Festival?”   “Dough ville? Uh, no.”    “Deauville is in Normandy. For six years...
Monday, April 24, 2023

Indy Selling Success Story

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Things to have come full circle in the book business—well, at least in my book business. When I published my first novel nearly nine years, ...
Sunday, January 15, 2023

Same Books, New Portal

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Something on this blog has changed. At the top of this page, if you click on any of the three links for my own online bookstore Afranor Boo...
Monday, December 19, 2022

Hand of Maradona

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  To my surprise Donal called out after him, “Just for the record, mate, you lot most definitely stole the World Cup.”   He stopped in his...
Tuesday, November 8, 2022

Colonel Mustard’s Return?

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I have always loved the tone, quality and entertainment value of readers’ letters to The Times (“of London”). It was sort of a dream come tr...