A primary cause of the Crusades was too many restless, impoverished knights and noblemen in Europe, who jumped at the chance for loot and lands in the East. That they could tell themselves they were doing it for God was an added bonus, but I doubt many would have gone just for that reason.
History is economics, and all our beliefs and ideals are only along for the ride. Individual motives align themselves, one way or another, with the actual underlying causes.
As one or another of you (or maybe both!) might have noticed, I did a redo on the design of this blog. That dark theme was just too hard on the eyes and I couldn't figure out how to change the dark blue links in the sidebar (aside from getting into the html), so I lightened things up.
Alas, that also changed all the fonts and the colors of my text. So I had to go through the entirety of Eggshell Boats and fix every post. They should display properly now (or, I should say, the way I want them to). The things I do for you, my loyal readers!
Wishing all a Happy Whatever at this time of year. My choice is to celebrate all the holidays that cluster around the solstice, including the ones I've invented for my fiction.
Tamarind is a fictional Florida town that serves as the main setting for my novel ‘Asanas’ (available from Arachis Press in print or as free ebook). This is not the same Florida as that which Ted ‘Shaper’ Carrol inhabits, the Florida of the three Cully Beach novels and ‘The Middle of Nowhere,’ as well as a number of short stories. The two differ in too many respects for any sort of crossover between them. Nor is it the Florida that pops up in the Wilk adventures nor in the Women in the Sun novels I have written under the name Sienna Santerre.
So where is this Tamarind? It is situated near the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, somewhere north of Punta Gorda and south of Sarasota. I have disguised the area a bit, flipping some of the geography north and south, to create a place that can not be found on any map. But I did draw up a map of Tamarind for my own use. One should be able to find ones way around with it, although I think the description in the book is actually adequate.
One sees there is road out to Leawood and the beach. Leawood is, to some degree, patterned on both Englewood and Englewood Beach but also on other beach communities I have known, including Vanderbilt Beach just north of Naples and even Keaton Beach up in the Big Bend area (I stole ‘The Hot Dog Stand’ from there). This does not mean Tamarind is in any way based on Englewood. I created it from bits and pieces of Florida towns I have known.
Out west of town lies Consonante Springs. This also is completely fictitious but I did base the spa there, to some degree, on the one in Bonita Springs Florida—a place where I myself taught yoga, long, long ago. And beyond the Springs one finds the US Highway 41 and Interstate 75. Those I didn’t need to invent. Nor did I invent any other of the towns mentioned, up and down the coast. I did, however, make up Singer Lake, up in the lake district of Florida.
I do intend to revisit Tamarind. There are many other projects vying for my attention but I do have a good idea of where the sequel should go. We shall see if I get to it.
A quick announcement: we have put up an archive of all* the short stories of Stephen Brooke, both published and unpublished, realistic and fantasy. Feel free to browse through them at https://storiesofstephenbrooke.blogspot.com/ Remember that some are gathered in collections available at Arachis Press.
*not including a couple 'adult' pieces, that may be found at Arachis Press.The kitchen becomes my world on these cold days,
revolving around a book and a cup of tea.
Let the north wind call at window and door;
let her voice lose itself among the trees.
These days come and go, clad in their darkness,
and I remain until I may seek spring.
Stephen Brooke ©2024
not exactly a sijo but in the shape of one
Dark Gardens
I have hungered but I have not starved;
I have worshiped each vain idol carved
by desires sharpened to a knife,
by the fires that have hollowed life,
left me empty of all wants and needs
and the comfort of all empty creeds.
Hollowed now, I leave myself unguarded,
followed by those dreams thought best discarded;
facets of perception catch and bind me
as kaleidoscopic visions blind me.
Rise up every star I wished upon;
to dark gardens comes unruly dawn.
Whisper to those fading lights above,
what of those we need too much to love?
Owls cry messages across the night,
ask what litanies I might recite —
shadowed prayers for sins too small to number;
in dark gardens I and they seek slumber.
Stephen Brooke ©2024
Possibly finished form (or close to it), but drafts are ever subject to change.
Abortion access shows up on several state ballots this year, including here in Florida. I favor the amendment here. Being quite libertarian, I absolutely believe in the right of a woman to control her own body. The question then becomes whether or not another body is involved. Just when does a fetus become (or should be considered as) a human person?
No one can honestly claim to know. We may have our beliefs but those beliefs can not be forced on others. This is why I advocate a sensible compromise, whether it be ‘viability’ or ‘quickening.’ Setting the cutoff at less (or banning abortion altogether) is very much imposing ones beliefs rather than depending on any sort of medical knowledge.
I personally dislike abortion and would prefer it only be a resort when the woman’s health is in serious danger. It is not for me to impose that view on anyone else. It must remain a choice for the woman, ultimately—not the state, not the doctors.
And definitely not you and me.
