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Dale Estey's Blog

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May.30.2013
As I walked the harbour a couple of days ago I came across a number of Herring Seiners tied up. It is not common to have them along the well-used boardwalk, although they come to port yearly. It is a rare time when one sees working boats tied up to the pleasure craft oriented docks....
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May.29.2013
As if we ever did. The thought of a writer having vile alcohol is akin to watching a fish ride a bicycle. Hmm - "Drink like a fish."   Well - OK - I admit to having a couple of beer at university. And Chaucer might have had a flask or two. And Shakespeare seemed to know the effects. And...
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May.27.2013
Of an early Saturday morning I was roused from my bed by the klaxon sound of the fire alarm. Intense and insistent. It meant business. We are told not to take fire alarms for granted. I acted accordingly. Out of bed. Into clothes. Grab my memory stick. Out into the hallway. There was no smell of...
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May.26.2013
It seems I have been a trail blazer in my novel The Bonner Deception. Written decades ago, it devotes a chapter to one of the ways General Bonner protects his "secret". He has created a fake house, which consists of only one wall facing the street. The facade has a door and windows, and the...
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May.25.2013
Not that - as it stands now - I can afford any of them, but I do have my eye on that little number called  Shakespeare, First Folio. I like the fact that, at the time, if you wanted to spiff it up with a leather binding, it would cost an extra couple of quid, making it total to three pounds....
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May.24.2013
Kafka famously wrote this Letter To His Father as a denouncement of his father's parenting abilities and an explanation of how he turned out the way he did. The letter  -also famously- never reached his father because Kafka did not send it to him. He gave it - which is so typically...
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May.23.2013
Kafka is open - God knows - to interpretation. Here are a series of cartoons which are currently being exhibited in Cairo. Jiri Sliva has adapted some of Kafka's work visually - and why not?Kafka himself adorned his manuscripts with many cartoon drawings - literally often just stick figures. Kafka...
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May.22.2013
As I tended to my creative chores by the window, a mercantile bubble exploded outside on the city street. I paused to watch.   A huge delivery van pulled up in front of the building. Two beefy gentleman exited the cab and came around to the back of the truck. With the twist of a lever and the...
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May.20.2013
  Admittedly, it was none too early this morning when I saw a sight that I believe I have actually never seen, though it is fabled the world over. Standing on the front stoop to test the air (and the air failed with its chill demeanour - it is a nice November day out there and not mid-May) I...
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May.19.2013
I have not, both to my credit and - obviously - to my never ending joy, seen any of these movies. [DE] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 10 Biggest Book Adaptation Flops by Gabe Habash     For this list, we didn’t just want book adaptations that were a critical/audience failure or a box...
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May.18.2013
I have envy for writers who fill hundreds of filing cards to take notes for their novels. I imagine them shuffling the deck and doing marvellous tricks. And I find it impressive when authors have sheets of paper filling their walls, sticky notes posted all over, with lines and arrows and question...
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May.17.2013
A couple of days ago there was a crime contest on Twitter. Tweets were requested to describe Lawmakers/Lawbreakers. I decided to expose my memorable villain - Norman. Here are my tweets describing my none-too-friendly protagonist. Any (or all - how fast can I talk) ready for that mythical elevator...
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May.16.2013
OK, there were no cameras, but one of the most endearing and lasting "celebrity" encounters happened 250 years ago in London. James Boswell met Samuel Johnson and dogged his tracks for over twenty years. His reports have made them both famous. [DE] Samuel Johnson and James Boswell at the Club in...
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May.15.2013
As far as is known, the plays we watch penned by Shakespeare do not have the titles which Shakespeare gave them. In fact, Shakespeare might not have had any titles for his plays. The titles we are used to are often bluntly straight forward: Hamlet; Macbeth; Henry Six Part Two; Henry Six Part Three...
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May.14.2013
@KafkaF  It is not the unknown world, it is the unknown self. @ElephantTailTale Is that corn which stops me seeing further? @BardBillS  If to the stage a host is thrust / Make each mouthful choice and just. @OnionGrow  Sett me right and sett me deep. @TockTimeTick  Mindful of...
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