Sharp green spears pierce frozen crust with power of entitlement. I see what they will be. Clean, strong, graceful color heads, these forceful shoots are harbingers of what I know is…coming soon. Cold breath riding on the ether all around, a chorus of the natural world sings out with shocking joy. First these, then… Continue Reading
Author Archives: Sidney Stark
Tangled Web
Some difficult ideas are presented by other writers, either up close and personal, in a collaborative workshop, or on the page during an essay or interview, and these thoughts may be in direct opposition to one’s own beliefs, needing time to settle into a more comfortable place of acceptance or at least a wary coexistence.… Continue Reading
Reading Excerpt from ‘Certain Liberties’
Introduction– Robert Haussmann was a German immigrant who came to New York as a young man in the early 1800s, and supported himself giving private music lessons to children of wealthy families. He understood his profession put him somewhere between the serving and privileged class. Haussmann developed a fondness for one of his gifted students, Emily… Continue Reading
Pulp Fiction
I can imagine your breath catching when you first saw the title of this blog post. That’s not like Sidney, critiquing the racy stuff, commenting on…well who knows what? If you were born, or just became a young adult after WW II, your reaction to the label ‘Pulp Fiction’ is predictable, and undoubtedly much the… Continue Reading
Responsive Chord
“Aha! I see that struck a responsive chord!” Madame ‘X’ often jeered at us from the blackboard, never turning around as she heard the gasps of dismay, the predictable response to most of her threats. A sudden visitor to her French classroom would have caught our wide-eyed terror as an hour of unprepared dictation loomed… Continue Reading
Identity Theft
Who are they? How can you know if you’ve never met ? Can you represent them in your fiction just by watching them from a distance? Or can you summon them realistically from your imagination? Creating believable characters people empathize with is no easy task, but it’s essential if fiction has to sing on its… Continue Reading