History, Real Life, and Faith
I’ve just set aside everything to read a new book about the Romanov family. It’s only about the thirtieth book on the Romanovs to capture my imagination over the years. Nearly 100 years after the regicide of Tsar Nicholas II, his Tsaritsa Alexandra and five children Olga, Tatiana, Marie, Anastasia, and Alexei, still attract writers and readers. A friendly chat…
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I returned to UCLA’s University Research Library recently to finish my research on A Poppy in Remembrance. (Back in the dark ages when I was a student, we called it the URL; it’s now the Young University Research Library YURL after former chancellor Charles Young). The years have disappeared in an alarming way, but as I stood on the steps and…
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Hurricanes powering through the Hawai’ian islands remind me of several incidents involving my family. In 1982, powerful Hurricane Iwa roared over Kaua’i, the western most inhabited island in the chain, and left it in shambles. Electrical power was out for more than a week in some places on this lush vegetated island, and it was declared a disaster area. Among ideas…
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The one hundredth anniversary of the start of World War I is significant to me and my family because a doughboy earned his American citizenship as a result. That doughboy was my grandfather, Antonio Ruvolo. What’s a doughboy? Click to Tweet “Doughboy is an informal term for a member of the United States Army or Marine Corps, especially members of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I….
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Some of you know the lyrics: “Now’s the time to say goodbye to all our company . . . “ That point is nearly here for the novel I’ve spent the last twenty months writing, and I’m having a hard time. I have to say goodbye very soon. There’s a grief that comes from saying goodbye to people you’ve spent a…
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What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet . . . William Shakespeare’s famous line from Romeo and Juliet rings across the centuries and lodges in my head these days as I finish up my novel. One of the most often asked questions of novelists is how they chose names…
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