The Philter

It’s nice to have an axe that cuts good wood well. But it’s equally important to have an axe that cuts bad wood good.

Unborn on the Fourth of July

by | Jul 4, 2026 | Whatever Else | 3 comments

I have mixed feelings about the 4th of July this year, to say the least.

This is a big anniversary for my home country — they are calling it the “semiquincentennial,” which I eventually figured out means “half of 500.” Which is a weird way to measure time, but the Romans were like that.

Speaking of which, America feels awfully Roman lately, don’t you think? Gladiators brawling on the White House lawn, decadent oligarchs running roughshod over the land…. And how about those orgies where toga-clad senators stuff themselves with the finest meats and cheeses, gorging and vomiting, gorging and vomiting, stopping only to bugger pretty young boys?

OK that last bit hasn’t happened yet. But is it really that far off?

Today finds me in Edgewood, WA awaiting the birth of my second grandson. The fact that I now have grandchildren after never having children is a continual source of amazement and confusion, but in a good way.

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Reading Report, June 2026

by | Jul 1, 2026 | Read it in books | 0 comments

Acquired:
Night Soldiers, Alan Furst

Offloaded:
The Razor’s Edge, W.S. Maugham
Against the Country, Ben Metcalf

Progress Made:
Here Lies, Eric Ambler
The Russian Girl, Kingsley Amis
Martin Amis: The Biography, Richard Bradford
The Courts of the Morning, John Buchan
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, Philip K. Dick
The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham, Selina Hastings

Finished:
Cause for Alarm, Eric Ambler
A Scanner Darkly, Philip K. Dick

Only an idiot believes that he can write the truth about himself.
—Eric Ambler

I have been simultaneously reading biographies of three authors, and you might well ask, isn’t that confusing? It is, but this approach fits my short attention span. And I have been learning things.

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