The Devine Sagas

  So, in these blogs, I’ve been introducing myself and what I care about. And doing the same with beautiful Greece.   But, you may ask, what about the book?  Why read your book? Kronos, dear reader, is a big, sprawling love story that begins when its star-crossed lovers—all three of them!—are young and crazy in lust as well as love, and follows them along the ups and downs of their lives, until finally, when they are old and gray, it all comes to a satisfying climax and true love (however defined) either does, or doesn’t, win out while they still have a chance to enjoy it. And it’s situated in a beautiful place that you like to visit, even in your imagination. Kronos is simply a good story, the kind of book I grew up liking, with strong characters I either enjoyed spending time with or else those I loved to hate, who came together in compelling situations somehow entrancing, in worlds that frankly were more consistently interesting than everyday life.  They fi...

So happy you’re sharing in my late-in-life republishing of five of my own books. All have what I think are glorious new covers.  Do you like them? They are all the work of my friend Neil—We both live among many gringo ex-patriates along lovely Lake Chapala in Mexico. Last summer, on one wine-drenched occasion under a sun umbrella on my back courtyard, I hinted that I needed new covers for my five family sagas which I intended to publish digitally for the first time ever.   I asked, “Have you designed any book covers?” Neil has lived and taught in Mexico and elsewhere for many years.  In his early eighties, he’s back in Mexico doing the art he was born to do. (See his remarkable life’s artistry on his website: Neal Smith-Willow Fine Art.) “Hmmm,” he said, new speculation in his eyes as suddenly he looked at me as a client. “Maybe.” And then, “Haven’t had an actual commission in years.”   We both laughed. But a few days later, he had roughs of four of the fiv...

Why family sagas delight and charm us! I love family sagas.  Love to read them as well as write them. Long ones especially. Stories woven within stories cast spells, with their lovable lovers and mean girls who don’t win.  Family saga heaven is set in absorbing faraway countries that can cause lazy dreaming. And at the end, there’s a bonus:  learning a lot and broadening our worlds. Family sagas are good reads—and good writes for me! So, long ago—this was the mid-1970s when I worked in high-stress Boston media—I did what many wannabe novelists dream of doing.  I turned an Egyptian vacation into a proposal for a Mideast family saga, sold it to a big New York publisher, drove my golden retriever to my parent’s in Pittsburgh, and moved by myself to Cairo to write my first novel, which became “Nile.” More later about how all this wove together into my merry, eventful life.  Even remembering it all decades later, I have a big smile on my face and want to shou...