David Donavel ~

Years ago at the high school where I used to teach we had the chance to invite a working writer to visit and speak with some of our students. So long ago was this that I don’t recall what sort of things he wrote or where they were published. He was trim and fair and...

The other day I was whining to a close friend about how disagreeable I find the whole business of self promotion that is regarded as necessary to selling one’s books, be they printed or e-books. In the middle of my rant, he interrupted and reminded me of the...

When I was in high school, my best friend, who is also named David, played the tenor sax. He played in the school’s jazz band and probably in the orchestra, but I may remember that incorrectly. Dave also played in what might be now called a garage band and that group...

In both The Odyssey and The Iliad, Homer invokes the muse to help him tell his tale. Virgil does the same in The Aeneid and so does Milton in the first book of Paradise Lost. My guess—for I am not a scholar—is that other epic poets follow this pattern. As I recall,...