June 2017 – Jack Sanger

Hail Stones In the Pyrenees

Thought I’d digress from the current flow and describe an event, yesterday. Imagine the scene: sunshine, reading Montaigne on the recliner, rearing cliffs behind me with crows and woodpeckers creating a drum rhythm. A blackbird chortling solos above my head on the pear tree. All hot and humid and very south of France. Ten minutes… Know More
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Dream Lover Where Are You

Hearing accounts of other people’s dreams is about as tasty as eating cheap mozzarella. They may intrigue, exhilarate, perturb or cause great distress to those who experience them but today’s listener generally remains turned off by the telling – unless s/he is some kind of eager interpreter. Those who, like myself, find them uncannily redolent… Know More
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Zen and the Art of Psychic Maintenance

We had moved to a village called Ryton, close to the Tyne. I was about twelve. Naturally I joined the public library. In the earlier village of my childhood I was taking out adult books. By twelve I had read the vast bulk of the better American crime noir by Chandler, Cheyney, Wallace et all… Know More
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Life’s Mysteries

I said I’d write a sequence of blogs on the mysteries that attend my life. I am assuming that I am not unique in being subjected to uncanny forces beyond my powers of reason. I expect most people, if they spent a bit of time in personal reflection, would dredge up the inexplicable in their… Know More
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Daydream Believer

I’ve had a number of readers kind enough to complement the direction of these blogs. Well, that is not quite exact. There have been more compliments as the blogs begin to entertain the mysterious and the uncanny. Read the last few and you will see what I mean. The place of strange events in our… Know More
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The Sorcery of Scribbling

In a blog, many moons ago, I wrote about the creation of The Azimuth Trilogy. I was fascinated by the act of writing myself into knowledge. Since I had placed the novel in ancient times and wasn’t a historian, everything in the books came from my imagination. When I had finished the thousand or so… Know More
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I write therefore I exist – but only if you read

If a tree falls in the forest and there is no-one around to hear it, does it make a sound? is a well known philosophical conundrum – since sound is only a vibration in our ears. Those that write e-books are posed with a parallel train of thought. If an e-book is written and posted… Know More
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Ghana and Synchronicity

Perhaps you know about Jungian notions of synchronicity but if so – bear with me a moment as I explain. If events occur that seem more than mere coincidence then they are synchronous. I begin this way as a preamble to three such experiences, occurring at different points in my life which came together in… Know More
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Sex with her indoors 16th century style

Apologies for the non-PC heading but it serves a purpose. Well, two. The first is to garner some attention and the second is to point to the fact that times haven’t changed much since Montaigne wrote the essays for which he is now remembered. I am basing this on Sarah Bakewell’s excellent book: How to… Know More
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Big is Beautiful

Watching a Sky Arts panel discussion chaired by Mariella Frostrup at the Hay Festival, I was struck by an author I did not know called Lionel Shriver. She (she had assumed the male first name by choice when young) has just brought out a new novel, Big Brother, which echoes her personal tragedy of losing… Know More
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