S.W. Clemens's Blog, page 2
July 31, 2020
Launch
The Seal Cove Theoretical Society launched today. I hear a faint fanfare, muted by distance, and drowned out the white noise of modern life (politics, COVID, and the avalanche of email). The SCTS (as I’ll refer to it here to save long repetition) was my attempt at an ensemble piece. I’m a great admirer of … Continue reading Launch →
July 17, 2020
Impending launch
The Seal Cove Theoretical Society is set to launch in two weeks. I have no idea how, or even if, it will fly. It will depend on whether or not readers form an attachment to any of the characters. I have no feeling for how others may see them. Will readers be sympathetic? Will they … Continue reading Impending launch →
June 23, 2020
SEAL COVE COVER REVEAL
For the past couple of years I’ve been working on an ensemble piece set in the small coastal town of Seal Cove in Northern California. Seal Cove is a fictionalized version of Moss Beach, where I’ve lived most of my life, combined with neighboring Princeton by the Sea at Pillar Point Harbor, and perhaps a … Continue reading SEAL COVE COVER REVEAL →
May 28, 2020
A Little Pandemic Reading
The pandemic came as no great surprise to me. It has always lurked as a possibility, like an earthquake that you know is coming but you just don’t know when. What I didn’t expect was the disruption of supplies, the hoarding of things like toilet paper and sanitizing sprays and wipes, the binge eating, and […]
May 18, 2020
Sunrise on Half Moon Bay
I’d been looking forward to Robyn Carr’s Sunrise on Half Moon Bay, because I live in the area. Being familiar with the setting colors my review, even though Sunrise on Half Moon Bay is a work of fiction, so artistic-license is accepted and expected. But as a local, some aspects rang jarringly false. For instance, […]
April 26, 2020
Robyn Carr
About a month ago I became aware of best-selling romance author Robyn Carr through an article in our local paper, The Half Moon Bay Review. She was being interviewed because her latest book, Sunrise on Half Moon Bay, is set here and was about to be released. So, I thought I’d check her out. Online […]
March 22, 2020
Silver Linings in a Time of Pandemic
In a normal year about 100 people die each day in automobile accidents. With everyone staying home, there will be far fewer accidents. 2) Fewer people commuting means less air pollution. 3) With everyone sheltering in place, family members are getting to know one another better. Board games and card games are making a comeback. […]
March 17, 2020
A Distopian Present
March 17th, St. Paddy’s day. I get the feeling we’re living in a Franz Kafka story. Here in San Mateo County we’ve been ordered to “shelter in place,” like sheep in the stockyards. We live in interesting times. This pandemic, and in particular the world’s response to it, doesn’t seem quite real. We’re surrounded by […]
November 15, 2019
Ann Patchett’s The Dutch House
I attended a talk that Ann Patchett gave before a book signing of The Dutch House recently. She was a marvelously entertaining raconteur. She was also a throw-back to another age. Her adventures in writing and publishing are far outside the norm for this time period, beginning with short story published in “The Paris Review” […]
November 2, 2019
Seal Cove Ephemera
I finished writing The Seal Cove Theoretical Society in June. I say “finished,” because I had deemed it finished. Since then, seven beta readers have weighed in with their comments, and forty-some agents have declined to read it based on my query letter (more on that in the next blog post). So, I solicited another […]
