Roy Lotz's Blog, page 2

Three New Articles

As part of the promotion for my new book (it’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it), I’ve written three ariticles for other websites. On the off chance that you want to read even more of my writing, here they are:

One is about my long and rewarding experience on Goodreads, a platform I’ve been contributing to for over a decade now. Another is about my accidental connection to the writer Washington Irving, another son of the Hudson Valley who moved to Spain and wrote about the country. And...

My New Book: Don Bigote!

Don Bigote by Roy Lotz

When I began to write fiction, I hardly dared to dream that I would ever have a book published, much less two! I wish I could believe that this was due to my immense literary talent; but the truth is that, for this book, luck played a huge role in getting it published.

A few years ago, at a house party, I was introduced to a pleasant Irish man named Enda. It just so happened that he was also a writer; and, frustrated with the world of publishing, he was thinking of founding ...

Review: Times Square Red, Times Square Blue

Times Square Red, Times Square Blue by Samuel R. Delany

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


When I was an undergraduate, having rashly and unwisely switched my major from chemistry to anthropology, I met with my academic advisor. He asked me: What do I hope to learn as an anthropologist? To this, I gave the answer: I want to walk through Time Square and understand why it is the way it is. Yes, grandiose and pretentious, but it did capture something—the urge to figure out why the world is filled with so much s...

2025: New Year’s Resolutions

Happy New Year, everyone! This year turned out to be a great year for writing. True, I didn’t finish working on my new novel, but that’s because I decided that it needed to be more thoroughly re-written. But I branched out in my writing, trying to write stories based on original research and interviews, rather than just my own experience. This led to my writing about my neighborhood, craft beer, and hot sauce; and I hope to continue this kind of pseudo-journalism in the future. The world is full...

2024 in Books

2024 on Goodreads by Various

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I seem to be slowing down in my old age. About a decade ago, I was reading well over 100 books a year. Since then, my total book count has steadily gone downward, a dismal sign of adult responsibilities encroaching on my free time. But I still managed to finish some excellent books.

In election years, I tend to get swept up in the frantic political mood, but this year somehow I managed to maintain calm. My big election read was What It Takes, Ric...

Adventures in Public Healthcare

In the wake of the murder of Brian Thompson, the simmering anger that Americans feel for their healthcare system has boiled over. The internet is full of stories of people denied necessary treatments and medicine by our byzantine and heartless insurance industry. The alleged killer, Luigi Mangione, has even become a kind of folk hero to some, for taking revenge against a system they believe is just as guilty of murder—if not more so.

Fortunately, I don’t have a horror story about the American...

Review: Into the Wild

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Jon Krakauer’s two most famous books, Into the Wild and Into Thin Air, are both stories of failures to survive in harsh environments. One would think that such stories, though thrilling, would leave little room for controversy; but somehow that is not the case. His account of the Everest disaster attracted criticism because his version of events—his apportioning of praise and blame—did not always match other survivors’. This book, meanwhile, wa...

Review: Moral y civilización

Moral y civilización. Una historia by Juan Antonio Rivera

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book was given to me as a birthday present by my friend, Carlos Gómez, who went to university with the author. Not long thereafter, Juan Antonio Rivera passed away unexpectedly, leaving this book as his final work. Carlos, naturally, was distraught at the news. The last time we spoke, I asked Carlos about Juan’s life. Juan was a highly independent man, who lived surrounded by books—thousands and thousands of boo...

The Spice Trade: Hot Sauce in the Spanish Market

In 1492, Christopher Columbus set out from Spain to find a shorter route to Asia. Europeans knew very little about the Far East at that time; but they did know, albeit vaguely, that Asia was where spices grew. Though it is difficult to imagine nowadays, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves were more valuable than gold. Anyone who could find a way to get them directly from the source, avoiding all the intermediary merchants, would stand to make a fortune. This is what motivated Columbus’s journey.

Of ...

Review: Into Thin Air

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The tallest mountain I have ever climbed is Peñalara, the highest peak of the Guadarrama range. Standing at 2,428 meters above sea level, it is not even a third as high as Everest. With a train station that transports visitors most of the way up, and no steep cliffs or otherwise difficult terrain, for most of the year it requires no special skill or equipment to climb to the top.

And yet ev...