The Perennial Nomad

Introducing The Perennial Nomad, a weekly Substack newsletter.

I began writing with a focus on science fiction stories. Many of the books I read as a teen and young man were science fiction and fantasy, and it was a science fiction story that impressed me so much that I felt I had to become a writer. As a result, my early efforts were in that genre.

However, more and more I began to see writing as a metaphysical experience, as a method of observing and defining our place in the universe. I developed a deep desire to give everything I had to the art of writing, and I began to make life decisions that would hurtle me into the realities of life. I couldn’t accomplish my goals by remaining ensconced in the city of my birth. I had to get out and live, to discover what life was all about so that then I could write of it. I sought that “one true sentence” that Hemingway spoke of. Inspired by writers such as Jack London, Jack Kerouac, and Henry Miller, I left my hometown and set out on the road.

Hitchhiking was common in those days or I would never have been able to get as far as I did. I traveled back and forth across the United States, through Central America as far as Guatemala, around Europe, across the Middle East, around the Indian Subcontinent, and eventually to Southeast Asia and New Zealand. But this was not tourist travel; this was total immersion. I never had much money, and when I ran short I’d stop and get temporary work. Sometimes when I went broke I’d keep going and trust in the vicissitudes of the road to somehow supply my needs. When I settled down with my wife to raise our family of five sons, we did it in Greece, not in the States. All together, I lived overseas for thirty-five years, only returning to the States when the Greek economy crashed and there were no opportunities there for my sons.

Somehow now I have found myself alone in Seattle, my starting point, as an empty nester, but for me it is not the same place. I see people around me who were born and raised and have spent their whole lives here. For them it is home, but not for me. I have no home. In the course of my wanderings I have come to realize that I am a perennial nomad. For me, the journey is never-ending. The truth is that it’s the same for everyone, whether you venture out into the unknown or snuggle up close to where you first arrived. We are all, ultimately, strangers and pilgrims in this life. We are all in transit. None of us are here permanently.

This newsletter, The Perennial Nomad, celebrates our transitory existence. In it I will share accounts of my far-flung travels and also narratives of my efforts to rediscover Seattle. Many of the essays will be previews of works in progress, and I will also offer excerpts from my already-published works. If you too are a global citizen and have an affinity with all of humankind, I urge you to subscribe.

Thanks so much for your support and encouragement.

Here’s a link to The Perennial Nomad.