writing

Sorrow, the Initial Assessment

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SORROW Book Cover

Sorrow by Kurt Brindley is a thought-provoking and unsettling read that will resonate with readers who appreciate complex explorations of identity, social commentary, and the darker aspects of human nature, making it a great fit for fans of literary, psychological thrillers that challenge and provoke. 

Gina Ray Mitchell

I would like to thank Ms. Gina Ray Mitchell for taking the time and making the effort to so thoughtfully read and review my latest release Sorrow.

And I would like to ask that you take the time and make the effort to read her full review, one deep and insightful. In fact, it is so insightful that I believe she may have a better understanding of the book than I, which is certainly far from an impossibility as I’ve long held the belief that books are typically much smarter than those who write them.

You can read the full review at her very informative and entertaining website…

At Amazon, of course…

And Goodreads…

And at a location new to me, StoryGraph.

If you are intrigued by Ms. Mitchell’s assessment of Sorrow and would like to make an assessment of your own, you can purchase an ebook edition of it, and those of all my other published works, for free until midnight tonight (PST).

SORROW Book Cover
Purchase for Free*

*Paradoxes such as this always amuse me…

William James has some serious issues with brother Henry James’ writing

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I initially set out to record Henry James’ somewhat condescending response to Walter Besant’s very pretentious essay “The Art of Fiction”…

Until I discovered the letter from Henry James’ older brother, and renowned psychologist/philosopher, William James, where he tells Henry exactly how he feels about Henry’s latest release “The American Scene.”

Spoiler alert: It’s definitely not a 5-star review…

Being the father of two sons, I know how brothers can be not only brutally frank and painfully honest to one another, but also highly competitive and a bit boastful as well.

The older brother’s letter to the younger encompasses all that and more.

Check out my youtube channel and like and subscribe and yada yada yada and peristaltic belching…

Better yet, how about reading and reviewing my latest novel?

Literary Zen XV

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For many people art means rose-coloured windows, and selection means picking a bouquet for Mrs. Grundy. They will tell you glibly that artistic considerations have nothing to do with the disagreeable, with the ugly; they will rattle off shallow commonplaces about the province of art and the limits of art, till you are moved to some wonder in return as to the province and the limits of ignorance.

Henry James

Long, Too Long America by Walt Whitman

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Long, too long America,
  Traveling roads all even and peaceful you learn'd from joys and
            prosperity only,
  But now, ah now, to learn from crises of anguish, advancing,
            grappling with direst fate and recoiling not,
  And now to conceive and show to the world what your children en-masse
            really are,
  (For who except myself has yet conceiv'd what your children en-masse
            really are?)

From Drum-taps, 1865

Are you really as depraved and pitiful as Arthur Schopenhauer thinks you are?

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The ancient concept of memento mori reminds us to “remember we must die,” not for any macabre or nihilistic purposes, but to prompt us to take a moment to contemplate our mortality so as to remember to live these fleeting, fatalistic lives of ours to their fullest.

Likewise, it seems the same could be said for Schopenhauer’s persistent contemplation of the evils of humankind. We contemplate these evils not to revel in and celebrate the boundless depravity of our kind, but to remind us that even in the best, most pure hearted of our species, therein Darkness resides; ergo, understanding that we have such an inherently Dark capacity to live wrongly, we should then strive in relentless determination to live our lives rightly and wholly in the Light.

Perhaps…

Excerpts from Schopenhauer’s essay On Human Nature. Music by ‪@guinabernardes‬

#2025scaresmealready

The Epigraph to Sorrow

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Learning the tricky ins and outs of audio/video recording and editing ain’t easy for an old dog like me. But I’ve always wanted to offer audiobooks as part of my humble literary portfolio, so I guess it’s time for me to grin and bear it and get to it ’cause I certainly ain’t getting any younger.

As I work on recording my new novel Sorrow, I figured I might as well have a little visually creative fun with it along the way…

Narrating in general is less than easy for me; it is even less so when it’s the Early Modern English that was spoken nearly half a millennium ago.

Yeah…

#grinandbearitwithme

Sunday Songs to Spark the Spirit and Summon the Mood of the Dance

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I am a man of constant sorrow! I’m talking all day, all night, constant sorrow all the time, constantly. Now if this song doesn’t make your toes tap and your bootie wiggle even a little bit, then you, my friend, are sad, and sorrowfully so.

#whitepeoplelol

CHECK OUT MY NEW RELEASE

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A Time of Sorrow

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Happy times, Sorrow is here!

And you have until midnight tomorrow, or more specifically, 11:59 p.m., Sunday, November 24, 2024, (Bezos Standard Time, aka PST), to purchase a free Kindle version.

SORROW Book Cover
Click for your free copy to learn more

An aging white male forsakes humanity, changes his name to Sorrow, and begins identifying as an it, just as its white son learns his Black girlfriend is pregnant, and you begin a murderous rampage targeting interracial couples just like them...

Arthur Schopenhauer

And as Arthur Schopenhauer, that merry misanthrope, only happy when I’m not philosopher of old, reminds us:

It is difficult to find happiness within oneself, but it is impossible to find it anywhere else.

Now, I am only the author of the tale so I cannot be sure, but if I were a betting man, which I’m not, but if I were, I would bet that Sorrow, our odd protagonist of our newly released tale, would agree with me that the quote above is true to the spirit of its journey. But alas we are sure to never know for sure since…

Sorrow does not respond.

Or maybe it does.

Find out here.