Oscar Wilde & Lord Douglas “The love that dare not speak its name.” The expression is from a poem by Lord Alfred Douglas, published in 1894. It seems clearly to refer to same-sex relationships, specifically his with Oscar Wilde. After 1969, author Robertson Davis complained that it had become “the love that won’t shut up.” […]
My First Job, Working for the Feds
The Typing Pool The first job I ever held was during the waning days of the McCarthy era. Here’s a story about it: Are you now or were you ever a member of the Communist Party? The Ku Klux Klan? The Nazi Party? The National Negro Labor Council or the Ukrainian-American Fraternal Union? The application […]
Response to the Review
I was, of course, delighted with Phyllis Chesler’s review of my novels, The Throne in the Heart of the Sea and The Stars in their Courses. However, I can’t resist writing a response. After all, as Phyllis indicates in her last line, we may disagree. First, a minor nit to pick: I don’t see my […]
An Unexpected Review of My Books
Prominent Second Wave feminist Phyllis Chesler has published a review of my novels. See below. I am delighted! I will post a comment on her review tomorrow. Jezebel and Ancient Times Come to Life in Martha Shelley’s Fiction –Phyllis Chesler Shelley has written a work of lesbian science fiction but has, amazingly, set it in […]
The Hole in My Morning
Children taking shelter during the Blitz You left a hole in the morning of our daily tea and talks about the French elections, or the horde of iguanas overrunning the commons around your condo and swimming in the pool, or the shut-ins you visited with mail and conversation There are holes now in my memories of your […]
Reaching for the Stars
Vera Rubin at work Buckle up, readers. Today we’re going on a speed trip through the universe. We’re starting with a salute to a very remarkable woman, someone who reached for the stars during her lifetime, and who died on Christmas at the age of 88. Her name was Vera Rubin, and she was an […]
Why buy books?
Why buy books? I’ve had people ask that question, rhetorically, of course. They can do their reading electronically on a hand-held device like Kindle. It’s cheaper. If you’re living in a dinky little apartment, in one of the cities where rents are headed up to orbit around Saturn, you can use the storage space for […]
Election Night, San Francisco
We’re strolling in San Francisco waiting for the returns not wanting to wait for the bus gawking at modern forty-niners silicon miners so young so white so tall flush with hi-tech bucks and desperation. To stay in the game, to be seen as taller, better looking, young forever, they spend: here’s a store uniquely devoted […]
A Woman of Courage: Marion Youers
Marion Youers, April 7, 1929-September 15, 2016 October 17, 1961: the French-Algerian War. 30,000-40,000 Algerian men, women, and children demonstrated in Paris against a curfew imposed on Algerians by the government. The police arrested 11,000 protestors, beat and tortured some, killed several hundred, and threw their bodies in the Seine. Marion went out that night. […]
When Bullies Rule–and my first political rebellion
A Gallery of Bullies: Joseph McCarthy, his chief counsel Roy Cohn, and Cohn’s client/best friend, Donald Trump When bullies rule, the fear they inspire permeates all levels of society. My first political rebellion was in 1955. I was 11 and attending junior high school in Brooklyn. The Dodgers finally won a World Series against […]