Author Archives: sputterpub

When I was 15 we moved from Chula Vista to Larkspur, and I met Ellen. It was a huge relocation, from as south as California gets to the San Francisco Bay Area, from a three-year high school with a closed … Continue reading →

     When I was about 12 my father gave me Arundel, by Kenneth Roberts. He’d already established the tradition of presenting me with a book every birthday, and that paperback, my first historical novel, was his choice around then. I … Continue reading →

     When I was 60, I got the idea to google “he grabbed me by my slender neck.” And there they were: the words of the verse I’d heard in fifth grade with such delight that I’d pushed them into … Continue reading →

When I was around 9 years old, I learned to whistle pretty well. And when I was 59, I learned I lost it. Really. My father was an excellent whistler. By the time my younger brother was 5 he was … Continue reading →

     When I was around 56, I encountered an alien. She looked human. She drove a big old American car like a human. But she revealed an out-of-world perspective that was as different from mine as silicon is from carbon. … Continue reading →

When I was maybe 5 or 6, my mother caught me playing with myself. I was sitting on the floor in the livingroom, behind a plush maroon easy chair, pants down and fingers busy. She told me not to do … Continue reading →

     When I was 15, I learned the value of a plan. We had just moved to Marin Country. We lived in an oblong-shaped house, which design included a long narrow hallway along one side and the back of our … Continue reading →