A Friend & Author

Given enough time the bits and pieces will converge.

First there was the cat. I've had that picture for well over three years but I was determined not to use it until it was integral to a story. Second, there are my friends. In this blog I use phrases like: "a friend told me" or "a good friend asked the other day" I do not identify anyone by name unless they have approved there public outing. This blog is about me and what emerges from my head, heart and other parts; I never seek to draft friends into meanderings that are uniquely my own. I figure everyone has the right to privacy and the absolute right to define their own limits of personal space, particularly in the unfettered world of cyberspace, social media and utterances like this blog.

Then today, while trolling one of those social media thingies I saw that one of my friends had publicly acknowledged a blog post about himself. At that moment all the pieces fell into place. The cat clearly was Birrell, though most folks will tell you he carries a dog persona. I have been wanting to write something about his most recent three books - I had the privilege of being the final editor on each. This means I got to read them just before they went to press - all commas corrected - it's like looking at the nearly birthed story but still able to suggest: "you know her eyes really should be green" or "I think you should change to dog to a ferret."

Here is the link to the original post about my friend, Dr. Birrell Walsh. You can find the links to Lulu, Amazon and Smashwords for all of his books in all sorts of formats. I really liked them all but I am prejudice towards my friend's writing. I do, however, want to highly recommend Sister Clare's Lover one of the strongest, tightly crafted stories I have read in a very long time. You can pick up a PDF copy for $5 or a Kindle version for $8. Even the $20 paperback is a steal for such fine writing and engrossing story telling.

To the rest of my friends - read Birrell and I promise not to mention you here by name.