1 December 2009 by nelsonleith
Part I to “The Crow and the Kinnebeck,” the first story in The Lemaigne Tales : An Observer’s Casebook from the Years 285 – 295 of the Republics, (prequel anthology to The Ligan of the Disomus) is now open to all readers.
Part II, The Whisper Gun, is now open for First Readers only through the same link above.
Posted in Observer | Leave a Comment »
27 November 2009 by nelsonleith
pro’mptuary. A storehouse; a repository; a magazine.
- Johnson’s Dictionary : A Modern Selection by Samuel Johnson (1755), ed. E. L. McAdam and George Milne (1963)
Posted in ADOTW | Tagged dictionary, magazine, repository, samuel johnson, storehouse, vocabulary, words | Leave a Comment »
26 November 2009 by nelsonleith
A poison seeped into Amalgam’s well
that bit our throats and made our faces swell,
then left us with a fear of what we drink
and cleaning of the well on which to think.
Continue Reading »
Posted in Amalgam | Tagged Poetry, pollution, Amalgam, dreams, poison, water table | Leave a Comment »
25 November 2009 by nelsonleith
Two recent blogs paired language, food service, and uptight etiquette, albeit from different angles. I just love low-grade synchronicities like this, and I love language, and food, and deconstructing uptight etiquette … So, here they are, for you to love!
Over at TEStazyk.com, the grand issue of definite and indefinite articles is tackled, starting with the question: Why do we use “the” to refer to foods when ordering in a restaurant?
Claude Vordell, a former Applebees manager at TheAwl.com, responds to two separate appearances in the New York Times of inane peevishness about the phrase “no problem,” particularly when used by wait staff in lieu of “you’re welcome.”
Thanks for the links, you say? No problem.
Posted in Blogroll | Tagged applebees, definite article, grammar, new york times, no problem, restaurants, testazyk, wait staff, waiter, waitress | 1 Comment »
23 November 2009 by nelsonleith
As some readers may know, John Nelson Leith is not my legal name. My legal name is so absurdly common that there are already dozens of people in the entertainment industry with the same first-last combination. So, I added … something.
But, my situation is not really that unusual. Plenty of writers consider using pseudonyms. Some of them face the same issue I do. Others simply believe that their names aren’t as catchy as they should be.
Bookends LLC has some excellent advice for people in our situation. Enjoy!
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged nom de plume, pen name, pseudonyms | Leave a Comment »
20 November 2009 by nelsonleith
As my regular readers (both of you) know, the short story prequel to The Ligan of the Disomus I decided to write in November, “The Crow and the Kinnebeck,”* has reached 4000 words at perhaps one fifth to one fourth complete, and is stubbornly insisting on becoming a novelette. At the least.
The first of eight parts is up now for my First Readers, God bless ‘em, but for everyone else let me present a world cloud based on that first part, courtesy of wordle.net.

_
* I’m under the impression that keeping the title inside quotes, rather than italicized, will convince it that it is indeed a short story. You know, like trimming a bonsai.
Posted in Observer | Tagged fiction, short story, word cloud, wordle.net | Leave a Comment »
20 November 2009 by nelsonleith
HANDFASTING * The custom of a couple shaking hands, as the Romans did over an urn, as a means of sealing a marriage engagement, from the Saxon handfaestan.
- Forgotten English : A Merry Guide to Antiquated Words, Packed with History, Fun Fact, Literary Excerpts, and Charming Drawings by Jeffrey Kacirk
Posted in ADOTW | Leave a Comment »
19 November 2009 by nelsonleith
Twice to the town I named Amalgam came
a man who had a face and yet no name.
His conversation stung us like a bee
and yet he left us healthier than he.
Continue Reading »
Posted in Amalgam | Tagged Amalgam, autumn, cloth, dreams, flag, Poetry | Leave a Comment »
18 November 2009 by nelsonleith
Excavations in Telfair County, Georgia, have uncovered not only remains of a Native American village, but could reveal evidence of Hernando de Soto’s exploration of the area in the mid-1500s, two hundred years before the founding of the British colony of Georgia. Read the Associated Press article about it here in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Posted in Background | Tagged american exploration, georgia, hernando de soto, history | Leave a Comment »