The Cheapskate Intellectual

A journey through matters of spirit, sustainability, and self-reliance

Hometown events went wonderfully!

So grateful for two wonderful events in my hometown world – one at Auburn Oil Company Booksellers in Auburn, AL and one at Columbus Bound Bookshop in Columbus, GA – this past week. With new and cemented friendships and community ties, I felt warmly welcomed by Mari, Robin, and Khristina, and by all the wonderful […]

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Five stars from The Historical Fiction Company!

Delighted and grateful to share the news that CREATURE: A Novel of Mary Shelley and Frankenstein has received five stars and the “Highly Recommended Award of Excellence” from The Historical Fiction Company. This designation has come my way with a lovely review from The Historical Fiction Company, included below: Creature: A Novel of Mary Shelley […]

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CREATURE Readings Coming Up!

I’m hoping to see y’all at two readings coming up for CREATURE: one at the Luther College Book Shop on Thursday, April 3 at 9:40 am, one at Pulpit Rock Brewery / Event Space (sponsored by Dragonfly Books) on April 10 at 7 pm. Thanks to my friends at the Book Shop and Dragonfly for […]

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The native heart: medicine, literature, life.

Every time I teach Medicine in Literature, it’s a little different – and each time, it’s a gift. “Gift” was the throughline of our activities last week, including a discussion of organ and kidney donation, as described in Scottish physician Gavin Francis’s brilliant book ADVENTURES IN HUMAN BEING (2015). Francis, who describes himself in a […]

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Sympathies for Sale: FRANKENSTEIN, AI, and Us

(This is the text of a talk delivered last night at Luther College, with responses from student attendees pasted at the end!) Intro music: Bob Dylan, “Gotta Serve Somebody.” Books for the chalk tray: Taplin, Snyder, Lanier, Orwell, Haidt, Pomerantsev, Arendt, me, YOUNG ROMANTICS, and more. Welcome, and thank you all for being here. Thanks […]

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