The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy
.
Complete Site Index

Every page on the site is listed here, arranged by topic.
(For a broad overview, see the list of major components in the Personal History; to search the site for specific terms, click here.)

    In such indexes, although small pricks
    To their subsequent volumes, there is seen
    The baby figure of the giant mass
    Of things to come at large.
         William Shakespeare
         Troilus and Cressida, Act I, Scene 3, Line 343
Click me for the next stop on the two-minute tour.
Happy Asa Clam, Spokesmollusk for Babbington, Clam Capital of the World
WHAT’S NEW?

Advertisements
     Babbington Clam Council
     Babbington Studebaker
     Manning & Rafter, Eric Kraft’s Crackerjack Publicists
     Babbington Books (and More!)
     Classified Ads
     Kap’n Klam
     Leroy Lager
     Rod Strek, M. A.
     Small’s Hotel
     Squirrel Lamp
     The Shoppes at Olde Bolotomy

 

 
YOU CAN READ
THE FIRST HALF OF
THE BOOK
(21 CHAPTERS)
HERE,
ONLINE,
OR,
FOR MAXIMUM PORTABILITY
AND CONVENIENCE
WHEN READING
ON THE BEACH
OR
IN THE TUB,
YOU CAN BUY THE
PICADOR USA
PAPERBACK EDITION AT
AMAZON.COM
OR
BARNES&NOBLE.COM
OR
YOU CAN DOWNLOAD
THE COMPLETE TEXT
AS AN
eBOOK
AND
READ IT ON A PDA.
At Home with the Glynns 
About the Book       Summary and Reviews
Dedication, Epigraphs, and Theme
The Alleyway Not Taken
Troubled Titan Peas (Quality . . . in a Jiff!)
Rolling Peas
Practice!
Goop
The Acquisition of a Potentially Useful Skill
Margot and Martha Ask a Favor
Legends of the Glynns
I Discover What I Want to Be When I Grow Up
The Stories Told About the Night the Nevsky Mansion Burned
The Night the Nevsky Mansion Burned
Salvage
A Nevsky “Fictofacto”
Asides on the Compulsion to Tell a Story and Shells as a Concept
Meeting Mr. Glynn
Rosetta Glynn and the Aroma of Hope
The Escape of the Bat
I Become Aware of a Certain Yearning
What Is Life?
The Shock of the New, Cushioned by the Familiar, Wrapped in Hope
A Chubby Toy Put on This Earth for Someone’s Amusement
Trust
Chapter 22
An Aside on the Babbington Dialect
Chapter 23
“Oh, Peter—Grow Up”
Chapter 24
L’Amour, La Guerre, La Poussière
Chapter 25
Margot and Martha at Play
Chapter 26
In the Dark with You and You
Chapter 27
The Lizard Kiss
Chapter 28
The Route of the Cat Burglar
Chapter 29
Into the Enchanted Glynnscape
Chapter 30
Rustlers in the Dust
Chapter 31
A Passage Not Deleted
Chapter 32
Sweet Autumn Clematis (Clematis paniculata)
Chapter 33
The Crutch of Realism
Chapter 34
An Aside on the Subject of the Practical Value of Literature
Chapter 35
The Watermelon of Watermelons
Chapter 36
Every Student Needs Some Evidence of Progress
Chapter 37
I Become a Sketch Doctor
Chapter 38
The Apparition of the Dark-Haired Girl
Chapter 39
The Dark-Haired Girl Draws Closer
Chapter 40
Incomplete Need Not Be Incorrect, Especially When It Comes to Products of the Imagination
Chapter 41
My Mind’s Eye’s Apple
Chapter 42
The Laggard Stepchildren of the Facts
Chapter 43
Don’t Look Back

Audio Books
     Inflating a Dog

Complete Peter Leroy (so far), The 
     Description
     Demonstrations
     Something Like Clam Chowder: An Introduction
          (Includes “On HyperFiction”) 

eBooks
     Inflating a Dog
     Herb ’n’ Lorna
     At Home with the Glynns

Events
     Eric Kraft’s Readings, Lectures, & Other Appearances
 

YOU CAN READ
THE FIRST FEW CHAPTERS
OF THE BOOK
HERE,
ONLINE, ONSCREEN,
OR
YOU CAN ORDER THE
PICADOR USA EDITION
AT
AMAZON.COM
OR
BARNES&NOBLE.COM.
Flying, Part One: Taking Off
    Description and Reviews 
    Dedication and Epigraph 
    Lets and Hindrances, Views and Prospects
    Babbington Needs Me
    In the Historic Downtown Plaza
    The Birdboy of Babbington
    Straight
Chapter 5
    Oh, the Squalor
Chapter 6
    Dreams of Flying
Chapter 7
    On Intention and Travel
Chapter 8
    One in a Line of Impractical Craftsmen
Chapter 9
    The Example of Dædalus and Icarus
Chapter 10
    A Source of Motivation
Chapter 11
    In Search of Some Bits of Memory
Chapter 12
    I Seek a Little Help from My Friends
Chapter 13
    The QT-909, from QT Flying Machines
Chapter 14
    No Laughing Matter
Chapter 15
    On Rejection’s Gray Gloom
Chapter 16
    Mr. MacPherson Raises a Question
Chapter 17
    Antinostalgia
Chapter 18
    I Am Challenged
Chapter 19
    A Baedeker for a Wild Goose
Chapter 20
    A Father-and-Son Conspiracy
Chapter 21
    Employing the Power of Experimental Thinking, I Prepare to Weld
Chapter 22
    To Hell with Welding
Chapter 23
    Pinch-a-Penny, the People’s Plane
Chapter 24
    Surplus Motorcycles? Why Not?
Chapter 25
    A Sop
Chapter 26
    An Urge
Chapter 27
    Majestic Salvage and Wrecking
Chapter 28
    I, Sven
Chapter 29
    In Which My Conscience Makes an Appearance
Chapter 30
    A Worthy Cause
Chapter 31
    El Patrón’s Revenge
Chapter 32
    The Best in Town!
Chapter 33
    I Play the Losing Game of Translation
Chapter 34
    Elements of Aeronautics
Chapter 35
    Albertine Takes a Tumble
Chapter 36
    From the Symphysis Pubis to the Crest of Ilium
Chapter 37
    Please, Sir, I Yearn to Learn
Chapter 38
    If Only . . .
Chapter 39
    Recruiting the Crew
Chapter 40
    Al and I, Unstoppable
Chapter 41
    I, Panmuphle
Chapter 42
    The Boss Takes His Place
Chapter 43
    Flyguys
Chapter 44
    Albertine on Coincidence and Accident
Chapter 45
    The Spirit of Camaraderie
Chapter 46
    Through the Agency of Dust
Chapter 47
    Paneling, A Thought Experiment
Chapter 48
    My Name Stitched in Red
Chapter 49
    Traveling Light
Chapter 50
    Albertine’s Childlike State of Wonder and Receptivity 
Chapter 51
    A Banner Day
Chapter 52
    Pleasure and Pain, in Sympathy
Chapter 53
    Albertine Takes Off
Chapter 54
    I Take Off
Taking Off
YOU CAN READ
THE FIRST HALF
OF THE BOOK
HERE,
ONLINE, ONSCREEN,
OR
YOU CAN ORDER THE
PICADOR USA EDITION
AT
AMAZON.COM
OR
BARNES&NOBLE.COM.
OR
YOU CAN DOWNLOAD
THE COMPLETE TEXT
AS AN eBOOK
AND
READ IT IN ON A PDA.
Herb ’n’ Lorna (A Love Story) 
     
Description and Reviews
Dedication annd Epigraphs
The Spirit and the Facts
Lorna Is Born into the Huber Family, of Chacallit, New York
Lorna’s Uncle Luther Becomes the Father of the Coarse-Goods Trade
Herb Is Born to the Pipers of Boston
Herb Is Recruited for the Coarse-Goods Trade
Herb and Lorna Meet but Are Separated by War
Lorna Becomes a Legend and Herb Is Decorated
Herb and Lorna Ignite the Flame of Passion
Herb and Lorna Move to Babbington, New York
Herb Becomes a Studebaker Salesman
Herb and Lorna’s Daughter Is Born
Chapter 11
Curiosity Leads Herb and Lorna to a Misunderstanding
Chapter 12
Coarse Goods Help Herb and Lorna Survive the Great Depression
Chapter 13
Coarse Goods Buy Herb and Lorna a Home of Their Own
Chapter 14
Lorna’s Soap Carvings Entertain a Hundred Calculating Women
Chapter 15
Herb and Lorna’s Grandson and Biographer Is Born
Chapter 16
Herb and Lorna Fan Ardor’s Still-Flickering Flame
Chapter 17
Herb and Lorna Come to the Brink of Despair
Chapter 18
Herb and Lorna Are Saved by the Art of Love
Chapter 19
Herb and Lorna Retire to Florida
Chapter 20
Herb and Lorna’s Secret Is Revealed and They Are Enshrined
 

Herb 'n' Lorna on a Palm III

Herb ’n’ Lorna (A Love Story), Annotated by Mark Dorset
 
  Viewing these pages requires a browser capable of displaying frames.  I apologize for that; I tried several other methods of presenting the annotations and could not find another that kept the text and the annotations onscreen at the same time without one obscuring the other.  If you find frames too annoying to endure, there is an alternative: you can open the annotations alone, without the text, by clicking here.  The annotations should open in a window of their own.  However, before you do that, let me say, for the record, that reading the annotations without the text is not the method I recommend, nor have I ever intended that the annotations should stand alone or in any way be considered a replacement for the text.  I think that you should read the two side by side.  I really do.
    So, spread your browser’s window as wide as it will go, and read them as I (and my collaborators) wrote them.  Click here to begin.
Mark Dorset
Herb 'n' Lorna cover
 
YOU CAN READ
THE FIRST HALF
OF THE BOOK
HERE,
ONLINE, ONSCREEN,
OR
YOU CAN ORDER THE
PICADOR USA EDITION
AT
AMAZON.COM
OR
BARNES&NOBLE.COM
OR
YOU CAN DOWNLOAD
THE COMPLETE TEXT
AS AN
eBOOK
AND
READ IT IN BED
OR
YOU CAN ORDER THE
AUDIO BOOK
AND LISTEN
TO KRAFT READING
THE COMPLETE TEXT
TO YOU.
Inflating a Dog
Contents      
Description and Reviews
Dedication and Epigraphs
The Story of Ella’s Lunch Launch
On Being a Bastard
Dudley Beaker, a Hypothetical Father
Martinis with the Merry Widow
A Lot to Learn
The Cynical Detective
One Handy Package
A Bubble Bursts
You’ve Got to Ask for What You Want
An Aside (Afflatus, Part 1)
Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1
An Aside on the Sidecar
Not That Kind of Boy (or Girl)
The Nut and the Slut, Together at Last
An Aside on Blow
Afflatus, Part 2
To-Do, Undone
Persuading Captain Mac
Oo, Oo, Oo, What a Little Moonlight Can Do
Morphology and Aesthetics of Clam Boats
Inflated by Beauty
Porky Darling
My Father Bets on My Mother’s Horse
The Fate of Fledglings (Afflatus Part 3)
Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2
Take Me Away; Take Me with You
Traveling by Balloon
A Quiet Family Dinner, On the Eve
“No Harm Done, Most Likely”
Chapter 29
Trouble Down Below
Chapter 30
An Act of Sabotage, in Reverse
Chapter 31
Night Walker, Night Bailer
Chapter 32
In Which I Swallow My Pride
Chapter 33
Pride, Vanity, and Folly
Chapter 34
Arcinella, All Fixed Up
Chapter 35
My Confidante
Chapter 36
The Night Bailer Gets Some Help
Chapter 37
The Mysteries of the Jet Pump Revealed
Chapter 38
A Brief Aside on Hope
Chapter 39
The Art of Starter-Whacking
Chapter 40
The Shakedown Cruise 
Chapter 41
Testing the Hypothesis, Part 3, in Which I Discover Certain Magic Words of Great Value to a Seducer of Young Girls
Chapter 42
Splash! Flash! Ella’s Opening Night
Chapter 43
The Morning After
Chapter 44
Six Days
Chapter 45
My Mother Aphorizes
Chapter 46
A Dead Dog, Beached (Afflatus, Part 4)
Chapter 47
The Common Touch
Chapter 48
Launching Ella’s Lunch Launch
Chapter 49
When You Dance (Doo Wop a Wadda Wadda)
Chapter 50
The Son of Second Best (Testing the Hypothesis, Part 4)
Chapter 51
Chance Brings an Opportunity
Chapter 52
Moderne Stylizing
Chapter 53
Selling Arcinella
Chapter 54
Good-bye, Old Boat
Chapter 55
And Then . . .
Chapter 56
The End
 
Picador USA Cover
 

Web Serial Cover

The screenplay
is now
available
in its entirety
right here
on this site.
Inflating a Dog Screenplay
Title Page
     
  Why Not Give It a Try? (in which Ella launches an idea)
Spring Cleaning (in which Ella makes a mess and Bert squirms)
Eliza’s Proposal (in which Eliza Foote offers Peter a job)
No Easy Thing (in which Dudley Beaker gets down to brass tacks)
Good Morning, Little Schoolgirl (in which we meet Patti Fiorenza)
Just Asked (in which Peter wishes that he had a car)
Everybody Needs a Friend (in which Patti says, “anything you want, just ask”)
Attainable (in which Patti says, “I’d like to meet your mother”)
The Nut and the Slut (in which a friendship is born)
Ella’s Elegant Excursions (in which Ella floats an idea)
My Arcinella (in which Captain Mac seems reluctant to sell)
What a Little Moonlight Can Do (in which enchantment occurs)
Porky Darling (in which we visit Kap’n Klam)
A Real Blowtorch (in which Bert, thinking that Ella’s horse is Porky’s, bets on it)
Further Experimentation (in which Patti changes her clothes)
No Harm Done, Most Likely (in which Peter takes the wheel)
The Arrogance of the Ignorant (in which Peter needs a bilge pump)
To Bail Is to Inflate (in which Patti learns the awful truth)
The Mysteries of the Jet Pump Revealed (in which Peter gets a lesson in fluid dynamics)
Whack It (in which Mr. Lodkochnikov lends a hand)
The Madman of Seville (in which “Dudley” plants the seed of hope in “Ella”)
Flash! (in which the mayor’s wife makes a splash)
The Power of the Press (in which we build a business on ifs)
Hope Dies (in which the business sinks)
When You Dance (in which the business floats anew)
Doo-wop Da Wadda Wadda (in which Bert dances)
Oh, Buster (in which Patti postulates a longing)
Mr. Yummy (in which chance delivers a gift)
Selling Arcinella (in which three guys buy a dream)
The End (in which Arcinella sinks and Patti sings)
Inflating Animated
 
International Editions
     Libros en Español
     International Editions
 
Leaving Small’s Hotel 
      Description and Reviews
Dedication and Epigraphs
The Daughter of Mr. Yummy
The Rock at the Mouth of the Cave
Have You Ever Wondered Why Microphones Don’t Resemble Ears?
Masters of the Arts
A Case of the Family Illness
Flying Saucers: The Untold Story
Disturbing the Field
Kap’n Klam, the Home of Happy Diners, the House of Hopes and Dreams
The Wall of Happy Diners
Kap’n Klam’s Salad Sandwich 
Photographic Proof 
Rush Service 
Local Boy Snaps Shots 
Chapter 14
Bivalves from Outer Space 
Chapter 15
My Grandfather’s Cave 
Chapter 16
Anxiety Pays 
Chapter 17
Is Anybody Out There? 
Chapter 18
No Worries, No Kidding 
Chapter 19
If Saucers Attack 
Chapter 20
Gratitude
Chapter 21
A Salesman Calls 
Chapter 22
No Sale
Chapter 23
Driving a Bargain
Chapter 24
The Mysteries of Mrs. Jerrold’s Bedroom
Chapter 25
Testing, Testing
Chapter 26
Filling time
Chapter 27
Enough Is Enough
Chapter 28
Artificial Insinuation
Chapter 29
Bedroom Suits
Chapter 30
Butts of the Joke
Chapter 31
Up the On-Ramp to the Road to Riches
Chapter 32
Beyond the Firelight Lies Endless Darkness
Chapter 33
101 Fascinating Electronics Projects
Chapter 34
The Persistence of Memory
Chapter 35
Thank You for Letting Me into Your Home
Chapter 36
The Relay System
Chapter 37
Act Now! Offer Limited!
Chapter 38
A Technical Question
Chapter 39
The Hole and the Hill
Chapter 40
Hardly Working
Chapter 41
The Art of Obvious Subtlety
Chapter 42
Playing to the House
Chapter 43
Refinements and Improvements
Chapter 44
Funny Peculiar
Chapter 45
Project Number 102: Electronic Eavesdropper
Chapter 46
Suspicions Confirmed
Chapter 47
Still No News from Outer Space
Chapter 48
The Lonely Housewife’s Friend
Chapter 49
Shame on Me
Chapter 50
Someone, Somewhere
 
YOU CAN READ
THE FIRST HALF
OF THE BOOK
HERE,
ONLINE, ONSCREEN,
OR
YOU CAN ORDER THE
PICADOR USA EDITION
AT
AMAZON.COM
OR
BARNES&NOBLE.COM.
Little Follies 
... .. Description and Reviews
Dedication and Epigraph
   My Mother Takes a Tumble
Milestones on the Map of Memory
The Correspondence of Dudley Beaker and Eliza Foote
“A Friend to Correspond To”
“What a Beautiful Morning”
“Chin Up—Nobody Lives Forever”
“I’m Wearing Your Gifts”
“She Certainly Does Have a Breathtaking Figure”
“It Is All Right with Me, Jack”
“As Luck Would Have It”
“Oh, Dear Foolish Jack”
“Why Don’t You Do Something?”
“I Am Lying Languidly”
Dudley Needs a Drink
  Commiseration
She Is Not
A Rendezvous Arranged by Benevolent Intervention
Chasing Kittens (My Life in Miniature)
   Do Clams Bite?
On the Memories of Childhood
My Pelecypodophobia
Sawdust
Black Jacques
A Rascal with a Knife
My Prospects Take a Turn for the Worse
Doomed
An Aside: It’s the Thought of the Bottom That Keeps Me Up
Rowing the Waterways of Memory
Small’s Island, Small’s Hotel
“Kill Him!”
On the Techniques and Equipment Necessary for Clamming
On the Sizes of Clams
“Let’s Get a Move On”
Stalking the Wily Bivalve
Like Son, Like Father
Coconut Candies
In Which I Learn That Great-Grandmother Was No Stranger to Sawdust
A Visit from May
Black Jacques and Fat Hank
No Worse Than Losing a Tooth?
Rodney, a Rascal, Called Raskol
Clams Don’t Bite . . .
   Life on the Bolotomy
Something Like Clam Chowder
To the Source!
Boatmen Since Time Immemorial
Guppa Plans a Bubble
The Adventurer’s Bubble
Bound for Disappointment
Cap’n Leech
Taupe
“A Blood-Curdling Scream”
Much Depends on Dinner
Excitement in the Air
The End of the Beginning
The Essence of a River
A Sharp Detail Shining in the Memory
Peter and the Nymphs, an Idyll
At the Source
   The Static of the Spheres
Problems, Problems
Memory and Static
I Develop an Irresistible Urge
Bathtub Games
What I Wanted
’Round Midnight
Guppa’s Pigeonholes
Guppa Takes the Bait
“Hours of Baffling Precision Work”
The Occupations of an Early Riser
Funny How Work Makes You Hungry
Two Regular Joes
A Window on the Aesthetic Soul
Making a Chassis
In Which Months Pass
Up to My Knees
Of Time and Toast
Bands and Coils
A Job Like This
Exactly Right
“Peter Wants to Try Listening”
Listening
   The Fox and the Clam
   The Girl with the White Fur Muff
   Take the Long Way Home
   Call Me Larry
   The Young Tars
 
Making My Self . . . and Dinner 
     A Good Chowder Is a Big Chowder
     The Flavor of the Past
Passionate Spectator
... ..
Description and Reviews
Preliminaries
Dedication and Epigraphs
The Groundwork of This Well-Meaning Book 
Chapter 1
I Am Among the Many Called
Chapter 2
My Mind, Left to Its Own Devices, Wanders
Chapter 3
I Am Amazed (Again) by Albertine’s Acute Perspicacity
Chapter 4
I Plant a Seed
Chapter 5
On the Reliability of Witnesses
Chapter 6
Stunned, I Make My Way Home
Chapter 7
I Attempt to Make My Mind a Blank, and Fail
Chapter 8
As Matthew, I Am Admitted
Chapter 9
As Matthew, I Begin to Change My Life
Chapter 10
As Matthew, I Have a Close Shave
Chapter 11
As Matthew, I Remember
Chapter 12
As BW, I Take Off
Chapter 13
As BW, I Learn the Lesson of Crab Cakes
Chapter 14
As BW, I Meet a Rebel Angel
Chapter 15
As BW, I Attend the Unveiling of the Limo Fountain
Chapter 16
As BW, I Am Present at the Goosing of the Hamlet Project
Chapter 17
As BW, I Discover Humanity in the Phantoms
Chapter 18
As BW, I Observe the Diners at the Crab Buffet
Chapter 19
As BW, I Pick a Up Few Things in East Phantom
Chapter 20
As Matthew, I’m a Little Mixed Up, but I’m Feeling Fine
Chapter 21
As Matthew, I Reject a Self-Improvement Plan
Chapter 22
As Matthew, I Am Forced to Alter My Assumptions
Chapter 23
As Matthew, I Check Out
Chapter 24
I Am Called for a Voir Dire
Chapter 25
I Am Shaken
Chapter 26
I Paper the Town
Chapter 27
I Get to Say, “Honey, I’m Home”
Chapter 28
I Consider My Luck
Chapter 29
I Effect a Transformation
Chapter 30
I Am at Home
Personal History . . ., The
     About the Work
     Author’s Statement
     A Catalogue of the Work
     International Editions
     Questions (and Comments, from Readers) & Answers (from the Editor)
     Reviews of the Work as a Whole
     Topical Guide to the Complete Peter Leroy (so far), A
     What’s New?
 
YOU CAN READ
THE FIRST HALF
OF THE BOOK
HERE,
ONLINE, ONSCREEN,
OR
YOU CAN BUY THE
PICADOR USA
PAPERBACK EDITION AT
AMAZON.COM
OR
BARNES&NOBLE.COM.
Reservations Recommended
Contents    
Summary and Reviews
Dedication and Epigraphs
Looking for Matthew Barber
Chapter 1
The Alley View Grill
A Man in Disguise
A Sense of Humor Is the Best Defense
A Glass of Gelid Gin
“Home of the Free-Ranging Critics”
Something Very Film Noir
The Height of Contemporary Sophistication
Whenever You’re Ready
So Many Ideas in Such a Small Thing
The Review
Chapter 2
Flynn’s Olde Boston Eating & Drinking Establishment
The Neat Graffitist
Effie’s Crumbs
The Next Big Thing
Barber, Party of Six
The Grass Is . . .
Lift the Least and You Lift Yourself
A Sense of Personal Dignity
Brain Food
  “What Do You Do, Belinda?”
Body and Soul
The Review
Chapter 3
Dolce Far Niente
Matthew Acts Out
Belinda Wows ’Em
How to Bake Bread on a Stick
Matthew’s Leisure Pursuits
Picture Frame
Hilarious Harold
Tagliatelle con Fruitti di Mare
In the Midst of the Fountain of Wit
Matthew Stubs His Toe
Bèlla Signorina
The Review
Chapter 4
Superior Indian Cookery
Liz Makes a Date
Liz Makes an Announcement
The First Cousin of Reason
A Singular Nut
Chapter 5
Café Zurich
Chapter 6
Two-Two-Two
Chapter 7
Ike’s
.

 

 

Search the Site [CLICK HERE]
.
Topical Guide to the Complete Peter Leroy (so far), A
  Appearances
Art
Author as Other, the
Babbington
Barber, Matthew
Beaker, Dudley
Beath, Bertram W.
Beauty
Black Jacques and Fat Hank
Boats, Rowboats, Sinking Boats
Books and Reading
Boundaries and Edges
Calder, Burton
Chacallit, New York
Clam Chowder
Clam, Happy as a
Coincidence
Cross-Reference
Details
Disguises
Dorset Diagram
Dorset, Mark
Dust
Emerson, Ralph Waldo
Facts
Folly
Foote, Eliza
Fried Foods
Hope
Human Nature
Humor in Life and Art
Imagination, Products of the
Intention
Irony
Kitsch
Kraft, Eric
Leroy, Ella Piper
Leroy, Peter
Life, Everyday
Little Things of Life, the
Lodkochnikov, Ariane
Lodkochnikov, Rodney
Memory
Memory, Faulty
Minutiae of Everyday Life
Peters, Larry
Proust, Marcel
Reader, the
Reality
Revision
Sarcasm
Sentiment
Shandy
Small’s Island
Soul, the
Thinking Backwards
Time
Wishful Thinking
Work
World, Another
Writing
Zizyph
 

Very Large Fiction 
     What the Author Is Up To
     So Many Selves: The Author and His Characters
     I Am (He Is) a Man of His (My) Words
     Peter Leroy and Me

 


 

 

YOU CAN READ
THE FIRST FEW CHAPTERS
OF THE BOOK HERE,
ONLINE, ONSCREEN.

YOU CAN BUY THE
PICADOR USA
PAPERBACK EDITION AT
AMAZON.COM
OR
BARNES&NOBLE.COM

What a Piece of Work I Am
... Summary and Reviews 
The Sultry Older Sister of My Imaginary Friend
Tootsie Koochikov
Chapter 2
The Sad Tale of Ariadne, Stranded on Naxos Without a Clue
Chapter 3
Were the Fates Sending Me Some Kind of Warning?
Chapter 4
Denny
Chapter 5
Corinne’s Fabulous Fruits of the Sea
Chapter 6
A Farewell to Softness
Chapter 7
Not a Bottomy Thing
Chapter 8
Trespassing
Chapter 9
POA
Chapter 10
Skinning Eels and Making Chowder
Chapter 11
The Sunrise Cove Resort Motel
Chapter 12
Something New, Something to Talk About
Chapter 13
A Little Insight Can Be Dangerous
Chapter 14
A Guy Named Guy
Chapter 15
The Temptation of an Open Door
Chapter 16
All Dressed Up with No Place to Go
Chapter 17
The Manifest Destiny Diner
Chapter 18
Remember This: Love Alters Your Perceptions
Chapter 19
Lesson One in the Motel Business
Chapter 20
Whatever Needs Doing
Chapter 21
The Backside of Privacy
Chapter 22
Trespassing Again
Chapter 23
A Disappointing Guy
Chapter 24
True Confessions
Chapter 25
Our Own Place: A Tempting Vision of the Future
Chapter 26
A Mistake, Nothing More
Chapter 27
The Immediate Jewel of the Soul
Chapter 28
A Little Mischief
Chapter 29
The Man at the Table in the Back of the Room, Alone
Chapter 30
The Idea of "Always," the Shape of "Forever" in My Mouth
Chapter 31
Hanging On
Chapter 32
"Come On, Honey, Come with Me"
Chapter 33
No Turning Back
Chapter 34
The Terror of the Known Versus the Terror of the Unknown
Chapter 35
The Generous Thing
Chapter 36
Signing On
Chapter 37
Sometimes We See (Sometimes We Don’t)
Chapter 38
The Euphonious Isles
Chapter 39
Stealing Privacy
Chapter 40
A Big Voice, Deep, with a Rhythm and Sonority Like the Sea
Chapter 41
Sail On
Chapter 42
Racing with the Wind
Chapter 43
Reaching Rarotonga
Chapter 44
Tootsie, You Need a Drink
Chapter 45
To Rarotonga
Chapter 46
Seeing Red and Meeting Greg and Being Propositioned
Chapter 47
A Cynosure, an Artist of the Self
Chapter 48
To Be Continued
Chapter 49
On Display
Chapter 50
Ariane Underway
Chapter 51
In a Life, Every Accident Is Part of the Story
Chapter 52
Duncan Rollo of the Zoning Board
Chapter 53
In Every Life, There Is Some Celery
Chapter 54
Sex in the Panopticon
Chapter 55
In the Labyrinth of Life, There Are Many Turnings
Chapter 56
Ambitious Lovers
Chapter 57
"How I Felt About the War"
Chapter 58
An Unforgettable Moment, A Crowd-Pleaser
Chapter 59
Hold on to the Narrative Thread of Your Life
Chapter 60
The Flickering Evidence of Hidden Moments of Inner Activity
Chapter 61
The Time Has Come . . .
Chapter 62
Out the Door
Chapter 63
On Display
Chapter 64
"Making My Self"
Chapter 65
"Serving Myself As If I Were Company’
Chapter 66
To Make a Work of Art, First Make an Artist
Chapter 67
Three Points Define a Plane, But Not a Life
Chapter 68
In Search of the Center of the World
Chapter 69
"I Will Be by Myself"
Chapter 70
A Model for Living in One Place
Chapter 71
A Vivid Imagination Can Be a Dangerous Thing
Chapter 72
Here I Am, at Last
 
YOU CAN READ THE FIRST THIRD
OF THE BOOK HERE,
ONLINE, ONSCREEN.

YOU CAN BUY THE
PICADOR USA
PAPERBACK EDITION AT
AMAZON.COM
OR
BARNES&NOBLE.COM

Where Do You Stop?
About the Book   Summary and Reviews
Dedication and Epigraphs
Of Memory and Mush
Fantastic Contraptions
The Breadbasket of Babbington
The Real Value of Junk
The Mother Lode of Scrap
Splines
The Confusing Midgame in Chinese Checkers 
Miss Rheingold’s Big Questions
The Smell of New Pencils
The Pleasure of Surprise
Ontology, Epistemology, Bills of Lading
The Powerfully Disturbing Effect of Discontinuity
Chapter 12
Quanto the Minimum
Chapter 13
Patti Fiorenza Explains Zwischenraum
Chapter 14
Matthew Muses
Chapter 15
Within My Range
Chapter 16
Scrub Oaks
Chapter 17
Windflowers and Court Bouillon
Chapter 18
Bonne Soupe
Chapter 19
Shandy
Chapter 20
Depreciation and Diffusion
Chapter 21
Waterwillows
Chapter 22
The Builder’s Look
Chapter 23
The Value of the Experimental Method
Chapter 24
Television Comes to the Lodkochnikovs 
Chapter 25
The Electric Moonlight of the Round-Faced Set 
Chapter 26
A Slip 
Chapter 27
Uncertainty
Chapter 28
“There She Was, Just as I’d Hoped”
Chapter 29
Following the Route of Cross-References 
Chapter 30
Ariane’s Hip
Chapter 31
Miss Rheingold’s Resignation 
Chapter 32
If Legs Were Electrons . . . 
Chapter 33
In Which My Father Becomes a Homo Sapiens
Chapter 34
Our Final Contestants 
Chapter 35
The Game We Came to Call “Night Watchman”
Chapter 36
Caught!
Chapter 37
A Cosmic Snapshot
     Quanto the Minimum
     The Mousetrap Model of an Atomic Chain Reaction

Click me for the next stop on the two-minute tour.
Happy Asa Clam, Spokesmollusk for Babbington, Clam Capital of the World