Category Archives: Drama

Doubles in life and literature

I just had to post this photograph of that time I shared a good laugh with Judi Dench.

Heh-heh.

No, actually, it’s Brendan O’Hea, co-author with Dench of the fascinating book I just finished, Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent. But oddly, he looks rather like me, doesn’t he? Or like a long-lost cousin?

The photograph, from the back cover flap of the book, has me reflecting on the architype of the double in life and literature. Perhaps it is strangest when it occurs in the real world.

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under Books, Drama, Plays and screenplays, Shakespeare, Uncategorized

Mourning a hero frogman

In my new novel, The Insurrectionist, a plucky FBI frogman drowns in a rural pond during a raid on a family who protested (peacefully) during the Capitol Hill riot of Jan. 6, 2021. Read about the national day of mourning that follows.

The media frenzy peaked with the funeral of Frogman Jones. A blond female-presenting announcer with CBS’ Inside Edition began her coverage, “A sendoff for a hero, as FBI Frogman Jericho Jones was honored today at the citadel of democracy he died defending.” The viewing in the Capitol Rotunda drew a milelong line of mourners snaking through the streets. Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Kamala Harris, and President Biden knelt before a sarcophagus modeled after Lorenzo de Medici’s in Florence (draped in reclining marble nudes representing Twilight and Dawn, with Jones, wearing a Roman helmet with the visor up, gazing down on them).

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under Books, Drama, Fiction, novel, The Insurrectionist