News and Thoughts
By Alex Ness
July 29, 2025
NEWS
I recently will have a lot of work removing my teeth, all of which died from radiation for cancer. In many ways this is a good thing, as rotted teeth contributes to poor heart health. It also is a doorway to poor esteem, and extraordinary measures to hide the damage. It is painful, but I am ready.
Life offers opportunities to work with people, and I wanted to say how grateful I am to the people who I work with who get bombarded with ideas and projects that will never start. When I am writing, I tend to let loose the restraints upon me, and some people get trampled by the runaway words and thoughts.
I remain working on a sister site to create a way to limit the media considered and by doing that, we cover more works. It will be a group blog, if I can get it to work as such. The effort won't launch until the work is done to present works on a regular basis.
An event with me reading my lyrics to orchestrated new music by friend Aaron Kerr will happen on August 21 read just one story back to see the press announcement.
RECENT BOOK READS
Imagine a world where a series of great empires functioned but never connected. Trade and exchange are a cultural inheritance. Without such actions, human society would be armed camps, with no way to share what each other excelled at creating. My choice of books was meant to explore how China was a reached by Rome, and what transpired thereafter.
This reading mission was almost all academia level reading, but all of the books had great information and readability, well more than most others. China had a positive policy, somewhat like when the French believed that speaking French ennobled one's being. That is, China didn't demand things, didn't destroy those who didn't want to be contacted, they left gifts, offered ways to grow, and said, call us when you realize the wisdom in this. Marco Polo experienced many things on his travels, and while his book might include mythic subject matter, it did tell a story accurate for opening Asia to European interest and trade. Japan had a different path, when they began trading it was with limits of how far it could go, none could visit Japan, and violence did occur. Japan did develop across the sea from a great empire, so they had a way that was more assertive, militant even. All of the books were fascinating.
WRITERS WHO ARE SIMILAR IN STYLE
Below is an image collecting Ernest Hemingway, Robert Heinlein, Truman Capote, and Denis Johnson. They all wrote similarly, with spartan prose, sharp, economic with words, and straight to the point. I include books they've done, and the reason I mention this all, as I find the writing brilliant, and fulfilling. But are1 these my most favorite authors? No. For a favorite lists I wouldn't choose a singular style. You'd be missing Yukio Mishima, Albert Camus, Lord Dunsany, Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, Alan Dean Foster and so many more.
The reason I post this isn't just my enjoyment of the style, it is much more, it is wondering how many other groups of writers, according to style I appreciate. There are many authors I am drawn toward, but subject matter, style, depth of experience reading them, lead me to believe, there is more in each group than I know. Leading me to think about the list for other media perhaps too. I believe in areas of life, finding a partner who is different leads to dynamic personal growth, as one sharpens the other in debate. But it is a subject with more to learn within it.
FOR SALE
$29 dollars in cover price, plus post, would be a $35 purchase ordinarily. But if you live in America, I will offer the 5 books for $24 total, postage included. I have four sets of these I can sell, so write to alexanderness63 at gmail.com to order, paypal, check if I know you, and cash accepted.
For all your printing needs, Matt at Speed Print Inc is amazing.
My Poetry AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com
My Archive of works published, FIND HERE
This place Poplitiko.Blogspot.Com
Social Media
https://bsky.app/profile/alexanderness63.bsky.social
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