ROBERT TOWNSEND

a series of life story posts

Portrait of a serious man in Renaissance attire and hat.
16 Mar

Reformation and Counter-Reformation–Traditional Publishing and Indie Publishing

Publishing
Martin Luther by Martin Cranach I am a Germanophile. My Wisconsin farmer-neighbors were first and second generation German immigrants.  I went to high school with the Greutsmacher, Schenk, Meyer, Schmidt,...
A weathered tree trunk carved into a humanoid figure outdoors.
25 Feb

Robert Olen Butler and A Small Hotel

Publishing
Robert Olen Butler (A Small Hotel) I mean being a writer is like being a psychoanalyst, but you don’t get any patients.   Al Alvarez [caption id="attachment_488" align="alignleft" width="75" caption="Robert Olen...
A subway platform with a deceptive advertisement reading 'Hang on... I think it might be a trap.'
27 Jan

Sense of Deception

Publishing
I write about deception not to train the reader in its arcane arts, but to research my novels. There is deception in nearly any situation you can think of––nature, business,...
Spirit Falls book cover with woman's portrait
26 Jan

Spirit Falls in Russian

Publishing
Sergei has sent me the first chapters of his Russian translation of Spirit Falls (Дух в Водопаде?  Те, кторые говорят по русски, предлогайте еще название книги), which I have posted...
A subway platform with a deceptive advertisement reading 'Hang on... I think it might be a trap.'
25 Jun

This Web Log is about…

Publishing
The purpose of this website is to make sense of the liars whom I've lived and worked for, among, and against. There are moments when I shake with rage at...
A logo with the text 'Liar's Path' and footsteps crossing a red circular line.
12 Mar

Towards the next novel

Publishing
March 15, 2011And on reading War and Peace (Tolstoi), On War (Clausewitz) and War (Sun Tsu) Having just finished the first draft of the novel "Wounded," I have been thinking...
Soldiers inside a bunker during wartime, wearing numbered uniforms.
02 Dec

Memories from the time of Stalin

Cold War
I am reading interviews about Soviet repression that the Russia Memorial (with assistance from Orlando Figes) gathered.Memorial, controversial in Russia (Vladimir Putin suppressed Memorial, but its archives are preserved outside the...
Numerous pink flamingo lawn ornaments scattered on green grass near a building.
02 Nov

History 419, 42 years later

Publishing
September 7, 2010 A clap of thunder ricochets down Park Street in the space between the Mosse Humanities Building and Chadbourne Hall. Winds off Lake Mendota drive sheets of cold...
A man in a coat stands near bodies on a wet city street during wartime.
21 Jan

for whom I write

Publishing
Siege of Leningrad In the winter of 2008-2009, Patrice and I taught English in Moscow to young Russian business people between the ages 25-40. English is the world language of...
A serene field with autumn-colored trees under a clear blue sky.
06 Jul

On the Edge of Things

Publishing
To grow up in the northwoods was to grow up on the edge of things. On Mother's day, Highway 17 filled with cars heading north past patches of dirty snow...

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