Firstly, my apologies for the long gap since my last blog post. I decided to take a break from writing and set myself the task of building a WWI German airplane model as an alternative way to kill time. Please see my previous post on the heartbreaking, life-consuming subject of the Gotha G-IV model. As time dragged on and the complexity of the project became ever more apparent, my enthusiasm for building the model flagged considerably, especially when I considered how very long it’s taken me and also how I wasn’t getting any writing done. I found myself in a bit of a dilemma: anxious to finish the model, but reluctant to commit myself to the time and effort that would require and, more importantly, very eager to start writing again.
Things seem to have come to a head last night in an entirely good sense. After several weeks of dithering, I found a microscopically tiny model part (one of the nuts to hold a landing wheel in place) after yet another search of the plush carpet on my hands and knees. Model builders who are really serious about their subject and have the means should only work in a room with a white floor so lost parts are easier to spot (or put white paper down under your work table). Finding this dinky piece of plastic has given me the heart I needed to work on this endless project a little more. Simultaneously, I’ve decided not to devote myself to the model exclusively, but will alternate doing that with work on a new novel.
The tentative title for the book is City Of Witches. Several cities enjoy this sobriquet (a good example of how prevalent superstition is worldwide), but I’m thinking of the Southern Italian town of Benevento, a beautiful place with a Roman amphitheatre, bridge, and triumphal arch, famed for millennia as a stronghold of witches dedicated to the worship of Diana the Moon Goddess. The picture above is not of Benevento itself, but a smaller town in the province of Benevento. Close enough for government work and the image is of sufficient Gothy antiquity that it nobly serves my purpose.
I look forward to writing the book since I’ve been very interested in the Italian Renaissance for some time now. Many think of this period as a time of great human progress and I will concede that there is a large degree of truth to this. For me, however, the Renaissance era really seems little better than the Middle Ages that preceded it and in some ways even worse. The small glints of enlightment and recovered civilization only serve to highlight and throw more sharply into focus how dark and grotesque life was as a general matter for the vast majority of people.
Oh, well, please pardon my pontification. The upshot is that I’ve decided both to write again and work on the model, thus frustrating and maddening myself on two fronts instead of only one. I hope the rest of you are approaching life in a happier, less perverse frame of mind, but if you aren’t, stick with it anyway. Look at all the great things manic depressives have achieved.
If you’re interested in learning more about Benevento, please click the link below: