About Castles in the Sky
Castle in the Sky is a metaphor for a new idea so powerful that it changes the way we see the world.
Castles in the Sky newsletter is a weekly dose of truth, beauty, and humor to combat intellectual loneliness and existential boredom. Occasionally, you will also receive book reviews, short stories, and other essays.
I am a bookseller by birth, professor by choice, and writer by vocation. I spend as much time as possible with my wife and daughter. Any free moment between those is spent daydreaming and reading books. Here are two lists that will give you a decent idea of what this Substack is all about.
Five most popular pieces of writing
A Requiem for Sean in D Minor: This is an essay about friendship, shame, addiction, helping the ones we love, and living with complex regrets. (TW: addiction, suicide)
A Dirge for Eastern Redwoods: A meditation on family and how who came before us shapes who we are, told through the lens of an homage to the extinct tree that built America.
The Masculine Urge to Visit a Psychic Giraffe in Khartoum: An original short story in the magical realism genre inspired by a Twitter bot.
Making, Not Finding, Your Way: Review of The Pathless Path by Paul Millerd: Are we our jobs? Paul Millerd thinks not and I'm inclined to agree--but where does this leave us in how we define ourselves, successes, failures, worth, and all?
What Becoming a Father Taught Me About Self Care: A reflection on how learning to love a child made me re-cast my own role in my life as someone who needs to "take care of himself."
Six sections of the Substack
Newsletter: Where I share (mostly weekly) updates on what I’m writing, what’s going on in my life, and what’s inspiring me or catching my attention.
Essays and Memoirs: Where I explore ideas and tell personal stories.
Fiction: Where I publish short stories and novel chapters.
Review & Commentary: Where I give thoughts on books, movies, essays, and other art (and the artists who make it).
Experiments & Meta: Where I put anything that doesn’t fit neatly into the categories above, and also where I put “directories,” whenever I have a series of related posts.
Meta & On Writing: Where I discuss this Substack and the craft of writing, as well as where I put “stubs” or links to my writing published elswhere.
Please send me an email if you have any questions or comments about any stories. I love to get reader feedback.
