Friends of the unreal blog – The past couple of years have been intense ones for me personally and creatively. Being locked down so far away from family and friends in California but having the comfort of my spouse, Larry, I engaged in some very deep introspection and memory and wrote like crazy. As an … Continue reading July 1st 2022
Tag: Stephanie Barbe Hammer
Novel-writing and why it matters
Dear friends -- Happy Cinco de Mayo! I'm taking a look back over my various attempts at writing novels on Medium, and here is the first part of that essay: Why I write novels This week I’m junking the “about” in my title and getting right to the question of why I keep on trying … Continue reading Novel-writing and why it matters
April — Special in-depth conversation with Anthony LeDonne about my new novel PRETEND PLUMBER
Hello friends! What a spiritually resonant week this is, as folx navigate Ramadan, Easter and Passover all at the same time! Because of this convergence, my wonderful friend Anthony and I thought this might be the perfect time to record and share a conversation about spirituality and Jewishness in my new novel Pretend Plumber, now … Continue reading April — Special in-depth conversation with Anthony LeDonne about my new novel PRETEND PLUMBER
My mother and Anne Rice
It's oddly appropriate that famous author Anne Rice died just a day before my mother's Yarzeit. My mother was an extremely anxious, brilliant, troubled and fascinating person with wonderfully weird, eclectic tastes. She loved mysteries and she loved Wagner (the composer, not the NYC mayor) and she loved science fiction and she loved Agatha Christie. … Continue reading My mother and Anne Rice
I read the Big Book (part 1?)
Dear friends of the unreal -- I have begun -- kind of without meaning to -- an unreal and at times seemingly impossible reading project. In a May 21 2021 article for the New Yorker francophile Adam Gopnik likens reading all of Proust's A LA RECHERCHE DU TEMPS PERDU (IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME) to … Continue reading I read the Big Book (part 1?)
TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER update: Sonnet in Honor of Kamala Harris joins the roster!
Friends -- we have a new sonnet in honor of Kamala Harris created by K. Andrew Turner. We'll add sonnets to the roster as we receive them. the entire group can be viewed here:
And now 5 questions for authors I dig #1 — Stacey Levine, and Brown Seaweed Soup
Friends -- I have this idea. Periodically I want to interrupt whatever I'm doing on Magically Real so that I can ask writers I respect and admire 5 questions, which they will then answer. I'm doing this so that we'll have the opportunity to hear their own unique geniussy take on writing world. Along the … Continue reading And now 5 questions for authors I dig #1 — Stacey Levine, and Brown Seaweed Soup
Reading the 18th Century, March 12, 2017. Rousseau redux: The Discourse on Inequality continued with some cool info on people who read him
Hi everyone -- welcome back as we take a second look at this seminal piece of writing by Jean Jacques Rousseau. Last time, I talked about Rousseau's theory of humans in the state of nature. Now we'll take a quick look at some of his other ideas. Part 2 of the Discourse starts off … Continue reading Reading the 18th Century, March 12, 2017. Rousseau redux: The Discourse on Inequality continued with some cool info on people who read him
Reading the Enlightenment: Nathan the Wise and imagining religious interconnectedness
Friends – Last week I shared some thoughts about Jonathan Swift’s autobiographical poem and the connection of some its ideas to the attitudes expressed by the Founding Fathers and indeed to one of the sentiments expressed in the Declaration of Independence. This week, I want to share some insights about a play written in 1779, … Continue reading Reading the Enlightenment: Nathan the Wise and imagining religious interconnectedness
That You Were Meant For Great Things — Dream Big, Hope Bigger
My newest story -- and my newest character -- appears courtesy of guest editor and incredible writer/essayist/novelist/activist Ryka Aoki and the beautiful, brave James Franco Review: "That You Were Meant For Great Things"
Stephanie Barbé Hammer Writing (Un) Real 