I love the fall. The weather cools down, the trees turn colour, and the pace of life picks up.
Marion and I had a delightful day trip and picnic lunch with our friend Suzanne. We drove up to Forks of the Credit and enjoyed the autumn countryside. It takes a long time to get out of the city now with the GTA expanding northward. One day I expect it to be solidly urban from Mississauga to Orangeville.
This fall I’m taking an online course “Writing the Personal Essay,” from Creative Nonfiction. We have weekly readings and tutorials, occasional online chats, written assignments, and peer review. It’s stretching me as a writer, for which I’m thankful.
I’ve been reading so much my Kindle is smoking. I’m on an SF&F spree that I hope never ends. I’m also reading some mystery fiction. I don’t read much mainstream literature — I find it boring. Contemporary literary fiction, most of it anyway, leaves me cold. But science fiction challenges me and the inventiveness and creativity of the authors delight me. My Kindle is currently subscribed to Asimov’s Science Fiction, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, and Clarkesworld. And for more serious reading, Philosophy Now.
The delightful thing is that as soon as the issues are released by the publisher, they download into my Kindle.
The fall marks the new TV season as well, and this season I’m watching Dexter, CSI, Silk, Inspector Lewis, and Ringer. Plus documentaries and specials.
Not to mention listening to podcasts galore, including the bracing TED Talk videos.
And I was delighted to hear that my friend Earl has picked up a Macbook Air.
Finally, for anyone interested, I’ve started a paper.li Internet newspaper called Gene’s Sci-Tech Daily.
Silver Bullets 
Hi Gene,
What a coincidence! I just read a wonderful bit of ‘creative non-fiction’. I thought you might be interested, after reading this post. The book is called “River of Doubt”, by Candice Millard. Its the story of Teddy Roosevelt’s amazing trip down an unexplored Amazon tributary. Millard creates a fabulous ‘read’. She obviously did a tremendous amount of research. The book is a splendid example of this genre. Fabulous development of characters, history, and most wonderfully, the Amazon rainforest.
Enjoy,
Jamie
Jamie, thanks for the recommendation! I just checked and it’s available as a Kindle e-book. I’ve downloaded the sample to get a feel for it.
Gene
You’re pretty busy!
Jan, gotta keep those neurons firing so I can remember what day of the week it is.
Great Post Gene, and the day was fun for me as well, one I will remember for a long time.
I really have to start reading again, but the time goes buy so quickly. I am taking that photoshop course and it does help the neurons to keep firing, but at the same time it can be very tiring and nap time is always just around the corner :-)
I’m sure Earl is as happy as a clam..