Doc Sherwood
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The American Civil War: A Literary Perspective
In 1861, an America irretrievably divided over the issue of slavery descended into Civil War. Eleven southern States, determined to protect their right to keep slaves, seceded from the Union. Styling themselves the Confederate States of America, these entered into open hostilities with the north.
By Doc Sherwood2 years ago in BookClub
Mark Twain
Part One Mark Twain’s real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens. The phrase he would come to use as his pen-name was one he first heard while working as a boatman on the Mississippi River between 1857 and 1861. For freshwater sailors, “mark twain” means a depth of two fathoms, the shallowest point at which it remains safe to continue navigating. The term was used as a warning-cry on boats that were heading into dangerously low waters.
By Doc Sherwood2 years ago in BookClub
The Transcendentalists. Top Story - August 2023.
The town of Concord, Massachusetts was where the first gunshots were fired in the Revolutionary War. On April the 19th 1775, more than a year before the Declaration of Independence was signed, British troops marched on Concord to seize a cache of weapons hidden there. Local residents and farmers, alerted mere hours in advance by Paul Revere and William Dawes, organized into a militia now known as the Minutemen and met the British with armed resistance. In a firefight at Concord’s Old North Bridge, the advancing troops were turned back.
By Doc Sherwood2 years ago in History
Desperately Seeking Pseudangelos, Chapter Three
What other way could it have gone though? Joe had intimated as much to Flashshadow on the drive over. As long as this was still his land, not Yon’s, the latter wouldn’t be the only one who commanded multitudes. That first afternoon with Sonica, several of Joe’s had looked in. Now he needs must summon another.
By Doc Sherwood2 years ago in Chapters
Desperately Seeking Pseudangelos, Chapter Two
The rabble herded and jostled Joe’s company to the edge of the outdoor pool. Yon held court from a lifeguard’s chair at the far end, overlooking all, while the rest of that writhing jabbering crew clustered close at our heroes’ backs. On either side the twisty shapes of waterslides and other apparatus rose into heavens of lead, which by now were alive with thunderous rumblings and lightning-bursts spanning the spectrum.
By Doc Sherwood2 years ago in Chapters
Desperately Seeking Pseudangelos, Chapter One
Joe’s subconscious self might have said they were circling the wagons. That one and Mini-Flash Splitsville were already at the rendezvous-point, having driven down together the minute they received word. Mini-Flash Robin and Mini-Flash Juniper had gone directly in the school minibus, he necessarily sleeping out the journey. Our hero himself had opted for a needful Boston detour, for now that he remembered his crimson-coloured space-racer, he missed it. Now he was skimming sandy hills on the last stretch of a familiar childhood holiday route, bound for what promised to be anything but, his landing-party lieutenant beside him in the passenger-seat.
By Doc Sherwood2 years ago in Chapters
Doc Sherwood Chips In...
Here's an exercise I used to do with students on my Advanced Writing course. First, I'd give them the following copy, taken from the back of a packet of barbeque flavour Joe Chips by the Joe Tea Company, and attributed to their promotional character “Off Road Joe”:
By Doc Sherwood2 years ago in Writers
Robinson Crusoe and the Colonial Legacy
Part One The character Friday in Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719) is of comparable significance to Shakespeare’s Othello. Between them, they are probably the two most important nonwhite figures in all English literature.
By Doc Sherwood2 years ago in BookClub
Resurrexit Dominus: James Hanley's Forgotten Novel
Part One Devoting an essay to the most obscure book by an already neglected author such as James Hanley (1897-1985) might call to mind Louis MacNeice’s words on minor poets: “those opinions which rank them high are based on a wish to be different or on lack of taste.” Nevertheless, at the risk of appearing to posses one or both of these attributes, I should like here to talk about that novel.
By Doc Sherwood2 years ago in BookClub
At Pilgrim Hospital, Chapter Five
A fine steady rain had set in by the time the two space-cars landed and parked on a residential street at the heart of Boston. The cowboy had given Presh his overcoat, and very small and scared she looked beside him, peeking out from the huge thing’s folds with her curls slicked down by the wet. Through his connection with Joe the cowboy remembered Neetra on that snowy day, and smiled.
By Doc Sherwood2 years ago in Fiction
