Ask the Author: Jim Puskas
Answered Questions (10)
Jim Puskas
I was fortunate to be able to borrow "Primeval" from my local library.
Jim Puskas
Captain Robert Campbells’ written orders were:
“You are hereby ordered to fall upon the rebels, the McDonalds of Glenco, and put all to the sword under seventy. You are to have a special care that the old Fox and his sons doe upon no account escape your hands, you are to secure all the avenues that no man escape. This you are to putt in execution at fyve of the clock precisely; and by that time, or very shortly after it, I'll strive to be att you with a stronger party: if I doe not come to you att fyve, you are not to tarry for me, but to fall on. This is by the Kings speciall command, for the good & safety of the Country, that these miscreants be cutt off root and branch. See that this be putt in execution without feud or favour, else you may expect to be dealt with as one not true to King nor Government, nor a man fitt to carry Commissione in the Kings service. Expecting you will not faill in the fulfilling hereof, as you love your selfe, I subscribe these with my hand att Balicholis Feb: 12, 1692.”
“You are hereby ordered to fall upon the rebels, the McDonalds of Glenco, and put all to the sword under seventy. You are to have a special care that the old Fox and his sons doe upon no account escape your hands, you are to secure all the avenues that no man escape. This you are to putt in execution at fyve of the clock precisely; and by that time, or very shortly after it, I'll strive to be att you with a stronger party: if I doe not come to you att fyve, you are not to tarry for me, but to fall on. This is by the Kings speciall command, for the good & safety of the Country, that these miscreants be cutt off root and branch. See that this be putt in execution without feud or favour, else you may expect to be dealt with as one not true to King nor Government, nor a man fitt to carry Commissione in the Kings service. Expecting you will not faill in the fulfilling hereof, as you love your selfe, I subscribe these with my hand att Balicholis Feb: 12, 1692.”
Jim Puskas
Fortunately, our local library did have the book. It was this book that led to Tokarczuk's winning the Nobel Prize, so it ought to be available. I would try Inter-library Loan if that's available to you.
Jim Puskas
Sprague Electric! Wow, that takes me back a long way! I remember you as a bright, eager young fellow. Obviously, both of us have moved very far afield since then. I've been retired since 2007, nowadays devote myself to a lot of charitable work and dabble in literature (primarily fro the amusement of my friends). I hope the world has treated you well.
Jim Puskas
I think I would like to travel to Constantiople, to the court of Justinian I, the last great emperor of what had been the Roman Empire, about 335 AD, before the bubonic plague struck and changed everything. I realize that was a real time and place but it has also been the setting for numerous fictionalized accounts of events. Even supposedly scholarly histories of the era are somewhat speculative. Just to be a "fly on the wall" to see first hand the astonishing workings of Byzantium.
Jim Puskas
I like to mix it up, so I plan to start off with Far from the Madding Crowd by Hardy and Setting Free the Kites by Alex George. Also on my list are Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith and The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Riuz Zafron. I also want to re-read Steven Galloway's The Cellist of Sarajevo. But expect some of my Goodreads friends will get me sidetracked onto some other books they've discovered.
Jim Puskas
I believe that one of life's great mysteries is how it is that each of us turns out to be the people that we become -- because of (and sometimes in spite of) what our early life experiences were. In my case, those who have read "Eastwind" may have discerned that Louise, the narrator was in fact my mother. So: Given that bizarre relationship, whence arose my personality? And even more to the point, how can I possibly view her and her actions as I do? Therein lies a mystery.
Jim Puskas
Readers may find my choice of favorite fictional couple a bit odd, since they are not really a couple in the usual sense. I would call them soulmates. They are Hazel and Augustus, the two teenage victims of cancer in "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green. They challenge each other and us with their courage, their dark humor and their deep understanding of the essence of being alive. Two absolutely unforgettable characters.
Jim Puskas
I'm working on a novel about a man who is faced with many challenges when a close relative is killed, leaving him to defend the well-being of a 2 year old orphaned son -- a little boy that the protagonist cares deeply about..
Jim Puskas
It all started with a conversation with a friend, when we were talking about the peculiar relationships each of had with our mother when growing up. As some readers have figured out, Louise is essentially my mother's own story although I took a few liberties with time frames and scale of events, so that it would work as a novel.
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