French Sketches: Cap Ferrat and Somerset Maugham

My second French Sketch featuring a profile of English novelist Somerset Maugham and his gilded existence living on the French Rivera at Cap Ferrat is not available at Kobo for $.99. Here's the link.

French Sketches: Cap Ferrat and Somerset Maugham

Scripps Fine Arts Foundation Lecture

The Fine Arts Foundation of Scripps College listened to Williamson Gallery director Mary McNaughton give an erudite and interesting (a lecture can be both, as rare as that sounds) on "Clay's Tectonic Shift." Professor McNaughton, an art history professor at Scripps, described how ceramics went from a craft to a major art form during the 1950s and 60s under the guidance of Southern California artists John Mason, Ken Price, and Peter Voulkos. Scripps College, an acknowledged leader in promoting ceramics since the 1930s under the dynamic direction of Millard Sheets, was part of this revolution. The lecture was given on Wednesday, December 14, 2011 in the Hampton Room of Malott Commons on the Scripps Campus. The exhibition opens at Williamson Gallery on January 21, 2012 with an Opening on Saturday evening at 7 PM. The exhibition is part of the Pacific Standard Time initiative sponsored by the Getty Trust.

In short, ceramics evolved from pottery towards sculpture, from the beautifully designed utility of practical ceramic pottery to large and increasingly abstract sculptures comprised of fired pieces of clay fitted into large objects.

First Sale Amazon Germany

My first sale at Amazon Germany is a French Sketch! All the novels and French Sketches have been selling at Amazon UK and Amazon France in one's and two's. But every little bit helps. This Sketch is about life on Cap Ferrat and the life of Somerset Maugham in the 1920s and 1930s, a beautiful gilded age if you had the gold.

Cap Ferrat up at Diesel

Here's a link to ebook store Diesel with my $.99 short now up. French Sketches: Cap Ferrat and Somerset Maugham. I used Maugham as a model for a more lightened-up character named Shelley Moncton in my historical novel "Vienna 1934: Betrayal at the Ballplatz." Maugham lived a very fascinating and colorful life.

There's One in Every Marriage

Theater. On Wednesday night, November 9, students from the Claremont Colleges previewed three scenes from their upcoming theater production of "There's One in Every Marriage," a farce by French playwright Feydeau, that debuts Thursday night November 17 at Seaver Theater on the Pomona College campus.

The presentation was made at a dinner meeting of the Scripps College Fine Arts Foundation in the Hampton Room of Malott Commons. My wife and I had the delight of sitting next to the young lady playing the cocotte in the play for dinner, and I must say she was in delightful form.

The play's producer and director, Professor Leonard Pronko, got off the table's best line: "my fuel is dark chocolate and red wine." Fun evening. Later he gave another of his fascinating little introductory lectures on French farce--they're always about sex in some form. An eternal dramatic interest.Link to Pronko interview

Attached is an interview with Professor Pronko.

French Sketches: Cap Ferrat and Somerset Maugham up at Kindle

Up at Kindle today. Price $.99. This is the second of the French Sketches published. These are short five to ten thousand word travel and cultural portraits of interesting places and people in France. It is also available in all formats at Smashwords.

Link to Amazon

Paris 1935: Destiny's Crossroads

Finally! "Paris 1935" is up at Kobo ! I use Kobo for books to read on my HTC android telephone. The ePub format works really well. Price $3.99.