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GOOGLE Yourself I Googled myself as part of a series of online assignments called 23Things . The purpose was to seek my digital footprint, which is how much of my personal information can be easily found online. I've googled myself before--admit it, you've googled yourself too--and my results are mixed. My birth name is Marcel Faulkner. The first search result of my autogoogle--yes, that's a word, or at least it is now--is from LinkedIn, and that's me. The next few results are also related to me, and further down the page, there are 2 images of me, as well as images of books written by a man named Marcel Faulkner. There is also a graphic black and white picture of a bombing victim, apparently a teenage FLQ member who accidentally blew himself up. This is where it gets complicated and rather unpleasant. The failed bomber was not named Marcel Faulkner, but the man who wrote those books was, and and both he and the bomber were associated with the FLQ in the 1960s. That
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Phillip Parotti: Shamefully Underappreciated

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Hi All. This post is a shout-out to one of my favourite authors, Phillip Parotti, who wrote three outstanding historical novels about the Trojan War. Most novels that depict the legendary siege are more accurately called mythohistorical,  rather than historical, because their content usually revolves around mythical characters--Helen, Achilles, Odysseus--who were descended from gods. Parotti's novels focus on humans, their talents and their failings, and how people do not need divine intervention to bring grand tragedy on themselves. Sadly, all three of Parotti's books are out of print and can only be had second hand. Prices vary. Two Parotti short stories, 'A Gathering of Kites' and 'Urns of Ash,' are also set in the ancient world and are tough to track down, although worth the effort to do so. The first of his novels, The Greek Generals Talk, is told from the viewpoint of the lesser commanders, the ones who survived to tell their war stories decades   after
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