Author: Kevin

.

The Great Gatsby – 100 Years Old Today…

One of the books I love the most turns 100 years old today! Happiest of Birthdays to THE GREAT GATSBY!

I have spent years and years–decades–picking this novel apart and trying to get inside to the cogs and gears…to the scaffolding. I know if I just read it one more time the secret of its success will be made clear to me. Finally! I will pick this novel over for the rest of my life. I already know this. I am at peace with that knowledge. And I will continue to pick it back up again and again.

Not only will I pick it up and read it again and again and again, but I will probably continue to buy different copies of it. And I am halfway through writing an homage to it…a queer retelling perhaps?

My beat up copy of the book I’ve been obsessed with for decades, THE GREAT GATSBY. I read this copy as a teenager.

I can’t believe it’s been a hundred years. I just have to think about this book to bring the words back up from the dark recesses of my otherwise untrustworthy memory. I have my favourite passages and I reread the last sentences over and over once I find myself again at the end of the pages during yet another rereading.

My most cherished copy of THE GREAT GATSBY. I picked this up at the divine Livraria Lello bookstore in PORTO, PORTUGAL.

FAVOURITE LINE:

“Then there was a boom as Tom Buchanan shut the rear windows and the caught wind died out about the room and the curtains and the rugs and the two young women ballooned slowly to the floor.”

The first time I ever read that line, I was perhaps 14…maybe 15. It stopped me cold. I envisioned not only the magic of the women and the room and the wind and the curtains…but also of the author sitting at his desk clacking away at his typewriter. I imagine him stopping after writing out that line and giving himself a soft punch of pride on his shoulder, a la Anthony Michael Hall’s character Brian Johnson when he finishes writing his essay for Mr. Vernon in The Breakfast Club. I know you know what I mean.

The fact that Fitzgerald did such an exceptional job in such a short story mesmerizes me. It is a tome of a book stuffed inside an itty bitty living space. It’s like magic how much he fit into his little world. Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I don’t think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport…I pick up a copy of THE GREAT GATSBY and I start reading…

Happy Birthday to THE GREAT GATSBY. F SCOTT FITZGERALD will always be here. His legacy includes one of the most beloved stories of the modern (or any other) age. I’m pretty sure magic like that only happens once in a hundred years or so. 🙂

So we beat on…

 

Cuba Rainbows Are In Our Immediate Future! Gran Muthu Rainbow Hotel in Cuba!

The entertainment consisted of a lot of singing, dancing, and rainbow flagging!

It’s almost time for our next TRIP!

We are heading back to CUBA and the Gran Muthu Rainbow Hotel in Cayo Guillermo! Can’t wait! We were there back in MAY, 2022. At the time, we practically had the place to ourselves. There were few visitors, as the pandemic was just receding and travel was only beginning to open up.

This has to be one of my favourite resort style vacation spots. It’s LGBTQ friendly, but not only that…it actually caters to the LGBTQ community specifically. Don’t get me wrong, EVERYONE is welcome. The catch is that everyone who does visit needs to be welcoming to LGBTQ guests. If I’m not mistaken… we were actually required to sign a legal document upon our arrival, ensuring that we would not discriminate against any guests staying at the resort. The straight community has definitely heard the good word about this resort…because judging from recent YouTube videos and comments on Facebook…it looks like the resort has really caught on with all travellers to Cuba. I think that’s a great thing!

One of the things I love to see while driving to resorts in Cuba are the old cars. I’m old enough to remember when the roads were still filled with these classics. I’ve seen them in Cuba every time I’ve been there.

We’ll be flying down there on GOOD FRIDAY (April 18th). I hope to take some video for YouTube. We’ll see how disastrously that plan plays out. Intention and desire don’t always come with the follow-through. I want to start travel vlogging, but I don’t know if my personality will allow it. But this is as good a place as any to give it the ole college try.

The rooms at this resort are quite spacious and beautiful. I loved the hanging chairs! I can’t wait to sit in one again. (-:

There are two beaches at the Gran Muthu Rainbow. Before we discovered the second, we really worried that the first was the only one. It’s pretty but definitely not the least bit user friendly. The one in front of the pool in the main area is a rocky outcropping…and access to the water is ZERO.

But there are some beautiful lounges and some nice views…okay to sit and look out at the water, but that’s about it. If you’re a reader, consider THE perfect place to sit and read away the day!

This is obviously a beautiful setting…but not user friendly.

Once you walk the length of the entire resort, you will come across the beautiful user friendly beach. This is where we spent A LOT of our time in 2022. We honestly had it almost all to ourselves every day. I’m betting it will be a crowded hot spot during our upcoming trip!

Oh, to be back there again! I really really love our wandering vacations where we wake up in a new town every day…but there’s something to be said about whiling away the day with views like this one. It makes you love and appreciate life!

The Grand Muthu Rainbow Hotel is a haven for the LGBTQ community. I cannot stress enough how fortunate we were to experience the acceptance we felt there. It was pure magic. During the entertainment, I was always dabbing at wet eyes. It felt like we had arrived at the most welcoming place on the planet. You can’t describe the feeling…you have to experience it to know what I’m talking about.

The flags really do make you feel welcome. Don’t underestimate the power of the rainbow flag.
The swim up bar at the Gran Muthu Rainbow Hotel!
The entertainment consisted of a lot of singing, dancing, and rainbow flagging!

We did one excursion while there the last time. This time, we’ll be staying at the resort.

My favourite pic of Michael from this trip…
It was just like a dream and we’re more than ready to dream that dream again!
When I tell you the pool was ENDLESS, believe me!

We are at the packing stage right now. We take about a week to get through this stage. We pack, we unpack, we pack again. Can’t wait!

See you in CUBA at the GRAN MUTHU RAINBOW HOTEL!

 

Psssssst…. I’m not going to tell you again (lol…yes I am!) BUY MY BOOK! Click the photo below to get yourself to AMAZON DOT COM. Or find it in any Amazon country…or at KOBO! Just buy it. Now! Please and thank you!

Pick up your copy of I WILL TELL THE NIGHT at Amazon today!

YouTube Channel Share…

Hello Readers,

Today, I wanted to tell you about my YouTube channel and how I’m preparing to get it up and running. I’ve had it since around 2007, I believe. Historically, I’ve mostly used it to watch videos and like and subscribe to other channels.

I have a few old, old videos up there… from Kenya. They were just dropped there as a placeholder, really. But I’ve been thinking about starting a channel for many many years.

We have some upcoming vacations, and I thought I’d give it the ole college try. I’m always blogging about my vacations… and I’ve always dreamed of vlogging about them too. My other passion, of course, is writing. I thought I would combine the two on a YouTube channel. I don’t yet know what this will look like. For now, I’m mostly playing around with a video editor… preparing to start.

Here’s my first real attempt. I didn’t want the added pressure of filming new footage, so I took some old footage and tried my hand at editing in some standard YouTube elements. Trust me, this is basic and unprofessional… but all the tutorial videos I’ve been watching tell you to start somewhere. And they also promise you’ll get better after you start. I’ll have to take them at their word.

The next step for me will be actually filming footage. Ugh. One day I’ll give it a go.

Here’s the Unboxing of my 2020 novel THE CAMINO CLUB… the arrival of my author copies.

Think about subscribing and liking. I hope to start soon and if I do I certainly hope I figure out my way around the editing software prior to our arrival on the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route in September!