The feeling is mutual sir! Courtesy is imperative.

Altogether too much contentiousness and pomposity on medium. But some fabulous writing too.

The world knows very little about the great famine. One of my all time favorite writers is John Banville. His work fomented a fascination in me of all things Irish. Once in a while what we Muslims call a wali, someone short of a prophet, comes along. In my view he’s one of those. There are many of course in many fields. America, the home of unbridled exploitation, believe it or not, has some too! And I don’t mean bezos and co!

In the way of young writers, Anthony Doerr is outstanding. ‘All the Light we Cannot See’ is transcendental. Poets?? Not so much.

Dune: I agree, the very first one is monolithic. Herbert made use of Arabic words and concepts as you know. Seems he loved deserts. ‘Godemperor of Dune’ is marvelous too, induces dread, and reminds me a bit of Marquez ‘autumn of the Patriarch.’ How total power makes monsters of us. Brian Herbert had to come along with his embarrassing effort at aping his father and exploited the franchise. Sad. Mediocre writing at best.

I read a couple of pieces you’ve written and i think they are wonderful. I’m taking the liberty of giving unwarranted advice- choose pics from public domain, give credits, come up with a dramatic title and a catchy sentence in subtitle and repost the old essays. I did that with some of my older work in which I’d been neglectful of medium guidelines. I was happy that more readers saw my poems. I hope you don’t mind. And a happy Valentines day to you!

Be safe🙏🏽