Books Worth Reading
Manila, Philippines. Circa 1958. I remember very little about my enlistment in the Philippine Cub Scouts, but there’s no refuting photographic evidence — I was in it. There was a guidebook, tasks to accomplish, skills to acquire. We must have gone on outings. I appear to have made acquaintances. I don’t recall any unpleasant moments.
The goal of the organization was to build virtue, self-reliance, good citizenship. As far as I know, it worked.
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Botocan, Philippines. Circa 1957. The life we imagine for ourselves is not necessarily the best life for everyone, but ideas will spread, and people will make choices. Filipinos valued their culture, but postwar Western nations had a lot to offer.
Population was expanding. Cities were growing. Modernization outward was essential, if for no other reason than to increase crop yields. In the provinces, traditional ways would eventually be displaced.
Thankfully, we were there in time to witness that which came before. In the photo, a man smiles at the camera, apparently serene, living in the moment. At arm’s length, a water buffalo, a cart, a harvest. I suspect he knew, as all of us should, that the most important things in life are usually right there, at arm’s length.
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Manila, Philippines. Circa 1957. Hard times make people grow up faster, a quality that can often be seen in photographs. My siblings were born in 1941, at the beginning of World War II. Some of their peers were toddlers at the Santo Tomas prison camp during the Japanese occupation.
A few, like my brother, arrived in Manila half-grown, rough and tough. Mike used to hang around the Manila Yacht Club waiting for members to get off work. He crewed sailboats, raced dinghies, explored the caves at Corregidor, and put some adventure under his belt.
My shift started during the prime rib buffet. Mike left for college. Our parents played golf. Mom was in art class. My cousins were hunting, fishing, racing jalopies around the back roads without drivers licenses, but they were half a planet away. There was nobody to show me how to do those things.
I’m not complaining. I had a great life growing up. My wife says she’s jealous. Mind you, she was riding motorcycles at the age of eleven. I could easily be jealous of that.
In the photo on the left, my brother Mike dancing with our stepsister Carolyn. On the right, their friends, also sixteen years old, looking way more grown up than I did at that age.
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Manila, Philippines. September, 1957. Everyone in this photo had an extraordinary story to tell. I wouldn’t hear any of those stories until I was older. If they’d worn costumes I would have asked questions, but nobody ever did that at dinner parties.
In 1918, at the age of eighteen, Ty Norton (not present) boarded a ship in San Francisco to take a farm job at a Philippine pineapple plantation. We knew a man who flew with the Flying Tigers in Burma. A few of my parents’ friends were in Manila when the Japanese invaded. A man assigned the postwar task of destroying U.S. military equipment instead diverted jeeps and trucks into the black market. Years later, he was described as something of a gangster, but he didn’t look or act the part. Who would have guessed?
Not me. I was a little kid. Intrepid adventurers. Captains of industry. Deal-makers. Diplomats. Soldiers. Spies. Entrepreneurs. Rascals. Romeos. Workers. Parents. Church-goers. Sophisticates. Philosophers. Artists. Athletes.
It was a variety show, the likes of which I will never see again.
Readers are invited to share memories, stories, observations, whatever, in the comments below. If you’re enjoying these essays, please subscribe to receive notifications.
On Sunday, August 28, I will be an honored guest on Books Charming, India’s Top Book Blog. It’s kind of an accident, arranged by a promotion service, but curiously apt — my Science Fiction books are replete with allusions to South Asian culture. I actually have followers in that part of the world, although I don’t know how it happened.
It’s not as if I posted, “SciFi for readers in India.” or, “Sanskrit spoken here.” or “Look for Devanagari script on the cover of ‘Resilient’.”
The latter may be found below a neon sign, made in the image of a coffee cup. The word is, ‘Kaphi.’
Anyway, I’m running an eBook promotion, starting the same day. The Illusion of Gravity. Free for three days. Sunday, August 28. You might also read the interview, thus motivating you to read the book, which you will get for free, that same day, or for two days thereafter, as stipulated above.
In other news, I’ve been publishing a serial memoir about the expat life, 1950s Philippines and forward. Relative to my other essays, it’s been exceptionally well-received. Check it out.
Manila, Philippines. July, 1956. Electric companies are among the largest of all industrial enterprises. The product is manufactured by the Generation division. Delivery is carried out by Transmission and Distribution. Alan Razovsky’s job was Manager of T & D. Draw a box around the power plant. Assign someone to be in charge of everything else. Mission. Apparatus. Logistics. Staffing. The big part. The spread-out part. For workers, the dangerous part.
Linemen were paying the price for inadequate tools. Dad’s assignment was to build out the infrastructure. His personal mission would be to serve the workforce, and in doing so, save their lives. By the end of Dad’s tenure, Meralco would be a reliable power utility, operating with first-class line service equipment and a model safety program. In this photo, Alan Razovsky and his colleagues, about to roll up their sleeves and get it done.
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Manila, Philippines. June, 1956. My brother Mike was fifteen. He’d been in boarding school since our father died, so I barely knew him. My step-sister Carolyn was fourteen. For her, the arrangement was supposed to be a summer visit. That’s not how it worked out. There was drama involved.
Carolyn says she might have been nervous about the flight if Mike hadn’t been along. Mike reports the flight attendants were good-looking and personable. He remembers Manila International Airport as fancy, ultra-modern.
I met Carolyn for the first time in Manila. I was six, untroubled, with no reason to be otherwise. I showered her with kisses. That’s the kind of days those were for me.
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Author Ashley Manning (find him on Amazon here) was kind enough to post a pre-publication review, for which I am deeply grateful. He writes:
The beginning of this book lulls you into thinking that this will be a straight forward story about Elbert learning about the existence of aliens, and coming to terms with what that means for humanity, but it turns out to be so much more than that. As I read the first few chapters, that’s what I thought the story would be about, a story we’ve all seen/read before, but that’s resolved quite quickly and Elbert takes the news in stride, before moving to Jivada and starting the de-aging process. One of the books biggest strengths is the way that John G. Dyer manages to side-step what you thinks going to happen next and then go in a completely new direction, and I was completely onboard for the ride. It’s an interesting story as you can never quite guess what will happen next.
Continue reading “Early Praise for Elbert — John Dyer Writes”
The other day, I uploaded manuscript files to Amazon so I could order printed proofs of Elbert in paperback format. Whilst so engaged, Amazon invited me to make the eBook available for pre-order, and I thought, “Why not?” I set a publication date of October 3. This gives me seven weeks to obtain feedback from friends who declined to read on their tablet computers, but swore they would if I supplied printed books.
Most likely, nobody will read the book. October 3 will arrive and I still won’t know what shape it’s in.
Unless …
Continue reading “Beta, Schmeta — John Dyer Writes”
Update — Mission accomplished!
Trial animations have been delivered, a UE5 project package is on its way.
Ghosts of Ancient Vidura is in edit, so it’s time to plan for cover art. This might be a good student project, or something a hobbyist might try. Here’s the spec.
Abstract
Create a 3D model of the object Loyal House, a flying house described in the novel Ghosts of Ancient Vidura.
Create an animated clip of the object navigating through a scene.
Create a still image from the scene for use as a book cover.
Continue reading “Talent Search – Modelers & Animators”
John Dyer Writes 
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