The Legend of the Three Swallow

The Legend of the Three Swallow

So…T & I took a trip to Ireland. The kiddo was going on a school trip abroad and we thought we’d worry less if we were 1) geographically closer to him, and 2) if we had something big to distract us. So we booked a flight, rented a car and a house and, just like that — it happened. It was a terrific reminder that travel can be a simple thing — even a big trip — if you just have the means and the will…something that’s easy to forget if you haven’t done it in decades!

And as soon as we knew we were going, I knew I wanted to meet up with a couple of long-time writing/publishing friends, Brian McGettrick and Sean Lynch. As with many online friendships, the years of “knowing” one another seem to race by, even if you’ve never physically met…and the opportunity to change that always feels like an unexpected gift. If you’ve poked around our HQ, you’ll recognize both names, as we’ve been connected going as far back as the GPP, and Sean’s designed most if not all of MANY of the things you’ve read from me.

And so it happened. And, as expected, both of them were aces. man — terrifically interesting, and I loved hearing about their lives and times, and just a few of the yarns from their decades-long friendship. As an even kinder surprise, Brian wanted to write up the whole event, along with some questions about writing, Ireland, and life in general he’d prepared. He set up his camera and recorded it for posterity’s sake, if not the drunken annuls of history! So if you’ve got 15 minutes to kill, hopefully there’s a couple laughs and a decent idea or two to be had in it.

Rumor has it that someone drank the entire bottle of Powers (Three Swallow) mentioned therein, but sources will neither confirm or deny as much on the record. Sources were also very patient with that someone, and managed to find the good hunks among the rest of his drunken blather…for which that someone is truly grateful.

READ AT MCGETTRICK'S WEBSITE

GET BRIAN’S BOOKS

CHECK OUT SEAN’S WORK

Make the Water Laugh...

Make the Water Laugh...

Years ago, back in the days of SASEs and analog journals and zines, I became friends with Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal. For 30 years now, he’s been carving out a humble life in Southern California, working in the mental health field, and writing wry, taciturn, whimsical then sad poems. The work is impossible to pin down: often filled with natural imagery, and a whole cast of people, catches of their conversations…in one moment child-like, and the next, hell and madness. The overall effect creates not just a wildly vivid pastiche of verse but a body of work utterly and solely his own.