Evoking a Novel's Landscape

Notes on Paul Hollis' Novel Loose Ends

One aspect of a well told story is to evoke an environment; what it feels like to be in it.

Paul Hollis’ novel, Loose Ends, from his Hollow Man series, offers some wonderful examples in its first chapter of evoking environments.

A note in passing, even the title, Loose Ends, conveys something about the story and plot. Both a character and a situation can be at loose ends.

Opening line...

“Life goes on,” he said, “even when you don’t want it to.”

This conveys something about the main character’s state as the story begins.

Continuing...

‘The words hung in the air, heavy with resignation, as if he uttered them not for comfort but to confirm some unwavering truth. Outside, he knew the world would press forward with its usual indifference; down in the street bus brakes screeched, car horns blared, and pedestrians and pedestrians weaved through crowds of living ghosts as the world moved on with us or without us.’

Note how clearly this evokes this place but also this moment in the narrator’s life. As readers, we are sharing this moment.

Continuing from the end of page one to page two, ‘The fading light of dusk framed his silhouette like he was a figure caught between two worlds, unwilling or unable to choose a side.’

Again, using language that evokes the inner journey of the character.

In passing, one finds the same technique in a novel like Henry James’ The Ambassador or Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse.

I do advise people to pack a lunch when they start a Henry James paragraph, or with Woolf, be prepared to go to great inner depths of a character in a single sentence.

Hollis’ language is more succinct, but the goal is the same, to allow a reader to share the journey of a story.

Continuing…

A female character observes of a mug she holds, ‘The jagged lines spidering across the glaze felt like a reflection of her own fractures, small but irreparable.’

Note what this conveys about her inner life. We don’t have to wait 40 pages to discover she’s a damaged human being.

Continuing, ‘The room fell silent except for the faint ticking of a clock on the mantle, marking time with a cruelty she couldn’t bear.’

As the story advances with precision, the two characters come to a monumental decision, ‘Their presence (words) hung irreversibly like a stone dropped into deep water, sinking fast into the darkness but rippling outwards.’

Dark and deep. Lovely language that serves a dramatic purpose.

Moving to the end of the chapter, ‘The room fell into a pressing silence again, time marked only by the ticking of the clock, counting down the moments to a decision she knew she couldn’t undo.’

Note how this advances the plot and the inner journey of the characters. Each chapter in a novel should advance the story and plot.

As well, the audience is drawn forward to turn the page, the goal of a well-written chapter, a well-written paragraph, a well-written sentence.

Well done, Mr. Hollis.

Other novels reviews by Bill Johnson are available on his website, Essays on the Craft of Dramatic Writing.

Notes on Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die

This is a quirky, unpredictable, and fun film. The set up is what looks like a deranged homeless person making a sudden appearance in a diner. He looks like he’s wearing a shower curtain decorated with trash.

He says he has a bomb connected to a switch in his hand.

He needs the attention of diners because he’s from the future and he needs recruits to help stop the end of the world.

Somehow, he knows personal details of many of the diners.

The first person to offer himself is rejected as he’s been an ‘albatross’ on previous attempts to prevent the end of the world. Over 100, apparently.

A woman offers to volunteer and slowly several others volunteer, including a young woman wearing a bedraggled princess costume, who the time traveler rejects, then accepts.

Then the police arrive and the question becomes, how to get out of the restaurant? And the first volunteer has the answer, which the time traveler finds suspicious, but what can you do?

The time traveler also explains what’s happened. That humanity started in the morning checking emails. Then an AI generated content that gave a reason to stay online and not get out of bed.

End of world.

Flashbacks convey the lives of the volunteers and the way society has been overtaken by AI.

I found it gloriously funny and the most enjoyable movie I’ve seen in years.

When the story seems to have a happy ending, the time traveler has a decision to make.

Highly recommended to anyone who wants a change of pace and a satire that skews modern society as we become happy, pacified consumers.

Et me, too.

If this happens to you in real life, don’t ask for kittens as an adversary.

A moment of synchronicty...a few days before the movie on a whim I bought a pink snowball treat that I haven't eaten in years. One is featured in the film. It's like I was in the movie once removed.

Maybe it's a sign that I'm going to...

For more of my capsule movie reviews, visit https://www.storyispromise.com/quikcuts.html

Buddha in the Garden, by Upasika Yoly

Buddha in the Garden is a charming and delightful book about how someone seeking to live by the tenets of the Buddha can manage a garden.

The author moved from creating an organic garden in the lush Willamette Valley, with abundant rainfall and fertile earth, to a place in Arizona where limited rainfall and scarcity of nutrients made a garden a target for insects and animals.

To protect a garden in such an arid climate, how is the concept of no killing resolved? Or can it be?

By looking at each pest and guest with a calm mind, the author developed a deeper appreciation of how to avoid just being reactive. Right View leads her to Right Action.

To replace a ‘Fix it Now!’ mentality with a calm ‘how does this action reflect the wheel of life?’ guides her to a deeper understanding that the order of life and death also leads to renewal and rebirth.

Her individual chapters on dealing with specific guests and pests ranges from the deeply insightful to the playfully charming.

In one chapter, after cleaning and sterilizing a kitchen counter, she notices a lone ant. Instead of reacting by using a newspaper to transplant the ant outside (and likely causing its death by separation from its colony), contemplation gives her the insight that the ant is a scout, and if left alone to return to its colony, it will relay the message, no food on this counter.

The author goes from reacting to skunks with great fear and foot stomping to speaking to them with a calm voice that they respect. And she learns that they are great protection for the garden at night.

From calm reflection she discovers that some bees love to frolic in a cool spray.

Her garden helps her to develop a compassion and a mindfulness of life.

Buddha in the Garden in an ideal companion for those who would like to deepen their appreciation of life in all its forms. It is a treasure trove for anyone seeking to garden in a mindful, peaceful way.

Available as a ebook and soft paperback on Amazon.

A glossary includes reading and viewing recommendations on YouTube.

Notes on Al Handa’s On The Road With Al & Ivy: Book One: Becoming A Face

I found reading Al Handa’s story about his experience of being homeless to be thoughtful and observant about the different kinds of people who experience that life.

In the title of his work, ‘Becoming A Face’ has a specific meaning. Al lived in his car with his companion, Ivy, a small dog. Becoming a face meant law enforcement recognizing that Al was homeless and living in his car. So anytime there was a problem or a complaint about the homeless, that could make Al a target.

In Al’s situation, he put in the effort so his car did not obviously appear to be lived in. He kept things in a trunk, and brought out items as needed.

Having Ivy as a companion also served a purpose. Ivy’s senses meant he could alert Al to a problem before Al was aware. I’ve often wondered why so many homeless have a dog as a companion. Al answers that question.

In the community Al lived in, he realized different people were taking care of each other’s dogs when someone had an appointment to keep.

Al also made the effort to stay groomed by paying to shower at a truck stop. This allowed Al to spend time in a coffee shop to charge his cell phone. The young people working at the coffee shop became aware of Al’s situation, and they would occasionally slip him a treat.

One issue Al mentions is that when he lost his tech job and his living situation, he at first spent money to stay in a motel. That just meant when he could no longer afford that, he had less money to serve as a cushion in his new life.

Returning to the issue of grooming, when I had a gym membership in a national chain, I could spot the people who were living rough who maintained a gym membership so they had a place to shower and groom.

Al’s story is also very specific about the types of homeless he came across. Some folks had the money to buy a small travel trailer. Others would find an isolated place by a river to camp. Single women would find another female companion for safety, and needed to find a safe place to camp or sleep. Some women would accept being in a relationship with a man for the safety it might provide.

In Al’s story, young people would come to a homeless camp by the river on the weekend to buy drugs and party. That drew the attention of a predator who would rob those young people and steal their jackets and shoes to sell.

In my life, I would take a friend out to dinner sometimes at a restaurant near a parking lot with food carts. That attracted the homeless at night, which was fine with me. But it also attracted the people who preyed on the homeless, which scared my companion.

Because Al became a face to others in the homeless community, he would meet and get advice about where to park or where to avoid. He also met a few who had lost a living situation but managed to find a way out of that life.

One sad aspect of Al’s story is the young women who would trade sex for drugs but would find themselves trapped into being a sex worker.

Al’s story is gritty and insightful, but also shows the human kindness that can be found.

There are many gems in Al’s story.

With the situation in the United States, I suspect more people might find themselves becoming homeless. Al’s story is a valuable guide to how to survive that life.

His book is available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FGWKK19K

Experiences With the Energy Body Update January 2026

1/7/2026

This is my latest energy body update. I now have a website at https://www.experienceswiththeenergybody.com. I post these updates there. My journal is available at Amazon for .99.

I’ve mentioned my 11 week cycle. At the end of the last cycle, that intense band of energy around the crown of my head and the concentration of energy at the top of my head (the Thousand Petal Lotus in yoga) began to glow with energy.

I assumed when I started my next cycle, I’d start from that point. Instead, the focus became my chest/heart, neck/throat, and forehead between the eyes.

When I was young and did bellows breathing 3-4 hours a day, I never picked the body part/area that would be the focus of the next 11 week cycle.

Most recently I’ve been focused on my shoulders, the weakest part of my body. I avoided exercising my shoulders because of how weak they are. I realized from talking to a friend, I needed to double and triple the exercises to strengthen my shoulders.

That led to energy passing through my shoulders causing the muscles at the top of my shoulder where it connects to the body to spasm and relax. Then today, I had an experience of the full shoulder area glowing, which meant energy was fully transiting my shoulders. I was very pleased.

My goal now is to open that band around the crown and open the energy flow at the top of my head. When I accomplished that when I was middle aged, I felt like I connected to the wider universe. Information poured into my mind that became A Story is a Promise, my writing workbook.

As I’ve mentioned, paintings of Christian saints with the halo are symbolic of that band opened.

I believe a narrow focus on the body and mind keeps people from experiencing a connection to the wider universe. The universe is alive, but that’s not always easy to experience with a focus on the world.

For those who have made it this far, again, I now have a web site for my energy body journal and these updates at https://www.experienceswiththeenergybody.com

Blessings.

Movie Notes on Song Sung Blue and The Housemaid

Song Sung Blue

This is the story of two tribute singers (Don Ho, Patsy Cline) who come together to form a Neil Diamond tribute duo, billed as Lightning and Thunder. The film does a wonderful job of conveying the world of tribute bands and the friendships formed among the muscians.

As Lighting and Thunder become popular and even perform as the warm up act for Pearl Jam, a tragic accident maims Thunder.

Her life disappears in a haze of pain medication and grief.

The movies explores how blended families come together and how medical bills can drive a barely getting by family into poverty.

As Lightning heals, the duo again perform and the movie ends soon after that high point. I found the movie very affecting. Haven't cried this much at a movie in many years. Yes, it's formula, but well performed and heartfelt, and the music is fun to listen to.

Recommended.

The Housemaid

This is a dark and twisted tale of a young woman on parole who surprisingly to her gets a job as a live in housemaid for a wealthy husband, wife, and daughter.

The wife is unhinged and taking drugs to control psychotic episodes. In the past, she was suspected of murdering her parents.

But all is not what it seems in this clever film. And what is real steadily mutates.

This is a good film for folks who like dark stories. I enjoyed the twists and turns.

IMDB, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27543632/?ref_=fn_t_1

Rental Family

This is a sweet and heartfelt film starring Brendan Fraiser as a down on his luck American actor living in Tokyo and getting by doing cheap commercials. He's offered the job of pretending to be a young bride's groom at her wedding. He doesn't want to do the job, but finally does. Then he learns the purpose of the fake wedding was so the bride could have the life she wants.

He's then hired to be the pretend father of a girl whose mother wants to get her accepted to a prestigious school, and as a journalist pretending to interview a once famous, now elderly Japanese actor.

Only Brendan begins to really feel like he's the girl's father and that he should help the elderly actor make a journey to a special place. Complications multiply, but the film ends with Brendan having a deeper realization of who he is at a Shinto shrine he casually visited with the elderly actor.

IMDB, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14142060/?ref_=fn_t_2

Recommended.

For more capsule movie notes, visit https://www.storyispromise.com/quikcuts.html

Notes on Emma Pattee's Novel Tilt

In Emma Pattee's Tilt, a young, heavily pregnant mother is in an IKEA in Portland, Oregon searching for a baby bassinet when a major earthquake levels parts of Portland and all but one bridge over the Willamette river. At first trapped, she's rescued but loses her purse and phone in the rubble.

Her rescue can also be viewed as a metaphor, a birth into a new life.

Her first goal is to track down her husband at his job working at a cafe. When she reaches the cafe, she finds out he lied about working and instead is auditioning for a play, something he said he wouldn't do with the baby's birth immanent. To find him, now she must find a way to cross the Willamette river on the only standing bridge.

The novel is organized around going from the present to the past, meeting her actor husband when she's had a first play produced and has a fantasy about becoming a famous playwright. When she meets her later husband, he has a fantasy about becoming a famous actor.

Each jump to the past brings us nearer to the present. We learn how she gives up her fantasy, but her husband has clung tightly to the idea that somehow he can become a famous actor.

The chapters in the past collectively operate as a series of jolts that affect her marriage; mini earthquakes, so to speak.

When she finally reaches the last bridge standing across the Willamette river, it's blocked. The metaphor is that it's one of the last bridges that connected her to her marriage to her husband.

The novel makes the young woman's grueling journey heart-felt, compelling, and painful. By the end of the novel, she's ready to begin a new life.

I very much enjoyed the soon to be mother's journey through the broken city, passing by many, many landmarks I'm familiar with.

Recommended.

Find Emma's novel on Amazon at Tilt

For more of my novel reviews, visit https://www.storyispromise.com