Stephen Weinstock

Writers Conferences and Your Soul – guest post by Stephen Weinstock
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Writers Conferences and Your Soul – guest post by Stephen Weinstock

WRITERS CONFERENCES… AND YOUR SOUL I saw a clip from a TED talk the other day that enumerated the top ten factors that enabled people to live to a hundred years old. Yes, there was a focus group of long-living folks and tons of data about them. The topmost factor? Connecting with other people on…

Fables, Italo Calvino, and Visionary Fiction – guest post by Stephen Weinstock
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Fables, Italo Calvino, and Visionary Fiction – guest post by Stephen Weinstock

This summer I saw Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario. Teiresias was in drag, the Chorus intoned like gospel churchgoers, and the blind Oedipus appeared in the nude (an email warned us ahead of time). Despite the wonderful theatricality, I was put in mind how powerful the Oedipus myth is, with…

Fiction’s Battle for Acceptance in Islam, as Metaphor for Visionary Fiction:  Part Two
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Fiction’s Battle for Acceptance in Islam, as Metaphor for Visionary Fiction: Part Two

Part Two You can view Part One of this intriguing exploration by guest author Stephen Weinstock here. In Part One, I outlined the parallels between Arabic fiction’s uphill battle for acceptance in the first centuries of Islam. I believe the criticism and slow acceptance of Visionary Fiction goes back to the same kind of interdiction…

Fiction’s Battle for Acceptance in Islam, as Metaphor for Visionary Fiction
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Fiction’s Battle for Acceptance in Islam, as Metaphor for Visionary Fiction

Part One In researching Book Three of my series 1001: The Reincarnation Chronicles, I read a great deal about the history of Arabic Literature. I am no Arabic scholar, but I had to learn about medieval Persian and Arabic culture. My characters, in their past lives in 10th century Baghdad, collaborate on a special version…

Therapeutic Benefits of Visionary Fiction – Application – Part 5
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Therapeutic Benefits of Visionary Fiction – Application – Part 5

This is the final installment of the Visionary Fiction as Personal Therapy Series.  In part 1, we discussed recognition, when a reader experiences a sense of familiarity while reading. In part 2, visionary fiction authors expressed their feelings of recognition while they were writing their stories. In part 3, various authors discussed how they reacted to issues…

Therapeutic Benefits of Visionary Fiction – Examination – Part 3
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Therapeutic Benefits of Visionary Fiction – Examination – Part 3

This is part 3 of the Visionary Fiction as Personal Therapy Series, which was inspired after I learned about bibliotherapy in my psychology classes.  It led me to discover an article by Debbie McCullis in the February, 2014 issue of the Journal of Poetry Therapy.  McGullis listed  a four step process used in bibliotherapy, which…