Plus Ça Change – September 2, 2026 Plus Ça Change – Vaccination September 2, 2026 When I was writing Laveaux: Dancer, I had a scene in a slave pen (euphemistically a slave depot). I wanted a description of what one was like in New Orleans. After much digging I found… Continue reading
Plus Ça Change – August 27, 2026 Once again, the unexpected. Working on Laveaux: Mother, I reach a chapter that has serious nostalgia potential for Marie. Fact: As of 1840, neither white people nor slaves could attend a ball designated for free people of color. Americans impose segregationist laws. The… Continue reading
Plus Ça Change – August 24, 2026 I tossed a chapter completely. My assessment is, I don’t need it. I’m moving one I had planned for a few years downstream into this slot. The narrative elements I had planned for the ditched chapter can be a few lines of dialog… Continue reading
Plus Ça Change – August 16, 2026 The scene: Marie goes to the night firewood market to get fuel for her kitchen stove. There really was a night market for firewood. It really was in the neutral ground on Rampart Street near Canal. Night because the people selling firewood were… Continue reading
Plus Ça Change – August 15, 2026 Once upon a time I was a tech writer focused on software development. I was very good at it. Company X would drop some new technology on my desk, and pay me to figure out how to explain it to the software developers… Continue reading
Plus Ça Change – August 13, 2026 I need a good (expletive deleted). Christophe is righteously outraged. So of course “son of a bitch” comes to mind. But I’ve been here before, looking for period-correct curses from the enlightenment. Etymologically, I could use this. But there are other considerations. For… Continue reading
Plus Ça Change – August 8, 2026 In 1836, the good white Americans of New Orleans instituted a secret police to keep an eye on those dangerous people of color. They might be eating the pets. It’s an intriguing historical tidbit. In 1836 The Louisiana legislature divided the city of… Continue reading
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Plus Ça Change – July 28, 2026 You’re a rich white man in antebellum New Orleans. How do you kill your accountant? RESEARCH! Yes, that might kill the accountant, but we’re talking about weapons here. Because the federal government is after your corrupt ass, and they’re about to bring in… Continue reading
Plus Ça Change – July 27, 2026 That title is gonna raise some bot’s attention. I know how the story ends. I’ve known for a long time, really for a couple of years. Sorta. There’s a murder. This isn’t a murder mystery, and certainly not a true-crime detective story. But… Continue reading
