I'm not even sure if empathy is an act, it could be a disposition. Michael Helm More Quotes by Michael Helm More Quotes From Michael Helm We can't write a serious novel in the 21st century without acknowledging the inescapable self-awareness we're stuck with. The idea we're surrounded by falsehoods and lies. It's hard for the thinking person to believe in narratives. And yet we want some place to invest our belief. Michael Helm writingbelievelying I just write what I want to read, and sometimes keeping it interesting means adding one more element that ends up adding another year to the work. Michael Helm writingmeanyears I love poetry, read it a lot, but make no claim to being able to write it. Michael Helm love-poetryablewriting The idea that language can be recombined to create new forms, new things, is of course very old in poetry. Michael Helm formlanguageideas Absurdity isn't quite so absurd as it once was. Michael Helm absurdityabsurd We're getting used to reality and fantasy passing into each other. Much of the border between them has been erased. Michael Helm fantasybordersreality It's fiction's job to express how it feels to be living now, and it's a complex feeling, full of contradiction. To me it often feels like a brutal trivialization of reality. Michael Helm feelingsjobsreality Paranoia can be a sign of a sanity in some circumstances, in some places and times. Michael Helm paranoiasanitycircumstances I seem always to have two or three novels going at once. It takes me a long time to finish one. Michael Helm threetwolong We want to know that we're not alone with our loneliness or loss. Michael Helm lonelinesswantloss Science is claiming ever more ground from popular stories of the kind we thought we weren't to believe in. Michael Helm kindstoriesbelieve Trauma, and certain important experiences, can imprint on us at a genetic level. Michael Helm certainlevelsimportant Many of the concepts we once thought belonged to speculation or science fiction are now part of our understood reality. Michael Helm speculationrealityfiction The real past can traumatize us, but so can the real future. Michael Helm realpast There's some evidence that before events of mass trauma, even unpredictable ones, people begin to feel higher anxiety, often expressed in terms specific to the event. Michael Helm anxietyeventspeople Novels seem to exist because of this need to know and connect, and so story becomes charged with necessity. Michael Helm novelstoriesneeds The novel's not the best form for disposing ideas, though that's one thing it can do. It likely is the best form, though, for conveying the experience of us each being alone, trapped in our skulls with only these bodies and this imperfect instrument of language to convey our state and to find meaning and connection. Michael Helm connectionsskullsideas I like a great degree of compression. I like to mix lateral steps with forward ones. I don't want the prose ever to feel simply functional - at least not for any stretch. Michael Helm degreeswantsteps Toronto is hard to capture in a few strokes. Michael Helm strokestorontocapture In an effort to bond with a homeless veteran, Secretary McDonald told him he was in the Special Forces. He did complete Ranger training and served honorably with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division. But a lie is a lie, what a disappointment from the leader of a department whose number one issue right now is the restoration of trust. He should be held to a higher standard. The secretary has apologized, as he certainly should. We hope that he can restore the trust that he has lost. Michael Helm politics
