Roger Boylan

"What makes Boylan’s novel so brilliant is that it’s relatable. It conjures up early 20th century Paris and Vienna with superlative clarity while describing events and characters that are all entirely relevant." --Dante Pettapiece. Read it and see if you agree!

@ankastkats2 Cheers.

@BoylanRoger Morning coffee in Surrey,England.

Morning coffee in Paris.

@kelvinmacgregor Cheers.

@BoylanRoger Nice one, Roger! Thanks for that :)

Portrait of the artist as a young man: Me in Edinburgh, May 1976, on the first morning of finals. More apprehensive than I appear.

@procrastixote He was.

@BoylanRoger Great run, at least! And great beer, must've been an excellent dog.

Duvel, our Belgian Schipperke, named after the Belgian beer. He was a stalwart and loyal little fellow who expired at the great age of 17. Still missed.

@kelvinmacgregor Thanks! The memoir's already written. I'll send you a link. amazon.com/Run-Like-Blaze…

@BoylanRoger I like when you put pictures of you, Roger, like the earlier one of you at the college in Ireland. And the anecdotes about your life. You are a fabulous original with a memoir waiting to be written, my friend! Thanks for sharing :)

@cro29000032 Thanks!

Pope John XXIII and my dad, Rome, 1963. A cardinal stands between them, on the Pope's left.

@MichaelSctMoore In a manner of speaking.

@BoylanRoger I don't know about *last.*

Patrick Leigh Fermor, last of the great adventurers.

@ArmandDAngour To be fair, Kingsley was always rigorous in his morning's work, never having a drink until it was done. Or lunchtime, whichever came first.

@BoylanRoger Having a drink after a morning’s drinking.

Sir Kingsley Amis relaxing after the morning's writing.

@TennisonEddie My pleasure.

@BoylanRoger Did not know his story. Wiki says "a friend of Alan Watts". Thanks for posting!

@jerrythom11 Lucky them.

The back garden of Guardiano, an ancient semi-rustic house in the suburbs of Rome. Home to me and my family for a couple weeks in 2005.

@edwige_mingh Oui, ma charmante vieille maison a fait place à des immeubles de bureaux.

@BoylanRoger Tristes toutes ces démolitions de maisons de caractère pour des immeubles sans âme 😰

The house in suburban Geneva that came after the one in Miami. This was my last visit, 2009, about two weeks before it was demolished to make way for offices. But in my dreams I still live there.

@Impitoyable Oh, I was quite the dude in those days. Not that I would have known the word, back then.

@BoylanRoger That’s an extremely strong look: the jumper, the jacket, the cords, the hair, the stoche. All perfect.

@jerrythom11 No, it means what it says. I was going out with a young lady named Marie.

@BoylanRoger besotted with Mademmoiselle Marie, sounds like a euphemism. What do you mean?

My first residence: 931 Swan Avenue, Miami Springs, Florida. It was my home until I was five, when my dad landed a job in France and my parents carried me off to Paris. I didn't return to the U.S. until I was 23.

@PinkTaxiRunner Yes, I was in Grand-Saconnex as a kid.

@BoylanRoger Bless - this happened to my friend in Sacconex too

@jerrythom11 Occasionally.

@BoylanRoger Oh wow, you got that cold war vibe. Herion capital then, not sure if it still is. You 'heard' of the riots of 68. Did you go see French gangster movies?

@TWeverberghe A pint of plain is your only man.

@BoylanRoger Black pudding + 2 eggs + corned beef + worcestershire sauce + a Guinness and your're a new man.

Rue d'Assas, Paris 6e. In 2006, the family and I rented an apartment there. Good times. I often dispelled the hangovers with strong coffee at this corner bistro.

@jerrythom11 Earlier than that. In the '60s and '70s, although I visited regularly. I was there in May '68, besotted with Mademoiselle Marie, so totally unaware of the racket in the boulevards. At first.

@BoylanRoger We moved when I was young, 7 years old, and I began to reflect back a lot, immediately. We didn't move again so there was a constant disturbance, but there was a constant comparison. You lived in Paris in the 80s or 90s?

@jerrythom11 Sounds about right.

@BoylanRoger That move creates a mirror; there are central memories you keep going back to, next to peripheral memories, a lot of which occur later, remembering what you forgot, making a parabolic shape.

@PempaEfendi Final exams.

@BoylanRoger Apprehensive on the long contemplative strolls in Leith level, or only on the folcloric one?

@VinetAngel50237 Bless you! (The AdorationS). Enjoy!

@BoylanRoger I just got your book, The Adoration.