Opening Riff

Un chalereux salut de Paris and a warm welcome to Continental Riffs. I like to imagine it as a bar on one of those side streets, name you can’t remember, long counter, maybe a little dark, discrete, the place you find when you need it. You’re here. I hope you’ll find Paris, and Europe, challenging and enlivening.

No matter what the event there must be witness.

What exactly is Europe ? A conglomeration of countries ? And France, can you get to know it ? Can Europe be written about in such a way as to interest Americans, who make up the majority of visitors to Substack ? For many in the angloparlante world, there is a second France, a cloud France, that exists alongside the real thing. Is it possible that writing from Europe might make things clearer, more vital ?     

The Wheelhouse

 You can find my articles and fiction on Medium, Counterpunch, The Baffler, as well as other, more obscure corners of the internet. My comic anti-detective novel, Le Plouc de Paris is looking for a home. Drop a line when you stop by.

For anyone interested, I published twelve books of translations from Spanish, wrote for magazines small, medium and large in the U.S. and published my own revues, literary and otherwise;  you can find my articles on Medium, Counterpunch, as well as other, more obscure corners of the internet.

This page features portraits of the city of Paris, individuals and incidents. Humor alongside political updates. The Weekend Dossier appears regularly unless holidays interfere, and you don’t really care about politics then, do you ? We visit artists and galleries regularly to tell you what people are looking at in Paris. Passing Acquaintances, which I run when I get the chance, offers profiles of writers and wrtists of the past. Paid subscription is a steal at 30 a year. You can cancel at any time.

Join the crew

To find out more about the company that provides the tech for this newsletter, visit Substack.com.