Dear Mysterious Listener,

more splendid photography by Crookedletter



The week of the 14th marks the anniversary of this curious journal, and not coincidentally, my own. We are both one year old. Ah, the places we’ve been, the things we’ve done and those sounds, those terrifying sounds!

The purpose of The Encouraging Voice is to amuse and delight you, possibly in ways that you do not wish to be amused and delighted, but find amusing and delightful in the end, after a curious and sometimes trying life that defied most of your expectations. If you are so minded, please email me or leave a comment: The Encouraging Voice works hard and wishes to be one of your top vacation destinations on the web. If you need more towels, better excuses, or simply someone to throw bed sheets over your head please let us know. We are especially keen to know what your favorite pieces are, if some items are too long or too short, too obscure or not obscure enough. We would also be keen to a contest as to a typology of how many kinds of story appear in The Encouraging Voice.

As always, we are happy and truly honored to have you here. It is kind of you, you, who are so beautiful, to visit us, an invalid and shut in, disfigured and alone, in our humble sitting room of endless turns with no center. Crete welcomes you, Athenian, and makes a gift of its paradoxes.



NEXT: INNOCENTS ABROAD