‘Back in the mid-1980s, when my wife, Viki, and I had been living in downtown Orange for 10 years, I decided to build a treehouse out of redwood fence lumber in a Fuerte avocado tree that sat in the corner of our backyard. I was well past 30 at the time, and the tree was probably twice my age and 40 feet high. We had two young sons, John and Danny, and so it might seem that I wanted to build the treehouse for them — and I did — but I also wanted to build it for me. Anything worth doing has a number of solidly good reasons for getting done. And in any event, a treehouse is its own excuse…’

So begins an essay by James P. Blaylock, reflecting on life, family, neighbourhood, and memories. The piece was published in Orange Coast Magazine back in June 2018. You may have seen us Tweet about the article, but we just wanted to take this opportunity to share it again here. It’s a great example of Blaylock’s writing, and we thought it would be of interest to fans of his novels.

James is the author of the Langdon St. Ives series of novels and novellas, published by Titan Books and Subterranean Press.

Blaylock is also the author of a number of other novels, available as eBooks via the JABberwocky eBook Program, some of which were also published by Subterranean Press.