A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

  This morning brought a small but welcome surprise: a modest uptick in my Kindle Direct Publishing royalties. Someone picked up a paperback copy of Save Me the Aisle Seat , my first self-published book—a collection of movie reviews originally written for the now-closed site Epinions. I’ve always had mixed feelings about that book. Of the four titles I’ve published, it’s the one I’m least fond of—not just because I rushed it out in 2012 so my mom could see it while she was still with us, but also because I believe it doesn’t measure up to my fiction work: Reunion: A Story , Reunion: Coda , and Comings and Goings – The Art of Being Seen . Many of the reviews weren’t edited as carefully as they should have been, and I gave away more plot points than I intended. Still, the introduction—written specifically for the book—feels true and heartfelt. That part came from a place of love. Sometimes I consider retiring Save Me the Aisle Seat , but I probably won’t. Despite its flaws, readers s...

  ©2002 Del Rey Books The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Five Novels in One Outrageous Volume  By: Douglas Adams Publisher: Del Rey Publication Date (Reissue): April 30, 2002 Genre: Humor, Space Opera, Science Fiction   🪐 Do You Know Where Your Towel Is? If you do, congratulations—you’re already ahead of 99.9% of Earth’s population when it comes to surviving spontaneous planetary demolition. According to the gloriously illogical logic of Douglas Adams’ five-volume “trilogy,” knowing the whereabouts of your towel is the first step toward interstellar competence. It means you’re ready to hitch a ride off Earth one fateful Thursday afternoon, just before the Vogons arrive to pulverize the planet in favor of a hyperspace bypass. It helps—immensely—if your best mate turns out to be from Betelgeuse rather than an out-of-work actor from Guildford. It helps even more if his name is Ford Prefect and he moonlights as a field researcher for the most wildly unreliable ...

© 2025 Alex Diaz-Granados  Introduction to "Comings and Goings – The Art of Being Seen" An Invitation to the Threshold In the hush before the noise, in the moments when solitude threads itself through the fabric of a crowded room, there is a peculiar clarity—a quiet awareness of one’s place among the swirling energies of others. Comings and Goings – The Art of Being Seen begins at just such a threshold; it is a story that drifts between the spaces of belonging and isolation, where the act of observation becomes its own form of participation. This excerpt introduces a narrator more attuned to the subtle rhythms of connection than the cacophony of spectacle, a character for whom the art of being seen is as much about gentle presence as it is about silent withdrawal. Here, memory unfurls in time with music and laughter, coloring the present with the pastel shades of a spring evening in 1984. The scene—alive with the vivid details of denim, perfume, and restless conversati...

  Not a Romance Novel: Why Emotional Truth Matters More Than Genre Readers often ask: Is Reunion: Coda a romance? The answer is more nuanced than a shelf label. Yes, there is love—aching, tentative, redemptive. But this isn’t a story built on tropes or tidy resolutions. It’s a novel with romance, not a romance novel. The difference is emotional gravity. Jim Garraty’s journey isn’t about finding “the one.” It’s about living with memory, navigating regret, and learning how to love without losing himself. Romance in the Garratyverse is never spectacle—it’s sanctuary. It’s the quiet miracle of being seen, of being accepted, of being allowed to feel without apology. In Reunion: Coda , love is complicated by life. By traffic. By missed calls. By the weight of history. And that’s what makes it real. This is a story for readers who crave emotional fluency over formula. Who find resonance in quiet moments, in letters never sent, in friendships that hold space when romance f...

  “The Ones Who Stay” They clap the loudest when the room is full, Their laughter timed to match the crowd. They speak in echoes, not in truth— A friendship built on being seen, not known. They tag your name in borrowed light, A gesture made for watching eyes. But when the silence stretches long, Their presence fades, rehearsed and thin. Then there are the ones who stay. No spotlight, no applause required. They know your rituals—how you stir your tea, The way you pause before you speak. They don’t perform your pain, they hold it. Not to fix, but to witness. They show up in the quiet hours, When grief is not poetic, just heavy. They remember the stories you forgot, The jacket tossed backstage, the missed cue. They lift you—not for spectacle, But because you asked, or didn’t have to. So let the crowd disperse. Let the stage go dark. The ones who stay will still be there— Unscripted, unshaken, real.  

A depiction of what Kelly Moore might look like. © 2025 Alex Diaz-Granados  I didn’t set out to write Leigh E. into Comings and Goings . Truthfully, I didn’t realize I had—until yesterday. Kelly Moore, as she lives on the page, was always her own person: emotionally fluent, quietly confident, and possessed of that rare wit that doesn’t clamor for attention—it simply belongs. But as I revisited a particular scene, something shifted. A flicker of recognition. The cadence of her voice, the way she occupies space without needing to claim it… these weren’t conjured. They were remembered. Leigh and I have been friends for over two decades. Southern, adventurous, whip-smart, and beautiful in that unassuming way that makes you feel lucky just to know her—she’s been a quiet constant in my life. I sent her a message, a little sheepish, with an excerpt from the book. She read it and replied, “LOL, yep, that’s me!” And just like that, fiction folded back into life. A few minutes later, she se...

  🧭 How to Read the Garratyverse: A Guide for New and Returning Readers There’s no single way to enter the Garratyverse. Like memory itself, the stories unfold in layers—sometimes linear, sometimes recursive, always emotionally true. Whether you’re new to the universe or returning to trace its quiet echoes, here are three pathways to explore the work. 📚 1. Publication Order Reunion: A Story → Reunion: Coda → Comings and Goings – The Art of Being Seen This path honors the evolution of the Garratyverse as it came into the world. You’ll witness the deepening of themes—love, regret, emotional sanctuary—and the growing fluency of its characters as they navigate the long arc of connection. Start here if you want to experience the universe as it was written—layer by layer, revelation by revelation. 🕰️ 2. In-Universe Chronological Order Reunion: A Story → Comings and Goings – The Art of Being Seen → Reunion: Coda This order follows the emotional timeline of the ...