Author's note and book description: Dusk at Pimlico: Short Stories on everything from Love, to the Self, Childhood, Culture and London is a collection of non-fiction short stories. The book of seventeen short stories was written from September 2017 to March 17, 2018 during a re-entry to Britain. A planned journey, but with high risk as there was no accommodation or employment secured. The risk becomes a free-fall when I lose the support of my family coming to the UK. Now adrift, three subject areas of the book: love, the self, and culture were written in hotels in Edinburgh, with the exception of the Battle of Gandamak which I wrote in a Naplaese restaurant. These stories are self-reflective and resonate with themes of the love for my wife, being apart from and fear of losing my son, struggles of daily life, and the nuance of culture experienced in Edinburgh. There is then a turn in the stories. As by a stroke of luck while in Edinburgh, while looking on a short term let website, I found a studio for rent in a purpose built high-rise in Pimlico-- an affluent neighborhood in central London. I liked the flat because of its picturesque and scenic type view. I then return to London and after just one viewing, take the flat on the spot. The apartment building (called The Panoramic) overlooks the Thames River in London and is near Vauxhall Bridge (made famous by it being in the James Bond film Skyfall). The building is inhabited with residents whom are professionals, politicians, and jet setters in London.However, I find emotional comfort in the staff of the building and develop friendships with them. I also emotionally reconnect with London and English culture. The remaining collections of stories are about childhood and London. Subconsciously written with an inner emotional conflict of lost adolescence as I left London twenty five years ago, there is a story about the love for my grandparents, a story Order, Discipline and Englishness. Although the writing is personal and for all adult audiences, there is some academic writing from thinkers such as Jeremy Bentham and his ideas of the Panopticon. Bentham manifested this idea for use in prisons, where everybody is observed at all times. I make use of his theory and apply it to social class and order, which has deep historical roots in Brittan.The writings also are about broader social themes of London as I write about what I witnessed in everyday life: Londoners struggling with mental illness, crime, and social and economic inequality. There is a tone of anonymity in many of the stories as they were first written as a type of diary, with no calculated intention of publication.
About the Author: Julian Jan was born in Huddersfield England. His family moved to the United States when he was six years old. He is a graduate of Grosse Pointe South High school in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan. A life long Londoner at heart, he first came to London as an unaccompanied minor at age 13. He has two degrees from London universities: A masters in 20th century historical studies fromThe University of Westminster and a Certificate in Education from The University of London. He also earned a Bachelor degree in History from Oakland University in Michigan and has an MBA in Global Management from The University of Phoenix. His first publication Just Keep going Man was the number one travel book in Glasgow. He divides his time between London and Doha, Qatar.