The Babbington Press

25/07/2025

“Chance, my friend and master, will surely deign to send again, to help me, the familiar devils of his unruly kingdom!” Renée Néré, in Colette’s “La Vagabonde,” quoted in the Topical Guide to the Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy. Free on Substack.

Mark Dorset: Chance and Miracles

24/07/2025

“Once I owned a clam boat, a handsome boat, but it was sinking.” Peter Leroy, in Episode 1017 of his Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations. Free on Substack.

Leaving Small’s Hotel, Chapter 45 concludes: “LOU,” I said to Lou, at the bar, where he was pouring free drinks for everyone, “I want to tell you a story.” “Isn’t that what you’ve been doing?” he asked. “All my life,” I said, “but this is a story with a message.” . . .

22/07/2025

“She led me through the living room and up the stairs. When we reached her bedroom, . . .” Peter Leroy, in Episode 1016 of his Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations. Free on Substack.

Leaving Small’s Hotel, Chapter 45 continues: ALBERTINE sat on a stool at the bar for my reading of episode forty-five of Dead Air, “Project Number 102: Electronic Eavesdropper.” She was drinking champagne and beaming, glowing with the relief that had come with the news that in a few days she w...

21/07/2025

Here’s a two-minute introduction to “Who’s Watching?” Episode 5 of “Well, What Now?” The full episode is available (free) on Substack, as are all the earlier episodes.
https://peterleroy.substack.com/p/well-what-now-908

19/07/2025

“Most people just want somebody to pay attention to them — just like me, and just like you, when you get right down to it.” Lou, in Episode 1015 of Peter Leroy’s Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations. Free on Substack.

Leaving Small’s Hotel, Chapter 45 continues: We sat there for a while in silence. I was trying to think of the right words with which to begin to broach the subject of his buying the hotel as a way out of the world he had come to hate, as a cave in which to hide from it. . . .

18/07/2025

“Thundering winds pummeled the hotel all night, drafts blowing through the windows and under the doors.” Peter Leroy, in Episode 1014 of his Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations. Free on Substack. https://peterleroy.substack.com/p/1014-thundering-winds

17/07/2025

“Baldy the Dummy was miserable throughout his program that night.” Peter Leroy, in Episode 1013 of his Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations. Free on Substack. https://peterleroy.substack.com/p/1013-baldy-the-dummy

16/07/2025

“There’s something artificial about it. The hand of nature is not as sure as this, not this steady.” Peter Leroy, in Episode 1012 of his Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations. Free on Substack. https://peterleroy.substack.com/p/1012-the-reading

15/07/2025

“Beyond this lovely little island lies the land of s**t triumphant,” Jane, of the couple dick and Jane, in Episode 1011 of the Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy. Free on Substack.

Leaving Small’s Hotel, Chapter 44 begins: DICK AND JANE returned, as they had said they would, and Albertine gave them their old room, as she had said she would, but it wasn’t the same as it had been when they left it, because during their absence Alice had redecorated it . . .

12/07/2025

“I would like to say a little something about getting caught up in one’s own work, something I sometimes call the art of self-deception.” Peter Leroy in Episode 1010 of his Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations. Free on Substack.

Leaving Small’s Hotel, Chapter 43 concludes: WHEN I FINISHED, I said, “I would like to say a little something about getting caught up in one’s own work, something I sometimes call the art of self-deception.

11/07/2025

“The digging was finished. What we had at that point, it occurs to me now, was a form without content.” Peter Leroy in Episode 1009 of his Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations. Free on Substack.

Leaving Small’s Hotel, Chapter 43 continues: MY AUDIENCE for “Refinements and Improvements,” episode forty-three of Dead Air, consisted of the remaining inmates — Lou, Elaine, Clark and Alice, Artie and Nancy, Louise and Miranda, Tony T and Cutie, Loretta, Theodore and Carolina, Mark, Margot...

10/07/2025

In Episode 1008 of The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy, Manuel Pedrera says, “I took out that stuff about the dignity of small lives and went back to some of those hideous urges I had and now it’s got a kind of edge to it.”� Free on Substack.

Leaving Small’s Hotel, Chapter 43 begins: ONE STEP FORWARD, one step back. With two clients for Memoirs While You Wait, I spent hours planning how to deal with the crush of new clients that was clearly on its way, or would be on its way just as soon as Manuel and Porky did their word-of-mouth work...