Nicolas D. Sampson shares some of his interesting work on Connection Degree Three. But what is Connection Degree Three?

‘George Elliot, J. D. Salinger and Roald Dahl: what’s the connection? How about Joseph Conrad, Virginia Woolf, and Christopher Marlowe?’

Connection Degree Three finds connections between unrelated works of literature, jumping from one to the other until we are back full circle – 1-2-3-1.

Think ‘literary rollercoaster on which three degrees of separation are made.’ You never know how the ride will pan out, but we somehow end right where we started, full of wow! Get ready to see the books in a different light – to check out titles you weren’t sure about or hadn’t thought about ‘in that way.’

The exercise goes beyond literature. Films and TV series are also explored. Common threads/sensibilities/approaches between seemingly non-compatible art are just waiting to be pointed out.

What does Neil Gaiman’s American Gods have to do with HBO’s The Leftovers have to do with AMC’s The Walking Dead?

How about Paul Auster, Don DeLillo, and Apostolos Doxiadis? How about Haruki Murakami, Kobo Abe, and Orhan Pamuk?

Or The Freedom Artist by Ben Okri, Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor, and Chuck Palahniuk’s Lullaby?

Sometimes the titles have obvious theme similarities but the connections are unexpected. Take Lord Of The Flies and Hunger Games: Catching Fire and The Wasp Factory – there’s a fascinating bond between them.

Sometimes music is thrown in the mix: L.A. Woman (The Doors), A Single Man (Christopher Isherwood), The Crying Of Lot 49 (Thomas Pynchon) – what’s the connection?

Art is about connections, not differences, and Connection Degree Three is here to make them.

Select one of the Connection Degree Three pieces from below to explore it further.

JULY 2022 – ON THE FRAGILE DYNAMICS OF IDENTITY AND THE BENEFITS OF JOURNALS

JUNE 2022 – ON THE TRAGEDIES OF CIVILIZATION

MAY 2022 – ON THE POWER OF THE CHILD

APR 2022 – ON THE DANGER OF CRUSHING DUALITIES

MAR 2022 – ON THE DARK DETOURS ALONG THE ROAD TO FREEDOM

FEB 2022 – ON THE POWER OF DISILLUSIONMENT AND THE LONG WAY HOME

JAN 2022 – ON THE TWELVE STEPS TO MIDNIGHT

DEC 2021 – ON THE ROAD TO REVELATION

OCT 2021 – ON THE CRACKS INSIDE WHICH WE SLIP AND FLOW

MAY 2021 – ON THE FLOW OF THE SEASONS

APR 2021 – ON GOING DEEP TO KNOW OURSELVES

MAR 2021 – ON THE FORMS AND FORMULA OF LIFE

FEB 2021 – ON THE SYMBOLISM OF OPENING EPISODES

JAN 2021 – ON OUR STREAMS OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND THEIR DARK TRIBUTARIES

NOV 2020 – ON THE STRUGGLE FOR AUTHORITY AND THE IMPRINT OF AGONY

OCT 2020 – ON MARLOW AND ALL THINGS GOTHIC

SEPT 2020 – ON THE POWER OF DEITIES

JULY 2020 – ON PERSONAL CONVICTION

June 2020 – ON THE REFUSAL TO SERVE

May 2020 – ON THE SPECTER OF LOSS

Apr 2020 – ON THE PSYCHOPATHY OF THE DISAFFECTED

Mar 2020 – ON ONESELF

Feb 2020 – ON MYTHS AND MEANING

Nicolas D. Sampson is a writer-producer based in Cyprus and the UK. His work has appeared in Panorama: The Journal of Intelligent Travel, The Scofield, and The Writers’ Magazine, among others. His short story Flames and Shadows was nominated for a 2018 Pushcart Prize. Film projects include Behind the Mirror (writer/producer – winner of Best Thriller in the Manhattan Film Festival 2015), Vita and Virginia and Show Me The Picture: The Story of Jim Marshall (executive producer). He loves Alfred Hitchcock films. And traveling. And the Cloud. And is currently working on a psychological horror script.