For the Weekend 6

Fifty-Seven Years and Fifty-Seven More

From the guy who blew the whistle on the Watercolor-Industrial Complex, and exposed the monsters roaming Canada and the Caribbean, comes Fifty-Seven Years and Fifty-Seven More.

Yes, Richard Schwindt tells us about his travels through time past and time future. For Fifty-Seven Years and Fifty-Seven More is a memoir like no other.

After all, who but Schwindt was given the chance twice to live 57 years, starting at age 20, as a millionaire. And knowing all about his 60-something life, would he be able to do life better starting out as a 20 year old? No spoilers from me. You’ll have to read the book and see for yourself if he was successful or not.

Fifty-Seven Years and Fifty-Seven More will make you laugh, and make you cry. But most of all, the book will make you think about life — your life — and how you can live it better. And that’s very much worth the cost of admission.

But then all of Richard Schwindt’s books are worth the money and the time to read them. His fiction is top drawer entertainment, and his self-help non-fiction is drawn from his many years of experience as a social worker and therapist.

Fifty-Seven Years and Fifty-Seven More is another great addition to his oeuvre. So don’t wait. Spend a few bucks. The price is less than a Starbuck’s. 

You won’t regret it! Pick it up at Amazon!

The Ebook

The Evolution of the Ebook

I have something of a love-hate relationship with ebooks. And while I do think they are the future, I’m not sure I like that. At the very least, I feel a bit of remorse at the passing of paper books.

After all, the present form (the codex) of the paper book has been with us for approximately 1900 years. The codex replaced the scroll by the fourth century AD and was in use as early as the first century AD.

Now, I don’t think the paper book will disappear as did the scroll. I think paper books will survive. Although, I believe they will become rarer and rarer. Eventually, as bookstores disappear, and the older generations that grew up with paper books disappear, the ebook will become the standard form of the book.

We have moved from clay tablets to scrolls, to codices, to tablets once again. And the e-ink tablet is here to stay.

Although the majority of my reading is done on my laptop and iPad, I still love the feel and touch and smell of a book made from paper. I grew up with paper books. So I suppose my love for them is at least somewhat driven by nostalgia.

The Ebook — We Hates It!

What is it that I don’t like about ebooks? Here are some random thoughts, in no particular order:

• I don’t own my ebooks. I simply have a license to use them. And that really bugs me. Because it’s always possible that at some point I just might have a book I love disappear.

• I can’t resell my ebooks because I don’t own them. Which means if I “buy” a dud, I’m stuck with it. I’ve lost the money and have no chance to re-coup even a portion. At one point, Amazon was working on a re-sale agreement. But used ebooks are stuck in legal limbo. For now, the publisher owns the book and just lets you have the use of it. Too bad for you.

• There is no tactile pleasure associated with ebooks. They are cold and sterile.

• They are far more fragile than paper books. Because they are digital data, they’re open to corruption. They can also become unreadable when technology changes. Just like all the ancient writings that were lost that didn’t get copied from scrolls to codices.

• If my ereader dies, I can’t read or even access my books. Until I get my ereader fixed or get a new one.

The Ebook — We Loves It!

What do I love about ebooks? Here are a few random thoughts:

• They are so easy to store! I have hundreds of books on my iPad. If they were paper books I’d need another room in my house to shelve them, or even just to keep them in boxes.

• I never break a spine or have pages fall out of an ebook.

• I can adjust the text size. As I get older that is a very important feature. I can also adjust the font to find one that’s easier for me to read.

• It’s easy to search for a word or line in an ebook. Highlighting, or removing highlighting is easy. And you can’t remove highlighting in a paper book. Writing notes in the books is also easy, and I can even write lengthy notes that won’t obscure the text.

• I tend to read a book faster, because I find it easier to scan the boring parts.

• It’s also easier for me to carry my iPad than it is a book — especially a big book. And my phone is even easier to carry than a mass market paperback (which publishers are replacing with ebooks).

The Bottom Line

The proof is in the pudding (or, for the purists, the proof of the pudding is in the eating), as they say.

While I don’t know how many hundreds of books (probably thousands all told) I have in paper — I read more ebooks than paper books. It’s just easier for me to hold my iPad than it is a physical book. And it’s often easier for me to see the text on my iPad than it is the text in a physical book.

I used to be able to read tiny print. Not anymore.

Ebooks will probably enable me to read at a much older age then if all I had were paper books. And since reading is my favorite form of entertainment, I love ebooks. I do hate them as well. But maybe, just maybe, I love them more than I hate them. Then, again, maybe it depends on what day you ask me.

Comments are always welcome! An until next time, happy reading!

For the Weekend 5

Bless Me Father For I Have Sinned by Kelly Marshall

A mystery for your weekend reading. A mystery which is a mash-up of police procedural and romantic suspense.

Out in Seattle, homicide detectives Nick Winston and Pat Strom solve murders. This particular case sees the very popular priest, Father Michael Dunne, brutally murdered.

Winston and Strom search for the killer in the main storyline, while Kathleen, a friend of the priest, tells us another part of the story. The two storylines come together in a dramatic conclusion.

Mysteries are difficult to summarize without giving away the story. So I’ll simply say, if you like books with a lot of action, police procedurals with a hefty dollop of romantic suspense, and stories with a dash of humor, then Bless Me Father For I Have Sinned is your cup of tea.

Marshall’s writing is accomplished and above average. Her style is uncomplicated and straightforward, which makes for easy reading.

So kick back and enjoy a mystery this weekend!

You can buy Bless Me Father For I Have Sinned on Amazon. Happy reading! 

Who’s Telling Your Story?

 

We writers get all wrapped up in point of view, but often forget the more important part of narration: the narrator himself.

The Narrator

Literature is the written form of storytelling, and as such needs a storyteller — or in literary speak, a narrator.

Who is the person who is telling the reader your story? Point of view is only part of the picture.

It seems to me, writers mostly unconsciously decide who the narrator is while focusing on point of view and voice.

Instead the writer should first ask himself, or herself, the question: who is telling this story? The answer to that question will help to decide voice and point of view.

The Rocheport Saga

In my post-apocalyptic series, The Rocheport Saga, the narrator is one of the characters in the story: Bill Arthur. He records in his diary what he thinks is important for us, the reader, to know. 

At the outset of writing this series, I made the decision that this would be the story of a man and that he would tell his story himself. Right from the beginning I made the decision as to who the narrator was for my series. After that, I decided on point of view and voice.

The Justinia Wright Mysteries

The Justinia Wright Mysteries are also told by one of the characters: Harry Wright.

Much like John Watson and Archie Goodwin, Harry tells us the story from what he sees, hears, and discovers.

However, he can’t tell us what his sister Tina (Justinia) doesn’t tell him.

Which is a handy way mystery writers can muddle the clues for the reader and make the guessing game a bit more difficult. Because of this, I decided from the outset that the narrator of these mysteries would be the detective’s Watson.

Internal Narrator and the Author

In both of the above series, the narrator tells the story in the first person. They are telling us, the reader, the story directly.

However, that doesn’t of necessity mean the author and the narrator are the same person.

In The Rocheport Saga, Bill Arthur is largely my alter ego. However, in the Justinia Wright Mysteries, I, the author, am not Harry Wright. Who I am is sometimes seen in Harry, and sometimes in Tina.

The External Narrator

When I set about writing the Pierce Mostyn series, I decided the narrator would be more or less outside the narrative, yet tell the story largely from Mostyn’s perspective.

By making the narrator external to the narrative, I feel it imparts some distance between the reader and the story — and hopefully that distance suffuses an element of the mysterious to the tales.

Most writers, it seems, pick an anonymous narrator — whether by design or by default. Others, like Melville, in Moby Dick, tell you upfront who the narrator is. Ishmael is an internal narrator, who is present in the story, but whose  real function is to tell us about Captain Ahab and his obsession. In doing so, Melville made the choice between an unreliable narrator, Ahab, vis-a-vis the much more reliable observer, Ishmael.

Summary

By first deciding who is narrating this story and then deciding the point of view, you, the writer, exercise greater control over your narrative and can thereby, hopefully, tell a better story.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading — and writing!

For the Weekend 4

 

A delightfully zany slice of life!

Evelyn & Company by Chad (CM) Muller is a comic novel that will tickle your funny bone and have you holding your sides with laughter.

Muller’s humor is at times very sophisticated and erudite, and at other times it is laugh out loud hilarious. There are puns, slapstick episodes, and black comedy as well. And that is one of the charms of this book: the range of humor with which he is able to tell the story.

He calls the book a revenge comedy, and I can go along with that description. I also see it as social satire, at times bitingly so, in the tradition of Voltaire’s Candide.

The storyline is simple, and in truth the book could be called a plotless novel, or a slice of life. Evelyn Portobello, feeling she’s been cheated by the purveyor of a weight loss miracle drink — seen on TV — decides to get revenge. And from there the laughs just keep on coming.

Does Evelyn get her revenge? You will have to read Mr. Muller’s marvelous book to find out. And I certainly encourage you to do so.

It’s not a long book, but you might want to give your funny bone a rest and take the entire weekend to read Evelyn & Company.

Pick up a copy at Amazon. You won’t regret it.

Snippet Time

 

It’s been a while since I’ve offered a snippet of one of my works in progress.

At present, I’m writing two Justinia Wright mysteries, and editing a third.

Today’s snippet is from the Justinia Wright novella I’m working on. (Please note: this is the initial draft prior to any editing.) Enjoy!

***

We were in the office digesting our lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches, and cream of kale and butternut squash soup,  when the doorbell rang.

On the doorstep, was a tall, heavy-set fellow. He wore a dark brown suit. His shirt was white, and his tie was intricately patterned with irregularly shaped orange-red dots.

I opened the door and asked what he wanted.

“I’d like to see Justinia Wright. My name is Helmar Johanson. I’m on the orchestra’s board of directors, and I understand Ms Wright is investigating the death of Juliette Boudreau.”

“Wait right there. I’ll see if Miss Wright is available.” 

Back to the office. I poked my head inside the doorway. “Helmar Johanson from the orchestra’s board is here to see you. Shall I let him in?”

Tina looked at her cigar, turned her gaze in my direction, and with a frown on her face, said, “Yes.”

Back out to the front door. I let in our guest, took a look at the curb, and had to pick my jaw up off the floor. At the curb was a white sports car.

As I took Johanson’s jacket, I asked as calmly as I could, “Is that car out front, yours?”

“The Porsche?”

I nodded, and hung his jacket on a peg. 

“Yes, it’s mine. Why do you ask?” 

“Just curious. Do you like it? Does it handle well?” 

“Of course. It’s a Porsche.”

I nodded, led him into the office, made introductions, and indicated he should sit in the oversized oxblood wingback. The chair was certainly not oversized for him.

“What may I do for you, Mr Johanson?” Tina asked.

“I’m on the chamber orchestra board, and I contribute significantly towards the operating expenses.”

Tina shrugged. “Okay, I’m impressed.”

A look of surprise swept across his face and disappeared. “I want to know what you are doing to find Miss Boudreau’s killer. Are you, in fact, doing anything?”

“Is there a reason I should tell you?” 

This time incredulity swept across his face, lingering a moment before disappearing. Apparently, Mr Johanson wasn’t used to people talking to him that way.

“I just told you I’m on the board. I have a right to know.” 

“Is this right written down somewhere?” 

“What do you mean? Of course it’s not written down.”

“Then what makes you think you have the right to know?”

“What? Of course I do.” 

“Of course you don’t. We have no contractual obligation to each other. Therefore, you have no right to demand anything of me. Natural rights do not infringe on another person’s freedom. In other words, they are not coercive. Free speech takes nothing away from anyone. It is not coercive.” 

“What the hell are you going on about?” 

“Just this, Mr Johanson: you have no right to demand that I give you information about my client and his case. In other words, you have no right to know anything. You may earn the privilege of my willingness to share. Or you may simply ask me to share. But you have no right to know anything about my investigation.”

“I help fund the orchestra. I’m on the board.”

“So?” 

“I’m entitled to know what’s going on.”

“Who says so? I don’t. You have no right, legal or moral, to the information that I have about my client. I may choose to share it with you. And for me to consider doing so, you must ask. Demanding will get you nowhere. However, you must realize that I have a duty to protect my client’s interests — and that may mean I tell you nothing.”

Now, my sister has resorted to a lot of tricks to get people to leave her office, but when she opened the humidor and took out a cigar that was a first.

“Are you going to smoke that thing?”

“That is what one generally does with a cigar. Personally, I don’t like chewing on them.” 

“I have a lung condition.”

“No one is forcing you to stay.” 

“Well, I’ll be…” He looked at me, I suppose expecting I come to its aid, both of us being men and all. I just shrugged.

He stood, opened his mouth, no words came out, so we closed it. He turned around and left. I followed to make sure he didn’t forget his jacket and that the door got closed, which it did after I watched his white sports car drive off.

For the Weekend 3

One of my all time favorite authors is Robert E Howard. I think the general quality of Howard’s writing is superior to that of HP Lovecraft’s. At the very best I think they are about equal. It all depends on which style you prefer. At their worst, I think I would take Howard story over Lovecraft.

And of all the characters Howard created, my favorite is Solomon Kane. IMO, he is more intelligent than Conan, and the atmosphere of the stories is far more dark and spooky.

Why there hasn’t been a movie series or a television series based on Kane is beyond me. The original stories themselves would make for rousing dark fantasy action/adventure with a splash of horror video viewing, and would be a great base for other writers to build on.

There was a movie some years ago entitled Solomon Kane, but it was at best mediocre. I can understand why whoever produced the movie was reluctant to continue the saga. However a better writer would’ve done the movie justice. Hopefully some producer will get the idea to reboot the series and actually base it on Howard, at least to begin with, and then they might see some bang for their buck.

A marvelous one volume edition of all of the Solomon Kane stories was published by Del Rey some years ago, and is still in print.

You can get The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane in e-book from Amazon or Apple, or in paperback, or as an audiobook. The cost of the e-book is $13.99. I refused to pay that money to the German conglomerate that owns Del Rey, and bought a used paperback instead. But you might not have my hangups.

If you like action/adventure stories, or dark fantasy, or horror, then you will like Solomon Kane — and I encourage you to pick up a copy of The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane. A great way to spend your weekend!

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

To Write Is The Thing

This past weekend, I got a big shock, a sad shock: one of my favorite indie writers, Ben Willoughby, is hanging up his pen. He’s taking down his Twitter profile and pulling his books off of Amazon. I encourage you to get his books while you can — you won’t be sorry. He’s a doggone good writer.

By Ben’s  Books!

For nearly 5 years, I’ve been an independent author/publisher. And I’ve had a blast. I’ve loved every day of the adventure.

However, along the way, I’ve seen writers drop out for sometimes unknown reasons. None of those writers were bestsellers, and perhaps the lack of financial reward convinced them that they had better things to do with their time. And that is a decision only they can make.

In the end, the writer himself or herself has to decide if telling stories is worth the effort or not.

In the case of Mr Willoughby, I’m very sad that there will be no more new books from him. But I have to respect his decision that his time can be spent better in other pursuits. After all it is his time and not mine.

But it is just a tad frustrating for me as a reader, when a good writer, such as Mr Willoughby, quits writing, leaving the field to writers who are much inferior. Writers who are often on the bestseller list. Which completely baffles me, by the way. How does a mediocre at best writer get people to buy his or her books by the truckload? In a world full of unfair things, that is perhaps one of the most unfair. Mr Willoughby should be on the bestseller list, and it is very sad that he is not.

For me, though, writing is the thing. I cannot imagine any other life. And at my age I have lived a life or two. I hope to heaven, I die with a pencil in my hand putting words on paper. And that after I crossover, I pick up that pencil and continue writing.

As I’ve noted before, I don’t make much money at this. Last month was the best month I’ve had in a year. I made 30 bucks and change. And there are better writers than I, who don’t even make that much. Which is a very sad commentary on those of us who are readers.

In some ways, I see myself like the old prospector in the movies panning for gold and hoping to strike it rich. If I don’t keep at it, I definitely won’t get rich.

On the other hand, is such a pittance worth all the effort? I can only answer for myself, and that answer is yes.

From 2001 to about 2013, I actively published my poetry. And I did it the traditional way, submitting to print and online magazines. I was fortunate enough to achieve a bit of renown, and to pick up an award or two, and even pick up a couple bucks.

The truth is there is no money in writing poetry. Yes, there is the exceedingly rare individual who for a short period of time is popular enough to make some money. But that popularity doesn’t last and the person fades away.

Writing poetry is truly a labor of love. You have to find satisfaction in something other than money. And for over 10 years I did. But then I felt I needed a bigger canvas on which to work, and as I was nearing retirement I wanted to live my dream of writing fiction full-time. And I am living my dream. I write full-time. I just don’t make a full-time income.

Once I realized that in order to make money at this writing gig I needed to have money, money for websites, money for bookcovers, money for various services, money for advertising, I realized that unless somebody took me under his or her wing and promoted the heck out of my work I was not ever going to get on the bestseller list. Because I just don’t have money to risk on the business end of self-publishing. I’m retired and on a fixed income.

Reality sucks, but realizing what reality is has helped me to adjust my attitude from fantasy to something more realistic. 

And I am content, at least for now, at where I am at. I don’t have money to pour into advertising, I don’t have the money to get fancy-schmansy bookcovers like the bestselling guys have, I don’t have money to pay other people to do all the stuff that I don’t want to do just so I can spend all of my time writing. I am a one man band and I have to live with that reality.

And I am okay with it.

But if other writers do not want to put up with the crap and decide that they have other things they would rather do then spend hours producing work that virtually no one buys — I cannot blame them for leaving writing behind. After all who wants to do a thankless job forever, especially if you have other things on your bucket list that you want to do?

I am just sorry to see the good ones go, because that leaves me just a little bit poorer.

I wish Mr Willoughby well. I am thankful that I got to know him, that I have his books on my Kindle app, and that I can reread them at my leisure.

Now you can do him a favor by buying his books and giving him a nice goodbye present. You won’t be sorry. He’ll be gone and you will still have his wonderful books.

By Ben’s  Books!

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!