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Thursday, July 7, 2016

SIGN OF THE GREEN DRAGON at Meilori's!

The ghost of Mark Twain rose from his table at the haunted jazz club, Meilori's,  and drew back the chair for C. Lee McKenzie with a flourish.



Lee sat down gracefully and frowned, "Where is Roland?"

"Oh, the boy is a gad-about.  He is somewhere.  I thought I would conduct the interview, don't you know?"

Lee cocked her head.  "Do you hear that?  It sounds as if there were a struggle close-by."

Mark Twain shook his head.  "Nope.  Didn't hear a thing."



Lee said, "I am so grateful for you and Roland doing this interview for me.  SIGN OF THE GREEN DRAGON comes out August 3rd."

The ghost of Mark Twain nodded.  "I like the way you write, Madam.  You get right to the point and say it as it is.  

Folks who write using foreign and flowery words are impudent and supercilious.  It's as if they say: 

"Translate for yourself, sluggard.  I am not writing for the ignorant masses."

Lee said, "I am writing for teenagers, Mr. Twain."

Mark laughed, "In mass those critters are more ignorant than most I would say!"

"Mark!"

Mark feigned uncomprehending innocence.  "Just what is this here of book of yours about anyway?"

"A crumbling map from 1859, found clutched in the bony grip of the long dead, sends three young boys on a dangerous adventure 

where an unsolved murder, a modern crime, some lost ancestors and ancient Chinese dragons reveal the true meaning of treasure."
  
Mark turned pale even for a ghost.  "This occurs in San Francisco?"

"Yes, Mr. Twain.  Why do you ask?"

"I fell in love in old San Francisco as a young lad in 1851.  She was a Chinese gal, the prettiest thing I ever laid eyes on. There were dragons in that adventure, too."

Though a ghost, his eyes filled with tears.  "It did not end well.  When two innocent hearts love, there can be no happy end to it."

Lee placed a gentle hand upon his ghostly one.  "I am so sorry.  What happened?"

Mark Twain cleared his throat.  "The story will be at the end of THE NOT-SO-INNOCENTS AT LARGE.  But only if Roland finishes it."

He sniffed and forced a smile.  "Now enough about me. What do you think of me?"

Lee slapped his arm, and Mark smiled for real.  "I meant -- what about you, Ma'am?  What's your story?"

"I love to write for young readers. Sign of the Green Dragon is my third Middle Grade novel. Alligators Overhead and the sequel, The Great Time Lock Disaster were my first two.

 I’m proud to be a hybrid author with three Indie books out along with four traditionally published young adult novels: 

Sliding on the Edge, The Princess of Las Pulgas, Double Negative and Sudden Secrets. It’s fun to know both sides of this writing business."

Mark Twain made a face.  "Writing for me was like passing kidney stones.  I had to do it but it t'weren't no fun!"

Suddenly, there was a shuffling under the table which rocked as Roland emerged, slipping off the ropes which had held him.

"Eek!" went Lee.  She turned to Mark.  "How could you do that to Roland?"

The ghost of Mark Twain shrugged, "When a ghost asks a fella not to write about his first love, he ought to pay the ghost some attention."

Roland grumbled, "We'll talk about this later, Mark."

He turned to Lee.  "Where can people get your book once it is published."

Lee wrote the links down for Roland.



Lee took a long drink from her ice tea, found it was whisky and soda, coughed, and hurriedly left Meilori's.

The ghost of Mark Twain smiled broadly, "Another satisfied customer!" 

"No," sighed Roland. "Another fine myth you've gotten me into!"

 

29 comments:

  1. What a clever way to let Lee tell us about her newest novel! Leave it to Twain and Roland to be entertaining.

    Lee, I'm impressed with your publishing and writing accomplishments. May Sign of the Green Dragon be a big sales success!

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    1. Lee is certainly a powerhouse in publishing. :-) I'm the caboose at the end of the train! Yes, Mark has the way about him -- the wrong way!

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    2. Without Mr. Twain and Mr. Yeomans I'd not be noticed in this bookish world. And how splendid to be in such company. Thank you so much for your good wishes, Helena.

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  2. I had a feeling he'd tied Roland up and stashed him somewhere. Funny interview, guys!

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    1. Funny unless you were tied up under the table! :-) Leave it to Mark to make any interview memorable!!

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    2. All credit for the interview goes to Mr. Yeomans and the remarkable and resilient ghost of Mr. Twain.

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  3. Sorry, Roland, but I'm sure Lee enjoyed being interviewed by Mark Twain much more than you. Nothing against you, of course. Just, you know, Mark Twain!

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    1. Sure, I understand. :-) It's hard to compete with Mark Twain!

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    2. Mr. Twain always had an eye for the ladies, but he never danced about the subject. Straight from the shoulder, he was.

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  4. Mark Twain gave quite an interview. always enjoyable to hear him.

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    1. I enjoy listening to Mark Twain almost as much as he enjoys listening to himself! :-)

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    2. He not only listened to himself with great regularity and alacrity, he wrote the same way. There are a lot of news accounts in his journalism days that were intended to be more entertaining than factual. And these "creative" items filled in on slow news days. Ah, the thin line between fact and fiction is always fascinating in print.

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    3. Yes, I have listened to some of his newspaper accounts on audio. Making up a bit about a stagecoach robbery that never happened outside of his own imagination got him into quite a bit of trouble in Silver City. He must have been quite a live wire to have as a companion!

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    4. And he got away with a lot of it! He must have been quite a character to know in real life. Now I get to know him through your experience, too. Double bonus.

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  5. Mark Twain's Ghost doesn't mess around.

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    1. Not when he wants to get his way! Sort of like Faith that way, right?

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    2. He's a ghost of passionate purpose to be sure. But what is this about his first love and Roland's exposé? Mr. Twain has piqued my curiosity. Hasn't he yours? Roland? Speak up!

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    3. At the end of The Not-So-Innocents At Large, I will add as Lagniappe a short story detailing Twain's first love and how it involves the azure dragon, Qing Long, who followed McCord from China and eventually resulted in the San Francisco earthquake!

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    4. So it was Qing Long what did it! Can't wait to find out all about his shenanigans.

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  6. Three of my fave authors in one interview! I needed the smiles-- Thankyou for this, Ronald and Lee!
    Damyanti

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    1. Like Twain, writing for me is like passing kidney stones. Roland hasn't weighed in on that, but he'll do so later, I'm sure. So here we are writers in pain, but loving it all the same.

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    2. Writing is a pain for me, too, since when I come in exhausted from my blood runs, it is so very hard to force a battered mind to wax poetic!

      But it is also a pleasure. I am currently writing of poor French-language challenged Mark Twain, Thomas Edison, and Horace Greely fumbling about on the streets of Marseilles. I am laughing out loud as I write. I am a little over half-way through this novel. Then, I will have the short story to write and the Study Guide to go along with the novel as well. Whew! Still a far way to go! Wish me luck.

      Best of sales to you, Lee!

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  7. I like the closing line! I'm also looking forward to buying this for my kiddos (and reading it myself, because that's how I roll.)

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    1. I'm so glad you want to read the story. I get upset with adult who say they're too old for a story. I love picture books. The story is the key. Thanks, Shannon!

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    2. Shannon, I believe you will enjoy it as well as your children. Lee is a great storyteller!

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  8. That is just so darn clever. I'm sure Mr. Twain enjoyed it as much as the rest of us did. I'm reading a book right now about Ulysses S. Grant and keep remembering that Twain was his publisher for his memoirs.

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    1. I'm beginning to think Mark Twain was just about everywhere and doing everything all the time.

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  9. Kathleen, I tried to do Mark Twain proud -- you don't want to irritate his ghost! Grant had a hard end to his life and Twain tried to help the man the best he could.

    Lee, I am beginning to think you are right about Mark! At least to hear him tell about it, he was everywhere doing everything! :-)

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  10. На подобных платформах бизнесмены выкладывают подробные спецзадания, сделав которые исполнитель забирает баллы на персональный ID учетки. На платформе гидра онион ссылка зеркало рабочее наверняка присутствует работа хоть для опытных фрилансеров. За счет фриланса запросто получить неплохую прибыть. Площадки фрилансеров – это максимально отличный любому исполнителю способ подзаработать в internet.

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