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“A thought, even a possibility,
can shatter and transform us.”
―
―
Star Trek: The Way of the Warrior
1 day ago
Sunday, May 31, 2020
Tuesday, May 26, 2020
DRACULA was born today!
The first copies of DRACULA went on sale on this day in London in 1897.
An invalid most of his childhood, Bram became a soccer star at Trinity College in Dublin.
From writing drama reviews for THE DUBLIN MAIL he went to being the secretary for the noted stage actor, Sir Henry Irving.
It is a unique horror story, told from a variety of diaries and journals of its cast of characters
(no one having the complete story),
it is a precursor of sorts for the "found footage" genre of cinema.
In my own END OF DAYS,
teach a class of troubled preternatural teens how to piece together the truth of what they see from DRACULA.
On this day in 1891, EDITH WHARTON's first short story, Mrs. Manstey's View, was published by Scribner's Magazine.
She did not come from the write what you know school.
She was 29, brought up in wealth and high society, and was recently married to a prominent banker. And she was quite opposite to her destitute heroine.
Samuel Pepys died this day in 1703, aged 70.
The detailed private diary that Pepys kept from 1660 until 1669 was
first published in the 19th century
and is one of the most important primary sources for that period ...
It holds first hand accounts of
the Great London Fire, the Second Dutch War, and the Great Fire of London.
What a thrilling memoir for later generations you could write of them.
Do you have the time now?
Monday, May 25, 2020
Have We Lost the MEANING of MEMORIAL DAY?
We enjoy lovely videos of Memorial Day with graves draped in colorful American flags
as lovely music plays in the background.
We watch and listen to stirring Memorial Day parades,
flags snapping in the breeze and bands playing stirringly as they march in unison.
People in our country's neighborhoods will be having the biggest and best barbecues,
but the forgotten spirits of those slain upon a thousand distant foreign fields would take us to the cemeteries on Memorial Day.
Would they tell us that we could eat all the barbecue we want on the Fourth of July
and to just murmur a small thanks over their graves today?
No one sets out to be a hero, and certainly no one wants to die a bloody, violent death.
But thousands upon thousands found themselves in terrible situations where they needed a hero,
so that is what they became.
They died so that we would have a chance to live as best we could.
We couldn’t enjoy sun-drenched summer days like today without their sacrifice.
Living in the world today is a challenge unlike one that has ever been seen in the past.
But as thousands rose to the occasion when all seemed dark, we, too, can rise to tackle the obstacles facing us.
Yes, today is a day where we mourn the loss of precious lives and innocence.
But today is also a day where we celebrate the victory of the human spirit over darkness ...
and this gives us hope.
FOR MEMORIAL DAY_THE DOG WHO COULD FLY
Czech airman Robert Bozdech found himself shot down with his wounded pilot in a grim no-man's land,
between German and French forces at the beginning of World War II.
It is January 1940 and the German army is shortly to begin its surge across the rest of continental Europe.
In an abandoned farmhouse where Robert and his French pilot take shelter,
he finds a starving puppy amid the rubble.
Not weaned yet, the emaciated dog is able to suckle warmed-up chocolate from Robert's finger.
But a puppy left behind would make noise that would alert their Nazi hunters.
Robert takes out his knife and lowers it to the puppy's throat.
He looks into trusting brown eyes.
He puts the knife away and the puppy inside his bomber jacket.
Along with the pilot, he and the puppy make the terrifying and arduous journey to safety.
But that is just it:
there is no safety with the Nazis butchering their way across all of France.
So Robert & the puppy, along with six other Czech airmen,
eventually escape to Britain to serve in the Royal Air Force,
along the way facing not only a saga of obstacles and dangers
but the added challenge of smuggling along a dog Robert names Ant ...
later changing it to Antis for a reason I leave for you to find out.
Long before Robert and his mates are welcomed into the RAF, Antis wins Robert's heart.
His loyalty, courage, and intelligence, even as a puppy,
create a bond of love, one that survives some of the most challenging circumstances.
Antis was awarded the Dickin Medal,
the animal equivalent to the Victoria Cross
Before France capitulates, Robert returns to fly with the French Air Force
in a last-ditch effort to slow the advance of the Germans, joined by Antis.
(Later Antis would fly with Robert in the RAF.)
"It seemed almost the most natural thing ... for Ant to leap onto the wing of the aircraft and climb in beside him ...
The perils of the mission didn't seem to worry him ... His ears pricked up a little as the punching percussions of machine-gun fire filled the gun turret,
his nose twitched at the thick cordite fumes that drifted all around him,
but other than that he didn't ... stir from his laid-back position prone on the metal floor."
During the course of the war, Antis saves lives by hearing, and warning his master of,
the approach of German bombers long before they could be detected by air defense.
And after one horrific attack,
he becomes a rescuer, sniffing out survivors in the rubble of a building.
Even being buried by a falling wall could not stop the bleeding, crawling Antis
from digging out his last rescue:
a young girl who would have died but for Antis.
You will laugh, sigh, cry, and ultimately cheer this warm loving story torn from the bloody history of WWII.
You will be cheered by the ingenuity and never-say-die spirit
of both man and dog.
I am currently listening to the audio version of this wonderful book.
To give equal time to kittens:
To give equal time to kittens:
Tuesday, May 12, 2020
COVID-19 is a Harsh Mistress
Weekends nearly do me in these days.
Sunday I worked from 8 A.M. to 5 A.M.
the following day!
And words tend to dry up when writing at 5 A.M.
On Mother's Day, I was going to post on
singular mothers with sharp edges,
singular mothers with sharp edges,
but blood runs kept me from doing that.
And Midnight and I slept most of Monday
But I did awaken to find that somehow over the weekend, I had sold 64 copies of my 3 Native American audio books!
A nice surprise, right?
Another one is this riveting
Netflix series
I discovered.
You might try and check it out.
What have all of you been doing these past days?
Tuesday, May 5, 2020
ACROSS THE OCEAN, INTO THE SEA_IWSG post
“A single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us.
To live is to be slowly born.”
―
Image by Dark Work
With COVID-19, doctors have no textbook from which to judge their treatments.
It is a novel virus with no proven course of treatment.
Authors know all about motivation.
FOLLOW THE MONEY does it for me with the search for treatments to this virus.
Hydroxychloroquine has shown promising results worldwide
though it seems the WHO and the CDC are downplaying it.
You know, those organizations that parroted China's initial assurances
that there was no human to human transmissions and air flights with the confined air space and contaminated arm rests were perfectly safe.
(While China's own doctors were sounding the alarm at the expense of freedom and life.)
The very people who at first said mask wearing and social distancing were not necessary.
Yeah, those people
Hydroxychloroquine is a proven generic drug.
Pharmaceutical companies could not charge large dollars for it.
Remdesivir failed as a drug for Ebola and hepatitis.
In recent studies, the placebo's effective response was close to the drug itself.
But pharmaceutical companies could charge large dollars for it.
Guess who paid for those discrediting studies?
Remember JAWS?
When the mayor was more concerned
with beach money than public safety?
Despite the horrific examples of China, Italy, Spain, the UK, Seattle and New York --
all prior to the Mardi Gras parades...
the mayor and the city fathers refused to close them down.
New Orleans became a new epicenter for COVID-19.
Lake Charles kept its Mardi Gras parades and our parish has the highest death totals for SW Louisiana.
All of which has me delivering rare blood and Convalescent Plasma
down germ-infested hospital halls and past coughing patients and staff.
WHY AM I MENTIONING THIS IN
A WRITERS BLOG HOP?
We as authors are witnessing a once in a generation worldwide crucible.
Crucible?
A situation of severe trial,
in which different elements interact, leading to the creation of something new.
You will never get a better chance to view humanity at its worst and its best.
Ask questions of what you see locally, nationally, and world wide.
WHY DOES THE WORLD SEEM BLIND TO ITS DOUBLE STANDARDS?
HOW DOES OUR ISOLATION AFFECT HOW WE VIEW THE WORLD?
WHAT ARE WE HERE FOR?
A QUESTION FOR YOU:
ARE YOU GETTING ANY WRITING DONE?
Me, not so much.
My own Matrix has been one of weariness.
Sunday I did blood runs from 6 A.M. to a quarter past midnight.
Ouch!
I slept most of Monday.
I am still writing NIGHT SEASONS set in 1947 with an Asian ghost ship,
murderous Swiss bankers who want to keep the Nazi war loot in their vaults for themselves,
and murder, mystery, and mayhem in Vienna with the supernatural filming of THE THIRD MAN with Jimmy Stewart
instead of Joseph Cotton in the lead.
(The director actually wanted Stewart for the part by the way.)
I am trying to get out a paperback edition of THE RIVAL
where all the profits from the print, Kindle, and Audio versions
will go the Covid-19 Relief Fund set up by the Salvation Army.
So, my friends, what are you doing these unsettling days?
Oh, Midnight's T-Shirt came in today, though I think he has a feline take on social distancing!
Oh, Midnight's T-Shirt came in today, though I think he has a feline take on social distancing!
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