July 30, 2013

For Not Much Longer: Free Ebooks!

You’ve got a few hours left to take action…

Until the end of July, 2013, you can download free and discounted ebooks from Smashwords, an indie publishing distribution site. I hope you will start with mine!

Get free ebook versions of my novels  Scar Jewelry or C.R.I.M.E. Science. 

Here’s how:  click on the title, which will take you to each book’s  page at Smashwords, where you will find downloads that work with every common e-reader. Use the code SW100 to get each free book.

If you are an especially cautious individual, you may first want to read free excerpts, available under the Novels menu on this blog.

This giveaway is part of the annual Summer Promotion at Smashwords.

And – remember to write a review! Readers’ reviews are incredibly important to indie authors.

Brief descriptions of each book follow.

Cover for Scar Jewelry

Cover art by Lars Huston.

Scar Jewelry

What do we really know about our parents or the ways they shape us? For twins Deirdre and Langston, 20, the answer is: not enough. With their father long dead, and their mother now in a coma, they realize they don’t even know whom to notify. In fact, they understand almost nothing about their mother. They delve into her life and uncover secrets that revise the past and transform the future.

====================

CRIMESCIENCE_cover

Cover art by Lars Huston.

C.R.I.M.E. Science

A misfit group of scientists and tech whizzes form a detective agency in order to solve crimes and right wrongs. In this, the first book of a series, they investigate the death of a renowned volcano scientist. He dies in a volcanic eruption in what everyone considers a terrible accident. Everyone except his widow, who insists he was murdered.

 

July 28, 2013

The View From High and Far

I can stare at a city view for hours, studying the structure, sensing the underlying chaos, sensing the history and the stories, hearing faint distant sirens and that lowgrade perpetual hum that comes from so many people in one locale. Below are shots of

  • Chicago adjoining Lake Michigan,
  • Boston at sunset across the Commons,
  • midtown Manhattan,
  • the East River and Queens as seen from the Empire State Building on a very clear day, and
  • downtown Los Angeles as seen from the hiking trails at Griffith Park at dawn.

I will leave it to you to figure out which is which.

PanoramaMoon

NYCtilted2010

NYCEastRiverfromEmpire

Boston

LakeMichigan

This post responds to this Weekly Photo Challenge.

July 28, 2013

When Computers Are Obsolete

Today’s Daily Prompt said to envision life without computers.  At first I went Luddite and imagined a low-tech existence but that makes no sense.  I am not going to scrap the incredible capability and connectedness that I have gained from computers hand-in-hand with the internet.

When I get rid of my computer it will be because a more advanced technology has arrived.

I already know what I want. It is essentially an iPad with a great keyboard and ginormous screen.  Specifically, I want:

  • a screen of fabulous quality with a weight that is lighter than light. The screen will fold to the size of a credit card and expand to become enormous. There will also be the option to project holographically.
  • a keyboard that is as comfortable to use as a late model electric typewriter. This will be a virtual keyboard that I can set on a desk or in my lap or on a wall. The keyboard will serve as a guide when I type but my post-computer device will sense the movement and positions of my fingers rather than my touch on the keyboard.

Please let me know when my new device is ready to ship.

July 27, 2013

Layers and Pieces

This week’s Writing Challenge wants to see a recipe for moi.

Chop finely and mix:

  • 1 c introspection
  • 1 c imagination (substitute: insight)
  • 2 c empathy
  • 2 c knee-jerk tendency to rebellion
  • 2 c smart-ass remarks
  • 1 c curiosity (substitute: nosiness)

Cover with thin alternating layers of :

  • chutzpah
  • emotionalism
  • tenacity
  • timidity
  • enthusiasm

To lighten:

  • Add friends and children.
  • Fold in ocean air and vistas of sunrise or sunset.
  • Surround with shelter animals.
  • Add concerts, novels, walks, movies, art, or hikes.

Season as follows:

  • Mix skepticism and irony to taste, then double those proportions.
  • Infuse with 1970s punk, midcentury jazz, blues, alt bluegrass, alt rock.
  • Steep in book learning, street smarts, and belated learning from experience.

Garnish with wildflowers.

Serve on a bed of uncertainty.

Holds flavor best outside.

Store separately.

July 26, 2013

Como Se Dice “Better Late Than Never”

What the hey-ho, let’s start with a gratuitous video.

 

I have always loved school. Except for high school, of course – as an adult, I discovered that nobody I respected had fared well in high school, so over the years high school distress became one measure of simpatico. In fact, during my kids’ freshman year I feared – wrongly – that one of my twins might enjoy high school.  (Don’t get me wrong: I expected good grades, attendance, attitude; I just didn’t want them to limit their futures by enjoying the experience.)

But I digress. When I was a kid, I liked to play school but my friends wouldn’t say the same. When I played  teacher, I wanted them to do homework. Really. Assignments due. For some reason none of them agreed and soon my play classroom was empty. Slackers.

But I digress. After I graduated from college, I took many stray classes over the years to pursue subjects that interested me. I eventually and belatedly got hooked again and went back to earn a master’s degree.  That proved to be enough school for me. Bastante!

And yet. I always wanted to be fluent in Spanish. I love the way Spanish flows and zooms; the way you don’t say “I broke a dish” but instead “the dish broke itself.”

I wonder how close I could get to fluency? Language classes take so long to get moving, over so many terms – that has daunted me from starting anew. But if you can recommend an on-line Spanish class – drop me a comment with the details!

(The Daily Prompt wanted to know what subject could get me back to school.)

July 22, 2013

Meanwhile, Later Than Same Nap

Recently I posted a photo of my cat Luna enjoying a nap in a window breeze.  While Luna slept, one of the kittens, Leo, spotted him and took time out from his daily backyard frolicking in order to approach Luna. Below are photos of the encounter.

Some backstory needed here. Luna is 10 years old, patient and tolerant with our three kittens (now 10 months old), who worship him and thus annoy him. Whenever they see him they pester him. They relentlessly try  to touch noses, to sniff him, to follow and stare at him. So Luna rarely lets them near.

Wow! There he is!

Woah! There he is!

I've never sniffed the bottom of his paw before.

I’ve never sniffed the bottom of his paw before.

For some reason I can't bite his tail through the screen.

For some reason I can’t bite his tail through the screen.

Wow. He is so cool.

Wow. He is so cool.

July 20, 2013

But If You Hit a Slow Spell…

One of the all time great love songs is If You Were a Bluebird by Butch Hancock. Hancock is an amazing yet relatively unknown songwriter. I learned about him and this song by being a Joe Ely fan.

I love the fact that Butch and Joe have been friends for decades, along with Jimmie Dale Gilmore. They have solo careers but they also write songs for each other and they play together as the Flatlanders.

This post’s title comes from the lyrics:

If you were a hotel
Honey, you'd be a grand one
But if you hit a slow spell
Do you think you could stand one?

Here are two versions of the song, the first as performed by all three of the guys. Hancock is the one in the hat.

The second version is the way I learned it  – the Ely version. The video has a couple annoyances but the performance outweighs them.