My thoughts and prayers go out to all who suffered in the past few days from tornadoes and storms. Over 200 people dead across the south, and that count likely to rise from what I hear. The worst has been in Alabama and I pray that our blogging friends from there are OK. Arkansas, too, was hit, and though my family did not have any trouble, other families did.
I remember long enough back to recall the early 1970s, when it seemed tornadoes did horrific damage every year in the south. Things seemed to quieten down in the 80s, 90s and into the current century. I hope we're not at the beginning of another upsurge.
The sun is shining bright here today. But there is a darkening of spirit when I think of those who have lost homes and loved ones. I pray for good news today to give hope to the bad.
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Thursday, April 28, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
One Test Down, Novel Spaces Today
First round of grading done. More to come later. But I'm off to visit blogs today. I'm over at Novel Spaces today if you get a chance to visit.
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Monday, April 25, 2011
Final exams, but I Leave You Reviews
Today officially starts final exams, so I'll be largely off the grid for a few days. I'll leave you with a few reviews. The first is a review of James Reasoner's Redemption, Kansas, which I just finished.
"Another excellent western by James Reasoner. Take a Kansas town called Redemption, a Texas cowboy injured in a stampede, a group of townsfolk who fear Texans but are learning that the lawmen who swore to protect them from the trail herds might be worse, and a beautiful, strong-willed woman, and you have the ingredients for an explosive western. As Bill Crider says in his blurb on the book, "If anybody asks you who's carrying on the heritage of fine traditional Westerns in the vein of Louis L'Amour and Elmer Kelton, tell 'em James Reasoner's the man."
On Saturday I went to a book signing by Shauna Roberts for her book, Like Mayflies in a Stream. She was back in town for a brief time and it was good to see her again. I've run a review of her book before, but here it is again. It's well worth repeating.
"I found this a really compelling read. Just great characters and a very realistic feel to the historical world. The basic story is a retelling of the Gilgamesh legend, but the mythology is fleshed out with supporting characters who seem extremely real. By the time I got to the second half of the book I was loath to take a break from it and was turning the pages rapidly to find out what happened next."
In the meantime, Shauna left a review on Amazon and Goodreads for my collection, Bitter Steel. Sure made me feel good.
"I loved this collection of epic fantasy short stories and poems. The prose is breathtakingly beautiful, particularly given how easy it would have been to write these tales of honorable but flawed heroes living harsh lives and fighting battles that are not always winnable in prose as bleak as the landscapes and battlefields the stories take place in. Gramlich is among the best stylists writing speculative fiction today."
I'm gonna visit blogs tonight, and then see you all again in a few.
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"Another excellent western by James Reasoner. Take a Kansas town called Redemption, a Texas cowboy injured in a stampede, a group of townsfolk who fear Texans but are learning that the lawmen who swore to protect them from the trail herds might be worse, and a beautiful, strong-willed woman, and you have the ingredients for an explosive western. As Bill Crider says in his blurb on the book, "If anybody asks you who's carrying on the heritage of fine traditional Westerns in the vein of Louis L'Amour and Elmer Kelton, tell 'em James Reasoner's the man."
On Saturday I went to a book signing by Shauna Roberts for her book, Like Mayflies in a Stream. She was back in town for a brief time and it was good to see her again. I've run a review of her book before, but here it is again. It's well worth repeating.
"I found this a really compelling read. Just great characters and a very realistic feel to the historical world. The basic story is a retelling of the Gilgamesh legend, but the mythology is fleshed out with supporting characters who seem extremely real. By the time I got to the second half of the book I was loath to take a break from it and was turning the pages rapidly to find out what happened next."
In the meantime, Shauna left a review on Amazon and Goodreads for my collection, Bitter Steel. Sure made me feel good.
"I loved this collection of epic fantasy short stories and poems. The prose is breathtakingly beautiful, particularly given how easy it would have been to write these tales of honorable but flawed heroes living harsh lives and fighting battles that are not always winnable in prose as bleak as the landscapes and battlefields the stories take place in. Gramlich is among the best stylists writing speculative fiction today."
I'm gonna visit blogs tonight, and then see you all again in a few.
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Friday, April 22, 2011
Tougher Days are Here Again
Grading time is upon me. I’m grading a test now in my Capstone class, and on Monday I’ll have two tests to grade. Senior grades—and most of my students are seniors—are due Tuesday at noon so that means Monday will definitely be a nose to the grindstone kind of day. Probably most of the night too.
In the meantime, It’s been a while since I’ve talked up my own books so I thought I might leave you with some samples from a couple of my available works. Soon I hope to be able to turn my mind to writing some ‘new’ stuff.
Here’s the opening to “Showdown at Wild Briar,” from my Kindle collection Killing Trail. As you might guess, things aren’t going to be as easy as the end of this teaser suggests. In the west, going home ain’t for the faint of heart or the slow of hand.
“You Josh Allen Boone?”
Leaning back in his chair in the Bucket of Blood saloon, a man looked up from under the brim of a battered Stetson. His gray eyes studied the speaker, noted the briar-scarred chaps, the faded red bandana at the neck, beaten smooth and soft with many washings, and the sun-worn face under a sweat-stained hat. A Remington New Model Army .44 rested in a holster high on the man’s right hip. Except for the boots, which were hand-tooled and expensive, the outfit shouted cow puncher.
“Who’s asking?”
“Don’t matter,” the cowboy said. He tossed what looked like a newspaper clipping onto the table beside Josh’s beer. “Figured you’d like to know. A Texas ranger down Brazos way shot a horse thief. One, Terrance Morelli. Seems old Terrance wanted to clear his conscience afore he died. Told about a man name of Frank Caine he’d killed in Wyoming. I believe you knew Frank.”
A tiny smile quirked the corner of Josh Allen’s lips. “Knew him,” Josh agreed. “They say I murdered him.”
“Now they’ll say you didn’t. You can go home.”
*****
Here’s a piece from the collection Midnight in Rosary, also available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. This is from a story called “Love in the Time of Cybersex.”
The shapeshifter prowled toward him, as if her bones and muscles weren’t quite human. And they weren’t. Persona vats could grow anything. He’d seen a dragon here last night for sweet sake, though the cost of downloading one’s mind into something like that was astronomically high. But the shifter body was almost standard, and with practice the person inhabiting it could make it change shape. In the lighter gravity of the moon, the werewolf myth could come howling to life.
This shifter was named Smokeheart, a werepanther instead of a wolf, and she hadn’t been here quite long enough to learn how to fully control her body. She remained mostly human, except for pointed and tufted ears and a rampant grace, and a tail as strong and flexible as satin rope. Boone recalled that tail fondly.
*****
Killing Trail is a collection of western stories and some nonfiction stuff about the west. The stories were most strongly influenced by Louis L’Amour. Since this is a self-published book, it’s exactly as I want it to be. Now, whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing the readers will have to say.
Midnight in Rosary is a collection of mostly vampire stories with some werewolf stuff thrown in. It’s also got a fair amount of erotica in the mix.
Thanks for listening!
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In the meantime, It’s been a while since I’ve talked up my own books so I thought I might leave you with some samples from a couple of my available works. Soon I hope to be able to turn my mind to writing some ‘new’ stuff.
Here’s the opening to “Showdown at Wild Briar,” from my Kindle collection Killing Trail. As you might guess, things aren’t going to be as easy as the end of this teaser suggests. In the west, going home ain’t for the faint of heart or the slow of hand.
“You Josh Allen Boone?”
Leaning back in his chair in the Bucket of Blood saloon, a man looked up from under the brim of a battered Stetson. His gray eyes studied the speaker, noted the briar-scarred chaps, the faded red bandana at the neck, beaten smooth and soft with many washings, and the sun-worn face under a sweat-stained hat. A Remington New Model Army .44 rested in a holster high on the man’s right hip. Except for the boots, which were hand-tooled and expensive, the outfit shouted cow puncher.
“Who’s asking?”
“Don’t matter,” the cowboy said. He tossed what looked like a newspaper clipping onto the table beside Josh’s beer. “Figured you’d like to know. A Texas ranger down Brazos way shot a horse thief. One, Terrance Morelli. Seems old Terrance wanted to clear his conscience afore he died. Told about a man name of Frank Caine he’d killed in Wyoming. I believe you knew Frank.”
A tiny smile quirked the corner of Josh Allen’s lips. “Knew him,” Josh agreed. “They say I murdered him.”
“Now they’ll say you didn’t. You can go home.”
*****
Here’s a piece from the collection Midnight in Rosary, also available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. This is from a story called “Love in the Time of Cybersex.”
The shapeshifter prowled toward him, as if her bones and muscles weren’t quite human. And they weren’t. Persona vats could grow anything. He’d seen a dragon here last night for sweet sake, though the cost of downloading one’s mind into something like that was astronomically high. But the shifter body was almost standard, and with practice the person inhabiting it could make it change shape. In the lighter gravity of the moon, the werewolf myth could come howling to life.
This shifter was named Smokeheart, a werepanther instead of a wolf, and she hadn’t been here quite long enough to learn how to fully control her body. She remained mostly human, except for pointed and tufted ears and a rampant grace, and a tail as strong and flexible as satin rope. Boone recalled that tail fondly.
*****
Killing Trail is a collection of western stories and some nonfiction stuff about the west. The stories were most strongly influenced by Louis L’Amour. Since this is a self-published book, it’s exactly as I want it to be. Now, whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing the readers will have to say.
Midnight in Rosary is a collection of mostly vampire stories with some werewolf stuff thrown in. It’s also got a fair amount of erotica in the mix.
Thanks for listening!
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Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Reviews
Here are some of my recent reviews of books that I've read by friends and colleagues. The reviews are all published on Goodreads and Amazon. The links below will take you to Amazon.
Beat to a Pulp: Round 1, edited by David Cranmer and Elaine Ash.
It would be virtually impossible to do a review that does justice to all the richness to be found in this collection. We're talking a whopping 380 pages of pulse pounding, gut wrenching pulp fiction. Not for the faint of heart, but maybe it's perfect for the faint of pulse. It should certainly get the heart rate up and the blood pressure rising.
I hesitate to mention specific stories for fear readers, and the writers, will think I didn't care for the others in the collection. I can honestly say that I didn't find a clinker in the bunch. They each had something interesting to offer. In looking back through the table of contents, however, a few stories do particularly linger in my mind.
"Heliotrope" by James Reasoner has some great atmospheric horror.
The monkey in "Hard Bite" by Anonymous-9 will linger a long time in my head.
"The Unreal Jesse James" by Chap O'Keefe had some great SF elements that I loved. Plus that title is just a winner.
"A Native Problem" by Chris F. Holm put me in mind of "Heart of Darkness."
"Hoosier Daddy" by Jedidiah Ayres wins my "I just threw up in my mouth a little bit" award. And that's not a bad thing.
"Acting Out" by Frank Bill had perhaps the most unique style to the story.
There are many other memorable stories, including works by Patricia Abbott, Evan Lewis, Edward A. Grainger, and Scott D. Parker, and there's an Ed Gorman story, which is always a plus.
Overall, I highly recommend it.
Storlandia Issue 3:, Containing the Novella "Dead Girl, Live Boy" by Michelle Brooks.
Issue 3 of Storylandia consists of a novella by Michelle Brooks called "Dead Girl, Live Boy." Brooks is a Detroit writer and the work is set in Detroit. It features a young woman named Josette and her brother Josh, both severely wounded by childhood, who live together as roommates and try to survive in a world full of bad relationships, a world where almost every decision has to be made between something bad and something worse. The story is told from Josette’s point of view, and begins: “The night my brother Josh took a razor and carved a grin underneath his mouth…”
Although this book would generally be classified as literary fiction, it certainly has elements of psychological horror in it. The writing is superb, the characterization top notch. At times, the combination of Josette’s insight into her world, and yet her inability to rescue either herself or her brother is heart-wrenching. And their parents? Simply chilling, in an understated way. I won’t spoil the ending by saying anything specific, but if you read and appreciate literary fiction you’ll probably have a rough idea of how things will end. Even if you don’t typically read literary fiction, this might make a good foray into that field.
I highly recommend it.
Archangel, by Bernard Lee DeLeo
Well, you will never look at Archangels, Lucifer, and nuns the same way again. The story concerns two Archangels, Raphael and Abaddon, the Archangel of the Abyss, in an alliance with two Catholic nuns to destroy demons that are possessing important human figures on earth and wreaking havoc with human lives and world affairs. There's a lot of action and a whole lot of humor. A fun book.
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Beat to a Pulp: Round 1, edited by David Cranmer and Elaine Ash.
It would be virtually impossible to do a review that does justice to all the richness to be found in this collection. We're talking a whopping 380 pages of pulse pounding, gut wrenching pulp fiction. Not for the faint of heart, but maybe it's perfect for the faint of pulse. It should certainly get the heart rate up and the blood pressure rising.
I hesitate to mention specific stories for fear readers, and the writers, will think I didn't care for the others in the collection. I can honestly say that I didn't find a clinker in the bunch. They each had something interesting to offer. In looking back through the table of contents, however, a few stories do particularly linger in my mind.
"Heliotrope" by James Reasoner has some great atmospheric horror.
The monkey in "Hard Bite" by Anonymous-9 will linger a long time in my head.
"The Unreal Jesse James" by Chap O'Keefe had some great SF elements that I loved. Plus that title is just a winner.
"A Native Problem" by Chris F. Holm put me in mind of "Heart of Darkness."
"Hoosier Daddy" by Jedidiah Ayres wins my "I just threw up in my mouth a little bit" award. And that's not a bad thing.
"Acting Out" by Frank Bill had perhaps the most unique style to the story.
There are many other memorable stories, including works by Patricia Abbott, Evan Lewis, Edward A. Grainger, and Scott D. Parker, and there's an Ed Gorman story, which is always a plus.
Overall, I highly recommend it.
Storlandia Issue 3:, Containing the Novella "Dead Girl, Live Boy" by Michelle Brooks.
Issue 3 of Storylandia consists of a novella by Michelle Brooks called "Dead Girl, Live Boy." Brooks is a Detroit writer and the work is set in Detroit. It features a young woman named Josette and her brother Josh, both severely wounded by childhood, who live together as roommates and try to survive in a world full of bad relationships, a world where almost every decision has to be made between something bad and something worse. The story is told from Josette’s point of view, and begins: “The night my brother Josh took a razor and carved a grin underneath his mouth…”
Although this book would generally be classified as literary fiction, it certainly has elements of psychological horror in it. The writing is superb, the characterization top notch. At times, the combination of Josette’s insight into her world, and yet her inability to rescue either herself or her brother is heart-wrenching. And their parents? Simply chilling, in an understated way. I won’t spoil the ending by saying anything specific, but if you read and appreciate literary fiction you’ll probably have a rough idea of how things will end. Even if you don’t typically read literary fiction, this might make a good foray into that field.
I highly recommend it.
Archangel, by Bernard Lee DeLeo
Well, you will never look at Archangels, Lucifer, and nuns the same way again. The story concerns two Archangels, Raphael and Abaddon, the Archangel of the Abyss, in an alliance with two Catholic nuns to destroy demons that are possessing important human figures on earth and wreaking havoc with human lives and world affairs. There's a lot of action and a whole lot of humor. A fun book.
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Saturday, April 16, 2011
A Poetry Evening
Last night a group of local poets had a poetry reading at the Barnes & Noble in Mandeville. It was sponsored by the Northshore Literary Society. Eve Brouwer, who is also a member of my NorthShore writing group, did the hard work of herding a bunch of flighty poets into some semblance of order and getting everything to run smoothly, including MCing the whole affair. She even baked cookies. Just to show you what Eve was up against, even I was late sending my poems in to her. I am not usually late on my responsibilities and was very ashamed, but she seems to have forgiven me. I guess we’ll see when she gets her chance to critique my next piece at the writing group.
I enjoy poetry readings, although I don’t go as often as I’d like. Most of the time it seems I have to keep my nose to the grindstone, but I did go last night and even read a few haiku from my collection Wanting the Mouth of a Lover. I much enjoyed the whole event. Some of the talented poets reading included Laurie Astoria, Pat Currie, Richard Boyd, David Cook, Sheila Delacroix, Mignon Fahr, D’Wanna Hanes, Kenny Mathews, Susan Newton, Mary Louise Guste Nix, and Eve herself. Our youngest poet was Evan Ross Cherry, who read his poem “Mardi Gras Day.” We also heard poems by two other local poets who were unable to be there, Gary Hanes and Jean Lutz. There were many good pieces worthy of discussion, too many to cover individually. We heard funny poems, dramatic poems, nature poems, spiritual poems, family poems, odes. A wide selection. There were also quite a few folks in the audience who came just to hear the readers, so it wasn’t just poets listening to other poets.
Sometimes we writers complain about the dearth of readers, or about the lack of interest that the world seems to take in literary matters, but in fact there are a lot of readers out there, and a lot of people with literary interests. You just need to look around a little. They, like the Northshore Literary Society, are quietly going about the business of creating and talking about stories, poetry, and books. While some of us complain, they are sponsoring poetry readings, and inviting authors to speak, and getting the word out about “words.”
Thanks to the Northshore literary society and to all the poets who read last night at Barnes & Noble. You gave me an enjoyable evening and I appreciate it.
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I enjoy poetry readings, although I don’t go as often as I’d like. Most of the time it seems I have to keep my nose to the grindstone, but I did go last night and even read a few haiku from my collection Wanting the Mouth of a Lover. I much enjoyed the whole event. Some of the talented poets reading included Laurie Astoria, Pat Currie, Richard Boyd, David Cook, Sheila Delacroix, Mignon Fahr, D’Wanna Hanes, Kenny Mathews, Susan Newton, Mary Louise Guste Nix, and Eve herself. Our youngest poet was Evan Ross Cherry, who read his poem “Mardi Gras Day.” We also heard poems by two other local poets who were unable to be there, Gary Hanes and Jean Lutz. There were many good pieces worthy of discussion, too many to cover individually. We heard funny poems, dramatic poems, nature poems, spiritual poems, family poems, odes. A wide selection. There were also quite a few folks in the audience who came just to hear the readers, so it wasn’t just poets listening to other poets.
Sometimes we writers complain about the dearth of readers, or about the lack of interest that the world seems to take in literary matters, but in fact there are a lot of readers out there, and a lot of people with literary interests. You just need to look around a little. They, like the Northshore Literary Society, are quietly going about the business of creating and talking about stories, poetry, and books. While some of us complain, they are sponsoring poetry readings, and inviting authors to speak, and getting the word out about “words.”
Thanks to the Northshore literary society and to all the poets who read last night at Barnes & Noble. You gave me an enjoyable evening and I appreciate it.
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Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Writing News and Updates

A story of mine just came out in Trembles Magazine. It’s called “Lily White and Red.” It’s not for the squeamish. Trembles has a webpage and a facebook page. Both pages are up now. An ebook version is out for both the Kindle and the Nook, priced at 99 cents. I have my contributor copy but haven’t read it all yet. Looks to be some good stuff in there, though.
In other publishing news, I’ve just finished ordering some author copies of all my books to have at home for signings or for direct sale. I was mostly out of copies before this latest round of ordering. I suppose no one will mind my putting up the details of that soon, with prices and that sort of thing. There’s one particular item I’m kind of proud of that I’ll talk about then.
In general writing news, I’ve made good progress this spring on my book on evolution and religion. The finish of that is still a ways off but the trees are thinning ahead. I also rough drafted a few pages of a potential novella I’m calling “Under the Ember Star.” I already have a market for it if I can get it written, but there’s been no fiction work for me since last Friday due to some family things and a heavy week at school. We’re coming down to the wire and I start getting final papers on Monday of next week, with final exams coming just behind. So, fiction will be waiting a while longer, although I hope to get some done this coming weekend.
That’s about it for news and updates. Stay frosty my friends!
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Monday, April 11, 2011
There is no Spoon
My post over at Novel Spaces is still up, although it's one down from the top. It's entitled "There Is No Spoon." Maybe you'll have a chance to drop by.
I haven't visited blogs for a couple of days. Between family issues and work I've hardly been able to get on the computer. Fortunately the Novel Spaces post was scheduled ahead of time. I probably won't be getting around very much the first few days of this week either but by mid-week I should be getting back to normal. I hope things will at any rate. I haven't forgotten you all, though.
Charles
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I haven't visited blogs for a couple of days. Between family issues and work I've hardly been able to get on the computer. Fortunately the Novel Spaces post was scheduled ahead of time. I probably won't be getting around very much the first few days of this week either but by mid-week I should be getting back to normal. I hope things will at any rate. I haven't forgotten you all, though.
Charles
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Wednesday, April 06, 2011
When Evening Closes In
It’s Wednesday evening, a little after 6:00. I’m sitting on my deck with the laptop and the sun is still bright behind me. But the temperature is getting cooler. I know the night is coming. There was a lot of wind earlier today but it is quiet and still here now, as if the air itself is a bit tired and ready to sleep.
Our bird feeders are largely empty except for some doves, which are evening feeders. I hear them calling in the distance and sometimes I call back to them. And now and then I see a Cardinal or Blue Jay dropping in for a last sunflower snack before bedtime. The day is closing up for most of the birds as well.
There is just a hint of yellow in the light over my shoulder, the yellow that to me will always be a mark of evening. I love this time of day. And yet it often makes me a bit melancholy. I cannot say why rationally. The feeling is deeper than that, and I have to wonder if it is not some genetic remnant from a time when night was the bad time, the time of teeth and claws and hunger.
Tonight will not be a bad time. I will eat good food and will have Lana here with me. And later, I hope I will write well. I hope, also, that all of you will be safe from the teeth tonight, and that you will have those things around you that give you satisfaction.
Let the night close in. But may it not close upon you.
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Our bird feeders are largely empty except for some doves, which are evening feeders. I hear them calling in the distance and sometimes I call back to them. And now and then I see a Cardinal or Blue Jay dropping in for a last sunflower snack before bedtime. The day is closing up for most of the birds as well.
There is just a hint of yellow in the light over my shoulder, the yellow that to me will always be a mark of evening. I love this time of day. And yet it often makes me a bit melancholy. I cannot say why rationally. The feeling is deeper than that, and I have to wonder if it is not some genetic remnant from a time when night was the bad time, the time of teeth and claws and hunger.
Tonight will not be a bad time. I will eat good food and will have Lana here with me. And later, I hope I will write well. I hope, also, that all of you will be safe from the teeth tonight, and that you will have those things around you that give you satisfaction.
Let the night close in. But may it not close upon you.
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Monday, April 04, 2011
My Talented Lana
Today's post is dedicated to my talented wife, Lana, whose photography skills are lately being recognized all over the place. On Saturday night she won first place in photography for her "Foggy Morning" over at the Lacombe Art Guild Spring show. Her "Grebe and Grasses" photo, which I personally love, got honorable mention. You can check out her post about the contest and see the winning entries at her blog.
To make things better, Lana's winning entry, "Foggy Morning," was taken almost outside our front door. Gotta love that.
Lana already picked up another first place award for photography at another art show earlier this year, and her photos were in high demand at a recent art market in Madisonville down here. These days, with technology, many people can take good photos with the digital cameras available, but there's still something about the eye of the artist that adds to the quality of photos and turns them from the mundane into an art form.
Quite often as we are out on our nature walks, Lana and I will see the same physical scene, but her eye catches patterns of light and shadow that I never see, or she will become entranced with the geometric lines found among growing plants or in natural arrangements of stone. Often, with wildlife, there will be only a second available for the special shot, the one that raises the level of the scene to art, and she somehow manages to capture it. I stand in awe. I hope you'll check out her blog.
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To make things better, Lana's winning entry, "Foggy Morning," was taken almost outside our front door. Gotta love that.
Lana already picked up another first place award for photography at another art show earlier this year, and her photos were in high demand at a recent art market in Madisonville down here. These days, with technology, many people can take good photos with the digital cameras available, but there's still something about the eye of the artist that adds to the quality of photos and turns them from the mundane into an art form.
Quite often as we are out on our nature walks, Lana and I will see the same physical scene, but her eye catches patterns of light and shadow that I never see, or she will become entranced with the geometric lines found among growing plants or in natural arrangements of stone. Often, with wildlife, there will be only a second available for the special shot, the one that raises the level of the scene to art, and she somehow manages to capture it. I stand in awe. I hope you'll check out her blog.
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Thursday, March 31, 2011
Gone and Done It
I mentioned here a while back that I was considering a new car. I went and bought one on Wednesday. It's a 211 Hyundai Elantra, sort of bluish purple as you can see in the pics.
My 2005 Toyota Scion TC was closing in on 118,000 miles, and although it was still running well it was going to need new brakes, a new battery, and a number of other bits of work done pretty soon. It was nothing that couldn't be fixed and I liked that car a lot. I'd grown attached. But...the Elantra gets 40 miles to the gallon while the Scion got around 28, and the Elantra has a much bigger gas tank, which means fewer fill up stops. I commute, as most of you know, and with gas going up I decided it was time for just such a new vehicle. In addition, Lana and are taking a long road trip as soon as school is out and I kind of wanted to go ahead and get a new car before that. The Elantra is a four door and has almost twice the head room and storage room as the Scion. And, as a new car it has all kinds of built in auxilary ports, Ipod docks, USB ports, and electrical plug ins so we can haul our laptops along on our trip and keep up with the world. It still looks sporty.
The Scion was probably the "best" car I ever had in many ways, and the Elantra is going to have to go well to beat it, but so far I'm pretty pleased with it. There was one glitch. On my way home from the dealer I set my radio preferences and the clock, but when I went out later to show it to Lana all my presets were gone and my keyless entry device didn't work. I was worried that I already had some electrical problem, but it turned out after some research that the dealer had forgotten to set one of the fuse box buttons to the "on" position and that took care of it.
Best of all, with trade in, I only paid about $15,000 for the Elantra. And it came with free satellite radio, for three months at least. I've been much enjoying listening to Liquid Metal, the metal only station, and to "Hair World," which plays only 80s so called hair metal bands. A new car is kinda nice, I gotta say.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Ember Star
A character popped into my head last night as I commuted home across the Causeway Bridge. She didn't come fully formed but she came with two scenes that helped me characterize her. And she came with a name. I just don't know whether I should stay with that name or not.
I've been wanting for a while to do a high action SF type story featuring a female protagonist. I've written female protagonists in short stories of the fantasy and horror type, but never for an action adventure story. Those thoughts rattling around in my head must have coalesced last night.
Scene 1: A woman, looking to be in her late 20s, is sitting on the edge of a bed with one half flat pillow and some wadded sheets. She's got blonde hair, shoulder length, very tangled. She's wearing a black t-shirt, what looks like men's boxers, and a single white sock. The echoes of a knock on her door still hang in the room. She's rubbing her face with one hand and she doesn't look happy. Last night
involved liquor it would seem.
Scene 2: The same woman, wearing camouflage BDUs and black combat boots, is stepping over a puddle of vomit in a cluttered alley behind a bar that looks dark and empty. She goes up a short set of steps to a rather rickety door, and she's carrying a blaster in her right hand. She puts a hand to the door, blaster ready, then pauses as she hears a faint sound from inside.
And now the name. The name that popped into my head was Ember Starr. I got a thought that she was somehow distantly related to Belle Starr, although this story would be set pretty far in the future. Something about the name resonates with me, although it sounds upon first hearing to be kind of cliche. I was thinking the name might be a possible source of some comic relief, as she gets asked by some guy if that's her porn name and then proceeds to make sure the guy'll never enjoy porn again. I also get the feeling that she's a bit of a contrarian, and though she started out in life hating the name her mother gave her, she's now decided to lay claim to it.
Anyway, these are some preliminary thoughts. Any comments? What about the name? Too cliche? Does it create the wrong sense of the woman? Is it ok you think to play the character off against the name?
Just asking.
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I've been wanting for a while to do a high action SF type story featuring a female protagonist. I've written female protagonists in short stories of the fantasy and horror type, but never for an action adventure story. Those thoughts rattling around in my head must have coalesced last night.
Scene 1: A woman, looking to be in her late 20s, is sitting on the edge of a bed with one half flat pillow and some wadded sheets. She's got blonde hair, shoulder length, very tangled. She's wearing a black t-shirt, what looks like men's boxers, and a single white sock. The echoes of a knock on her door still hang in the room. She's rubbing her face with one hand and she doesn't look happy. Last night
involved liquor it would seem.
Scene 2: The same woman, wearing camouflage BDUs and black combat boots, is stepping over a puddle of vomit in a cluttered alley behind a bar that looks dark and empty. She goes up a short set of steps to a rather rickety door, and she's carrying a blaster in her right hand. She puts a hand to the door, blaster ready, then pauses as she hears a faint sound from inside.
And now the name. The name that popped into my head was Ember Starr. I got a thought that she was somehow distantly related to Belle Starr, although this story would be set pretty far in the future. Something about the name resonates with me, although it sounds upon first hearing to be kind of cliche. I was thinking the name might be a possible source of some comic relief, as she gets asked by some guy if that's her porn name and then proceeds to make sure the guy'll never enjoy porn again. I also get the feeling that she's a bit of a contrarian, and though she started out in life hating the name her mother gave her, she's now decided to lay claim to it.
Anyway, these are some preliminary thoughts. Any comments? What about the name? Too cliche? Does it create the wrong sense of the woman? Is it ok you think to play the character off against the name?
Just asking.
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Sunday, March 27, 2011
Work, Life, and Novel Spaces
Work and life have been moving at near light speed for me the past couple of weeks and show little possibility of slowing down soon. I'll have a report on my LA SF Con experience later this week, but in the meantime this is my day to post over at Novel Spaces and the post I wrote for that last week is up this morning. Hope you'll drop by if you get the chance.
Novel Spaces
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Novel Spaces
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Friday, March 25, 2011
LA SF and Costuming Fest
Saturday, March 26, 2011: I'll be at the Louisiana Science Fiction and Costuming Festival all Saturday, and probably some Sunday as well. It's in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which is a little over an hour drive from me. I won't likely get around to blogs again until Monday, but I'm sure everyone will survive.
I know most of you don't live anywhere near Baton Rouge, but if you should do so and feel the need for an excursion, you can check out all the relevant information at the con WEBSITE.
I'll be setting on panels about fanzines new and old, about horror movies, about Science Fiction TV shows, the best and the worst, and about Dreams and Nightmares. Otherwise I'll be hanging out talking to friends and other writers and I'm sure someone will have a bottle around.
Take care,
Charles
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I know most of you don't live anywhere near Baton Rouge, but if you should do so and feel the need for an excursion, you can check out all the relevant information at the con WEBSITE.
I'll be setting on panels about fanzines new and old, about horror movies, about Science Fiction TV shows, the best and the worst, and about Dreams and Nightmares. Otherwise I'll be hanging out talking to friends and other writers and I'm sure someone will have a bottle around.
Take care,
Charles
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Wednesday, March 23, 2011
A Writing Day
Sometimes I really appreciate my university. Xavier has a policy whereby each semester one of our Psych department faculty members gets a lighter load so that they can work on a scholarly project. The lighter load typically means teaching 3 rather than 4 classes, but for me it means teaching only 2 because I already have 1 course reduced load due to being chair of the Xavier IRB research committee.
We rotate the light semester among our departmental members and this semester is my turn. I love it so. I have my classes scheduled for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I already have meetings scheduled on Thursday and often we have meetings on Tuesday, but every couple of weeks I will have a completely free Tuesday and I stay home that day and write. Yesterday was such a day. And I got so much accomplished.
I'm working on the nonfiction Darwin book that I've mentioned here before. I was able to get about a dozen pages written, which is actually tremendous progress considering that, with nonfiction, you're often spending half of your time or more checking and double checking facts and information.
On a standard day, I try to do some writing at home in the evening after dinner, but it's not always easy when you've already put in a full day of work. But yesterday I was rolling so well and so "immersed" in the work I was doing that I took only about an hour break for dinner and then was back at the computer writing until well after 11:00.
I think that is a key thing when one is able to essentially write full-time. The work develops momentum. You enter a productive zone where the ideas and the words to express them flow. And you don't want to stop. I knew I had to get up at 6:00 this morning but the sentences kept coming, the connections kept being made. And my fingers got a workout.
Finally, at 11:20, I purposefully shut off my computer because I knew I had to get some sleep. Only then did I realize that I'd ignored several minor tasks all day that needed to be done. I managed to get those finished and slid into bed by 11:45, but I couldn't shut my brain off. My mind kept coming back to the writing I'd been doing and more ideas gathered to demand my attention. I believe it was about 1:00 when I finally drifted off.
Although I only got 5 hours sleep, I'm still feeling pretty energized at this moment from yesterday's work session. I know by afternoon I'll be dragging, but right now I'm not worried about that. Unfortunately, I give a test in my comparative class today and that means grading instead of writing this evening. I'll be jonesing for the keyboard soon, and already looking forward to the next day when I can immerse myself in the flow of words and ideas. It really is a high.
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We rotate the light semester among our departmental members and this semester is my turn. I love it so. I have my classes scheduled for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I already have meetings scheduled on Thursday and often we have meetings on Tuesday, but every couple of weeks I will have a completely free Tuesday and I stay home that day and write. Yesterday was such a day. And I got so much accomplished.
I'm working on the nonfiction Darwin book that I've mentioned here before. I was able to get about a dozen pages written, which is actually tremendous progress considering that, with nonfiction, you're often spending half of your time or more checking and double checking facts and information.
On a standard day, I try to do some writing at home in the evening after dinner, but it's not always easy when you've already put in a full day of work. But yesterday I was rolling so well and so "immersed" in the work I was doing that I took only about an hour break for dinner and then was back at the computer writing until well after 11:00.
I think that is a key thing when one is able to essentially write full-time. The work develops momentum. You enter a productive zone where the ideas and the words to express them flow. And you don't want to stop. I knew I had to get up at 6:00 this morning but the sentences kept coming, the connections kept being made. And my fingers got a workout.
Finally, at 11:20, I purposefully shut off my computer because I knew I had to get some sleep. Only then did I realize that I'd ignored several minor tasks all day that needed to be done. I managed to get those finished and slid into bed by 11:45, but I couldn't shut my brain off. My mind kept coming back to the writing I'd been doing and more ideas gathered to demand my attention. I believe it was about 1:00 when I finally drifted off.
Although I only got 5 hours sleep, I'm still feeling pretty energized at this moment from yesterday's work session. I know by afternoon I'll be dragging, but right now I'm not worried about that. Unfortunately, I give a test in my comparative class today and that means grading instead of writing this evening. I'll be jonesing for the keyboard soon, and already looking forward to the next day when I can immerse myself in the flow of words and ideas. It really is a high.
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Sunday, March 20, 2011
SF/Fantasy Con, and Books
On Saturday, March 26th, I’ll be a guest at the Louisiana Science Fiction and Costuming Festival in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I’ll probably also be there some on Sunday. On Saturday I’m going to be talking about Dreams and Nightmares and sitting on panels about Fanzines, Horror Films, and Sci Fi Films. It looks to be a lot of fun so if you get a chance drop by. The con website is here.
Some of you may possibly remember me remarking toward the end of 2010 about how I was so behind on reading that I was going to cut back on buying books for a while. Ha ha ha haha hahahhahaha. HA! Below is a sample of ‘some’ of the books I’ve bought since saying that. This is all fiction and doesn’t include the some $300 bucks I spent on nonfiction at Borders’ Going out of Business Sale. I absolutely cannot stop.




















Some of you may possibly remember me remarking toward the end of 2010 about how I was so behind on reading that I was going to cut back on buying books for a while. Ha ha ha haha hahahhahaha. HA! Below is a sample of ‘some’ of the books I’ve bought since saying that. This is all fiction and doesn’t include the some $300 bucks I spent on nonfiction at Borders’ Going out of Business Sale. I absolutely cannot stop.




















Wednesday, March 16, 2011
The Softer Side
Most everyone who visits here knows the kind of music I like. 1. Heavy. 2. Loud. 3. Often fast. 4. Did I mention Heavy?
I don’t really get into lyrics. In fact, I own quite a few CDs or albums (large round disks made of vinyl with music embedded in them) in which the singing is in German or Japanese or Spanish or Portuguese. I’m perfectly happy with them.
One of my perennial favorites, which meets all the primary criteria, is “Fight from the Inside” by Queen. Now Queen is not a metal band, but this song has a serious case of the heavies. My only problem with it is that at 3:00 minutes it’s way too short. I used to have a tape I made for myself in which I recorded it four times, one after another, so that I could get a good fix.
Queen: Fight from the Inside
Black Sabbath is the prototype for this kind of music, and most of you will know of such songs as War Pigs, Iron Man, Paranoid, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Good stuff. But for an example of this type that you may not know, I’ve linked to Celtic Frost’s “Procreation of the Wicked.” If you don’t like metal you might just want to get a flavor and then go back to your regularly scheduled programming. If you’re like me you’ll get all goose-bumpy and play it over at least twice.
Celtic Frost: Procreation of the Wicked.
But do you know that I have a softer side? Yes, I do. The two songs linked below, Wasp’s “Sleeping in the Fire” and Ted Nugent’s “Together” are slow pieces that never fail to get to me emotionally.
WASP: Sleeping in the Fire
Ted Nugent: Together
The other two, “In This River” by Black Label Society and “Hurt” as sung by Johnny Cash, tear me up. I can only listen to them occasionally. They always leave me melancholy. I played them a lot in the days just before and after my mother died. That was March 21, 2010.
Black Label Society: In This River
Johnny Cash: Hurt
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I don’t really get into lyrics. In fact, I own quite a few CDs or albums (large round disks made of vinyl with music embedded in them) in which the singing is in German or Japanese or Spanish or Portuguese. I’m perfectly happy with them.
One of my perennial favorites, which meets all the primary criteria, is “Fight from the Inside” by Queen. Now Queen is not a metal band, but this song has a serious case of the heavies. My only problem with it is that at 3:00 minutes it’s way too short. I used to have a tape I made for myself in which I recorded it four times, one after another, so that I could get a good fix.
Queen: Fight from the Inside
Black Sabbath is the prototype for this kind of music, and most of you will know of such songs as War Pigs, Iron Man, Paranoid, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Good stuff. But for an example of this type that you may not know, I’ve linked to Celtic Frost’s “Procreation of the Wicked.” If you don’t like metal you might just want to get a flavor and then go back to your regularly scheduled programming. If you’re like me you’ll get all goose-bumpy and play it over at least twice.
Celtic Frost: Procreation of the Wicked.
But do you know that I have a softer side? Yes, I do. The two songs linked below, Wasp’s “Sleeping in the Fire” and Ted Nugent’s “Together” are slow pieces that never fail to get to me emotionally.
WASP: Sleeping in the Fire
Ted Nugent: Together
The other two, “In This River” by Black Label Society and “Hurt” as sung by Johnny Cash, tear me up. I can only listen to them occasionally. They always leave me melancholy. I played them a lot in the days just before and after my mother died. That was March 21, 2010.
Black Label Society: In This River
Johnny Cash: Hurt
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Monday, March 14, 2011
Despairing of the Human Race
I'm thankful for my blogging friends. You give me hope that the human race is worthwhile after all. Sometimes I'm not so sure. I saw on Facebook where one of the joke writers for the cartoon series Family Guy sent out a twitter comment that said: "If you wanna feel better about this earthquake in Japan, Google "Pearl Harbor death toll".
I'm not mentioning the guy's name because I don't support that kind of thing. But just seeing that comment was enough to make me want to return my human card. Then I looked at a couple of sites where this tweet was being discussed and my dislike for the human race in general went way up.
The guy probably meant his original comment as a joke. He was going for a quick, lazy laugh and didn’t want to put any effort into it. But not only wasn’t it funny, it was horrifically cruel to a people who have lost thousands of their own and are in the midst of one of the worst natural catastrophes of our time. I would think that we all could get behind the fact that the guy who said it was being an asshole, at least at the time he said it, and from what I understand he has made an apology. The worst part, though, was the outpouring of troll behavior in the commenters.
One person said that this kind of comment was typical of liberals and several others joined in with tirades against the evils of liberals. Someone even suggested that this is the kind of thing that happens when you have someone like Obama as president. Now, I have no idea if the guy who made the tweet is a liberal or a conservative as far as politics are concerned, or whether he voted for Obama or not. I also don’t care. He said an asshole thing, no matter what else he “is” or has done. Others added their agreement to the tweet, saying things like the Japanese deserved what they got and how “karma is a bitch.” Frankly, I don’t want to be human in a population that includes people like this.
Take every race, every country, every creed, and you’ll find they’ve done evil things. The Japanese no more “deserve” this than the Gulf Coast deserved Katrina, or New York deserved September 11, or Poland deserved Hitler. A tragedy has occurred, and if you can’t help then at least don’t try to make it worse.
Rant over.
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I'm not mentioning the guy's name because I don't support that kind of thing. But just seeing that comment was enough to make me want to return my human card. Then I looked at a couple of sites where this tweet was being discussed and my dislike for the human race in general went way up.
The guy probably meant his original comment as a joke. He was going for a quick, lazy laugh and didn’t want to put any effort into it. But not only wasn’t it funny, it was horrifically cruel to a people who have lost thousands of their own and are in the midst of one of the worst natural catastrophes of our time. I would think that we all could get behind the fact that the guy who said it was being an asshole, at least at the time he said it, and from what I understand he has made an apology. The worst part, though, was the outpouring of troll behavior in the commenters.
One person said that this kind of comment was typical of liberals and several others joined in with tirades against the evils of liberals. Someone even suggested that this is the kind of thing that happens when you have someone like Obama as president. Now, I have no idea if the guy who made the tweet is a liberal or a conservative as far as politics are concerned, or whether he voted for Obama or not. I also don’t care. He said an asshole thing, no matter what else he “is” or has done. Others added their agreement to the tweet, saying things like the Japanese deserved what they got and how “karma is a bitch.” Frankly, I don’t want to be human in a population that includes people like this.
Take every race, every country, every creed, and you’ll find they’ve done evil things. The Japanese no more “deserve” this than the Gulf Coast deserved Katrina, or New York deserved September 11, or Poland deserved Hitler. A tragedy has occurred, and if you can’t help then at least don’t try to make it worse.
Rant over.
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Saturday, March 12, 2011
Another Guest Post, at Tyrannosaurus Press
I've got another guest post up today, over at the Tyrannosaurus Press blog. If you get a chance, please drop by. I've linked the direct address for my post.
My post is also still up at Novel Spaces as well, on "Vampires and Sex," if you haven't seen it. It'll probably be the second one down from the top.
I will eventualy post something substantive here on my own blog. I promise. :)
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My post is also still up at Novel Spaces as well, on "Vampires and Sex," if you haven't seen it. It'll probably be the second one down from the top.
I will eventualy post something substantive here on my own blog. I promise. :)
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Friday, March 11, 2011
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