Saturday Update

To start, it seems wrong to me that after three days of heavy frost I still find a mosquito pestering me in my office. Didn't he get the memo? Mosquito season as over. Kaput. Done.

There were a couple big events this week. The first was the launch of my debut novel, The Red Scorpion. TJ Lind (my collaborator) and I originally intended only an eBook for Kindle and Nook, but as the day approached for our launch party the requests for hard copy versions of the novel began to weigh on me so that in the end we broke from our original plan and actually had a short run printed for the occasion. Being both of a marketing frame of mind, we used the fifty copies to do some market research. Inasmuch as we had two cover versions that we liked and couldn't quite decide on, we printed 25 of each and let the market make the decision. We did learn something from the experience.

The second big event this week was making contact with an artist from Antarctica for the collaborative art show Red Interactive. John Jacobsen works in the technical arena but also has an artistic/creative expressive side to his soul. Over the past five or six years he has spent much of his life in that remote ice wilderness and has graciously permitted us to include one of his "red" photos in the show Phantom Galleries Superior in September/October.

As regards the book publishing side of things, TJ and I are working together on the final edits of my first volume of short stories titled Unremembered Histories. Official launch date is as yet unspecified, but aim is sometime in September. The story lines for the six short stories in this first volume are as follows.

Two Acts That Changed the World
A brilliant German scientist in the Nazi era has been working on the superbomb which will bring the world to its knees before Hitler. Upon discovering the secret of atomic power, he commits himself to two tasks. First, to thwart the efforts of the team working on the bomb. Second, to find a way to convey the solution to the American scientists working on this same problem.

The Empty Space
What happens when you have an experience so bizarre and out of the ordinary that you don't know who you can talk to about it without coming across as looney? In this story, I hear a man's confession, and whether true or no I feel compelled to listen and express empathy.

Duel of the Poets
This story has been translated into Croatian to become the centerpiece of an online poetry site in Croatia. A great poet discovers he is no longer the only game in town.

Lu Lee and the Magic Cat
Like many of my stories, this story evolved from a dream. It's about a lonely man who discovers a life changing secret.

Unremembered History of the World
The cornerstone story in this set, I reproduce here the comments of M. Sardinha of Portugal...

I have no words or intellectual connections for this story for I find it truly original and very special... it reveals to me what an incredible good person you must be to dream of a world with no wars and a generation of "Angels" to protect us all from evil. Yes, that would have been wonderful and surely by imagining it you must have felt it could have been possible if only Man were different and had not bitten the Apple of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in Paradise... the story takes back me to that point where it is said we lost our innocence and from then on lived in shame due to our curiosity and disrespect for the Sacred orders of God. If Adam and Eve had not broken the Law we would live still in Paradise and that would be very much like what you describe on your story... it is a beautiful story that makes us - readers - be the "change we want to see in the world" and don't give into temptations every time we encounter a Serpent telling us that there are shortcuts to Freedom/Happiness/Harmony because as you so well say in the story - it all has to do with "INTENT" (purpose) for that's the root of the outcome of any endeavour we take..

The Nonsense Room
This story owes a debt to Jorge Luis Borges and a profound short story of his titled The Book of Sand. I can't say enough about how Borges' works moved me. Like the rest of the stories here in this short collection there is a paranormal element that confronts the characters, and ultimately the readers, challenging perception and our understanding of the material world we inhabit.

Lord willing, Unremembered Histories is coming soon... In the meantime, check out the reviews for The Red Scorpion at Amazon.com.

And have a great weekend. Cherish the people you love and who love you... and never take tomorrow for granted.

The painting of the cat is courtesy Biba Zain, who is participating in Red Interactive this month.