K.C. Knouse's Blog

Humorist Mark Starlin

Photo by Mincho Kavaldzhiev on Unsplash

If you are looking for a good, honest laugh, check out the writings of Mark Starlin. Mark is a prolific humorist who has been churning out stories, poems, and jokes and publishing them on Medium.com, Substack.com, and in collections available on Amazon.com.

Mark’s quirky, good-natured humor celebrates the joy of everyday living by turning ordinary events on their head. He wrote a series of stories based on stock photographs that reinterpreted the obvious meaning of the photos. For example, the story accompanying a photo of a man on a ladder picking a ripe orange from a tree was titled “The Man Who Re-Attached Fruit”. Another series featured vintage posters with accompanying stories about the images on the posters.

Mark has published a novel (Baron Britprop Blastfurnace), a short story (I Can’t Hear You), a short story collection (Somewhere in the Old West: Tales of Holister Bootstone), and a compilation of humorous stories of varying lengths from his Medium.com publication Mark Starlin Writes! (Humor). All are available on Amazon.com.

You can subscribe to Mark’s weekly newsletter, Monday Morning Mark, for free at markstarlinwrites.substack.com. The newsletter features several short humor pieces and a short story. A paid subscription is also available.

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Digitizing a hard copy book manuscript

Photo by author

In the late 1980s, I wrote a novel on a Kaypro 64 portable computer and saved my work on 5 1/4″ floppy disks. I printed a hard copy using an Epson 9-pin dot matrix printer to share with my writer’s group. I gave the Kaypro to my daughter in 1992 when she went off to college. I don’t think she ever used it. I have no idea what happened to the floppy disks. I may have transferred the data to a 3 1/2″ floppy; I don’t remember. Fortunately, I tossed the hard copy in a file drawer. It remained there for over thirty years.

A couple of years ago, I took it out and read it. Like a lot of my old writing, the quality surprised me. I might have something here, I thought. Don’t get me wrong; it needed some work. Before I could get into the editing, I had to convert it from hard copy to digital. That presented a challenge.

The hard copy was a poor candidate for scanning and OCR conversion to digital. The 9-pin dot matrix output a low resolution font under the best of circumstances. The ribbon in the printer had little ink left on it. If the printing had been darker and sharper, I would have made a copy of it and sent it to be digitized by a service. I did that with a paperback book I published in 1996 for which I had lost my digital copy. It cost me $25.

I discarded the option of re-typing the manuscript into my computer after one page. I am not a proficient typist and didn’t want to pay one. That left do-it-yourself scanning and OCR conversion. I used my old Cannon Lide scanner attached to a Windows 7 Dell desktop and FreeOCR.

The scanner doesn’t have an automatic document feeder. I scan one page at a time, then use the OCR to convert to digital. The process correctly reads about 70% of the characters. I then save as an RTF and make deletions and corrections.

It is a tedious process, but I am making progress. The novel is 75,000 words long with 30 chapters. I am currently working on Chapter 19.

I’ll provide updates as I make further progress.

The post Digitizing a hard copy book manuscript first appeared on K.C. Knouse.

Why I Left Medium

Photo by Bermix Studio on Unsplash

I recently canceled my membership to Medium.com and subsequently deleted my account in response to Medium’s censorship of Covid-19 articles that call into question the government’s narrative on the pandemic.

I did not have my stories removed or my account suspended because I didn’t write on the subject. However, there are those who suffered such abuse.

Medium claims to provide a place where “expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface.” Apparently, this doesn’t apply to Covid-19. Medium has anointed the government as the sole source of truth on the matter. They characterize any dissenting views as “misinformation” and censor them. By doing that, they have become an arm of the state, another cog in the public health propaganda machine.

I cannot in good conscience continue to contribute to a platform that undermines the workings of democracy. We the people hold the government accountable by questioning and challenging its policies, procedures, and rationale. This is central to a functioning democracy. To simply trust the government is naïve and invites abuse of authority and loss of freedom.

The need to censor should trouble everyone. What are they trying to hide? Why are they so afraid of questions and dissent? We the people are entitled to answers, but we won’t get them as long as platforms such as Medium.com stand in the way.

You can find my short fiction at ko-fi.com/kcknouse.

The post Why I Left Medium first appeared on K.C. Knouse.

FREE this week: Twenty Miles West of Branch, Texas and other stories

Cover image for Twenty Miles West of Branch, Texas and other stories

For the first time since its publication two years ago, I am offering The Kindle version (ebook) of my  collection of short fiction, Twenty Miles West of Branch, Texas and other stories, for FREE from Monday, May 4, 2020 through Friday, May 8, 2020. The regular price is $2.99.

This book is always available for free on Kindle Unlimited.

Not sure you want to take a chance on the work of an unknown author? You can read the entire first story of the collection which is also the title story, Twenty Miles West of Branch, Texas, by clicking on the cover image under the orange and blue Look Inside tag located at the top left of the Amazon Kindle listing page for this book. A majority of the second story (but not the ending), Slider, is also included in the preview.

If you get the book and read it, please write a review and post it on Amazon. You can also leave a comment here or use the contact page to send me a private message.

Thank you for your support and happy reading.

Twenty Miles West of Branch, Texas and other stories on Sale for 99 cents

Cover image for Twenty Miles West of Branch, Texas and other stories

The Kindle version (ebook) of my  collection of short fiction, Twenty Miles West of Branch, Texas and other stories, is on sale for 99¢ from Thursday, November 28, 2019 through Wednesday, December 4, 2019. The regular price is $2.99.

This book can be read for free on Kindle Unlimited.

Not sure you want to invest 99¢ in the work of an unknown author? You can read the entire first story of the collection which is also the title story, Twenty Miles West of Branch, Texas, by clicking on the cover image under the orange and blue Look Inside tag located at the top left of the Amazon Kindle listing page for this book. A majority of the second story (but not the ending), Slider, is also included in the preview.

If you buy the book and read it, please write a review and post it on Amazon. You can also leave a comment here or use the contact page to send me a private message.

Thank you for your support and happy reading.

Get A Short Stack of Short Fiction for Free This Week

Cover image for A Short Stack of Short Fiction

The Kindle Edition of my recently published collection of short fiction, A Short Stack of Short Fiction: Three Character Driven Short Stories, is available for free on Amazon.com this week (Sunday, October 27, 2019 through Thursday, October 31, 2019).

Kindle Unlimited subscribers may read this book for free at any time.

If you read the book, please do me the favor of posting a review on Amazon.com. You may also leave a comment here or use the contact page to send me a private message.

Thank you for your support and happy reading.

Get A Short Stack of Short Fiction for Free This Week

Cover image for A Short Stack of Short Fiction

The Kindle Edition of my recently published collection of short fiction, A Short Stack of Short Fiction: Three Character Driven Short Stories, is available for free on Amazon.com this week (Monday, July 29, 2019 through Friday, August 2, 2019).

Kindle Unlimited subscribers may read this book for free at any time.

If you read the book, please do me the favor of posting a review on Amazon.com. You may also leave a comment here or use the contact page to send me a private message.

Thank you for your support and happy reading.

Release of new short story collection

Cover image for A Short Stack of Short Fiction

Look for the release of my latest book, A Short Stack of Short Fiction, on May 8, 2019. This is a collection of three character-driven, contemporary short stories in which the main characters are faced with situations that cause them to question how they view themselves and their place in the world.

In “A Sportier Model”, a forty-year-old teacher comes to the aid of an unconventional yet exciting woman who prompts him to examine his actions, motives and marriage.

In “Geronimo’s Head”, a successful business executive, while on vacation in New Mexico, confronts his cultural heritage and gains an insight into his true self.

In “Chuck and the Chili Queen”, the presence of a beauty pageant contestant fuels the resentment of an adult son for his overbearing, elderly father who lives with him. The ensuing crisis brings about a change in their relationship.

A Short Stack of Short Fiction will be available exclusively as a Kindle Edition on Amazon.com and sell for 99 cents. It will also be available to read for free in Kindle Unlimited.

Twenty Miles West on Sale for 99 cents

Cover image for Twenty Miles West of Branch, Texas and other stories

The Kindle version (ebook) of my recently published collection of short fiction, Twenty Miles West of Branch, Texas and other stories, is on sale for 99¢ from Wednesday, February 20 through Monday, February 25, 2019. The regular price is $2.99.

This book is also available through Kindle Unlimited.

Not sure you want to invest 99¢ in the work of an unknown author? You can read the entire first story of the collection which is also the title story, Twenty Miles West of Branch, Texas, by clicking on the cover image under the orange and blue Look Inside tag located at the top left of the Amazon Kindle listing page for this book. A majority of the second story (but not the ending), Slider, is also included in the preview.

If you buy the book and read it, please write a review and post it on Amazon. You can also leave a comment here or use the contact page to send me a private message.

Thank you for your support and happy reading.

Twenty Miles West on Sale for 99 cents

Cover image for Twenty Miles West of Branch, Texas and other stories

The Kindle version (ebook) of my recently published collection of short fiction, Twenty Miles West of Branch, Texas and other stories, is on sale for 99¢ from Wednesday, November 14, 2018, through Tuesday, November 20, 2018. The regular price is $2.99.

This book is also available through Kindle Unlimited.

Not sure you want to invest 99¢ in the work of an unknown author? You can read the entire first story of the collection which is also the title story, Twenty Miles West of Branch, Texas, by clicking on the cover image under the orange and blue Look Inside tag located at the top left of the Amazon Kindle listing page for this book. A majority of the second story (but not the ending), Slider, is also included in the preview.

If you buy the book and read it, please write a review and post it on Amazon. You can also leave a comment here or use the contact page to send me a private message.

Thank you for your support and happy reading.