Hieronymus Hawkes's Blog, page 8

Tremonti in Concert!

I’ve been waiting quite a while to see Mark Tremonti live. If you don’t know who he is, he is the guitarist and songwriter for Creed and Alter Bridge. He is a tremendous guitarist and maybe the hardest working songwriter in rock. He is constantly writing. He had so much material he constantly puts out new Alter Bridge albums and then five solo albums in a fairly short time span, not to mention managing tours with all three bands.

COVID put this show on hold from last fall, but finally it happened. It was cool seeing him do a new song during the sound check, that we were the first to hear.

The concert was awesome. Loud as hell, and Mark and his other guitarist, Eric Friedman, were in great voice. I love Mark’s voice. It is deep and resonant, like his music.

And yes, our seats were great!

Oh and Chris Daughtry came on after. It was a fantastic show. Good to see live music again. And if anyone is concerned, we are both triple vaccinated. They required a proof of vaccination or a negative test to get in.

New Glasses

So, I just got my new glasses. I love them! What do you think?

I can see quite well through them, which is the entire point, but I think they look cool. Can we still say that? Anyway, I saw the sunglasses on the shelf, they were blue-tinted with a mirror finish and I was instantly drawn to them. They are prescription glasses, so I can read on the beach if the situation presents itself. They don’t look as blue in the office light of this picture, but trust me they are blue and dark tinted. Both pair are Oakleys, which I have a penchant for.

The last time I got prescription sunglasses the store told me that they couldn’t do mirror finish or really make them very dark with a prescription. I’m not sure why they told me that unless they were completely ignorant or dishonest with me. But it was a couple of years ago and maybe tech has improved since then, sure. Well, we found a store not far from our house that not only has an incredible selection of frames and finishes, but they could do real sunglasses, in store. I got both pair back in 8 days to boot. Al I can say is wow!

NeoVision Optical, you are awesome and I will shop nowhere else for my glasses as long as I live in Indiana!

The Case Against Dark Matter

Erik Verlinde proposes a new theory that does away with the need for Dark Matter

I’ve been arguing since the Aughts that Dark Matter is not a real thing. Scientists have been looking for decades and have found nothing to substantiate its existence, other than their theory fits how things work. This seems to be working backwards, to make a theory fit the data, instead of investigating and discovery the theory naturally. Occum’s Razor implies that the simplest idea is probably the right one, and trying to make up matter that we can see or detect in any way disputes the Dark Matter theories in my mind.

Verlinde is not new to radical theories and in this new one he combines quantum entanglement and holographic space-time representation to show how dark matter is simply a false manifestation of quantum interplay with dark energy. Still some more work to be done on testing the hypothesis but it looks very intriguing. You can read more about it here: https://www.quantamagazine.org/erik-verlindes-gravity-minus-dark-matter-20161129

Wow! The Nevers is full of Awesome!

The Nevers first half of season 1 was released in April and I just discovered it over the holidays, looking for something new to watch. It is steampunk urban fantasy. Joss Whedon wrote and directed the show for HBO. They recently finished shooting the last half of the first season, which got interrupted by the pandemic, so I expect the second half will be out by summer, at least I hope so. Steampunk implies science fiction in my mind, but Whedon has added elements of special powers that seem magical, that takes this show to a new level. It is action filled and full of amazing things and characters. Each episode is shrewdly written and the dialogue is wonderful. So far, everything about this show has hit it out of the park. If you like strong female lead characters, it has that abundantly. The main character is a bit of a mystery (I haven’t watched the 6 episode yet, I think we get her back story,) but she kicks ass like Black Widow, and gets glimpses of future events. Her best friend is a gal who can see electrical currents and how they want to join, which makes her into an amazing inventor and takes the whole steampunk vibe in a new and wonderful direction. The story is set in 1800s Victorian London. I can’t wait to see more. It gets my highest recommendation!

The current TBR pile

Any of these speak to you? What are you reading?

In High Cotton

I’m in Oklahoma working for a few weeks, teaching at the KC-135 school house, and this wonderous sight is right next to my hotel. I always seem to arrive here after the harvest but these pics were taken mere days before they harvested them. My new iPhone 13 took some nice photos.

A little musical interlude to interrupt your day

I love the Black Keys. I am away for work and this song popped up on my iTunes Library in my rental car and I kept it on recycle for quite awhile.

Rick Beato Interviews Myles Kennedy and it’s Awesome!

I love both of these guys. Their musical knowledge is pretty incredible and they share a snippet with us in this amazing interview. Myles is the lead singer of my favorite band, Alter Bridge, and also fronts for Slash with the Conspirators. If you don’t follow Rick’s channels on YouTube you are missing out.

Writing Update

On old start of a cover I tried to make.

I can’t remember how much I’ve said about my current WIP. It’s a space opera, with the theme of Vampires in Space.

I just passed 18,000 words on Book 2 in the Mészárosa Trilogy, Salvāre. The first book, Vim Dicaré is all but done, including the cover, just a few tweaks left and another round of final line edits with Lauren. But I plan to finish all three of these books before I publish. The writing is going a little slower than I would like. Not because I am struggling with it, it is pretty well outlined, but I am laboring to put my butt in the seat and actually write. That is the real challenge I’m facing. I want this for a career and adding words has been a slough. Makes me wonder if I have what it takes.

I’m not interested in filling my time with video games any more. The writing is always there, and I never regret the time I spend doing it, but there always seems to be fifty other things that need attending, or —

squirrel!

I’m easily distracted. I have all of the covers done for the, a plan in place, a wonderful editor that gets me, all I have to do it write the damned books. I am hoping to really focus on writing over the next two months. I would love to have it finished before the end of the year. It is doable, but will require diligence and perseverance.

I want to publish all three next year.

I hope your writing is going better!

Here is a little taste. This is raw and unedited and might not even make it into the final copy:

The behemoth cargo starship Rougarou moved into the open maw of the quantum gate and in a flash, it disappeared from realspace, swallowed up by the receding wave of energy. In front of the ship, a tunnel led them forward through netherspace, bucking slightly as the ship settled in front of the energy wave like a surfer on the North Shore of Oahu. René Trahan had never seen such a wave, but it was how the story had been passed down through the ages, as the Trahans had been merchant traders on Earth when ships sailed the oceans, and they were one of the first to take up the space lanes after the quantum tunnels had been opened. But this wave was invisible to the eye and only a practiced helmsman could maneuver with such a soft touch that the ripples from the wave smoothed out so quickly that not even a cup of water was spilled in the ship.

Blog Tour Begins today for Effacement!

Blog Tour Kick Off: Effacement

The gals over at the Book Review Crew are doing a blog tour for my book Effacement that will run through the coming week. Please go check it out and their other reviews.