Lynn Woolley's Blog: Vast Write Wing - Posts Tagged "lynn-woolley"
The Clock Tower and Other Stories coming from Planet Logic Press
The “sheltering in place” mandates caused by the coronavirus pandemic forced me to make a stark choice. I could either huddle here at the Mansion and be bored to death, or I could immerse myself in a major project.
I decided to work on a new book!
The Clock Tower and Other Stories was born.
The book is a collection that combines some of my earliest stories, dating back to 1967 with recently-written tales such as the title story. In all, there are 19 stories that include psychological suspense, science fiction, fantasy, and even a comedy or two.
The book is now available for pre-order. You can order it direct from me at https://PlanetLogicPress.Square.Site.
As soon as the book comes out, I’ll fulfill all orders. If you wish to have it signed, please advise me at lwoolley9189@gmail.com. I’ll explain other ways to purchase the book at the end of the column.
Why a book? Why not a CD?
That’s a good question and it has a simple answer. I considered the idea of using the sequestration to arrange and record some of my original songs. That way, I could have a CD or two to sell when I play live music. There are two problems with that. First is that live music is pretty much dead so long as the pandemic is with us. Second, to record music, I’d need to go into a studio and work with a producer and other musicians.
On the other hand, I could work on a book at home without taking any risks at all. So the book idea started to blossom.
My inventory of stories is growing, and it’s time to publish.
I created a publishing arm that I call Planet Logic Press, and began to choose from more than 30 stories I’d written over the years. I wanted a sampling from each era of my writing history, which I divided into three segments:
• Early stories written as a teen in the ‘60s
• Stories from the ‘70s and ‘80s written on a typewriter
• Recent stories
I chose The Clock Tower as the lead story because it seemed to resonate with friends who read it, and it lent itself to a cool cover design by Greg Hansen of Tractor Creative out of Waco. (If you need graphics, marketing, or web design, Greg is the best.) The Clock Tower is from the more recent era, and incorporates modern technology in the storyline.
Assembling the collection.
In doing my research for this book, I found stories that I barely remembered – some tucked away in file folders and some lost in the pages of an old comic book “fanzine” called “The Symbol” that I used to publish with some of my collector friends. Of course, the more recent stories were originally written on a computer, so those were easy. Others, I was forced to keystroke, in some cases working from faded hectographed pages of a ‘60s fan magazine.
I literally spent hours keystroking old stories that already been typed twice – one as they were written on an old Royal, and again when I retyped them with a modern electric typewriter, never even imagining the now common marvel of word processing.
Among the files, I rediscovered the following:
• A trove of mysteries written in the ‘70s
• An unfinished novel from the ‘70s
• Four short-shorts form circa 1967 in the fanzines
• An unfinished and abandoned story from the ‘70s
• An unfinished novel that was begun in 2007
Of these stories, six had been published – four in the fanzine, one in Amazing Science Fiction, and one in a magazine called Shadows Of.
So stuck at home, I painstakingly transferred it all to computer, and then began the task of finishing stories that had been left undone. I edited all the stories for spelling and grammar, and finished the two novels after working out new plot details.
I also finished plotting the abandoned short story and brought it up to date with a twist ending. Other stories were dated, and for those I wrote new sequences to make them more readable for a modern audience.
It was grueling work, but it was also fun.
And, as you might expect, while all this was going on, I kept getting ideas, and I wrote two long stories while sheltering in place and doing all this other stuff. That caused me a bit of a problem.
At this point, I had 35 stories and almost 200,000 words in the can, proofed and ready to go. That’s Stephen King length. After discussing it with printers and publishers, I settled on three volumes of which The Clock Tower is the first.
I chose 19 stories for the first book – all suspense, fantasy and science fiction. The second book will deal more with mysteries and private eyes, and the third book will be a trilogy – three related science fiction stories that are longer and more sweeping in scope.
But first comes The Clock Tower and Other Stories.
Nineteen tantalizing tales of Suspense, Fantasy and Science Fiction
That’s the tagline for the book, and here’s a synopsis of each story:
• An insurance executive develops a pathological fear of clock towers.
• A man uses a high tech bedroom toy to foil a home invasion.
• A power-mad extraterrestrial travels to Earth in search of a firearm.
• A street beggar enlists supernatural assistance in his journey from rags to riches.
• Lizard-like warriors from a dying planet battle the nations of Earth.
• An astronaut meets an extraterrestrial that desires to share his most intimate experiences.
• The Devil drops in on two old friends to settle an argument.
• A small town finds itself trapped inside an impenetrable dome.
• A "hunter" from the future travels back in time to prevent a masked vigilante from changing history.
• While driving on a dark highway, an exhausted advertising executive begins to hallucinate.
• A man relates a strange story about losing his one true love to a vampire.
• The world goes crazy when a Wisconsin dairy cow begins exhibiting human intelligence.
• Congress debates the issue of Unidentified Flying Objects
• A newspaper reporter battles the Devil in a darkened radio studio.
• A renowned science fiction writer goes on trial for assisting a bank robbery.
• A man discovers his own personal hell in the words of a country song.
• Alien scientists invent a time machine and use it to trace their roots.
• An advanced broadcast automation system starts making its own decisions.
• A scientist sends a convict back in time to give him a second chance to save his father's life.
How to get your copy of The Clock Tower and Other Stories.
The advent of COVID-19 complicates everything, and so I’ve looked for ways to promote the book at a time when I cannot do speeches at service clubs, a book tour, or hold in-person signings. My local newspaper has indicted they will not do a review, so I’ll have to promote online. I may be able to do a signing at 2nd Street Emporium if we do it outside and socially distance.
Here are the ways to purchase to book:
I have set up a page at Square where all my books are listed. It will work with any credit or debit card. You can click on this link to buy:
https://PlanetLogicPress.Square.Site
Once the book is published it will be listed at Amazon as a traditional book and as an e-book. Here is my page at Amazon:
https://www.Amazon.com/author/lynnwoo...
You may also email me to order by credit card.
The cost is $14.95 + $4.50 for postage and the envelope. If you buy multiple copies from me, you’ll only need to pay shipping once for up to 5 copies. The Texas sales tax is 8.25%. I will need your name on the card, type of card, number, expiration date, and the code on the back. I will delete that information once I have shipped the book.
My personal email is: lwoolley9189@gmail.com
If you order from me or through the Square site, you can use my personal email address to request a signed copy.
I hope I’m able to sell a few copies and that you enjoy the book. It was 50 years in the making and I could not be more excited!
Lynn Woolley is a Texas-based author, broadcaster, and songwriter.
Follow his podcast at https://www.PlanetLogic.us.
Check out his author’s page at https://www.Amazon.com/author/lynnwoo.... Order books direct from Lynn at https://PlanetLogicPress.Square.Site.
Email Lynn at lwoolley9189@gmail.com.
I decided to work on a new book!
The Clock Tower and Other Stories was born.
The book is a collection that combines some of my earliest stories, dating back to 1967 with recently-written tales such as the title story. In all, there are 19 stories that include psychological suspense, science fiction, fantasy, and even a comedy or two.
The book is now available for pre-order. You can order it direct from me at https://PlanetLogicPress.Square.Site.
As soon as the book comes out, I’ll fulfill all orders. If you wish to have it signed, please advise me at lwoolley9189@gmail.com. I’ll explain other ways to purchase the book at the end of the column.
Why a book? Why not a CD?
That’s a good question and it has a simple answer. I considered the idea of using the sequestration to arrange and record some of my original songs. That way, I could have a CD or two to sell when I play live music. There are two problems with that. First is that live music is pretty much dead so long as the pandemic is with us. Second, to record music, I’d need to go into a studio and work with a producer and other musicians.
On the other hand, I could work on a book at home without taking any risks at all. So the book idea started to blossom.
My inventory of stories is growing, and it’s time to publish.
I created a publishing arm that I call Planet Logic Press, and began to choose from more than 30 stories I’d written over the years. I wanted a sampling from each era of my writing history, which I divided into three segments:
• Early stories written as a teen in the ‘60s
• Stories from the ‘70s and ‘80s written on a typewriter
• Recent stories
I chose The Clock Tower as the lead story because it seemed to resonate with friends who read it, and it lent itself to a cool cover design by Greg Hansen of Tractor Creative out of Waco. (If you need graphics, marketing, or web design, Greg is the best.) The Clock Tower is from the more recent era, and incorporates modern technology in the storyline.
Assembling the collection.
In doing my research for this book, I found stories that I barely remembered – some tucked away in file folders and some lost in the pages of an old comic book “fanzine” called “The Symbol” that I used to publish with some of my collector friends. Of course, the more recent stories were originally written on a computer, so those were easy. Others, I was forced to keystroke, in some cases working from faded hectographed pages of a ‘60s fan magazine.
I literally spent hours keystroking old stories that already been typed twice – one as they were written on an old Royal, and again when I retyped them with a modern electric typewriter, never even imagining the now common marvel of word processing.
Among the files, I rediscovered the following:
• A trove of mysteries written in the ‘70s
• An unfinished novel from the ‘70s
• Four short-shorts form circa 1967 in the fanzines
• An unfinished and abandoned story from the ‘70s
• An unfinished novel that was begun in 2007
Of these stories, six had been published – four in the fanzine, one in Amazing Science Fiction, and one in a magazine called Shadows Of.
So stuck at home, I painstakingly transferred it all to computer, and then began the task of finishing stories that had been left undone. I edited all the stories for spelling and grammar, and finished the two novels after working out new plot details.
I also finished plotting the abandoned short story and brought it up to date with a twist ending. Other stories were dated, and for those I wrote new sequences to make them more readable for a modern audience.
It was grueling work, but it was also fun.
And, as you might expect, while all this was going on, I kept getting ideas, and I wrote two long stories while sheltering in place and doing all this other stuff. That caused me a bit of a problem.
At this point, I had 35 stories and almost 200,000 words in the can, proofed and ready to go. That’s Stephen King length. After discussing it with printers and publishers, I settled on three volumes of which The Clock Tower is the first.
I chose 19 stories for the first book – all suspense, fantasy and science fiction. The second book will deal more with mysteries and private eyes, and the third book will be a trilogy – three related science fiction stories that are longer and more sweeping in scope.
But first comes The Clock Tower and Other Stories.
Nineteen tantalizing tales of Suspense, Fantasy and Science Fiction
That’s the tagline for the book, and here’s a synopsis of each story:
• An insurance executive develops a pathological fear of clock towers.
• A man uses a high tech bedroom toy to foil a home invasion.
• A power-mad extraterrestrial travels to Earth in search of a firearm.
• A street beggar enlists supernatural assistance in his journey from rags to riches.
• Lizard-like warriors from a dying planet battle the nations of Earth.
• An astronaut meets an extraterrestrial that desires to share his most intimate experiences.
• The Devil drops in on two old friends to settle an argument.
• A small town finds itself trapped inside an impenetrable dome.
• A "hunter" from the future travels back in time to prevent a masked vigilante from changing history.
• While driving on a dark highway, an exhausted advertising executive begins to hallucinate.
• A man relates a strange story about losing his one true love to a vampire.
• The world goes crazy when a Wisconsin dairy cow begins exhibiting human intelligence.
• Congress debates the issue of Unidentified Flying Objects
• A newspaper reporter battles the Devil in a darkened radio studio.
• A renowned science fiction writer goes on trial for assisting a bank robbery.
• A man discovers his own personal hell in the words of a country song.
• Alien scientists invent a time machine and use it to trace their roots.
• An advanced broadcast automation system starts making its own decisions.
• A scientist sends a convict back in time to give him a second chance to save his father's life.
How to get your copy of The Clock Tower and Other Stories.
The advent of COVID-19 complicates everything, and so I’ve looked for ways to promote the book at a time when I cannot do speeches at service clubs, a book tour, or hold in-person signings. My local newspaper has indicted they will not do a review, so I’ll have to promote online. I may be able to do a signing at 2nd Street Emporium if we do it outside and socially distance.
Here are the ways to purchase to book:
I have set up a page at Square where all my books are listed. It will work with any credit or debit card. You can click on this link to buy:
https://PlanetLogicPress.Square.Site
Once the book is published it will be listed at Amazon as a traditional book and as an e-book. Here is my page at Amazon:
https://www.Amazon.com/author/lynnwoo...
You may also email me to order by credit card.
The cost is $14.95 + $4.50 for postage and the envelope. If you buy multiple copies from me, you’ll only need to pay shipping once for up to 5 copies. The Texas sales tax is 8.25%. I will need your name on the card, type of card, number, expiration date, and the code on the back. I will delete that information once I have shipped the book.
My personal email is: lwoolley9189@gmail.com
If you order from me or through the Square site, you can use my personal email address to request a signed copy.
I hope I’m able to sell a few copies and that you enjoy the book. It was 50 years in the making and I could not be more excited!
Lynn Woolley is a Texas-based author, broadcaster, and songwriter.
Follow his podcast at https://www.PlanetLogic.us.
Check out his author’s page at https://www.Amazon.com/author/lynnwoo.... Order books direct from Lynn at https://PlanetLogicPress.Square.Site.
Email Lynn at lwoolley9189@gmail.com.
The Clock Tower and Other Stories - Press Release
Planet Logic Press presents:
THE CLOCK TOWER AND OTHER STORIES
A collection of suspense, fantasy, and science fiction stories by radio and podcast host Lynn Woolley.
Welcome to a world of evil clocks, time machines, vampires, demons, and cows with human intelligence!
I’m Lynn Woolley and I’m the author of this tantalizing tome that features 19 incursions into speculative fiction. How did this book come to be? In a word: coronavirus.
I’ve written short stories since 1967. Six of them have been published in magazines, but most of them have lived a dreary and lonely existence on my hard drive. When COVID-19 struck, and I was following directives to “shelter in place,” I knew how they felt. These stories wanted to get out and into the public!
I decided to edit them, and publish them! Planet Logic Press was born!
Publishing a book is a long, hard grind. Every time you think a story is perfect, you proofread it again, and find a comma in the wrong place, or a typo that you hadn’t seen in twenty previous reads. But it’s a labor of love for those of us who live to write, and constantly have ideas for stories popping into our heads.
This book is what I hope will be the first of three volumes of short stories and novels in the genres that I love most, including psychological suspense, fantasy, science fiction, and mysteries. Some of my stories are comedies, and a few might be considered Christian fiction. My stories are always suitable for all ages.
Prepare to be amazed, frightened, and entertained.
Imagine clock faces looking down at you from tall buildings while plotting to kill you. Imagine an alien creature living vicariously through your memories. Imagine being trapped inside a radio station where the general manager is the Devil himself. Picture a mystical doorway to heaven where you can see your departed loved ones, but only during visiting hours. Consider how the world would react if a cow exhibited human intelligence. And what if you felt responsible for your father's death, and you were offered a magical do-over? Would you take that second chance, even if it might destroy you?
The Clock Tower is a book of ideas and what-ifs.
These stories are written primarily to entertain you by taking you to strange new worlds where unlikely heroes face uncertain challenges. Most of the ideas in this book came from personal experiences and then extrapolating on them by asking the simple question: what if?
Where to find “The Clock Tower and Other Stories” online:
Purchase direct from the author at: https://PlanetLogicPress.Square.Site
Purchase from Amazon.com.
Purchase from Barnes & Noble.
Purchase from ABEbooks.
eBooks: Amazon Kindle & Barnes and Noble Nook
LYNN WOOLLEY is the author of four books on broadcasting and politics. He hosted the “Lynn Woolley Show” on several Texas radio stations for more than 25 years and currently hosts the “Planet Logic” podcast. His career has included stints as a radio news anchor in Dallas and Austin, a political writer for The Dallas Morning News, and co-host of the Children’s Miracle Network Telethon in the Waco-Temple market. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin.
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Contact: Lynn Woolley
Email: lwoolley9189@gmail.com
Find Lynn Woolley at GOODREADS.
Sample copies are available to recognized media that wish to do a story or an interview regarding this book.
THE CLOCK TOWER AND OTHER STORIES
A collection of suspense, fantasy, and science fiction stories by radio and podcast host Lynn Woolley.
Welcome to a world of evil clocks, time machines, vampires, demons, and cows with human intelligence!
I’m Lynn Woolley and I’m the author of this tantalizing tome that features 19 incursions into speculative fiction. How did this book come to be? In a word: coronavirus.
I’ve written short stories since 1967. Six of them have been published in magazines, but most of them have lived a dreary and lonely existence on my hard drive. When COVID-19 struck, and I was following directives to “shelter in place,” I knew how they felt. These stories wanted to get out and into the public!
I decided to edit them, and publish them! Planet Logic Press was born!
Publishing a book is a long, hard grind. Every time you think a story is perfect, you proofread it again, and find a comma in the wrong place, or a typo that you hadn’t seen in twenty previous reads. But it’s a labor of love for those of us who live to write, and constantly have ideas for stories popping into our heads.
This book is what I hope will be the first of three volumes of short stories and novels in the genres that I love most, including psychological suspense, fantasy, science fiction, and mysteries. Some of my stories are comedies, and a few might be considered Christian fiction. My stories are always suitable for all ages.
Prepare to be amazed, frightened, and entertained.
Imagine clock faces looking down at you from tall buildings while plotting to kill you. Imagine an alien creature living vicariously through your memories. Imagine being trapped inside a radio station where the general manager is the Devil himself. Picture a mystical doorway to heaven where you can see your departed loved ones, but only during visiting hours. Consider how the world would react if a cow exhibited human intelligence. And what if you felt responsible for your father's death, and you were offered a magical do-over? Would you take that second chance, even if it might destroy you?
The Clock Tower is a book of ideas and what-ifs.
These stories are written primarily to entertain you by taking you to strange new worlds where unlikely heroes face uncertain challenges. Most of the ideas in this book came from personal experiences and then extrapolating on them by asking the simple question: what if?
Where to find “The Clock Tower and Other Stories” online:
Purchase direct from the author at: https://PlanetLogicPress.Square.Site
Purchase from Amazon.com.
Purchase from Barnes & Noble.
Purchase from ABEbooks.
eBooks: Amazon Kindle & Barnes and Noble Nook
LYNN WOOLLEY is the author of four books on broadcasting and politics. He hosted the “Lynn Woolley Show” on several Texas radio stations for more than 25 years and currently hosts the “Planet Logic” podcast. His career has included stints as a radio news anchor in Dallas and Austin, a political writer for The Dallas Morning News, and co-host of the Children’s Miracle Network Telethon in the Waco-Temple market. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin.
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Contact: Lynn Woolley
Email: lwoolley9189@gmail.com
Find Lynn Woolley at GOODREADS.
Sample copies are available to recognized media that wish to do a story or an interview regarding this book.
“Darker Secrets” features Vampires, Haunted Houses, Private Eyes, and three Tales From the Strange Café
My news release for DARKER SECRETS:
Welcome to a darker world of night-things, callous murderers, and secret societies, all contained in sixteen enticing tales of suspense and detection.
Darker Secrets is the second in a series of three books from Planet Logic Press that will contain all the stories in my own personal canon. Some date back to 1967 when I was a mere seventeen years old, to several tales written specifically for Darker Secrets. The book is available as a paperback and as an eBook for Kindle or Nook.
If you read the prior book, The Clock Tower and Other Stories, you’ll notice some familiar characters returning in Darker Secrets. But even so, this collection has its own eerie identity. While The Clock Tower was mostly fantasy and science fiction, this book adds the element of mystery with eight stories that focus on detection.
The fantasy element is back as well with a century-spanning vampire story leading off the book, followed by a pair of supernatural themed tales. Two stories have an element of science fiction, and one crosses over into the superhero genre.
The final three stories in the book take place in a run-down eatery in the fictional city of Jamesport. In “Tales From the Strange Café,” you’ll join a literary, male-only, drinking and debating society that exists for the purpose of hearing oddball stories, and deciding on their veracity. Our group, the Wayfaring Strangers, takes on the issues of so-called Brain Warfare, an impossible murder, and the haunting of Texas’ most famous tower.
So order your copy today and discover how many Darker Secrets you can unveil!
Here are some ways to purchase Darker Secrets online:
Direct from the author at Square:
https://planetlogicpress.square.site/...
From Amazon.com:
https://www.amazon.com/Darker-Secrets...
From Barnes and Noble:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dark...
From ABEbooks.com: https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Book...
Sixteen enticing tales of Suspense and Detection
Story synopses:
• A 150-year-old British vampire is pursued by a private investigator.
• An advertising executive is haunted by his own reflection.
• A man uncovers a tale of seduction and murder after moving into a haunted house.
• Four college chums get together to solve a missing gold mystery.
• The Duval Street gang must crack a murder suspect’s airtight alibi.
• Victims and suspects abound after a deadly substance shows up in Cedar Falls.
• College sleuths must solve a fictional murder and a real one at the same time.
• An amateur detective challenges his friends to solve a contrived murder mystery.
• When Farmer Tom is brutally murdered, his best friend seeks justice.
• On his 21st birthday, a young man must prove to his dead father that he is worthy.
• Two young musicians achieve success at a terrible cost.
• A chain of radio stations turns to subliminal persuasion to increase ratings.
• The Capital Eye agency must solve the brutal murder of a billionaire’s ex-wife.
• The government creates a band of heroes to battle a Russian mind control agent.
• When a reclusive widow is brutally murdered, Detective Todd seeks a missing clue.
• A television production crew searches for paranormal activity atop a deadly tower.
LYNN WOOLLEY is the author of “The Clock Tower and Other Stories” and four books on broadcasting and politics. He currently hosts “Cardle & Woolley” on KJCE Talk 1370 in Austin and the “Planet Logic” podcast. His career has included stints as a radio news anchor in Dallas and Austin, a political writer for The Dallas Morning News, co-host of the Children’s Miracle Network Telethon in the Waco-Temple market, and 24 years as a syndicated radio host. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin.
Welcome to a darker world of night-things, callous murderers, and secret societies, all contained in sixteen enticing tales of suspense and detection.
Darker Secrets is the second in a series of three books from Planet Logic Press that will contain all the stories in my own personal canon. Some date back to 1967 when I was a mere seventeen years old, to several tales written specifically for Darker Secrets. The book is available as a paperback and as an eBook for Kindle or Nook.
If you read the prior book, The Clock Tower and Other Stories, you’ll notice some familiar characters returning in Darker Secrets. But even so, this collection has its own eerie identity. While The Clock Tower was mostly fantasy and science fiction, this book adds the element of mystery with eight stories that focus on detection.
The fantasy element is back as well with a century-spanning vampire story leading off the book, followed by a pair of supernatural themed tales. Two stories have an element of science fiction, and one crosses over into the superhero genre.
The final three stories in the book take place in a run-down eatery in the fictional city of Jamesport. In “Tales From the Strange Café,” you’ll join a literary, male-only, drinking and debating society that exists for the purpose of hearing oddball stories, and deciding on their veracity. Our group, the Wayfaring Strangers, takes on the issues of so-called Brain Warfare, an impossible murder, and the haunting of Texas’ most famous tower.
So order your copy today and discover how many Darker Secrets you can unveil!
Here are some ways to purchase Darker Secrets online:
Direct from the author at Square:
https://planetlogicpress.square.site/...
From Amazon.com:
https://www.amazon.com/Darker-Secrets...
From Barnes and Noble:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dark...
From ABEbooks.com: https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Book...
Sixteen enticing tales of Suspense and Detection
Story synopses:
• A 150-year-old British vampire is pursued by a private investigator.
• An advertising executive is haunted by his own reflection.
• A man uncovers a tale of seduction and murder after moving into a haunted house.
• Four college chums get together to solve a missing gold mystery.
• The Duval Street gang must crack a murder suspect’s airtight alibi.
• Victims and suspects abound after a deadly substance shows up in Cedar Falls.
• College sleuths must solve a fictional murder and a real one at the same time.
• An amateur detective challenges his friends to solve a contrived murder mystery.
• When Farmer Tom is brutally murdered, his best friend seeks justice.
• On his 21st birthday, a young man must prove to his dead father that he is worthy.
• Two young musicians achieve success at a terrible cost.
• A chain of radio stations turns to subliminal persuasion to increase ratings.
• The Capital Eye agency must solve the brutal murder of a billionaire’s ex-wife.
• The government creates a band of heroes to battle a Russian mind control agent.
• When a reclusive widow is brutally murdered, Detective Todd seeks a missing clue.
• A television production crew searches for paranormal activity atop a deadly tower.
LYNN WOOLLEY is the author of “The Clock Tower and Other Stories” and four books on broadcasting and politics. He currently hosts “Cardle & Woolley” on KJCE Talk 1370 in Austin and the “Planet Logic” podcast. His career has included stints as a radio news anchor in Dallas and Austin, a political writer for The Dallas Morning News, co-host of the Children’s Miracle Network Telethon in the Waco-Temple market, and 24 years as a syndicated radio host. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin.
Stitches in Time -- A Trilogy now available from Planet Logic Press
Here it is – my third and final collection of all the stories I’ve written over the years. It’s Stitches in Time – A Trilogy, and it presents three time-bending tales of alternate realities. This concludes my pandemic-inspired project to publish all my fiction. I still have more than 70 original songs I need to record, but that’s another project for another time. And this collection is all about time!
This is the marketing blurb written for Amazon and other online book stores:
Time goes on and on, and never stops for anyone. But what if there were infinite streams of time, each leading to an altered future? In Stitches in Time, a scientist discovers a way to control the flow of time, and uses it to recover a version of his lost son. Time rolls on, and when a young scientist crosses the barriers of time and space, he encounters an Earth that only he can save. And when our home planet is destroyed by war with an alien race, scientists search for a new Earth in a far-flung alternate reality. Don’t miss Stitches in Time, a trilogy of time-bending tales of worlds without end.
Here’s a thumbnail look at each of the three stories in the Trilogy:
BOOK 1: A scientist's attempt to bring back his dead son results in a time-splice for a deceased advertising executive. Perhaps you’ve been on a busy freeway in stop-and-go traffic when time seems to be
moving in spurts. What if it does move just a frame at a time? What would the implications be? You’ll no doubt note the rather glaring absence of the internet in this tale since I had never heard of such a thing at the time. This story was written in Dallas in 1978.
BOOK 2: In a world with no President, no Constitution, and no United States of America, there is only the Rules of Ascension. This novel began as an unnamed “space opera” back in the ‘80s that later became the third story in the trilogy. But I did not complete it at the time. I filed that narrative away (intending to return to it later) and started a new story. This time, all the action takes place on Earth under a one-world government that is starting to fall apart. This story was begun on July 15, 2006 and completed on February 13, 2007 in Temple, Texas.
BOOK 3: When Earth becomes unsuitable for human life, scientists probe alternate universes to find a new one. This is what Stephen King would refer to as a “trunk novel.” I wrote it on a typewriter in the ‘80s, but once I reached a certain point in the story, I couldn’t make the ending work. So, I tossed it into a trunk (actually a file cabinet) and forgot about it. When I started a project to publish all my fiction, I found the old manuscript and began to keystroke it. This time, ideas flooded my mind and I completed it with what seemed like a most satisfactory denouement. I did not date the original story, but I started work on it again in 2018 and completed it on February 13, 2019.
From the book, here is the introduction to Stitches in Time, written on December 26, 2021:
Worlds Without End: As a political writer, I’ve written hundreds of columns having to do with what goes on in the world. In 1978, I created a world of my own. I didn’t think much about it at time; it was simply the latest in a series of short stories I was writing and hoping to sell.
I had gotten the bug to write while working at KRLD, a 50,000-watt AM powerhouse in Dallas that received a lot of books from publishing houses looking for on-air reviews. These went straight to the desk of the late, great commentator Alex Burton who sometimes passed them around the newsroom once he was done with them.
For some strange reason, two books that Alex gave to me were by the same author: Isaac Asimov. Both were short story collections: Buy Jupiter and Tales of the Black Widowers -- one science fiction, and the other mysteries. I was impressed with both and sought out more of Asimov’s work, devouring everything I could find. Of course, I was also reading Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, and Mary Roberts Rinehart in the mystery field and Arthur C. Clarke, Robert A. Heinlein, and Henry Kuttner in science fiction. I read Poe’s horror stories and graduated to those of Robert Bloch and later, Stephen King and Dean Koontz.
But as much as I loved reading, I wanted to write even more.
So, I wrote short stories and had the audacity to actually send them to editors who must have conspired against me since they were routinely rejected and returned in the self-addressed, stamped manila envelope that all unseasoned writers were required to provide. There were two things I could do at this point: give it up, or keep trying. I chose to keep on writing and sending stories until one day I received a letter from an actual professional magazine offering to buy one of my stories. The pay was 1-cent per word, but that was not the point. What mattered was getting published.
By this time, I was writing and selling articles and columns and even a couple of non-fiction books. But down deep, I wanted to write fiction. Over the next four decades, I continued to write stories and put them away, intending to publish them some day. In 2019, not getting any younger, I decided to make it happen.
I went back into my files and pulled out all the stories written on my old Royal typewriter with the round keys. There was a series about some college students who operated an amateur detective agency. There were some light science-fiction stories inspired by Asimov’s work. I retrieved two unfinished manuscripts including one that I had completely forgotten about. I keystroked them into digital form and finished them. There was one other long story I had abandoned that was begun after I had a computer. I finished it too. Digging deeper, I found four early shorts that were written in 1967 for my old comic book fanzine, The Symbol. I keystroked them into the computer and cleaned up the writing somewhat. I published all but one of these short stories in two collections: The Clock Tower and Other Stories and Darker Secrets.
That left one short story, A Stitch in Time, and two novels still to go and those are the ones you now hold in your hand.
These three tales are what you might refer to as what if stories. A what if story leads straight to what then. And therein lies the sense of wonder from a story of speculative or mystery fiction. Doyle asked, what if there was a man so observant that he could deduce the solution to any crime? Asimov asked, what if robots became sophisticated enough to exhibit human emotions? Bradbury asked, what if a fireman started fires instead of putting them out?
One afternoon in 1978, I formed a what if question while stuck in traffic on the R.L. Thornton Freeway in Dallas. Observing cars moving forward with starts and stops, I wondered if time might function that way as well. What if a scientist could isolate those micro-moments in time and splice them to other timelines? Once through the drivetime melee, I pulled out my trusty Royal and put in two pieces of paper with a sheet of carbon sandwiched between them and began to outline a story. A few days later, I completed A Stitch in Time. Once it was published, I knew it was ripe for a sequel.
I gave that my first shot in the eighties and completed 67 double-spaced pages before I got a case of writer’s block. I thought it was good to a point, but didn’t have a feel for how to develop and bring the story to a satisfying conclusion. The pages went into a file folder and into storage, becoming what Stephen King refers to as a “trunk novel.”
In 2007, I decided to give it another try. This time, I had more ideas than knew what to do with. What if Roosevelt had never contracted polio? What if world peace was forced upon the nations? What if a man from our world shifted to that other reality? What if they tried to kill him? It all came together but I never once submitted it to a publisher. I just saved the file and moved on.
Fast forward to 2019 when I got the idea of publishing all these stories. I had created a world of holonets, solar-buses, and time splices in Stitch, and had expanded that world in Rules of Ascension. With many of the same characters and new ones I had created, I wanted an additional story to form a trilogy. That’s when the trunk novel was rescued from the depths of my file cabinet. I picked up the story and ran with it, somehow knowing precisely where I wanted it to go. Ideas flooded into my mind. What if one planet’s climate was becoming dangerously colder while another was burning to a crisp? What if we could send an emissary across dimensional barriers to find another Earth? What if we could create a really large stasis field? What if we could access other worlds? What if we could explore countless realities in worlds without end?
Of course, Rules tied in with concepts and characters from Stitch, and the final story, Earth as It Is in Heaven, tied in with both of the prior narratives as well as referencing two tales from The Clock Tower and Other Stories.
And so, I present to you my world that began in real time on a busy Dallas freeway, progressed to a rules-based utopia (or dystopia) of government-mandated World Peace, and ended up as a tale of three galactic civilizations and how they interacted.
You may be wondering, since this concludes my fiction publishing project, if there will be any more stories. That all depends on how many more years God is willing to allow. Given enough time, I shall surely get the urge to ask what if a few more times, and extrapolate what then.
And you may have noticed some loose ends herein that might be tied up…
Lynn Woolley is a Texas-based author, broadcaster, and songwriter. Follow his podcast at https://www.PlanetLogic.us. Check out his author’s page at https://www.Amazon.com/author/lynnwoo.... Order books direct from Lynn at https://PlanetLogicPress.Square.Site. Email Lynn at lwoolley9189@gmail.com.
This is the marketing blurb written for Amazon and other online book stores:
Time goes on and on, and never stops for anyone. But what if there were infinite streams of time, each leading to an altered future? In Stitches in Time, a scientist discovers a way to control the flow of time, and uses it to recover a version of his lost son. Time rolls on, and when a young scientist crosses the barriers of time and space, he encounters an Earth that only he can save. And when our home planet is destroyed by war with an alien race, scientists search for a new Earth in a far-flung alternate reality. Don’t miss Stitches in Time, a trilogy of time-bending tales of worlds without end.
Here’s a thumbnail look at each of the three stories in the Trilogy:
BOOK 1: A scientist's attempt to bring back his dead son results in a time-splice for a deceased advertising executive. Perhaps you’ve been on a busy freeway in stop-and-go traffic when time seems to be
moving in spurts. What if it does move just a frame at a time? What would the implications be? You’ll no doubt note the rather glaring absence of the internet in this tale since I had never heard of such a thing at the time. This story was written in Dallas in 1978.
BOOK 2: In a world with no President, no Constitution, and no United States of America, there is only the Rules of Ascension. This novel began as an unnamed “space opera” back in the ‘80s that later became the third story in the trilogy. But I did not complete it at the time. I filed that narrative away (intending to return to it later) and started a new story. This time, all the action takes place on Earth under a one-world government that is starting to fall apart. This story was begun on July 15, 2006 and completed on February 13, 2007 in Temple, Texas.
BOOK 3: When Earth becomes unsuitable for human life, scientists probe alternate universes to find a new one. This is what Stephen King would refer to as a “trunk novel.” I wrote it on a typewriter in the ‘80s, but once I reached a certain point in the story, I couldn’t make the ending work. So, I tossed it into a trunk (actually a file cabinet) and forgot about it. When I started a project to publish all my fiction, I found the old manuscript and began to keystroke it. This time, ideas flooded my mind and I completed it with what seemed like a most satisfactory denouement. I did not date the original story, but I started work on it again in 2018 and completed it on February 13, 2019.
From the book, here is the introduction to Stitches in Time, written on December 26, 2021:
Worlds Without End: As a political writer, I’ve written hundreds of columns having to do with what goes on in the world. In 1978, I created a world of my own. I didn’t think much about it at time; it was simply the latest in a series of short stories I was writing and hoping to sell.
I had gotten the bug to write while working at KRLD, a 50,000-watt AM powerhouse in Dallas that received a lot of books from publishing houses looking for on-air reviews. These went straight to the desk of the late, great commentator Alex Burton who sometimes passed them around the newsroom once he was done with them.
For some strange reason, two books that Alex gave to me were by the same author: Isaac Asimov. Both were short story collections: Buy Jupiter and Tales of the Black Widowers -- one science fiction, and the other mysteries. I was impressed with both and sought out more of Asimov’s work, devouring everything I could find. Of course, I was also reading Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, and Mary Roberts Rinehart in the mystery field and Arthur C. Clarke, Robert A. Heinlein, and Henry Kuttner in science fiction. I read Poe’s horror stories and graduated to those of Robert Bloch and later, Stephen King and Dean Koontz.
But as much as I loved reading, I wanted to write even more.
So, I wrote short stories and had the audacity to actually send them to editors who must have conspired against me since they were routinely rejected and returned in the self-addressed, stamped manila envelope that all unseasoned writers were required to provide. There were two things I could do at this point: give it up, or keep trying. I chose to keep on writing and sending stories until one day I received a letter from an actual professional magazine offering to buy one of my stories. The pay was 1-cent per word, but that was not the point. What mattered was getting published.
By this time, I was writing and selling articles and columns and even a couple of non-fiction books. But down deep, I wanted to write fiction. Over the next four decades, I continued to write stories and put them away, intending to publish them some day. In 2019, not getting any younger, I decided to make it happen.
I went back into my files and pulled out all the stories written on my old Royal typewriter with the round keys. There was a series about some college students who operated an amateur detective agency. There were some light science-fiction stories inspired by Asimov’s work. I retrieved two unfinished manuscripts including one that I had completely forgotten about. I keystroked them into digital form and finished them. There was one other long story I had abandoned that was begun after I had a computer. I finished it too. Digging deeper, I found four early shorts that were written in 1967 for my old comic book fanzine, The Symbol. I keystroked them into the computer and cleaned up the writing somewhat. I published all but one of these short stories in two collections: The Clock Tower and Other Stories and Darker Secrets.
That left one short story, A Stitch in Time, and two novels still to go and those are the ones you now hold in your hand.
These three tales are what you might refer to as what if stories. A what if story leads straight to what then. And therein lies the sense of wonder from a story of speculative or mystery fiction. Doyle asked, what if there was a man so observant that he could deduce the solution to any crime? Asimov asked, what if robots became sophisticated enough to exhibit human emotions? Bradbury asked, what if a fireman started fires instead of putting them out?
One afternoon in 1978, I formed a what if question while stuck in traffic on the R.L. Thornton Freeway in Dallas. Observing cars moving forward with starts and stops, I wondered if time might function that way as well. What if a scientist could isolate those micro-moments in time and splice them to other timelines? Once through the drivetime melee, I pulled out my trusty Royal and put in two pieces of paper with a sheet of carbon sandwiched between them and began to outline a story. A few days later, I completed A Stitch in Time. Once it was published, I knew it was ripe for a sequel.
I gave that my first shot in the eighties and completed 67 double-spaced pages before I got a case of writer’s block. I thought it was good to a point, but didn’t have a feel for how to develop and bring the story to a satisfying conclusion. The pages went into a file folder and into storage, becoming what Stephen King refers to as a “trunk novel.”
In 2007, I decided to give it another try. This time, I had more ideas than knew what to do with. What if Roosevelt had never contracted polio? What if world peace was forced upon the nations? What if a man from our world shifted to that other reality? What if they tried to kill him? It all came together but I never once submitted it to a publisher. I just saved the file and moved on.
Fast forward to 2019 when I got the idea of publishing all these stories. I had created a world of holonets, solar-buses, and time splices in Stitch, and had expanded that world in Rules of Ascension. With many of the same characters and new ones I had created, I wanted an additional story to form a trilogy. That’s when the trunk novel was rescued from the depths of my file cabinet. I picked up the story and ran with it, somehow knowing precisely where I wanted it to go. Ideas flooded into my mind. What if one planet’s climate was becoming dangerously colder while another was burning to a crisp? What if we could send an emissary across dimensional barriers to find another Earth? What if we could create a really large stasis field? What if we could access other worlds? What if we could explore countless realities in worlds without end?
Of course, Rules tied in with concepts and characters from Stitch, and the final story, Earth as It Is in Heaven, tied in with both of the prior narratives as well as referencing two tales from The Clock Tower and Other Stories.
And so, I present to you my world that began in real time on a busy Dallas freeway, progressed to a rules-based utopia (or dystopia) of government-mandated World Peace, and ended up as a tale of three galactic civilizations and how they interacted.
You may be wondering, since this concludes my fiction publishing project, if there will be any more stories. That all depends on how many more years God is willing to allow. Given enough time, I shall surely get the urge to ask what if a few more times, and extrapolate what then.
And you may have noticed some loose ends herein that might be tied up…
Lynn Woolley is a Texas-based author, broadcaster, and songwriter. Follow his podcast at https://www.PlanetLogic.us. Check out his author’s page at https://www.Amazon.com/author/lynnwoo.... Order books direct from Lynn at https://PlanetLogicPress.Square.Site. Email Lynn at lwoolley9189@gmail.com.
Why I Don’t Use the F-Word in My Writing
You won’t find the word f**k in anything that I write. Why not? After all, it’s the way people talk these days, isn’t it? Virtually all podcasters use it liberally, since a podcast is not subject to FCC fines. Joe Rogan uses it a lot. Bill Maher can hardly get through a sentence without it. Stephen King is possibly the highest-selling living author in America today and he’s always used the word. Even Democrats like Sen. Chuck Schumer have picked up on the word.
I’ll admit, the word is versatile as hell. Or heck, if you prefer.
Think about it. The F-word can be a noun or a verb or an adjective or any other part of speech depending on how you use it. It’s by far the easiest word to substitute for another word or to inject anywhere in a sentence, or simply to use as a modifier. And it makes you sound so cool! (That was satire. Actually, it makes you appear to be trying to sound cool.)
So why don’t I use it?
For one thing, I like to be different. I like to prove that I can write a top-of-the -line political column without resorting to the sensationalism the word provides. I don’t think the Democrats’ little experiment with the word is working out so well. They’d be better off working on policy instead of language.
In fiction writing these days, the F-word is practically a requirement. It’s hard to pick up a good mystery these days without it. Again, it adds nothing to the story, unless you think everyone uses it, and so characters have to use it too.
I don’t use it because I can tell a good story without it. In my early fiction writing, back in the seventies, the thought of hard-core profanity and blasphemy never occurred to me as something to put into a story. In the current century, I never saw a need to sprinkle it in as Stephen King often does. None of the great classics of science fiction, romance, or mystery used it. The word is a more modern phenomenon as far as literary usage.
The question is: does use of the F-word make for a better story?
I think not. I think it detracts. It makes the characters seem sleazier, just as it makes Bill Maher and Sen. Schumer seem sleazier. Perhaps the villains in a mystery story should appear to be sleazy, but murder usually takes care of that.
In my trilogy, Stitches in Time, the first story, “A Stitch in Time,” was written in 1978. I never thought of using profanity at that time. When I wrote the sequel, “Rules of Ascension,” in 2007, the idea of downgrading the language to gutter talk still did not occur.
In fact, you’ll never see language much worse than a hell or a damn in my stories. My characters always use correct grammar and speak the King’s English, unless an accent is called for called for the in the storyline. In “Rules of Ascension,” the villain calls the ruler that’s he’s trying to murder a “bastard” for not dying soon enough. That’s as nasty as I’ve gotten.
And sex! I have written a sex scene or two.
There’s one in the story “The House on Jackson Lane,” in my collection Darker Secrets. There’s another one near the end of the short novel “Earth as It Is in Heaven,” which is the final story in Stitches in Time. I think both of these scenes are very sexy, but they are not porn. I can write porn, but why would I? Each of these scenes played a vital role in the storyline, and I wrote them to do just that; not to prove that I can write erotica.
Why not the F-word? It’s simply not necessary to tell a story.
You know, I think maybe it is for Stephen King. I’m sure it is. King seems to need that word to fall back on. Isaac Asimov, the writer that inspired me to write fiction, never used that word, and rarely, if ever, wrote a sex scene. He sold millions of books. But so did King, so it’s whatever you prefer.
I prefer a great story with twists and turns that keep you turning the page. At this point, Stitches in Time has gotten nothing but 4-and-5-star ratings and excellent reviews at Goodreads.com. Not one person has complained that my characters weren’t profane enough.
A good story is a good story with or without that word. If you purchase a copy of Stitches in Time, and pass it along to your mother, she will not have reason to question you about the trash you’re reading. My goal is for anyone who reads my books to say: That was a great story!
***
Lynn Woolley is a Texas-based author, broadcaster, and songwriter. Follow his podcast at https://www.PlanetLogic.us. Check out his author’s page at https://www.Amazon.com/author/lynnwoo.... Order books direct from Lynn at https://PlanetLogicPress.Square.Site. Email Lynn at lwoolley9189@gmail.com.
I’ll admit, the word is versatile as hell. Or heck, if you prefer.
Think about it. The F-word can be a noun or a verb or an adjective or any other part of speech depending on how you use it. It’s by far the easiest word to substitute for another word or to inject anywhere in a sentence, or simply to use as a modifier. And it makes you sound so cool! (That was satire. Actually, it makes you appear to be trying to sound cool.)
So why don’t I use it?
For one thing, I like to be different. I like to prove that I can write a top-of-the -line political column without resorting to the sensationalism the word provides. I don’t think the Democrats’ little experiment with the word is working out so well. They’d be better off working on policy instead of language.
In fiction writing these days, the F-word is practically a requirement. It’s hard to pick up a good mystery these days without it. Again, it adds nothing to the story, unless you think everyone uses it, and so characters have to use it too.
I don’t use it because I can tell a good story without it. In my early fiction writing, back in the seventies, the thought of hard-core profanity and blasphemy never occurred to me as something to put into a story. In the current century, I never saw a need to sprinkle it in as Stephen King often does. None of the great classics of science fiction, romance, or mystery used it. The word is a more modern phenomenon as far as literary usage.
The question is: does use of the F-word make for a better story?
I think not. I think it detracts. It makes the characters seem sleazier, just as it makes Bill Maher and Sen. Schumer seem sleazier. Perhaps the villains in a mystery story should appear to be sleazy, but murder usually takes care of that.
In my trilogy, Stitches in Time, the first story, “A Stitch in Time,” was written in 1978. I never thought of using profanity at that time. When I wrote the sequel, “Rules of Ascension,” in 2007, the idea of downgrading the language to gutter talk still did not occur.
In fact, you’ll never see language much worse than a hell or a damn in my stories. My characters always use correct grammar and speak the King’s English, unless an accent is called for called for the in the storyline. In “Rules of Ascension,” the villain calls the ruler that’s he’s trying to murder a “bastard” for not dying soon enough. That’s as nasty as I’ve gotten.
And sex! I have written a sex scene or two.
There’s one in the story “The House on Jackson Lane,” in my collection Darker Secrets. There’s another one near the end of the short novel “Earth as It Is in Heaven,” which is the final story in Stitches in Time. I think both of these scenes are very sexy, but they are not porn. I can write porn, but why would I? Each of these scenes played a vital role in the storyline, and I wrote them to do just that; not to prove that I can write erotica.
Why not the F-word? It’s simply not necessary to tell a story.
You know, I think maybe it is for Stephen King. I’m sure it is. King seems to need that word to fall back on. Isaac Asimov, the writer that inspired me to write fiction, never used that word, and rarely, if ever, wrote a sex scene. He sold millions of books. But so did King, so it’s whatever you prefer.
I prefer a great story with twists and turns that keep you turning the page. At this point, Stitches in Time has gotten nothing but 4-and-5-star ratings and excellent reviews at Goodreads.com. Not one person has complained that my characters weren’t profane enough.
A good story is a good story with or without that word. If you purchase a copy of Stitches in Time, and pass it along to your mother, she will not have reason to question you about the trash you’re reading. My goal is for anyone who reads my books to say: That was a great story!
***
Lynn Woolley is a Texas-based author, broadcaster, and songwriter. Follow his podcast at https://www.PlanetLogic.us. Check out his author’s page at https://www.Amazon.com/author/lynnwoo.... Order books direct from Lynn at https://PlanetLogicPress.Square.Site. Email Lynn at lwoolley9189@gmail.com.
Vast Write Wing
Lynn Woolley discusses the finer points of being a writer including his own inspirations and favorite books and authors.
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