C.B. Calsing's Blog, page 29

Throwback Thursday

I want to talk about this photo, because a lot of my coworkers had a laugh about it not long ago.

The reason I pulled it out originally was because, in that basket, is a Pound Puppy, and we'd been talking about toys from our childhood.

There's a lot more to this picture, though, which appeared in the Telegram-Tribune many, many years ago.

I'm standing next to a painting I did. The one against my right arm, sort of stretching from neck to waist. It looks like a horse with a beard and cloven hooves and stars floating right above it? See there? Underneath that compelling portrait of a boy turned toward the artist?

I was never a good artist, but this does show that, even back then, I told stories. You see, on the ground in front of that unicorn with wings (fans of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic would call it an alicorn), there is a dead stag. Dripping from the unicorn's horn in the stag's blood. They'd fought, you see, and the unicorn won. You can see the stag's horns. In retrospect, now it looks more like a dead chicken with its feet in the air.

How old am I? Eight? Nine? Old enough that I clearly picked out my own clothes (do you see how dirty those sneakers are?) but still thought it was okay to take a stuffed animal to an art show. But my art told a story. I'm thankful now I have the words to tell those stories rather than relying on my hideous artwork. Which, by the way, has not improved in the thirty years since this art show.

The Day After

Wednesday, my husband and I headed down to Ahalanui County Beach Park in the afternoon. The night before, November 8, had been a little stressful, a little depressing, and those feelings had trickled into the next morning. By midafternoon, we needed a break from our respective jobs around the house.

The warm pool -- closed off from the ocean by a seawall -- is filled with a mix of volcanically heated water and fresh seawater. It's lovely to just float on one's back, look up through the trees, and relax.

I was given a little hope visiting on Wednesday. There's a mix of tourists, locals, and recent relocators to the island. But I heard several different accents, languages, and points of view. There were the sort of crusty people selling fruit in the parking lot, visitors to the many eco-resorts around here, retirees from up the road. Asians, Hawaiians, African-American, white. Australian, French, Moldovan, American... Some here for the long-term, some not, but coming together, relaxing, enjoying life.

The pool was the most crowded we'd ever seen it on Wednesday afternoon. I think a lot of us, in a district which overwhelmingly re-elected our representative who resigned from the DNC after their treatment of Bernie Sanders, needed to reconnect and relax on Wednesday, and the warm pool was the place to do it.

I hope other people find a place in their community to reconnect, regroup, and take a breath. On both sides.

Anyway, if you are ever on the east side of the Island of Hawaii, you can't miss a visit to Ahalanui County Beach Park.

New Review for Storm Summer

A new review of Storm Summer can be read here!
https://blue-books.org.uk/2016/08/22/...

New novella published!

I published my first young adult novella today.

It's downloadable as an ebook here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...

Enjoy and thanks for the support!

New Short Story Up Today!

I've uploaded a new Langston Pierpont short story. If you've got ninety-nine cents laying about, won't you give it a read?

What just happened?

In an effort to simply things and give me an excuse to write, I've compressed my two blogs into one. Hopefully keeping up with the one will actually mean I don't freeze up and go for months and months not writing in either. So from now on, you may find writing tips for kids here, or you may find announcements about New Orleans and my own writing.

Collection Now Available...and a free read!

Cover art by Diana BittlestonTitle: Ghosts, Monsters, and Men: Tales of the Supernatural
By C.B. Calsing

A collection of sometimes bizarre, sometimes satirical, but always haunting stories of the unexplained.
Buy link

Coupon Code: RY38T. Good until 1 August, the anthology is only $0.99.

And read a free story here.

A little over a week left...

Don't forget to vote for your favorite cover for Ghosts, Monsters, and Men.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1W8F1XmKHtwWUWGsEJgwLeG6SODLqSbYCBBivniaTsYU/viewform

July 31 I'll announce the winner, and the new anthology will go live the next day. Check back here for download coupon!

A weight has been lifted.

I could not have awoken to better news this morning than to find out the rights to my first collection, All Along the Pacific, had been returned to me by the publisher. This was the classiest thing they could have done, and I am so relieved. To have my first, big creative endeavor back in my own hands, to be able to work with it again and get it out to readers, is an amazing feeling.

At this point, I'm just so hyper with ideas bouncing around in my head of how to make it better. To lure in those of you who bought the original, I'm going to include a new story. I haven't even thought of what it will be yet, but something unexpected...or totally expected that I overlooked before. Emperor Norton? Something "straight out of Compton"? Maybe a trip on the delta of Sacramento or twenty-six miles across the sea to Catalina. And I do believe my artist will fix us up with a new, second-edition cover.

Vote for your favorite cover and win a prize!

I'm running a contest to see which of these covers should become the final choice for my next collection. Enter for a chance to win a free ebook copy!