Hank Quense's Blog: Hank Quense's Blog, page 103

Top 5 reasons to buy Tunnel Vision:

1: Live longer.  Relax, have some laughs.  Laughter will relieve stress and lower blood pressure thus allowing you to live longer.

2: Meet new and interesting characters, some of them really bizarre.

3: Visit mythical Gundarland, populated by humans, dwarfs, elves, half-pints and  . . . yuks.

4: Find out what happened to the Ringbearer's descendants.

5: Met a Zaftan.

A review of The Better Mousetrap by Tom Holt

This novel is a typical Tom Holt plot; one that is extremely difficult to summarize.  It takes place in modern England where everyone accepts the existence of magic and supernatural creatures.

One of the main characters, Emily Spitzer, works for a pest control company, only the pests she controls are dragons who invade bank vaults and incinerate anyone who comes near their new treasure horde.  While doing this dangerous job, she is hampered by thousands of pages of EU regulations dictating the hu

Tunnel Vision Review

Thinking of a little summertime reading, or perhaps you just want an escape during the rush hour commute while trapped on the train – this collection of Hank Quense's stories are for you. The tales read easily and will make you laugh out loud at times.

Although a fan of serious science fiction and fantasy, I've loved Quense's humorous work for years. From drunken physics students causing their building to vanish to an odd Dwarf or the undead thrown in for good measure, the stories entertain witho

Tunnel Vision" Table of Contents: Part 1

Listed below are the first ten stories in this collection and a short synopsis of each.  The collection is now available in e-book and print editions. If you want to watch trailers for three of the stories and read the reviews first go to my website.

Sponsored By . . .: an army captain struggles to save his rifle company from demented felons.

MacBeth: The Sequel: The Wyrd sisters go on a quest to save their pet monster, Nessie, and to find a few good men.

Lucy in Love: Satan sends Pope Alex VI and

Interview with the Wyrd Sisters:

I have with me today the three Wyrd Sisters, Agatha, Bertha and Carla.  After their walk-on role in Shakespeare's MacBeth, the sisters have finally got some juicy roles. More specifically, they have now starred in The Long-lost Act IV of Macbeth (Published by Bards and Sages) and MacBeth: the Sequel (published by Chimaera Serials), one of the stories in the Tunnel Vision collection.  They are also negotiating a guest appearance role in The Drakin Chronicles, a new novel now being written.  So, o

Watching NFL Football

Now that the NFL is about to start a new season, I'll explain how I have learned to watch the NY Giants games.  I've used this system for a number of years, originally with a TIVO machine and now with a FIOS DVR.  If the game starts at 1:00. I set the recorder to start at that time, but I don't start watching it until 2:30 or 3:00.  While I watch the beginning of the game, the recorder continues to record.   While I watch the game, I speed past commercials and the interminable challenge time-out

A Character Guild!

I have to report a startling development.  My characters have banded together to form a guild. Their purpose is to provide leverage in negotiations with me.  They want to be able to influence my plots so that events better reflect their personae.  They also claim that some of the motivation I give them is defective and they want the ability to reject them.

The characters presented me with a signed copy of the guild charter (they refer to it as the Magna Carta of Characters, a rather pompous descr

Seafood Salad

Description: great at a cookout or barbecue

Serves: 2 -4

Time: 20  minutes

Ingredients:

½ pound cooked shrimp, chopped

½ pound crab meat

Mayonnaise to suit

3 stalks of celery chopped fine

2 scallions chopped fine

1 medium carrot shredded

splash of lemon or lime juice

Black pepper to taste

Dash of dried tarragon

Dash of dried oregano

Dash of cayenne pepper

Preparation:

Combine all ingredients and add mayonnaise to the desired degree of creaminess

Notes:

This is also delicious as a sandwich on a

GreenAroundYou Inc.

Andrew Burt, the founder of Critters Workshop has founded a non-profit corporation GreenAroundYou Inc. It is aimed at:

"promoting education and support for

sustainable/"green" activities that people can't control directly

themselves.  That is, while one can choose sustainable lifestyle choices

oneself, unfortunately that isn't sufficient to bring about stable

sustainability in the world:  You (all of us) need to "Green Around You,"

treating green as a verb, both making up for other people

who aren't do

Lucy In Love

This is one of the stories in my Tunnel Vision collection of short stories.

Synopsis:

Lucretia Borgia, in the form of a beautiful young woman, is sent to Manhattan by Satan to reverse the decline in Hell's market share of souls.  She is accompanied by her father Pope Alexander VI.  The plan is to lend money to people who can't repay the loan.  The contractual small print calls for the loss of the soul in case of default.

Check out the trailer for this story:

Sample scene:

Lucy stood in front of a