Hank Quense's Blog: Hank Quense's Blog, page 99

Beef & Barley Soup

This recipe is great on cold winter nights.

Ingredients:

1 pound chunk of shin beef
4 small cans of tomato sauce

2 cans beef broth
Dried soup greens
2 large potatoes cut into small pieces
2 large carrots cut into slices and halved
3 stalks of celery cut into small pieces
1 onion diced
¾ cup pearl barley
Black pepper
Bay leaf

Preparation:

Place shin beef in a large pot
Add 4 cans of tomato sauce and 2 cans beef broth
Fill pot with water.
Add soup greens to loosely cover the top of the...

Stingray Shuffle by Tim Dorsey

Stingray shuffle

Like all Tim Dorsey novels, the main character is Serge Storms, a serial killer who roams around Florida.  In Serge's defense, he only kills people who deserve to die (according to Serge).  Serge's travels with his doped-up sidekick Lenny get tedious, but the main attraction in a Tim Dorsey novel is the subplots and the minor characters.  They are the heart and soul of his books and this one is no different.  These characters include: the only drug lord in history who can't...

Interview with Arthur Dorrance on Odyssey

Just what is this workshop and what does it try to do?

It was the Odyssey Fantasy Writing Workshop (http://www.sff.net/odyssey/), located in St Anselm College, Manchester, NH. Jeanne Cavelos (a former editor and published novelist) runs the six-week program for sixteen students each year. It looks for people who have published or are close to publication quality, to improve their skills at writing genre fiction. It involves lectures by Jeanne on various aspects of the craft, with six guest...

Holiday Gift Idea

This year why not give the gift of laughter?  Here are a pair of books that fit that description.  I've included a review for each one and a link to my website page where you can obtain buying information.

Fools Gold:

Would Wagner have died laughing? Who but that master of satire, Hank Quense, would even think of turning Wagner's Ring operas into a comical space opera? Well, actually it all takes place on our planet, but some of the main characters are aliens. It's a continuous comedy of...

UPS Rant

The folks who work at UPS are the rudest and most inconsiderate drivers on the road.  Yesterday one of  them delivered two cartons to my house.  They didn't knock or otherwise let us know about the delivery;  they just dumped it in the steps and left. My wife and I didn't see them until the following morning. Fortunately, we live in a  low-crime area.  If it had rained or snowed during the night, the contents would have been damaged or ruined.

As  for their driving, it is appalling. ...

Interview with Author/Photographer Sheila Crosby

Can you give us a brief bio?

I was born in Leeds, in the north of the England in the early middle ages.  I was a bit of a geek at school, which made me stick out like a huge zit on the end of a nose.  I was actually told, "You can't do physics.  You're a girl."  Surprise, surprise, this made me keener,and I eventually got a degree in Mechanical Engineering, and then worked as a software engineer for fifteen years.  I got bitten by the

photography bug in college, and I've never recovered. Half...

Recipe for Revenge Sampler

This is the opening scene from one of the twenty stories in my collection Tunnel Vision: RECIPE FOR REVENGE

The timber wolf bared its fangs, growled and padded towards Burga the Warrior-Cook.  Burga had been fighting since the sun stood overhead, and soon it would slip behind the castle walls.  His hands ached from gripping his weapons.  He flexed his fingers while awaiting the attack.

The wolf, its lower jaw covered by froth, crouched and sprang.

Burga keened his war cry, "Chateaubriand!"...

TV Commercials

Yesterday, my wife put on the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade in Manhattan.  It was on CBS.  As I worked in the kitchen, I couldn't see the TV, but I could hear it.  After a few minutes of showing the parade floats, there would be a break for commercials. These breaks seem to take place about every seven minutes.  Even when the TV showed the parade, the announcers continually hawked products or CBS shows.  We turned off the TV in disgust.

No wonder TV in general is losing viewers.  When will the...

Historical Figure

I read a lot of history and I'm currently reading Lost To The West by Lars Brown Worth.  This is about the Byzantine Empire and I came across the most fascinating character I have ever read about.   In the late 400's the Emperor decided to reconquer the province of North Africa after it had been taken over by the Vandals.  He put together an army of 400, 000 soldiers and a navy of 1000 ships.  This force greatly outnumber the Vandals and should have an easy comapaign.  The reconquest was put ...

army recognition

For over a year-and-a-half, I've been distributing a package of ten previously published short stories to our armed forces.  All ten are humorous fantasy or scifi stories.  I've sent out hundreds of letters and emails ad-

[image error]vising individuals and units how to get a copy of the .PDF file. I've often wondered if anyone was reading the stories, but recently my question was answered.  I received a large envelope from the Army and inside was a letter signed by the Secretary of the Army and  the Army...