Mike Jastrzebski's Blog, page 7

Two of my books are now free

By Mike Jastrzebski

Key Lime Blues, Book 1 in my Wes Darling Sailing Mystery/Thriller series is now free in the following eBook stores. Here are the links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, and Kobo.

A Wes Darling Sailing Mystery/Thriller, Book 1

For some people working in the family business means suits, power lunches, and afternoon meetings. For Wes Darling it was guns, lies, and dead bodies.

The Darling Detective Agency was founded in 1876 by Aaron “Dusty” Darling. Now Wes’s chain smoking, stressed out mother is grooming Wes to take over. How does he handle his mother’s demands?  He heads to Key West, moves onto a sailboat, and takes a job tending bar at a little joint called Dirty Alvin’s.

Life is carefree until his mother’s lover, a man who mentored Wes for years, is murdered on a Key West beach. Reluctantly, Wes is drawn into a spinning web of murder, sex and deceit.

First there are his mother’s pleas for help. Throw in a six-foot tall red-headed stripper, a retired mobster who acts like it’s the 1940’s, a pair of dim-witted hit men, a phobic psychic named Elvis, a small fortune in stolen diamonds, and what do you have? Mayhem in Key West.

This slightly humorous mystery about an ex-private investigator who runs away from responsibility to live the good life is bound to make you wish you could do the same.

Also, Mind Demons, my psychological thriller is still free by download from my website when you sign up for my reader’s group. Here’s the link: Free download of Mind Demons.

If you like the free books I hope you’ll consider buying my other books. Click here for links to my other books.

 

 

 

Share on Facebook

Iridium – Away we GO!

by Christine Kling

This week we finally fired up our new Iridium GO in preparation for leaving to sail down to Fiji. Already, I love the Go.

Previously, when we sailed from Fiji to the Marshall Islands in January 2014, Wayne used his satellite phone to send emails and to post his blog every night. It was a connection (when I had none) but it was slow and it took umpteen tries to get connected. It was like the worst memories you might have of the days when we used telephone modems and just getting a connection was something worthy of a celebration. We hadn’t had time to set me up on the sat phone, and as a tech geek myself, I felt a bit left out of the communications party, slow though it was. So, I decided to take the matter under my own control, and I bought myself the Iridium Go.

So how is this different from having a satellite phone to use as a modem? Is it faster? First off, it’s important to note that the connecting speed is no different. It is still painfully slow. And depending on the situation with the satellites overhead, it is often not even possible. The HUGE difference is that with the Iridium Go, users can select a plan that offers unlimited data for $125.00/month.

Yeah, I know, that sounds steep, but the thing is Iridium satellite phone data minutes are not cheap. When you are trying to connect but the connection fails and you have to start over, they charge you for every single minute during the attempt. It doesn’t matter that you are simply trying to connect. On our way from Fiji to Majuro, Wayne went through several hundred dollars worth of sat phone data minutes just sending out his blogs. And sat phone minutes expire. Iridium has this really dastardly scheme whereby if you don’t want your minutes to expire, you have to buy another huge package of like 500 minutes. Now with the Go there is no more worry about expiring minutes.

And with the unlimited data, the plan includes five voice call minutes. I imagine we will keep those in reserve in case of emergency and then on the last day of the month before they expire, we’ll call someone to say hello.

One other really important difference with the Iridium GO is there is no contract. If you arrive someplace and sit for several months, you can deactivate the account. It will cost $50.00 to reconnect, but that’s better than continuing to pay $125/month when you don’t need the service.

So, now I hope to be able to post to the blog each week we are at sea by email. I went into the back end of our WordPress blog and set it up to allow me to send my blog to a certain email address and it is supposed to automatically get posted.

We were supposed to leave yesterday afternoon, but the engine wouldn’t start. We spent last night here at Eneko and so this morning I do still have Internet. However, I am going to post this via email anyway. I hope it works.

The engine is now running, the instruments are on and we are ready to drop the mooring. Off to Fiji!

May 2, 2015 local time is 8:30 a.m.

Fair winds!

Christine

Share on Facebook

Learning the ropes…

C.E. Grundler

Yesterday was one of those glorious spring days, and absolutely nothing beats a boatyard in spring. After the long and brutal winter we’ve had here in the northeast, the optimism for the season ahead has everyone grinning, including my four-footed partners in crime.  Rex and Loki know their way around and they know their boatyard etiquette, though Rex’s attention span, or lack thereof, keeps him on the leash. Now I had a third kid in tow, and this was her first day in this fascinating, distracting world of boats, yard cats, and a wide river. So once again it was ‘good example dog’ Loki who had to tow the line, literally.

We’ve tried this technique with Rex, but gave up out of sympathy for Loki. Rex had a talent for wrapping Loki, and anyone else he could, into tangles that any set of ear-buds would envy. Emma, on the other hand, paced herself to Loki, exploring this new world that Loki was confidently navigating. Loki seemed to enjoy the attention he drew, walking his own personal 1/2 scale ‘mini-me,’ and introduced Emma to old friends and new. Emma wasn’t so sure what Rex or Loki had in mind with all that water, though.

 

She’ll have to think about this one a bit more.

And then it’s back to work.  I’m trying to figure out how I can train these guys to scrape the bottom. But until they learn how to wear dust masks and Tyvek suits, they have to stay home on Haz-mat days. Fortunately, we don’t have many of those left.

These guys don’t understand fiberglass dust. They only know where we’re going. These are their ‘we’re going to the boat’ faces.

 

 

Share on Facebook

Brilliant

She’s a real a museum piece. On occasion, you might hear a similar phrase when you walk the docks where you do your boating. In the case of Brilliant, it’s no exaggeration. She is a museum piece, owned and under the care of Mystic Seaport – The Museum of America and the Sea. Brilliant is also an amazing yacht. Even better, she’s a greyhound of a sailboat that still heads to open water, her sails raised, her hull heeled over as she makes way with both speed and beauty.

After spending a long New England winter in the water, cozied-up under her green canvas cover, Brilliant has been prepped for the season, her spars ready to be stepped.

This handsome schooner was built in the depths of the Depression in one of the finest yacht yards ever – Henry B. Nevins of City Island, NY – and her designer, Olin Stephens, went on to an illustrious career. Her owners, Walter Barnum, then Briggs Cunningham, and later Mystic Seaport – and her captains – maintained Brilliant to the high standard she deserves. The result is a museum artifact that is utilized and enjoyed, both as an exhibit and for her purpose – sailing.

For those who might want to keep count, that means that 83 years of sailing – and we’re talking about “put the rail in the water” sailing.

An astonishingly young Olin Stephens first gained recognition with his 1929 design Dorade, which famously campaigned in the Newport-Bermuda and Fastnet races. His designs resulted in the production of 2,200 boats, and his work can be seen in a long list of America’s Cup winners, including Ranger, Columbia, Constellation, Intrepid, Courageous, and Freedom. And among his top designs stands Brilliant, which is regarded as one of the most beautiful classic yachts in the world.

I find it interesting to think of the lasting impact of the shipwrights at the Nevins yard, or of her designer. If Stephens or Nevins were writers, you would list them among the greats. And in one important regard, Olin Stephens and Henry Nevins share a common trait with the likes of Faulkner, Wharton or Hemingway – their work extends beyond their mortal lives, their art remains and is consumed by those who appreciate their endeavors.

For those who enjoy these works, we are indebted to the librarians, curators, and, in this case, shipwrights who keep these works alive.

Early next month, Brilliant will head down river, out under the raised Bascule Bridge, beyond the Amtrak swing bridge, and into Fisher’s Island Sound and beyond, commencing and another season under sail.

All that, and a museum piece, too.

by John M. Urban

Share on Facebook

Stranded Naked Blues-Available for Pre-Order.

By Mike Jastrzebski

Stranded Naked Blues is now available for pre-order at Amazon, Barnes & Noble,           The Apple Store, and Kobo for $3.99. The actual publication and deliver date is June 14th, but if you are thinking of buying the book why not pre-order now. That way you can be one of the first to read it.

Here’s the cover picture and the description:

A Wes Darling Sailing Mystery/Thriller

Wes Darling is back in Stranded Naked Blues, the third Wes Darling Sailing Mystery/Thriller. Wes is searching for fun and possibly a little companionship when he joins hundreds of other boaters at the annual Stranded Naked Cheeseburger Beach Party on Fiddle Cay in the Bahamas. It’s all about good conversation, free food, and free drinks. The last thing Wes expects is to be drugged and to have his boat torn apart while he’s out cold.

Wes’s search for answers to why he was singled out by the beautiful woman in a skimpy bikini forces him to turn to his friend, Elvis, the phobic psychic. Wes figures good psychics are almost impossible to find, but Elvis steers Wes toward the answers. If only Elvis could have foreseen the trail of dangerous women, dead bodies, and buried treasure that would leave Wes stranded alone on a deserted island during a hurricane. When Wes realizes that not only might he lose his boat, but also his life, he sets out to find shelter with only one thought in mind, survival.

A hard boiled sailing thriller set amongst the islands and teal blue waters of the Bahamas.

To order from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, or Kobo.

.

Share on Facebook

The End . . . is often a beginning

by Christine Kling

In certain circumstances, those can be the two most beautiful words in the English language: THE END. I got to type those words this week just before I emailed off the 130,600 word manuscript of Knight’s Cross to my editors. I can’t tell you how great it felt to push SEND.

These past three weeks since we returned to Majuro have been a hard slog of heading to the forepeak office desk after breakfast and staying there until dark. I only got off the boat about 3 times in 3 weeks – a couple of times to walk the dogs on the beach and once to go out to dinner. Wayne did all the shopping and laundry and cooked all the meals. I literally felt the muscles in my legs atrophying and often woke up in the night with aching legs. I have chronic pain in my shoulders and neck from osteoarthritis, but after this last grueling marathon, it felt like it was on fire at the end of each day when I staggered back to the transom and dove into the water in the dark to try to get a little exercise and to cool off.

But in reality, ever since we returned to the boat in August, I’ve been in this drafting mode.

I am not a fast writer. In the beginning of a book, it’s always the most difficult because I don’t know my characters or my story yet. I can’t see the settings very easily and I become this machine Hoovering up knowledge so that I can fill in the blanks on the screen in my mind. By the end of the book, I know what’s going to happen and I know these folks so well, I can write faster. But as difficult as it is to get into my story in the beginning, it’s just as difficult to come back out at the end. Especially when I start the final editing and reading through. I mean I might have physically been in Majuro these past two weeks, but in my mind I was in Turkey. Wayne would ask me a question and I’d look up blinking like I’d just been awakened. I think he might have been wondering if his new wife had early onset dementia.

One of my friends on another boat here asked me if it was worth it writing to a deadline or wouldn’t I prefer to just self-publish and be my own boss and not work so hard? I’m not sure she was even asking the question she really wanted the answer to. It’s like the title of this blog that gets to that dream you have when you’re working at a 9-5 job and wishing you could just be out sailing and writing stories. The thing is, no matter how you publish, writing is hard work that takes a toll on your brain and your body, and if you don’t have any deadlines at all, you’ll never finish what you start. But would I rather be writing on a boat in the South Pacific instead of doing it between 4:00 and 6:00 a.m. before going to my day job as I did with the Seychelle books? You betcha!

I answered my friend that I think I have the best of both worlds. I absolutely love Thomas & Mercer as my publishers. They have done some wonderful promotions for my books, and I’m thrilled that they want to “strike while the iron is hot” and get the next book in the series out. I want that, too. But I do also love doing things my way. So, the next book I want to write will be number five in the Seychelle series and I will self-publish it. I had wanted to write that book a year and a half ago when I finished Dragon’s Triangle, but instead I flew off to Fiji and met this guy……..best decision I ever made. But now the time is here for a new Seychelle. I’m really looking forward to spending time with her again.

But I only have a draft of Knight’s Cross. I’m not finished yet.

Now, however, I do have a month before my editors will get the manuscript back to me, and we will start the editing. It so happens that this works perfectly with our plans.  The end of the drafting mode signals the beginning of sailing mode as we are preparing to sail back down to Fiji. But the boat hasn’t made a passage since January of 2014, so there is lots of work to get done. We’d been in town to check the mail and to make sure I had good Internet to ship the manuscript off. Wayne has been making great headway at working through his very long TO DO list, as well as checking around seeing if he can find anyone who will sell us 400 gallons of diesel,  We might be able to go onto the commercial dock, but word is that the fuel is pretty dirty there and has lots of water in it. Fortunately, Wayne has a fuel polishing system built into LEARNATIVITY. I got to go shopping for the first time in months, and I’m starting to do an inventory for provisioning.

Yesterday, we decided to come back out to Eneko for the weekend to clean the bottom.  Wayne broke out our 12-volt compressor that runs two long hoses out to scuba regulators. It’s like a double hookah rig. By the time we got started, it was already late afternoon, so I just worked on the filthy black scum at the waterline, while Wayne worked on the bottom. It had been eight months of sitting in a warm lagoon since we’d last cleaned the bottom, so it was its very own eco-system. After a couple of hours we were both exhausted, but it felt to good to be getting exercise and doing something besides sitting in a chair in front of the computer. And after that I got to cook dinner. I never thought I would see myself write that, but I miss cooking when I don’t do it.

So, as I wrote THE END on one phase of my life, I am busy shifting gears and getting us and the boat into shape to make the long passage down to Fiji. I unboxed the Iridium Go yesterday and set up an account, and I’ll be posting a blog about that next week. Unfortunately, I need the Internet to post this blog this weekend, and out here at Eneko at the moment we’ve got squat. When we get to town, I’m determined to learn how to post blogs to WordPress via email.

We’ll soon be sailing again! I can’t wait.

Fair winds!

Christine

Share on Facebook

Lost time…

C.E. Grundler

I have a book to get finished and a boat to get afloat. And dogs who want a walk, and occasionally remind me to step away from the keyboard for some fresh air. Thanks to not-so-modern but exceedingly obscure medicine, I finally have the focus and energy I need, but I also have a lot of lost time to make up for. And that’s why I don’t have a whole lot to post this week; I’ve spent the majority of my time completely immersed in my writing, and I want to be sure I reach a certain point before the weekend, when my attention switches back to the boat.

So you’ll all forgive me; at the moment I don’t have much of anything interesting to say, but I do have hours of editing ahead, Annabel Lee awaits, and I really want to get back to work.

Share on Facebook

Are we THERE yet???

C.E. Grundler

It’s been said countless times; writing is, at its core, a very solitary activity, and one of the most effective tools for getting a book complete is the simple equation of time spent with rear-end firmly planted on a solid surface and fingers on keyboard.  That’s a great thing when, as a writer, you find your activities curtailed. Just keep typing.

BUT that only gets you so far.  Stories don’t happen in a vacuum. They have settings, and while we writers may have fantastic imaginations, there’s only so far that, along with visits to Google Earth, can take you. Sometimes writing actually involves setting foot in actual locations. But that isn’t always an option, and even if it is, every time you step away from the keyboard, that’s writing time lost. What’s a writer to do?

Take the Mad Libs approach. Just throw in a place-holder. As I’ve mentioned in the past, I’m partial to these brackets: << >>. They’re easy to type, easy to spot, or round up with a search, and work for anything from <<location>> to <<emphasize distrust>> or anything else I’m not clear on or happy with. These <<useful>> brackets are invaluable for letting me maintain writing momentum. And in the process, I’ve discovered other benefits to this approach.

As I wrote, I wasn’t able to travel to the places I’d chosen. Frustrating, yes, but then again, I’m not sure how many visits Tolkien paid to Middle Earth, so I didn’t let it stop me. I simply threw in yet another <<TBD>> and just kept typing. The story evolved, developed, grew. Chapters were cut, others emerged in their place. Characters and settings from the first draft stepped out of the picture, while others became critical to the story. If a location changed, it was no big deal. It’s easier to edit these <<TBD>> into the story then change what’s already been determined on the page. And I realize now that had I been able to drop everything, jump in the car and head down the shore, (yeah, that is how we say it around here in Jersey,) 3/4 of those destinations would have never made the final cut. Much of the geography I’d planned to include didn’t work anymore, didn’t need to be there. And in the end, those placeholders saved me the time and expense of travelling to research ultimately un-used locations, time spent writing pages that would ultimately be cut, and let me instead focus on the big picture.

Share on Facebook

Spring at Last

by John M. Urban

Winter’s end on our front lawn – the last of the season’s snow hung on all the way to Opening Day at Fenway Park.

It’s amusing, and predictable, to learn of babies born nine months following a major regional power outage. Given this logic, obstetricians may want to ready their schedules following the recent break of Spring that followed the longest winter in memory. December thru March, everyone in the northern half of the country was busy shoveling snow, raking roofs, and buying ice melt. Finally, though, we have time to relax and enjoy.

All that winter hardship is now in the past and it’s time to enjoy life fully, smell the roses and get the outdoor grille going. Yes, the sun is out, the days are long, and warmer temps are upon us. It hit 70-degrees in Boston this past weekend, the trees are blossoming in DC, and the mid-west is similarly breaking from the cold.

And as far as the obstetricians? Get out the calendars and do some math, I think we may be looking at an all-time record for January babies come 2016.

There are other important activities ahead, as well. Writing stories would be one form, readying a boat for the season another. With my days now spent at Mystic Seaport, I am seeing a lot of the latter. I hope the below photos add joy to your sense that the spring season is now upon us.

(Western-style Dragger Florence)

(Grand Banks Dory alongside the LA Dunton)

(The Amistad, which was was built at Mystic Seaport and then featured in the Steven Spielberg movie of the same name)

(Some small boats prepped for the season)

(Youth sailing dinghies at the ready)

(Tall ship spars of the Joseph Conrad and Charles W. Morgan in the distance)

Yes, there is much work to be done. Canvas covers are coming off, paint and varnish are being applied, and sails and spars are being rigged. Come to think of it, with all this time spent readying boats, maybe the obstetricians won’t need to worry.

We’ll just have to wait and see.

In any case, Happy Spring 2016!

Share on Facebook

Free book offer

By Mike Jastrzebski

It’s not all about the writing. Right now I’m spending more time getting ready to publish Stranded Naked Blues than I am actually writing. For instance, in the past three years I haven’t done much to generate a mailing list so I’ve spent the last two weeks redoing my web site and setting up a mailing list signup form. I’m offering a free copy of my psychological thriller, Mind Demons,  to anyone who signs up to my Readers’ List. Just go to my web site to sign up and get your free book. Here’s the link: www.mikejastrzebski.com.

Share on Facebook