Tim Greaton's Blog, page 5

Interview with author P.L. Blair about her Portals fantasy series....

  
Today, P.L. Blair joins us in the forum. She’s here to talk about her fabulous Portals fantasy series, in which there are already four books. We've got a lot of ground to cover, so we better get started :-)
Tim Greaton: It’s great to have you here, P.L. You and I have been hanging around the same writers’ circles for several years, and I know a lot of our common friends have known you even longer than I have. You must have a long background the literary world?
P.L. Blair: I've never really had a non-writing background. I decided early on – around age 7 or 8 – that I wanted to write books when I “grew up” (whenever that will be). Then around junior high school age, I figured I really needed to do something that would earn money, so I started writing for the school newspaper, took journalism classes in high school and college and graduated with associate's and bachelor's degrees in journalism. Then I started writing for newspapers – and still do, occasionally, but it's no longer a full-time job.
 
Tim Greaton: I have to believe that someone was behind your young literary interest. Am I right?
P.L. Blair: One of the most influential people in my life was my grandfather. I was raised by my grandparents, and Daddy – my maternal grandfather – taught me to read by reading to me. I can still remember sitting in Daddy's lap while he read stories to me about Uncle Wiggly (one of my favorite childhood literary characters) or the Pokey Little Puppy. Besides teaching me to read, those sessions were a wonderful bonding experience, and I really wish more parents had time – or would take the time – to read to their kids.
From Daddy, I learned about the wonderful, awesome worlds that books open. And I guess part of the reason I became a writer was because I loved the stories so much – and could never get enough of them – so it just seemed natural to me that I create my own.
Tim Greaton: What do you do when you’re not creating books?
P.L. Blair: I do have a few interests other than writing. I love history, paleontology, geology. I read every book on those subjects that I can get my hands on. I paint occasionally – nothing spectacular, but I enjoy doing landscapes and seascapes. Probably because I have animals, I prefer acrylics to oils – it's easier to clean up spills.
I'm also horse-crazy – have been since I was a kid. These days, I research American Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred pedigrees as a hobby.
Tim Greaton: You mentioned that you have pets. Could you tell us about them?
P.L. Blair: I love dogs and cats – have three of the former and one of the latter. All are rescues – a basset hound, a dachshund, a part-Jack Russell terrier (aka the jackrabbit terror) and a tortoiseshell cat.
Tim Greaton: When you’re not chasing your furry friends around the house, what genres do you read?
P.L. Blair: I read a lot of fantasy and detective novels (my Portals books are a blend of those two genres). But my reading tends to be eclectic – everything from biographies to romances, depending on what strikes my fancy at any given time.
 
Tim Greaton: What comment about your novels makes you smile the most?
P.L. Blair: I love when readers from Corpus Christi, Texas – the setting for my books – tell me that they recognize places based on my descriptions.
Tim Greaton: You seem to have gathered an unusual audience for a genre writer. Could you explain what I mean?
P.L. Blair: A lot of my readers say they don't like fantasy or detective novels – then they tell me that they like my books. I think maybe it's because my books are set in modern day, and I try to ground them in as much reality as possible. There is magic, of course, but I've established rules by which it operates. I kind of have a theory that, the more “far out” or impossible something sounds – such as magic – the more it needs to “sound” plausible. I think if I want my tales to be believable, I've got to give my readers a basis for belief.
I also like to make my stories fun. The subject is serious – I write about murderers, after all – but I try to inject humor where I can between my characters. I try to keep them real by giving them little idiosyncrasies … Kat tosses her trash in the back seat of her car, for example, and Tevis won't drive a car because he views them as 2,000-pound projectiles.
Tim Greaton: Do you have a lot of past works stacked up and waiting to be finished?

P.L. Blair: I do have a “couple” of projects that I've put on hold – half-formed ideas … books that I've put aside so I can focus on my Portals books … I don't know if I'll go back to them. They haven't called to me yet.
Tim Greaton: You have a fearless nature about you. Have you always been that way?
Be sure to see the rest of P.L. Blair's thought-provoking interview at http://timgreatonforum.blogspot.com  

Star Trek is getting closer....

Let's talk about space today. More importantly, let's talk about the tiny leap forward--or would that be upward--that took place on March 7th, 2013. That was the day that SpaceX's 10-story test rocket Grasshopper took it's fourth test flight, blasting 263 feet into the air, hovering for 34 seconds and then settling comfortably back to the center of its concrete launch pad in Galveston, Texas.

(Photo: curtesy of SpaceX): http://www.spacex.com/press.php?page=20130310
So what exactly is the big deal about all of this?

SpaceX is seeking to build the world's first reusable rocket, one that can launch spaceships into space and then settle back down to Earth, ready for a quick cleaning and maintenance before doing it all over again. But again why, you ask?

It's all about making space flight affordable. It only costs about $200,000 for the fuel to launch a rocket into space. Unfortunately, the rockets capable of doing that jettison their depleted fuel sections along the way and ultimately burn up in the atmosphere on the way down. The cost of that self-sectioning rocket: 60 million dollars. To avoid that needless waste would be a collosal savings.

By perfecting this re-landing technology, SpaceX will be able to cut the cost of every trip down to mere peanuts. People would be able to launch into space at a whim, maybe to have afternoon coffee in the foyer of the new Bigelow Space Hotel or to play a round of lunar golf on Newt Gingrich's planned moon colony (he says boots on lunar soil are possible by 2020).

So what we are seeing is the systematic approach of a new space-faring future. A Star Trek universe is coming, and I for one am jumping with glee every time a new step forward is made.

If you're excited about the new futuristic technologies or are a space-tech or sci-fi/fantasy fan, drop me a note here on the blog. I'd love to follow your blog, too. Also, join me on Facebook and connect on Twitter. I'm Tim Greaton everywhere, and I'd love to make a ton of new geek friends :-)




 

Interview with fantasy author Mike Bailey about his novel "What Have We Done? The Dragon Chronicles"....

 
  
 
 Okay, everyone. We’re in for a forum treat today, because Mike Bailey is about to share his unique opinions about all things literature. He’s also going to be talking about his first novel What Have We Done? The Dragon Chronicles.
 
Tim Greaton: Well, let’s get right into it, Mike. You have one of the most unique childhood stories of any author I know. Could you explain to our readers what I mean?

Mike Bailey: I ran away from home as a young teenager, stylizing myself after the main character from a book I had read called My Side Of The Mountain. For several years I lived “off the land” in a very small town surrounded by many miles of dairy farms. I had complete and total freedom and learned many life lessons, often the hard way. During this time I managed to stay in school. While I did not finish high school at the time, I did go back and continued on to obtain a college degree as well. Many years later, I re-read that book and found that while my experiences were not much like those in the book, the lessons learned were very similar.
Tim Greaton: Other than your writing, you have an impressive list of hobbies that actually generate income. How does that work?
Mike Bailey: (he smiles) I do have many hobbies. I am a spray paint artist (not a tagger) and often do live shows and exhibits where I paint in front of people. Generally, artists in this genre paint on posterboard, but I have been known to paint everything from bedroom ceilings and walls, to cars, to snow boards, to motorcycle helmets to…well anything I can get my hands on.
I’m a tattoo artist and body piercer with over 25 years’ experience, and I specialize in custom fantasy style pieces. I particularly love doing steampunk inspired pieces.
My wife and I collect (and sell) all manner of ‘silent’ or bladed weaponry. We currently have a collection of several hundred knives, swords, daggers, whips, axes, spears, etc.
I have also recently begun to delve into airbrush painting although this is a brand new hobby for me.
Tim Greaton: Whew! It’s amazing that you find any time to write. What kinds of books do you read?
Mike Bailey: I haven’t had much time to read the last few years but typically I stick to the fantasy and sci-fi genres. Isaac Asimov and Edgar Rice Burrows are my favorite authors.
Tim Greaton: It’s not surprising that with you being an artist people would find your writing visual, but your readers say it goes beyond that. Could you explain what I mean?
Mike Bailey: I often hear that my writing is progressive and enticing, almost erotic....
Be sure to see the rest of Mike Bailey's titillating interview at www.TimGreatonForum.blogspot.com

Vampires and Mormons are the same thing....

Whoa, please don't roll over me with a religious paving wheel just yet. I have spent a fair amount of time in Mormon churches and, though I am not nor have ever been a member, I have found the people in its congregations to be among the most sincere, least hypocritical and kindest I have yet to meet. Unfortunately, that doesn't change the fact that a very well-known family of vampires were based on a real-life Mormon family.

We are obviously talking about Stephanie Meyer's Cullen family from the enormously popular Twilight Saga. If you remember, they are the vamps who don't drink blood and who genuinely seem to care about the humans around them. Stephanie Meyer comes from a devout Mormon family, and in a recent interview she says she subconsciously imbued the Cullins with the same close-knit unity and moral virtuosity that she had grown up around.

In many ways, I think this is one of the most exciting features of the hybrid fiction that is making its way to mainstream pop culture. Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Hunger Games are other great examples of fantastic, otherworldly stories being humanized in unique ways. I, for one, hope we see many more Twilight-style successes in our future.







If you'd like to read more about Stephanie Meyer, she did a fabulous interview with Oprah Winfrey. You can find it here:
    

Interview with author Kim Mullican about her novel Yoder's Farm....

 
 
   
 
Today, Kim Mullican has joined us in the forum to talk about her Amish novel Yoder’s Farm as well as as well as a horrifying real childhood event and lots of other great stuff. Let’s not keep her waiting. 

Tim Greaton: Hi, Kim. It’s great to have you with us today. Now, some interviews start off slower than others, but I absolutely have to jump right in and ask you why you pause with a distant look in your eyes before talking about one particular relative?

Kim Mullican: I was brought up on a farm where hard work was a way of life. I always knew my grandfather was a little crazy, but when the FBI raided our farm, I discovered just how crazy he was. He was hauled off in shackles. That moment changed me forever.
 
Tim Greaton: That had to be shocking. But you’re close to your father, aren’t you?
Kim Mullican: My father is a dreamer. He always encouraged me to fight for what you want and to reach for the stars. He’s now my biggest fan. He travels the US talking about my books every chance he gets. 
  
Tim Greaton: In the interest of digging up the juiciest stuff, what do you think our readers would find most surprising about you?
Kim Mullican: I am an avid angler. My husband and I spent our honeymoon at a state park in Southern Indiana and spent nearly every waking moment on the boat fishing. While many women would cringe at the thought of smelling like fish, having dirt under your nails and wearing no make-up at all, for me it was the perfect honeymoon. My husband planned the perfect honeymoon for us as a couple. It was great bonding time.
I’m also a compulsive baker, which my friends love, but my scale does not. I find it comforting and therapeutic for some reason. I think it stems from growing up poor and hungry. I’m always trying to feed people . . . sometimes against their will.
Tim Greaton: It’s obvious that you are a strong person. Where do you think that comes from?
Kim Mullican: Growing up on a farm, I learned early on about hard work and work ethic. You certainly could not skip feeding the animals or tending the garden. If the zombie apocalypse ever happens, I will be able to survive off the land, shoot with precision and fashion a bomb out of duct tape, peanuts and a fuse. Okay, maybe the last part is more of a MacGyver fantasy, but you get the point.

Tim Greaton: A lot of us are guilty of stuffing failed projects into a drawer and revisiting them every once in a while. That’s not true for you, though, is it?
Kim Mullican: Oh no… I have no drawer. If something sucks, I trash it. I erase all evidence of it on my computer and refuse to discuss it again. I prefer denial. A good dose of denial can be healthy. Right?
Tim Greaton: But you haven’t really destroyed every single past work, have you?
Be sure to see the rest of Kim's spectacular interview at the Tim Greaton Forum
 
 

Will you visit the REAL Jurassic Park?

Did you know that DNA resurrections of extinct animals are already underway? In 2011, a team of scientists in Japan announced that they expect to be able to clone a woolly mammoth within the next 5 years. This may sound as far-fetched as the original premise for Stephen Spielberg's Jurassic Park movies, but it's not as crazy as you might think.

One of the reasons that the woolly mammoths are an attractive target for cloning--besides being huge and just otherworldly enough to generate gazillions of dollars in video, news and zoo viewing sales--is that many complete corpses of this species have been found in the frozen tundra in various countries. On several occasions, the woolly mammoth flesh was so well-preserved that the discoverers reported a musky animal smell and that the flesh was fresh enough it could have been thawed and cut into steaks.

So what is involved with cloning an extinct species and why hasn't it been done yet? In short, DNA is a very complicated set of blueprints from which any organic body is built. As more and more time passes, those DNA blueprints break down and are no longer readable or usable at our current level of science. Hence, the reason most scientists doubt that dinosaurs will ever be resurrected. However, woolly mammoths are another thing entirely. We are talking about relatively young DNA, say between 6,000 and 30,000 years old. Add the permafrost preservations, and it's almost as though these massive and amazing creatures passed away in our backyard last night.

So how will this work? First of all, working with the woolly mammoths is not exactly an easy challenge. Even their relatively fresh DNA blueprints are blurry and incomplete. Scientists are attempting to overcome that by piecing together DNA from dozens of specimens around the world, with the hope that together they will form a mostly complete puzzle. Then, like in the Jurassic Park movies, they intend to use DNA from the closest living species to complete the blueprint. In the case of the woolly mammoths, Asian elephants will likely provide both the missing DNA links and the wombs to be impregnated with clone embryos.

So, really, what are the chances? No one can truly answer that, but most scientists agree that it's not just possible but very likely that many lost species will find their way back to life. The Japanese science team may not hit their 5-year goal, and it may actually be another scientist or group of scientists that achieves their desired feat, but it seems almost certain that at some point in the not too distant future woolly mammoths will roam the earth once again.

What other animals might we see rise from the dead? We've already discussed that the truly ancient species like dinosaurs, giant insects and other massive creatures from millions of years back (when higher oxygen levels in the atmosphere supported colossal bodies) will be unable to return, but there are tens of thousands of other creatures that may have a chance. And many of them have DNA preserved in laboratory freezers around the world. We could definitely see the dodo bird again, and the woolly rhinoceros. We might also find what were once the world's largest birds, the moas, racing across our soils. Though these massive wingless birds went extinct over 600 years ago, they are just odd enough to have audience value. Cloning efforts on recovered eggshells are already underway.

The big question is what do we do with these lost brethren if and when they come back? Though some creatures were hunted to nonexistence, often by humans, most species are gone because our world changed so much that they could no longer survive. And let's remember that many extinct species have gone the way of the Tasmanian tiger, the passenger pigeon and the Carolina parakeet, all of which were not only unable to thrive in the wild any longer, they were also unable to survive in captivity. The last of each of those species actually died in zoos.

In short, the most likely extinct creatures to return to life are the ones with the highest audience appeal, the ones people are most likely to pay large sums to see living and breathing again. Is it any wonder that the woolly mammoth is first and foremost among those extinct prizes?


   

Interview with Rick Gualtieri, author of the comical horror series The Tome of Bill....

Today, I am teeming with anticipation at having Rick Gualtieri with me in the forum. For those of you who haven’t heard, he is the hilarious, bestselling author of The Tome of Bill series. One of my sisters had already read the first three books before begging me to invite him for an interview.
 


Tim Greaton: Rick, I feel we may as well roll out the dirty laundry first. I’ve heard rumors that you have drawn a pretty stern line with certain people. Is that true?

Rick Gualtieri: It absolutely is. I am a rabid Transformers fan. I have the comics, the toys, the movies, heck I even have a Decepticon symbol tattooed on my right shoulder (and no, I’m not sending pics :-). I’m a bad person to take to Toys R Us because I ALWAYS disappear down that aisle. I’m that strange man who’s there picking up the boxes and pretending to read the price tag, while secretly looking at the character bios.

I’m constantly on my guard, protecting my collection from their worst possible enemy...my kids. As I’ve told them many times, “Boys, see these? These are daddy’s prized possessions. One day, though, daddy will be gone and when that happens...well don’t get any bright ideas. Daddy’s being buried with them all!”
 Tim Greaton: What kinds of books do you gravitate towards?
Rick Gualtieri: I mostly read horror and techno thrillers, with some fantasy and sci-fi thrown in. If it has a monster in it, chances are I’ve read it or have it on my to-read list. A few of my favorite authors include: Stephen King, Jim Butcher, Douglas Preston, and Lincoln Child. Tim Greaton: Are they in the same genres in which you write? Rick Gualtieri: There is some overlap. Currently I write in both the horror and comedy genres (with maybe an additional genre out there under a pen name), with a future book planned that probably falls into paranormal action / adventure. I write stories that I would want to read, but I don’t necessarily always read in those genres - if that even makes sense.

Tim Greaton: You came to a turning point in your past. Could you tell us about that?
Rick Gualtieri: College for me felt like my first taste of actual living. My life before then was okay, not exactly a horror story in of itself, but, generally speaking, through a combination of my home life, being an introvert, and a few other factors, I wasn’t particularly happy. It took me a while, but eventually I was able to climb out of my shell, join some campus organizations, and meet some great friends. My last two years of school really shaped the person that I am today, and I think that’s reflected in my writing (especially the snarky parts). It’s also where I started having some pretty awesome adventures...at least a few of which have made it to the pages of my books. Which ones? That’d be telling.
Tim Greaton: When readers provide feedback about your books, what do you most like to hear?
Rick Gualtieri: I think the best compliments are those that say I’ve given someone exactly what they’re hoping for from a book, i.e. either a scare or a laugh. That last one is especially awesome. Comedy is hard to write. Just because one writes a joke and thinks it’s the funniest thing ever, it doesn’t mean a reader will even crack a smirk at it. That’s my biggest fear with my horror/comedy series: putting out an unfunny book. I’m grateful that I’ve gotten many comments along the lines of “laugh out-loud funny”. Getting something like that is both an incredible compliment as well as a huge relief. That I was able to bring a smile to someone’s face is just icing on the cake.
Tim Greaton: I heard a rumor that you’ve got some great outdoors stories. Could you share one of those?
Rick Gualtieri: Several years ago, I went canoeing with a group of friends. We were supposed to go hiking, but one of them had a sprained knee. I’ve never been too big on being out in the water, so I was mostly griping about it the entire way. One of my friends said to me, “Oh come on! You have to admit this is better than being on a train back to Hoboken” (Where I went to school).
I answered, “I’ll get back to you on that.”
A short while later the ‘fun’ started. I was paddling at the bow of our canoe one moment, the next thing I knew I was underwater. The person sitting behind me had leaned over to look at a fish and capsized us. I surfaced underneath the now upside down canoe, to cries of my friends yelling for me. They thought I had drowned...but fate wasn’t quite done tenderizing me yet.
Instead, I got the canoe off of me just as we entered some rapids. Ten minutes later, having been bounced off of multiple rocks like a human pinball, I caught sight of my friend from earlier. He had been in the same boat and was likewise in the water doing a good impression of a bug being smashed against a windshield
“Just for the record,” I yelled, still being dragged by the current,

“I’d rather be on that train back to Hoboken!”
His response, “Me too!”
See the rest of Rick's brilliant interview at http://timgreatonforum.blogspot.com/2013/03/interview-with-rick-gualtieri-hilarious.html 

Do you have free solar panels on your house yet?

Back in the 1990s, Germany embarked upon a national solar power program. After the Fukushima  Daiichi nuclear plant disaster, caused by 2011's Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, Japan too has proclaimed a desire to move away from nuclear power.


(Photo: compliment of SolarCity website at http://www.solarcity.com/residential/how-solar-works.aspx)
Now for my readers who are hopping up and down about the statistical safety of nuclear power, I'm not here to argue that it is either good or bad. In fact, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster may well have killed no one. It's true, the earthquake and subsequent tsunami killed somewhere between 16,000 and 20,000 people, but the official estimates of radiation and nuclear plant related deaths range from somewhere between 0 and 100. Japanese health officials further state that the long-term cancer risk to Japanese children in the radiation impact zone has been increased by only one percent. 

The original point is that Germany's advanced solar program has brought them to a point where, at sunlight peak on some days, solar power now provides upwards of 50% of the power they need at any given moment. It is not uncommon for solar power to provide 20% of their energy needs over a 24-hour period. In short, for them solar power is making a huge difference. Japan may soon move in the same direction.

But what about the United States? That's what we're here to talk about.

By now, you're all aware that I'm a novice tech buff...or a geek in many circles. Some of you might also know that I spent three years in a failed battle with a northeast utility company fighting the installation of HIGHER voltage power lines through some residential neighborhoods and beside a school in my area. Throughout that fight, I presented legal briefs, made technical arguments, spoke at legislative hearings and conducted cross-examinations of witnesses, including a certain utility-tied, preeminent electromagnetic expert. I'm thinking he found that session quite grueling if not a little embarrassing. I was able to do all of that simply by researching not just electromagnetic fields but also the U.S. electrical production and distribution system, which is expensive, antiquated, inefficient and in some cases just plain dangerous.

Of course, this all leads to a simple pitch for solar power. Why? Because, contrary to many beliefs, solar voltaic technology is already advanced, stable and has proven itself to effectively provide power to both large commercial sites as well as to single-family homes. It is also affordable (free to install in many parts of the country through solar leasing companies). Let's talk about specifics.

So what do these systems cost? That answer varies tremendously from home to home, and of course is largely determined by the features installed. SolarCity's installations average $27,000-ish. Some homeowners claim to have purchased all the parts needed for a full self-installation for somewhere in the low teens.

But the option I wanted to focus on is leasing. If you live in a state where SolarCity, SunRun, Sungevity or other companies install leased solar panels, you can save money while also having a full solar voltaic system installed on your home...for nothing down. Literally, you invest zero but your savings begin as soon as the panels are installed. With these leases, you simply make a lower energy payment than before to the solar leasing company instead of to your previous electrical provider. Your lease includes maintenance and can be extended indefinitely as well as passed from homeowner to homeowner. In most markets, that would be a sales advantage.

I don't know the average homeowner's energy cost savings, but any amount would be a good amount. SolarCity says that if you pay at least $115 in electricity, there will be a savings through them. 

So how do you find a solar energy leasing company? Here are the websites for the three largest in the country:

SolarCity http://www.solarcity.com/, SunRun http://www.sunrunhome.com/sunrun-advantage/how-sunrun-works/sunrun-total-solar/, Sungevity  http://www.sungevity.com/.

You could probably find others in your area simply by doing an internet search for "solar energy lease providers." Home Depot, Lowe's and probably other home improvement chains have arrangements with many providers, so you might start by asking your local store how to get a savings and installation estimate.

Of course, you can also purchase a solar energy system outright, and you might even choose to install it yourself. That means shouldering the entire cost up front or arranging for financing, but with the federal solar tax credit, it would certainly be the most cost-effective method in the long run. However, it is a little daunting for most homeowners and would require you to maintain the equipment, which is pretty good but sometimes can fail.   

To wrap things up, we have all been walking the slow-step when it comes to technology change. But the new techtrepreneurs are quickly changing that, and maybe it's time we stepped into the revolutionary currents sweeping across our world. Space exploration, virtual reality, jetpacks, electric cars and, yes, solar energy to power our homes are all becoming mainstream. Support these new industries...especially when they can improve your life and save you money.

Why not pick up the phone and call a solar energy company now?

 

Want to fly your jetpack to work? They're here!

The Martin Jetpack has been a novelty aerospace item since the early-2000s. You might have seen them being tested on TV news programs, science forums and there have even been fair-style rides where the unit was tethered to the ground by men on either side. But we're not talking about those early years. Instead, we're talking about a real-world functional piece of flying technology that would have left Leonardo da Vinci and thousands of other engineering and flight aficionados pressing their foreheads to the ground in thankful meditation and prayer.

 In 2013, inquiries are being accepted from military and large commercial companies who are willing to purchase the packs (for a reported $100,000 each) with a beta-testing rider, which simply means that this functional wonder now needs to have many thousands of test hours in real-world conditions to be deemed safe in the mainstream. By selling these to only government and commercial entities with a limited "test" liability, the Martin company will be able to fine tune any bugs so that they can start shifting the units to the masses, hopefully in 2014. A couple of interesting little facts about these amazing units: First, they are not actually jetpacks; they're actually more like fan-driven, personal hovercrafts with gasoline engines. They use a person-to-computer-to-jetpack interface, which simply means that the pilot provides input to a computer, which then safely controls the flight...sort of like autopilot on steroids. The packs themselves are about 5 feet tall, 5 1/2 feet wide and weigh just shy of 300 pounds. You have to use the legs for landing because the average person could not control that much weight. The controls can be set to a maximum height, so that the pilot does not accidentally go to high, which is particularly handy because flying over a certain altitude requires a parachute for safe landing. Apparently, upside-down and face-first landings are frowned upon. Lower altitude flights can land just fine using just the gasoline driven fans.  So what could you do with your own personal jetack...other than make payments I mean? Well, one of these units can reportedly travel 60 miles per hour. It has enough fuel for 30 continuous minutes of flight, which if you do a little quick math means that you could make a one-way trip 30 miles before refueling, or you could make a fifteen-mile trip and return before settling down at your neighborhood gas pump.  I say we should all save up for our Jetsons-style transportation that could be available to everyone as early as 2014. In the meantime, buy stock in the company, if for no other reason than to make sure the units make it to the mass production line :-) Finally, the future we have been waiting for has arrived...at least part of it. We still have to wait a bit on the human-like robot servants and restaurants in space :-) Be sure to check out the great videos at the Martin Jetpack website. Needless to say, I'm a huge fan of the company and the product. http://martinjetpack.com/   

L.M. Boelz, author of Syeribus Creatures of the Night, joins us for an interview....

 
Today, in the Forum, Lin Boelz is here to talk about her novels and stories. I have a feeling we’re in for an interesting interview.
Lin. Lin, would you like to have a seat now?
 

Tim Greaton: Seriously, it’s great to have you here, Lin. I have often compared the process of creating a story to preparing a stew. This analogy works particularly well for someone with your interests, doesn’t it?

Lin Boelz: I do love cooking. In my spice cabinet alone I have over 140 different spices. Recently I have gotten into making my own canned goods and cheese. Rather than your stew comparison, I would probably say cake. I love baking. I have gone so far as to order ingredients from Africa, England and India to bake a recipe that caught my eye.

Tim Greaton: Your mother had a difficult childhood that turned into a fascinating method of raising children. Could you tell us about that?

Lin Boelz: My mom lost her mother when she was five and was adopted by an aunt who had no children of her own. Her aunt turned out to be like Cinderella’s evil stepmother. Consequently, my mother’s childhood was filled with all work and no play. As a result, when she had kids of her own, she made up for lost time. When Dad would leave for work, the four of us, including Mom, would play hide and seek and tag in the house. Yes in the house, running and jumping on furniture.

Tim Greaton: So when you weren’t all running and playing together, did your family have any difficult times?

Lin Boelz: I remember one Christmas when my dad had lost his job. We barely had enough money for rent and a few groceries. That year, we all drew pictures and wrapped them in homemade paper. Though hard at the time, it is the Christmas that we now remember fondly and talk about the most. We learned that it is not what you own on the outside but what you own on the inside that matters: the gift of family love stays with a person for a lifetime.

Tim Greaton: We’ve already talked about your international recipe fetish. Do you have any other pastimes that you’d like to share?

Lin Boelz: Gardening is another of my hobbies; it ties in well with my cooking. I have started an herb garden and use the herbs to make medicine instead of taking manmade drugs. I also have a soapwort plant; I make soap out of the roots. I like to be close with nature.

Tim Greaton: People often say your writing makes it easy to visualize themselves in your scenes, which is a tremendous compliment. But there’s another comment you often hear. What is that?

Lin Boelz (grins mischievously): Some readers say I have a dark side.

Tim Greaton: I know you have a some works currently with retailers. What are those?

Lin Boelz: In all, I have nine short stories, a variety puzzle book, and two novels currently available. Syeribus Creatures of the Night is a two-book series. Vampire Dolls is a standalone novel.

Tim Greaton: So what else can readers expect in the near future?

Lin Boelz: I have two novels and short stories coming out by the end of April. I’m having an especially great time producing one project I pulled out of moth balls recently. It’s called my Prepper & Survival E-zine, where I share what I have learned about preparing for short- and long-term disasters.

Tim Greaton: Writers are always fun to hang out with because they seem to have the best stories about their pasts. Something happened to you when you were seventeen. Do you remember what I’m talking about?
 See the rest of Lin Boelz fascinating interview right now at  www.TimGreatonForum.blogspot.com