S. Evan Townsend's Blog, page 63

Free Treasure of the Black Hole

Today and tomorrow,  Treasure of the Black Hole , book one in the "Treasures of Space" trilogy, will be free on Kindle.

This is to celebrate the release of Treasure of the Rogue Moon , the last book in the series. Get your copy now!

And don't forget the second book in the trilogy, Treasure of the Pirate Planet !

The Speculative Fiction Cantina with Wesley Thomas and John Pyka

Today on the Speculative Fiction Cantina we are proud to welcome writers Wesley Thomas and John Pyka.
Wesley ThomasWesley Thomas

Wesley Thomas is a bestselling horror author, freelance writer, business owner, and avid blogger. His obsession with all things horror has led many of his short horror stories to be published in anthologies, magazines, e-zines, and on popular websites. He strives to scare, thrill, and entertain.

Wesley's Books:


GORE ZONE

Where Does Crazy Start?

Succubus

Wesley's Links:

Website
Blog
Facebook
Twitter

John PykaJohn Pyka AKA “Big Daddy Cool”

For over 20 years John Pyka has set himself apart as an entertainer with his patented fusion of magic, music, and larger than life characters!

John Pyka is best known for his work onstage as a new vintage variety artist, fusing music and magic with comedy and dance in a 1920s – 1940s style in what is described as “Dieselpunk.” He can be seen performing in theaters, at festivals and conventions around the country.

He is also the author of 4 books on magic, including the best-seller Theatrical Magic . His first novel, Tales From the Flip-Side is published by Pro Se Press and available wherever books are sold – also available as an audiobook!

John is also the producer and host of the Dieselpunk Podcast, THE Voice of Dieselpunk on iTunes and Stitcher. He is also the producer and host of the weekly YouTube show The Roll N Go Game Review Show.

John's Books:

Tales From The Flip-Side 

Magic 101 (non-fiction)

Theatrical Magic (non-fiction)

John's Links:

Website
Blog
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram

From Today's Program: A Renegade Speeding Black Hole.

Listen to today's program at 6:00 PM ET / 3:00 PM PT, or in archive here.

Free Treasure of the Black Hole

Today, tomorrow and Sunday, Treasure of the Black Hole , book one in the "Treasures of Space" trilogy, will be free on Kindle.

This is to celebrate the release of Treasure of the Rogue Moon , the last book in the series. Get your copy now!

And don't forget the second book in the trilogy, Treasure of the Pirate Planet !

My Bicycles

Back to the "52 week blogging challenge" and this week's prompt is "What I Miss Most About My Childhood."

That's got to be bicycle riding.

I had three bikes as a kid. A little red one I learned to ride on, a blue Schwinn Stingray (I think it looked a lot like this), and a yellow Schwinn 10-speed. I rode those bike everywhere in the small towns where I grew up. When I got the 10-speed I would try to keep up with cars. I sometimes could depending on traffic.

There was such a feeling of freedom on a bicycle. And it felt as if your muscles were being multiplied ten times by the bike to make you go faster. Especially on that 10 speed. I'd use fifth gear for starting and 10th gear for cruising. Some people never seemed to get it out of first gear (you could tell by how fast they were pedaling). I only used gears lower than fifth for steep hills.

Then I got my drivers license and bicycles were replaced by cars. But sometimes I miss the wind-in-the-hair fun of the bicycle. If I had any hair left.

What do you miss most about your childhood?

I Can Drive 85

Last week I visited Idaho. I knew Idaho had an 80 mph speed limit on their rural interstate highways. But it's different to know something and to experience it. As soon as I crossed the Snake River which, at that point, demarks the border between Oregon and Idaho, I saw the speed limit sign: 80 mph (70 mph for trucks).

Last year Oregon raised the speed limit on their rural interstates (east of The Dalles) to 70 mph from 65 mph. So the jump in speed limit was only 10 mph. But what a difference those ten miles per hour make. I tacked on my customary 5 mph and set the cruise control for 85.

The first thing I noticed was my car seemed to love it. It cruised along at 85 mph with no drama for fuss. The only time it had problems was where the pavement was grooved and the tires wanted to follow the grooves.

Also, there were perhaps 1/4th of the cars on the road going over the speed limit at all. Quite a few were going under it. I also didn't see any police doing speed enforcement. Perhaps it doesn't pay when so few cars are exceeding the limit.

And not all the trucks were doing 70 mph. But I know that some trucking companies will govern their trucks at 65 or even 60. That meant you had to pay attention because you came up on trucks fast. It was tempting to stay in the left lane but occasionally a vehicle would want to pass me (this happened twice).

Another thing was that sometimes I'll speed up for short periods to pass cars that are going just a little slower than I and I think might pull into the left lane soon (to pass a slower vehicle). It was very easy to find yourself doing 90 mph when you start at 85 mph.

I remember when these same interstate highways were set at 55 mph due to the idiotic National Maximum Speed Limit (NMSL) set by Congress in 1974. In 1986 states could raise the limit to 65 on "rural" interstates. Then in 1994 the NMSL was appealed and states could once again set their own limits. But from 55 mph to 80 mph is nearly a 50% increase. I remember driving from Boise to Twin Falls and it was a miserable, long drive. At 85 mph it seemed to take nearly no time at all. And the drive was enjoyable because I was challenged, not bored.

I did see one bad accident. But it was were the speed limit was 65. I found a story about it and speed had nothing to do with it but it was caused by driver stupidity.

It made me wish my state (Washington) would raise their speed limit to at least 75 or 80. It felt so good to go that fast with little or no worry about getting a ticket.

The one downside was that your gas mileage suffered. But that's a small price to pay.

The Speculative Fiction Cantina with Jeff Provine and Benjamin Gorman

Today on the Speculative Fiction Cantina we are pleased to welcome writers Jeff Provine and Benjamin Gorman.

Jeff ProvineJeff Provine

I’m a farm kid from out in the flats of Northwest Oklahoma, where there wasn’t too much to do, but ever claiming to be bored would lead to chores, so we learned to entertain ourselves. I published my first book, the first "Celestial Voyages" novel, in college, and I’ve been writing ever since with works in anthologies, my webcomic "The Academy," and my blogging project "This Day in Alternate History." In 2009, I started a ghost walk for charity at the University of Oklahoma, telling hidden history and spooky stories about campus. After over 4,000 visitors, it’s still going strong, and I’ve followed it up with two more local walking tours and four collections of Oklahoma ghost stories: Campus Ghosts of Norman, Haunted Norman, Haunted Guthrie, and Haunted Oklahoma City. By day, I’m a curriculum developer and lecturer, teaching classes in Creative Writing and The History of Comic Books.

Jeff's Books:

Tales of Wonder (anthology)

Haunted Oklahoma City (nonfiction)

Hellfire

Jeff's Links:

Website
Blog
Facebook
Twitter
Tumblr

Benjamin GormanBenjamin Gorman

Benjamin Gorman is a high school English teacher. He lives in Independence, Oregon, with his wife, Paige, and their son, Noah. His novels are The Sum of Our Gods, Corporate High School, and The Digital Storm: A Science Fiction Reimagining of Shakespeare’s The Tempest.  He believes in human beings and the power of their stories.

Benjamin's Books:

The Digital Storm: A Science Fiction Reimagining of Shakespeare’s The Tempest


The Sum of Our Gods

Corporate High School

Benjamin's Links:

Website
Blog
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram

From Today's Program: If the Asteroid was Late, There Would Still Be Dinosaurs.

Listen to today's program at 6:00 PM ET / 3:00 PM PT or in archive here.

Celebrity Crush

Back to the 52-week blogging challenge. Today's prompt is "My Biggest Celebrity Crush." I thought about skipping this one, but decided I could play along. (It seems these blog challenge things are more aimed at women.)

My biggest celebrity crush is probably Selena Gomez. I don't know anything about her acting or her singing (I assume I would hate any song she does), but she is so dang pretty. And it's a "sweet pretty." She could be a raging bitch for all I know, but she looks like a very sweet, nice girl.

I even watched the awful movie Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising because she was in (for about 30 seconds, it turns out).
Selena Gomez
The only other movie I've seen her in was the execrable Spring Breakers where she played the nice girl. But she spent a lot of time in a bikini and that was enjoyable. Then about three-quarters of the way through the movie, her character left (because she was the nice girl) and the move managed to get worse after that.

I know she's coming up on her 25th birthday (and I'm coming up on my 57th birthday) but, hey, it's a celebrity crush. It's not like I'm dating her.

The Speculative Fiction Cantina with David Michael Williams and Aram Keledjian

Today on the Speculative Fiction Cantina we are pleased to welcome writers David Michael Williams and Aram Keledjian.
David Michael WilliamsDavid Michael Williams

I was exposed to sword-and-sorcery fantasy at the tender age of 12 and dove headlong into fiction writing when I competed in a short story contest in sixth grade. While the tale—a glorified battle scene, really—garnered no accolades, two of its characters survived for many years thereafter and appear in The Renegade Chronicles.

I live in Wisconsin with an amazing wife (who somehow puts up with my storytelling addiction) and two larger-than-life children. I became a member of The Allied Authors of Wisconsin, one of the state’s oldest writing collectives, in 2005.

David's Books:

Rebels and Fools (The Renegade Chronicles Vol. 1)

Heroes and Liars (The Renegade Chronicles Vol. 2)

Martyrs and Monsters (The Renegade Chronicles Vol. 3)

All three volumes for the Kindle

David's Links:

Website/Blog
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads

Aram Keledjian

At age 9, Aram immigrated to the United States from the Soviet Union. The travels and language
barrier left his thoughts to transcend into magical stories. However, it was not until a few years ago until he finally began to put them on paper.

Aram's Book

Whispers

Aram's Links

Facebook
Twitter

From Today's Program: Spiders Could Eat All Humans in a Year.

Listen to today's program at 6:00 PM ET / 3:00 PM PT, or in archive here.

What's Always in My Shopping Cart

Back to the 53-week blogging challenge. Today's prompt is "What's Always in My Shopping Cart." I don't tend to do the food shopping in the family. So this would more be like "what's always in my wife's shopping cart." I really can't think of anything that's "always" in the shopping cart other than staples such as bread, milk, butter. I think on thing we always try to have on hand is fruit. I love oranges and pineapple. Some times of the year it's hard to get good, fresh oranges. (I pretty much love orange anything.) I know this prompt is designed to ferret out our food fetishes like "I always have potato chips in my cart." But I don't have any food fetishes, except for "orange anything."

I also love peaches but it's early in the season for those. They'll become available in August. My dad usually buys a bunch then gives us some.

You'd think for someone who eats a lot of fruit, I'd be thinner.

The Speculative Fiction Cantina with Devra Robitaille and Ray Chilensky

Today on the Speculative Fiction Cantina we are pleased to welcome writers Devra Robitaille and Ray Chilensky.
Devra RobitalilleDevra Robitaille

London-born Devra is a prolific composer, songwriter and keyboardist, as well as an author of books for kids.  She had a successful career as a professional musician in England, playing keyboards and touring with Mike Oldfield of Tubular Bells fame, before moving to America in the nineties.  All through the nineties she directed musicals and theatrical productions in Los Angeles.  In addition to the five books the Hologram Library published last year, she will be publishing two more books for young adults by the summer of 2017.  Devra now lives in Florida with her family on the Sarasota Bay. She loves to kayak and bike and is a consummate foodie, baking lovely cakes and deserts. She continues to write and compose for the theatre, but loves to write for children.

Devra's Books:

The Efficiency Claus

The Dream Stealers

Muffy and the Medicine Cat

Devra's Links:

Website
Facebook
Twitter

Ray ChilenskyRay Chilensky

Ray Chilensky lives in rural Tuscarwarus County, Ohio. He has worked briefly in law enforcement and for several years in private security. He has studied political science and history at Kent State University. Late in life he decided to pursue his passion for storytelling and combined that passion with lifelong interest in history, politics to seriously peruse a writing career. In his free time Ray’s interests include the martial arts., shooting sports, drawing and, of course reading good books.

Ray's Works:

Seventh: Blessed Warriors Book One

"The End of War" (short story in an anthology)

A Day and a Night 

Ray's Links:

Website
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest

From Today's Program: Mars Colonists May 3-D Print Tools from Mars Dust.

Listen to today's program at 6:00 PM ET / 3:00 PM PT, or in archive here.