Kitty Honeycutt/Morrigan Austin's Blog, page 5
September 13, 2012
GUEST POST WITH AUTHOR, CARL PURDON
Writing Tools
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In the ninth grade I opted for an easy credit and signed up for typing class. It turned out not to be the easy credit I had imagined, but I managed to get through it. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would use what I learned there.
Fast forward a few short years and I found my fingers sailing across a computer keyboard (something I’d never heard of in the ninth grade) while my co-workers used the hunt-n-peck method. Not only did that class prepare me for my future in front of keyboards, but it gave me a deepened respect for writers who hammered out classic literature on typewriters.
The typewriter I learned on was an IBM Selectric II.
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It had a moveable typing ball that came in various font styles. One of our favorite tricks was to lift the release arm on top of the ball (not our own typewriter, of course) and watch the ball fly into the air as soon as the first finger pressed a key. The teacher wasn’t as big a fan of that feature as we were, especially the boys.
At that time, the Selectric II was top of the line. A few of my fellow students had to use the old-style typewriters with a carriage that moved as you typed. To return to the next line you had to reach up and push the carriage back with a lever. The keys were harder to press, too, like the difference in cars with and without power steering.
I was thinking the other day about writers like William Faulkner and Ernest Hemmingway, and about the dedication it must have taken to write novels with old manual typewriters. Editing had to be excrutiating. I wonder how many scene changes never got made because the author didn’t want to retype? And what about authors who wrote before the manual typewriter was invented?
We grow accustomed to our surroundings rather quickly, I suppose. I use Scrivener now because it is so much easier to keep my manuscript organized than it was with Word. Will that help make my upcoming novel better than the one before it? No, I suppose not. I still have to create the scenes in my head. Scrivener can’t do the heavy lifting for me any more than a laptop can write a novel on its own. It takes a writer to write. The laptop, like the typewriter, like the pencil, is nothing more than an implement we use to let others see our ideas.
A lifetime from now some writer will probably look back in wonder at how authors of our generation managed to work with such antiquated tools as the laptop. Who knows what methods will be invented in the future for processing words? Speech recognition will almost certainly be a factor, but even that technology may be dwarfed by something we can’t imagine at this point.
Do you think Dante imagined a writing device where authors simply pressed keys and created words inside a microchip? It’s safe to say he didn’t.
Even if in the future there is some device to read an author’s thoughts and generate a manuscript, it will still take a person with talent and imagination to generate those thoughts. Our future is secure, I believe, regardless of how much the tools of our trade evolve.
People want stories. It’s our job, as writers, to deliver, just as the great ones before us delievered. Readers don’t care what implement we used to get the story in their hands. They couldn’t care less if we outlined, plotted, or used Scrivener in place of Word. They won’t care if we used a laptop, typewriter, or chisled it into the face of a stone tablet, as long as they can pull it from a bookshelf, or punch it up on their Kindle, and lose themselves inside the worlds we create.
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***
Carl Purdon is the author of The Night Train, available on Amazon.
Paperback: http://www.amazon.com/The-Night-Tra.....
Kindle Edition: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00785YND0
Connect with Carl online at:
Website: http://www.carlpurdon.com
Blog: http://www.carlpurdon.blogspot.com/
Twitter (@CarlPurdon): http://twitter.com/#!/CarlPurdon
[image error]
In the ninth grade I opted for an easy credit and signed up for typing class. It turned out not to be the easy credit I had imagined, but I managed to get through it. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would use what I learned there.
Fast forward a few short years and I found my fingers sailing across a computer keyboard (something I’d never heard of in the ninth grade) while my co-workers used the hunt-n-peck method. Not only did that class prepare me for my future in front of keyboards, but it gave me a deepened respect for writers who hammered out classic literature on typewriters.
The typewriter I learned on was an IBM Selectric II.
[image error]
It had a moveable typing ball that came in various font styles. One of our favorite tricks was to lift the release arm on top of the ball (not our own typewriter, of course) and watch the ball fly into the air as soon as the first finger pressed a key. The teacher wasn’t as big a fan of that feature as we were, especially the boys.
At that time, the Selectric II was top of the line. A few of my fellow students had to use the old-style typewriters with a carriage that moved as you typed. To return to the next line you had to reach up and push the carriage back with a lever. The keys were harder to press, too, like the difference in cars with and without power steering.
I was thinking the other day about writers like William Faulkner and Ernest Hemmingway, and about the dedication it must have taken to write novels with old manual typewriters. Editing had to be excrutiating. I wonder how many scene changes never got made because the author didn’t want to retype? And what about authors who wrote before the manual typewriter was invented?
We grow accustomed to our surroundings rather quickly, I suppose. I use Scrivener now because it is so much easier to keep my manuscript organized than it was with Word. Will that help make my upcoming novel better than the one before it? No, I suppose not. I still have to create the scenes in my head. Scrivener can’t do the heavy lifting for me any more than a laptop can write a novel on its own. It takes a writer to write. The laptop, like the typewriter, like the pencil, is nothing more than an implement we use to let others see our ideas.
A lifetime from now some writer will probably look back in wonder at how authors of our generation managed to work with such antiquated tools as the laptop. Who knows what methods will be invented in the future for processing words? Speech recognition will almost certainly be a factor, but even that technology may be dwarfed by something we can’t imagine at this point.
Do you think Dante imagined a writing device where authors simply pressed keys and created words inside a microchip? It’s safe to say he didn’t.
Even if in the future there is some device to read an author’s thoughts and generate a manuscript, it will still take a person with talent and imagination to generate those thoughts. Our future is secure, I believe, regardless of how much the tools of our trade evolve.
People want stories. It’s our job, as writers, to deliver, just as the great ones before us delievered. Readers don’t care what implement we used to get the story in their hands. They couldn’t care less if we outlined, plotted, or used Scrivener in place of Word. They won’t care if we used a laptop, typewriter, or chisled it into the face of a stone tablet, as long as they can pull it from a bookshelf, or punch it up on their Kindle, and lose themselves inside the worlds we create.
[image error]
***
Carl Purdon is the author of The Night Train, available on Amazon.
Paperback: http://www.amazon.com/The-Night-Tra.....
Kindle Edition: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00785YND0
Connect with Carl online at:
Website: http://www.carlpurdon.com
Blog: http://www.carlpurdon.blogspot.com/
Twitter (@CarlPurdon): http://twitter.com/#!/CarlPurdon
September 10, 2012
"THE GODLING CHRONICLES" FROM GMTA INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING HITS TOP 100 IN EPIC FANTASY!
"THE GODLING CHRONICLES" HITS TOP 100 IN EPIC FANTASY ON AMAZON.COM!
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Since Brian D. Anderson published his book with us on August 13th 2012, it has been soaring high on the charts! With a record sales of over 300 books from the publishing date up to today, it has hit the top 100 in Epic Fantasy on Amazon.com several times. The latest stats are below:
#80 Epic Fantasy
#11 Hot New Releases Epic Fantasy
#31 Hot New Releases Any Category
Standings on Epic Fantasy top 100 list right now is #89!
Get your copy of this bestselling Epic Fantasy today!
Also available in paperback!
Synopsis: Darkness comes as a new power rises in Angrääl. The Dark Knight has betrayed the Gods and stolen The Sword of Truth, trapping them in heaven. With the power of the Sword he can reshape the world and bring death to all who oppose him. Only one thing stands between the darkness and the light. Gewey Stedding. Only he has the power to stand against the oncoming storm. Only he can mend the world. But only if he can discover his power....
[image error]
Since Brian D. Anderson published his book with us on August 13th 2012, it has been soaring high on the charts! With a record sales of over 300 books from the publishing date up to today, it has hit the top 100 in Epic Fantasy on Amazon.com several times. The latest stats are below:
#80 Epic Fantasy
#11 Hot New Releases Epic Fantasy
#31 Hot New Releases Any Category
Standings on Epic Fantasy top 100 list right now is #89!
Get your copy of this bestselling Epic Fantasy today!
Also available in paperback!
Synopsis: Darkness comes as a new power rises in Angrääl. The Dark Knight has betrayed the Gods and stolen The Sword of Truth, trapping them in heaven. With the power of the Sword he can reshape the world and bring death to all who oppose him. Only one thing stands between the darkness and the light. Gewey Stedding. Only he has the power to stand against the oncoming storm. Only he can mend the world. But only if he can discover his power....
September 8, 2012
GUEST POST WITH AUTHOR, JONATHAN WINN
Why Indie Writers Rock
My name is Jonathan and I'm a writer who self-published.
Yeah, yeah, go ahead. Get it out of your system. I've heard it all before.
From the practiced smile of the insincere "How great!" to the knowing sigh that says "Ah, not good enough to find a real publisher, eh?", it's familiar territory by now.
I've even endured the ol' "Putting out another new book? Oh, well, good for you", those ten words by friends and family hinting at my quiet failure as a Real Writer -- you know, with a Major House and a Marketing Team snagging me a spot on Leno or my face on the side of a bus -- , my decision to self-pub stealing from them their bragging rights.
So why do I do it?
Why do I write knowing my books will be released into the virtual haze of Unread eBook Land? Why do I edit and rewrite and edit again while Rock Star Authors sipping mimosas under the umbrella of Traditional Publishing speak of me with derision as a no-talent, lazy exhibitionist who won't put in the hard work of being a Writer? And why oh why do I sit for hours and hours, my jaw set in determination, my delusions in place, mapping out new books that may never find Readers?
Why do I do what every indie writer does every single day?
Because I'm curious. No, scratch that. Because I'm obsessed.
This obsession can't be stopped by the absence of a Big Publisher brandishing a goody bag of guidance and media connections. This obsession won't be quieted by the lack of a sizeable advance propping up my bank account or the implicit promise of three martini lunches in suit-and-tie restaurants. With tablecloths. And flowers. Or not.
In fact, my obsession -- perhaps I should be calling it a sickness by now? -- isn't even disheartened by this apparently endless wandering among the parched, wind-blasted dunes of NoSales Desert.
My characters, my stories, my books steamroll everything else into oblivion.
I remember when Martuk came to me. That's Martuk as in two or too. Martuk ... The Holy. My first book. In fact, even that came to me, the ironic ellipses in the title. I had yet to write a word, yet to discover and embrace the Writer hiding within the Screenwriter and Playwright. Yet to recognize this was something I not only could do, but wanted to do. But there I was walking my dogs through Greenwich Village in 2008 when this new man sidled up and started whispering in my ear.
I knew his name was Martuk and he came from a land one thousand years before Christ. I knew -- via the ellipses -- he had a sense of humor and a touch of irony and that he was immortal and evil and very, very angry. When he wasn't in love. Or optimistic. Oh, and I knew he lived and suffered and wrote in modern day Paris.
I also knew the tales he had to tell would span many, many books.
But every writer, self-pubbed, indie or whatever, thinks that.
What I didn't know is that the people Martuk meets and walks with and sometimes kills also had tales to tell, their lives not ending with Martuk ... The Holy's The End.
They needed to speak. Insisted they speak. Were desperate to show the world (remember, my delusions are firmly in place) they had layers. That they just weren't evil or heartless. That the choices they made in Martuk were based on years of hurt and decades of disappointment. On loves lost and the death of dreams. And on hope. Not a hope we might recognize, perhaps, drenched, as it is, in blood and blinded by dark magic. But hope nonetheless.
Ergo, in May of 2012, despite the sun rising on yet another day in the desert, I welcomed the birth of The Martuk Series, an on-going collection of Short Fiction inspired by Martuk ... The Holy. To say this new addition to my literary family was a surprise is an understatement. But, seriously, I didn't know I was pregnant.
So, to return to my original statement Why Indie Writers Rock. Or, more specifically, Why I Rock.
I rock because I juggle the writing of a Series and a full-length Sequel with marketing and editing and chapter mapping new books every day. Alone. Like a lot of indie writers.
I rock because I joyfully celebrate each sale. Like a lot of indie writers.
And I rock because I appreciate those who roll the dice on an Unknown and buy my books, trusting the journey will be worth their time and money. Like a lot of indie writers.
But I rock because I do all this, as most indie writers do, knowing the only payoff may be the telling of the tale. In the absence of all those coulda, woulda, shouldas associated with the Big 6, our only safety net as self-published or indie writers is Trust.
Trust in our talent. Trust in our hard work. Trust in our ability to spin a good yarn. And Trust that readers do eventually recognize and reward good tales told well.
And that's Why Indie Writers Rock.
*****************
Jonathan Winn is the author of Martuk ... The Holy as well as The Wounded King: The Martuk Series, and The Elder: The Martuk Series. He's currently working on Red and Gold, the next installment in The Martuk Series and Martuk ... The Holy: Proseuche, the full-length sequel to Martuk ... The Holy.
To learn more please visit: http://martuktheholy.com
or Follow him at http://twitter.com/Jonathan_Winn
Blog: http://martuktheholy.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Jonathan_Winn
Facebook: http://facebook.com/MartukTheHoly
Martuk … The Holy
http://www.amazon.com/Martuk-The-Ho.....
The Wounded King: The Martuk Series
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008D72S3E
The Elder: The Martuk Series
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008Y65ZUM
My name is Jonathan and I'm a writer who self-published.
Yeah, yeah, go ahead. Get it out of your system. I've heard it all before.
From the practiced smile of the insincere "How great!" to the knowing sigh that says "Ah, not good enough to find a real publisher, eh?", it's familiar territory by now.
I've even endured the ol' "Putting out another new book? Oh, well, good for you", those ten words by friends and family hinting at my quiet failure as a Real Writer -- you know, with a Major House and a Marketing Team snagging me a spot on Leno or my face on the side of a bus -- , my decision to self-pub stealing from them their bragging rights.
So why do I do it?
Why do I write knowing my books will be released into the virtual haze of Unread eBook Land? Why do I edit and rewrite and edit again while Rock Star Authors sipping mimosas under the umbrella of Traditional Publishing speak of me with derision as a no-talent, lazy exhibitionist who won't put in the hard work of being a Writer? And why oh why do I sit for hours and hours, my jaw set in determination, my delusions in place, mapping out new books that may never find Readers?
Why do I do what every indie writer does every single day?
Because I'm curious. No, scratch that. Because I'm obsessed.
This obsession can't be stopped by the absence of a Big Publisher brandishing a goody bag of guidance and media connections. This obsession won't be quieted by the lack of a sizeable advance propping up my bank account or the implicit promise of three martini lunches in suit-and-tie restaurants. With tablecloths. And flowers. Or not.
In fact, my obsession -- perhaps I should be calling it a sickness by now? -- isn't even disheartened by this apparently endless wandering among the parched, wind-blasted dunes of NoSales Desert.
My characters, my stories, my books steamroll everything else into oblivion.
I remember when Martuk came to me. That's Martuk as in two or too. Martuk ... The Holy. My first book. In fact, even that came to me, the ironic ellipses in the title. I had yet to write a word, yet to discover and embrace the Writer hiding within the Screenwriter and Playwright. Yet to recognize this was something I not only could do, but wanted to do. But there I was walking my dogs through Greenwich Village in 2008 when this new man sidled up and started whispering in my ear.
I knew his name was Martuk and he came from a land one thousand years before Christ. I knew -- via the ellipses -- he had a sense of humor and a touch of irony and that he was immortal and evil and very, very angry. When he wasn't in love. Or optimistic. Oh, and I knew he lived and suffered and wrote in modern day Paris.
I also knew the tales he had to tell would span many, many books.
But every writer, self-pubbed, indie or whatever, thinks that.
What I didn't know is that the people Martuk meets and walks with and sometimes kills also had tales to tell, their lives not ending with Martuk ... The Holy's The End.
They needed to speak. Insisted they speak. Were desperate to show the world (remember, my delusions are firmly in place) they had layers. That they just weren't evil or heartless. That the choices they made in Martuk were based on years of hurt and decades of disappointment. On loves lost and the death of dreams. And on hope. Not a hope we might recognize, perhaps, drenched, as it is, in blood and blinded by dark magic. But hope nonetheless.
Ergo, in May of 2012, despite the sun rising on yet another day in the desert, I welcomed the birth of The Martuk Series, an on-going collection of Short Fiction inspired by Martuk ... The Holy. To say this new addition to my literary family was a surprise is an understatement. But, seriously, I didn't know I was pregnant.
So, to return to my original statement Why Indie Writers Rock. Or, more specifically, Why I Rock.
I rock because I juggle the writing of a Series and a full-length Sequel with marketing and editing and chapter mapping new books every day. Alone. Like a lot of indie writers.
I rock because I joyfully celebrate each sale. Like a lot of indie writers.
And I rock because I appreciate those who roll the dice on an Unknown and buy my books, trusting the journey will be worth their time and money. Like a lot of indie writers.
But I rock because I do all this, as most indie writers do, knowing the only payoff may be the telling of the tale. In the absence of all those coulda, woulda, shouldas associated with the Big 6, our only safety net as self-published or indie writers is Trust.
Trust in our talent. Trust in our hard work. Trust in our ability to spin a good yarn. And Trust that readers do eventually recognize and reward good tales told well.
And that's Why Indie Writers Rock.
*****************
Jonathan Winn is the author of Martuk ... The Holy as well as The Wounded King: The Martuk Series, and The Elder: The Martuk Series. He's currently working on Red and Gold, the next installment in The Martuk Series and Martuk ... The Holy: Proseuche, the full-length sequel to Martuk ... The Holy.
To learn more please visit: http://martuktheholy.com
or Follow him at http://twitter.com/Jonathan_Winn
Blog: http://martuktheholy.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Jonathan_Winn
Facebook: http://facebook.com/MartukTheHoly
Martuk … The Holy
http://www.amazon.com/Martuk-The-Ho.....
The Wounded King: The Martuk Series
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008D72S3E
The Elder: The Martuk Series
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008Y65ZUM
September 6, 2012
THE GODLING CHRONICLES FAVORITE CHARACTER CONTEST!!!
Who is your favorite Godling Chronicles Character?
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In 500 words or less describe what it is that you like about him/her and why.
First Prize: A personalized copy the the Godling Chronicles:Book One-The Sword of Truth and a mention in the "special thanks" section of the upcoming Book Two-Of Gods and Elves.
Second Prize: A free kindle copy of The Godling Chronicles:Book One-The Sword of Truth and a mention in the "special thanks" section of the upcoming Book Two-Of Gods and Elves.
Third Prize: A free Kindle Copy of The Godling Chronicles:Book One The Sword of Truth.
GET YOUR COPY OF THE BOOK HERE: http://www.amazon.com/The-Godling-Chr...
Send entries to The Godling Chronicles Page or Thegodlingchronicles@gmail.com
(Be sure to put 'Contest' in the subject line.)
GOOD LUCK!!!
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In 500 words or less describe what it is that you like about him/her and why.
First Prize: A personalized copy the the Godling Chronicles:Book One-The Sword of Truth and a mention in the "special thanks" section of the upcoming Book Two-Of Gods and Elves.
Second Prize: A free kindle copy of The Godling Chronicles:Book One-The Sword of Truth and a mention in the "special thanks" section of the upcoming Book Two-Of Gods and Elves.
Third Prize: A free Kindle Copy of The Godling Chronicles:Book One The Sword of Truth.
GET YOUR COPY OF THE BOOK HERE: http://www.amazon.com/The-Godling-Chr...
Send entries to The Godling Chronicles Page or Thegodlingchronicles@gmail.com
(Be sure to put 'Contest' in the subject line.)
GOOD LUCK!!!
GUEST POST WITH AUTHOR, MARK CANEY
Dolphin Way: Rise of the Guardians
By Mark Caney
Book trailer: See the book trailer here!
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Sometimes I have to give information about my novel to book review sites or web distribution sites, and one of the first questions is, “what genre is this book in?” I always struggle with that one, for as far as I know, it really does not fit into any existing category. I usually end up compromising on ‘Fantasy’ but that does not really sit comfortably with me. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a well written fantasy book, but to me, they are set in worlds that are just that — pure fantasy.
Dolphin Way is set in a world that actually exists right alongside our own. And if you want to go out and find the creatures that populate the book you can go ahead and try, because they exist too. And they are as intelligent as they seem in the book, and they do communicate at a very high level and they have a society and culture. So what you are reading might just not be fiction…
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Let me try to convince you that dolphins have an intelligence that is comparable to ours, but one that is clearly different. This is fundamental to the book as in the novel they communicate as well as we do – but they have a totally different value system.
Few would argue that dolphins are intelligent. Exactly how intelligent is another matter. The issue is made more complex as humans tend to measure intelligence against their own understanding of it.
Although it may not be directly meaningful, in terms of brain size, the bottlenose dolphin brain averages 1.6 kg in size, by comparison, the average human brain weighs about 1.35 kg and a chimpanzee’s brain weighs 0.4 kg. A more useful measure is to compare actual brain size with that expected for the species body size. This known as the "Encephalization Quotient" (EQ) and is the ratio of brain size relative to body size. By this measure, brains with EQs larger than 1 are bigger than the expected size, while those with EQs less than 1 are smaller. Humans have the highest EQ at 7.4, but bottlenose dolphins have EQs of 5.3, significantly higher than all other animals. This figure may be also be distorted by environmental demands; a dolphin needs much more blubber than a human just to maintain body temperature, so the ratio may be somewhat skewed and the dolphin EQ is effectively lowered from a real comparison point – in other words this would suggest they should have an even larger relative brain size.
Research suggests that bottlenose dolphins are self-aware, a trait which is considered to be a sign of highly-developed, abstract thinking. One such indicator is that they have been shown to be able to recognise themselves in a mirror, a behaviour that until recently has only been recorded in humans and great apes. Interestingly, unlike most animals, they are also interested in television. Whereas chimps only learned to respond appropriately to television after a long period of training, dolphins respond appropriately to the images from the first time they were exposed.
Dolphins frequently play with things they find in their environment and have been even been seen to use them as tools. In Australia, bottlenose dolphins take marine sponges that they break off the seafloor and wear them over their closed rostrum as protection while they probe into the seabed for fish. There is evidence to suggest that they pass this skill on from one individual to another.
Dolphins do not only respond to the basic needs of their lives; they are extremely playful, for example, producing underwater bubble rings, which they can do in either the horizontal or vertical plane. They mainly do this by either swimming repeatedly in a circle and then injecting air into the helical vortex currents formed or by rapid exhalation of a burst of air into the water and allowing it to rise to the surface in a ring. They frequently then spend time examining their creation both visually and with sonar.
In one experiment, two dolphins were rewarded whenever they came up with a new behaviour, for example a physical action that they would not normally perform such as a kind of tail slap on the surface. It took them a while to work out what was required of them before they realised, but then they started to offer all kinds of novel behaviours, to the point where the trial was stopped because their behaviours became too complex to make further positive reinforcement meaningful. When the experiment was repeated with humans, it took the volunteers roughly the same length amount of time to grasp what they were being asked to do, although they did not then continue on to create the range of behaviours the dolphins did.
Another example of interesting behaviour suggesting intelligence concerns a dolphin named Kelly at the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Mississippi. The dolphins there are trained to collect any rubbish that inadvertently falls into their pens and then give it to a trainer the next time they see one. They are then rewarded with a fish. Kelly worked out that the size of the piece of rubbish does not affect the reward. So instead of handing over a piece of litter immediately, she stores it under a rock in the tank and tears it into small pieces and hands them back one at a time. This strategy suggests that Kelly has a sense of future and is prepared to delay gratification. She has also in a way turned the tables — she has effectively trained the humans to do what she wants.
It is probable that dolphin intelligence would have developed somewhat differently to humans. Humans tend to manipulate their environment in order to meet their needs, and based on the simple fact that they have hands, can change things and are able to create complex aids to communication, ranging from the simple written word to the sophisticated electronics. Without the ability or need to manipulate their environment, dolphins must focus their considerable intelligence on other concerns that are relevant to their lives, and may well have specific developed talents presently beyond our understanding.
I became particularly fascinated with dolphins after an extraordinary encounter one summer night in the warm tropical waters of the Red Sea. I was camping on the desert shoreline with some friends next to a mirror calm sea. The low but perfectly full moon lay a silver path to the beach. The water was warm and inviting so it seemed a shame not to go in. We had no underwater lamp, but the sandy bottom reflected the moonlight, making it unnecessary.
Soon a large grey shape shot out of the dark and stopped just in front of me - a big female bottlenose dolphin.
The dolphin seemed delighted to see us, and swam round and round us. She kept out of reach at first, but as she gained confidence came closer with each circuit until we could brush her side with our fingertips as she passed.
She continued to swim with us like that for about half an hour or so, allowing us to stroke her occasionally. To my surprise she seemed to spend more time with me. Eventually the others left the water leaving the dolphin and I alone. She seemed to feel more relaxed now. We swam parallel almost touching for a long time. She liked to dive down and stand on her nose and seemed to find it hilarious when I copied her. Eventually she let me gently rub and scratch her belly and sides and obviously enjoyed it immensely. She would even ‘hug’ me with her pectoral fins and we took turns rolling up to the surface to breathe.
For more than an hour we played at the surface in the moonlight in almost constant physical contact. It was extraordinary to have such close encounter with this wild creature. Eventually cold forced me to leave the water but I was left with a deep impression of a very intelligent and affectionate being, and the next day at sunrise I was back in to play with her again.
The book is a novel set in the world of dolphins. We know dolphins have social structures and a sophisticated language. It’s logical to assume they have a culture too, and in the book it is a sophisticated one; but not one based on the manipulation of physical things and written histories. The dolphins can’t do either of those things — nor do they need to. They have developed a way of recording their histories and collective wisdom however, by specially trained individuals — the Starwriters — memorising huge amounts of information precisely. They do this by listening to subliminal locking songs while watching unique astronomical events, for example the passage of a planet through a constellation. The data can subsequently be accessed by the Starwriters observing the same precise event while hearing the same song.
The dolphins also have their own belief system known as the Way. This is a code of behaviour they have followed for a million years, something between a religion and a philosophy. An essential tenant of the Way is that the dolphins live in harmony with Ocean, their name for planet Earth. This has worked perfectly for many millennia but recently the balances have changed. Human activity is dramatically altering their world. The seas are filled with the confusing sounds of boat engines and sonar. The fish they eat, and the sea itself, are becoming contaminated. Their young are still-born more often, they develop strange illnesses, they strand in large numbers. In particular, they are suffering due to dramatic overfishing of their food supplies by man.
The book explores what happens to a group of them when these factors finally cause a group of dolphins to break away from their traditional values. Calling themselves the Guardians, they advocate a dark path totally contrary to the high values of the Way.
The book’s hero, a young male named Touches The Sky, is caught up in the conflict spawned by the Guardians, not least because the female he loves develops an obsession for the ruthless Guardian leader.
Sky has to face his own self doubts and the worst punishment his clan can inflict before he is unwillingly forced into a situation where he alone can stop the disintegration of the dolphin culture and save the one he loves.
Dolphin Way is set in a world that is rich in detail, content and history. The reader may chose to accept the reality of that world, as they might when reading books such as those by J R R Tolkien or J K Rowling. But as I said earlier, the world of Dolphin Way has one key difference over traditional fantasy books.
As well as being intended as an enjoyable novel, Dolphin Way is meant to make people aware of the threats affecting the marine world in general and dolphins in particular. My hope is that people will ask themselves: “Could we really be sharing this planet with another sophisticated culture like this?” If they are shown the beauty and wonder of the dolphins’ world they will want to conserve it.
If you would like to give Dolphin Way a try, you can download the opening chapters for free from the website.
Mark Caney
Dolphin Way: Rise of the Guardians
ISBN: 978-1-90549-223-7
Release date: 4 July 2011
Publisher: AquaPress
Author: Mark Caney
Website: Dolphin Way Site
Facebook: Dolphin Way Facebook
By Mark Caney
Book trailer: See the book trailer here!
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Sometimes I have to give information about my novel to book review sites or web distribution sites, and one of the first questions is, “what genre is this book in?” I always struggle with that one, for as far as I know, it really does not fit into any existing category. I usually end up compromising on ‘Fantasy’ but that does not really sit comfortably with me. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a well written fantasy book, but to me, they are set in worlds that are just that — pure fantasy.
Dolphin Way is set in a world that actually exists right alongside our own. And if you want to go out and find the creatures that populate the book you can go ahead and try, because they exist too. And they are as intelligent as they seem in the book, and they do communicate at a very high level and they have a society and culture. So what you are reading might just not be fiction…
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Let me try to convince you that dolphins have an intelligence that is comparable to ours, but one that is clearly different. This is fundamental to the book as in the novel they communicate as well as we do – but they have a totally different value system.
Few would argue that dolphins are intelligent. Exactly how intelligent is another matter. The issue is made more complex as humans tend to measure intelligence against their own understanding of it.
Although it may not be directly meaningful, in terms of brain size, the bottlenose dolphin brain averages 1.6 kg in size, by comparison, the average human brain weighs about 1.35 kg and a chimpanzee’s brain weighs 0.4 kg. A more useful measure is to compare actual brain size with that expected for the species body size. This known as the "Encephalization Quotient" (EQ) and is the ratio of brain size relative to body size. By this measure, brains with EQs larger than 1 are bigger than the expected size, while those with EQs less than 1 are smaller. Humans have the highest EQ at 7.4, but bottlenose dolphins have EQs of 5.3, significantly higher than all other animals. This figure may be also be distorted by environmental demands; a dolphin needs much more blubber than a human just to maintain body temperature, so the ratio may be somewhat skewed and the dolphin EQ is effectively lowered from a real comparison point – in other words this would suggest they should have an even larger relative brain size.
Research suggests that bottlenose dolphins are self-aware, a trait which is considered to be a sign of highly-developed, abstract thinking. One such indicator is that they have been shown to be able to recognise themselves in a mirror, a behaviour that until recently has only been recorded in humans and great apes. Interestingly, unlike most animals, they are also interested in television. Whereas chimps only learned to respond appropriately to television after a long period of training, dolphins respond appropriately to the images from the first time they were exposed.
Dolphins frequently play with things they find in their environment and have been even been seen to use them as tools. In Australia, bottlenose dolphins take marine sponges that they break off the seafloor and wear them over their closed rostrum as protection while they probe into the seabed for fish. There is evidence to suggest that they pass this skill on from one individual to another.
Dolphins do not only respond to the basic needs of their lives; they are extremely playful, for example, producing underwater bubble rings, which they can do in either the horizontal or vertical plane. They mainly do this by either swimming repeatedly in a circle and then injecting air into the helical vortex currents formed or by rapid exhalation of a burst of air into the water and allowing it to rise to the surface in a ring. They frequently then spend time examining their creation both visually and with sonar.
In one experiment, two dolphins were rewarded whenever they came up with a new behaviour, for example a physical action that they would not normally perform such as a kind of tail slap on the surface. It took them a while to work out what was required of them before they realised, but then they started to offer all kinds of novel behaviours, to the point where the trial was stopped because their behaviours became too complex to make further positive reinforcement meaningful. When the experiment was repeated with humans, it took the volunteers roughly the same length amount of time to grasp what they were being asked to do, although they did not then continue on to create the range of behaviours the dolphins did.
Another example of interesting behaviour suggesting intelligence concerns a dolphin named Kelly at the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Mississippi. The dolphins there are trained to collect any rubbish that inadvertently falls into their pens and then give it to a trainer the next time they see one. They are then rewarded with a fish. Kelly worked out that the size of the piece of rubbish does not affect the reward. So instead of handing over a piece of litter immediately, she stores it under a rock in the tank and tears it into small pieces and hands them back one at a time. This strategy suggests that Kelly has a sense of future and is prepared to delay gratification. She has also in a way turned the tables — she has effectively trained the humans to do what she wants.
It is probable that dolphin intelligence would have developed somewhat differently to humans. Humans tend to manipulate their environment in order to meet their needs, and based on the simple fact that they have hands, can change things and are able to create complex aids to communication, ranging from the simple written word to the sophisticated electronics. Without the ability or need to manipulate their environment, dolphins must focus their considerable intelligence on other concerns that are relevant to their lives, and may well have specific developed talents presently beyond our understanding.
I became particularly fascinated with dolphins after an extraordinary encounter one summer night in the warm tropical waters of the Red Sea. I was camping on the desert shoreline with some friends next to a mirror calm sea. The low but perfectly full moon lay a silver path to the beach. The water was warm and inviting so it seemed a shame not to go in. We had no underwater lamp, but the sandy bottom reflected the moonlight, making it unnecessary.
Soon a large grey shape shot out of the dark and stopped just in front of me - a big female bottlenose dolphin.
The dolphin seemed delighted to see us, and swam round and round us. She kept out of reach at first, but as she gained confidence came closer with each circuit until we could brush her side with our fingertips as she passed.
She continued to swim with us like that for about half an hour or so, allowing us to stroke her occasionally. To my surprise she seemed to spend more time with me. Eventually the others left the water leaving the dolphin and I alone. She seemed to feel more relaxed now. We swam parallel almost touching for a long time. She liked to dive down and stand on her nose and seemed to find it hilarious when I copied her. Eventually she let me gently rub and scratch her belly and sides and obviously enjoyed it immensely. She would even ‘hug’ me with her pectoral fins and we took turns rolling up to the surface to breathe.
For more than an hour we played at the surface in the moonlight in almost constant physical contact. It was extraordinary to have such close encounter with this wild creature. Eventually cold forced me to leave the water but I was left with a deep impression of a very intelligent and affectionate being, and the next day at sunrise I was back in to play with her again.
The book is a novel set in the world of dolphins. We know dolphins have social structures and a sophisticated language. It’s logical to assume they have a culture too, and in the book it is a sophisticated one; but not one based on the manipulation of physical things and written histories. The dolphins can’t do either of those things — nor do they need to. They have developed a way of recording their histories and collective wisdom however, by specially trained individuals — the Starwriters — memorising huge amounts of information precisely. They do this by listening to subliminal locking songs while watching unique astronomical events, for example the passage of a planet through a constellation. The data can subsequently be accessed by the Starwriters observing the same precise event while hearing the same song.
The dolphins also have their own belief system known as the Way. This is a code of behaviour they have followed for a million years, something between a religion and a philosophy. An essential tenant of the Way is that the dolphins live in harmony with Ocean, their name for planet Earth. This has worked perfectly for many millennia but recently the balances have changed. Human activity is dramatically altering their world. The seas are filled with the confusing sounds of boat engines and sonar. The fish they eat, and the sea itself, are becoming contaminated. Their young are still-born more often, they develop strange illnesses, they strand in large numbers. In particular, they are suffering due to dramatic overfishing of their food supplies by man.
The book explores what happens to a group of them when these factors finally cause a group of dolphins to break away from their traditional values. Calling themselves the Guardians, they advocate a dark path totally contrary to the high values of the Way.
The book’s hero, a young male named Touches The Sky, is caught up in the conflict spawned by the Guardians, not least because the female he loves develops an obsession for the ruthless Guardian leader.
Sky has to face his own self doubts and the worst punishment his clan can inflict before he is unwillingly forced into a situation where he alone can stop the disintegration of the dolphin culture and save the one he loves.
Dolphin Way is set in a world that is rich in detail, content and history. The reader may chose to accept the reality of that world, as they might when reading books such as those by J R R Tolkien or J K Rowling. But as I said earlier, the world of Dolphin Way has one key difference over traditional fantasy books.
As well as being intended as an enjoyable novel, Dolphin Way is meant to make people aware of the threats affecting the marine world in general and dolphins in particular. My hope is that people will ask themselves: “Could we really be sharing this planet with another sophisticated culture like this?” If they are shown the beauty and wonder of the dolphins’ world they will want to conserve it.
If you would like to give Dolphin Way a try, you can download the opening chapters for free from the website.
Mark Caney
Dolphin Way: Rise of the Guardians
ISBN: 978-1-90549-223-7
Release date: 4 July 2011
Publisher: AquaPress
Author: Mark Caney
Website: Dolphin Way Site
Facebook: Dolphin Way Facebook
September 5, 2012
GUEST POST WITH AUTHOR, L.L. HELLAND/STOLMEIER
L.L HELLAND/STOLMEIER ON HER BOOKS AND WRITING IDEAS
I want to start off my thanking Kitty Bullard for having me occupy her blog for just a moment.
I’m an RN by education, and although I liked the nursing field I have a passion for writing. My ideas come from anywhere and everywhere. There’s a wealth of characters just waiting to be put into someone’s book, and hopefully not in a creepy way, but in a unique, exceptional way.
The characters in the Hellandback book, Jon, Trisha, Brittany and Chris are all very real individuals. Jon is my husband’s and my eldest son and is brilliant. He attended MIT in Cambridge and received a major and a minor. Trisha is my niece and attended Texas A&M as did Brittany who is a friend of Jon’s. Chris is our son, and the only one who is still attending college. He’s a junior at TCU. He’s the funny one of the family, and diagnosed with ADHD. I took the good, the bad and the ugly of their personalities, and then added a great big splash of adventure and travel and voila the Hellandback Kids: Be Careful What You Wish For became an award winning book.
The Characters in my Redwine Hill series were just tucked away in my brain, and came out when I started writing. I try to write about regular kids who end up in controversial circumstances that are out of their control, but learn something along the way. What the characters learn isn’t always obvious until the end of the book. Some lessons are subtle, but the majority are mind blowing realizations that the characters couldn’t have made on their own.
I’ll have to admit that Science Fiction is a great genre to write for because there aren’t a lot of rules to follow.
My Historical/Romance/Fiction novel is a bit more challenging. Trying to get the historical accuracy takes some research, but more importantly you can’t use any brain teaser that just popped into your head. There has to be some believable qualities to the characters and the events. No matter how tempting it would be to put in a way-out-weird character I try and stay within the norm. There’s no future dystopian societies in my Historical/Romance/Fiction. I put on the brakes and calm things down for my novel The Passionate Wartime Servant.
I love writing but there never seems to be enough hours in a day to get everything done that I need to do and write. So, sadly, it takes me longer than I’d like to get my books finished. I’m thrilled when I read a good review on one of my books. It just makes my day.
I want to thank Kitty for giving me a place to rest my thoughts.
Laura Helland/Stolmeier
I want to start off my thanking Kitty Bullard for having me occupy her blog for just a moment.
I’m an RN by education, and although I liked the nursing field I have a passion for writing. My ideas come from anywhere and everywhere. There’s a wealth of characters just waiting to be put into someone’s book, and hopefully not in a creepy way, but in a unique, exceptional way.
The characters in the Hellandback book, Jon, Trisha, Brittany and Chris are all very real individuals. Jon is my husband’s and my eldest son and is brilliant. He attended MIT in Cambridge and received a major and a minor. Trisha is my niece and attended Texas A&M as did Brittany who is a friend of Jon’s. Chris is our son, and the only one who is still attending college. He’s a junior at TCU. He’s the funny one of the family, and diagnosed with ADHD. I took the good, the bad and the ugly of their personalities, and then added a great big splash of adventure and travel and voila the Hellandback Kids: Be Careful What You Wish For became an award winning book.
The Characters in my Redwine Hill series were just tucked away in my brain, and came out when I started writing. I try to write about regular kids who end up in controversial circumstances that are out of their control, but learn something along the way. What the characters learn isn’t always obvious until the end of the book. Some lessons are subtle, but the majority are mind blowing realizations that the characters couldn’t have made on their own.
I’ll have to admit that Science Fiction is a great genre to write for because there aren’t a lot of rules to follow.
My Historical/Romance/Fiction novel is a bit more challenging. Trying to get the historical accuracy takes some research, but more importantly you can’t use any brain teaser that just popped into your head. There has to be some believable qualities to the characters and the events. No matter how tempting it would be to put in a way-out-weird character I try and stay within the norm. There’s no future dystopian societies in my Historical/Romance/Fiction. I put on the brakes and calm things down for my novel The Passionate Wartime Servant.
I love writing but there never seems to be enough hours in a day to get everything done that I need to do and write. So, sadly, it takes me longer than I’d like to get my books finished. I’m thrilled when I read a good review on one of my books. It just makes my day.
I want to thank Kitty for giving me a place to rest my thoughts.
Laura Helland/Stolmeier
September 4, 2012
GUEST POST WITH AUTHOR, ARTHUR COLA
Festivals and the Literary World
By Arthur Cola
The age of social media and the internet has transformed the manner in which authors present their stories to the world. This very venue of Goodreads is a fine example of this explosion of electronic marketing and sharing of information on one’s stories. There remains however that personal interaction activity called “a book event.” All of us who write are quite familiar with these events usually held in a local bookstore. It affords us time to speak with people about one’s work in a heartfelt manner. They are also usually arranged through media communication such as email as well. So these events today have become a blend of a human interactive event and that of the electronic age.
For me there is another explosion of cultural events which have become a literary phenomenon affording authors opportunities to present their work. These are the Cultural and Ethnic Festivals held across the nation. Originally designed to bring a taste of a particular ethnic culture to its visitors through music, food and entertainment, each has grown to present not only a historical aspect to its cultural presentation but also the Fine Arts of their heritage. And that now includes Literary works by people like me. Festivals such as Festa Italiana/Milwaukee, Dublin Irish Fest in Ohio, IBAM/Chicago, Boston Irish Fest and Festa Italiana in Washington D.C. are just a few examples of these celebrations of cultural food, music, history, and the Fine Arts which now includes Literary works often reflecting their heritage or stories written by authors of a particular ethnic background.
I love these Festivals which keep me pretty busy through the summer and into the fall season. It affords me an opportunity to engage in dialogue with fellow authors and the festival visitors who may never have been exposed to an author’s work were it not for the festival having an “Authors Corner.” Standing by the table, usually in a tent structure, on which is displayed my books is fun for me. This year I had my two twelve year old grandsons with me at Festa Italiana in Milwaukee. They had a blast handing out cards announcing my new novel, THE BROOCH. The people loved it when the “boys” invited them to meet their Papa. The couple of hours they were there was a unique experience for them and brought into the Fine Arts tent a lot of visitors.
The Grandsons of Arthur Cola, wearing their Little Italy shirts from New York, are introduced to the Fine Arts of Italy at Festa Italiana in Milwaukee.
One of the most asked question at any festival is that of why I began to write books. I never get tired of answering that question. It’s a perfect one which allows me to introduce my books. And so I begin with how my first story was written for my grandchildren, in fact the very ones handing out those cards when they were in Kindergarten. Thus was born “Papa and the Gingerbread Man.” A Christmas fantasy adventure fantasy set in St. Augustine Florida its format of learning a little early American History while chasing the vacationing famous cookie man throughout America’s oldest city is a hit with grandparents and kids alike.
From that introduction, I present my family friendly novels of “Papa and the Leprechaun King” and “The Shamrock Crown.” “These tales are based on experiences encountered while on a self-guided tour of Ireland and the United Kingdom,” I tell them. They are a blend of present day events with the folklore, history and legends of these nations. My middle school aged grandsons liked reading these stories of American tourists saving the Realm of the Wee Folk while on Tour of Ireland and that of the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table brought into the 21st Century and so do the “baby boomers” of my generation.
Moving to my adult novels, The Stone Cutter Genius and The Brooch I am able to answer another frequently asked question, why did I write stories revolving around the life and times of the Renaissance Artist Michelangelo. The answer often surprises them. While most kids of my day had heroes like The Lone Ranger and Superman, my childhood hero was an artist who had died 500 years ago. “My, you must have been from an artistic family” they would remark. “Not hardly, I grew up in the “little Italy” neighborhood of Chicago on the near west side. The reason I looked up to Michelangelo was that he was of my height and weight.” When I went to Italy years later doing post graduate work at Loyola University in Rome, I began to form an idea for a book. Later when I took a group of my students to Italy, their antics and experiences would serve to provide much fodder for the telling of a story filled with the issues of the present day and intertwined with that of the life and times of Michelangelo. And so these mystery tales based on the Italian legend of the “Ring of the Magi” from the days of the Renaissance were born.
Festivals are indeed a great way for authors to get the word out on their work. Many of them now have scheduled formal presentations for the author. Thus the author has an audience. These usually run around 30 to 45 minutes, thus I am able to present the background of the forming of my books with a/v highlights as well. It also allows me to throw in the news of the film project for my screenplay, “Ring of the Magi.” That usually results in a lot of interest as well. Of course those questions, of which I have written, will be among those asked during the question and answer period which concludes the presentation. Festivals are great fun and a wonderful marketing opportunity for we who write.
(The books of Arthur Cola may be ordered at www.amazon.com/kindle and at www.feedaread.com. The film project news is available at www.facebook.com/ringofthemagibyatrhu... ).
By Arthur Cola
The age of social media and the internet has transformed the manner in which authors present their stories to the world. This very venue of Goodreads is a fine example of this explosion of electronic marketing and sharing of information on one’s stories. There remains however that personal interaction activity called “a book event.” All of us who write are quite familiar with these events usually held in a local bookstore. It affords us time to speak with people about one’s work in a heartfelt manner. They are also usually arranged through media communication such as email as well. So these events today have become a blend of a human interactive event and that of the electronic age.
For me there is another explosion of cultural events which have become a literary phenomenon affording authors opportunities to present their work. These are the Cultural and Ethnic Festivals held across the nation. Originally designed to bring a taste of a particular ethnic culture to its visitors through music, food and entertainment, each has grown to present not only a historical aspect to its cultural presentation but also the Fine Arts of their heritage. And that now includes Literary works by people like me. Festivals such as Festa Italiana/Milwaukee, Dublin Irish Fest in Ohio, IBAM/Chicago, Boston Irish Fest and Festa Italiana in Washington D.C. are just a few examples of these celebrations of cultural food, music, history, and the Fine Arts which now includes Literary works often reflecting their heritage or stories written by authors of a particular ethnic background.
I love these Festivals which keep me pretty busy through the summer and into the fall season. It affords me an opportunity to engage in dialogue with fellow authors and the festival visitors who may never have been exposed to an author’s work were it not for the festival having an “Authors Corner.” Standing by the table, usually in a tent structure, on which is displayed my books is fun for me. This year I had my two twelve year old grandsons with me at Festa Italiana in Milwaukee. They had a blast handing out cards announcing my new novel, THE BROOCH. The people loved it when the “boys” invited them to meet their Papa. The couple of hours they were there was a unique experience for them and brought into the Fine Arts tent a lot of visitors.
The Grandsons of Arthur Cola, wearing their Little Italy shirts from New York, are introduced to the Fine Arts of Italy at Festa Italiana in Milwaukee.
One of the most asked question at any festival is that of why I began to write books. I never get tired of answering that question. It’s a perfect one which allows me to introduce my books. And so I begin with how my first story was written for my grandchildren, in fact the very ones handing out those cards when they were in Kindergarten. Thus was born “Papa and the Gingerbread Man.” A Christmas fantasy adventure fantasy set in St. Augustine Florida its format of learning a little early American History while chasing the vacationing famous cookie man throughout America’s oldest city is a hit with grandparents and kids alike.
From that introduction, I present my family friendly novels of “Papa and the Leprechaun King” and “The Shamrock Crown.” “These tales are based on experiences encountered while on a self-guided tour of Ireland and the United Kingdom,” I tell them. They are a blend of present day events with the folklore, history and legends of these nations. My middle school aged grandsons liked reading these stories of American tourists saving the Realm of the Wee Folk while on Tour of Ireland and that of the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table brought into the 21st Century and so do the “baby boomers” of my generation.
Moving to my adult novels, The Stone Cutter Genius and The Brooch I am able to answer another frequently asked question, why did I write stories revolving around the life and times of the Renaissance Artist Michelangelo. The answer often surprises them. While most kids of my day had heroes like The Lone Ranger and Superman, my childhood hero was an artist who had died 500 years ago. “My, you must have been from an artistic family” they would remark. “Not hardly, I grew up in the “little Italy” neighborhood of Chicago on the near west side. The reason I looked up to Michelangelo was that he was of my height and weight.” When I went to Italy years later doing post graduate work at Loyola University in Rome, I began to form an idea for a book. Later when I took a group of my students to Italy, their antics and experiences would serve to provide much fodder for the telling of a story filled with the issues of the present day and intertwined with that of the life and times of Michelangelo. And so these mystery tales based on the Italian legend of the “Ring of the Magi” from the days of the Renaissance were born.
Festivals are indeed a great way for authors to get the word out on their work. Many of them now have scheduled formal presentations for the author. Thus the author has an audience. These usually run around 30 to 45 minutes, thus I am able to present the background of the forming of my books with a/v highlights as well. It also allows me to throw in the news of the film project for my screenplay, “Ring of the Magi.” That usually results in a lot of interest as well. Of course those questions, of which I have written, will be among those asked during the question and answer period which concludes the presentation. Festivals are great fun and a wonderful marketing opportunity for we who write.
(The books of Arthur Cola may be ordered at www.amazon.com/kindle and at www.feedaread.com. The film project news is available at www.facebook.com/ringofthemagibyatrhu... ).
September 3, 2012
GUEST POST WITH AUTHORS, RAY EAST AND SAM D
WHY I WROTE "VOLUSPA - A MAGICAL WORLD"
Why write a book like ‘Voluspa – A Magical World’? Like countless other teenage girls, I had a difficult time during my pre-teen and early teen years. I had major body issues and even suffered with eating disorders. During those years, I often fantasized about escaping to an alternate universe where I could start life afresh or find acceptance. My imagination was further fuelled by the countless number of books I devoured growing up, especially since they were my only constant companions. Thus when the time came to put words down to paper, I found myself creating a fantasy world – a place so magical that it had the power to heal even the most troubled souls.
Talking about troubled souls, the main two protagonists of my story, Amy and Drake, definitely fit the bill. Amy has a hard childhood, feeling unwanted and unloved whereas Drake’s childhood is shadowed by impossibly high expectations imposed on him by his father. The two meet when Amy crosses over realms to land up in Voluspa and they connect from the very beginning.
They find a kindred spirit in each other and like two halves of a whole, they complete each other. But their relationship is taboo as per the law in Voluspa. One of the questions that this book subtly puts forward is whether individual freedom is sacrosanct or should it take a backseat when it comes to greater good of the land and people. This story also puts a new spin on the age old battle between good and evil. Circumstances force both Amy and Drake to do certain things which one could consider a touch shy of evil.
But at no time does their love for each other diminish and whatever they do is born out of a need to protect or help the other.
One could say that this is a story of two star crossed lovers set against a magical backdrop of an enchanted land. However, the world of Voluspa in not a Utopic one; like most known civilizations, it has its own problems. Despotic leaders, wars, arbitrate laws; all weave themselves to create a rich tapestry of life that forms the backdrop of this story. The story borrows from mythology to give it an authentic tone. It is multi layered and I believe would appeal to a broad spectrum of age.
At present I am working on the next book in the Voluspa series. This book finds a changed Drake. His ordeals with Lord Vali has changed him permanently and no matter how much he wishes, there is no going back for him. He is now faced with the challenge of carving out a new life for himself away from Voluspa, away from Amy. But Amy is not one to accept loosing Drake so easily; she is determined to save Drake no matter what the cost. Now that the secret of her birth is out, she also has to contend with the wrath of the council members. In the meantime, Lord Vali continues with his quest to resurrect his demonic leader using Drake and the second book of Brahmas.
-Sam D & Ray East
Why write a book like ‘Voluspa – A Magical World’? Like countless other teenage girls, I had a difficult time during my pre-teen and early teen years. I had major body issues and even suffered with eating disorders. During those years, I often fantasized about escaping to an alternate universe where I could start life afresh or find acceptance. My imagination was further fuelled by the countless number of books I devoured growing up, especially since they were my only constant companions. Thus when the time came to put words down to paper, I found myself creating a fantasy world – a place so magical that it had the power to heal even the most troubled souls.
Talking about troubled souls, the main two protagonists of my story, Amy and Drake, definitely fit the bill. Amy has a hard childhood, feeling unwanted and unloved whereas Drake’s childhood is shadowed by impossibly high expectations imposed on him by his father. The two meet when Amy crosses over realms to land up in Voluspa and they connect from the very beginning.
They find a kindred spirit in each other and like two halves of a whole, they complete each other. But their relationship is taboo as per the law in Voluspa. One of the questions that this book subtly puts forward is whether individual freedom is sacrosanct or should it take a backseat when it comes to greater good of the land and people. This story also puts a new spin on the age old battle between good and evil. Circumstances force both Amy and Drake to do certain things which one could consider a touch shy of evil.
But at no time does their love for each other diminish and whatever they do is born out of a need to protect or help the other.
One could say that this is a story of two star crossed lovers set against a magical backdrop of an enchanted land. However, the world of Voluspa in not a Utopic one; like most known civilizations, it has its own problems. Despotic leaders, wars, arbitrate laws; all weave themselves to create a rich tapestry of life that forms the backdrop of this story. The story borrows from mythology to give it an authentic tone. It is multi layered and I believe would appeal to a broad spectrum of age.
At present I am working on the next book in the Voluspa series. This book finds a changed Drake. His ordeals with Lord Vali has changed him permanently and no matter how much he wishes, there is no going back for him. He is now faced with the challenge of carving out a new life for himself away from Voluspa, away from Amy. But Amy is not one to accept loosing Drake so easily; she is determined to save Drake no matter what the cost. Now that the secret of her birth is out, she also has to contend with the wrath of the council members. In the meantime, Lord Vali continues with his quest to resurrect his demonic leader using Drake and the second book of Brahmas.
-Sam D & Ray East
September 1, 2012
GUEST POST WITH AUTHOR, KENT EVANS
A CRASH COURSE ON THE ANATOMY OF ROBOTS, BY KENT EVANS
A Crash Course On The Anatomy of Robots is sort of a love song to being an artist, travel, the death of my parents, and disastrous relationships. The Crash Course bit comes from how the novel is arranged, which is thematically, rather than the more traditional chronologically.
The Robot bit refers to a perceptual anomaly in robotics. The uncanny valley is a statistically valley that occurs with certain humanoid objects. Basically up to a certain point, non-human things are more and more endearing the more human they appear (think the Smurfs, Yoda). Then right around when they are practically human there’s this mathematical nosedive where everyone just gets creeped out and disgusted by these things cause they are so close that all you see is how they’re not human (think that weird human Barbie chick). In the book, this is used as a metaphor for social interaction and a sense of loss in traumatized people – like Damien.
You could say my mother’s death in 2003 from cancer right before Malas Ondas came out, my fucked up relationships following it, and fleeing to Southeast Asia in 2006 would be the prime motivators for writing the novel. Damien’s struggle in the book was part of my way of piecing together what was happening to me. I came back from Asia sane again (the same can’t quite be said for Damien), and started compiling all my writing and notes from the time. Jillian Medoff, a fantastic writer and former professor of mine at NYU, helped me get through the initial attempts at forming the novel. Then I spent a good deal of time with my editor Carolyn Fireside battling away at drafts till we finally had something I think is pretty unique.
Another unique part of the novel is the accompanying soundtrack that I wrote and performed for it along with some very talented musicians. Once we started playing it just fell into place and seemed like a perfect fit for the eReader versions to best utilize both the technology and showcase myself as a multi-platform artist. When you buy certain versions of the novel electronically it gives you the option to hear those pieces narrated/performed with musical accompaniment. More traditionally if you buy a physical copy you can either download the album from all major distributors, or order a physical CD from Amazon. For a novel with Robots in the title it only seemed natural to embrace the benefits that come with new technology.
I wanted to write a novel for the new millennium that tries to capture some of that detachment we are all feeling in a world where technology has made the ability to connect so much faster and easier, yet many of us feel a profound sense of isolation. Damien’s self-absorption and loneliness is very much a product of how he feels in these times. The lack of consequence of many of the things he does is something that is very much of our current era, where everyone from banks to Politicians to pretty much every public figure has become experts at living without consequence and dodging blame.
As I say in the book I am not Damien, but I suppose Damien is me. By that I mean he’s definitely got more than a little bit of me in there. It’s fiction, but more than a few events of my own life have made it into the novel. It would be a mistake to think that you’re reading a novel about me, but it is a novel inspired by certain events in my life.
Author Biography (Kent Evans)
Kent Evans is the author of Malas Ondas: Lime, Sand Sex and Salsa in the land of conquistadors, a semi-autobiographical novel about selfdestruction throughout Latin America and finding that corniest of motivators – love. He was a fixture on the spoken word and experimental art scene throughout the 90’s, and the internationally acclaimed artist has performed at such venues as the Festival Internacional Cervantino, Madison Square Garden Theater, Acadamie Beaux Arts in Paris and Nuvorican Poets Café in Greenwich Village.
Kent has appeared on NPR for shows including Nuestra Palabra, the Front Row, and Living Arts showcase. His creative non-fiction and opinion pieces have appeared in numerous national pop-culture and literary zines and publications.
Having also done technical and academic writing for various Fortune 500 companies, Kent is currently pursuing his artistic craft through music and fiction. His performance of choice involves gathering nontraditional musicians – DJ’s, classical players, Latin funk bands – and performing poetry in a live Jazz/Trip-Hop format.
His forthcoming novel A Crash Course on the Anatomy of Robots releases September 17, 2012 from Pangea Books.
Half Cantonese and half UK, Kent was born in New York City in 1975 and grew up between New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island. He graduated in psychology and dramatic literature from New York University, and began traveling extensively throughout the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean. He fully expects to answer that “but where are you really from” question the rest of his life.
Synopsis
BOOK DETAILS
Paperback
ISBN: 978-1938545016
eBook
Fiction, 339 pages
Pangea Books, Sept. 17, 2012
Gripping action-adventure, travel fiction at its most alluring, the high-insight chronicle of a rootless spirit’s search for grounding thru the minefield of terror that is the Postmillennium: Kent Evans’ A CRASH COURSE ON THE ANATOMY OF ROBOTS marks the arrival of a novelist whose impressive literary gifts are matched only by his mainstream narrative powers.
Damien Wood’s path to adulthood in the last decade of the 20th century seems delineated by astonishingly effortless success – creatively, financially, and sexually. And yet his half-Asian lineage with its inherent and irreconcilable cultural clashes is coupled with the inability to be affected both within and around him by people and circumstances. Hurling himself with abandon from place to place and from one hollow commitment to another has absolutely no existential impact on him. Damien Wood is a robot convincingly painting the self-portrait of a daredevil artist as a young man.
Then, the century turns. As Damien’s mother dies after a long and agonizing illness and 9/11 inaugurates a new reign of global terror, the full spectrum of Damien’s emotions, from desire to despair, begin to emerge unbidden. These birth pangs of humanness will send him to Asia on a mordantly comic, frighteningly dark odyssey through Southeast Asia in the company of an expatriate colony with too little to lose, including values –until the violence which is the 21st Century’s signature come to claim him
as its own: no longer a robot, Damien Wood has become a wanted man... Consummately suspenseful, compulsively readable, at once approachable and ambitious, A CRASH COURSE is an embarrassment of riches for everyone who loves a great read.
The original soundtrack for A Crash Course On the Anatomy of Robots was written and recorded at On Studio in Guanajuato, Mexico. The album will be available on iTunes prior to the release
of the novel and come free as a companion piece with the Kindle version.
A Crash Course On The Anatomy of Robots is sort of a love song to being an artist, travel, the death of my parents, and disastrous relationships. The Crash Course bit comes from how the novel is arranged, which is thematically, rather than the more traditional chronologically.
The Robot bit refers to a perceptual anomaly in robotics. The uncanny valley is a statistically valley that occurs with certain humanoid objects. Basically up to a certain point, non-human things are more and more endearing the more human they appear (think the Smurfs, Yoda). Then right around when they are practically human there’s this mathematical nosedive where everyone just gets creeped out and disgusted by these things cause they are so close that all you see is how they’re not human (think that weird human Barbie chick). In the book, this is used as a metaphor for social interaction and a sense of loss in traumatized people – like Damien.
You could say my mother’s death in 2003 from cancer right before Malas Ondas came out, my fucked up relationships following it, and fleeing to Southeast Asia in 2006 would be the prime motivators for writing the novel. Damien’s struggle in the book was part of my way of piecing together what was happening to me. I came back from Asia sane again (the same can’t quite be said for Damien), and started compiling all my writing and notes from the time. Jillian Medoff, a fantastic writer and former professor of mine at NYU, helped me get through the initial attempts at forming the novel. Then I spent a good deal of time with my editor Carolyn Fireside battling away at drafts till we finally had something I think is pretty unique.
Another unique part of the novel is the accompanying soundtrack that I wrote and performed for it along with some very talented musicians. Once we started playing it just fell into place and seemed like a perfect fit for the eReader versions to best utilize both the technology and showcase myself as a multi-platform artist. When you buy certain versions of the novel electronically it gives you the option to hear those pieces narrated/performed with musical accompaniment. More traditionally if you buy a physical copy you can either download the album from all major distributors, or order a physical CD from Amazon. For a novel with Robots in the title it only seemed natural to embrace the benefits that come with new technology.
I wanted to write a novel for the new millennium that tries to capture some of that detachment we are all feeling in a world where technology has made the ability to connect so much faster and easier, yet many of us feel a profound sense of isolation. Damien’s self-absorption and loneliness is very much a product of how he feels in these times. The lack of consequence of many of the things he does is something that is very much of our current era, where everyone from banks to Politicians to pretty much every public figure has become experts at living without consequence and dodging blame.
As I say in the book I am not Damien, but I suppose Damien is me. By that I mean he’s definitely got more than a little bit of me in there. It’s fiction, but more than a few events of my own life have made it into the novel. It would be a mistake to think that you’re reading a novel about me, but it is a novel inspired by certain events in my life.
Author Biography (Kent Evans)
Kent Evans is the author of Malas Ondas: Lime, Sand Sex and Salsa in the land of conquistadors, a semi-autobiographical novel about selfdestruction throughout Latin America and finding that corniest of motivators – love. He was a fixture on the spoken word and experimental art scene throughout the 90’s, and the internationally acclaimed artist has performed at such venues as the Festival Internacional Cervantino, Madison Square Garden Theater, Acadamie Beaux Arts in Paris and Nuvorican Poets Café in Greenwich Village.
Kent has appeared on NPR for shows including Nuestra Palabra, the Front Row, and Living Arts showcase. His creative non-fiction and opinion pieces have appeared in numerous national pop-culture and literary zines and publications.
Having also done technical and academic writing for various Fortune 500 companies, Kent is currently pursuing his artistic craft through music and fiction. His performance of choice involves gathering nontraditional musicians – DJ’s, classical players, Latin funk bands – and performing poetry in a live Jazz/Trip-Hop format.
His forthcoming novel A Crash Course on the Anatomy of Robots releases September 17, 2012 from Pangea Books.
Half Cantonese and half UK, Kent was born in New York City in 1975 and grew up between New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island. He graduated in psychology and dramatic literature from New York University, and began traveling extensively throughout the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean. He fully expects to answer that “but where are you really from” question the rest of his life.
Synopsis
BOOK DETAILS
Paperback
ISBN: 978-1938545016
eBook
Fiction, 339 pages
Pangea Books, Sept. 17, 2012
Gripping action-adventure, travel fiction at its most alluring, the high-insight chronicle of a rootless spirit’s search for grounding thru the minefield of terror that is the Postmillennium: Kent Evans’ A CRASH COURSE ON THE ANATOMY OF ROBOTS marks the arrival of a novelist whose impressive literary gifts are matched only by his mainstream narrative powers.
Damien Wood’s path to adulthood in the last decade of the 20th century seems delineated by astonishingly effortless success – creatively, financially, and sexually. And yet his half-Asian lineage with its inherent and irreconcilable cultural clashes is coupled with the inability to be affected both within and around him by people and circumstances. Hurling himself with abandon from place to place and from one hollow commitment to another has absolutely no existential impact on him. Damien Wood is a robot convincingly painting the self-portrait of a daredevil artist as a young man.
Then, the century turns. As Damien’s mother dies after a long and agonizing illness and 9/11 inaugurates a new reign of global terror, the full spectrum of Damien’s emotions, from desire to despair, begin to emerge unbidden. These birth pangs of humanness will send him to Asia on a mordantly comic, frighteningly dark odyssey through Southeast Asia in the company of an expatriate colony with too little to lose, including values –until the violence which is the 21st Century’s signature come to claim him
as its own: no longer a robot, Damien Wood has become a wanted man... Consummately suspenseful, compulsively readable, at once approachable and ambitious, A CRASH COURSE is an embarrassment of riches for everyone who loves a great read.
The original soundtrack for A Crash Course On the Anatomy of Robots was written and recorded at On Studio in Guanajuato, Mexico. The album will be available on iTunes prior to the release
of the novel and come free as a companion piece with the Kindle version.
August 31, 2012
GUEST POST WITH AUTHOR, JOAN VERNIKOS, PH.D.
GUEST POST WITH AUTHOR, JOAN VERNIKOS, PH.D
Sitting Kills, Moving Heals: How Simple Everyday Movement will Prevent Pain, Illness, and Early Death – And Exercise Alone Won’t Our lives have become increasingly sedentary. We sit all day and it’s making us sick. If you want to be healthy, live long and be independent – and who doesn’t — make friends with gravity. It is not the enemy that drags you down and ages you. In fact the opposite is true. We learned this from astronauts who without the benefits of gravity age much more rapidly.
Making all-day habits of simple, natural, every day movement that capitalizes on gravity, is the secret to youthful health and energy. Developing “G-Habits” of continuous motion is more important than exercise.
This book includes:
The Basis of this Knowledge
How using gravity differs from traditional exercise
A Step By Step Plan
A Health Assets Questionnaire
In the United States, two out of every three people are unhealthy. The enemy is a transformation in lifestyle that began with the Industrial Revolution. To a far greater degree than our grandparents we simply sit, all day long. We sit in our cars and trucks, we sit in our offices, and we go home in the evening and sit in front of the TV or the computer. Modern conveniences, designed to make our life easier, rob us of all the habitual movements we used to make when we lived without them — the small simple natural movements our grandparents used to make, day in and day out, throughout their entire lives.
The bad news is that too much sitting is killing us. New studies are showing direct relationship between hours sat and breast or colon cancer. Anything over 3 to 4 hours of sitting shortens life, even in people who exercise.
The good news is that there are unlimited opportunities for fitness all around us. The key to success lies in increasing the amount of natural, habitual movement throughout the day, each and every day including weekends.
I am not talking about getting more exercise — I’m talking about a different kind of exertion. I am referring to the multitude of small, low-intensity movements we make throughout the day as we go about the business of living. These simple movements — I call them “G-Habits,” because they resist the force of gravity — are the key to health.
Why is resisting gravity important? Think of an astronaut returning to Earth after a long tour aboard the International Space Station. For weeks, she’s been weightless, effortlessly floating in her cabin. But her body depends on the resistance of gravity to stay strong. Deprived of gravity, her muscles and bones have weakened ten times faster than on the ground. Her cardiac output and hearts size have decreased, her posture is stooped, and she has reduced sensitivity to insulin — in fact, it looks an awful lot like her voyage into space has rapidly aged her.
A modern, sedentary lifestyle deprives you of gravity as surely as an astronaut in space. In our chairs and couches, we don’t resist the force of gravity as we would if we lived an active life. And we age more rapidly, too. But don’t lose heart! Astronauts regain their health when they resume active living on Earth. And by cultivating some simple G-Habits, so can you.
Here are some G-Habits that can help keep you healthy and independent for the rest of your life:
Stand Up, Sit Down
The key to independence and mobility in old age is being able to stand up. It’s no more complicated than that. Start practicing now so you will be able to stand up and sit down without help for as long as you live. Do this exercise correctly to get the most out of it. From a using-gravity perspective, standing up is excellent, especially if you raise your weight out of the chair slowly and repeat it many times throughout the day. If you stand up quickly the same number of times, but in a short period, it is an aerobic exercise — note how your heart beats faster and you pant.
Stand tall; Sit tall
Remember that gravity pulls straight down, so standing tall makes you work upward against gravity. The straighter your posture, the more G-value, as you position your body in the optimal orientation to receive gravity’s pull. Our head weighs about 15 pounds and sits on top of the spine. The head is the only weight the upper spine carries. It serves to keep the bone density of the spine strong. Many of us tend to drop our head forward when we sit or walk. However, doing this reduces our spine’s work against gravity, and so it weakens, can become frail, our back muscles hurt, and we lose height.
The Stairs Option
Start off by taking the easy way up — elevator, escalator — and using the stairs going down. Going up stairs and going down stairs are two separate kinds of activities. Going down has a greater balance component; in addition, the impact loading with each step as you accelerate forward provides gravity stimulus to the bones in your legs, hips, and lower spine. Going up is more of an aerobic activity and builds stamina. It is also a form of weight training, as you pull your weight up each step. Going both up and down stairs are great exercises to strengthen muscles, but they work on different muscles, so you need to do both to strengthen both the front and back leg muscles.
Walk Tall
When you walk, keep your sense of balance strong and move like a runway model by walking with your legs and feet close together. Aim to keep your gaze focused straight ahead rather than at your feet. This will help you walk taller and keep your spine strong.
A brisk walk in a park or other pleasant surroundings is emotionally rewarding and if you take an hour to walk two miles, you will burn a good number of calories. Former astronaut and U.S. Senator John Glenn makes a habit of power-walking two miles a day. As I write this, John Glenn is 91 and still going strong. He must be doing something right!
About the Author:
Joan Vernikos, Ph.D., is a medical research scientist and the former director of NASA’s Life Sciences Division. Her pother books include “The G-Connection: Harness Gravity and Reverse Aging”, and “Stress Fitness for Seniors”. This article is excerpted from her new book, “Sitting Kills, Moving Heals: How Simple Everyday Movement Will Prevent Pain, Illness, and Early Death — and Exercise Alone Won’t,” available from Amazon and Quill Driver Books (www.quilldriverbooks.com).
To purchase the book or learn more about the author please visit www.joanvernikos.com.
Sitting Kills, Moving Heals: How Simple Everyday Movement will Prevent Pain, Illness, and Early Death – And Exercise Alone Won’t Our lives have become increasingly sedentary. We sit all day and it’s making us sick. If you want to be healthy, live long and be independent – and who doesn’t — make friends with gravity. It is not the enemy that drags you down and ages you. In fact the opposite is true. We learned this from astronauts who without the benefits of gravity age much more rapidly.
Making all-day habits of simple, natural, every day movement that capitalizes on gravity, is the secret to youthful health and energy. Developing “G-Habits” of continuous motion is more important than exercise.
This book includes:
The Basis of this Knowledge
How using gravity differs from traditional exercise
A Step By Step Plan
A Health Assets Questionnaire
In the United States, two out of every three people are unhealthy. The enemy is a transformation in lifestyle that began with the Industrial Revolution. To a far greater degree than our grandparents we simply sit, all day long. We sit in our cars and trucks, we sit in our offices, and we go home in the evening and sit in front of the TV or the computer. Modern conveniences, designed to make our life easier, rob us of all the habitual movements we used to make when we lived without them — the small simple natural movements our grandparents used to make, day in and day out, throughout their entire lives.
The bad news is that too much sitting is killing us. New studies are showing direct relationship between hours sat and breast or colon cancer. Anything over 3 to 4 hours of sitting shortens life, even in people who exercise.
The good news is that there are unlimited opportunities for fitness all around us. The key to success lies in increasing the amount of natural, habitual movement throughout the day, each and every day including weekends.
I am not talking about getting more exercise — I’m talking about a different kind of exertion. I am referring to the multitude of small, low-intensity movements we make throughout the day as we go about the business of living. These simple movements — I call them “G-Habits,” because they resist the force of gravity — are the key to health.
Why is resisting gravity important? Think of an astronaut returning to Earth after a long tour aboard the International Space Station. For weeks, she’s been weightless, effortlessly floating in her cabin. But her body depends on the resistance of gravity to stay strong. Deprived of gravity, her muscles and bones have weakened ten times faster than on the ground. Her cardiac output and hearts size have decreased, her posture is stooped, and she has reduced sensitivity to insulin — in fact, it looks an awful lot like her voyage into space has rapidly aged her.
A modern, sedentary lifestyle deprives you of gravity as surely as an astronaut in space. In our chairs and couches, we don’t resist the force of gravity as we would if we lived an active life. And we age more rapidly, too. But don’t lose heart! Astronauts regain their health when they resume active living on Earth. And by cultivating some simple G-Habits, so can you.
Here are some G-Habits that can help keep you healthy and independent for the rest of your life:
Stand Up, Sit Down
The key to independence and mobility in old age is being able to stand up. It’s no more complicated than that. Start practicing now so you will be able to stand up and sit down without help for as long as you live. Do this exercise correctly to get the most out of it. From a using-gravity perspective, standing up is excellent, especially if you raise your weight out of the chair slowly and repeat it many times throughout the day. If you stand up quickly the same number of times, but in a short period, it is an aerobic exercise — note how your heart beats faster and you pant.
Stand tall; Sit tall
Remember that gravity pulls straight down, so standing tall makes you work upward against gravity. The straighter your posture, the more G-value, as you position your body in the optimal orientation to receive gravity’s pull. Our head weighs about 15 pounds and sits on top of the spine. The head is the only weight the upper spine carries. It serves to keep the bone density of the spine strong. Many of us tend to drop our head forward when we sit or walk. However, doing this reduces our spine’s work against gravity, and so it weakens, can become frail, our back muscles hurt, and we lose height.
The Stairs Option
Start off by taking the easy way up — elevator, escalator — and using the stairs going down. Going up stairs and going down stairs are two separate kinds of activities. Going down has a greater balance component; in addition, the impact loading with each step as you accelerate forward provides gravity stimulus to the bones in your legs, hips, and lower spine. Going up is more of an aerobic activity and builds stamina. It is also a form of weight training, as you pull your weight up each step. Going both up and down stairs are great exercises to strengthen muscles, but they work on different muscles, so you need to do both to strengthen both the front and back leg muscles.
Walk Tall
When you walk, keep your sense of balance strong and move like a runway model by walking with your legs and feet close together. Aim to keep your gaze focused straight ahead rather than at your feet. This will help you walk taller and keep your spine strong.
A brisk walk in a park or other pleasant surroundings is emotionally rewarding and if you take an hour to walk two miles, you will burn a good number of calories. Former astronaut and U.S. Senator John Glenn makes a habit of power-walking two miles a day. As I write this, John Glenn is 91 and still going strong. He must be doing something right!
About the Author:
Joan Vernikos, Ph.D., is a medical research scientist and the former director of NASA’s Life Sciences Division. Her pother books include “The G-Connection: Harness Gravity and Reverse Aging”, and “Stress Fitness for Seniors”. This article is excerpted from her new book, “Sitting Kills, Moving Heals: How Simple Everyday Movement Will Prevent Pain, Illness, and Early Death — and Exercise Alone Won’t,” available from Amazon and Quill Driver Books (www.quilldriverbooks.com).
To purchase the book or learn more about the author please visit www.joanvernikos.com.
