Erik Hansen's Blog, page 5

Cover Test

Tentative cover for the soon to be released “Cicadas” (4/1/2018)

Thoughts?

Comments are appreciated!

Also, stop by my new website and feel free to subscribe to my email list. No junk just good stuff!

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Here’s the link to my site:

https://erikhansen67.com

Thanks for stopping by!

E

Website Update

Hey all! It’s been a while I know; I’ve been super busy getting Cicadas ready and writing several short stories at the same time.

I did manage to get the new website up and running and you can find signed paperback copies of Compass there at a discount!

Also feel free to sign-up for an email subscription and I promise not to bombard you with junk but only good stuff!

Edges & Other Worlds

Life and Reading

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I am a firm believer in the acquisition of empirical knowledge over propositional knowledge.

Real life over book learning.

This is not to say that learning from books has no value rather that it should be part of the whole learning and life experience.

For me to tell you that you can “only live your life but you can read someone else’s” is actually disingenuous. Case in point, anyone who read Frey’s “A Million Little Pieces” back when it came out in 2003, found out later that they had read a total lie.

To achieve what Kierkgaard referred to as Erfahrung, we need to get out and get face to face with the world around us, that, in order to understand the diverse and multi-faceted nature of the world, of humanity and of the human condition, we need to get out and meet it and talk to it, to recognize and immerse ourselves in the experiential nature of human epistemology. You simply can’t select a book by a “diverse” author and think you will comprehend their experience, their life.

You may acquire some insight by doing so, but to think you’ve found some sort of touchstone of diversity and, thereby an enlightened perspective is fantasy.

This is not to say I am discouraging people from reading as much as they can, on the contrary.

I think you should read as much as you can when you are not out exploring both near and far, meeting all the many people who may or may not look or think like you and having simple conversations.

E

Short Story or Novella?

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I began working on a short story submission recently and, of course, the idea has snowballed.

“Listening” was originally supposed to be a science fiction short set on a space station orbiting Jupiter close to Europa.

So, naturally, I begin to wander around in the cavernous expanse of my own imagination…

Does this story have the chops to be something more?

A novella?

A novel?

Holy bovine! Do I know how to overcomplicate things or what? I have to resist the temptation to keep going and going. Maybe in the future I could revisit these wonderful ideas, but for now its really important to keep the original goal in mind and write what I intended.

Write.

Write.

Write.

Remember there is such a thing as a word count limit for a short story submission.

And a deadline.

Keep on writing and edit later.

Its okay to dream big but finishing what I originally intended to start is more important to me as a writer.

Write.

Write some more.

Finish what you start and achieve the small goals you set for yourself each day.

Everything else will work itself out in the end.

Back to Laxmi Station; Colonel Jannik De Aguila needs to safely dock the Martian cutter “Mobius”.

E

“Cicadas” coming soon!

I’m pleased to let everyone know that I will be releasing a collection of new poems in April.

“Cicadas” will be available in Kindle and ebook versions first, paperbacks to follow as soon as I determine where my POD services will be.

Here is a rough of the potential cover, as always, thoughts and criticisms are welcome.

Thanks for showing up!

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WIP excerpt: “The Archer”

With a loud snap, Jack stepped squarely on a dead branch just beneath the leaf litter.Tolan turned and spoke softly,

“Even the forest bison are quieter than you.”

Jack shrugged and waved a hand at an insect.

Tolan went on,

“If you wish to die today then continue without looking for where to put your feet first.”

Tolan waggled a long finger for emphasis,

“Walk as I do. Stop when I signal you to stop and move when I signal you to move.”

Jack nodded and leaned against a large red oak.

Tolan frowned.

“Did I say to lean against that tree?”

 “No.”

Tolan sighed.

“Surely the gods sent you as a test.”

© Erik Hansen 2017

5-29-17

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In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row, 

That mark our place, and in the sky, 

The larks, still bravely singing, fly, 

Scarce heard amid the guns below. 

We are the dead; short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, 

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields. 

Take up our quarrel with the foe! 

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high! 

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae

1915

Sheepdogs

22 innocent people were killed in Manchester, UK Monday evening by a suicide bomber. Speculation continues to spin out of the mouth of the MSM, but I don’t know if anything will help explain this seemingly senseless act.

22 dead, 59 wounded at the teen pop star, Ariana Grande’s concert.

Unimaginably, teens were targeted. 

Lone wolf? 

Coordinated attack by ISIS? 

Al Queda?

The Taliban?

We shall see. 

Maybe.

One thing is for certain; our leaders continue to instruct us to simply accept this and continue on our merry way, blinders in place.

After the terrorist attack, BBC’s Katty Kay had this to say, 

“Europe is getting used to attacks like this,” she says. “We have to, because we are never going to be able to totally wipe this out. As ISIS gets squeezed in Syria and Iraq, we’re going to see more of these kinds of attacks taking place in Europe and Europe is starting to get used to that.”

While Prime Minister Theresa May had this to say, “Let us remember those who died, and let us celebrate those who helped, safe in the knowledge that the terrorists will never win,” 

She also vowed that Britains’ way of life would go on.

But no one should have to get “used to” this type of heinous crime and everyone’s way of life is irrevocably changed after such an attack, as what happened here in the USA on September 11, 2001 when radical Islamic terrorists killed nearly three thousand people in a single day.

I appreciate people who seek out the solutions to problems rather than perpetuate them by virtue signaling, discussing them endlessly and informing the rest of us of what not to do after another one of these vile acts is perpetrated. 

Solutions to the widespread problem of radical Islam and its wave of terror are what is necessary, solutions based on sound evidence and true facts. 

Solutions that can begin in your own home.

Solutions for keeping your side of the street clean and, thereby, your neighbors’ as well.

Solutions that can help keep our children safe without trampling all of our (and our grandchildren’s) God given rights into the ground.

Not more of the same monotone, desensitizing drone from the worlds’ media and leaders, urging us to be good little sheep and get used to the wolves that come in the night to pick us all off; lambs included. 

Use the power of your own minds, the power of your right to life & your children to live theirs.

Refuse to be sheep.

Let’s try to be sheepdogs instead.

E

4-30-17

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woodsmoke smells of home

when the clean-up leads

to brush burning

renewal and a fresh outlook

but it clings to your clothes

your hands and hair

you watch it trickle away

down the shower drain.

late at night dreams reveal 

tall flames, fire licking 

the ink black sky

while smoke stings the eyes

and obscures the countless stars.

© Erik Hansen 2017

4-29-17

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Pink and white

apple blossoms 

smile through the green

while the scent of lilacs

dressed in purple royalty 

is carried on the breeze.

© Erik Hansen 2017