Shawn Inmon's Blog, page 4

Clever Fiction

     I've been submitting a few short stories to a website called Clever Fiction for the past month or so. The way Clever Fiction works is this: every Friday, there is a new "prompt" put up on the site and whatever writers want to have a go at it do so. We have a week to write a story, submit it and get it up on the website. Then, kind readers come along and read our stories and, hopefully, leave comments.
     So, why am I writing stories for this website? Partially, it's because my cover artist, Linda Boulanger, is associated with the site and I want to support her and her endeavors. More than that, though, is that it is fun. It is the equivalent of bending and stretching before doing some serious exercising. The truth is, I know that my short fiction will never pay my bills. Unless you're Stephen King, you're probably not making much money off short stories. Still, I have ideas that I'd like to explore that I don't need forty or fifty thousand words to get the story wrapped up. 
     Anyway, I thought I'd highlight the three stories I've published over at Clever Fiction as of  today. The first challenge I participated in was to write a story that was inspired by this picture:      The very cool thing about these challenges is that although we all start from the same place, our trajectories from the launch pad are all so different. When I looked at that picture, I saw loss and grief, so I wrote a story called Another Cup of Tea. It's very short - only 750 words, but I rather like it.
     The next challenge was a word prompt. For that exercise, we could write anything we wanted with one caveat: The Hero Must Die. Now people die all the time in fiction. No big deal. I realized though, that it is harder when that person is your main character. I could have cheated a little, I suppose and made the "hero" a secondary character, but what's the fun in that? Instead, I decided to have my main character die. Then, to up the ante a little, I told the story in the first person. For one last little element of fun, I decided that main character would be a dog. That story turned out to be Shannon. As is so often the case, I didn't pick that name at random. Do you remember the song from the 70's by Henry Gross called Shannon? I did, and if you click the link, you'll find a refresher in the falsetto singing that made the 70s music scene what it was.
     This week's challenge was another photo prompt:      This was one of those times when a lot of disparate elements all came together in a cosmic kismet. Dawn and I listen to different Pandora radio stations while we go to sleep, and the other night Neil Young's Old Man came on. It was the live version, and before he played the song, he told a little about what the song was about. He had bought a ranch when he was a young man, and when he arrived at the ranch he found an old couple living there. Apparently, they came with the ranch. Neil Young seems like a pretty cool guy, and so of course, he wrote an awesome song full of interesting perspectives and thoughts about love and relationships. I'd had the story behind that song rattling around in my head ever since, and as soon as I saw the picture above, I knew I wanted to write my own version of it. My idea was, what if the guy who bought the ranch wasn't as cool as Neil Young about the whole thing. What would happen then? I also called my version of the story Old Man, mainly because I love giving my stories the same titles as songs.
     If you're interested in reading the stories, click the titles above and it will take you right to them. While you're there, you should check out some of the other writers that have posted their stories there. In the meantime, if you'll keep reading my stories, I'll keep writing them and we'll form a happy little partnership.

It all went by so fast

     We are all the ages we've ever been. That means that inside my 53 year old self is that little four year old boy in the picture above, who thought he looked pretty sharp in his pants pulled up past his navel and black suspenders. I've also got the twelve year old boy inside who discovered Science Fiction novels and disappeared into them for many years. And the teenager who fell in love for a lifetime with the girl next door, and the young father, and the grandfather who, six years ago, lost his first, precious granddaughter to complications from heart surgery.     I am all these people, and hundreds, maybe thousands more. So are you, right? No matter how people know you now, there might be no one that thinks about you like you do yourself, in all your incarnations. And, here's the thought I want to emphasize now, while I still feel like I am in the middle of my life... It all went by so fast.       I know that to your eyes, that picture above is dated. It is black and white and has furniture and clothes in it that have been out of style for four decades or more. But to me, to the memory I have of that boy -- it wasn't very long ago. And that little girl standing beside me? She was Denise, one of my earliest friends. She's gone now too, passed away years ago. It all goes by so fast.     Life is good right now. I am able to follow my life-long dream to be creative. I spend hours every day writing my stories, or my silly Facebook updates or this blog. I spend every day with that same girl-next-door, who these days is the girl-next-to-me-in-bed, which is a very good thing. I would like to find the pause button somewhere and push it so I can slow things down for a while.     I was talking to an online friend the other day. His job requires that he spend a great deal of time with people who are living out their last days. He told me that the most common thing he hears from these dying men and women are not complaints or regrets. Instead, he says, so many of them say "It all went by so fast."     One of my dear friends, Bob McKean, passed away several months ago. He and I had a great many things in common - music in particular, but also our love of the sad-sack Seattle Mariners. When the M's season opens next week, it won't feel right without Bob there. The last time I saw Bob, he knew he was dying and that the end wasn't far. When I left his room that last time, I told him how much I appreciated him and who he was. I held his hand briefly as I left and he looked at me and smiled and said "It was a helluva ride."     It all goes by so fast.     There is no solution, of course. No pause button. The only thing to do is to spend as much time as possible with the people we love and doing the things we love. Savor the flavor of life, suck the marrow from the bone, because it will all... ah, you know.

The Templar Concordat

     One of the things I've really enjoyed about having a book out is that I get  to "meet" a large number of other writers in various online hangouts. One of those writers is Terrence O'Brien. I first noticed Terrence when I saw that he often posted questions that ran contrary to whatever conventional wisdom might be on display in a particular thread. Since I tend to like people who tweak the nose of conventional wisdom, I bought a copy of his book, The Templar Concordat, which is available here for only $2.99.
     I loved the book. He created memorable characters that have stuck with me in the intervening weeks since I finished it. In a nutshell, it is the story of what happens when two ancient and powerful organizations clash while using 21st Century technology. If this sounds like The Templar Concordat might be in Dan Brown-Da Vinci Code territory, I suppose it is. If you are a horror writer, I the comparisons to Stephen King are inevitable and if you write about Knights Templar and The Catholic Church, Dan Brown looms just as large. Here's the thing - I actually liked Templar Concordat better than Angels and Demons and its ilk. Those books are often so numbingly serious that I forget to have fun while I am reading them. There is plenty of serious stuff in this book, but it is leavened with fun elements as well. 
     My favorite character in the book is a newly-elected Pope who hails from Mexico. He has characteristics we don't often associate with Popes: he is low-key, isn't impressed with himself and keeps a small refrigerator filled with Diet Coke in his office. I would gladly read an entire book that just follows him on his daily duties.
     In any case, because Terrance has done so much research and thinking about the Catholic Church and its history, I dropped him a line and asked him if he would be willing to write a guest blog for me about the resignation of a Pope. Ladies and gentlemen, Terrence O'Brien:     


      Lots of things have happened in the last few years that I didn't expect. We all heard it. Housing prices always go up. Depressions are a thing of the past. Unemployment will never go above 6%. The Euro is solid. A Black will never be president. We even had a near miss by an asteroid, and Russia got slammed by a meteoric little brother. At least the Cubs aren't a pennant threat this year. Or are they?

      But now a pope has resigned? That’s something I never expected to see. He just wrote a letter, got out of the Chair of Peter, waved to 1.2 billion Catholics, wished the world well, and headed off to the countryside.  There was no invading army, no anti-pope, no alliances with kings, and no sudden scandal. Those would all have been things we could grasp. But, no. He just walked away. The world knows something significant just happened, but we don’t really know what.

      I have always been fascinated with Church history. It’s the oldest organization in the world, and has a track record that can’t be matched. For an author there is more material in the real history of the Church than he could ever dream up.

      Today we tend to think of the Church as a religious organization, but its religious influence has been matched by secular power that transcended nation states and continents. We don’t have to look far. Pope John Paul plotted against the communists in Eastern Europe, then faced down the rulers of those countries in a cat-and-mouse game that ended with the capitulation of the communists. Millions turned out to see him and he told them they were free. They decided he was right. He certainly had help, but no other player in the game would ever downplay his contribution.

      Resignations of past popes seem to have more to do with secular power plays than any religious considerations. Including Benedict’s recent resignation, there have only been six other well documented resignations. There are three others from Roman Empire times, but the details are sketchy.

 Gregory XII 1415

     The last man to walk away from that kind of power was Gregory XII in 1415. He left the papacy in a deal that ended the schism in the Church that resulted in having one pope in Rome and another pope in Avignon. When Gregory left, there were actually three popes since a council that tried to resolve the situation in 1408 only succeeded in making a third pope rather than consolidating around one. In 1415 the Council of Constance managed a grand bargain that resulted in no pope. The Council avoided any confusion by waiting until Gregory died in 1418 to elect Martin V as the only pope.

 Celestine V 1294

     In today’s papal elections, the cardinals are locked away in Conclave until they elect a pope. That keeps out all the other interested parties. But that practice didn’t become fully accepted until after the election of Pope Celestine V in 1294. Celestine himself ordered that all future elections be under Conclave rules. The twelve cardinals who elected Celestine voted over a two year period, moved around to the strongholds of their allies, and finally convened in Perugia where six cardinals elected Celestine. Celestine never sought the papacy, lacked political skills to deal with the Roman families vying for papal power, and resigned under pressure after five months. His successor did have the political skills and imprisoned Celestine until his death.

Benedict IX and Gregory VI 1045-1046


     Accounts vary, but in 1045 the twenty-year-old Pope Benedict IX received a sum of money, and abdicated in favor of his godfather who became Gregory VI. Benedict didn’t want to be pope, and was stuck in the job by his powerful family. This was before the papal elections took place in Conclave, and the people of Rome, the ruling families, and the important clergy decided on a pope by consensus. But consensus can be fickle, and Sylvester III also claimed the papacy. To complicate things even more, Benedict returned and wanted the papacy back after he had sold it. The Holy Roman Emperor, Henry III, came down from Germany to settle things. He cleared the field of all popes, told Gregory he had to resign because he had purchased the papacy, and took him back to Germany for safe keeping.

 Benedict V 964

     When the Romans decided they didn’t like the pope backed by Otto, the Holy Roman Emperor, they threw the pope out and re-installed the pope Otto had thrown out. When that one died, the Romans once again snubbed the emperor and elected Benedict V who controlled the city militia. Otto wasn’t about to take that, so he took his army south and put Rome under siege. Rather than starve for the pope, the Romans opened the gates and turned him over to Otto. Otto put his own man back in the papacy again, and gave Benedict a simple choice. He could resign or die. Benedict quickly chose, and Otto took him back to Germany where he died a year later.

 Today

     And that brings us to the most recent resignation that’s in today’s headlines. There was no emperor, no rioting Romans, no anti-popes, and no prison. Benedict apparently decided it was time for him to retire. There are lots of questions, and few answers.

 Is he setting a precedent? Will popes now step down when they feel the job is too much? Will they be expected to step down? Will they be pressured to step down?  Cardinals can’t vote in the Conclave if they are older than eighty, so perhaps there is also a limit for the pope. Any pope can also make a rule stipulating retirement for all his successors.

      Now that Cardinal Bergoglio has become Pope Francis, we can’t deny there are two men alive who have been elected pope. In the past, the Church has been plagued by competing claims to the papacy. It hasn’t been a problem since the resignation of Gregory XII in 1415 because the Church was very careful to avoid the situation. Note that even after Gregory’s resignation, the Church did not select a new pope until Gregory died. There was no retired Gregory when Martin was elected pope.

      While Benedict made it abundantly clear he no longer has any claim to the papacy, there is no guarantee future factions will not unite around some retired pope. It’s often the interests behind the pope, rather than the man himself, that have generated the problems. For now, it looks like the Church is playing it by ear, but I’m sure both Benedict and Francis know the history and will do everything they can to set a precedent that chokes the potential in the cradle.

      How about the Vatican bureaucracy? This is a bureaucracy that has been building for two thousand years. As popes age and lose their health and mental agility, the bureaucracy has room to maneuver. If popes leave before age slows them, the power of the Vatican institutions and the cardinals who run them is diminished. Will that lead to opposition to retirement from powerful Vatican forces?

      And just as speculation, what could a novelist construct around Benedict’s resignation? The Church is being challenged on many fronts. Europe is receding as its center while Africa and South America are now strongholds of Catholicism. Sex scandals have spread around the world, and Benedict was handed that mess when John Paul died. Neither pope distinguished himself in dealing with it. Islamists are flexing their muscles against Christians in many parts of the world. And Europe which had been the center of Catholicism since ancient days is retreating from unification as the single currency fails and production cannot support the promises of the social compact. The pope’s butler was even convicted of stealing documents in an effort to support one Vatican faction against another.

      One of the things history shows us is that the Church has been through far worse times than what we see today. I suspect there is great deal to be learned from that, and I suspect it will still be around when today’s headlines are history.  Some say it is because of divine guidance. That would be remarkable. But what would be even more remarkable is if the Church is a purely human organization.

      But the Conclave has done its job. We wondered if the new pope would be an African, South American, or a New Yorker. Now we know. But I have an idea Benedict’s resignation changed something, and a new chapter is opening in the life of a very old institution.

 

 

I amused myself

     The picture above is of an Atari 2600 video game console. Aside from a few quick games of Pong at the Mossyrock Lanes bowling alley, this was the first video game I ever touched. I can't remember exactly when my family bought it, but I think it was sometime in 1978, my senior year in high school. This blog isn't about video games, though. This blog is about what we did before video games.
     In Feels Like the First Time, I wrote about how my friend and next door neighbor Mark Panter and I killed most of a summer playing with a huge, rusted out barrel. I also blogged about it here. The first thing I learned when I was writing a memoir, though, was: Just because you can remember it, doesn't mean you should write it down. That meant that a lot of childhood memories were justifiably cut from the manuscript and mostly forgotten about.
     This morning, though, I looked out my front window and saw the boy across the street playing in his yard. He had what looked like a piece of wood from a picket fence. It was a couple of feet long and sharp on one end. He was throwing it up in the air and seeing if it would stick in the ground or not. Of course, if his Mom had seen him doing that, she would have resorted to the age-old "You'll put your eye out" fun-block, but she was apparently busy elsewhere. Watching him happily throw the stick up in the air repeatedly got me to thinking about how I entertained myself in the pre-video game era.
     Admittedly, It took a little more creativity to occupy myself back then. In addition to no video games, there was no internet, no iPods, and, for me, almost no television. Cable TV didn't reach the little town I lived in until several years after I graduated, which meant that my whole life growing up, we had exactly one channel. Worse, it was the ABC affiliate, which meant that I missed all those great 70s CBS shows like MASH, All in the Family, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, etc. All in all, my entertainment options usually came down to the books I had and whatever I could create for myself.
     I did that in ways that would no doubt be thought odd today. Honestly, they were probably odd back then. Here's what I mean... Much of my entertainment centered around a badminton racket and a whip. That sounds like a good beginning for a plot of an erotica book, but that wasn't the case at all. 
     Growing up in a small town that was heavily made up of farmers, it wasn't all that unusual to find whips laying around here and there. The first time I picked one up, I found I had a knack for "cracking" it, probably because I was tall and skinny - I was kind of built like a whip myself. I spent more hours than I could count wandering around our little piece of acreage, cracking the whip my sister Terri bought me for Christmas. I got so that I could crack the head off a dandelion from eight feet away. Sadly, this skill never translated well into later life, and I haven't picked up a whip in 35 years.
     Also, although I wasn't very athletic as a kid, I was a terror on the badminton court. That probably had more to do with my willingness to sacrifice my body going after a shot than any natural athleticism. Again, this not a skill that was helpful in later life or for impressing girls. I would spend entire afternoons wandering around the yard, hunting moths and flying ants with my racket. The days when the cherry tree in the yard dropped its blossoms was always exciting. I would stand for hours, swinging my racket at the falling white blossoms. Knowing this about me, it's easier to see why Dawn was my first girlfriend, isn't it?
     I never remember feeling bored during those years, although I'm sure today's teenagers would be out of their gourd with boredom after about ten minutes of that lifestyle. Instead, I feel blessed that I grew up in that time, when imagination took the place of binary code.

A True Love Story

     Someone asked me what book my own book Feels Like the First Time is the most like. I really had to think about that. I can't come up with many non-fiction books that deal with romance and falling in love, other than advice books. My book is definitely not an advice book, except maybe as a cautionary tale of what happens when things get out of control in our lives at a very young age.
     I've always thought that FLTFT is most like fictional romances, like Nicholas Sparks' The Notebook. Young lovers, separated by fate and disapproving parents, eventually find each other and realize their love is still strong. 

     When it comes to non-fiction, my mental cupboard is a bit more bare. The only example I can really think of is Richard Bach's Bridge Across Forever. I know there are mixed opinions about Richard Bach and his books these days, but he is still an author I admire very much.
     He vaulted into the publishing spotlight in 1970 with the publication of Jonathan Livingston Seagull. He sold one million copies of Jonathan that first year. I suppose the pop psychology and new age spirituality of the book seems a little dated to most of us 43 years later, but it still extols many ideas that I believe are true. It was also the first "adult" book I ever read. I could feel my consciousness and world view expand with every page.
     His next book was Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah. If Jonathan expanded my horizons, Illusions felt like it opened whole new worlds to me. It was the story of two men who flew biplanes across the heartland of America, pondering the meaning of life. To say it changed my life is not an exaggeration. Growing up in a tiny town in rural Washington State, I didn't have a lot of opportunity to find alternative world viewpoints, but Illusions showed me I could find that between the pages of a book. I've been doing so ever since.
     In 1984, he published The Bridge Across Forever. It told the story of his love affair and marriage to Leslie Parrish. I thought it was a lovely book, although the last time I read it I had the distinct impression that Mr. Bach didn't come off as a sympathetic character even in his own book. Still, I thought it was an honest and fascinating glimpse into the life and love of an iconic writer.
     The bloom came off the rose a little bit when Mr. Bach and Ms. Parrish divorced in 1997. I'm sure it was difficult and painful for both of them to declare themselves soul mates over the course of several hundred pages only to divorce after just a few years. Fans seemed to desert both the book and the author, feeling betrayed, I suppose. I had a different take, as usual. I never hung my belief in soul mates on a couple I read about in a book. I hung it on my belief in my own soul mate, which is still strong.
     In any case, I think Bridge is the closest thing I've found to my own book. That's one of the reasons I elected to pursue independent publishing without even attempting to be traditionally published. The big publishers like books that they can say is "The next... whatever." Feels Like the First Time didn't really feel like the next... anything., except itself.
     At this juncture, I am very glad I followed the publishing route I did. I don't talk about sales very much, because I don't think it matters all that much, but sales of the book improved each of the first three months it was out. Then it tripled in January and doubled again in February. Dawn and I feel so blessed that so many people have found their way to our story and have taken the time to read it and get in touch with us. 
     Also, please don't forget: If you haven't joined my New Release Newsletter, which gives you a chance to win a new Kindle Fire HD, you can enter by dropping me a quick line using the "Contact Shawn" box just above and to the right. I will never sell your email address, and I will only use it to send you notifications when I have a new book or story coming out.

Win a Kindle Fire HD

     I'll tell you how you can enter to win a free Kindle Fire HD in just a moment. But first, I want to tell you about a bit of a shakeup in Amazon Land over the weekend. If you like finding free books for your Kindle, it might impact you. Have you ever thought about why websites like Free KIndle Books and Tips and Pixel of Ink list free books every day? The reason is that they make money by doing so. An obvious question would be "How in the world do they make money by telling me about something that is free?"
     They make money by being an Amazon Affiliate. What that means is that they attach a code to every free link that you click on. If you click that link, it takes you to Amazon, where you can download your free book. But, it also puts a cookie in your browser that stays there for 24 hours. If you buy anything else at Amazon during those next 24 hours, that Affiliate gets a small percentage of whatever you buy. If enough people click on a free book link and then buy something else over the next day, that can add up to some serious change for those websites.
     On Friday, Amazon put the brakes on that program by sending an email to all their Affiliates stating that if they primarily promote free ebooks on their site and meet certain parameters, Amazon will not pay them any of the Affiliate money they've earned over a particular month. As I mentioned, that can be some serious money, so those sites are taking it pretty seriously. The fallout from all this is just starting, but we are already seeing that a number of the sites that promoted free Kindle books will not be doing so any more. That means, of course, that it will be more difficult for independent writers to get the word out when they run a free promotion.
     This change, coupled with the Facebook algorithm change (where FB decides who and how many will actually see any post you make) has led me to want to find a way to reach out to people who enjoy reading my stories in a more direct way. I've done this by establishing a New Book Release Newsletter. This will basically just be an email mailing list that I will use to send you a notification when I have a new book or story available. I also have plans to occasionally send out unique content, like a new short story or flash fiction to the people on the list.
     Here's the deal: I know and appreciate how much email shows up in our Inboxes every day. I have no intention of adding to that very much. If you sign up for my newsletter, you will hear from me somewhere between 3 and 6 times a year. No more. It should go without saying that I will never sell your name to anyone and I will protect your privacy completely. But, in case it doesn't, let me say it: I will never sell your email address to anyone and I will protect your privacy completely.
     Now, here's the fun part. I will randomly select one person who joins the mailing list between now and the end of March to win a new Kindle Fire HD, or a new Kindle Paperwhite, your choice. I know, most people would prefer the Fire HD, but there are people like me, who only want to read on our Kindles, so I'll give you your choice if you win. 
     To enter, all you have to do is fill out the info just above and to the right of this, where it says "Contact Shawn."
Fill out your email address, name, and say "enter me" or something in the body of the email. I will put you on the list, you'll be eligible to win the new Kindle, and you'll only hear from me when I have something important to tell you. How easy is that?
     I am hoping this will make it easier for us to keep in touch with each other, no matter what policy changes Amazon implements, or algorithms Facebook or Twitter change.There have been so many good things that have happened to Dawn and I since we published Feels Like the First Time. Giving this Kindle away is also our way of saying "Thank you."

And my prediction goes to...

     OK, let's start with the caveats... I haven't seen all these nominees. But then, you could probably say the same thing about most of the voters. In any case, my own Oscar predictions will be based partly on my own sentimentality and much on having been an avid Oscar follower for over 40 years. Yes, even as a young boy, sitting in a double wide trailer on Damron Road in Mossyrock Washington, I was watching the Academy Awards. I was watching when the streaker ran past David Niven, when Sasheen Littlefeather put in her appearance in place of Marlon Brando, and when Cher failed to read the Oscar Style Guide, year after year.
     Plus, as I mentioned just before I made my Super Bowl prediction (49'ers win!) I seem to love public humiliation. So, approximately eight hours before the ceremony starts, here are my picks:


Best Picture ---  I've only seen a few of these. Dawn really wanted to see Silver Linings Playbook, and I really wanted to see Zero Dark Thirty, but we didn't make it to either one. Instead, my prediction goes to one that I did see, and really loved: Argo. In fact, it was probably my favorite movie of all of 2012. How Ben Affleck didn't even get a nod for Best Director, I do not know. The fact that he didn't probably saved me from a wrong pick, though, because I would have picked him.


Best Actor ---  I think this is a great group of actors, and in fact, I like them all. I'm even more likely to go see a movie if any of them are in it. Still, this is a slam-dunk, I think. There's something about Daniel Day-Lewis that Academy voters love. I don't think anyone else has a shot here, realistically, although my dark horse would be Bradley Cooper. I think his turn is yet to come, though.


Best Actress ---  This feels like a two horse race to me. Did you know there's 77 years difference in the ages between the oldest and youngest nominees in this category? Emmanuelle Riva is turning 86 tonight and Quvenzhane Wallis (yes, I had to look up how to spell that!) is 9. Either one of them would undoubtedly make for a charming acceptance speech, but I don't see it happening. Naomi Watts is along for the ride in a well-received movie that did almost no business. It comes down to Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Lawrence, two actresses that have smartly built an incredible career trajectory for themselves. This is one of my sentimental picks: Jennifer Lawrence because she reminds me of my wife as a young girl.


Supporting Actor ---  Really, another great group of actors, and it would make me happy to see any of them win. I think it comes down to Robert De Niro and Tommy Lee Jones. Phillip Seymour Hoffman was so good in a bad movie (The Master, and yes, I saw it) that I don't think he can win. I think it's the newer, softer, De Niro who takes home the little gold man. Too bad, because I would love to see Tommy Lee Jones at the podium, and that's a speech I would look forward to.


Supporting Actress ---  Two words: Anne Hathaway. Say what you will about Les Mis (and a lot has been said, like the fact that Russell Crow sounded like he was strangling a chicken when he sang) but Anne Hathaway chopped off all her hair, looked as bad as she possible could, lost weight off her already spare frame and gave an over-the-top emotional performance. This equals Oscar gold. Thanks to everyone else for showing up.


Best Director --- Since Affleck didn't even get nominated, this one feels like a toss up between Steven Spielber and Ang Lee. I've gotta go with this Steven Spielberg guy. He hasn't won in a long time (Schindler's List, I think) and Lincoln was really well received. Still, there are rumors of some resentment toward Spielberg around the Academy, so the surprise could be Ang Lee for Life of Pi. 


Animated Feature Film ---  I was happily surprised to see ParaNorman get a nod here. I thought it was a great movie, but not the type that often gets Oscar nominations. In the end, I believe the Pixar fairy dust strikes again and Brave wins. It had more of the epic scope that Oscar voters tend to favor, not to mention it was a really fun movie to watch with your four year old granddaughter. If I had to pick a dark horse here, it would be Wreck It Ralph. 


Original Song --- This is a category that you might expect a musical like Les Mis to dominate. The problem is, the award is for the best original song. Almost all the songs in Les Mis were around long before the movie. That's the reason they added one song just for the movie - Suddenly. I didn't think it was much of an addition, and I don't think it will win. Overall, the Academy hasn't been kind to pop superstars on Oscar night, but I think that changes this year. I'm picking Adele's Skyfall to win.


And, that's all the picks I'm going to make. I'm sure there are people in Hollywood who care about who wins Best Cinematography and Best Costume, but I'm not gonna take a stab at them all here.


So, what about you... want to tell me where I got it wrong?

What if...

     First, please excuse my absence from the blog over the last several weeks. My goal for the year was to have a new blog up at least once a week. I made it to February before I lost that one, so I did better on it than my pledge to be less sarcastic this year. That one didn't survive the first day, as my bride will confirm.
     Today I want to ponder a "what if" question. The seed for asking "what if" questions was planted in my brain the way many ideas originally were... by Marvel Comics. (You already knew I was a nerd, right?) The truth is, in my fifth decade of life, I don't read comic books any more, and I haven't for many years. Still, there are many sections of territory in my brain that carry the influence of all the comics I ingested many years ago. One of those influences was a series of Marvel Comics called What If... This title asked a series of interesting questions within the Marvel Universe, like "What if The Hulk still had Bruce Banner's Brain" or "What if Conan the Barbarian walked the Earth today?" I spend a lot less time pondering the fates of the superheroes of the Marvel Universe than I used to, but I still ask myself a lot of"What if..." questions.
    Right now,  I am wondering "What if... money wasn't a factor in your life." By that, I mean how would your life be different if you were rich enough that you never had to worry about money again.
     In the interest of full disclosure, I want to reveal I am not quite that rich myself. In fact, if every penny I have suddenly turned into a ten dollar bill, I still wouldn't be close to being that rich. It's fun to think about though, isn't it? I think this is what many people are thinking about when the Powerball lottery gets up over 300 million dollars.
     I think most people's first response to the question is "I'd quit my job, buy a new house, a new car, travel a lot..." and that's fine. I'm thinking about what life would be like after you did those things. After you have the new Maserati or Bentley sitting in the circular drive of your mansion, waiting for you to return from your around the world cruise, then what? 
     I had a friend once, who worked for one of the largest corporations in the world. It was the 90's, and he had gotten in pretty early with this company, so he was able to take early retirement and be very comfortable. For the eighteen months or so leading up to his retirement, he was constantly stressed out, looking forward to the day he could walk out of his office for the final time. The job he had once enjoyed became a burden, and all he could think about was the day he retired. Of course, the day eventually came and went, and he was free. I was showing a house in his neighborhood a few days later and saw him walking aimlessly along the sidewalk. When I pulled over and talked to him, I got the distinct impression he was emotionally lost, not sure where to turn next.
     In many ways, he was living the American Dream. He was still young, had enough money in the bank to not worry about anything, he had his health, and... he didn't seem very happy. That was when I made the mental note that taking an irritant away (a job, money worries, etc.) isn't enough to bring happiness. If you're not already happy, you probably won't be then, either.
     Personally, I wouldn't object to being wealthy. I would enjoy having a few "things," but the reality is, aside from the size of my house, the newness of my car and the distance of my vacations, not many things would change in my life. I'm already happy. Content. Not really in need of anything.
     So, for me, the answer to the question would be... not much would change. And, thinking about that, honestly makes me even happier.
     What do you think? How would your life be different?

Lucky Man

     Before I tell you about the story that goes with this picture, I want to thank Linda Boulanger with TreasureLine Books for creating this cover. It captures elements of the story perfectly without giving away too much and it conveys exactly the noir vibe I wanted. What's even more amazing is that she did it with minimal input from me. If I recall correctly,  think I said "I need a good-looking guy for the cover of my short story." She took it from there, and I love the result.
     If I can, without being immodest, I have to say I also love this story, which took a long and winding road to this moment of publication on Amazon. I first conceived of t in 1993. For some odd reason, the thought "If adversity makes you strong, what happens when you have no adversity at all?" popped into my head. Before I even had the story, I had the title, and I've been carrying Lucky Man around with me ever since. 
     Finally, 20 years later, I got around to actually writing down the story of Brett Mann, who is the "Lucky Man" you see on the cover above. The story tells of his triumphant return to his small town school he had graduated from 25 years earlier. Things have gone so perfectly for Brett that he honestly can't remember the last time something went wrong in his life. 
     I enjoyed writing this story immensely, but even more than the writing, I enjoyed working with J.K. Kelley, who served as editor and all-knowing-one on this project. J.K. manages to take the little lumps of clay I hand him and help me turn them into statues that look like I had envisioned them. I love working with J.K. because we are kindred spirits in many ways and we manage to work incredibly obscure references into our editing sessions, if not the finished product. 
     I feel very fortunate to be publishing in a time that it is acceptable to write and publish short fiction. Even ten years ago, I never could have published a stand alone 6,200 word story. I think of this as a "lunch time read." You should be able to finish it over a sandwich and a bowl of soup, 
     One disclaimer, though. For everyone who read Feels Like the First Time, and think this might be in the same vein, I have to tell you this is different. It is definitely not a love story, and where FLTFT was probably rated PG, this might deserve more of a PG 13 rating. I originally thought of this story as an episode of the Twilight Zone, so if you loved that old show, you might very well like this story. 
     It's available on Amazon right now, and it's only .99!
     I have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of emails and Facebook postings from new friends telling me that they loved Feels Like The First Time. I am beyond grateful, and I really want to say Thank You so much for all the kind words, wishes and blessings Dawn and I have received. There has been so much support for this project that I have elected to momentarily shelve Rock n Roll Heaven and focus my time and attention on Both Sides Now. That book won't be a sequel to Feels Like the First Time, but a companion piece. It will re-tell most all of the events of the first book, but completely from Dawn's perspective. I plan to have it available sometime this summer.

The Holy Man

     Some books are good to curl up with on the couch on a rainy weekend. Others are the can't-put-it-down variety that cost you sleep just to see "what happens next." Then, there are books that are a salve for a troubled soul. For me, The Holy Man is exactly that.
     The truth is, The Holy Man isn't a huge seller. Both the Kindle and the paperback books currently have a Sales Ranking of over 100,000. And...  I think that's a shame. It's a book that manages to walk the finest of lines: it is both simple and deep. Personally, I can pull off one of those things at a time, but not both.
     The book is very short. It's really a novella, not a novel. Just like my wife, though, very good things come in this small package. It tells the story of a holy man who sits atop a mountain and the pilgrims who line up endlessly to speak to him. As many holy men do, he never directly answers their questions, but makes the answer obvious nonetheless.      If the idea of a book divided up into short parables that teaches without teaching sounds like the equivalent of a Jersey Shore marathon, then this is not the book for you. If the concept of a series of small life lessons all wrapped up in an easy to swallow package sounds like it will tick all your boxes, then please think about it.      In 1999, I had owned this book for several years but never read it. Instead, it had never been enough of a draw to move to the top of my always-expanding to-be-read pile. Then something very bad happened in my life and I felt lost and alone. For some reason, my hand found that book on my nightstand that night and the weirdest thing happened - in my misery, I found a little peace. I read this book half a dozen times over the following months, and, like Shrek, I found it was like an onion - the more layers I peeled away, the more I found. Ever since that day, this has been my go-to book for people that are grieving.      I purposefully haven't told you too much about the book because I think it should be discovered on its own. This is not a plot-driven book, although it does have a plot. What it does have is ideas and grace. There are sequels, but as with most sequels of beloved books, there are diminishing returns.      There is, of course, a famous series of books called Chicken Soup for the Soul, but for me, that is what this book really is. Along with Stranger in a Strange Land, The Pleasure of my Company, Ender's Game, Giants in The Earth, The Stand and To Kill a Mockingbird, The Holy Man is on my short list of all-time favorite books. If you get a chance, give it a read. I'll bet it makes you happy.