R.A. McCandless's Blog, page 31

Watch Out for DST Zombies

Arbitrarily waking up an hour early is arbitrary.Say it with me everyone: Stupid.  Daylight.  Stupid. Saving.  Stupid.  Stupid. Time.
A more wretched hive of dumb and stupidity you will never find.

I’d go back to sleep, but there are too many zombies on the road.
Be careful out there for the next week or three while we all attempt the stupidest transition for the dumbest reasons of dumminess.

Renting Movies - Storks and Trolls

Begone.  You have no power here!Having kids is expensive.
Do they teach in school?
Well, let this be your lesson for the day.
Clothes, food, shelter, and endless supply of shoes with the toes worn through.  (But why the toes?)  More food, school supplies, field trips, more food.
And then there’s the entertainment.  In the early days, it’s easy, because their eyes don’t see well, they don’t have an opinion, and you can veto their vote.  Plus, you probably already have stuf...

#MIND Freebie and New Release Blog Tour with @Jennnixon

Free March 2nd through March 6th!Friend and fellow author Jenn Nixon has her latest release this weekend, and with it, she's offering her first book in the series, absolutely free!
You're welcome!
Excerpt 1
“I had a feeling I’d see you again,” the voice called.Dina looked around the wooded area, feeling confused for a moment. It seemed familiar. Across the marsh, Liam was leaning against a tree, casually dressed, hair slightly less shaggy than it had been last time, hands shoved in his skinny je...

Sword Types and Describing Them

Type of sword? BIG!As is often the case with some of these more detailed entries, a discussion about the term “broadsword” (which isn't really a kind of sword) kicked this one off into high gear.  As usual, this is a fleshed out and more fully developed entry that touches on the typology of swords, and using them in writing.
Anymore, I shy away from calling a sword anything but a sword.  As a young author, I used various terminology, and used it wrong.  Worse, breaking out sword...

Lines that Speak

Trust but verify!Editing sucks, but sometimes a bit of writing speaks well:
“In the wake of their . . . loss,” Freyja replied.“You mean in the wake of me emptying a full magazine into Alfred Waru’s face.”“Blunt and to the point,” Freyja replied.  “But always accurate.”“Well, I practice a lot,” Del replied.

From Company of the Damned coming soon.  Soon-ish.

Bigger and Bigger and Bigger

Bouquet may be larger than appears.My regular work shoes have been showing signs of wear for a few months now.  In my old, single life, I would have replaced them long ago.  In this new world, where children want and need things—like food and clothes—I’m willing to put up with some additional abuse.  But, I’d saved up and was all set to go to my favorite shoe store.
Then my wife let me know she was having bad day (month, year—take your pick).  Instead of buying my shoes, I...

Magical Monday

Strong women? Big guns?  Yes please!Some exciting things are afoot in the world of R.A. McCandless and his writing.  Here’s a quick rundown (with plenty of exclamation points).  For obvious reasons, some information will be spottier than others, but in the coming weeks and months, that should all start to become clear(ish):
Edits are in for Tears of Heaven—Mostly minor stuff, a little tightening of the language here and there.  Your “original” edition the books should be co...

You May Get A Charge Outta This

As with most things—needs more bikini!Two years ago, almost to the date, my old flip phone (a Convoy 3) finally gave up the ghost.  The hinge had been giving out for some weeks, but when I dropped it on the floor, it broke into two, almost equal pieces.  I walked into a Verizon “authorized retailer” and they totally saw me coming.  There was probably a wager on how gullible I would be. 
How gullible, you ask?
All the gullibles.
These guys are not Verizon.  There’s a rea...

Uniform Uniforms

There's just something about a uniform . . . It may, indeed, be foolish (military rank is more easily read when it’s closer to the face and shoulders, since that’s where you’re going to look anyhow when meeting, talking to, or taking orders from someone), but what writers should like most about the variation of Star Fleet uniforms throughout the Trek uni...

Goldfish are Stupid

Stupid fish, with stupid, pretty coloring.Stupid goldfish.
Three years ago, my oldest son “won” a goldfish at a local pecan festival.  It was one of those local Boy Scout booths where, if there’s no line, they’ll let you play until you do win.  Porter won pretty quickly, which meant that his younger brother, Tristan, had to win as well.
The Boy Scouts manning the booth were very cool, and very patient while my then 4-year-old tried and tried and tried to win the goldfish.  It was...