Jeffrey Reid's Blog, page 2

#Stormageddon, How We Are Surviving

Somehow, during this horrible tragedy called #stormageddon, we are surviving.  Our owner insures that our habitat is safe and cozy warm even if the power goes out.  Here in Northern California, the humans are running amuck, waving their arms in the air as the rain drops fall.  There has been some rain, and some trees have fallen down, but our owner remembers all these things from storms that have happened in the past.  He used to call it weather.  Now, the t.v. humans call it a storm event, like it is some sort of party.

Well, if you are staying inside, and still have power, you can download our ebook tonight and read our story.  You can find it by typing in The Smile Ambassadors at all the various online bookstores.  Curl up with some coca, and enjoy.

For us, its a benefit cause after the ran, the worms come to the top and our human goes out on the acreage and plucks up tasty worms for us to eat.  So, stay warm, read a good book, (hopefully ours), and enjoy the storm; because the worms will be plentiful the next day

The Smile Ambassadors Now In Print!

Our story is now in print for those that are old-fashioned like us. Actually, we are not allowed to have electronic devices in our tank, so our human had our story adapted to print. He sets it up next to the tank and every once in a while, turns the pages for us. It works, sort of…

But you can get your own copy here. Hopefully, your human will turn the pages faster than ours.

We are telling our second story to our human to type out. It’s called The Smile Thief. Maybe in the next few days we will put part of that story here for the three spammers from Brazil to read.

Cheers,

Zack and Mack

the two-headed turtle

A New Picture of Zack and Mack

This picture is being used in on the cover of the print edition of The Smile Ambassadors, which should be released soon enough.

We thought the boys looked smart in their bow ties with the Washington State Capitol Building in the background. Zack and Mack look rather “stately.”

The Smile Ambassadors Goes To Print!

Up till now, the adventures of America’s Favorite Two-Head Turtle, Zack and Mack have been available only in e-book form.  But, soon, the boys’  tome will be available in print!  The proofs are being sent for Zack and Mack to review, but since they are very familiar with the story, there should be no problem there, except maybe with the cover design.

Mack as fine with the initial cover design, but Zack still has reservations about the authors’ picture on the back cover, whether or not it casts him in good light.  I told the boys that the proofs should be coming next week, so they will be able to sit in their tank and view the total product.

Lately, they have been going out on walks around the “ranch.”  They have been skittering about and learning to come when called.  They are still a bit shaky on the “come” command.  They are not exactly like a dog, more like a cat…worse yet, two cats. (two heads, you know)

Anyway, Zack and Mack’s surrogate mother has been leading them around the property while she goes out and does “gardening.”  The boys enjoy their walks.  They get to stretch out their leg muscles and experience the gravity that is missing while floating around in their tank.

All-in-all, Zack and Mack are pretty excited that their story is now coming to print.  It will be available on Amazon.  Once it gets to press, we will install a link here.  In the meantime, one can still get the book here, electronically.

The Smile Ambassadors Return

Throughout the summer, Zack and Mack have been musing about their story, wondering if it needed just a bit of a little something to help a certain plot point gel. Lo and behold, in the last weeks the boys came up with a couple of ideas that were interjected in the storyline. That is the great thing about e-books, they can be revised if needed. It is not that the first offering was inferior…it’s just that over time, the boys realized that they wanted to add a couple of sentences, a scene at one point, so that readers will begin to understand an underlying current that was initially, only hinted at…

The addition revolves around the potentially special power the boys have over humans. Perhaps power is too strong a word, but it is an effect that the boys have on humans that they wanted to add a couple of brush strokes to amplify.

So the last few days, I have taken the boys’ ideas, transformed them and crafted then into the book product. A new software program called Scrivner was used to compile the pile, so to speak. There has been a learning curve, but the end result is that now the boys can tell me their story in any order and I can easily put the puzzle pieces together and re-arrange as needed.

We had a bit of trouble with formatting for the various publishers. The revisions were simple, it was the formatting that was troublesome.

Oh, the boys also revamped the dedication and acknowledgements to reflect our friend Jimmy Zajicek who passed this summer.

Now that the fair season is over, (well almost), we can now begin in earnest the task of the sequel. The Smile Thief is set to come out next spring. There is a lot of work to do between now and then. Not to mention the wholesale orders that need to get out. The building of a green house alongside the barn and more work around the property. Vehicles need attention too!

Zack and Mack may have to wait before we get down to work on their project. After all, the world does not revolve around them, despite what they think.

Anyway, the upstart is that there is a slightly revised version of The Smile Ambassadors out now on Amazon, etc…

The Smile Ambassadors Get Another Good Review!

Well, Jaclyn and her troop of kidlets read a provided copy of The Smile Ambassadors and handed out a pretty good review. Zack and Mack were exited, in that this is the first review by members of the target audience.

Our rating is 4 out of 5 two-headed turtles

“The Smile Ambassadors” by Jeffery Reid is a story based on the life of a real two-headed turtle named Zack and Mack. It is targeted for older children, preferably 5th graders to age 14, as it is a longer read with a big vocabulary. This story follows the fictitious adventures of these two fun turtles who share the same body.

The story starts out with Zack and Mack disappearing. The young girl, Constance, searches all over town for her beloved pet, but cannot find them. Meanwhile, Zack and Mack are off on an adventure–learning about the strange new world outside of their tank. They had to learn how to find food, and how to escape turtle poachers, cats, and crowds of skittish people (who confuse them with a monster). During the family’s search, the local media gets involved with missing two-headed turtle story. This creates interest in them amongst the townspeople.

As the story progresses, we learn about a big turtle race, meet new and exciting friends, and learn how Zack and Mack became “The Smile Ambassadors. Overall this is a family-friendly, feel-good story. Mr. Reid does a wonderful job brining us into his characters’ world with humor and vivid descriptions.

Please check out Zack and Mack at Amazon and let them put a smile on your family’s face!

You can read more here.

A Great One Is Gone

On July 3rd, James Zajicek lost his battle with colon cancer. He was only 52. Jim was the owner and operator of Big Circus Sideshow. A magnificent tent show with a 100 foot banner line. It was the highlight of any midway. Our deepest condolences to Lori, the love of Jim’s life. She took care of his cancer ravaged body until the very end. In the world of circus and sideshow, Jim will be greatly missed.

So long my friend, May all Your Lots be Green.

When Fiction and Real Life Collide

Many of the characters in The Smile Ambassadors are based on real people.  Some the names are thinly veiled to protect the guilty…In the case of The Professor, (the owner and operator of Big Time Sideshow), the real life counter-part is The Curator, (aka Jim Zajicek, owner of Big Circus Sideshow).

Jim and I met several years back in Tucson at the Pima County Fair.  Jim’s show had a 100 foot banner line.  I had a ten foot front single-o known as America’s Smallest Travelling Museum.  We would share coffee and mini donuts, framing out ultimate shows and basically cut up the jack-pots.

Jim didn’t show up last year in Tucson.  He fell very ill and fought off colon cancer.  We all thought he had it beat.  He even booked a shortened summer run.  Earlier this year he played Tallahassee.  Things were looking up.

The cancer came back.  Jim spent a month in the hospital with all sorts of complications.  That was March and part of April.  He began wellness treatments and that seemed to be working.  There was talk of another shortened summer run.  His other half was happy because he was well enough to drive and get around town.

A few days ago, I received word through the fair grape-vine that Jim had taken a turn for the worst.  In fact he was in hospice.  An e-mail conversation with his wife turned care-giver confirmed the bad news.  Yes there was always hope…but….

Jim never got a chance to read about his character in the book.  He fell ill about the time it was published.  Since then its been a battle.  One that it appears he might very well lose.

I talked to Jim.  We skirted the obvious.  I outlined a new turtle racing show I was framing.  I painted a word picture of using Ben Hur music to introduce turtle racers as they were ceremoniously presented to the track.  There would be banners, big banners, picturing each of the racers.  Jim asked if it would be like the Monkey racers of years ago…Yup, exactly.

There will be an additional pitch to the fairs I explained.  Not only would there be the turtle racing, but a turtle museum that would be open before and after the races.  Educational!  Fairs like educational.  I would gloss over the fact that there would be a little slum shop selling everything turtle…Jim asked if it would be the blow-off…Exactly!  Blow-off.  Us showmen like blow-off.

I began telling Jim about his character in the book. He laughed when I told him that I changed Racetrack’s name to Hound Dog.    I will remind the reader that the book is based on real people and perhaps even real events.

It was around this point that Jim had to end the call as his Pastor had come by.  

I am proud to say that I knew Jim and we were friends.  

I don’t know if Jim will make it.  I, along with a great many others hope that some miracle occurs and he does recover.  But, if the Lord has a different plan for Jim, then I would say to him that “May All His Lots Be Green.”

The Smile Ambassadors (The Other One)

Zack and Mack are not the only Smile Ambassadors out there.  It seems the boys got a nice letter from a Guy Totaro over in Japan.  He works as a clown, does commercials and also runs an organization that has been helping kids in Japan cope with the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami of 2011.  In fact, Guy was on his way to a gig there in northern Japan to cheer school children and bring them smiles.  You can check out his site here.  Guy got a copy of the book and will see if the story of a two-headed turtle will bring further smiles to kids still dealing with the devastating after effects of a debilitating disaster.

Four Out Of Four Stars

Zack and Mack received a very nice review of their book, The Smile Ambassadors.  

Wendy J over at the Onlinebookclub.org had this to say:”…it is a fun and surreal family adventure that would appeal to young readers. It is refreshing to read a book where nothing bad really happens, everything is wrapped up in a happy ending, and there is a nice moral-to-the-story thrown in. Therefore, I give it a 4 out of 4 stars.”

You can read the whole review here: http://tinyurl.com/TheSmileAmbassadors

The boys were happy with the review.  They splashed around in their tank a bit and then turned around and winked.  Now we just have to get others to read the happy story.

The book can be purchased on Amazon here: http://preview.tinyurl.com/lcj58p2 Enjoy!