Nancy Farmer's Blog, page 3
June 8, 2013
FREE EBOOK TODAY
FREE EBOOK TODAY: 6-8-13
My new adult novel, A New Year's Tale, is free to download today. This refers to the ebook only. Enjoy.
On a personal note, here is a photograph of myself as a small child on the Ute reservation in Whiterocks, Utah, where my mother grew up. I never knew this picture existed. I had entirely forgotten about the woman sitting next to me until I saw it. Her name was Nellie Yannawits (my brother says her name was Yannawoods, but I can't find it anywhere) and she was a friend of my grandmother. I followed her around and Nellie was kind enough to put up with me. She once made me a straw doll with a corn husk dress and corn silk hair. I loved it, but didn't realize that corn silk spoils rapidly. The next day the hair had turned black and I was devastated, so Nellie glued on more hair from a silk weed plant. Once she led me to a wild crab apple tree loaded with fruit. She allowed me to eat as much as I wanted (17 apples) and of course I was sick later. I guess she figured I would have to learn the hard way when to stop. In this picture Nellie looks about ninety, but she was probably sixty. She had led a hard life. I look about five, but was probably seven. I was extremely small for my age.
My new adult novel, A New Year's Tale, is free to download today. This refers to the ebook only. Enjoy.
On a personal note, here is a photograph of myself as a small child on the Ute reservation in Whiterocks, Utah, where my mother grew up. I never knew this picture existed. I had entirely forgotten about the woman sitting next to me until I saw it. Her name was Nellie Yannawits (my brother says her name was Yannawoods, but I can't find it anywhere) and she was a friend of my grandmother. I followed her around and Nellie was kind enough to put up with me. She once made me a straw doll with a corn husk dress and corn silk hair. I loved it, but didn't realize that corn silk spoils rapidly. The next day the hair had turned black and I was devastated, so Nellie glued on more hair from a silk weed plant. Once she led me to a wild crab apple tree loaded with fruit. She allowed me to eat as much as I wanted (17 apples) and of course I was sick later. I guess she figured I would have to learn the hard way when to stop. In this picture Nellie looks about ninety, but she was probably sixty. She had led a hard life. I look about five, but was probably seven. I was extremely small for my age.
May 21, 2013
WET SNAKE
This entry appears both on my blog and on goodreads. I haven't figured out how to add pictures to goodreads, so if you want to see the photographs you need to go to my website, http://www.nancyfarmerwebsite.com/
Rattlesnakes spend the winter in dens above our house and when Spring comes they emerge. The young ones go first, to feed and find new territories. The older ones wait a few weeks. This means we have to be very careful when going outside. Doors must be closed and screens kept tight because snakes follow a trail with their tongues. If they detect a tasty mouse they will climb through a window to get it. One of our friends carelessly left the door of his office open. He was writing at his desk when he heard a rattlesnake buzzing by his foot. He stayed perfectly still, hoping it would go away, but it didn't. Fortunately, he had a cell phone on his desk and called his wife to distract it. The museum here sells snake catchers. They look kind of like the tongs used to lift spaghetti and you're supposed to clamp them onto the creature without hurting it. It's good to have a bucket with a lid and fast reflexes. And then what? Where do you take a poisonous reptile? Is there any neighbor you don't much like?
The other day Harold went out the back door and almost stepped on a five-foot gopher snake (not poisonous) lounging by the car. A bird called a thrasher was going nuts trying to chase it away. He must have had a nest nearby. The bird kept dancing around out of fang reach and darting in to peck. I watched for a while -- scientists aren't supposed to interfere with Mother Nature -- and finally decided to rescue the thrasher. I got the hose and blasted that snake. Guess what? He hooked himself around a tire and held on like a leech. When I stopped spraying, I saw that he was drinking happily. This happened once before when I tried to drive a rattlesnake out of my rosemary bush. The gopher snake eventually slithered away.
I have been reading Larry McMurtry's books, starting with Lonesome Dove. I put this off for a long time. Having grown up in Arizona, I don't like westerns because they're too close to home. Also, I don't know why gunslingers like Doc Holliday and Billy the Kid have been turned into heroes. They're psychopaths. The other reason I didn't read Lonesome Dove was because it's more than 800 pages long. Finally I got around it it. The first 200 pages rambled on, but then the story caught fire and I read the whole book non-stop and three others in the series. The story is unbelievably bloody. The desert is littered with dead bodies by the time you're finished, but I liked it.
Being a writer, I was interested in technique. First of all, McMurtry has an insane number of characters, but he gets away with it. Maybe because he kills so many of them off. Secondly, he almost manages to do without swear words. He invents alternate phrases for them. This is harder to do than you think. Thirdly, he is never clichéd. His characters never quite say what you expect. And fourthly, he isn't afraid to go over the top. A lot of beginning writers are afraid of sounding melodramatic, but not McMurtry. In Dead Man's Walk, so many bad things happen you can't imagine how anyone could survive (and a lot of characters don't). I am in awe of an author who can get away with this. I do have to warn younger readers that these books aren't for anyone under 21 or even 35. You won't even like the story until you are older, especially since you have to slog through 200 pages before you get hooked.
Rattlesnakes spend the winter in dens above our house and when Spring comes they emerge. The young ones go first, to feed and find new territories. The older ones wait a few weeks. This means we have to be very careful when going outside. Doors must be closed and screens kept tight because snakes follow a trail with their tongues. If they detect a tasty mouse they will climb through a window to get it. One of our friends carelessly left the door of his office open. He was writing at his desk when he heard a rattlesnake buzzing by his foot. He stayed perfectly still, hoping it would go away, but it didn't. Fortunately, he had a cell phone on his desk and called his wife to distract it. The museum here sells snake catchers. They look kind of like the tongs used to lift spaghetti and you're supposed to clamp them onto the creature without hurting it. It's good to have a bucket with a lid and fast reflexes. And then what? Where do you take a poisonous reptile? Is there any neighbor you don't much like?
The other day Harold went out the back door and almost stepped on a five-foot gopher snake (not poisonous) lounging by the car. A bird called a thrasher was going nuts trying to chase it away. He must have had a nest nearby. The bird kept dancing around out of fang reach and darting in to peck. I watched for a while -- scientists aren't supposed to interfere with Mother Nature -- and finally decided to rescue the thrasher. I got the hose and blasted that snake. Guess what? He hooked himself around a tire and held on like a leech. When I stopped spraying, I saw that he was drinking happily. This happened once before when I tried to drive a rattlesnake out of my rosemary bush. The gopher snake eventually slithered away.
I have been reading Larry McMurtry's books, starting with Lonesome Dove. I put this off for a long time. Having grown up in Arizona, I don't like westerns because they're too close to home. Also, I don't know why gunslingers like Doc Holliday and Billy the Kid have been turned into heroes. They're psychopaths. The other reason I didn't read Lonesome Dove was because it's more than 800 pages long. Finally I got around it it. The first 200 pages rambled on, but then the story caught fire and I read the whole book non-stop and three others in the series. The story is unbelievably bloody. The desert is littered with dead bodies by the time you're finished, but I liked it.
Being a writer, I was interested in technique. First of all, McMurtry has an insane number of characters, but he gets away with it. Maybe because he kills so many of them off. Secondly, he almost manages to do without swear words. He invents alternate phrases for them. This is harder to do than you think. Thirdly, he is never clichéd. His characters never quite say what you expect. And fourthly, he isn't afraid to go over the top. A lot of beginning writers are afraid of sounding melodramatic, but not McMurtry. In Dead Man's Walk, so many bad things happen you can't imagine how anyone could survive (and a lot of characters don't). I am in awe of an author who can get away with this. I do have to warn younger readers that these books aren't for anyone under 21 or even 35. You won't even like the story until you are older, especially since you have to slog through 200 pages before you get hooked.
Wet Snake
This entry appears both on my blog and on goodreads. I haven't figured out how to add pictures to goodreads, so if you want to see the photographs you need to go to my website, http://www.nancyfarmerwebsite.com/
Rattlesnakes spend the winter in dens above our house and when Spring comes they emerge. The young ones go first, to feed and find new territories. The older ones wait a few weeks. This means we have to be very careful when going outside. Doors must be closed and screens kept tight because snakes follow a trail with their tongues. If they detect a tasty mouse they will climb through a window to get it. One of our friends carelessly left the door of his office open. He was writing at his desk when he heard a rattlesnake buzzing by his foot. He stayed perfectly still, hoping it would go away, but it didn't. Fortunately, he had a cell phone on his desk and called his wife to distract it. The museum here sells snake catchers. They look kind of like the tongs used to lift spaghetti and you're supposed to clamp them onto the creature without hurting it. It's good to have a bucket with a lid and fast reflexes. And then what? Where do you take a poisonous reptile? Is there any neighbor you don't much like?
The other day Harold went out the back door and almost stepped on a five-foot gopher snake (not poisonous) lounging by the car. A bird called a thrasher was going nuts trying to chase it away. He must have had a nest nearby. The bird kept dancing around out of fang reach and darting in to peck. I watched for a while -- scientists aren't supposed to interfere with Mother Nature -- and finally decided to rescue the thrasher. I got the hose and blasted that snake. Guess what? He hooked himself around a tire and held on like a leech. When I stopped spraying, I saw that he was drinking happily. This happened once before when I tried to drive a rattlesnake out of my rosemary bush. The gopher snake eventually slithered away.
I have been reading Larry McMurtry's books, starting with Lonesome Dove. I put this off for a long time. Having grown up in Arizona, I don't like westerns because they're too close to home. Also, I don't know why gunslingers like Doc Holliday and Billy the Kid have been turned into heroes. They're psychopaths. The other reason I didn't read Lonesome Dove was because it's more than 800 pages long. Finally I got around it it. The first 200 pages rambled on, but then the story caught fire and I read the whole book non-stop and three others in the series. The story is unbelievably bloody. The desert is littered with dead bodies by the time you're finished, but I liked it.
Being a writer, I was interested in technique. First of all, McMurtry has an insane number of characters, but he gets away with it. Maybe because he kills so many of them off. Secondly, he almost manages to do without swear words. He invents alternate phrases for them. This is harder to do than you think. Thirdly, he is never clichéd. His characters never quite say what you expect. And fourthly, he isn't afraid to go over the top. A lot of beginning writers are afraid of sounding melodramatic, but not McMurtry. In Dead Man's Walk, so many bad things happen you can't imagine how anyone could survive (and a lot of characters don't). I am in awe of an author who can get away with this. I do have to warn younger readers that these books aren't for anyone under 21 or even 35. You won't even like the story until you are older, especially since you have to slog through 200 pages before you get hooked.
THRASHER ATTACKING SNAKE
WET SNAKE HOOKED TO TIRE 
Rattlesnakes spend the winter in dens above our house and when Spring comes they emerge. The young ones go first, to feed and find new territories. The older ones wait a few weeks. This means we have to be very careful when going outside. Doors must be closed and screens kept tight because snakes follow a trail with their tongues. If they detect a tasty mouse they will climb through a window to get it. One of our friends carelessly left the door of his office open. He was writing at his desk when he heard a rattlesnake buzzing by his foot. He stayed perfectly still, hoping it would go away, but it didn't. Fortunately, he had a cell phone on his desk and called his wife to distract it. The museum here sells snake catchers. They look kind of like the tongs used to lift spaghetti and you're supposed to clamp them onto the creature without hurting it. It's good to have a bucket with a lid and fast reflexes. And then what? Where do you take a poisonous reptile? Is there any neighbor you don't much like?
The other day Harold went out the back door and almost stepped on a five-foot gopher snake (not poisonous) lounging by the car. A bird called a thrasher was going nuts trying to chase it away. He must have had a nest nearby. The bird kept dancing around out of fang reach and darting in to peck. I watched for a while -- scientists aren't supposed to interfere with Mother Nature -- and finally decided to rescue the thrasher. I got the hose and blasted that snake. Guess what? He hooked himself around a tire and held on like a leech. When I stopped spraying, I saw that he was drinking happily. This happened once before when I tried to drive a rattlesnake out of my rosemary bush. The gopher snake eventually slithered away.
I have been reading Larry McMurtry's books, starting with Lonesome Dove. I put this off for a long time. Having grown up in Arizona, I don't like westerns because they're too close to home. Also, I don't know why gunslingers like Doc Holliday and Billy the Kid have been turned into heroes. They're psychopaths. The other reason I didn't read Lonesome Dove was because it's more than 800 pages long. Finally I got around it it. The first 200 pages rambled on, but then the story caught fire and I read the whole book non-stop and three others in the series. The story is unbelievably bloody. The desert is littered with dead bodies by the time you're finished, but I liked it.
Being a writer, I was interested in technique. First of all, McMurtry has an insane number of characters, but he gets away with it. Maybe because he kills so many of them off. Secondly, he almost manages to do without swear words. He invents alternate phrases for them. This is harder to do than you think. Thirdly, he is never clichéd. His characters never quite say what you expect. And fourthly, he isn't afraid to go over the top. A lot of beginning writers are afraid of sounding melodramatic, but not McMurtry. In Dead Man's Walk, so many bad things happen you can't imagine how anyone could survive (and a lot of characters don't). I am in awe of an author who can get away with this. I do have to warn younger readers that these books aren't for anyone under 21 or even 35. You won't even like the story until you are older, especially since you have to slog through 200 pages before you get hooked.
THRASHER ATTACKING SNAKE
WET SNAKE HOOKED TO TIRE
May 7, 2013
First Chapter of Lord of Opium
It's been a while, but I've been struggling with publishing the new adult book, A New Year's Tale. Proofreading took weeks, going over the same material again and again. I wanted a print on demand edition for those who don't use ebooks (or who don't like them). It should be available on Amazon in a week or so. The bad news is that I'm required to charge $15. 50. At that price I don't make any profit. The publisher CreateSpace does, and of course they need money for actually printing and mailing it.
Harold thought the ebook would do better if we charged $2.99 and made it free to Premier Kindle readers. It didn't. As soon as I can I'll drop the price to $.99 again. The whole point is to get people to read the book. It means a lot to me.
Now I have some good news. Angel Garcia, this is for you. You asked for the first chapter of The Lord of Opium, and I asked the publisher whether this was legal for me to give away. They have agreed to print the first chapter on the following site: www.facebook.com/HouseoftheScorpion It might not be up yet, but will be in the next few days. Of course I have to warn you, Angel, that after reading the first chapter you are going to want the second. You can't eat just one peanut after all.
It is spring here at last and the animals are waking up. We started feeding the birds because the winter was so cold and they were struggling. We were warned not to do this because spilled birdseed attracts mice and mice attract RATTLESNAKES. But I couldn't bear to watch the poor little creatures peck at the frozen birdbath any longer. Now I have two suet blocks, one for big and one for little birds, a hanging feeder for everyone and a hummingbird feeder. Hummingbirds are extremely aggressive, as little animals often need to be. They fight constantly with each other and dive bomb me when I go out to give them more sugar water. Just once did they seem to all get along, probably because they were too thirsty to fight.
Harold thought the ebook would do better if we charged $2.99 and made it free to Premier Kindle readers. It didn't. As soon as I can I'll drop the price to $.99 again. The whole point is to get people to read the book. It means a lot to me.
Now I have some good news. Angel Garcia, this is for you. You asked for the first chapter of The Lord of Opium, and I asked the publisher whether this was legal for me to give away. They have agreed to print the first chapter on the following site: www.facebook.com/HouseoftheScorpion It might not be up yet, but will be in the next few days. Of course I have to warn you, Angel, that after reading the first chapter you are going to want the second. You can't eat just one peanut after all.
It is spring here at last and the animals are waking up. We started feeding the birds because the winter was so cold and they were struggling. We were warned not to do this because spilled birdseed attracts mice and mice attract RATTLESNAKES. But I couldn't bear to watch the poor little creatures peck at the frozen birdbath any longer. Now I have two suet blocks, one for big and one for little birds, a hanging feeder for everyone and a hummingbird feeder. Hummingbirds are extremely aggressive, as little animals often need to be. They fight constantly with each other and dive bomb me when I go out to give them more sugar water. Just once did they seem to all get along, probably because they were too thirsty to fight.
FIRST CHAPTER OF LORD OF OPIUM
It's been a while, but I've been struggling with publishing the new adult book, A New Year's Tale. Proofreading took weeks, going over the same material again and again. I wanted a print on demand edition for those who don't use ebooks (or who don't like them). It should be available on Amazon in a week or so. The bad news is that I'm required to charge $15. 50. At that price I don't make any profit. The publisher CreateSpace does, and of course they need money for actually printing and mailing it.
Harold thought the ebook would do better if we charged $2.99 and made it free to Premier Kindle readers. It didn't. As soon as I can I'll drop the price to $.99 again. The whole point is to get people to read the book. It means a lot to me.
Now I have some good news. Angel Garcia, this is for you. You asked for the first chapter of The Lord of Opium, and I asked the publisher whether this was legal for me to give away. They have agreed to print the first chapter on the following site: www.facebook.com/HouseoftheScorpion It might not be up yet, but will be in the next few days. Of course I have to warn you, Angel, that after reading the first chapter you are going to want the second. You can't eat just one peanut after all.
It is spring here at last and the animals are waking up. We started feeding the birds because the winter was so cold and they were struggling. We were warned not to do this because spilled birdseed attracts mice and mice attract RATTLESNAKES. But I couldn't bear to watch the poor little creatures peck at the frozen birdbath any longer. Now I have two suet blocks, one for big and one for little birds, a hanging feeder for everyone and a hummingbird feeder. Hummingbirds are extremely aggressive, as little animals often need to be. They fight constantly with each other and dive bomb me when I go out to give them more sugar water. Just once did they seem to all get along, probably because they were too thirsty to fight.
Harold thought the ebook would do better if we charged $2.99 and made it free to Premier Kindle readers. It didn't. As soon as I can I'll drop the price to $.99 again. The whole point is to get people to read the book. It means a lot to me.
Now I have some good news. Angel Garcia, this is for you. You asked for the first chapter of The Lord of Opium, and I asked the publisher whether this was legal for me to give away. They have agreed to print the first chapter on the following site: www.facebook.com/HouseoftheScorpion It might not be up yet, but will be in the next few days. Of course I have to warn you, Angel, that after reading the first chapter you are going to want the second. You can't eat just one peanut after all.
It is spring here at last and the animals are waking up. We started feeding the birds because the winter was so cold and they were struggling. We were warned not to do this because spilled birdseed attracts mice and mice attract RATTLESNAKES. But I couldn't bear to watch the poor little creatures peck at the frozen birdbath any longer. Now I have two suet blocks, one for big and one for little birds, a hanging feeder for everyone and a hummingbird feeder. Hummingbirds are extremely aggressive, as little animals often need to be. They fight constantly with each other and dive bomb me when I go out to give them more sugar water. Just once did they seem to all get along, probably because they were too thirsty to fight.
March 19, 2013
Angelic Pigs
They look angelic, don't they? Well, don't be fooled. These little javelinas are plotting to get into my greenhouse and eat chili peppers. They've done it twice, ate the leaves clean off the jalapenos and broke the main stems. But jalapenos are as tough as pigs. I watered the remnants and they grew back. They're like small trees now.
This is from my other blog. It is supposed to be linked to Goodreads, but isn't coming through. I tried to import the picture of the bad little javelinas and couldn't. If you want to see them, please go to http://www.nancyfarmerwebsite.com/blo.... The rascals are really cute.
Harold has almost finished working on the paperback version of A New Year's Tale. Now we are trying to see how cheap we can make it. Yes, I said cheap. The ebook sells for 99 cents. Sometime, if we get poor again, we'll have to put up the price. Right now, though, we have enough money to be happy. The publisher, Create Space, has a limit to how low we can go, but we can arrange a book giveaway once I figure out how this can be done. The other thing we might do is create our own publishing imprint, using Create Space. I think Scorpion House sounds nice.
Spring is here and I saw ten Gambel's Quail running across the driveway this morning. They were headed for a bush and huddled underneath to be safe from hawks. And boy, do we have hawks! I've been told we have the highest density of raptors of anywhere in the country.
This is from my other blog. It is supposed to be linked to Goodreads, but isn't coming through. I tried to import the picture of the bad little javelinas and couldn't. If you want to see them, please go to http://www.nancyfarmerwebsite.com/blo.... The rascals are really cute.
Harold has almost finished working on the paperback version of A New Year's Tale. Now we are trying to see how cheap we can make it. Yes, I said cheap. The ebook sells for 99 cents. Sometime, if we get poor again, we'll have to put up the price. Right now, though, we have enough money to be happy. The publisher, Create Space, has a limit to how low we can go, but we can arrange a book giveaway once I figure out how this can be done. The other thing we might do is create our own publishing imprint, using Create Space. I think Scorpion House sounds nice.
Spring is here and I saw ten Gambel's Quail running across the driveway this morning. They were headed for a bush and huddled underneath to be safe from hawks. And boy, do we have hawks! I've been told we have the highest density of raptors of anywhere in the country.
March 18, 2013
Angelic Pigs
They look angelic, don't they? Well, don't be fooled. These little javelinas are plotting to get into my greenhouse and eat chili peppers. They've done it twice, ate the leaves clean off the jalapenos and broke the main stems. But jalapenos are almost as tough as pigs. I watered the remnants and they grew back. They're like small trees now.This blog is now linked to my blog on goodreads, but I don't think it works the other way around. What I write on goodreads doesn't appear here. I'm still trying to figure out what it means to have a friend on the new site. Or a follower.
Harold has almost finished working on the paperback version of A New Year's Tale. Now we are trying to see how cheap we can make it. Yes, I said cheap. The ebook sells for 99 cents. Sometime, if we get poor again, we'll have to put up the price. Right now, though, we have enough money to be happy. The publisher, Create Space, has a limit to how low we can go, but we can arrange a book giveaway once I figure out how this can be done. The other thing we might do is create our own publishing imprint, using Create Space. I think Scorpion House sounds nice.
Spring is here and I saw ten Gambel's Quail running across the driveway this morning. They were headed for a bush and huddled underneath to be safe from hawks. And boy, do we have hawks! I've been told we have the highest density of raptors of anywhere in the country.
March 16, 2013
Books I Like
One of my favorite activities is to find good authors who have disappeared from bookshelves. This happens because they are no longer fashionable, or don't bring in money, or are simply crowded out by new writers. They rapidly go out of print. I hunt for them on the internet. Some are so rare I probably have the only copies around. Today I want to talk about Ruth Park, an Australian. I love Australian books and movies because they celebrate ordinary folk and are (usually) not sentimental. Think of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Some of the ugliest people I've ever seen are in that movie, including a truly repellent child -- and I wound up liking them.
Ruth Park is best known in the U. S. for Playing Beatie Bow, and in Australia for The Muddle-Headed Wombat and The Harp in the South. The latter was made into an excellent TV miniseries. When we lived in Australia a teacher gave my son Daniel a copy of The Muddle-Headed Wombat. This was because he was constantly getting into trouble (he was seven). He climbed trees, burrowed under fences, and told a teacher to leave the other kids and take him to a store. He wanted to buy a candy bar. He told everyone his mother was a Sioux Indian named Old Sugar and that I had driven a stake through the head of a trader I didn't like. He said I would come over and sort the teachers out if they weren't nice to him. I got some very strange looks when I showed up for the first parent/teacher meeting.
That was how I discovered Ruth Park and a fine writer she is, too. Right now I am reading her autobiography, A Fence Around the Cuckoo. It's the sort of book that makes you feel good to be alive. I highly recommend it. Penguin published it in 1993 and it may still be around in some library.
Ruth Park is best known in the U. S. for Playing Beatie Bow, and in Australia for The Muddle-Headed Wombat and The Harp in the South. The latter was made into an excellent TV miniseries. When we lived in Australia a teacher gave my son Daniel a copy of The Muddle-Headed Wombat. This was because he was constantly getting into trouble (he was seven). He climbed trees, burrowed under fences, and told a teacher to leave the other kids and take him to a store. He wanted to buy a candy bar. He told everyone his mother was a Sioux Indian named Old Sugar and that I had driven a stake through the head of a trader I didn't like. He said I would come over and sort the teachers out if they weren't nice to him. I got some very strange looks when I showed up for the first parent/teacher meeting.
That was how I discovered Ruth Park and a fine writer she is, too. Right now I am reading her autobiography, A Fence Around the Cuckoo. It's the sort of book that makes you feel good to be alive. I highly recommend it. Penguin published it in 1993 and it may still be around in some library.
March 13, 2013
HELLO GOODREADS!!!
I have decided to reach out to the wide world and see what's going on. I have to warn you that I am not only ill-at-ease with the 21st century, I never warmed up to the 20th century either. Harold, my husband, and I really belong somewhere around 1890. We lived in Africa and got (if we were lucky) two phone calls a year. Cell phones, computers and emails were unheard of. We have never really adjusted to things like Twitter and Facebook.
For a while we lived in Menlo Park, California. What I remember most about it is the noise. Trucks, leaf blowers, sirens, jack hammers -- they drove me crazy. There weren't any insects. I love bugs, but people sprayed so much poison that all we got were a few ants. Africa is full of life. There are tons of animals and the parks are full of people. They sit on the grass to eat lunch or talk. The city parks in California are deserted.
But enough of complaining. Harold and I discovered a hidden village in the middle of the Chiricahua Mountains. It is 1950 here. We don't have television or radio, although we do have an excellent internet service. It is quiet and you can hear coyotes at night. The inhabitants never retire and live to be very old.
The quiet has allowed me to write. I have a new book coming out on September 3 of this year. It is called The Lord of Opium and is the sequel to The House of the Scorpion. I also have written an adult novel called A New Year's Tale. Right now it is only on Kindle, but Harold is working on a paperback edition. I have a whole list of books to write and now I can do it.
Those of you who have visited my website know this stuff already. For the next few weeks I will learn how to communicate on Goodreads. This is all new and somewhat confusing to me. Please be patient.
For a while we lived in Menlo Park, California. What I remember most about it is the noise. Trucks, leaf blowers, sirens, jack hammers -- they drove me crazy. There weren't any insects. I love bugs, but people sprayed so much poison that all we got were a few ants. Africa is full of life. There are tons of animals and the parks are full of people. They sit on the grass to eat lunch or talk. The city parks in California are deserted.
But enough of complaining. Harold and I discovered a hidden village in the middle of the Chiricahua Mountains. It is 1950 here. We don't have television or radio, although we do have an excellent internet service. It is quiet and you can hear coyotes at night. The inhabitants never retire and live to be very old.
The quiet has allowed me to write. I have a new book coming out on September 3 of this year. It is called The Lord of Opium and is the sequel to The House of the Scorpion. I also have written an adult novel called A New Year's Tale. Right now it is only on Kindle, but Harold is working on a paperback edition. I have a whole list of books to write and now I can do it.
Those of you who have visited my website know this stuff already. For the next few weeks I will learn how to communicate on Goodreads. This is all new and somewhat confusing to me. Please be patient.
White sand, not snow 
Me next to a tree in White Sands We took a trip to White Sands National Monument in New Mexico, and just as we were leaving town a road runner dashed in front of the car with a rattlesnake in its beak. It stopped on the side of the road because the snake was still fighting back. I don't know how these birds manage it. They EAT rattlesnakes. It has been so cold here I didn't think anything could slither. The snakes hibernate in the rocks above our house and don't emerge until Spring. First the young ones come out and then, when it is really warm, the older three-foot plus ones arrive. White Sands looks like it's covered with snow, but it is really powdered gypsum. It tastes sour and salty, and melts in your mouth. I don't suppose it's healthy to eat. I want to go back during a thunderstorm and see whether the whole desert dissolves. 
