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Betty Adams's Blog, page 21

June 19, 2023

Humans are Weird – Rough Affection

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 Humans are Weird – Rough Affection


Notes the Passing Changes gave a careful tug at the tendrils that were currently soaking in the silty mud lower down the hill and gave up with a distant feeling of sluggish depression. Over head the clouds occasionally parted, letting short bursts of sunlight down to evaporate the surface water, and the artificial drainage systems the humans and Shatar had put in were slowly letting the floodwaters seep out of the lower agricultural land. Notes the Passing Changes had meant to pull mass fully up to the higher ground around the more motile species dwellings before the spring rains had come, but a large portions of the tendrils had run through the crystallized water of the upper layers of the soil, and to remove them too quickly would have caused abrasion damage. Then a strong wind had blown down from the mountains and had brought sudden warmth and torrential rains, saturating the ground, and Notes the Passing Changes tendrils.
Notes the Passing Changes had of course recalled all of the waterproof tendrils to high ground, and more than two thirds of mass was wound around tree trunks, coiled in the ever mild ground cover of the Shatar gardens, or filling the walls of the human dwellings. Notes the Passing Changes even had a new and interesting awareness of the lizard folks granaries and rather hoped the presence there wasn’t going to be seen as an infection. However, very nearly a third of the mass had been in the warmer biomass of the low lying areas, and had not been optimized to repel water at this level. The tissues had been saturated and from the feel of them if they were to be retracted they would tear. This meant the Gathering had to leave them in the soaked mud and could only send signals to adapt them for movement in mud, no small task with so much of the biomass locked down by the freezing air. If Notes the Passing Changes worked quickly the should be adapted before tendril rot set in.
One of the human dwellings, the one belonging to particular friends, a young reproduction bonded couple named Pat and Sandy, suddenly vibrated in such a way as indicated that the front door had been closed rather vigorously. More than glad for something else to ponder on other than chances of a bad case of rot, Notes the Passing Changes observed the two humans lumbering down the path that led away from their dwelling and was pleased to note the sound of speech. It was in the low, soothing tones that indicated harmony between the speakers, despite their awkward movements.
With a sudden flicker of understanding Notes the Passing Changes realized that the thick mud was presenting a problem to the motile bipeds, possibly as much of a problems as it presented to the more stationary Gathering. With only their two limbs to provide support, any slipping in the combination of floodwater and soil would be quite hazardous. Both humans were carefully setting each foot down to maximize the surface area that interacted with the mud that covered the path. When Notes the Passing Changes focused on their talk it became clear that they were discussing how the path might be altered to present grater traction. They had just suggested lining the path with wood fragments, a tasty prospect Notes the Passing Changes had to admit, when one of Sandy’s limbs failed to find sufficient traction in the mud and she have a yell of surprise. Her upper limbs flailed and she staggered forward, presumably in an attempt to find her balance. With a splash and a vibration Notes the Passing Changes felt meters away Sandy fell face down into a particularly deep puddle of mud.
Notes the Passing Changes shifted awareness into one of the small evergreen trees. Though the view was fragmented over the thousands of needles they still gave a decent view of what was happening. Pat had made several quick steps towards his mate, calling out in distress and risking falling himself, until Sandy had heaved herself out of the mud, gasping and staggering to her feet. Pat stopped, ran his directional eyes up and down his mud coated mate, and burst out into laughter.
Notes the Passing Changes was pleased that the time and effort taken to infuse the acidic evergreens with was paying off so well. The visual information they provided in the winter was turning out to be highly valuable. Notes the Passing Changes would have entirely missed the subtle movements of human eyes if the only sources of information were buried vibration tendrils, and it was simply too hard to move light sensitive nodes through this mud. As it was there was a far more than sufficient view when Sandy stood to her full height and bared her teeth at her mate.
“Ye think tis funny dae ye?” She demanded, her accent thick and apparent.
“A wee bit,” her mate responded between laughs.
“Well then,” Sandy said stalking towards him with slow deliberate steps. “Yer caw.”
Pat gave a yelp and began moving off with an odd gate that Notes the Passing Changes supposed was meant to give him both speed and sure footing in the mud.
“Stay away from me swamp thing!” Pat yelled.
“Ah! Coorie in ye feartie-cat!” Sandy called out, spreading her arm wide and stumping after Pat. “Tis just a bit o’ muck!”
Notes the Passing Changes let attention drift from the visual feed from the tree as they got further away. This was a rather amusing and distracting situation. Both of the humans were laughing, so despite the aggression displays Sandy was presenting this was likely a friendly interaction. Pondering over what was so amusing about watching your mate fall face first into the mud would help pass time until the water receded.  


​“ Flying Sparks”
Volume
​ ​


​https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/flying-sparks-a-novel-of-dragon-bear-and-boy/coming_soon/x/20737048


Drake McCarty should have died when the flash flood shattered his leg, but something defied the very laws of nature to shield him from the force of the storm. Sworn to keep a secret he doesn’t understand; Drake is swept up in a world where trees walk, mountains dance, and stars sing of war.


Science F antasy Adventure Story
100K Words
PreOrder Now!


Get a free electronic copy “Dying Embers” Dragons, Aliens, and Things That Go Boomp in the Night!
I f you PREORDER “Flying Sparks”!


https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/flying-sparks-a-novel-of-dragon-bear-and-boy/coming_soon/x/20737048


#Scifi #Sciencefiction #Novel #Aliens #Adventure  

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Published on June 19, 2023 11:43

June 18, 2023

June 16, 2023

Kitten Update the Fifth - Back to Where it All Started

Picture A very contented Zoomie has decided (after I cleaned out the old straw she gave birth on) that after all, her BFF Killer's doghouse is the best place for the kittens after all. The farm owner came out and found that she had moved three of the six kittens and was nursing them back in the dog house. The farm owner then moved the other three for her. Zoomie recognized the assistance with a meow and now all seven of them are cozy and warm in the nice clean straw while Killer watches in perplexity. 
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Published on June 16, 2023 19:53

June 15, 2023

New Cover Design For “Flying Sparks” and Major Reformat for “Dying Embers”

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New Cover Design For “Flying Sparks” and Major Reformat for “Dying Embers”


Greetings Science Fiction fans!
Big news about the format of both books in the “Dying Embers” universe.
A very good writing friend of mine informed me that the Amazon version (the only version currently available because in my ignorance I signed it up for KDP Select) of “Dying Embers” was, and I quote, “BORKED”. I looked into it and it was in fact, very borked.
So I bent my brain to unbork “Dying Embers” . After many hours of suffering I had redone both the cover and the interior so that both versions on Amazon


So now, you can go and purchase the newly unborked version of “Dying Embers” on Amazon, and after July 1st you will be able to get it from places like Google, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble.


Why not before July 1st you ask? Good question readers!
You see, when you put a book up on Amazon they offer you two deals. The regular deal, which lets you put it up on other sites, or the KDP Select deal. In exchange for only hosting the book on Amzaon it gets put in the Kindle Unlimited group. Then you earn revenue for how many pages of the book people with Kindle Unlimited read. It is a trade off. I will not say that opting out of KDP Select is right for everyone, but it seems to be the best choice for me.


Now, if you want a FREE copy of “Dying Embers” you can go to the pre-order page for “Flying Sparks” and you will get a copy for signing up early!


“Dying Embers”
Dragons, Aliens, and Things that Go Boomp in the Night.
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Published on June 15, 2023 10:46

Kitten Update the Third -PANIC! Till the Kittens are Found

Picture (the Panic on the farm when the kittens disappear from both the dog house and the cat house! 
Then amusement as they show up again the next morning.....in a compost bin?

So, Zoomie, the momma cat, is a working cat on a small research farm. She came to the farm three years ago with her brother Butter Bar. While Butter Bar quickly grew into a very friendly cat, Zoomie quietly went half feral. She will come for food, and won't bite if you try to pet her, but she was never people friendly. Nor did she care much for the other cats. Her only friend was the Chihuahua Killer. 
According to farm records she was supposedly fixed three years ago according to farm policy. So now we have a mystery. Was she not fixed? In which case how did she not go into heat or have kittens for three whole years? An unaltered cat could theoretically have had eight to twelve litters by that age. 
There is a slim chance that she was fixed but the procedure wasn't 100 percent effective, but that is very, very rare in this day and age. 
That aside, it was amusing, but not entirely unexpected when she had her kittens in the doghouse she shares with Killer. It was amusing but not unexpected again when she moved her kittens into the cathouse because the straw was cleaner. 
But as the kittens began to open their eyes and explore we at the farm grew concerned that they might fall out of the house that had been designed for the comfort and ease of adult cats. While we were discussing barriers and alternatives, Momma Cat Zoomie acted. She moved the kittens to a compost bucket filled with warm, old straw with high sides that even the most adventuresome kitten (the little black one on top) could not escape. 
It took us around fifteen hours to figure out the 30 ft move and we did panic a bit, but the results were discovered the next morning and we all had a good laugh. 
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Published on June 15, 2023 07:12

June 14, 2023

June Kitten Updates- Eyes Open and Cattitude shows

Picture Zoomie the Momma cat, having outsted Killer the Chihuahua out of his dog house to have her kittens, has now ousted him from the cat house I set up for him. 

11 out of 12 kitten eyes are open and catitudes are starting to show. The largest and darkest of the kittens has started exploring and trying to escape. 
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Published on June 14, 2023 15:54

June 12, 2023

Humans are Weird - Sound Profile

Picture  Humans are Weird – Sound Profile


Captain Seventh Click gave his wings a luxurious stretch and spent several moments just enjoying the light tingling of the local star on his sensory horns. His ship was safely docked and tucked into the storm shelters the local star-base offered. His cargo of medical devices was offloaded and the payments from the local merchants had come in without problem. His flight had all remembered to actually request shore leave before spreading their wings and darting off into the crowds of sapients who had arrived for the local agricultural festival. Most of them had even remembered to file itineraries.
Seventh Click gave a content sigh and flopped himself over to sun his belly. He reached out with a winghook and pulled his datapad closer to him. He hit replay on the last message he had received and tilted his sensory horns to catch the sounds.
“Greetings Seventh Click my friend!” Bronson’s deep voice rolled out from the speakers. “The clearance came through for my leave and I will have the entire festival free. Second Sister Havata Hive will be preforming my duties as traffic controller and I will be formally putting on my show. I have secured the main platform and look forward to seeing you there!”
Seventh Click let the deep, soothing tones work with the solar rays to ease him further into a restful posture. He had a decent wing’s breadth of time before he was supposed to meet his friend and he fully intended to spend the majority of the time lounging in blissful lack of responsibility. However there was always the chance that blissfully lack of responsibility could be found socially and well as individually. He ran a speculative eye over the list of entertainments offered and felt a thermal of disappointment. Most of the events listed; Shatar musical stylings, Trisk acrobatics (always fun to to and heckle the leggy jumpers), and human cooking demonstrations didn’t start for several local hours. His friend’s show wouldn’t be until near the end of the day. The only actual presentation going on was a safety lecture on the dangers of radiation given by a local Fifth Sister. Seventh Click almost defiantly spread his wings out a little further to catch the solar rays.
His disappointing musings were cut short by a deeply resounding human whoop of excitement. Seventh Click perked up and glanced around curiously. A lone human, male from the breadth of his shoulders and the depth of his sound profile, was riding one of the local flightless avian species through the milling crowd of sapients and their domestic livestock preparing for the festival. The human wasa wrapped in layers of brilliantly colored silks, some of them shaped into proper clothes, but many of them simply bands crossed and woven over his trunk like body creating an oddly colorful patchwork and displaying the shape of many of the humans massive muscle groups. The avian moved quickly and carried the human to the curved trunk of a tree. The human leapt off the beast with a halloo and darted up the curve of the tree with the avian following at his heels.
“Sisters! Aunts! Clicks, Trills, and tsk’tsk’tsk’s!” The human sang out with a flourish of his tree-like limbs. “You are one and all invited to a presentation of the ancient human art of messing about!”
The human’s voice dance lightly through the crowd, calling attention and feeding delightfully frenetic energy into the audience. He knelt on the tree and scooped three heavy sacks out of his pocket. These he proceeded to toss into the air and catch.
Seventh Click watched the spinning sacks in fascination. Their behavior suggested that they were full of some hard, rounded material. Perhaps seeds or beads. The avian steed behind the human was attempting to snatch them out of the air and the human turned with a cry of mock frustration to remonstrate with the creature. Seventh Click idly wondered if they, the crowd were supposed to assume that in the fictional presentation the avian was assumed to be sapient, or if they were to assume the human was mad. He knew that human performers enjoyed presenting both possibilities as an absurdity for the audience. His human friend had mentioned being particularly fond of this kind of challenge of reality in his own shows.
Seventh Click watched the human switch to a mock fight with his avian companion and wondered that there would be two shows so similar in what was after all, a relatively small festival. The thought occurred to him that this might be some companion of Bronson’s, perhaps an assistant his friend had hired to increase interest in the crowd before the show. He gave his wings a leisurely stretch and took off, lazily circling the waves of frenetic sound coming from the human. Gradually the human’s presentation wound down and the small crowd that had stopped to watch him began to wander off.
Seventh Click dropped down into the human’s visual range and cleared his throat to speak in the absurdly low tones needed to get a human’s attention.
“Greetings performer!” Seventh Click called out. “Do you work in a wing with my friend Bronson?”
The human glanced up a him, the trailing bands of silk that wound around his head flaring almost like wings, and his face contorted in confusion.
“What ho!” the human sang out, accompanying the words with a small dance that the avian followed. “Know ye not whomist I am good fuzzy sir?”
“When you mangle your grammar it makes it quite difficult for those of us who speak it as a third language to understand,” Seventh Click pointed out.
The human laughed and tossed his balls up in the air.
“You know me!” the human sang out.
Seventh Click felt his sensory horns tingle with embarrassment as the meaning sank in.
“Did Bronson introduce us during one of our communications?” He asked, circling the human closer and trying to get a good look at his face under the trailing silks.
The human burst into merry laughter and then suddenly stilled. He stood straighter, more firmly. Even the avian calmed down and glanced at Seventh Click with mild curiosity. When the human spoke again his entire sound profile had changed. It was deeper calmer and Seventh Click darted away in shock at the sensation of suddenly being faced with an entirely different human being.
“Dude!” Bronson, for it was now unquestionably him. “It’s me!”
Seventh Click darted around him in shock, noting the distinct nose, the large ears, and the brilliant green eyes that marked the physical nature of his friend. Bronson laughed, his normal, deep slow laugh.
“I’m not wearing any makeup yet,” he said holding out a hand for Seventh Click. “How could you not tell it was me?”
“Your voice,” Seventh Click sputtered out, “...your, your everything! It was different! Just now, that wasn’t you!”
Bronson threw back his head and laughed, and has he laughed his sound profile changed again. When he spoke it was no longer in the deep soothing tones that directed the space traffic of the system, but in the frenetic tones of the showman.
“That is acting my good fuzzy friend!” he sang out. “Now, I need to go drum up an audience the next section over! Follow along and watch!”
The human leapt up onto the patient avian and they darted off. Seventh Click stared after him a few wing beats then shrugged. So a human could have more than one sound profile...that simply meant he should probably recount how many friends he thought he actually had, especially if he knew them mostly by their voices over the comms.
​ Amazon! 
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​
“ Flying Sparks” Volume 1
Science Fiction Adventure Story
100K Words
PreOrder Now!
Get a free electronic copy “Dying Embers” Dragons, Aliens, and Things That Go Boomp in the Night!
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/flying-sparks-a-novel-of-dragon-bear-and-boy/coming_soon/x/20737048

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Published on June 12, 2023 08:55

June 11, 2023