Blog

          The recent movement of Russian troops into the Crimea got me thinking about how history repeats itself. It reminded me not only of how the Russians moved into the Georgian providences of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in 2008, but also of how the Germans effortlessly occupied Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938 and 1939. During each of these “actions,” the aggressor country’s reasoning have been the same—to protect their borders and their native people in the region.

[Read More...]

      Nina Tala was jolted awake by an all-consuming agony unlike anything she’d known in her long years as a murderous criminal. Her muscular limbs shot out with stone-like rigidness. Every nerve ending flamed as if set afire by molten lava. Her black eyes bulged and stared unseeing from her scarred Native American features toward the ceiling of her detention cell.

[Read More...]

           Transcript from Salem Crier staff reporter, Scott Lumley’s, interview with Rex Bana. Special-interest article slated for possible publication in early December, 1999. Tie in 1974-75 Crier articles relating to the Napier Road Killer, the Sara Bana murder case, and subsequent articles regarding Rex Bana’s murder investigations from 1990-1995.

[Read More...]

       I’m not a big TV fan. Nothing gets my panties in a bunch more than repetitive, idiotic commercials. I mostly watch the news to stay informed. But even it’s inundated with irritating medical and pharmaceutical commercials. I tend to smile or block these out, since the medicines sound more dangerous than the conditions they supposedly cure. I do, however, have one pet peeve about some of the current medical hype. I believe the media warnings to not let kids play organized sports for fear of brain concussions is one-sided and uninformed

[Read More...]

            I enjoyed the initial saga of the Rise of the Fifth Order fantasy series, Born of Water.

            In the magic-filled world of Myrrah, the Priests and Priestesses of the Church of the Four Elements can control earth, wind, water, and air. The Church maintains its position of power by “adopting” (kidnapping, was my impression) and training any children who show the power to control the elements.

[Read More...]

            I enjoyed reading Fall Eagle One by Warren Bell

            This historical-fiction novel begins in 1943, Nazi Germany. The war is going poorly for the Germans. They’ve suffered a major defeat at Stalingrad. The Russians are advancing. Allied bombing is devastating German cities and factories. The Allied invasion of Europe is inevitable.

[Read More...]

     The concept of writer’s block has always interested me. My father, in his infinite wisdom, once told me: “You can’t be a full-time writer. You’ll get writer’s block and starve.” I stopped listening to his negative advice years ago, but a smidgen of doubt still persists. So what exactly is writer’s block?

[Read More...]

     Picking a name for a fictional character in a novel is an important aspect of writing with which many authors seem to struggle. I’ve read of authors switching character names several times in mid-novel.

[Read More...]