“Victimless” came from annoyance with the number of television programs I’d seen recently that try to paint convicted criminals who happen to have children as pitiful victims themselves. The push seems to be to stop punishing parents who are criminals because their innocent children will suffer (almost feels like an opportunity for these parents to … Continue reading
We only have a couple of days left in 2021. As I proselytize every year, it’s time for each of us to look at how our plans went for the year, and to plot out the commitments to ourselves for 2022 (AND publish them for others to see, because it’s easier to break promises to … Continue reading
This is just a tale of an oddity. Or maybe it isn’t so odd… Pictured is a plant that I have come to refer to as the THE MUTANT SNAPDRAGON. The plant popped up sometime this past spring – seemingly out of nowhere. There was a time when we had snapdragons, but that was long … Continue reading
Peter looked up from the case at the woman who had just spoken. She had waist-length, reddish-blonde hair that she wore tied back in a braid. The hair framed a smooth face of indeterminate age; Peter had never been good at judging this, but there was something about her that made him feel she was older than she looked. Maybe she’d had surgery to smooth things over, but those intense green-blue eyes were also at once wise and youthful.
Her dress looked like it had been thrown together from a slew of diaphanous scarves, and as she turned and set her lunch bag on a shelf behind the counter, the colors seemed to change as the layers shifted back and forth over each other. It was interesting to watch – a bit too interesting, and Peter felt his face getting hot as he turned his attention back to the case.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t even realize you were there,” he said.
“Hmmm, I do not hear that often. I wonder if I’m losing my charm,” she said. Continue reading
I am not a purist. I’m willing to accept changes to a story I like when it moves to another format if those changes help with the translation. You see, moving a piece of literature to video is as much a form of translation as moving from one language to another.
There are things that work well in literature, but are very hard to do in film, such as showing what a character is thinking. At the same time, there are things that film is good at – showing and establishing settings, for one thing (a picture is worth a thousand words.) There is also the issue a film-maker needs to deal with of how to compress a huge story into something viewable. Continue reading
I believe we were put in this life by a CREATOR. I don’t think He is constantly, actively involved in our world, or our individual lives (I’m not going to waste my time making sure I use equal references of HE/SHE/IT. There was a time when we could simply say HE whenever the gender of … Continue reading
To start off, I am participating in the Smashwords End of Year Sale, which runs today, December 17th, through January 1st. All of my collections, plus Swordsmaster, are available on Smashwords at 50% off!!! You can find Smashwords links to all my participating EBooks on my Current Promotions page. Now, to continue our regularly scheduled … Continue reading
Last Week’s Goals All blog entries were posted on schedule. All my submissions were returned to markets as soon as they arrived home. One of those “rejections” was my fifth Honorable Mention (this time a SILVER) from the Writers of te Future Contest for “The View from My Cage Is Breathtaking.” I wrote on … Continue reading
We’re in the Holiday Shopping Season that begins with the Thanksgiving starting gun (that’s right, all you turkeys – that shot was not for you…), and extends usually through a couple of weeks into January while the late shoppers are trying to take advantage of clearance sales and shifting their celebrations into Epiphany. Patience is … Continue reading
With Christmas a little over two weeks off, it’s time to look at “Sleep with the Snowmen” again. Not all of us are angels, and there are reasons that Santa has a NAUGHTY list and a NICE one. Would Santa really just drop a couple of lumps of coal in a misbehaving boy’s stocking, or … Continue reading
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