Marketing Monday - Song of Storm and Shroud

 I did it!  I remembered to set a book for free AND I remembered that I remembered.  Banner day for this sometimes brainfried author.  Yay!  Anyway...

Starting today, SONG OF STORM AND SHROUD is absolutely free. (Always free with Kindle Unlimited.) Get your copy of this coming-of-age, YA fantasy today! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09W745M6P

Funny story... Yesterday, I received an email from a scammer, wanting to help me promote my book.  Except it wasn't a book of mine.  It was, in fact, the Spanish language version of a book by a bestselling author with the same last name.  :cough:Brandon:cough:  He and I are no relation.  Not even in-law relation as far as I can tell from doing Hubs' genealogy.  I've never met the guy, don't know the guy, and have nothing whatsoever to do with the guy.  (Not that I would mind knowing him. I just don't.)

Years ago, after the release of Wish in One Hand and it's crappy original cover, I was accused to trying to make bank on his name.  I can't help it if we have the same last name.  Actually, I share a last name with at least two other authors besides Brandon.  I'm not related to them either.  Sorry famous writer dude and I also share the same first initial.  Blame Mom.  She named me.

Anyway, this is my fantasy novel, not to be confused with his fantasy novels.  (He's got better cover art.)  Pick up a copy.  It's a fun book to read.

Sunday Update - 2025 Week 47

The internet says it'll be week 48 this week, so last week had to be week 47.  It's gotta be right, right?  I went and counted the weeks left in the year and it's 6 weeks, unless you don't count the half week at the end there.  :shrug:  I guess you don't count it.  Oh, well.  Anyhooway...

I wrote this week!  5 out of 7 days worth.  Woot.  I ended up with 5505 new words.  Yay.  And DN3 is up to 34056 words.  Also woot.  I think I have the basics of the who did what, now it's up to Duke to catch the culprit(s).  Of course, plot holes abound.  I'll spackle those after I'm finished.

I also did some marketing this week.  After my mental snafu, of course.  I ended up moving 29 free copies of SU and one person read the book all the way through in KU, so I have that going for me.  Not sure what this week will bring.  Hopefully, not the same as last week where I forgot that I remembered to set a book to free.

As for reading, I'm still working my way through The Martian.  It's good. I just don't have the same reading stamina I used to.  For instance, I read for about an hour a couple days ago, and the next day, I could feel it in my neck and shoulders.  Derp.  Getting old blows.

Speaking of getting old, laying around like a lump of oatmeal doesn't do a body any good.  My activity level sucks.  I need to rectify that effectively immediately.  It's not that I did nothing last week.  I did some vacuuming and some gutter cleaning.  I also swept the deck (because I made an unholy mess of it cleaning that section of gutter).  All told, though, it wasn't enough to balance the amount of food I shoved in my face.  I stepped on the scale on Thursday and had gained 2 pounds from the last time I weighed myself.  :sad trombone:  Weight: 176.2

Speaking of shoving food in my face, I made brownies last week.  Mmm... brownies.  Warm brownies... with ice cream... :drools:  

Other than that, I didn't do much of note.  Watched TV.  Saw a couple of neat movies.  Not really anything major.  

This coming week, I need to get outside and do stuff.  Today, I'll rake with Hubs.  Once that's done, I'll get to work on the trail we've got planned to make an easy access to the fallen trees.  I'll be buying a sled-thingie for moving logs up the hill, so that trail is a necessity.  There's already a type of natural trail there.  It just needs cleaning up.  So, I'll be working on that.  And I'll write words.  More words.  Woot.  And it's Thanksgiving week, which doesn't actually mean a whole lot here.  Hubs will cook a turkey, I'll make pumpkin cheesecake.  We'll eat like pigs.  

Oh, and the family thing?  It's pretty much addressed as much as we can address it.  For now.  We're not sure it's over, though, so there's that hanging over our heads like a rotted limb that could fall at any time.  :shrug:  

And that's about it for me.  How was your last week?

Saturday Reading Wrap-up 11/15/25 + Marketing

I don't really have anything exciting to report on the Reading Wrap-up.  I'm still working on reading The Martian by Andy Weir.  But there's an issue...  I made the mistake of reading the quotes on the back, wherein people, at some point, talked up the book.  All in all, not a bad thing, but there's one that says the book is like a cross between Castaway and Apollo 13.  Not that it's not an accurate representation.  Actually it is, but it's killing my reading enjoyment.

At first, I was like 'hey, yeah... it's Castaway on Mars... cool'.  Now I can't stop thinking about those two things in relation to the story I'm trying to read and making comparisons instead of enjoying the story. 

For starters, I loved both Castaway and Apollo 13 once upon a time.  Then Hanks went leftist and now I can't even watch the dude.  (I have a tough time enjoying entertainment once I learn the entertainer's politics are antithetical to my own.  It's definitely me.  Don't get me started on Bette Midler.)

Then I get to wondering... Is Watney supposed to be Tom Hanks?  He was played by Matt Damon in the movie.  First, I picture the character as Tom then I picture him as Matt... It's confusing.  

When Watney gets home is he going to learn his girlfriend married someone else?  

Anyway, we'll see if I actually finish this book.  I think I need to take a few days off from it and see if I can't get over it.

Now, onto the marketing portion.  This weekend only, get UNEQUAL absolutely free. (Always free with Kindle Unlimited.) Pick up your copy of this dystopian suspense today. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07LDVFWBS

This is probably it for the weekend marketing experiment.  I didn't move that many copies of Blink last week, and I'm not seeing much hope for moving books this weekend.  The energy output is not equaling the return, so make it stop.  

Facing Facts

This morning, I'm facing facts...

I will never be rich and famous.

I will never be a best-selling author.

I will never be comfortably well-off

I will never make enough money to support myself.

I will never even make enough to pay for the expenses of being a self-published author.

When I started out on this publishing journey, I didn't think I would ever be rich or famous, or even a best-selling author.  I would've liked to make enough to be comfortably well off.  I had hoped to make enough money to support myself.  I had a goal to just make enough for the writing to pay for itself.  But I'm doubting even that these days.  

Then I was reduced to just getting happy when someone bought a book.  Today, not even that gives me a thrill.  If I sell two books in one day, maybe I get excited.  Depends on the day.

I used to write for the sake of writing.  Just sit down and let the ideas flow.  That was a long time ago.  I finished a book and then got the idea that it should be published.  Unfortunately, I was the only one who thought that.  (Other than Hubs.  He's always been supportive.)  Agents and publishers didn't think that.  So I made the decision to published my books my own damn self.  I spent a lot of money on covers and editing and marketing.  I sold some books, but still not enough to catch up to any of my hopes and goals.

It's been a struggle ever since.  Just me jumping hurdle after hurdle in a race I can't win because there's never a finish line.  :shrug:

I'll keep writing.  I'm not in that place yet.  Okay, so I am in a place where I haven't been writing, but I've been here before, so I don't expect it to last forever.  I'm just trying to be realistic with myself.  I write, I publish, I market... and sales drip in.  Occasionally, one of the people who bought a book leave a review to let me know they liked it.  (Or hated it as the case may be.)  Once a month, I get money deposited into my bank account.  Sometimes it's enough to buy a cup of coffee.  Sometimes it's almost enough to buy a steak.  (What with the price of beef these days, I can't quite get enough for the whole steak.)

It is what it is, I guess.  

Thursday This n That

Well, there goes New York.  And Virginia.  =o(

I expect NYC will turn into the ghost town that Detroit has become, except the refugees won't be fleeing for better suburbs.  They'll be leaving for other states.  I've seen people wondering why people from shithole places move to nice places and want to change them.  That's WHY they're moving into the nice places... to change them into the shithole places they love.  

Here, there was one thing on the ballot - raise the property taxes in a nearby city so they can give it to the fire department.  It passed.  A little while back, they had the same kind of ballot item for my rural FD and it passed, too.  My FD used the money to erect a brand new, beautiful building... right next to the old building, which they then tore down.  There wasn't anything really wrong with the old building, it was just not new.  Whatever may have been wrong with it could've been fixed at a way lower cost and a dormitory could've been added on, again at a way lower cost.  But they didn't have to do that because they can just add to our property taxes instead of finding a way to be fiscally responsible.  That's the way government works these days, I guess.  Well, most people these days, I guess.  

I can't seem to muster the will to do anything these days.  Except maybe vegging out in front of the TV.  I think Bradbury warned about that.  Probably others, too.

I've made 3c so far this month.  Woot.

Finn's wandering around the house meowing.  I feel ya, little dude.

Yesterday, I did Wallyworld.  Everything is so damn expensive.  Freakin' half-dozen donuts is about $4.50.  Yeah, I bought 'em.  Cuz I needed donuts.  Custard filled with chocolate frosting.  Mmm.  I bought 'em with my own damn money, so yeah.

Yes, I am cranky, why do you ask?  I have active bitch fingers to go with my resting bitch face.

On a happier note, we're seeing bucks.  They're chasing the does and sometimes the fawns.  The other day, I happened to look out the window to see a doe run across the neighbor's yard.  Shortly after a fawn went by, trying to catch up.  Then a buck went by.  A few minutes later, another doe, then fawn, then... wait that's the same buck!  A few minutes later, the three of them went by in succession again.  They must've been running in a circle around the neighbor's house.  I got up to tell Hubs about it, so I don't know how long they continued the race.

Okay, it's time to call the mama.  Have as great a day as you can manage out there.  I'll do the same.  B'bye.

Thursday This n That

I was getting ready to head off on my errands when I heard something outside that made me turn and look out the window.  There were vultures on top of my car.  I called out to Hubs.  By the time he walked from the office to the front, even more vultures had landed on my car.  There had to be a dozen on it and several more on the ground around it.  He opened the door and they didn't fly away.  We actually had to go out and chase them off.  I was thinking some critter had died either under or in the engine compartment of my car.  (Flashback to years ago when I had a packrat making a home in there.)  We opened up everything.  I expected the smell of dead rodent to hit me.  Nope.  No smell.  No body.  Nothing.  Meanwhile, our trees are full of vultures and they aren't inclined to leave.  I'm not into omens, but the whole drive to Wallyworld, I was wondering if my car would die.  I made it home in one piece, the car did fine, and when I got home Hubs was fine, too.  No clue what the hell that was all about.

Also, yesterday morning, the coyotes were going crazy out there. Their yips and yodels and shrieks kept getting closer until suddenly, the sound stopped.  A few seconds later, a single coyote howled like a wolf would howl.  Then it did it again.  Then a third time.  I figure they caught what they were chasing and the one 'yote was calling the others to breakfast.

And then yesterday afternoon, the squirrels were freaking out.  The gray squirrels here do a sort of 'cough cough, squeeeal kind of call.  Several of them were doing it at the same time off the back of our yard.  It was weird day for animals, lemme tell ya.

No, it's not a full moon.  It is, in fact, a new moon.  Not sure what that means, in reference to all of the above.  Right now, everything is quiet, but it's early yet.

Yes, Halloween is approaching.  Yes, everything above really happened.

In other news, we watched an awesome movie yesterday - The Whole Truth.  It stars Keanu Reeves as a defense attorney tasked with trying to get a teenager acquitted of the charge of murdering his father (a vile and nasty man played by Jim Belushi of all people).  It was tense and twisty and twisted, with an ending we certainly didn't see coming.  Wow.  (And holy shit, when I was getting the link for the movie, I found out the mom was played by Renee Zellweger.  I thought she looked familiar, but she barely looks like the gal in Jerry Maguire.  :shocked face:)

Okay, I think that's it.  Got anything for me?

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 10/18/25

 I confess I didn't read much this week.  I think part of the problem is that I'm just not that into the book I'm reading.  I really need to DNF it and move on.  Except it's a Victoria Holt and I usually love her books.  :shrug:  I don't know.  Anyway...

No new books.

No Books Read.

No DNFs... yet.

Currently reading... The House of a Thousand Lanterns by Victoria Holt.  Like I said, it's not thrilling me.  So far, it's more like a soap opera than a gothic romantic suspense, like the others of hers I've read.  I'll probably DNF it, but I might give it one more chance.  We'll see.

What have you been reading lately?

What's Sincere and What's Scam?

I've gotten a few emails this week in regard to DYING EMBERS (which is still free through the end of today).  Most of them have been obvious - people trying to get me to pay them to market my book.  One of them, on the other hand, was someone wanting to use my book in their book club.  I've been on the fence with that one re: sincere or scam.

I mean, he seemed sincere enough.  He talked about my book like he'd actually read it.  He said intelligent things.  Unfortunately, so did several of the scammers.  (In all fairness, the marketers may not have been scammers, but for brevity, and because it's so hard to tell the difference, I'll call them that.)

It's a minefield out there.  How does one tell the difference between someone who is sincerely interested in a book and someone who's trying to part you from your well-earned and miniscule profits?  (I'm averaging about $18 a month here.)  

The idea that I may be ignoring someone who is sincerely interested in my work wrecks me.  I lay awake at night thinking about it.  I'd be willing to interact with them.  (I almost said like or love, but the idea of interacting with strangers makes me nauseous.  Hell, most days, I don't want to interact with anyone but Hubs, but that's on me.  The older I get, the more hermit-like I become.)

On the other hand, interacting with scammers - even just a little - is bad.  You even bother to tell them 'no thanks' and suddenly you're inundated with crap.  Who needs that?

So, I sit here, torn between knowing I need to interact with fans/readers and wanting to stay as far away from scammers as possible.  It's a slippery slope to hell either way.

What do you think?

(For the record, I deleted the 'book club' email, but didn't send it to spam like I do with all the others.  If he emails again, I'll think about this some more.)

Thursday This n That

I located my gumption.  It was hiding behind the TV.

Okay, so we all were taught there are three states of matter - solid, liquid, gas.  Years ago, I read something about there being a fourth state - plasma.  It's like fire.  Fire exists but previously had no assigned state of matter, so Voila! plasma.  I thought it was cool and seemed logical, so I taught that to my daughter.  Of course, she mentioned it to a teacher, who immediately told her she was wrong.  I had to talk to the teacher and explain where Owl came up with that and I provided sources.  Derp.  Which reminds me about my 6th grade science teacher who marked me wrong during our lesson on blood types.  We pricked our fingers, applied it to the paper with some solution, and watched for the reaction.  I already knew my blood type and the types of my parents, so it was easy enough.  Once the thing dried, though, the teacher said I didn't have what I had and said I had a blood type neither of my parents had.  I backed her down by pointing out that she was basically saying my dad wasn't my dad, and she changed my grade back to an A.  Silly git.

For the record, there's no way I could be adopted.  Sometimes, when I was a kid, I wished I was.  Sometimes, I felt like I was.  Mom explained it to me the easy way - we already had four kids, why would we adopt another one?  Harsh, but true.

I watch a lot of Long Last Family (the UK edition).  It's like a mystery show, and y'all know how I do love mysteries.  But it's real.  People finding kids they gave up for adoption, or adopted people looking for their birth parents, or siblings searching for each other.  Usually there are happy endings, and I love those, too.  

Is it just me or does Venus look brighter these days?

This morning, a barred owl was hooting out there in the woods.  They make a sound people liken to 'who cooks for you'.  The last time I heard it, it was just one big HOOT.  I tried to make squeaking noises to draw it closer, but nope.  Aw, well.

Which reminds me of this exchange I saw about people incorrectly correcting other people.  Someone had posted about a barred owl and another person corrected them by saying they meant BARN owl, not BARD.  ROFL

Okay, that's enough out of me.  Got any this-n-thats for me today?  What thoughts do you have on mine?

Sunday Update - 2025 Week 41

Hey Everyone.  It's Sunday again and it was a pretty boring week, but I'm a pretty boring person, so thanks for being here anyway. ;o)

No writing again this week.  I'm falling farther and farther down the hole, and I'm not sure how to climb out.  No editing either.  I did do some marketing, so I've got that going for me.  I moved 27 copies of Project Hermes, which ain't great, but it's better than nothing.  I also sold a copy of Dying Embers and had someone read DE, too.  Unfortunately, I'm only averaging about $18 a month.  Not exactly a living wage, eh?  

I did do some reading.  I finished one book and made it partway through another.  Woot.

On the baking trail, I made banana muffins.  Yummers.

In the activity realm, I walked three times for a total of 2.75 miles.  I'm up to 62.4 miles for the year, which ain't bad.  I still would like to reach 100 miles for 2025, and it's possible, but not likely.  I'd have to up my game, hope for good weather for the remainder of the year, and find some actual gumption.  Gumption supplies are at an all time low right now, unfortunately.  Weight?  I would rather not say.

We watched a rather pointless movie yesterday.  Literally, it had no point.  And no plot.  It kept throwing hints and promises that there would be a plot, and then the movie was over.  It was called Northern Borders and it had Bruce Dern and Geneviève Bujold in it.  It was pretty new, so they were old.  I kept joking with Hubs that the reason Bruce Dern's character was so mean was because he spent his youth getting his ass kicked my John Wayne.  (We both laughed, but we're weird that way.)

The fawns have no spots, so other than being small deer, it's hard to tell they ARE fawns.  I haven't seen Lumpy lately.  I hope she found a lovely spot and passed away in her sleep.  Nature's a bitch.  So's getting old.  

I think that's it for me today.  Look for a marketing thing tomorrow.  Other than that, I'm not sure what I'll be doing this week. (Update: Dying Embers will be free this coming week and Rumor Has It will be free the week after.)  I'm over the jetlag, so it's not that dragging me down.  :shrug:

Have a great week, wherever you are.  :hugs:

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 10/11/25

 Hello!  I know I'm not doing these as regularly as I used to, and thanks for stopping by anyway.  I didn't do much again this week.  It's been a slow reading year.  Things like this happen.  I'm woefully behind on my reading goal, of course.  It is what it is. 

No new books this week.  I did stop at a thrift store, but all I got was a bookshelf.  This particular store has jacked the prices up on all their used books and they're being such snots, I don't buy books from them anymore.  And after the experience buying the bookshelf, I won't be buying anything there anymore.  So sad, but them's the breaks.  The new-to-me shelf is only a two-shelfer, but it's holding my omnibuses, my Phyllis A. Whitney collection, and my Victoria Holts.  (This will mean more as you read below... I have a lot of both. LOL)

Books Read:

33) Dream of Orchids by Phyllis A. Whitney (10/9/25) - romantic suspense - 5 stars.  Neither new to me nor underappreciated.  Picked up from a thrift store for 50c.
Review: "I read it again, but only realized partway though that I had. Still just as awesome the second time around."

No DNFs.

Currently reading... a Victoria Holt I picked up from the thrift store.  I only just started it, but so far, so good.

What have you been reading lately?

Cold Case in the Country

If you know me, you know that I am interested in true crime stories.  (Natch, since I write fictional crime stories and true crime is a great resource for ideas.)  What you may not know is that I am especially interested in cold cases.  I'm a 'justice for all' kind of gal, and the fact that crimes like these have gone unsolved for years... decades even... just pisses me off.

Recently, I came across this story from a rural newspaper (https://www.cassville-democrat.com/2025/10/09/murder-on-the-tracks-who-killed-justin-hocutt/*) of a 14-year-old boy who was murdered and left on the train tracks - either to hide evidence or to hide the nature of the death.  I expect the killer(s) wanted the death to look like a suicide.  

From parsing through the article above, it looks like this murder involved a troubled kid with troubled parents in a troubled area, investigated by a police force that didn't have the skills or the resources necessary to solve a crime of this nature, presented to a prosecutor who wasn't really interested in anything but a slam-dunk.  

It sounds like they have some good evidence to go on, and several worthy suspects.  They just need a shove to bring it all together.  

Personally, I'd love to see Kelly Siegler from Cold Justice take this one on.  I think all the pieces are there - they just need to be put together by a competent person to make a cogent picture.  She's good at that.

Hubs was joking just now that 'writer B.E. Sanderson breaks the case wide open... solves 26-year old cold case'.  Wouldn't that be something?  But I'm just a writer.  What this needs is a seasoned team of investigators and prosecutors.  

The only thing I could do is write a book about it.  Hmm...

*It's hard to read... not because of the gruesome nature of the crime, but because it isn't as well-written as one would hope.

AITA

I've been getting these AITA posts in my FB feed.  (For the record, AITA stands for 'am I the asshole?')  And since I stopped and read one, they're showing up with startling frequency.  Anyway, the whole premise of these things is to lay out a story about something you've done and then ask the world at large whether you're the asshole in the situation.

Okay, I'll admit it... these things are kind of addictive.  Unfortunately, in order to see the whole story on any of them, you have to click a link or something, so I'm only going off the parts I can see without clicking.  Still, for the most part, I think the person telling the story is not the asshole.  (Occasionally, the person is definitely the asshole.)

For instance, I read one this morning about a dad who had sole custody of his teenage daughter, and it seemed like every time he got after her about anything, she's play the 'I want to go live with mom' card.  Finally, after she was particularly rotten, he gave her what she wanted.  He packed her bags and dropped her off at her mom's to live.  Within a day, she was asking to come home.  He left her there for four days and then let her come home.  Like I said, I didn't read how it all turned out, but it seemed pretty reasonable to me.  

Thinking about it all now, I feel sad for people who think they need to ask whether they're the asshole in any given situation.  If you thought what you were doing was right when you did it, what exactly is making you think otherwise now?  Explore that before you go looking for validation online.  You can probably tell for yourself whether or not you were the asshole, hindsight being 20/20 and all that.  

I expect those things are probably not all true.  Clickbait, doncha know.  Except I never click because, while the story was interesting to read, I don't really care what the outcome was.  Does that make me the asshole?  ;o)

Thursday This n That

I keep forgetting to make blog posts.  This is not helping with my new goal to be more present in my writing career.

What is with the phrase 'being present in x-thing'?  Where else can you be?

I heard something this morning about people being accused of taking money to support Israel.  Someone is out there paying people to do this?  I've supported Israel for decades, so where's my money?  Feh.  

Somedays, I'm full of shit and I know it. Other days, I don't know it.

I don't know about you, but I'm laughing my ass off over some of the things the dems are doing.  I'm also laughing my ass off over how Trump is responding.  A sombrero and mustache on Dollar Store Obama?  ROFL

Yesterday, Hubs and I sat down to watch a new-to-us crime drama from the early '00s.  It started out pretty good and then just got nasty.  VETO from both of us.  We don't need that shit floating around in our heads.  Gah, the little bit I did see is stuck in there now.

Ages ago, I tried to warn the Owl about being careful about what she reads and watches, because once something gets inside your head, you can never get it out.  I used the movie SYBIL as a reference point.  I watched it in college and I still think about it from time to time even now.  :shudder:

I have scads of tomatoes in varying levels of ripeness - from teeny-tiny ones not much bigger than a pea to bigger ones starting to turn red.  As long as the weather holds, and I can keep the hornworms off, I should have tomatoes through the month.  Hell, some of the plants are still blooming.  I could have 'maters through to Thanksgiving.  Lemme tell ya, after months of fearing I wouldn't get any fruits off these dang things, I am happy to know my efforts weren't in vain.

And now, I'm off to Dollar General, I think.  We're almost out of ice cream and there's almost a whole cake to eat.  Yep, definitely a tragedy to be averted there.  See ya.

I'm Back

I know, I know... I didn't tell you I was leaving.  I'm a staunch believer in the 'don't share with the internet that you won't be home' thing.  I mean, Hubs was still here, but I wasn't, so there ya go.  Anyway...

In the wee hours of the 18th, we made the drive to the airport, where Hubs dropped me off in the parking lot (he would've walked me in but, much to our dismay, the airport and its parking lot are under construction), and off I went to Michigan.  I spent 7 days hanging out with Mom, my middle sis, and sis's dog.  Oh, and other Michigan fam showed up on Saturday for a surprise birthday thing for Mom, who turned 85 while I was there.

It was a nice and mostly relaxing week.  Mom and I ate stuff we don't normally eat and we watched a lot of TV.  I took some walks, so it wasn't all lazing about.  I also rented a car, which gave me the ability to drive out to the old homeplace.  The place was barely recognizable.  (Who paints an old farmhouse candy-apple red?? Derp. And they cut down all the maple trees.  Turds.)  

I got back last night.  I haven't downloaded the photos I took yet.  I unpacked (mostly) and then flopped into a chair to watch an episode of Doc Martin before crashing into bed. 

The cats were not pleased with me coming home smelling like dog.  They're over it this morning for the most part.  Finn is still displeased with me.  Sawyer was up in my lap this morning like I never left.  

Anyway, I'm spending today decompressing and nursing my aches from carting my carry-on luggage through O'Hare and from the horribly uncomfortable seats on the airplanes.  (Never sit in the last row. The seats don't have any give in the back and the lavatories are problematic... i.e. they stink and the flushing device is LOUD.)

So, I'm home again with Hubs.  Sleeping in my bed, driving my car (rental cars... blerg), eating my food, and playing with my cats.  I still need to evaluate my writing, so I didn't accomplish that, but I did spend the week not angsting over it all, which was nice.

How are things in your world?

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 9/13/25

It's Saturday the 13th. Which isn't unlucky or anything, but I'm weirdly pointing it out.  Anyways...

Not a lot to report this week.  I didn't pick up any new books since the last update.

Books Read: 

31) Tales from the 'White Hart' by Arthur C. Clarke (9/11/25) - SF - 5 stars.  Neither new to me nor underappreciated.  Picked this up for 25c from a thrift store.
No review.  

No DNFs.

Currently reading... the one new-to-me Agatha Christie I bought the other day.  I wasn't sure I was going to read it right away or save it, but I needed it, so I started it.  Sometimes a gal just need a little Agatha to make things seem better, ya know?

What have you been up to reading-wise?

 

Heartsick

I don't have the heart to do a 'this n that' today.  Frankly, I'm sick to my stomach over the assassination of Charlie Kirk.  There is no other word for it.  He was assassinated.  You can call it a horror or a tragedy - it's certainly those, too - but that doesn't change the fact that he was assassinated.  

From all I knew of Charlie, he was a good man.  He advocated for discussion over violence, and they killed him for it.  He was trying to get people to talk about issues and to think for themselves.  Well, we can't have any of that now, can we?  Feh.

There's a lot of crap out there this morning with people saying vile things.  Those people can wither up and die for all I care.  If you're one of them, please go far, far away from me.  

I'm not sure what this will mean for our country.  Hopefully, it'll be a watershed moment and those following the advocates of violence wake up and see that theirs is not the side to be on.  Hopefully, freedom will win this battle.  

Right now, though, I'm heartsick.  And yes, it's the anniversary of 9/11 - don't think I haven't considered whether Charlie's assassination wasn't planned to coincide with this.  It probably was.  

'Never forget' turned into 'only remember on 9/11' and then ignore the causes altogether.  

I'm gonna go watch TV.  Something totally not involved in any of this until I can stomach being online again.  

Peace.  Out.

At the Movies with B.E.

Welcome to At the Movies with B.E.  This week, I'm going to try adding a ranking system using a 😻 (smiling cat face with heart-shaped eyes emoji) or a 🙀 instead of stars.  Hokey or not?  :shrug:  Anyway, let's get on with it...

Murders in the Rue Morgue (1986) - starring George C. Scott, Val Kilmer, and Rebecca De Mornay.  I remember watching this when it was on TV way back when, so I loaded it up for watching.  It's a little "80s" but still a good treatment of the story.  😻😻😻😻

Ladies in Lavender (2004) - starring Maggie Smith and Judi Dench.  I found this while searching through various Roku suggestions.  I admit I was a little hesitant, but we went ahead with it, hoping it didn't turn out to be shitty.  I'm so glad we did.  This is a lovely little movie about two spinster sisters in Cornwall in the 1930s and what happens after they find a young man washed up on the beach.  They take care of him until he's well and care for him afterwards, until he becomes a part of the town.  The ending was awesome and we really enjoyed the movie, despite the fact that they never really delve into why he washed up on the beach.  I think he was trying to get to America, but the exact nature of his problem was never addressed.  :shrug:  Oh, well, I can live with that.  I can always make something up in my head to cover that.  😻😻😻😻😻

Toast (2010) - has Helena Bonham Carter, but she wasn't the star.  The only other person I recognized was the guy who was in that one series about the young surgeon with Asperger's.  This movie started out okay and then got tense and then was okay and then got weird and then sucked.  We didn't finish it, but we watched most of it, which was enough of it to adequately give an opinion.  I was really bummed because it held the promise of being a really good movie and with some tweaks, it could've lived up to that promise, but it didn't.  :sad trombone noise:  🙀🙀

My Family and Other Animals (2005) -  this is based on a book by Gerald Durrell (as was a TV series called The Durrells on Corfu - which we watched on PBS years ago).  It's a goofy and funny show about a family who leaves dreary, rainy Britain for the sunny life on the Greek island of Corfu, and all the things that happen to them.  It was fun to watch, even if it did star the gal who played Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter movies.  Definitely not a movie with anything major to say about anything, which is a nice change. 😻😻😻😻😻

I found several more movies to watch that I'm really looking forward to.  One in particular is called The Hippopotamus.  It looks like loads of fun, so fingers crossed.

Labor Day

Marketing Monday has been pre-empted in favor of this post.  In Deep Wish is free now through Friday, though.  Jus' sayin'.

Labor Day... I don't celebrate it.  Don't get me started.  But it's a day off for a lot of people, and when I was working, it was a day off for me, too, since the businesses were usually closed.  As a writer, I don't have holidays or days off or whatever when I'm working.  Every day can and sometimes is a work day.  (Not right now.  I've been a toad.)

I did get a good deal on some clothes this morning, so thanks for that, Labor Day.  I have two new pairs of pants and a shirt that should be here Friday.  This is for a trip I'm taking down the road apace, but I couldn't turn down 40% off.  I'm a sucker that way.

So, basically, Labor Day is good for shopping.  It's also good because it marks the end of summer, which means, for me, the summer people go home.  Yay.  Of course, it also means that this weekend is seeing my neighborhood full of strangers in strange cars and someone has been shooting off fireworks and firecrackers.  :eyeroll:  Tomorrow... Ahhh.

I can't see much purpose in having this national holiday otherwise.  Another day for government workers to take off, I guess.  Oops, I said 'don't get me started' and yet, there I go.

Anyway, have a great day wherever you are and whatever you celebrate.  And if you're on vacation somewhere, be courteous of your fellow humans, eh?  The world will thank you for it.

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 8/30/25

Not a big reading week for me, but I did finish one, so let's get to it.

I bought some new-to-me books at the thrift store this week: a suspense, two literature, two SF. I also picked up a new ebook - paranormal romance.  Those should keep me for a while, I think.

Books Read:

30) Primordial Threat by MA Rothman (8/28/25) - SF* - 5 stars.  I hadn't read this author before, although I follow him on FB, but it's not underappreciated.  I snagged it when the author put it on sale for 99c.
No review.  He's got a boatload of reviews and there's nothing I could add that would gain him sales.

No DNFs.

Currently reading... I haven't picked out what I'm going to read next.  The urge is to read the Agatha Christie I picked up on 8/21, but I have so much to choose from right now that I might leave that until I need it.

What's on your reading list lately?