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August 2006

  From the organized clutter of Darrell's office.

Note: Responses to subjects brought up by this newsletter are welcome. I can be contacted by e-mailing me from my website.

Holiday, Memoirs, Current Projects, Canning and Jelly Making, Book Report and more.

Holiday
Betty and I spent the July fourth holidays quietly at home with Tonto and Susie, the dachshunds. For a change, Tonto stayed out of trouble (well, mostly). He did let a copperhead bite him, necessitating a trip to a pet emergency clinic in the middle of the night that cost $250.00, but shucks, things like that are normal for him. About the only thing of note we really did in July was take our monthly excursion to Wal-Mart. The nearest one to us is about 15 miles. Exciting, huh?

I did complete my next book, Space Trails and sent it off for editing. I also continued my memoirs and began this newsletter. Just as a note, I don't compose the newsletter all at once, but start a few days after the first of the month and work on it as ideas and subjects occur to me.

Sampler
A free sampler of some of my books is available in PDF format. Please request it by e-mailing me from my web site. Thanks.

Memoirs
The fourth segment of my Biography/Memoirs was posted at my web site during the month (See July, Fourth Installment), covering the period 1950 through 1953 and ending with a very momentous decision, one that changed the rest of my life. I made that decision when I was only thirteen years old and have never regretted it. Those years were quite an odyssey for a young boy who had never been much of anywhere.

My memoirs have received quite a bit of attention from family, friends, fans of my books and other readers. I appreciate all the letters and comments I've received, especially from my uncle TC. Later in this newsletter I'm going to include a letter I got from him. Most of us today simply can't imagine what conditions were like for many Americans in the "olden days."

Thanks
All too often I believe we fail to thank our friends and families for things which don't ordinarily occur to us. For instance, I happened to remember that when I first began writing and showed my feeble efforts to Betty, she never laughed at what I had written or discouraged me in any way at all. After going over some of those early manuscripts lately (and discarding most of them), I'm surprised she was able to keep a straight face when she read them way back then. At any rate, thinking of those days, I went straightaway and thanked her. I might not be a writer today had she said what she really thought. That's one of my instances. Can you remember any of yours?

When's the last time you thanked your children for being good kids, just out of the blue, like "Sharon, you are really a good girl. Thanks you so much for being that way." Try it and you might be amazed at the reaction you get. Actually, it doesn't even have to be family or friends. How about the medical people and policemen and women working holidays? How often do we thank them for giving up those days to care for us and protect us? Not nearly often enough, most likely. We have a plumber who always calls right back when we leave a message and never fails to arrive when he says he will--or if he's unavoidably detained, he calls and lets us know. I made a special effort to remember and thank him for that courtesy the last time he was out here. Giving a little thanks for things you ordinarily don't think of doesn't take much time and it's certain to brighten another person's life. Give it a try!

Current Projects
As noted, I finished Space Trails, my latest book. Yes, I've decided on the title now, and it's gone for editing. It should be released as an E-book in August. It's a curious book, encompassing an idea I've had for years but couldn't figure out how to go about it. I wanted to write a science fiction that paralleled in some ways the exploration of the American continent by our forebears. I've always admired those pioneers, and finally came up with a way to write about similar people in the future. What's next? Well a few days off first, then I may go back to the Williard brothers series or a book about Tonto, both works in progress. Tonto sure deserves a book, just for surviving so far if no other reason.

I just noticed a nice review from a reader at Amazon for Medics Wild!, the fictionalized version of my time in Vietnam. The reviewer said I had put a lot of myself into the book and it's true--I did. I noticed a news item the other day about one of our naval ships making a port call in North Vietnam. How times have changed!

Alien Infection is still selling well. It is available in print, download and Audio versions. My most popular book, The Sex Gates, continues to do well, simply by word of mouth. It has become a small cult classic in the science fiction field.

We're making progress on getting the dust jacket ready for my first hard cover, Savage Survival. It should be released in the latter part of the year. Needless to say, I'm excited about my first hard cover book and really looking forward to it.

A couple of my short stories have been selected for audio versions, I'm pleased to say, and should be available soon at Fictionwise.com. They are "Darby" and "Unforeseen Reward." Both are available as downloads for reading on computers or hand held devices now at Fictionwise.com and eReader.com. In fact, all my books are available at those two sites in electronic versions.

Knowledge News
I rarely recommend a web site, but I'm going to make an exception. Try Knowledge News at http://www.knowledgenews.net/. The url listed will tell you all about it, but basically, it's a daily newsletter which brings you some new knowledge every day, sometimes deep background about current events. An example is the last two days, where Knowledge News first gave a historical perspective of Beiruit, then brought it up to modern times. I've found Knowledge News always interesting and informative, with no bias that I've seen so far. You can try it for free, then if you like it, a year's subscription is very reasonable. The articles are short, concise and give you all the essential information about the particular subject without overwhelming you.

Canning and Jelly Making
Canning and making your own jelly or jam are two things which are done less and less these days. Betty still cans tomatoes, but that's all. She does still make jelly, but nothing like when we still had the Christmas tree farm open. Then, she made nearly a thousand pints of jam and jelly for the season and we always sold out. Nowadays, she takes a special order occasionally and does some for the family. And she's promised to make me some more plum butter, my own personal favorite. That's a labor of love, too, because to make a dozen jars is an all day project. It's an old fashioned recipe from up in Arkansas and tastes better than anything from a grocery shelf. I've done without the last two years since being diagnosed as a diabetic, but that's long enough. I'm having withdrawal symptoms!

Book Report
I finally got around to reading "The Day Lincoln Was Shot" by Jim Bishop. It was published 50 years ago. Betty has had it on her shelf for years and I saw her re-reading it the other day and decided to try it. I was surprised--it's very good, and has lots of history in it, too. A new one I tried and liked was Watch Me by A.J. Holt. It's about a renegade FBI agent who takes justice into her own hands. A little gruesome in parts but very good. I continued exploring Steve Martini's courtroom/mystery books with The Judge and Double Tap, both just as good as his others. He's a very good writer and I'm glad I discovered him.

I re-read a very old book by L. Sprague De Camp, "Rogue Queen." It's one of his best, and I've had it around for forty years or so, reading it every year or two again. Another repeat was "The Legacy of Heorot" by Niven, Pournelle and Barnes. Novels written by trios are rare but these three combined to produce one of the most remarkable books of intrastellar colonization I've ever read. I recommend it highly. A new one I picked up this month was "The Closers," a detective novel featuring Harry Bosche by Michael Connelly. I've read most of his work and this one is about as good as his others, all of which are on my shelves.

I continued reading more of Dan Mahoney's detective books. The latest, "Justice," was about a rogue cop who is killing drug dealers. It's as good as his others, I'm pleased to say.

I finally found a copy of "Lancet," a book I first read back in 1959, by Garet Rogers and have been searching for it for a long time. This is a fictional rendition of the life of the great 18^th century surgeon, John Hunter. He was far ahead of his time. A factual history of his life recently was published also, entitled "Knife Man," which I've already reported on. I love it when I locate an old book like that. Since settling down here, and now that I found "Lancet," I've finally located all but one book I read as a young man and wanted to read again. Some of them I paid quite a lot of money for since they were collector's items, but I didn't begrudge the money, nor did Betty ever complain, even when she was making most of the money.

Presence
Some people have what I call, for lack of a better word, a presence. This is a rare attribute, one that makes these people beloved and remembered and persons you always want to share your triumphs and tragedies with. Presence is the fact that you're always aware of these persons, even if it's in the background of your mind, and the awareness makes you feel better. In all my working life, I've run across only two supervisors who had a real presence, one in the army and one in civilian life. I was always aware of them as a guiding part of my life and their presence is still with me even though I haven't seen either of them for thirty or forty years.

I've known only two women with presence. One of them is my wife, Betty. Everyone who knows her loves her, especially me. They go to her for comfort and loving. They call on her when in need, knowing she'll always respond. Anyone who's ever worked with her or been a friend to her remembers. She's still a presence in many lives, even though we seldom interact with persons other than the family any more and don't travel much. I'm always aware of her, whether she's beside me, in the next room or five hundred miles away. When we married, all of my family immediately fell in love with her, too, so this isn't just a man in love with his wife talking.

I promise you, I'm not confusing love with this phenomena. My Uncle TC has this attribute. Everyone who knows him loves him. He's a quiet, unassuming man, yet I've never known anyone not to listen to him when he has something to say. He's always been a force in my life even though we rarely saw each other after I turned twelve. The first time my oldest son met him, after he was a grown man, he knew TC had this attribute, even though he didn't have a word to describe it.

Presence is not to be confused with charisma, either. It's something similar, but not the same. As I said to start with, I'm trying to describe something that really doesn't have an accepted definition. When you run across a person who has it, you know it, though. Always. It's too bad more people in life don't have presence. It would be a better world. And before you ask, no, I don't have it. I'm a better man for living with a woman who does, though.

I'll bet some of my readers could tell me about people they know with presence, and perhaps define it better than my poor attempts.

Uncle TC and Memoirs
I promised earlier to include a letter from TC, whom I've mentioned a number of times in my memoirs and my newsletters. He's written me several times in response to reading my Memoirs and has filled in some blanks and told me some things about his early life I think anyone would like to read. So here it is: (Note: Lester and Dorothy are my parents. Ruel and Frobin are my uncles, Dad's brothers).