I have been working in business for over forty years and now have the time to work in special areas of interest. My passion has always been to create compelling stories of fiction. I have authored six novels and am working on my Seventh. The first novel is still in manuscript form and being utilized as a door stop in the laundry room. The second is a contemporary fiction novel of 89,000 words and is complete and I am currently seeking a publisher. I also write poetry but have not had the guts to share any with anyone. The one time I read a piece to a person their only comment was, “it doesn’t rhyme.” I will continue to write and hopefully my blog, Fiction Favorites at www.johnwhowell.com will provide some entertainment and an interesting thought or two.
I live in the Austin area with my wife Molly and an assortment of loving pets.
This week I thought I would feature an organization that has as a mission providing the environment that fosters activities for the Winter Texans or anyone who does not make Port Aransas a permanent home. The organization is the Joint Effort Leasure Ministry or JELM for short.
Here is the sign in front of the facility which includes two buildings. The JELM is sponsored by the Community Presbyterian Church and includes activities all week.
Here is a shot of the church.
Just so you know you are in a church environment.
Here is the main activities center. The center is run by volunteers and stays active during the winter months. The idea is to have fun things to do in addition to fishing, going to bars and the beach. (Not everyone likes those things)
This board will give you an idea of the different things to do. There are coffees, card games, Mah Jong, shopping trips, socials, crafts, study groups and boat tours. There is enough that a person could do several things each day, five days a week.
Since most of the Winter Texans are from the Midwest, they have state coffees every so often. This Illinois one looks suspect given they seem to like to eat fingers
I have been impressed how the Community of Port Aransas comes together to support its citizens whether they are permanent or not. Even if you are just a visitor, people care about you.
My producer is out-of-town this weekend, so I’m going to slip in one more photo. This is another Big RIG moving through the Corpus Christi Channel on its way to being retired. (Don’t tell her. She thinks I overdo the rig photos )
I took this on February 9th. It was a glorious day.
How do I start Stream of Consciousness Saturday? Well, like I always do with some kind words from Linda Hill. She has given us the prompt “How.” She further will allow bonus points if we start and end the post with the word “how.” Okay, so I have one-half of the bonus in the bag. (notice the first word up there.) If you want to learn more and join in here is a link to Linda’s post. https://lindaghill.com/2017/02/24/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-feb-2517/
“How do you think we are going to get out of this mess?”
“I’m not sure but for god’s sake keep your head down.”
“Don’t worry about me. Mrs. Dumbrowski didn’t raise no dumb shit.”
“Mrs. Dumbrowski? Who’s that? Your name is Smith.”
“Oh, she was my caretaker when I was a kid.”
“Jeez. Always something with you. Why not just say Mrs. Smith didn’t raise no dumb shit.”
“Cause my Mom remarried and her name was Roselle.”
“For heaven’s sake. We are surrounded by a bunch of badasses trying to kill us, and you’re driving me nuts with word games.”
“It’s not word games. It’s the truth.”
“Who gives a f— Whoa what was that?”
“I think someone has themselves a new mortar. That was a shell flying over our head and exploding behind us.”
“I know it was. I was just using a figure of speech. I’ll bet the next one lands in our laps, and I’m going to spend eternity having to watch what I say since you take everything literally.”
“I resemble that. Words are important. You can’t just toss them around Helter Skelter and expect people to understand you.”
“Do me a favor and quit talking. I have a headache and would like to enter the gates of heaven in peace.”
“Larry?”
“What?”
“You think you are going to heaven?”
“I don’t know. I hope so. I’ll tell you one thing. If we don’t get help soon, we are certainly going to find out.”
“Find out what?”
“What eternity looks like. OMG here comes another shell.”
“Wow, that was close. Those guys aren’t very good are they?”
“Lucky for us.”
“Something about their sloppiness bothers me.”
“A little too Helter Skelter for you?”
“Yeah. If I had that mortar, I wouldn’t miss them.”
“Why don’t you make it easier for them. Or better yet. Why don’t you stand up and walk over there and show them how to do it.”
“Sounds good but I’m not sure they would accept my help.”
“Sure they would. Hold up a white handkerchief and take some chocolate.”
“Now you are putting me on. You just want to shut me up.”
It has been a very busy week. My GRL is ready to launch. She is laying in the weeds over at Amazon waiting for the announcement on Tuesday. I’m so glad I finally prevailed over the gremlins. (There were many) I do want to thank all the folks who offered to help with the launch. You are all very special people. You will be seeing their posts after next Tuesday.
Today’s JohnKu talks about those who help others and is dedicated to the special group helping with the My GRL launch.
I want to Welcome Linda Mims to Fiction Favorites. She has just released her book The Neon Houses, and she is on tour with 4Wills Publishing. I am pleased she chose to stop by today.
Thanks, John.
What Will Writing be Like in 2065
My good friend, also named Linda, doesn’t own a Kindle and her iPad doesn’t hold any novels. Reason being, Linda is a former librarian, and her love for books runs deep. When asked how she thinks writers will communicate with readers in the future, she just shakes her head. Recently retired from more than 30 years spent in the preservation of books and their care, she loves nothing better than to crack open a real book and inhale the fragrance of a freshly published novel—preferably in hardback. Writing in the future is going to remain the same, as far as she’s concerned.
As an indie author who, to date, hasn’t tried vanity publishing or the Amazon interpretation of a physical book, I have a different view of what writing will be like in the future. My friend Linda may or may not read my ebooks when they’re published (she probably will), but I fear that if she doesn’t get onboard the ebook train, she will be missing out on some awesome future writers.
Today’s young writers are using both traditional publishing and self-publishing, and their work is rife with intellect, deep meaning, and skilled storytelling. They are poised to become the recorders of our lives, our chroniclers—the writers of the future. All indie writers are surging and telling their stories. They’ve seen what traditional publishers are touting as best sellers and decided they can do as well and, in some cases, better.
What do I imagine future writing will be like in 50 years? In my book, The Neon Houses I describe a scene where over half the population of the town, Gang Territory can’t read. The percent of writers in 50 years may not be any better than the percent of readers. It will be different! Virtual book sales will grow as will the methods of viewing them. Right now we have Kindle, Nook and iPad devices, but over the next few decades, other apparatus will crop up because there can never be enough great ideas and App designers will invent ways to enhance the reading experience with moving pictures, animated sounds, and a hyped version of reader immersion.
My guess, based solely on supposition and conjecture, is that the FCC will attempt to bring the world-wide web under the umbrella of regulated services. Users will have tired of hackers, identity thieves, predators, and foreign terrorists strong-arming the air-waves. A segment of people, who want to tame their own frontier, will run an internet outside government control, but without a lot of money for refinement and regular upgrading. They will be the crusaders and defenders of writing and free speech in 2065.
Writing of the future will resort back to the written (pen and paper) version of what it was in the mid 20th Century for many people. Communication between and amongst people will have returned, and technology and social media will take a backseat to social interaction where people actually meet and talk face to face.
However, the same fifty years could see Ebonics having taken control of language and communication in our inner cities. Facebook and 140 character Twitter lingo may have encouraged a form of modernist communication that will be spoken and written by only the technologically limited and the poorly educated.
Future writers of this ilk will have stories to tell, but they will have no idea how to research them, sans the internet and sans Google. Over the years the internet will have eradicated the need for encyclopedias, dictionaries, and thesauri and left writers with no idea how to research information on their own.
Most public schools will have ruled out reading the classics and, sorry E. D. Hirsch, Jr., “Cultural Literacy” will be an obsolete idea, meaningful only to the very wealthy. Consequently writing in the future by inner-city school children will be random, infrequent, or nonexistent.
Fifty years from now, illiterate citizens will head to city parks on heralded “reading nights” to hear the classics read by those who remember how to read and to whom the skill was passed.
***
Author Bio:
Linda Mims started creating tales in her head as a child. At age 12, she knew she was onto something when she sold a story to her grandmother for a quarter, but it was her dad’s more practical advice, to get a good education and find a real job, that she followed.
After retiring from her “real job” as an educator, Linda began her writing career as an indie author. The tale of The Neon Houses was born out of a careless comment that people had lost interest in reading. The joke was that decades from now we’d need to hold reading nights in neighborhood parks for citizens who wouldn’t be able to read.
Linda rolled that idea around in her head until it turned into a whole society of have-nots. Once the idea got rolling, she worked nonstop until she’d finished the first draft. Writing is now her real job!
Linda Mims resides in a small suburban town 30 miles outside of Chicago, IL where she likes to cook, garden, and blog, sometimes simultaneously. She is married to her long-time love, has two grown daughters and one bossy, bichon-pom, Alexis.
Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/boom_lyn
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLindaMimsmbria
Website – https://lindamims.com/blog/
***
THE NEON HOUSES
Dr. Noel Kennedy hears screams inside her head, but the screams aren’t hers. While preparing for her annual end-of-summer barbecue, Noel hears her young friend—twenty-year-old Zarah Fisher—screaming for her life. However, Zarah is miles away!
Noel knows the exact moment Zarah takes her last breath because Noel has a secret! It’s a secret that not even her husband Richard knows.
As the Deputy Chief of Schools of Gang Territory, Noel has perfected her life. She is a solid, middle-class citizen from New Chicago, Incorporated. New Chicago and Gang Territory have become vastly different societies since the early Urban Wars. Now, the year 2087 finds New Chicago’s military-trained police determined to enforce laws that keep “gang people” out.
Harlem Pierce, a New Chicago police detective, has been warned to stay away from this case and he urges Noel to let it go. But a new killing involves Noel’s younger cousin and her boyfriend and links Noel to it in a startling way.
Who can Noel draw on? Must she turn to Warren Simpson—the menacing, treacherous boss of Gang Territory? Or … could he be the killer?
“The tour sponsored by 4WillsPublishing.wordpress.com.”
I am very pleased to be hosting Karl Morgan on the RAVE WAVES Spotlight Honors broadcast live today at 11:00 Central Time. Here are the details and link.
Welcome to RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB’S BlogTalkRadio production of RAVE WAVES “SPOTLIGHT HONORS,” where HOST JOHN W. HOWELL is joined by AUTHOR KARL MORGAN. We will be discussing his novel, THE OLD HOUSE. Join us as we explore this book and become better acquainted with the author. Here is the link to the broadcast.
This segment of SPOTLIGHT HONORS is being sponsored by ANGEL OF DEATH by author JENNY HINSMAN.
Karl Morgan has a lifelong fascination with stories in the science fiction and fantasy genres, whether it was the Tom Swift novels by Victor Appleton he read as a young boy, or television like Lost in Space and Star Trek, and especially films like Star Wars, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. All of those tales put the protagonist in terrible situations where the odds are against them and, yet, somehow they prevail. The reader/viewer is always left with a sense that something greater than ourselves is watching over us. The reliance on Divine Providence, the power of friendship, and the desire to learn and grow are cornerstones of the author’s Dave Brewster, Heartstone and Modern Prophet series. The Old House is somewhat different, and based on the dreams of Chris Gullet, a friend. This love story spans the ages as two soul mates encounter one another in life after life. It explores the idea that if love can survive death, then perhaps other less savory emotions can as well. Karl lives in the San Diego area with his wife, Aida, and their beloved puppies. Their two grown children have fled the nest and started their own adventures in life.
It is Wednesday Story Day again. Last week we left Alice dropping Lucas off at the Widow Murphy’s house. She promised to come back tomorrow and conclude her subduction of the poor boy. She also gave him two bits of advice before driving off. The first was to take a bath and the second to clean up his place. Let’s go back and be surprised who we join. On look, it’s Alice on the car phone.
“Hello, Marcus. What the hell do you want?”
“Hi, Mom. I need some help.”
“Yeah, Of course, you do. Why else would you lower your ass to call me.”
“Come on Mom. You know I’ve been busy with the new job.”
“And before that, it was the new girlfriend.”
“Yeah, speaking of girlfriend.”
“S’matter you and that girl break up? You need mommy to hold your hand?”
“No. It’s not like that. It’s—”
“Don’t tell me you knocked her up?”
“Mom. Listen to me. She’s not knocked up. She’s gone.”
“W-what.? Say that again?”
“She left me, Mom. We had this stupid fight and she left.”
“Slow down, Marcus. Take a breath, son. When did this happen?”
“I went to work and when I got home all her stuff and her car are missing .”
“Steady my boy. What was the fight about?”
“What? The fight? Oh, it was nothing really.”
“Nothing? It must have been something if she left. Is there something you’re not telling me?”
“Okay. I might have pushed her.”
“Pushed her, Marcus? What do you mean pushed her?”
“Uh, she was yelling at me and then hit me and I pushed her away.”
“Then what?”
“She went into the spare room?”
“That’s it?”
“I had a few drinks and went to bed.”
“What about this morning. Did you tell her you were sorry?”
“I didn’t see her this morning. I got up and went to work. She was still in the spare room.”
“So you never had a chance to apologize. What started the fight in the first place.”
“You don’t want to know.”
“What does that mean?”
“She started in on how I was a momma’s boy—”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Momma’s boy.”
“Easy mom. She was off base okay?”
“I don’t understand what this has to do with me.”
“She wanted me to go with her to Florida next week and I told her it was your birthday and I didn’t want to miss it.”
“Oh, Marcus you are such a good boy.”
“Yeah, well then she went off on the fact that you and I are too close.”
“Too close? What did she mean by that?”
“I’m not sure. I think she was jealous cause you are so young and all. Anyway, she’s gone now. It doesn’t matter.”
Let Keith explain what we have here in his words. “Using this photo (below) as inspiration, write a short story, flash fiction, scene, poem; anything, really; and either put it (or a link to it) in a comment or email it to me at keithkreates@channing.fr before 6pm next Sunday (if you aren’t sure what the time is where I live, this link will tell you). If you post it on your own blog or site, a link to this page would be appreciated, but please do also mention it in a comment here – pingbacks don’t often work.
Go on. You know you want to. Let your creativity and imagination soar. I shall display the entries, with links to your own blog or web site, next Monday.”
“So I was saying to Chelsea, ‘I really need to get a different hairstyle—'”
“Hold on. I’ve seen that cop before.”
“Huh? Oh, that guy in the hideous orange thingy?”
“Yes. Keep your voice down. Look straight ahead and keep walking.”
“What’s the matter, Leon?”
“I’m telling you. I think that guy is following us. He has is back to us now, but I’m sure he was down at the last intersection.”
“Following us? Why would he do that?”
“I’m not sure, but I can’t shake the feeling we are being watched.”
“Oh don’t be silly. You and I are a couple out for a stroll. We look perfectly normal.”
“That’s what I hope, Esa. Just a couple of tourists walking along.”
“I think you are getting paranoid.”
“I think I have every right don’t you?”
“I don’t think we should talk about that now, do you?”
“It was your idea after all.”
“Yes that’s true but you are in it, and there is nothing you can do but keep walking.”
“He just looked at us.”
“I’m an attractive woman. He’s a cop for God’s sake. Of course, he would look.”
“He’s on his radio.”
“So what? That’s what they do. That and eat donuts.”
“Very funny. Say what you want we had better get a plan together.’
“We have a plan. Keep walking.”
“Are you sure that guy was reliable?”
“Of course. No one knows us or what we look like so calm down.”
“Excuse me, folks.”
“Y-yes officer?”
“You have something trailing out of your backpack.”
“Oh my goodness. Thank you, officer.”
“Looks like coffee beans. Please stop and let me have a look.”
“I can explain sir.”
“I think you’d better. Unless I’m mistaken, it looks like you have a whole bunch of coffee in that pack. Please step back and put your hands where I can see them. I think you may be in some pretty deep trouble. Looks like you could be charged with possession and distribution of a controlled substance. Big C is illegal here.”
“You and your caffeine habit. Looks what it has gotten us now.”
“Oh shut up. I’m jonesing for a Grande right now.”
Don Massenzo has allowed me to visit on his terrific blog. As you may know, Don is the author of the “Frank ” detective series. His latest is Frank Immersed (Book 5). Check out his other books while there.
Today we sit down with John Howell, author of the John J. Cannon series and wonderful blogger. John gives us some great insight into his writing as a craft and as a business.
Please enjoy this edition of A Perfect 10
If you want to check out past interviews, you can find them in the following links:
Also, if you are an author and you want to be part of this feature, I still have a few slots open for 2017. You can email me at don@donmassenzio.com
1) Does writing energize or exhaust you?
I must say there are times when I experience both. When I’m having a particularly tough time with a plot point, I feel as if I have gone ten rounds with a welterweight. I’m not…
The inspiration for this list came with President’s Day weekend. A lot of people are on road trips, and at least maybe they will read this before heading back home today. I always look back fondly on those road trips so many years ago.
Ten Things Not to Do on a Road Trip
10 On a road trip, do not let the kids claim their own space in the back. If you do, at best the territory claims will be endless. At worst, you’ll have to separate them and sit with your knees under your chin. (You forgot about the hump huh, Bunky?)
9 On a road trip, do not start the 100 bottles of beer on the wall song. If you do, at best everyone will get tired after ten. At worst, one of the kids will insist on going the whole distance. (How’s that toothache doing, Ferd?)
8 On a road trip, do not miss stating all the rules of I Spy. If you do, at best a small loophole will allow multiple winners. At worst, forgetting the “in the car” rule means little princess will hold out for 100 miles before declaring her item was a bird on the wire. (Yes, Tex. It was the bird 100 miles back.)
7 On a road trip, do not allow anyone into Buckys without a pre-set budget. If you do, at best you can justify the expense by the bonus points on the credit card. At worst, the manager of Bucky’s wants to sell your car to cover the bill. (What kind of rest stop has diamond covered boots huh, Pilgrim?)
6 On a road trip, do not think every tunnel is short enough to hold your breath all the way to the end. If you do, at best you’ll hit a long one and will have to breathe. At worst, little Tiny the future WWF champ who is a great competitor will be blue by the time you emerge. (No one told him to give up, Buster.)
5 On a road trip, if you are the driver do not hold up your feet over the railroad tracks. If you do, at best you won’t have a close call. At worst, you might be caught short if you need to make a quick stop. (If that semi in your lane, Buford?)
4 On a road trip, do not set unreasonable expectations around the number of license plates needed to be spotted to finish the game. If you do, at best everyone will be discouraged and quit. At worst, you most competitive child will keep going until they have all fifty. (Good luck on that Hawaii plate, Pal.)
3 On a road trip, do not allow the kids to pick their own snacks. If you do, at best you’ll need to run the car through a car wash when you get home. At worst, you will be peeling them off the ceiling after the mega sugar high hits. (You enjoy the screaming too don’t you Slick?)
2 On a road trip, do not let anyone in the car read the Stuckey’s signs. If you do, at best you’ll have to stop every hundred miles. At worst, you’ll have so many log rolls, divinities and clusters you will be able to open your own store.( Not to mention the dentist bill, right Ralph?)
1 On a road trip, do not insist that everyone hold it until the gas stop. If you do, at best the last ten miles will be very tense. At worst, you might be on the receiving end of a family mutiny. (You never realize how strong those kids did you, Jake?)
How do I start Stream of Consciousness Saturday? Well, like I always do with some kind words from Linda Hill. She has given us the prompt “How.” She further will allow bonus points if we start and end the post with the word “how.” Okay, so I have one-half of the bonus in the bag. (notice the first word up there.) If you want to learn more and join in here is a link to Linda’s post. 
1) Does writing energize or exhaust you?
