Dan Antion and I are hanging out at Dan’s favorite bar. He invited me to stop by and have a drink and talk about Eternal Road – The final stop. You have to come with me since Cheryl and David will be there too. It will be fun they said.
“The title of this blog, “No Facilities” was inspired almost 40 years ago when I drove into West Virginia for the first time. I was on my way to check out an apartment that had been rented on my behalf near WVU, where I would finish my undergraduate degree in Chemistry. After I entered the state, I hopped on a 10-mile segment of the then unfinished I-79. A sign near an unfinished Rest Area said “Welcome to West Virginia” with “No Facilities” on a small sign that was screwed onto the bottom.
The sentiment of that phrase has morphed from the whiney complaint of an 18-year-old student who didn’t fully appreciate how lucky he was to even be attending college, to a badge of honor. In fact, “no facilities” has dominated my life and livelihood. As a systems developer, I made my living creating what wasn’t included by the architects and builders. The systems that could be but weren’t, are the things I spent 42 years designing and building. Retired now, I enjoy making things; furniture, cabinetry, new spaces in and around our house are all fertile ground for my hobbies.”
It is Stream of Consciousness Saturday, and here is Linda Hill with this week’s prompt. So Linda, what do we have today?
“Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “collar.” Use it as a verb, a noun, or metaphorically. Bonus points for using it in all three ways! Enjoy!”
Thank you. If you would like to join this group, visit Linda’s blog and read how. Here is the link.
“Well, you have a shirt that doesn’t have a collar. This attaches to it.”
“Why would anyone want that kind of thing?”
“In the olden days, you could wear the shirt without the collar. The collar stays clean. Then when it came time to dress up, you add a clean collar. Get it?”
“I suppose. Sounds like a lot of work to me. What else was in that trunk?”
“You knew my grandfather was a detective, right?”
“Yeah, I heard you mention that a few times. Given the prompt today, can you guess what else is in the truck?”
“What’s the prompt?”
“Collar.”
“Don’t tell me grandpa has records of all his collars?”
“Bingo. You got it. His arrests are all documented, and he kept them all.”
“Sounds a little compulsive to me.”
“Well, he was kind of that way. He was proud of being able to make a collar after a long investigation.”
“Speaking of long.”
“Yeah, I think we’ve covered the subject.”
“You wearing your collar to the bar?”
“No, I think I’ll leave it here.”
“Good, the Eau de mothball is not a good scent for you.”
Today I’m with Jessica Bakkers on the other side of the world. I’m there talking about Eternal Road – The final stop. There is a new excerpt there too. Come visit.
Here is a little about Jessica in her words. “I am a creative writer with over twenty years of writing experience. I write to express myself, I write to tell the tales bound up inside of me, and I write to live… or rather, I live to write.
I have ghost-written novels in the genres of fantasy / romance and paranormal / romance, however my genre of choice when it comes to writing for myself is dark fantasy where I can allow myself to fully explore the anti-hero characters that pepper my stories.
I dabble at poetry and have written professionally for clients internationally.
My major love affair is with the written word; specifically creative writing. I allow myself to indulge and rendezvous with this secret lover whenever time allows… and then we make beautiful poetry together!”
She has launched her first book, Guns of Perdition.
September 11th is the time to remember the horrible events of this day in 2001. It is a day to think about those in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania who lost their lives to terrorists. We should go on with our lives remembering those who lost theirs.
“I don’t get why we have no opposable thumbs. We could do this door ourselves.” “Mom’s coming, Little One Don’t let the 57 degrees get to you.”
It is Friday again. So we made it another week. There’s a lot of good news around here.
We’ve had almost four inches of rain and a cold front. Our overnight temps are in the 50s, which is a real blessing. The rain came down over enough time, so there was not a lot of flooding. Normally if that amount of rain fell in a couple of hours, Austin would be underwater. So good news, no one got swept away. The temps will be cool for the next two days, then back to the 90s.
New cases of COVID 19 and positive test results are both down in our area. Of course, the health authorities are concerned about the effects of Labor Day gatherings, and those results will start showing up in two weeks.
Sales of Eternal Road are holding steady. I’m glad I didn’t go for a preorder since the sales have been ongoing, so there hasn’t been an off the cliff drop. Thanks to everyone who has bought a copy. The tour continues, and I hope those who are following are enjoying the excerpts. Not to worry. You will not have the whole book in excerpts. There is still plenty of surprises.
The first review for Eternal Road is in. It is a five star, and you can see it here.
I am overseas with Keith Channing in the UK. You remember Keith from the Tuesday prompts. He is the one that comes up with the photos that defy typical interpretation.
I’m with him talking about Eternal Road – The final stop. I have a new excerpt that I think you will like.
A little bit about Keith since he is more than a guy doing prompts. He writes poetry, excellent novels, and is a photographer.
In Keith’s words. “As a writer of fiction, I make up and write lies for the sheer pleasure of doing it. These lies generally end up on my blog, as do a few of the photographs I take from time to time. With my wife Clare and our two dogs, I have recently relocated to South Yorkshire after living for thirteen years in a rural location in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France. Oh yes, INTJ-T.”
Just a few of Keith’s books. Check out his site for the whole line up.
“Twiggy. What are you doing?” “Looking for Friday.” “You know you are on a stairway to nowhere, Right?” “Sorta like a Monday.”
It is Wednesday Story Day and last week we learned Lazar recorded calls from Cortez and Taggert without their knowledge. Larry was able to ask if the hits ordered on he and Andrew were Cortez directed. Lazar said they were. So now we are all working on the same stuff. We got drug charges and attempted murder charges. Lazar did ask for a glass of water. Somehow that made the dramatic music come up in the background. I think we better get back and see if there is anything sinister in that water.
“Here’s your water, Popović. Now let’s get to my question.”
“Thank you so much. Being a Stool Pidgeon is thirsty work. Give me a second.”
“Take your time.”
“Okay, I’m ready. What was the question?”
“I would like to talk about how deep Taggert and Cortez were in the drug trade around here.”
“When I said up to their eyebrows I meant it. These two have moved tons of cocaine and illegal street drugs.”
“Do you know how they are supplied.”
“Yeah. The cocaine comes up through Mexico and the illegal street drugs from New Jersey.”
“You have names?”
“Of course, it’s all in the phone conversations. You should be aware that the names are already on the most wanted lists around the world. There are the biggest and most well-organized cartels. Gives me the shivers just thinking about them.”
“You seem like a decent guy, Lazar. How did you get messed up with these guys?”
“I ran a legitimate warehouse and delivery service. Things got a little tight, so I started looking the other way when I suspected that some of the shipments I was handling were not on the up and up. One night I opened a container and found ten kilos of cocaine. I know it had to stop, so I gave Cortez a call.”
“Let me guess. He told you to keep accepting the orders.”
“Yeah, and on top of that, he had Taggert come visit me with some paperwork that indicated I was going to be charged with possession and transportation of illegal substances.”
“What was the message?”
“To keep my mouth shut, take the money, and stay in business with these thugs.”
“Did you refuse?”
“Are you kidding? I told them that their secret was safe with me. About two days later, I got a packet in the mail. Inside were photos of my daughter at college. There must have been a hundred. Some closeups, some in her classes, some in the dining room of the dorm. Whoever took them was near her. There was a note enclosed.”
“I can imagine what it said, but tell us.”
“It was handwritten and simply said, ‘ I love you, daddy.’ I totally freaked out. I called her, and she immediately asked if I got her present. I was speechless.”
“So, how did she know about the photos?”
“She didn’t. Apparently, she signed up for a program that sends parents little school-related mementos. In this case, it was supposed to be a sweatshirt with the school name on it. I checked the business, and it is legit. Somehow Cortez’s people waylaid the real gift and substituted the photos. I never questioned my involvement with Cortez again.”
“What about your daughter?”
“She is in school in England. Of course, she will need protection long term as well.”
“Yes, of course. What about now?”
“I don’t think Cortez will harm her as long as he believes I am keeping my mouth shut.”
“What would make him stop believing that?”
“If you were to arrest him.”
“But then how is he going to hurt your daughter?”
“His minions are everywhere. He’ll want to make sure I don’t testify. If he can’t kill me, then I’ll get word that he will hurt Carolyn.”
If you don’t know or haven’t visited Soooz (as she is known to her friends) you are missing a treat of seismic proportions. She is currently running a very successful prompt. She has engaged some of the best writers around and they are producing epic stories. Her site is aptly named the World of Suzanne Burke and her motto is
It’s a writers world, a world that seeks to explore and entertain
A little about Suzanne.
Suzanne Burke resides with her daughter and grandson in a small country town located hundreds of miles to the west of her previous home in Sydney Australia.
Suzanne had long wanted to write, life interrupted and she didn’t begin her journey into the world of writing until she was in her early fifties.
Suzanne has written her memoirs under the author name of Stacey Danson, both her non-fiction books have ranked in the top 100 paid in kindle on Amazon. “Empty Chairs” and “Faint Echoes of Laughter” continue to earn wonderful reviews.
Suzanne writes her powerful Thrillers “Acts Beyond Redemption” and “Acts of Betrayal” and her Paranormal anthology “Mind-Shaft” as S. Burke.
Yes, today I am with Pamela Read. She has graciously offered to help support the launch of Eternal Road-The final stop. Here is the link https://butterflysand.com/?p=7076
You will find another excerpt there.
Also, you will find some fantastic work. Pamela is a writer, artist, and photographer. Let me show you a couple of her pieces.
Art
Vista Mountain
Photography
Also, Pamela writes killer poems and stories.
My favorite piece from her “About Me” section
“Fifty is a number that has no power except that which we give it. I look forward to each and every day because every moment is a treasure to be thoroughly exploited. And I mean that in the nicest possible way. Cheers!”
“Using this photo (below) as inspiration, write a short story, flash fiction, scene, poem; anything, really; even just a caption for the photograph. Either put it (or a link to it) in a comment or email it to me at keithchanning@gmail.com 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.
Go on. You know you want to. Let your creativity and imagination soar. I shall display the entries next Monday.”
