Blog

April 9, 2015

Time Flies (DOG EAR)

ontinuing from our last entry, I was stuck with a plot quandary – how could I trick a whole ballroom of noblemen who’d come to see the execution of the illustrious Baronet Mergenstein Hippen Von Graftin into flouncing away the time-limitation of their trumped up charges, voiding the execution which was to descend on his very neck a minute before midnight? How could the svelte leather-clad thief Tubitz alter the ballroom clock’s speed in the grand ballroom, decreasing its time so that the swells would blow their chance to axe him? As I mentioned, I thought about this for days. […]
April 12, 2015

The Thin Man (Review)

‘ve read Hammett before, specifically his Maltese Falcon, which is a cracking good film because it stuck straight to the text. It was one of the best tough-guy novels I’d ever read. This this time around, Hammett is playing to the depression-era readers, giving them a hero they can dream themselves into. Nick Charles has it all. He’s managed to marry young and rich, so he can traipse around New York with pockets full of cash, offering quips while drinking (seemingly) nonstop and staying out all hours. But before all this, he was a detective and now he’s being pulled […]
April 12, 2015

ShowLog – Deland – 4/11/2015

ot much to say on this one – I rolled everything out [sic] for loading, we had a good team at the show, everything went together… until it was time for the skirts. Which I’d forgotten. So we’re standing there, miles from the club, wondering what to do. The layout looks pretty good – we’re not the only one without skirting. Should someone drive 100 miles round trip to get the box I’d neglected (I’d ridden over, so I couldn’t volunteer for that job). Fetch them? Skip them? It was Bill Sterner who solves the problem (and made me laugh) […]
April 16, 2015

Tick Tock (DOG EAR)

ontinuing from our last entry, I was stuck with a plot quandary – how could I trick a whole ballroom of noblemen who’d come to see the execution of the illustrious Baronet Mergenstein Hippen Von Graftin into flouncing away the time-limitation of their trumped up charges, voiding the execution which was to descend on his very neck a minute before midnight? How could the svelte leather-clad thief Tubitz alter the ballroom clock’s speed in the grand ballroom, decreasing its time so that the swells would blow their chance to axe him? As I mentioned, I thought about this for days. […]
April 17, 2015

Corporate 5K – 2015

ell, it was an event, all full of dramatic pursuits, missing diamond rings and mood-setting rainstorms. So I was on setup this year and helped the boss load and transport over. Gray day and getting grayer. Set up went okay but there was some confusion with the wife driving about downtown and me jogging up and down streets trying to catch her (saw her go by twice). It was like some bloody Buster Keaton bit. Sheesh. Anyway, everything set up as planned. Hung out and had a granola bar. Chatted with people. My brother and niece showed up – always […]
April 19, 2015

Tubitz and Mergenstein (Review)

heap shot here; I’m reviewing a book that I wrote, and that wasn’t ever published. So yes, this one will be tough to find. I think I have the only copy in existence. But maybe I can change all that. I’m preparing to rewrite this thing, to aim it at the adult/YA steampunk market. It’s a jolly little romp that has always warmed my heart. I think, reworked, it could have a chance of publication (of course, when is that ever not true? Why would I write them anyway?) Anyway, Tubitz and Mergenstein involve the pairing of a mismatched couple, […]
April 19, 2015

Looking Backwards (Review)

ully titled Looking Backwards: 2000-1887, this utopian science fiction novel was a landslide blockbuster hit (only third behind Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Ben Hur). Published in 1888, it broke all sorts of records for sales. Hundreds of clubs formed to discuss the novel and its ideals, and its proposal for a better world. In a word. SOCIALISM! Yes, poor Julian West, suffering insomnia, has himself put to sleep by quackish means in a crypt-like basement, only to find out (through later evidence) that his house burned down, his servant died, and nobody was there to wake him. Locked in suspended […]
April 22, 2015

OpsLog – LM&O – 4/22/2015

o big night for ops at the club. Rolled down the street and the lot was packed – always a good sign. Didn’t have to beg any jobs – all the locals, all the freights, and almost all the passengers ran. I ended up on the panel – that’s okay, I know how to deal with that. The railroad was just getting started and I was making my usual moves. Run 202 to Zanesville and duck him into a siding, with another warrant to carry him to Martin Yard once the Silver Bullet passed. My other move is to get […]
April 23, 2015

To YA or not YA (DOG EAR)

here is a strong Young Adult (YA) market out there. Let’s be honest. You can look back through the literary greats of our times; Shakespeare, Hemmingway, Steinbeck, hundreds of fantastic authors. And which author is so popular that an amusement park (a gigantic complex) is built to honor her creations? Yes, Harry Potter’s Rowling. Never ever ever has an author been granted a construction that dwarfs those of the Pharaohs of Egypt. And this is all for a book I found unremarkable (compared to Watership Down and The Once and Future King, or even the Rings Trilogy). I mean, really, […]
April 26, 2015

On high (4/25/2015)

ugged our scope and tripod all the way up to Beech Mountain for our vacation. First day here, we were scouting possible locations. The Grandfather Park location someone mentioned was impossible to find – I have no idea what they were referencing. Closer to home, we found two possible – the big dead mansion on the curves coming over the hill and Buckeye Lake Park. I checked with the park folks and they said, sure, come in after dark. No problems with that. That evening, the clouds swept away (thunder to the north) so we gave it a look. The […]