Cool Promo Stuff
I continue to be amazed at the high quality, highly creative people that my publisher, Inklings Publishing, is calling in to work on my book. Today’s shout-out goes to the graphic artist who did all of the promo material. Karina Winbigler is a wizard at this stuff. Check her out on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karinawinbigler/ She’s…Read More
Hey! I wrote a book.
Maybe highly experienced/published writers don’t get quite the same thrill as I’m experiencing right now. Pre-orders for my book just went live on Amazon, Square, and via the publisher, Inklings Publishing. Here’s the link to the Inklings market page: https://www.inklingspublishing.com/?fbclid=IwAR1Te_xsQ3V6yYlCWVeYrN3j3hUXJbPpjWcG_Mj9JYkC-JcJWWgGM19a2Ug If you want a hard copy, and I know that you do, best bet is…Read More
Writing help
Sometimes help comes from an unexpected quarter. It’s an old adage that in order to be a better writer, you must read voraciously. I do. Not quite at the level of Maria Popova (https://www.brainpickings.org). But I read a lot. In my entire life, I’ve only re-read a few books: Dune, some W.E.B Griffin stuff, Ready…Read More
Hey! I’m on a podcast.
A while back, Angie Drymala of Creatrix Chats interviewed me for her podcast. It was not what I expected. I was anticipating some of the standard author questions (and got a few of those) but our conversation ended up being fairly wide ranging over the hour we talked. Here’s the link to the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50554875?fbclid=IwAR2RcttxPujvjvziKhOKcIZTOMsq-rBXfho0uKvpEyv9vpspfjFnc7L1UTw…Read More
What’s up with Black Grass?
One of the fictions in Spark is black grass. Current trends in solar use only a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum to provide energy. Solar panels (rooftop, satellite, etc.#) use primarily the visible spectrum – red to violet. Solar thermal facilities, like Solar Two, use mostly the infrared part. Both have advantages and both leave…Read More
Virtual Reality vs. Augmented Reality
Spark takes advantage of a technology referred to as Augmented Reality (AR). It’s similar, but different in important ways from Virtual Reality (VR). In VR, once you put on your headset, all of the real world is replaced in your vision by the fictional creation of the software. Orcs and dragons, damsels in distress, and…Read More
T minus 30 days and counting
Talked with the publisher – Fern Brady at Inklings Publishing (https://www.inklingspublishing.com) last week. The book is on track and should be published next month. Pretty excited about the whole thing. We had a long discussion with the editor, Steph Mathieson (https://www.wordgrower.net/) about the title. Solar Prime is a vast solar power facility situated in California’s…Read More
Entering a New Phase
Yesterday afternoon I gathered with fifty or so friends. We stood in an empty T-hangar at the airport. Unfortunately, the hangar faced west, so we were mostly in direct sun and heat. Many wore masks. Everyone sweated. Why bother doing something this uncomfortable? CV-19 has changed a lot of things. This was one. Three months…Read More
Hot Lava and Quicksand
Saw something online about things that worried you as a kid but turned out to be worth very little anxiety as an adult. Hot lava It was never simply “lava.” It specifically had to be hot lava. Never molten magma, liquified rock, vaporized stone, or the like. Similarly scalding, very warm, lukewarm and tepid were…Read More
Isolation Socks
No. That’s not a typo. A while back, my daughter gave me these socks. In the past couple of years, I’ve grown fond of wilder, more expressive socks. I’m also a Trekkie. Spock socks. What’s not to love? At first, I only wore these on weekends. The ears, you know. They stick out and when…Read More