Like the title reads, ageist not going to trial. Like I say, “We all got a price.”
Two-Meat Tuesday – Kramer Wetzel
Two-Meat Tuesday: Astrofish.Net/Xenon
San Pedro Creek (temporarily free e-book)
#tuesday
By the end of the second book, in no certain order, I realized that there was going to be a high body count, and at least one body that wasn’t completely dead. Part of what made that first one I read so much fun, was its setting in West Texas, and after that? Started to pick up a thread.
Are they good books, deserving of “best seller” status? I’ve enjoyed them immensely, as literary candy. Action-packed, modern takes on the old hard-boiled thrillers of yesteryears.
Certain Prey buy here
Mind Prey buy here
Night Prey buy here
Easy Prey buy here
Or some semblance of order?
Chosen Prey buy here
Mortal Prey buy here
Maybe not in any order.
Hidden Prey buy here
Invisible Prey buy here
Broken Prey buy here
Phantom Prey buy here
Wicked Prey buy here
Storm Prey buy here
Buried Prey buy here
Stolen Prey buy here
Silken Prey buy here
I hadn’t even started this series, but a minor character drives a Crown Vicas a personal car, a cop character.
Field of Prey buy here
Gathering Prey buy here
This? The list? This is why I support public libraries.
But first, some Virgil Flowers?
Dark of the Moon buy here
Heat Lightning buy here
Rough Country buy here
Bad Blood buy here
Shock Wave buy here
Mad River buy here
Somewhere in here, there was a long discussion between characters about the best Country singer with a repeated arguments for Ray Wylie Hubbard. Certainly, as of this writing, Ray Wylie Hubbard is the greatest living “country” singer/songwriter.
“We have a saying at the BCA, nothing’s ever coincidence, until it is.”
But early in the Prey series, the main character Davenport complies a list of 100 of the best rock’n’roll songs of all time. Musical background. In the one book, the song list is more important than solving the murders.
Still, Ray Wylie Hubbard might just be the greatest living country singer/songwriter there is. Read it in a Sandford book, too. I might not be the only one with such an opinion.
Storm Front buy here
Deadline buy here
Back to quirky Davenport…
Extreme Prey buy here
Flowers, hot on the heels…
Escape Clause buy here
Deep Freeze buy here
Then Davenport.
Twisted Prey buy here
That (something) Flowers.
Holy Ghost buy here
Davenport. In Las Vegas.
Neon Prey buy here
Flowers. Remind me not to go to Minnesota. Sounds like they shoot more people than they do in Texas. But the character Flowers does know his music, Jimmie Dale tip.
Bloody Genius buy here
Yeah, after, looks like I finished the first one in October? Close to forty novels in a few short months? Love the descriptions of the countryside, but they all sound like outlaws, except for the protagonists — good cops, bad outlaws? High body count?
So far, I thoroughly enjoyed the series, start at the beginning, and all the digital libraries should have the whole set, worthwhile, especially in “shelter in place” mode. Fast pace with a good soundtrack.
Excellent soundtrack, interesting as the character develop, over time, like, not one book was good, but as a whole, rather enjoyable with just enough serious meat, and musical interludes, to make it insightful and entertaining.
In line for the next one, hasn’t dropped yet.
In these uncertain times, you don’t have to sell your soul, but it was so nice to encounter a deal like this.
To suggest I’m a bit of a luggage whore, yeah, spent enough time on the road, I am not on the road much these days, and not much of baggage whore, not anymore, as I have a suitcase and a shoulder bag, all I need.
Not even in use, at the moment.
However, I do have an ever-changing demand for various plugs, dongles, wires, cables, charging blocks, the odds and ends of digital demands. I’ve been looking at smaller and smaller pouches for just the items that I want or need, on a daily basis, in a daily carry.
Honestly? Need is too strong of a word, more like preference. Couple of cables, a phone charge, a tablet charger, lip balm, pen, pencil, paper notes. Pretty simple. Some business cards, but seriously, not too many of those.
Think it was off a social media feed, but the luggage itself looked inspired so I clicked through, and that’s how I happened upon Fierce Hazel. It’s a few products, not too may, and I don’t really need anything, but the least expensive little baggie looked like it might just be perfect, so, late at night, I clicked on “buy.”
Simple process, straight through to PayPal and back again, with promise to ship in timely manner despite exigent circumstances. There was a note — someplace on their website — about “all work is performed done in a humane manner, not a sweatshop, and everyone is paid a living wage” — and I might be extemporizing.
The cheery automated online replies all felt fuzzy and warm, while not as unctuous as Amazon, there is boilerplate format, I suspect. I picked the package up at the mail box the other afternoon.
The package was like a flat, brown paper bag-like material, conveniently labeled, and when I got home, there was a final notice that the package had been delivered. Points.
Inside, was more like an “unboxing” event, as the little wallet seemed wrapped and enclosed, plus it was lightly stuffed, so it filled out a little, and then there was the usual packaging, a receipt, a short letter explaining process and production plus a return policy, and then, on a separate piece of personalized cardboard, a handwritten thank-you note.
The only other business I know of, comes to my mind, is Dave Piper and Piper Sandals, with personalized note each time I get them resoled, “Walk well!” The note sort of sealed the deal, the sandals, they speak for themselves, but the Fierce Hazel products, with that note, it was the cheapest thing they had, and I’ll admit, I’m very impressed. The packaging, the carefully thought-out material, and the way it all worked together. Before I even stuffed anything into the pocket itself, I was sold, and I would recommend them. It’s that personal touch.
The pocket itself? It’s really a pretty simple pocket, nothing too fancy, not waterproof, or even zombie-resistant — but the size looked about right, and it had a pen pocket. It’s a little more than a checkbook wallet with zippers and an external pocket, plus a not-so-secret stash slot.
Mine is already filled up and stuffed into my EDC bag, and while I was filling the new pouch from Fierce Hazel, I happened across a little piece of technology I’d lost, just an adaptor thing, but there it was.
So that’s two gains, and when I make a little money, if I ever get back to doing live consultations, I would certainly consider more of their products. Maybe not, as I don’t want more of anything, I prefer less stuff, but at least this is a company that is doing business correctly.
The bag I ordered came in a bag, along with a note and documentation, plus a recyclable shipping thing, more than a plain envelope, less than a box. The card, the handwritten note, the tissue paper stuffing, I was guessing that the packaging, shipping, and state sales tax ate up half the profit.
I’m thinking, these are fiercely nice people. Person. Not sure, still good. Man, I want to be like that.
Tell them bubba sent you.
#FierceHazel
Looks like I’ve been averaging about 200 words per sign, per week, for well over 20 years now. 2400 words x 52 weeks x 21 years?
That’s the equivalent of a half-dozen of those Russian novels, the big, thick ones. Or maybe two Neal Stephenson books.
Pink Cake: The Quote Collection – Kramer Wetzel
Pink Cake
Pink Cake: A Commonplace Book
#HashTagsSuck
Limpid, languid language that smoothly and slowly flows forward, pausing to puddle and pool in little eddies. It’s delightful, resonant text, and I realized about a third of the way into it, this was another MFA-esque novel.
There’s a difference between the thoroughly upscale, poetically rendered prose that comes out of the academic circles, and while most of the setting in the novel is the student ghetto, where I lived in squalor for years, it’s just not the same.
In the recent past, I’ve recalled this now, I’ve bought books, usually cheap digital, from a list or two that suggests the books are the latest and greatest. One set of reviews that I enjoy is one LA Review of Books, but the books themselves have been near-misses for me. Good but not great. A couple of those books, I never finished reading; just wasn’t motivated; the story didn’t engage me as much as the review did.
Another source is a weekly email list, and finally, there’s always the trusty New Yorker Magazine. I’ve gotten to where I have to look the books up in the digital libraries, first, see if it is really as good as the review suggests. Again, I’ve fallen prey to the “This is the next greatest novel, ever…” only to arrive at my own, rather different conclusion.
I had to wait for most near three weeks to get a library reading copy of Writers & Lovers, and I forgot which review source suggested it. The first paragraph hooked me until I got a further into but by then? I was too invested to back out.
So the author — I cheated and looked this up online — doesn’t have an MFA, but she does hold an MA in creative writing, and she did, according to the press material, work for a years as the English Teacher, so there’s some street cred there (literary street credit, I suppose).
It is a chronicle of the post-boomer, pre-hipster people, or, as I like to think, “My people.”
Before the fin de siecle really set in, I ran into a former colleague from school days. She was wondering why I hadn’t written and published a novel yet. My collegiate peers found my material novelistic in a writerly way.
I have completed two, now three, novel length manuscripts, but as anyone who participates in the annual November dash, that exercise, in and of itself, doesn’t matter, as novel-length documents are relatively easy, after some practice.
“The hardest thing about writing is getting in every day, breaking through the membrane. The second-hardest thing is getting out.” Page 66.
That much is true. Not just verisimilitude but hard fact.
To my ear, it still sounded like one of the almost overly-polished novels, a slice of American life, just sailed out. Set at the peripheries of the academic worlds, set moments before the pandemic panic, the novel seems both breathless and hopeful, at once reality slightly skewed with a small dose of romanticism as it weaves and warps its way through the protagonist’s psyche.
The title suggests it all, and the conclusion, a little too hopeful this morning, seemed a “bit too much.” That being noted, the story-telling and the layers, the level of wordplay, and the pacing of the almost lyrical prose helps hold it together.
Writing about writing, though, can be dangerous ground. In this one? It was well-handled, carried, in part, by the perfect poetical prose. A master at the top of the literary class.
“And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.” 1:16
Yeah, not to get all biblical and stuff.
Pink Cake: The Quote Collection – Kramer Wetzel
Pink Cake: A Commonplace Book
#HashTagsSuck
Got my second final draft uploaded again, and should have another book in hand, before too long. Too bad this is a narrow interest, it’s about predictive astrology, and while I’ve worked on the text feverishly for years, I would like it more perfect than it is. This is merely another draft, I hope. Closer, but not done yet.
I kept hitting “MS Word English” although I live in a Microsoft-free environment, an all Apple eco-system. The computer would suggest corrections for grammatical items that looked right, sounded right, and parsed out passed one Virgo as “just fine.”
But it brings up that larger issue with “Microsoft English,” or more accurately, “MS Word Style,” and that style infected my earlier works, for sure. When I was working for, selling my works to AOL’s Astronet, I submitted in text, body of the email, and MS Word file. With that in mind, the MS Word dictated that each sign’s plural be spelled with an apostrophe. “Sagittarius’s,” or more current, “Taurus’s.” Which is incorrect to my picky eye, but grammar goddess are overruled by stylistic demands. Language changes and mutates, over time, but gratefully, I’ve gotten away from the incorrect use, as I’m the only one in charge here. Now.
“MS Word” English is gradually being replaced by “auto-correct English,” but it’s the selfsame culprit, you know.
I lament and rail against the algorithm-driven stylistic choices that break long-standing rules of grammatical usage, but I fear I am but a single voice, drowned out in a vast ocean of many. The machines are winning?
Which is back to the current style, and minor adjustments, trying to catch all the typographical mistakes, it’s not my typing that is suspect, but the keyboard, or the software. Perish the thought that I would mistype anything.
There are rules of grammar and I find that the machines are less than accurate, the salient point being the various proper ways to use the names of the signs, as indicated above, but that also infuses style. Word choice, meter, usage, metrics, all of that is influenced by the rhythm of the machines, now, more so than ever before.
I wrestled, in a few examples, in the text itself, with clearly correctly spelled words that the software’s grammar guide didn’t like. Not having a human on the other end makes this worse, as there’s no one to argue a point about whether it should be a preposition, or adverb, and with my burgeoning collection of grammar books, I could probably find two sources that would support whatever point I was trying to make. That’s the beauty of language.
What I suspect happens if that the manuscript winds up publisher’s ‘in box,’ and from there the manuscript gets run through an MS Word perusal, looking for those red lines.
My online journal, and my earlier efforts were done in MS Word. Think I skipped most of the rudimentary grammar guides then, gifted, as I was, with live editors.
Times change.
I’ll have another draft copy of the book, in hand, maybe in a week or two.
Two-Meat Tuesday – Kramer Wetzel
Two-Meat Tuesday: Astrofish.Net/Xenon
#tuesday