O-Dark-Thirty

I don't have a title for this short, short story. If you have any ideas, just leave me a comment. 0~0 Heal her and give me the pain. That was the deal I made with the angel in the hospital. Relative quiet finally arrived and there were no sounds I didn't recognize. The annoying machine that monitored my wife's health kept beeping when her blood pressure dropped too low. I was tempted to unplug the thing, but that would probably break another rule. I'm not averse to breaking a few rules, but the noise didn't bother her; she slept right through it. Finally I corralled a kindly nurse who did something to the setting and the machine quit squawking. Maybe she was tired of it, too. Now I sat in the semi-dark room with only that fluorescent light behind her bed shining toward the ceiling. Indirect lighting seems so much softer after all the spotlights in the ceiling are turned off. The nurses let me stay in the room and sleep on the pseudo-leather chair...

I saw it on Google, on Twitter, on the news… but the beauty simply made me want to post it on my blog also. Marvel Comics. Essentially FREE for a month (just skip a cup of coffee). Even WIRED reported it as " You Can Now Pay 99 Cents to Read 15,000 Marvel Comics Online " and so I share it with you. Sure, you only get access for a month, but what a month! Put Netflix movies on hold. Set those novels aside. Crank up your computer or tablet and read thousands of Marvel comics by spending less than a dollar (the same amount you need to get off that crazy Candy Crush level - c'mon, you know you do it once in a while). My eldest son is a comic EXPERT - really - and is slowly becoming a human comic collage as his finances and his tattoo artist can get around to it. Too bad he is not able to enjoy this deal right now. I think he'd love it. I'm going to go read comics now - and remember what fun I had spending a dime on them the first time around. ...

I published another short story on Smashwords and Amazon today. Called Seductive Murder: A Short Story , it is ten years - to the day - since I wrote the first draft.  I was going to publish it under a pseudonym ... It isn't my normal genre, though it is the possible beginning of a novel - I have the rudimentary plot in my head for it (and have had that plot for ten years, obviously) but I don't know if it is substantial enough to expound upon. Here's the pitch: A business trip cut short in an intimate moment. Heart attack? Well, yes, but...   This is a short story, intended for mature audiences. Others need not apply. Go grab a copy and review it. Let me know what you think.

Years ago the poem Jabberwocky by that nutty Lewis Carroll grabbed my attention and held it long enough for me to write a sequel, where the boy who slew the Jabberwock managed to defeat the Jubjub bird. I posted that Jubjub bird addition to my blog in June of 2011, where it received scant (or no) attention. As the years pass me by I now think it time to finish my personal salutation to the impeccably bizarre Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (who also suffered from migraines). I actually put some thought into the new parts, so the Jubjub bird stanzas differ from my draft version. The Bandersnatch portion is entirely new. Unlike my previous attempt, I strove to maintain the same syllabic count used in the original Jabberwocky. That took some doing. I actually had to use a spreadsheet to see the stanzas side by side. (Yes, for you Word people, I could have used columns, but then I'd not have room for syllabic count also!) Yeah, I love spreadsheets I shall endeavor to ...

I published my next book yesterday! Already it sold two copies! Here's the description: Ever want to be an author? Turn your Word document into a booklet without any added expense. Take your Word document and turn it into a professional-looking booklet. This book covers all you need to know. How to set your document up. How to review it. How to manage pictures in your document so they appear properly in your booklet. How to turn your booklet into a PDF file. How to add those final touches to make your new booklet get the attention it deserves. This is an easy step by step guide to teach anyone to make their own booklet. If you ever wanted to publish your own work, this is a great way to start. You can find it on Amazon and Smashwords .

I am not a Congressman. Sometimes I wish I were, but I think something happens to the good men and women who are sent to Washington DC by the people of this great country. I am afraid something changes them and they forget where they came from and what they were hired to do. We usually say "elected," don't we? But think about that for a minute. We, the people of the United States of America, essentially hold job interviews and hire our Congressmen/women. We pay them a salary and expect them to do the job we hired them for. Now I don't know about you, but if I were a boss and had an employee that didn't do what they were supposed to - well, I'd find a different employee. Imagine this for a second. You're now part of the body of Congress and you have the chance to speak to your fellow delegates (your fellow employees of the USA citizens). Wouldn't you say something like this? I would. There is not a person here who does not want a better, ...