tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129577702024-03-07T08:52:19.461-05:00The Crime Time CafeCrime. Stories. No promises.Stevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06511395415516451829noreply@blogger.comBlogger636125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12957770.post-89961036100124116982018-09-29T08:02:00.000-04:002018-09-29T08:02:09.674-04:00A (Political) PoemSorry to inflict my poetry upon any hapless soul who wanders here, but "inspired" by yesterday, I wrote a poem. I make no claims to quality.<br />
You've been warned:<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Courier Final Draft"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
United States of Beggary<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Courier Final Draft"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This is what we’ve come to in the United States of
Beggary.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Courier Final Draft"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Brown people begging at the borders to see <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier Final Draft"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">their brown children one
more time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Courier Final Draft"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Begging to hold their little brown hands.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Courier Final Draft"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Begging to be allowed to take their little brown selves <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Courier Final Draft"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">back to the misery they were trying to escape<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Courier Final Draft"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And away from the horror they had found <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Courier Final Draft"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the United States of Beggary.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Courier Final Draft"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This is what we’re reduced to in the United States of
Beggary.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Courier Final Draft"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The sick scrounging for healthcare<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Courier Final Draft"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Asking for help in the land of the free <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Courier Final Draft"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Turning to an app called gofundme.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Courier Final Draft"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Begging the country to come to their rescue:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Courier Final Draft"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“It’s UnAmerican to want us to help you -<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Courier Final Draft"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“That’s not what nations are for, son –<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Courier Final Draft"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“What are you? Dumb, son?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Courier Final Draft"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“No reason why accident or illness or emergency<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier Final Draft"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Shouldn’t lead you straight
to bankruptcy –<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Courier Final Draft"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“In the United States of Beggary.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Courier Final Draft"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This is what we’re down to in the United States of
Beggary.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Courier Final Draft"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Women in elevators begging the elevated<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Courier Final Draft"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">To hear them, to see them, to <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Courier Final Draft"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Please, oh please, oh please don’t force metoo”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Courier Final Draft"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Live in a land where the judge is a rapist.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Courier Final Draft"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Just that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Courier Final Draft"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Don’t make me live under the rule of a rapist.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Courier Final Draft"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Please.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Courier Final Draft"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“I beg.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Courier Final Draft"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“A minute of your time, can you spare a dime,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Courier Final Draft"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Could you at least look at me?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Courier Final Draft"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“In the United States of Beggary.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Stevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06511395415516451829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12957770.post-24576376383455608522016-12-13T09:37:00.000-05:002016-12-13T09:37:46.087-05:00Why We Will Invade Iran...<div class="MsoNormal">
Fantasy Scenario #1 – Iran<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Looking at the Cabinet picks and wondering out loud….<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So the president-elect hates Iran and thinks they are trying
to build a nuke. In fact, they were recently trying to build a nuke and possibly
other Weapons of Mass Destruction (I’ll call them WMDs for short). And perhaps,
if sanctions are re-imposed on them they’ll go back to building a nuke. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And the President-elect goes on TV and says “Folks, they’re
building a nuke. We’ve gotta stop them, there’s nothing else we can do… Bigly.”
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And he happens to have a very capable DoD chief in Gen.
Mattis. But he’d need a National Security Adviser who will believe anything he
reads online, someone soft in the head, and it would help if this person
already believes that Iran, being full of Muslims, is therefore full of
terrorists. Mike Flynn you say? Nah, he wouldn’t want a job where… Oh, Okay,
Flynn it is.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now, the president-elect being a businessman would need to
think there was some monetary advantage to invading Iran… for instance, if he
thought that we’d be within our rights to keep their oil. He’d need people in
his cabinet who know oil. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At home, of course, there’d be protests. A cynical person
might think these protests could be best controlled if Muslims – most likely to
protest – were all required to register as such: “Folks, we have to do it.
Bigly.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And maybe Shiite Muslims need to be rounded up for their own
protection. “Folks, you know. Bigly.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And maybe other Muslims, too. “Folks, bigly.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Or maybe a single plane with a single bomb flies over Tehran
and puts a mushroom cloud where it used to be.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Bigly.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course, I’m wrong. I’m an English professor, not a
strategist, not a political type. Fine tune the fantasy. Give me facts. Please
show me why this could never happen. <o:p></o:p></div>
Stevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06511395415516451829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12957770.post-54245897987168130582016-08-19T10:00:00.000-04:002016-08-19T10:00:29.188-04:00WritingSooo much writing. Not to say publishing. That's different.<br />
<br />
Wrote a Precinct Puerto Rico short story. Took a long time. Started it about 3 years ago, then stopped. Backburner. Then picked it up again and took it from about 1,500 words to 6,000 and the end.<br />
<br />
In the same vein, I've been poking along on a Precinct Puerto Rico novel and a Lucy Cruz novel. Has anyone in the world asked to see these? Well, yes and no. On the one hand, publishers would, I'm almost certain, be indifferent. But Jennifer Jordan mentioned (a year or two ago) that Lucy Cruz deserved a second book. I agree.<br />
<br />
And over the years people have asked when the next Precinct Puerto Rico novel would be out. The series did get some starred reviews to go along with lackluster sales, so another book is not out of order... just not likely to be profitable. Ah well.<br />
<br />
Wrote my first comic mystery with real high hopes of making a sale. Can't even tell you the premise because, like Donald Trump, I'm afraid you'll steal my ideas, and then there'll be no reason to elect me president...<br />
<br />
This was another case of starting the story years ago and returning to it. Stuck at about 1,000 words and ending at about 3,000,<br />
<br />
Are there other projects I'm working on? Of course. I don't even know how many open projects I have. Is my writer's block gone? No idea. Hope so.Stevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06511395415516451829noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12957770.post-77483591606193933192016-08-19T00:24:00.002-04:002016-08-19T00:24:34.985-04:00PhiladelphiaWent to Philadelphia a week ago. Had last been there in the 1970s on a day trip with my 4th grade class. I liked it then, and I liked it again.<br />
<br />
The Museum of Fine Arts is spectacular - a world class collection, especially of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings. Nude Descending a Staircase? Amazing. Three Musicians? Awesome.<br />
<br />
The Franklin Institute still has the giant heart you can walk through travelling the circuit your blood takes through that muscle. My 7 y.o. wanted me to go with her. I can say it is made for the 7 and 8 y.o. set, not their parents. There's also a Brain Games type exhibit that my daughter enjoyed. (Not to say I didn't -thought it was quite cool.) And a lot of the interactive stuff that computers make possible.<br />
<br />
We also visited Betsy Ross' house. Very learnifying. Daughter came away thinking she'd actually met Betsy Ross - why else would the young lady reenactor say she was Betsy Ross?<br />
<br />
Down side? Two things. First, plenty of homeless people living on the streets and in the parks. As a New Yawker born and bred, this wasn't a problem, but you'd think Philadelphia would have a plan. Of course, Ben Franklin himself slept on a church pew his first day in Philadelphia and drank water from the river...<br />
<br />
Second, my wife and I have figured out the bus and train systems in NYC, London, Paris, Madrid, Chicago, St. Louis, New Orleans, etc. without a hitch. This time around, we couldn't even find the train, couldn't figure out the buses, and were advised by the front desk people at our hotel to not bother. I wouldn't have thought that from a town that has everything it needs to be a major destination town.<br />
<br />
Overall, 4.1 out of 5 stars...Stevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06511395415516451829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12957770.post-8953550451964250312014-04-06T00:01:00.000-04:002014-04-06T00:01:00.289-04:00The 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly - Angel Zapata's "Chalk Dust" & "Housekeeper"Okay, so first you might be thinking "Who is this Torres fellow telling us what poetry to like and what to dislike?" But I suspect it will take you only a few minutes to realize that a) I'm more than qualified to talk about poetry - I wrote a poem just last year, and b) you shouldn't let your negative attitude keep you from reading two excellent poems.<br />
<br />
Angel Zapata's contributions to "The 5-2" are mini-masterworks. The ending of the first I'm talking about here will move you if poetry can do that sort of thing to you (that is, if you have a soul...). This is <a href="http://poemsoncrime.blogspot.com/2014/01/angel-zapata.html" target="_blank">"Chalk Dust"</a> and it imagines a pair of siblings going to visit the site where their father wound up becoming a homicide statistic. My own father worked in a not-so-pleasant part of the South Bronx back when the South Bronx was notoriously bad and twice had guns put to his head. I imagine for a moment what it would have been like to lose him that horrific way...<br />
<br />
Then <a href="http://poemsoncrime.blogspot.com/2012/11/angel-zapata.html" target="_blank">"Housekeeper."</a> You read these two poems together for best effect. This one also is a father child relationship though in this case, it is a relationship that is revealed to have been a little warped, maybe a little cracked. In any event, see for yourself. I've provided the links, the poems are short, and it's Sunday when this gets posted so really what excuse do you have?<br />
<br />
Angel Zapata has other works available to you for free, just head on over to his <a href="http://arageofangel.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">blog</a>.Stevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06511395415516451829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12957770.post-57334366486901254162014-02-25T00:45:00.002-05:002014-02-25T00:45:16.908-05:0097 Days of WritingAnd I write short stories as well... I've got about ten stories that need finishing. I'm literally half way through writing these stories. Here's a snippet from a story I'm calling "The Care of Widows and Orphans." It's a Luis Gonzalo story if that means anything to you...<br />
<br />
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<i>“It was never me!” she screamed.</i></div>
<i>
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<i>She sat with her back against a half-rotted wooden toolshed,
in a pool of rainwater mud and the blood that streamed from her face, her
scalp. One leg was straight out in front of her, the other twisted back behind
her, her arms almost useless, almost motionless at her sides, her shoulders
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The general premise in the story is that in Puerto Rico there are communal walking paths passing through private properties and the land owners have to maintain these paths. but, as you can imagine, landowners may not be keen to do this and, in fact, may buy properties without realizing these paths exist. In this case, a dispute about one of these paths has gone too far. Way too far.<i> </i></div>
Stevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06511395415516451829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12957770.post-72146283692596725932014-02-23T22:47:00.000-05:002014-02-23T22:47:25.615-05:0098 Days of WritingA bit of poetry today. Not much of a poet. Wrote a good sonnet back in college days. Wrote a funny-ish poem about a year ago. Trying for another one now. Anyway, here's the start of it. It's called "Diagnosis" and has seen no polish:<br />
<br />
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<i>"Except for the vice of poetry, your son checks out just
fine.</i></div>
<i>
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<i>He doesn’t smoke or drink or drug himself beyond the odd
iambic line."</i></div>
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Well, like i said, I'm not one much for writing poetry...<i> </i></div>
Stevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06511395415516451829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12957770.post-31912873278591910962014-02-22T23:44:00.003-05:002014-02-22T23:44:48.993-05:0099 Days of WritingToday's focus was more on removing snow from around the house than on writing, but I did get some writing done. More LUCY CRUZ novel #2. I finished one chapter and started another so that was nice - both a sense of accomplishment and a sense of direction for tomorrow's writing.<br />
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Here's a snippet:<br />
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whatever film or disks I had. I asked for a warrant. He said something like “obstruction
of justice.” I said something like “first amendment.” He said something about
me not wanting to catch Adrian’s killer. I said, “get out!” Then there was a
little pushing – I did that. And there was some spitting – again me. Then I was face
down on the floor with my hands cuffed behind my back.</span></i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Venganza is, as you can guess, a police officer, but not a particularly nice man.</span><i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">This is Lucy's first meeting with him and it didn't go so well. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Have to do some research about being arrested in Puerto Rico. </span><i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></i>Stevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06511395415516451829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12957770.post-58172210383518853322014-02-21T17:39:00.005-05:002014-02-21T17:39:49.293-05:00100 Days of WritingIf I count correctly, there are 100 days between now and my next birthday. So in those 100 days I'd like to finish several writing projects. Here are a few lines from today's writing on the latest LUCY CRUZ novel:<br />
<br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“I sent him photos; someone murdered him.”</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Those things don’t have to be connected,” Marrero
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<i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Adrian thought so.”</span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the story, Lucy, our heroine, has photographed what she thought was a simple dismembered body part. Turns out, it's way more than that. Marrero is a local sheriff who might be able to help her figure out what's going on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This novel is still in it's relatively early stages. About 7000 words into a 70,000 word project. I figure that if I apply myself, I'll be able to finish this story and even add some polish. Maybe even have it ready to be seen by professionals like my agent and an editor or three. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Of course, if you'd like to look at a finished LUCY CRUZ novel, there's one available as a Kindle file for your Kindle machine or app: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004WSQ8IO">LUCY CRUZ AND THE CHUPACABRA KILLINGS.</a></span></div>
Stevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06511395415516451829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12957770.post-87839577999124072042014-02-04T10:39:00.000-05:002014-02-04T10:39:39.248-05:00New Story <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HWHZCDE">The Time Machine of Isaac Newton</a>. You read correctly. Isaac Newton made a time machine. He had to. Someone forced him to...<br />
<br />
The thought came to me a year ago. I was watching some time travel movie - not BACK TO THE FUTURE - and I just wondered what if Isaac Newton had tried to make a time machine. Of course, without a Delorean, he'd be essentially handicapped, but still...<br />
<br />
I thought this could be the start of a much longer book. Instead of "The Da Vinci Code," it would be "The Newton Device". Something like that. And who, in the present day, gets to control this device?<br />
<br />
So I did the research about Newton himself.<br />
<br />
And I figured out why Dan Brown's book does not have scenes with Da Vinci in it. Because that's a bit of a mystery, no? Sure the story about Christ and Mary Magdalene is attractive, but why not toss in some chapters about Da Vinci as well? I'll tell you. Geniuses are attractive. His readers would have been drawn away from the central character - Robert Langdon (unless I just made that up). <br />
<br />
Even as a writer, I found myself enjoying writing the Newton parts more than the rest of the story.<br />
<br />
So I did the only responsible thing. I jettisoned the rest of the story and gave you Isaac Newton creating his time machine. If you're interested in time travel machine stories or Isaac Newton or just a good historical, give it a try.<br />
Stevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06511395415516451829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12957770.post-90064708583360542292013-10-03T09:04:00.000-04:002013-10-03T09:04:11.877-04:00War of Words, A Poem<div style="text-align: center;">
War of Words, A Poem</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
By</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Steven Torres</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
From behind a rampart made of books<br />
<br />
I fired my volley of screaming adjectives.<br />
<br />
Down to my last hooked preposition<br />
<br />
And a knife made of gerunds.<br />
<br />
If the quartermaster did not soon pass by <br />
<br />
To resupply, it would be caesura for me.<br />
<br />
But here he came like a stalking Jove <br />
<br />
Or talking dove or like one true love or whatever.<br />
<br />
“Whadaya need?”<br />
<br />
“Whadaya got?”<br />
<br />
“A passive voice rifle with –ly attachment.”<br />
<br />
“Oh,” I said disappointedingly.<br />
<br />
“Or a metaphor cannon loaded with roaring lions, noonday suns, and hearts of gold.”<br />
<br />
“Stale ammo.”<br />
<br />
“Yeah.”<br />
<br />
Something like a rocket-propelled simile twanged off a brick of Tolstoy.<br />
<br />
“Or an allusion grenade,” he said.<br />
<br />
I took that, pulled the pin and threw it over the heads of so many, <br />
<br />
Past Dickens and Austen, Shakespeare, Chaucer and Beowulf, both Testaments and Aeschylus. <br />
<br />
It landed between Homer and Homer and rolled to the foot of Gilgamesh.<br />
<br />
And exploded to no effect whatsoever.<br />
<br />
“Anything else?” I asked.<br />
<br />
“A slingshot for pebbles of plain speech.”<br />
<br />
I laughed a bitter laugh – war with jokers at your side.<br />
<br />
The metaphor cannon loaded with dull ammunition <br />
<br />
Is all about the rate of fire.<br />
<br />
Keep it up and the enemy runs dazzled from the field.<br />
<br />
Mix it up and they run the bases for the touchdown – <br />
<br />
a rabbit-out-of-the-hat trick.<br />
<br />
Then it was hand to hand – face to face, eye to eye and toe to toe.<br />
<br />
Just me, the gerund blade, and the preposition.<br />
<br />
Stevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06511395415516451829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12957770.post-46346789330378044862013-09-30T12:25:00.000-04:002013-09-30T12:25:00.731-04:00My WritingI've stepped away from the mystery genre for the past 18 months or so. Not entirely. I've started some short stories and two novels that I'll finish next year. Still, most of my energy has been put into more science-fictiony stuff. <br />
<br />
TO THE LAST MAN is nearing completion. A couple of thousand more words to go and then a round of edits that will likely take a month or two. The couple of thousand words will not happen overnight. Probably not even this week. Maybe this weekend. <br />
<br />
In the edits, I have a decision to make that can either require a giant overhaul (think 6 months) or not.<br />
<br />
In the story, I have aliens invading Earth. They're not the happy kind. So, much of the story is about fighting the aliens once it becomes clear they haven't come in peace. Resources are wdindling, people are dying, the world's going to hell. <br />
<br />
So anyway, I made a decision early on in the story writing - the aliens aren't particularly scary or gory. In fact, they're mainly machines. And like machines, they're relentless. That's the tension factor. They don't quit and there are millions of them to swarm you. But wouldn't it be better if each individual in the swarm was scary just by the looks of him/her/it? <br />
<br />
That is, right now, if I told you we were going to be attacked by groundhogs, even millions of them, that would be terrible, but not particularly scary. But if it were millions of flying barricudas with patches of fur and little human faces growing out of their spines, you'd be freaked out, no? I mean, curious, too, but scared. <br />
<br />
As my grandma used to say, "if a groundhog gets in your house, you chase it with a broom; but if a mangy flying barricuda with a human face growing out of its spine gets into your house..."<br />
<br />
So should I rewrite for scariness? Stevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06511395415516451829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12957770.post-86081551437403833622013-09-26T09:30:00.000-04:002013-09-26T09:30:00.016-04:00What I'm Writing Now...Really, there are too many projects calling my attention at the moment. At last count it was somewhere around a dozen open files sitting on the desktop of my laptop waiting to be finished. One project is written but needs editing. I'll talk off that later. For right now, the Alien Invasion novel...<br />
<br />
I'm calling it TO THE LAST MAN. Very close to 90,000 words. Very close to done. In it, aliens invade as they will, and, of course, they're not the jolly type of alien we would all hope for. Instead, they're angry and all murder-y. So my main character feels the need to fight back. Luckily for him, like every other alien invader in book or movie since H.G. Wells, these aliens are capable of being Outplayed, Outwitted, and Outlasted. (Yes, that's the SURVIVOR motto, but it's apt). The question is whether the main character, Joe, can persevere. And how?<br />
<br />
The book has taken a fair amount of research. For instance, I'm no weapons expert, so every gun the humans pick up means a trip to Google for me. And to the local Cabela's. Also, bomb-making, and military formations and the like. Survivalist tactics. And what the world would be like if a large percentage of the population were to be killed off (lots of flies, I suspect). Frankly, I think it is only my charm and roguish good looks that has kept the NSA from carting me off in the middle of the night. That or they're busy.<br />
<br />
Hope to be done with writing in a week, with edits in a couple of months (December 1st?). Then I'm not sure whether I should shop it to publishers or Kindle-ize it? At this point, I'd be happy for advice from any quarter so comment away.Stevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06511395415516451829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12957770.post-12475184105927314622013-09-25T09:30:00.000-04:002013-09-25T09:30:00.398-04:00ReadingOf course there's always reading for classes - student papers or Thoreau, Tolstoy and the like. It is amazing how many new insights you can get into a story you've read several times before. Still, for fun recently, I've been reading Georges Simenon, author of a few hundred short novels and hundreds more short stories. <br />
<br />
Simenon is best known as the author of the "Maigret" novels. Maigret is a Parisian police detective and one of the subtler creations I've read in the mystery field. The novels are short and spare (generally less than 200 pages), but they contain all they need to be effective on a variety of fronts. They present a real mystery and clues, but they also bring interesting character portraits. <br />
<br />
For instance, there is teh waitress in <u>Maigret and the Yellow Dog</u>. With a look, Maigret can tell she is an object to be pitied. And in <u>Maigret and the Saturday Caller</u>, I damn near cried to read of the tribulations the title character's problems. And how it all ends! Well, I won't say anything.<br />
<br />
Of course, as a writer, I want to know Simenon's tricks for making these addictive novels, so I'll be heading to the library this Saturday with the hopes of getting another book or two. <br />
<br />
And if I could learn how Simenon was able to apparently write up to 20,000 words a day, that would be even better.Stevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06511395415516451829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12957770.post-23872753776666475832013-09-24T09:30:00.000-04:002013-09-24T09:30:00.186-04:00WritingI got a chance to think about my writing while I was in Albany this past weekend for Bouchercon. In the past year or two, I've put some energy into preparing some works for Kindle. That's hard for me. I'm not tech savvy, have had to learn how to code the files properly and then edit, make covers as best I could, etc. Then what? No one buys the books unless they stumble upon them by accident. <br />
<br />
So I've given a lot of thought the past year or so to leaving the writing business. It's not that hard to do. I have no contracts that need fulfilling, no legion of fans clamoring for my next novel. Of course, I'd continue writing. It would be the business side of things I'd leave behind. But without the prospect of a possible payday, I'd restrict myself to short stories, maybe the occasional novella. Maybe I'd send them out to magazines, maybe I'd put them up as Kindle files, maybe I wouldn't. I'd be the guy who used to write.<br />
<br />
But that's not what I want for myself. Not usually anyway. I have to admit, sometimes it's tempting. But I don't actually have the Quitter gene in me. Any halfway decent lasagna platter I've come across can testify to that.<br />
<br />
So I took inventory of the things I've been working on the past year or so. A novella, 18,000 words. Completed in May. just trying to find a lull for minor editing and Kindle-izing.<br />
<br />
Two novels: one at about 89,000 words out of a projected 90,000. Obviously too close to completion to scrap, and I actually like it so far. Rereading might ruin that good will. The other is at 63,000 out of a projected 80,000. Also quite close. I'll certainly see those through to the end.<br />
<br />
A half dozen short stories left at the halfway mark including a comedy called "Morty Birnbaum Joins the KKK." A couple of novels (including a Lucy Cruz and a Precinct Puerto Rico) at about 6,000 out of 60,000. I started those only a few weeks ago.<br />
<br />
Another novel is started (five chapters in) where most of the action takes place in an English manor during a (currently illegal) fox hunt. <br />
<br />
And plenty of other projects in various stages of completion.<br />
<br />
Over the next few days and weeks I'll bring more details about these along with things I'm reading.Stevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06511395415516451829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12957770.post-49806721461162812872013-09-23T22:37:00.000-04:002013-09-23T22:37:19.875-04:00Annnnd, I'm back...Bouchercon Albany edition was a great experience - got to catch up with many people I hadn't seen in years since I missed that last two B'cons (I think). I forget some, but here's a short list: <a href="http://www.simonwood.net/">Simon Wood</a>, <a href="http://www.crimespreemag.com/">Jon Jordan</a>, <a href="http://www.russeldmclean.com/">Russel McLean</a>, <a href="http://geraldso.blogspot.com/">Gerald So</a>, and <a href="http://www.bryonquertermous.com/">Bryon Quertermous</a>. Great conversations with <a href="http://www.conlehane.com/">Con Lehane</a> and <a href="http://www.chercover.com/">Sean Chercover</a> as well. Who am I forgetting? I guess if I knew, I wouldn't be forgetting them. <br />
<br />
There were great panels (including the one I was on, many thanks to <a href="http://www.samreaves.com/">Sam Reaves</a>, moderator). BTW, best moderators? <a href="http://www.swordquill.com/">James Lincoln Warren</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Catriona-McPherson/171725286218342">Catriona McPherson</a> need mentioning. Went to more panels than I've ever attended before. A few awkward moments when authors focused too much on repeating their titles. , but that's par for the course, no? Excellent moment when moderator Russel McLean opened a panel to audience questions by reminding the audience that a question "is a sentence with an interogative at the end". This, to forstall speechifying. The audience clapped. <br />
<br />
Was The Egg a great place to hold a conference in? No. It's just about the most awkward building I've ever been in. I swear I left rooms and heard gears churning, moving those rooms and reconfiguring the floorplan. Never knew if I was supposed to head left or right or keep going straight ahead. Felt like leaving breadcrumbs. Of course, there was also no place to actually get bread inside the Egg. Or anywhere near it from what I could tell. Perhaps someone will tell of how they found the secret passage leading to a magic elevator that brought you to a mystical food court... <br />
<br />
On the other hand, <a href="http://www.albanyinstitute.org/">Albany has a nice museum</a> with a great collection of Hudson River School paintings. They also had a "Mystery of the Albany Mummies" exhibit. Couldn't figure out what the mystery was though I suspect the spirits of those two mummies are confused as Hell to be caught wandering in Upstate New York.<br />
<br />
Glad to be back home.Stevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06511395415516451829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12957770.post-36634460209475197532013-06-14T09:00:00.000-04:002013-06-14T09:00:04.826-04:00Testing, Testing...Seven months is enough for a hiatus, I think. I've been writing and even completing some projects. Might as well comment on those things as well as readings and other goings on. But I've got to overhaul the site. Looks dull. Give me a day or three...Stevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06511395415516451829noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12957770.post-36200054384523440662012-11-15T10:25:00.002-05:002012-11-15T10:25:24.089-05:00Why Romney/Ryan Couldn't Interest Me...So this post is pretty much political - hopefully you gathered that from the title...<br />
I'm an Independent voter. And not terribly impressed by the President's first term. And a little afraid of living in a country with as much debt as the rest of the world combined - in fact, if I do my maths right, we've got as much debt as several other similar worlds put together... What happens if our bond ratings get downgraded to let's say a B+? I'm not sure what that would do, but I am sure I don't want to find out. Do we become Greece and throw Molotov cocktails at police? Frankly, my rotator cuff is torn...<br />
<br />
So I was looking at Romney and thinking he made some sense on the money. Then he took Paul Ryan for his VP and I thought that was very smart because Ryan had a detailed plan for the budget - cuts in spending and in revenue that would save the day. I told my wife this was a smart pick (as compared to McCain's absolute fiasco of a pick in '08).<br />
<br />
Then I looked into Ryan's plan and found there was nothing in it. Nothing. Like smoke and mirrors but with no smoke and no mirrors. Unspecified spending cuts, unspecified tax cuts, an increase in defense spending because spending as much as the rest of the world combined is not as good as spending twice as much as the rest of the world. The extra spending would be offset by... Well, nothing, to risk repeating myself.<br />
<br />
The cuts that were being outlined were in Medicare - give old folks cost of living adjustments keyed to the national inflation rate, not the rate of medical inflation. In ten years, their vouchers would be nearing worthlessness. Like getting paid in Confederate money. <br />
<br />
Then I read about Romney's plan. Since he's a businessman, I expected to be bored to tears by the volume of numbers and the minute details that would be thrown at me. Luckily, Governor Romney kept it all at a level any layman could understand - essentially, he'd close loopholes and eliminate deductions. Which loopholes? Not sure. What deductions? Can't say. And this will reduce the deficit? Absolutely. How? Ooo, look at the flowers...<br />
<br />
Now, again, I'm not sure the president's plan is a good one. There are things I like about what's happened in this country in the last four years and things I've disliked. But R & R lost me when they derided the plans of the past four years without presenting any details that could see us through the next four. <br />
<br />
Simple.<br />
Stevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06511395415516451829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12957770.post-68110338773597449482012-09-11T11:56:00.002-04:002012-09-11T11:57:35.790-04:00My 9/11 PostYep. Gotta do it. So I was leaving the house for work at 9 am. I hadn't seen the news. Skies were blue. The morning was crisp. A worker in the butcher shop next door caught up with me as I was passing. Asked if I wanted to see the news. A plane had hit one of the towers. I told him things like that happen. A Cesna can come out of a fog and smack into a building. The towers were built to withstand that. They were. I kept walking.<br />
<br />
The bus ride. In Da Bronx. There was a buzz. Some people had cell phones, but the world wasn't quite as "connected" as it is today, and this wasn't a rich neighborhood. No one was watching video on a smartphone anywhere in the world yet. It was phone calls from workers already in Manhatten, from people at home watching the news. By 9:20, 9:30 it was clear to me, something big had hit one of the towers, people were dead, dying. One plane? Two? Ten? Terrorism? <br />
<br />
The bus kept pulling over. I was going to be late for work. We pulled over a dozen times to let emergency vehicles pass, and it wasn't vehicles by ones and twos, it was a dozen at a time. Every cop car, every ambulance, every fire truck. Every single last one of them. Everyone was hauling towards Manhatten. Everyone. Off duty became On duty for cops, firefighters, EMTs, doctors, nurses, electrical linemen, telephone, television. On vacation? Come back. Out sick? Get better... at your post. <br />
<br />
The bus pulled up short of crossing into Manhatten. Driver stood up and said nothing but emergency vehicles are allowed to drive onto the island. We could walk across the Washington Bridge (not the GEORGE Washington - that's on the Jersey side of Manhatten). I walked. Look south. Billows of smoke reaching for God. Now I know this is not a local interest story. This is big. For a moment I think maybe helicopters can douse this. Maybe they can save people from the rooftops. But I can't see the towers. They're hidden in the smoke. A helicopter wouldn't have a chance. I didn't know it, but the South Tower was already collapsed.<br />
<br />
I get to work. No clear picture of what has happened. I try getting on the internet, but the bandwidth isn't there for videos and text sources aren't updating very quickly. It seems the Air Force might be on the prowl looking for stray planes to down. A few students wander into the Writing Center at Yeshiva College, but they're smiling, dazed, not great sources of reliable information. They wander out again. Tutors show up to say they won't be showing up. It's an orthdox Jewish school. Terrorism has been bread and butter for them. They've all been to Israel, some born and raised there. Some served in the Army there. Some decide to walk to lower Manhatten (about ten or twelve miles each way) to offer assistance - former soldiers, former EMTs, survivors of rocket attacks from Saddam and car bombs, bus bombs, cafe bombs, vest bombs, briefcase bombs and just bomb bombs. My lads. You don't know what they know until you know it. Then you can't unlearn it. <br />
<br />
They get turned away at mid-town. Lower Manhatten is being evacuated. Where a quarter million people lived is a crime scene now. Police tape and police officers and nobody wants to have to shoot you so turn around. The tutors return in the afternoon.<br />
<br />
My supervisor shows up in the early afternoon. Surprised to see me tutoring a student. She's from Oklahoma. Tells me to go home. "You'll never get home if you don't start early," she says. I tell her this is New York and New York doesn't close for anything. When the student is gone (I tutored only two that day) she tells me what she's been watching on the news. There are an unknown number of planes in the air. Who knows where they're going. The Air Force is ready. Osama bin Ladin. I knew they should have put his head on a stick after the USS Cole.<br />
<br />
I leave work at a bit before 4pm. One hour to get home turns into about one and a half. Not too bad. Finally I sit to watch the news. Only one channel available - most antennas were on the Towers. I don't have cable. Don't know if that would have made a difference. I watch #7 go down. Then the night turns sad. Scenes of St. Vincent's Hospital, with doctor's and nurses waiting for survivors. And waiting. Hoping for something to do, someone to save. Nothing. <br />
<br />
My wife was in Puerto Rico. We talk for a long while when there's service. She had seen it all on TV. Glad I was safe. Worried about the future. <br />
<br />
I watch news until midnight. The next day I'm supposed to be at Stern College on 36th street, but Mayor Guiliani has everything closed from 42nd down, so I'll be free. <br />
<br />
The next morning I go out to my backyard and look at the sky. A little eerie to notice the lack of planes. <br />
<br />
Looking up, I think, if Bin Ladin wanted to scare a city, he picked the wrong one. If there's any city in the world that would shake off a right cross to the jaw like that, it's NYC. <br />
<br />
I heard Osama danced a jig when he heard his plans had worked. Must have been gobsmacked to find America and the City still standing, the miserable plans of a miserable little man way too little to see that these people, this terrible hugger-mugger of people that is New York, that is America, couldn't be undone by him. Even were his fists of steel, we would have been adamant, we would have been cool diamond, we would have been uncrushable to him, and stood up to him and breathed only cold indifference to his tiny nothingness.Stevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06511395415516451829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12957770.post-80291622432936446822012-07-24T08:30:00.000-04:002012-07-24T08:30:00.195-04:00Free StoriesSo if you're one of the very few Kindle opperators who hasn't managed to get my <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004RZ2W32">KILLING WAYS 2</a> collection for free, this day provides you with another opportunity. Cllick the title to be herded that way. To say something about the stories (not much, mind you): Hardboiled, Noirish and one of them (the Derringer Award winner) may be
the only 2nd person narrator story you'll read this year...<br />
<br />
<br />
My two Stoop stories are included as well as the story I wrote for BRONX NOIR.Stevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06511395415516451829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12957770.post-34774432750623889322012-07-19T16:55:00.000-04:002012-07-19T16:55:30.484-04:00About Baseball (short)Old man gripe time; Can't a pitcher who is in seventh or eigth inning of a shutout be allowed to finished the game, ever? There used to be a pitch count of about 120 that they were limited to. Then it became 100. But there are guys getting pulled after 85 pitches and it seems like it is justified by the need to give relief pitchers save opportunities or just the need to give Relievers some work even in non-save situations. And if the guy on the mound is tossing a shutout, who in the bullpen is going to be any better than that?<br />
<br />
There's a lot of blown saves in a season. I'm thinking half of those games could have been just as badly lost by the starter...Stevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06511395415516451829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12957770.post-5552352845223697092012-07-15T10:30:00.000-04:002012-07-15T10:30:00.842-04:00The Latest Story Collection<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008HZC8TQ">THE BOX AND OTHER ODD STORIES</a> is my latest collection. 13 stories and about 60,000 words. That'll keep you busy an afternoon or two. Here are the descriptions I posted at Amazon followed by a little commentary:<br />
<br />
<em>In Perfecta, the citizens have been genetically modified to help them become
their best selves, but that doesn't mean there can't be a little
murder.<br /><br />Murder at DynaCorp has a lot of heart - it's just been taken out
of someone's chest without an incision.<br /><br />A Million Little Problems infest
a young researcher and kill her in this nano-tech mystery.<br /><br />The Way Mike
Saw It is simple enough. One of his fellow professors must be a
murderer.<br /><br />A Student of World History learns the hard way that good grades
must be earned.<br /><br />What happens when The Dean turns into a million roaches
before calling the meeting to order?<br /><br />In Well Worn, the twisted but true
story of Cinderella and her prince finally comes to light.<br /><br />The Price of
being Billy's friend is quite high, and can only be paid in blood, but
whose?<br /><br />Desert People is about a photographer on assignment in an arid
land and the people he winds up buying. <br /><br />Taking Van Der Flieder's Star is
an old-fashioned tale of greed, meteorites, and catching the last
ferry.<br /><br />The Coupon of Death was scribbled onto the back of a restaurant
coaster by a half-drunk hitman. How could that go wrong?<br /><br />In Death Notice,
an old man wonders why everyone thinks he's dead when all he's done is fall in
love.<br /><br />The Box - a young man explores the upside of live burial.</em><br />
<br />
Now the commentary: the 1st three stories are a little on the sci-fi side of homicide detective. Some flashes of noir with a bit of a hard-boiled edge. The 2nd three stories are all college set - I've been a professor nearly twenty years. None of the things in the story ever happened to me. <br />
<br />
"Well Worn" is a retelling of Cinderella. Probably closer to the gory Grimm tale than Disney's mutilation.<br />
<br />
"The Price" was inspired by sitting in a parking lot once when armed guards came to pick up the day's reciepts from a large retailer. They just seemed so lazy and incautious...<br />
<br />
"Taking Van der Flieder's Star" came to me in an instant as I listened to a fascinating lecture about Samuel de Champlain being stranded on an island with his crew for a winter as they slowly went mad and stared dying of scurvy.<br />
<br />
"The Coupon of Death" is a Ray Cruz story. If you don't know Ray Cruz, you've somehow missed <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004MPRMEG">KILLING WAYS</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004RZ2W32">KILLING WAYS 2</a> the many times they've been offereed as free Kindle files. In any event, Ray kills and maims people for money. Usually. Sometimes the violence is a product of his very productively managed anger. <br />
<br />
The last two stories are PRECINCT PUERTO RICO stories. If you don't know what those are, I would turn your attention to a collection of ten other stories in the series: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006SQFHPS">THE PRECINCT PUERTO RICO FILES</a>. Kind of like Mayberry, but with some blood... "The Box" was an attempt at humor.Stevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06511395415516451829noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12957770.post-37581545786039740662012-07-14T21:48:00.000-04:002012-07-14T21:48:54.493-04:00Another day...Another collection of short stories: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008HZC8TQ">THE BOX AND OTHER ODD STORIES</a>. 13 stories, 60,000 words. More than you can shake a stick at? No. No, I've seen people shake sticks at bigger short story collections. But will this collection make you chuckle and/or chortle? Absolutely. Will it make you shed a tear? Mmmm. Good question. Frankly, I don't think so, but everyone's different. <br />
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Description to follow, but you can easily spend a dollar and find out all about those stories for yourself. It's available for your Kindle or the Kindle app on your phone or computer.Stevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06511395415516451829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12957770.post-89139080696873435912012-05-15T10:35:00.003-04:002012-05-15T10:35:38.546-04:00Free Kindle Novel TodayFor free, today only (or at least, not tomorrow...) <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004WSQ8IO">LUCY CRUZ AND THE CHUPACABRA KILLINGS</a>. Download to your Kindle or for your Kindle app. Enjoy it. Then write rave reviews at Amazon.Stevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06511395415516451829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12957770.post-8955794154834426592012-05-14T06:52:00.002-04:002012-05-14T06:52:46.309-04:00Free Kindle Collection Today, etc.I've made my first Kindle collection, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004MPRMEG">KILLING WAYS</a>, free today for your Kindle or Kindle app. Ten stories, lots of different ways of killing.<br />
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I'm preparing yet another Kindle collection as well as a novella, and I'm hoping they both come out later this month. Of course, I'm in the middle of grading a small mountain of student essays as well, so, in case you're wondering, yes, I do keep busy.Stevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06511395415516451829noreply@blogger.com0