A Twelfth of Carrabis (Jan 2025 Newsletter)


It is January and soon I will celebrate another turn around the sun, and a teeny, tiny bit of a turn around the galactic core, so slight a movement in comparison mathematicians wouldn’t even consider it a differential. Should you live free of light pollution, take a gaze skyward any night that’s full of stars. The hazy object running through the celestial equator is our galaxy, the Milky Way, what some cultures call The Great River (want a thrill? Ask Dharghie if she’ll let DingoMan take you for a ride in his canoe), others The Blue Path, and still others The Ancestors’ Fire.

Look along that haze until you see a slight bulge, a quiet brightness in the direction of Sagittarius. That is the Milky Way’s center, our galactic center, and what astronomers call its barycenter, the “point” around which our galaxy rotates.

It is also where we – us, all other life on our planet, our neighbor planets, our sun, all other galactic suns and their planets, nebulae, and all else – come from. It is our birthplace years ago beyond counting, and I long to return home.

PS) You can read more about different cultures’ celestial stories in The Shaman.

I mentioned last month these newsletters’ new formatting is thanks to Sister Rika Chandra, who also wrote a wonderful author biography for me. Do reach out to her for help with such matters.

I’m still thinking of redoing my website and could use any suggestions you might have.

January 2025 Announcements

RoundTable 360° – Our 30 Jan 2025 RoundTable 360° session is Practice – The Art of Evolving.

Creatives develop themselves as they develop their craft in a symbiotic relationship; as one evolves so does the other. But can our evolving selves evolve us out of the market? When have we practiced enough, and how would we know?

January’s RoundTable is about Practicing your Craft. Join us and share your stories of evolving creativity. http://nlb.pub/RoundTable 8:30amHawaiinT, 10:30amPT, 1:30pmET, 6:30pmLondonTime, 19h30 CEST.

 
Ringer til alle danskere – Sister and author Lone B. Skovgaard recently published her Roman (novel), Tiden hænger på træerne (“Time hangs on the trees”).

On “Idiot’s Day,” Venusia is born in 1915 in Rome. Her mother is Danish and her father is from a rich Italian family. World War I and a bankruptcy send Venusia’s family to Switzerland, and then to Denmark. The large, strong, Danish-Italian family is torn apart, and the children feel the adults’ desperation. There is a story in the family that everyone prefers to keep quiet, and which the sensitive Venusia is preoccupied with. It concerns, among other things, three fateful women, one child and a large amount of blood.

I’d translate that into Danske for you, folks, and my Danske teacher, Irene Josefsen, would bust a gut laughing if I did.

In any case, big congrats to Lone for getting her book out.

 
Wilderness House Literary Review needs book reviewersWilderness House Literary Review EIC Steve Glines is looking for book reviewers. You’ll get full credit and publication credit for your review.

Folks new to the game; this is an excellent way to get your name out there, can provide a boost, can be added to your resume, and gets your unique voice heard.

Go for it!

 
Memories of MK-ULTRA – Brother Bill Yarborough’s latest novel covers material dear to me; experiments performed on children.

Summary: Tommy, Beth, and Curtis Matthews are young children forced to take part in life-altering experiments in the late 1950s. They are placed in MK-ULTRA, a covert CIA mind-control program that is designed to create super soldiers or spies. The experience dramatically impacts their lives, but they don’t remember any of it—at least not right away.

As Beth, Tommy, and Curtis Matthews come of age through the turbulent 60s and into the 80s, invisible strings pull them toward their preordained destinies.

Dr. Rudolph Holtzmann, the Nazi-trained psychiatrist in charge of their CIA program, harbors a secret agenda to turn Tommy into a future world leader, but Holtzmann’s work is compromised by dangerous forces surrounding him and by one of his experimental subjects, a Mexican boy with shamanic gifts.

When the MK-ULTRA program is aborted, the siblings are left deeply damaged without access to the memories that can free them. It takes Curtis’s psychotic breakdown and Beth’s startling vision to open up the pathways to their buried past. These developments lead to the detective work of Lynn Snyder, a diligent therapist—but will it be enough to unravel the hidden tapestry of deception?

The first book of a trilogy, Memories of MK-ULTRA, opens a window into the multiple dimensions of the human mind and soul and forces us to question our limitations in understanding reality itself.

You can learn more about MK-ULTRA and Bill’s work on his site, https://billyarborough.com/novel/

 
Writers’ Month Long Workshop February 2025’s writers’ workshop covers many if not all phases of craft and storytelling. The February workshop is on Wednesdays, 8-29 January 2025, morning and evening openings available. Sign up here.

You can an idea of what craziness (and learning!) will ensue on my Experiments in Writing posts.

 
The Unholy LandBrother Dan Rundquist’s latest book is The Unholy Land: The Struggle for Virtue and Unity in America. Dan writes “I believe that the lack of virtue and unity is in fact the source for our cultural and political decay in America. If accurate, then we have to know; Did America ever have these two things? If we did, who were the keepers of virtue and unity that were responsible for maintaining and teaching these principles? Where did these keepers go? How do we restore them back into our society? This exhaustive text takes a deep dive into modern American Christianity, providing historical context and thoughtful, candid and personal commentary. It is fully cited, including an historical chronology and bibliography. America has been through a decade of political turmoil and division. It’s time to restore our unity and virtue.”
 
Greg Hickey’s Best-Of Lists – Brother Greg Hickey’s been busy again, this time compiling three Best-Of lists. He writes “Some of the most popular articles on my website are my lists of the best books in select genres (dystopian fiction, philosophical fiction, literary mysteries, etc.).
“Today, I have a new book list to add to that collection: The Best Sci-Fi Crime Novels
“Using curated lists from BookBub, Crime Reads, Book Riot and more, suggestions from readers on Goodreads, Quora and Reddit, and recommendations from authors like Jasper Fforde, Sharon Shinn and David Brin, I trimmed a selection of over 800 books to the 81 best sci-fi crime novels ever written.
“Plus, I created two bonus downloads to accompany the list: 1) the best sci-fi crime novels according to eleven authors featured on this list and 2) a one-page PDF shopping guide to The Best Sci-Fi Crime Novels.
The 81 Best Sci-Fi Crime Novels
Author recommendations
Greg’s shopping guide

Greg asks if, after you’ve perused his list of The Best Sci-Fi Crime Novels, you’ll share your take with him. What’s your favorite book on the list? Or what book are you astonished was left off? Let him know, and thanks.

 
Mr. Z’s in the HeadlightsI mentioned Brother Bob “Mr. Z” Zaslow’s work in a previous newsletter. Since then Bob shared a Strider’s Author in the Headlights interview he did. Good fun, a great watch, and a chance to learn about Bob’s amazing background and work.
 
I’m Published Here – The beginning of the year and I’m behind on my submissions:

What Would It Be Like To… now on BizCatalyst 360°
War Crimes now in Panoply
Three Attempts to Get Wet in Wilderness House Journal

That’s it for January. See you next month!

Enjoy!