A Tale of Two Pups

Last week it was Rabbit, this week it’s Coyote.

Probably because it’s that time of year.

The Wild wakes (not that it ever sleeps) and everyone comes out parading their young.

Kind of like an Easter parade, don’t you think?

And Easter…that christian new life/resurrection thing, that coming out of the cave, out of the earth, out of death, the big sleep as it were…

Why do you think the church decided Easter coincides with Spring?

Everybody honors The Wild even when they don’t mean to.

Announcing RoundTable 360°

What makes creative people creative? What goes on in their minds that causes the ideas they put on the screen, in their books, their poems, their music, on a stage, in their songs, in a dance, on a canvas, …? Does the same blood pump through their veins as pumps through ours? What happened in their lives that causes them to express themselves the way they do? What drives their souls to shape worlds with their words, their brushes, their notes, their voices, their bodies, their steps?

Long ago and far away there were two TV shows which captivated me. One was Steve Allen’s Meeting of Minds. The other was Wim Kayzer’s A Glorious Accident. Sitting in the presence of people previously only known to me as names thrilled me. Listening to their discussion — not arguments, discussions! — of matters great and small enthralled me, and I’ve hungered for such a forum ever since.

 
Now that forum has a name and a place – RoundTable 360°. Each month a rotating panel of #actors, #writers, #dancers, #singers, #photographers, #mixed-media artists, … share, question, explore.
Come join us. Come grow with us and help us grow. Listen, learn, and share. We are all a Great Becoming.

Become with us.

That Th!nk You Do is now an audiobook

That Th!nk You Do, my first title with Northern Lights Publishing and published Jan ’23, is now available as an audio book.

Northern Lights’s A-Team had many discussions about going the audio route, and several audio providers (of course) leapt forward explaining how they’d do the best job.

Already having one audio book failure with a previous publisher, I was skeptical.

In the end, Northern Lights went with Amazon’s native ACX system for several reasons (which they’ll explain). The chosen narrator, Nicholas Torres, did an excellent job.

I also have some promo codes available, and the next five people to become members of this blog will get one.

And as always, thanks for your support.

 

The Alibi (A John Chance Mystery) – Chapter 42 Section V Mega Chapter 1 (part 2)

The Alibi – Chapter 42 Section V Mega Chapter 1 (part 2)

 
Dao stood at the head of the small dock at the end of the warehouse pier next to Langonne Park. His people had survived much. Much throughout their history, much throughout his life. Their wariness of the Surface Breathers kept them safe. Once called Little Brothers by his people, they had, in Dao’s lifetime, become the enemy. For the first time in Dao’s life, he was unsure how to lead his people, unsure how to keep them safe.

A shadow sat at the dock’s end, a little to the side of where Dao sat when he came to remember his younger days, to remember what he’d learned from his elders, from the Sea Brothers and Sisters, from the Ocean Queen herself.

The shadow turned and waved to him, motioned Dao to join them on the dock’s end.

Dao walked cautiously.

The shadow didn’t carry the scent of water, of his people. Was this someone come early to fish? To catch under the stars?

No, the scent was familiar, known. Something from when Dao was a child.

The shadow carried the scent of stories his grandfather told him.

Dao’s pace quickened. He stood close, too close, closer than was safe with Surface Breathers.

The shadow turned. A face, a Surface Breather’s face. A known face? A face remembered from song.

The Surface Breather sang as Dao’s people sang. Hello, Ocean Brother. I sing your language but not very well. You know mine much better than I know yours. Will you forgive me if my song is weak? I don’t want to sing something I should not.

Dao sat beside the shadow. Who are you? How do you sing? Your people can not sing our songs. Only a few, only –

My grandfather knew a Surface Breather who could sing. He was our friend.

I wish to be your friend, as well.

What are you doing here? Why come to us now?

I need your help. Your people and mine swim dangerous waters. I wish to keep the waters safe. For both our people.

It is too late. The waters already boil.

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Previous entries in The Alibi (A John Chance Mystery)

The Bunlet

Rabbits – at least the kind we have here in southern New Hampshire – are not good parents.

At least not good mothers.

At least in human terms.

Wild rabbits here in southern New Hampshire neither warren nor den. They spend their time above ground and out in the open.

Their young, likewise, are born above ground and in the open. If anything, they may have a cushion of leaves to lie back on.

But not grass. Grass is food to rabbits.

Rabbit mothers leave their kits (baby rabbits are called “kits” or “kitties” and “bunnies” in the vulgate) unprotected while they go off wining and dining and such.

We’d call Family Services if that happened.

Maybe we would.

People have a habit of minding other people’s business and ignoring their own when it suits them.

Back to Bunlets (our term for tiny little baby bunnies).

Thank goodness for their dun coloring.

Good camouflage, that.

And we must also consider that The Wild has perfected rabbits to survive.

At least for now.

Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

I mean, what if The Wild is doing the same to us?

Just think of all those Family Services people without a job…