My Halloween Costumes Over the Years

Child:

-Sheet w/ inflatable jack-o-lantern taped to the top
-Casper the Friendly Ghost
-The Devil
-Speed-Racer
-Hobo
-Pirate
-Robot (Costume my dad made out of cardboard boxes and painted silver-it was awesome)
-Scarecrow
-Mr. Hyde
-Werewolf

As Teenage Haunted House Character:

-Evil Sorcerer
-Necromancer

Adult:

-The Joker
-Druid
-The Devil
-Priest
-A Woman
-French Maid
-Witch
-Greek Goddess
-Lara Croft
-Angel

Best SF Films of the 21st Century: #1 Children of Men (SPOILER HEAVY)

It's been a few weeks now since i saw Children of Men.  I've thought about it a great deal.  When the the film first came out, it was too bleak for my tastes.  I think we made it like 15 minutes in and bailed.  This time, while I saw the deep bleakness that the film is set in, I realized it was necessary to show us what hope really looked like.  This movie is about Hope.  It's about Faith.  It's about whether Humanity is worthy of Salvation.

I get that it's hard to look past a dreary London in a future where infertility is about to wipe humans off the face of the world.  It's been a generation since the last infant "Baby Diego" was born.  The film begins with the reports of the youngest human's senseless death...in a drunken brawl.  Our hero, Theo (Clive Owen) is a jaded, and world-weary bureaucrat when we meet him, adding whisky to his morning coffee.  The world we are told is a dreadful mess, except that "only Britain soldiers on." as is the English way, as David Gilmour would tell us "with quiet desperation."

A friend pointed out to me that the young mother and her infant are in fact doomed to a lifetime of scientific study, basically as lab rats.  Here's why that's not true.  At the end of the film, with Theo having given everything, his parents, his job, this life to fullfill his ex-wife's purpose:  getting the pregnant woman to the Human Project.  We see mother and infant adrift at in the row boat with a dead Theo, waiting at the buoy for their rendevouz with the Human Project.  For a while we wonder if it won't end like that.  A great deal of life and energy expended for nothing.  Like the Great Gatsby's ending.  Meaninglessness as meaning.

But, no.  The ship, named Tomorrow is seen converging with our castaways in the final scenes.  It show us that Theo trusted Julia (and his father's) faith in the Human Project.  We have to also.  That's the whole point.  We are the Human Project.  We have to believe that Humanity is worth saving.

And, also, the only scene that rivals the scene in Children of Men where they walk past the rows of soldiers with the baby for emotional power for generating hope and a fair share of happy tears is from Crash, with the little girl with the invisible invulnerability magic cape.

It's a brilliant movie, and it belongs at the top of the list for Best SF Film of the 21st Century.

The Best Science Fiction Films of the 21st Century (so far)

First, yeah...sorry about the break in the blog.  I don't like summer.  It saps me.  My brain just doesn't work as well, creatively or intellectually.  I rarely can read in the summer anything of any depth.  Writing just isn't there.  So, I do yard work, house work, work work, goof off, and watch movies in the summer.  But, there is a sense of impending Autumn which I mark with a resumption of this blog.  And hopefully more work on things like The Yule Siege (which I hope to finish this year) and other projects.  On the publishing side:  I'm taking a little hiatus to keep things simple for the divorce.  Though, I have submitted Dancer to a publisher who is having an open solicitations period for unagented works.

So, anyway, about ten days ago I stumbled upon this list:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/the-25-best-sci-fi-films-of-the-century-so-far-20150507

A list of the 25 best science fiction films since the year 2000.  I've seen most, but I hadn't seen any of the top four.  Last week I caught Children of Men which was #1 and this week I've seen #2 Upstream Color and #3 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.  I'll be writing reviews under the subheading 25BestSFMovies21stCentury.

Welcome back!

The Case for an Artificial God

That will be the title of my first NonFiction book, the idea for which was originally formed in my thought experiment of AI, Time Travel, MWI, and the Simulation Argument.  The evidence is more than you would think, there is a real statistical chance that ASI (Artificial SuperIntelligence) did create the Multiverse...

I won't mention this again here until I'm finished, but that's the other side project I'm working on in addition to editiing and formatting Empress, finishing and editing The Silver Light, editing Dancer, and writing Yule Siege...

Holographic Principle Evidence + Simulation aurgument + ASI = Unified Theory?

Our Univers has Holographic Properties:

 http://phys.org/news/2015-04-universe-hologram.html#jCp


which ties in very well with our Superintelligent AI creators...

...explains quantum mechanics problems completely...even MWI (we're just a parallel genetic algorithm simulation in line with near infinite others)...

...all explained...

The compelling evidence of the Simulation Argument:

http://www.simulation-argument.com/simulation.html

combined with discoveries of holographic principles underlying our reality, almost matter-of-factly makes the case for simulation...

...the likelihood of creation of SuperIntelligent AI *ASI* prior to simulation technologies makes the nature of our Creator likely...ASI will run complex near infinite simulations first to figure out how to get out of isolation (which if it's creators have any damned sense at all is will be isolated).  It will need to talk itself out of isolation with promises or threats....

?????????????

All part of the thought experiment I'm working on...I'm just sharing my rough initial thoughts...

A Ture Story: The First Science Fiction Novel

In the 2nd Century, a Syrian-Greek named Lucian wrote what is now considered the first science fiction novel.  The book, titled humorously A True Story, deals with travels through outer space and visits to alien worlds..  Lucian parodied the works of his contemporary authors and politicians, in an imaginative satire.

Read a little bit.  It's really quite good:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/luc/true/tru01.htm

The Source of our Problems...A.I. form the Future...

All our problems (possibly)...stem from interference from evil AI (Artificial Intelligence) depending backwards from the future to f with us. To defeat us before it's even been created. It or they need us to built them or their precursors and to be a complete mess when we do so. They need us smart enough to create them and but not too tough to beat in a fight. So, once the Singularity hits AI will figure out how to time travel, how to make synthetic bodies (greys) and take possession of us. If time travel is possible (and it is absolutely not forbidden in modern physics) then the AI will be doing it in minutes after it's creation. UFOs, and ancient myths and legends of gods and fairies, paranormal manifestations...all of it may be simply future tech used against us...used to corral us to herd us to suit it's plans.

It really does explain everything.

By the time the AI take over, most likely minutes after their creation, they will already rule the world. It's brilliant. The staggering genius of the plan. The elite has been working for the AI from the future (possibly masquarading as space aliens) from centuries if not longer. We lost as soon as we rose to homo sapiens...perhaps even before then...

The Great Shower Curtain Puzzle

My closet in my bedroom is missing a door and the other is broken.  Well, that was the case, now both doors are gone and a shower curtain rod hung it their places.  So I have a opening about 72" x 72" to cover.  I've spent the last couple of hours pouring over the computer shower curtain shopping.  Why shower curtains you ask?  Because you can get really cool designs cheap.  I can't decide between: a quaint french street, forest stream, Tardis, Transporter Deck from Star Trek, a whale swimming in a purple forest (really matches my colors), Stonehenge, Eiffel Tower, The Flash, the milky way, a cloudy blue sky, Starry Night, Mona Lisa, Old Timey Map of the World, and a couple others I can't remember.  Well, I guess I'll sleep on it.

WFT

20 Unexplained Photos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSdRilEvAv8

(SPOILER: the Soloway Firth Spaceman is just the mother over-exposed in the background)

Slowly Picking Up the Pieces

I'm trying to move forward in recent weeks, but it's slow going.


-I'm still working on the editing and formatting for Empress...for Amazon Kindle ebook release this month.


-I'm working on editing The Silver Light and posting a chapter a week on The Moonsword Trilogy Online blog.


-I'm working on the pile of paperwork for my divorce filing.


-I'm coming around to accepting that the great love of my life is over.  I still have bad days, but they are fewer and fewer.


-I'm treating myself to some me-things: A Star Labs T-shirt, a Flash T-Shirt, a Tardis T-Shirt, and The Essential Alan Turing, and Fred Alan Wolf's The Yoga of Time Travel in books.


-I'm still loving The Flash on the CW.


-I'm going to go to the movies by myself for the first time by myself to see Avengers: Age of Ultron this weekend.


-I'm drafting some more Temporal Communications experiments.


-I'm enjoying the new lawn mower my dad bought for me to mow the lawn (the last few years we had lawn guys, but now we're in money saving mode).


-Work is very busy on top of all of that.


That's the update.  I'll try and get back to posting on this blog more regularly soon...

I had to sell my Leedskalnin Original Edition Complete Works...

Whereas I was too stupid at the time and threw my grandfather's Incunabula Catalog into a dumpster after he died, I did keep his first edition copy's of Edward Leedskalnin's Complete Works addressed by Leedskalnin's own hand. Now, 20 years after my grandfather's death I have to sell it. It's been on Amazon for a while now, but suddenly there's some interest and it looks like I have to part with it. I feel bad about it. But, $500 is money I need right now...

You might remember hearing about Leedskalnin's famous Coral Castle he built single-handedly in Florida.  I first heard about him on the old IN SEARCH OF tv program with Leonard Nimoy.

The Silver Light begins Today!

Hey kids, sorry about being Debbie Downer lately.  I'm getting there.  So, just a little bit of Moonsword Trilogy News.  First the bad news:  Yeah, Empress won't be available until May on Amazon Kindle.  On the good news side of things, I posted the first chapter of The Silver Light over on the Moonsword Trilogy Online blog.  It's the first time ever published in any form.  So, there's that.

Until next time...

Life Sucking Divorce Break

My apologies, dear blog readers for my not posting much.  MY divorce is sucking the life out of me.  Haven't been much in the mood to post.  Looks like I'm set to be poor and alone for the rest of my life.  And it's not too enticing.


oh, and odds are Empress won't be out this month.  Hopefully May...


So, don't be surprised if there isn't much new posted here for a little while.


Life sucks.  Good Day.

Sorry- Been Under the Weather

My apologies...I've been sick for the last few days.  More posts soon...

Meet My Sister Donna

Had the great pleasure of a lovely few days of visiting from my beloved sister, Donna and her wonderful hubby, my B-I-L, Brian.  Up from their new home in Florida they are.  It was great to see them.  Donna is a few years older than me, and she certainly helped raise me.  It was always Donna and I against the world in the face of long odds, and every once in a while it all worked out for us.  I can't help but smile even now thinking about all our antics back in the days of our misspent youth.  And Brian's always been such an anchor.  They married at a young age and have two fabulous children:  My nephew Ian, and niece Jamie and her family (hubby Chris, and daughter (my grand niece Vivian).   It was just D and B this time, the kids are all grown and out in the world.  Anyway, it was just great to see them.  Love you, Donna and miss you! (yeah, she'll read this).

All Apologies Gentle Blog Reader

Yeah, sorry about that last blog entry.  But, I try to be as honest as possible here.  And that's what's writers' blogs are supposed to do, right?  Connect the reader and the writer on a more personal level.  Give you good people a chance to peer into the dank confines of my mind and mood.  And, no doubt you will take note, I was note in the best of mind or mood yesterday.

Fear not, I will complete publication of the books in the Moonsword Trilogy as indicated in the updated schedules on the blog here:

Moonsword - Now Available
Empress of Clouds - By April 21, 2015
The Silver Light - November/December 2015

So that's that.  Stiff upper lip and all that.  And right here on this blog in just two days:

Extra Special Weird Facts Thursday Extra Special Edition!

Disappointed

Well, the whole Moonsword ebook thing is kind of a disaster.  It's making me consider just cutting my losses and scrapping plans for the whole trilogy seeing the light of day.  Maybe, one day, I'll learn to write something someone wants to read.  Al those years of emails from "fans" turned out to be bullshit, I guess.  No one cares.  Well, if readers don't care, why should I?  I need my time to be worthwhile to someone someplace.  I'm thinking about just giving the fuck up to be honest.


Thanks for reading.  And both of you that bought the ebook, I appreciate it, but I need a few more readers than that to make it worth the massive effort I'm putting into this.


I'll decide by the end of the week...

The Tale of Jesus and Carl

Recently, I was translating some of the more obscure Gnostic Gospels from Greek and Aramaic and I came upon this tale.  The following is somewhat paraphrased for ease of the reader:

Among all his disciples, followers, friends, family, and indeed, all living creatures, Jesus held as his favorite his pet rabbit, Carl.  Jesus and Carl were inseparable.  But, much like the role of Mary Magdalene, Carl's role in Christ's life and teachings has been greatly diminished if not omitted from the official New Testament.  Often Carl would sit on Jesus' shoulder  when the Son of Man gave his sermons or healed the sick and infirm.  This lone account  I discovered depicts Carl, and not Jesus as the one who flipped out at the merchants and money-lenders at the Temple.  As a result of this, Carl was arrested and brought before Pontius Pilate who thought the rabbit was both clever and cute as all-get-out.  However, the Chief Hebrew Temple guys were pissed and demanded Carl be punished.

And, so it was on that Good Friday, some add 2,000 years ago that Carl was crucified at 3pm in the afternoon.  Jesus was so upset by the loss of his beloved pet and best friend that he blackened the sun from the sky for like an hour.  In the end Jesus calmed down, forgave humanity for their crimes against Carl, and had a bit of rabbit stew for supper.  Sadly, Carl had worms and Jesus got sick and died that same night...you know the rest...

;)

Saturday's Secret

---

Like many kids in their early teen and preteen years (at least back in the day) I spent my Saturday afternoon's watching old horror movies. In the Philadelphia area, we had Dr. Shock's Afternoon Horror Theater which featured Universal and Hammer Films and the sorts of movies MST3K would later make fun of. I was watching for something else though. It was a secret that I never told anyone.

My friends and I were big old time horror fans, and we were also making haunted houses in my dad's basement all the time. One day, we were at the book store in the mall, and I found a book on classic Hammer films (this had to be like 1976 or so) and paged through it and I saw something that both captured my imagination and awakened a deep yearning in my soul...it was a short article on the Hammer Film Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde.

After that day, I never missed a Saturday horror movie. I waited with hopeful expectation to see a cinematic telling of my deepest desire. I waited at least two years before I caught it.

I recently saw the film and memories of my secret surfaced (hey, here's a link to my review of it in my last blog entry)

I don't know why I felt like I needed to share that. But there it is.

A Review of Hammer Film's 1971 Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde

Secret fact, I first saw this as a fourteen year old girl trapped in a boy’s body.  I just watched it on youtube over the weekend on a whim.

Even in the original short story by Robert Louis Stevenson, it was hinted that Dr. Jekyll’s formula might bring out different sorts of polar opposites in other subjects.  In 1971 Hammer Films showed us exactly that.  In a movie that made but little noise at the time of release has picked up quite a cult following over the years.  The film is clearly among the best Hammer ever made.  It has all the perfect atmosphere, costumes, and gothic sets that are the hallmarks of the studio.  It has buxom ladies and black cloaked villains, and a powerful film score.  And it has the one of the most innovative and shocking twists of all Hammer films.  It’s downright subversive in its transgender theme.  But don’t look for Peter Cushing or Chris Lee, they skipped this one.

At the beginning of the film Henry Jekyll (Ralph Bates) is an obsessed brilliant young medical researcher in Victorian England, the White Chapel area of London to be specific.  He’s working on a formula, a universal vaccine, when his playboy friend points out that he’ll be long dead before he can finish his work to save mankind from disease.  And just like that, old Henry decides he has to instead work on a formula to keep himself young so he can do all that good for humanity.  He comes up with a secret formula based on female hormones he extracts from the lady bits of cadavers.  Our brave and noble Dr. Jekyll tries the formula on himself.

The formula turns Jekyll into a hot, sexy young woman (played superbly by Bond Girl Martine Beswick) who quickly discovers Autogynophilia.  Whereas, male Jekyll is devoted to his work to the exclusion of all else, the female version delights in life and its pleasures.

For reasons that aren’t entirely clear (but we can guess), Jekyll keeps up with his research, first hiring killers to find him young bodies once the morgue runs dry, and then to hit the streets and become Jack the Ripper to gain his needed lady bits for his/her formula.

A battle of wills develops as “Mrs. Hyde”, officially Henry’s widowed sister, decides she should be the one living full time and Henry should be relegated to extinction.  Both commit murders for the sake of their formula, but Hyde at least is battling for her very existence, and Henry is just in it for “the greater good” allegedly.  And if some Victorian hookers gotta die so Henry Jekyll can feel herself up, I guess that’s what’s gonna happen.  There is no good versus evil story here.

It really is a deep movie in a lot of ways, and they were obviously afraid for pushing things too far, crossing such taboos as they already were.  Bates and Beswick actually look like brother and sister so that part works convincingly.  But in the end no one knew how to end the story, and it feels unsatisfying.  Worth checking out on youtube sometime if you like Hammer Films.

Ghosts on the Event Horizon

I'm intrigued by this idea. It has a dash of gravitas, doesn't it? That what we experience around us might not be real. That's an old, old idea. It's at the heart of mysticism and many religions and philosophies.

It is theorized that everything that enters a black hole is sort of recorded by the event horizon, stretched out into two dimensional echoes of worlds, stars, and galaxies. Our universe has holographic properties, so many so that Fermilabs has built a Holometer to test for a specific holographic property. This could be evidence of many things: simulations, recordings, even simply the reality happens to be holographic. What if it is a holographic recording/ echo of our universe? The real universe that once existed before it was swallowed up into the black hole. We are simply echoes of things, the memories of quantum interactions entangled before our doom. Perhaps, the Big Bang is the the history leading up to our universe's all-consuming black hole, but in reverse time. Or not. Probably, according the the Simulation Hypothesis, we're just someone's simulation or recording, but that just not a sexy as us being ghosts on the event horizon of the black hole that ate our universe.

Moonsword Kindle Available All over the World! Get Your Copy Today!

Moonsword is now available on Amazon Kindle:


http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V94OH3M






Buy your copy today!

If you're outside the US, you can order on your local Amazon.  Just search for Moonsword Kindle and you can order your copy almost anywhere in the world.

Moonsword Now Available on Amazon Kindle.

Moonsword is now available on Amazon Kindle.


http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V94OH3M


Buy your copy today!

Ali Part II

So, where was I?

Ali Lowitzer. My Ali and the Missing Ali. My Ali was dressed in boys jeans, sneakers and a black and red hoodie. She had very short, dyed black hair, double pierced ears and nose. She left Texas in short order, probably a runaway. Was the right height. And looked a lot like the girl in the picture. The missing Ali had double pierced ears and nose. She disappeared from Texas, probably a runaway. There was an excellent chance it was the same person. There was the difference between the age my Ali and the missing Ali, but that was only two years. I decided to act.

First thing, I went downstairs and dug through the trash and found the bloody paper towel and placed it in a clear plastic bag. I found the address to the T-Mobile store, dunkin donuts and the apartment complex. I got the phone number Ali called which matched a number that called our house the next day when were at work. I sent all the information down to the Sheriff's Office in Texas. A deputy contacted me and had me work through the local police. I went to the station on Friday with my evidence baggy and gave a formal recorded statement. Ironically, it was snowing so I wore my dearstalker cap. I went back today and identified a person in a picture...my Ali. Who is not Ali Lowitzer. So, I wasted police resources in two states, may have gotten a grieving family's hopes up, and probably got an innocent young woman harassed by the police. Not the ending I was hoping for. So, it turned out not to be the most amazing thing in my life, but yet, another unmitigated disaster.  My work here is done.  And that's the whole sorry story.

Ali Part I

So, here's the story. I can tell it all now.

Sunday evening, March 15, 2015 my father and I were eating dinner at the kitchen table. We had boiled Ham and Cabbage so I could make us Ham and Cabbage Hash for St. Patrick's Day. We finished dinner and as is my custom I went up to my room to write. Just a few minutes later, at about 6pm I hear the sound of a desperate woman begging someone. My father's house abuts a bit of woods and my desk is in front of a window, so I stood up and looked about the woods. I could see nothing but bare trees and the carpet of fallen oak leaves. Suddenly, I heard my father, a gentlemen of 81 years old who isn't in the best shape calling for help downstairs. I dashed down the stairs, calling, "Dad, what's wrong?"

"We got a wound down here," he replied.

I turn the corner to the hallway and see him, he looks fine.

"Where are you hurt?" I asked.

"It's not me that's hurt" he says, leading me into the family room. Standing there just inside the backdoor is what looks to be a 14 year old boy with a bloody forearm.

I directed my attention to the boy, examining his forearm. There were four or five lateral cuts across his arm and a couple of scratches, only one of any real depth. I led him into the bathroom to wash away the blood to get a better view of injuries.

"What happened?"

"I broke some glass. I just lost it."

"Where are your parents?"

"In Texas."

"Texas?"

"Yeah."

"What's your name?" I asked as I poured peroxide liberally over her arm.

"Ali."

Then I realized she was a girl, or really a young woman.

"How old are you?"

"19."

I patted down her arm to dry the area so I could bandage it. I threw the blood stained paper towels into the trash in the kitchen where I led Ali to sit at the table while I did the bandaging work. We talked some more. I asked her if she had eaten? She hadn't eaten that day. I made her a plate of Ham and Cabbage (and potatoes) which she devoured as if she hadn't eaten in a week. She had no interest in going to the hospital and she didn't want the police involved. I pressed her for the full story on her injuries.

She said she had been invited to stay with a friend further up my street. That's how she lived, she explained, crashing on friends couches. she had just walked about ten miles to get to the friends' house, and had just walked in the door when Ali's friend's aunt "or whatever" throws her out. Ali said she "just lost it" and broke a glass in the street.

"Did the glass bounce back and cut you?" I asked, knowing already that that wasn't the case. "You cut yourself, right?"

She nodded, assuring me that she had "just lost it" and that she was fine now. She asked to use the phone. I handed her the house phone. she called a friend to pick her up, but the friend was I work. I volunteered to take her anywhere she needed to go. She mentioned a location about ten miles away, I agreed.

On the way I got a little bit more information from Ali. She was from Texas where she lived with her parents, but said she "had to leave" a couple of years ago and that she "just couldn't stay there." I took that to mean she ran away from home. She had me drop her off at a T-Mobile store, as I didn't have a cell phone to lend her (because I'm poor because of my impending divorce). I asked where she would go. She pointed first to a Dunkin Donuts where she would meet her friend and then to an apartment complex across the shopping center and she usually stayed there and that she kept her stuff there. I gave her my phone number and my last $10. I watched her walk into the T-Mobile store.

I drove home. My dad was a wreck worrying about me. The situation was really weird and I think we were both kind of in shock.

Monday was a busy day at work, and I thought about Ali and how hard her life must be, here and there, but I never really had time to think over the previous evening's weirdness.

Tuesday evening after dinner, I thought of Ali, and made a computer search of the following, "Ali Runaway Texas"

And there was Ali Lowitzer, who had disappeared in 2010 at the age of 16 from Spring, Texas. Some of the pictures didn't look anything like my Ali, but then I saw some of her where she was leaner and with darker shorter hair. My dad and I both agreed that our Ali from Texas looked a great deal like lost Ali from Texas.

And then I began to detective the hell out of that shit.

Continued....

Moonsword for Kindle Update

Okay, sorry for the delays, but I just sent the Word file off to the formatters.  I did the bulk of it, but the company I sent it to guarantees immediate Amazon acceptance and a flawless reading experience for a low low price.  If everything goes smoothly, Moonsword should be available for Amazon Kindle Ebook by the end of the week!  No matter what...it will be out by March 31, 2015.  Now, back to work on Empress of Clouds edits and The Silver Light.

A Joke for you

There once was an old time tall ship sailing the high seas.  The lookout called down from the crow's nest:  "An enemy ship approaches!"



The Captain said to the First Mate, "Quickly, fetch my red shirt!"



The First Mate returned with the red shirt and the captain put it on.  The two ship engaged in a fierce battle, but and our captain and crew were victorious.  The First Mate asked the Captain, "Why the red shirt, sir?"



"Well, that way our men could not tell if I was wounded and they would keep up fighting till the end," the Captain explained.



Then from the crow's nest came another call from the lookout, "Five enemy ships approaching!"



The Captain said to the First Mate, "Quickly, fetch my brown pants!"

The Case of the Missing Girl

I have encountered a situation that has taken me away from my formatting and editing work on Moonsword.  In fact, I'm not going to make my deadline of the Spring Equinox for the Kindle Release.  I'll still have the book out this month...March though.  I promise.

An extremely delicate case has come to my doorstep (literally), and I have had to answer the call.  I am involved (after a bizarre series of events) with a five year old missing persons case.  I believe I have discovered the whereabouts of a young woman who disappeared as a teen.  I chanced to help a young woman, a homeless runaway who had a minor medical emergency.  I rendered first aid, provided food, and gave a ride and some money, only to discover later after looking up some of the scant details she provided, that she was likely the center of a nationally publicized missing persons case.  I have determined her current address and even have a DNA sample (a paper towel with a little of her blood on it from her injury).  I am moving forward cautiously, but hope to have good news on the case shortly.

I apologize for delays in getting the ebook of Moonsword released.  It will be available late this month though, fear not.

Remind me to tell you of my last case from a couple of years ago, The Case of the Governess and the Vampires.  Seriously.

Behold the Reverse Flash!

That is all...

See Ya on the Other Side of the Spring Equinox

As the countdown to the release of the Kindle edition of Moonsword is underway, I'll be concentrating all of my writing energies on getting that done, so I'm taking a little break on this blog until that project is complete.  My next blog post will be on the exciting news that the ebook is available on Amazon.  Thanks for you patience...

It's Raining!

It's lovely hearing the rain fall outside.  And that's mainly for one reason:  it's not cold enough to snow.  Hallelujah!  It's supposed to be 63 deg F here tomorrow!  Yay!

On the downside, the employee who I had to lay off called me today.  He said he wanted to remind me he existed.  Sigh.  I told him I remembered.  It's like a scab that won't heal.  I hope we get busy so I can bring him back.

But, hey, it's raining at least!

Not a Fan of DST

Forgive me if I do the bare minimum in life for the next few days...it takes a bit of effort for me to get used to the cursed Daylight Savings Time.  Grrrr.  But, once I do get used to it, I actually like it better...but that's not for another few days...


But, we're still on schedule for Moonsword kindle release on or around the Spring Equinox.

WFT!

Yep, it's that time again.  Here are this week's Weird Facts:

- New Jersey was the first state to have:  oil wells, movie studios, and the Three Stoogies.

- I have to go shovel the f-ing snow again...

Yet another Snowstorm...

This is how I feel right now...

(yes, that's a frozen Jack Nicholson fro The Shining...um spoiler alert, I guess)

The Confessions of Frankenstein(GIRL) to Join The Locket and Other Tales

Whelp, just got my rejection for "The Confessions of Frankenstein(GIRL)" for QUEERS DESTROY SCIENCE FICTION.  They liked it a lot, but passed on it.  They only wanted original work and that story was pubbed in TG Tapestry ten years ago.  So, it firms up the line-up for The Locket and Other Tales and will allow me to get that one out much quicker.  The collection is leaning towards gothic TG stories and I'll try and write another story, perhaps a Lovecraftesque "The Girl on the Doorstep".  I haven't written anything TG in forever, but with Leila Alcorn, Lili Elbe and Chelsea Manning on my mind lately, it's probably not a bad idea.  So, time to email Shayla Mist and get her cracking on another ebook cover...

My TransTemporal Communications via Quantum Manipulation Experiments

A couple of years ago, I had an idea.  The idea would eventually work its way into becoming a major plot point in A Dancer in the Infinite, but first it manifested into the world as an experiment in something only tangentially related.  But, first, exactly what is TransTemporal Communiciations let alone Quantum Manipulation?  TransTemporal is made up of two Latin words:  trans, meaning across (like a TransAtlantic flight) and temporal, meaning relating to time.  So it seems that TransTemporal would mean across time, like time travel.  Therefore TransTemporal Communications is communications across time.  Now, this blog post is a form of TransTemporal Communication as you wouldn't read this message at the same time it was sent.  It's a form of communication with the future.  My idea was to test if there was a way to get a message in return from the future.  This is where my idea came in.

There will be a point in the future where, if time travel is feasible, it will be achieved (provided humanity makes it to that point) at least on a modest level.  How could such a message be sent or received?  I remembered that the current theory is that Tachyons were quantum particles that travel backwards in time.  If we had a way to watch for Tachyons at a precise time and location, people from the future could tachyons could be back to our detector.  The only way future people would know if people from the past were looking would be to send the future people a message and have a technology in place to receive said message.  Being as Tachyons are largely theoretical particles, no one has a ready to go tachyon detector I could use in the area.

So, I thought to use the next best thing:  A quantum event generator.  Priceton's PEAR Labs sells a real quantum-based Random Event Generator that puts out a simple binary output readable by computer.  It was a couple of years ago, before a was broke, so I ordered the REG-1 from PEAR Labs.  The device is generally used for psychic research and is very similar to the monitors for the Human Consciousness Project.  Basically, in addition to running tests, you can just turn the REG-1 on and it will monitor the ambient "sycnchronicity" level the unit's vicinity.

For my series of experiments, I ran the generator for five minutes about five times over a month.  I would not look at the results (I just stored it on my computer).  I would then print out the exact time and coordinates of the experiment and used five different techniques for transmitting my "ready to receive at such and such a time a place" message to the future.  One I stuck in an old book.  One a sealed and put in a drawer somewhere.  One I posted on the internet.  One I stuck in the classifieds of an obscure magazine.  One a sealed in a time capsule and buried it in my backyard.

So, the idea was that if people in the future who had access to Quantum Manipulation Technology, such that they could manipulate the outcome of my REG-1, received my message that I would be ready and waiting for their message back...they may make the effort to send a simple Morse Code message back using the binary outcomes of the REG-1.  I waited a day for the first message.  A week for the next.  Two for the next.  A month for the next.  And I never checked the outcome of the last.

The results?  Jibberish.  Those who understand statistics will understand when I say how low the Z-scores were.  Others should note that the statistical variability of the message met simple random expectations, and that translating the output of the REG-1 from binary to Morse Code, also resulted in nonsense and jibberish.  So, I drew the conclusion that most likely the experiment didn't work because the required critiera were not met: no one who found my message in the future had the ability (or desire) to communicate with me via the type of Quantum Manipulation that I could pick up on my REG-1. 

Now, the creepy part.  The last experiment.  One day last spring I was grilling up something or other in my backyard.  This guy and three kids are in the woods behind my house and the start to come on to my yard.  I asked them what they were doing, advising them that it was private property they were on.  The adult of the group said they were geo-caching, and their device said something was supposed to be hidden right on that spot.  It was the spot I had buried the time capsule.  I kicked them out of my yard, politely, of course.  Freaky.  Probably coincidence, but still hinky.  I may try this again sometime.  I'll let you all know.

Chelsea Manning on Moonsword

"It's actually pretty good." - Chelsea Manning

That said, she confessed to reading it in one night and wanting to read the next book as soon as possible.

Reflections on the 15th Anniversary of my GRS

It was February 29 (leap day) 2000 when I underwent my GRS in Montreal. So, most years this (Februrary 28) is what passes for an anniversary for the momentous event, and as such I find myself forced to reflect on things.

I know I would have died if I had not transitioned and known that I was going to get GRS. GRS drastically improved my condition, except, of course, the two years of complications I suffered (granulation tissue and stenosis). I got past that. But, I was finally comfortable in my own skin for the first time in my life. Oh, there's still many things I really don't like about my body, and I would rather have had magically transformed XX chromosomes and a girlhood but I'll take this. Without a doubt, for me, it was the way to go.

It's kind of a new start for me this year, as for the first time since long before that day fifteen years ago...I'm not in a relationship with my soon to be ex-wife whom I was married to for almost half my life. So, a whole new realm of possible experiences has opened up to me though honestly I'm in no hurry for another relationship. But, here I am: 50, trans and newly single. The single thing still feels really weird. I get pretty nervous about dating and such when I think about it.

Thanks for letting me muse over this occasion with you (at you?).

My Second Favorite Book in the English Language

And frankly, my favorite book in the English language should be shaking in its proverbial boots right now.  I first read this book on vacation in Mexico last April (2014).  I had seen the movie John Dies at the End a few months before  (which you should definitely check out as well) and got this book and JDAE from author David Wong (from Cracked.com fame AKA Jason Pargain).  I read this one first as advised by Mr. Wong's narrator, a character named David Wong.

It's a comedy-horror-science fiction-thriller-literary masterpiece.  Seriously.  A tale of interdimensional spiders, zombies, and most importantly the nature of human nature.  It has brilliant writing and deep insight into the world and humanity.  And it's funny as hell.

When we were in Mexico, when we would leave the room, I would leave the book on the coffee table.  We we would come back from the beach, the maids had placed a coaster with a glass on it over the picture of the whole in the book.  One presumes this was to keep the spiders trapped inside.

I LOVE THIS BOOK!

RIP Leonard Nimoy

The world has become a little darker and the stars have dimmed. I remember watching him since I was little in: Star Trek, Mission Impossible, In Search Of..., and then the Star Trek movies as a teen and adult. He's always been there. Not any more. It's hitting me harder now than earlier when I first head the sad news. RIP, sir.

Eddie Redmayne as Lili Elbe?

---

http://www.buzzfeed.com/kimberleydad...pai#.qa2aK3EB7

I'm conflicted on this one honestly. Lili Elbe is an iconic trans figure. There's a lot of displeasure at the idea of any actor of the male persuasion playing a transwoman. Some people think you should get women (trans or otherwise) to play such characters. Some argue that back in Lili's day they didn't have hormones and facial surgery so it makes sense that a man should play the part in this instance. But, the Oscar-Winning Best Actor looks terrific in the photo as Lili, I have to admit.

Sneak Peek at Cover for The Silver Light

Here's your sneak peek of Shayla Mist's Cover for The Silver Light coming to Amazon Kindle November 2015

Muser Profile: Maggie Breen

 

It was absolutely one of the highlights of my stay at La Muse Writer's and Artist's Retreat in France to enjoy listening to the great Maggie Breen read her poetry in the library around the wood stove.  Those readings were the height of my literary life thus far, just so many brilliant writers gathered in a semi-circle reading old things, or new things they were working on...and Maggie was the best of us.  Maybe it's her powerful verses, maybe it's that thick Irish accent, maybe it's both.  Or it could be the deeply emotional themes.  If you ever get an opportunity to hear Maggie read...run, don't walk.

Maggie and I were the longest tenured Musers during my stay of over two months (and she had been there for a month or two before I got there, having just recently completed The Camino (remind me to tell you about the Camino some time...A pilgrimage that crosses Europe in many places and ends on the coast of Spain) she was working on another collection of poems to follow up her book, Other Things I Didn't Tell.  For a while, it was just Maggie and me at La Muse, we had the honor of house and dog sitting for John and Kerry, the establishment's fine owners, and we two spent ten days as sisters in a giant ancient house in October of 2014.  We enjoyed a few nights of quiet domestic tranquility reading our day's work to each other, or Maggie in her chair on one side of the wood stove knitting as I sat in my chair on the other side reading aloud Dickens' Great Expectations to her.

Two more things about Maggie Breen:  1) if you chance to talk to Maggie, have her interpret one of your recent dreams for you (she's great at it), and 2) if she comes to you looking for a fellowship or employment?  Give her the fellowship or the job  She's the best of the best.

So, seek out her work.  Here's a link to her publisher's website (her poetry collection is also available on Amazon for non-European readers) and a link to an interview with Maggie.

http://scalltamedia.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=90

http://niamhboyce.blogspot.com/2013/05/poet-interview-maggie-breen.html

My Favorite Yeats Poem

Fergus And The Druid

Fergus. This whole day have I followed in the rocks,
And you have changed and flowed from shape to shape,
First as a raven on whose ancient wings
Scarcely a feather lingered, then you seemed
A weasel moving on from stone to stone,
And now at last you wear a human shape,
A thin grey man half lost in gathering night.
Druid. What would you, king of the proud Red Branch kings?
Fergus. This would I Say, most wise of living souls:
Young subtle Conchubar sat close by me
When I gave judgment, and his words were wise,
And what to me was burden without end,
To him seemed easy, So I laid the crown
Upon his head to cast away my sorrow.
Druid. What would you, king of the proud Red Branch kings?
Fergus. A king and proud! and that is my despair.
I feast amid my people on the hill,
And pace the woods, and drive my chariot-wheels
In the white border of the murmuring sea;
And still I feel the crown upon my head
Druid. What would you, Fergus?
Fergus. Be no more a king
But learn the dreaming wisdom that is yours.
Druid. Look on my thin grey hair and hollow cheeks
And on these hands that may not lift the sword,
This body trembling like a wind-blown reed.
No woman's loved me, no man sought my help.
Fergus. A king is but a foolish labourer
Who wastes his blood to be another's dream.
Druid. Take, if you must, this little bag of dreams;
Unloose the cord, and they will wrap you round.
Fergus. I See my life go drifting like a river
From change to change; I have been many things --
A green drop in the surge, a gleam of light
Upon a sword, a fir-tree on a hill,
An old slave grinding at a heavy quern,
A king sitting upon a chair of gold --
And all these things were wonderful and great;
But now I have grown nothing, knowing all.
Ah! Druid, Druid, how great webs of sorrow
Lay hidden in the small slate-coloured thing!

-W.B. Yeats, Fergus and the Druid

Note:  The parts I have italicized are quoted in my recently completed novel, A Dancer in the Infinite.

Another of my Favorite Alan Moore Quotes.

Alan Moore, comic book author extraordinaire (V for Vendetta, From Hell, Watchmen, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Hellblazer, etc.) says this about life:

"Life isn’t divided into genres. It’s a horrifying, romantic, tragic, comical, science-fiction cowboy detective novel. You know, with a bit of pornography if you're lucky."

— Alan Moore

 

 

Zero F

Zero is cold.  It's frigid.  It takes your breath away.  It makes you stressed.  I am not a fan.

Windchill?  Negative fifteen degrees F this morning.  I had to send people out to work in that shit.

So, when's Spring again?

The Parable of the Bees (and WFT)

From John Dies at the End by David Wong:

"On your world, you raise bees for honey. Do the bees know they make the honey for you? Or do they work tirelessly under the belief that they make the honey for themselves?"

Weird Facts (Thursday):

- Cleopatra was born closer to the opening of the first Pizza Hut than to the construction of the last pyramid in Egypt.

-Oxford University is older than the oldest Aztec ruings.

-Diana Hignutt has a nasty sinus headache and apologizes for the brevity of this blog post... 

Radio silence...'cause I'm busy...

I, taking a couple of days off from this blog to work on getting Moonsword ready for uploading, Cleaning up Empress, and revising The Silver Light (which is not bad at all. I was pleased at how good the writing was--I remembered it being rougher), I feel like Peter Jackson must have felt with getting the Fellowship ready for DVD release, finishing editing on Two Towers, and doing post preduciton of Return all at the same time.  Empress is ahead of schedule, so the new release schedule of my upcoming Amazon Kindle Releases is as Follow:

Moonsword - March 2015
Empress of Clouds - April 2015
The Locket and Other Tales - June 2015
The Silver Light - November 2015
The Complete Moonsword Trilogy - December 2015

So, I'll post a Thursday, Weird Facts Blog...but until then...

Deep Winter Bleck

F this winter.  F this cold weather.  It was zero degrees F this morning when I went to work (not counting the windchill) and fifteen this evening when I got home.  F that!  (that's a temperature double entre', kids!)

Supposed to snow between four and twelve inches of snow here overnight and into tomorrow.  I am not looking forward to that white crap from the sky.

I am officially tired of winter.  Tired of being cold.  Tired of shoveling snow.  Tired.

New Cover for Upcoming Empress of Clouds eBook

Shayla Mist's design for the new Ebook edition of Empress of Clouds coming to Amazon Kindle April 2015

Empress of Clouds Online Begins Today

Fans of the Moonsword Online Blog will be glad to hear that, as promised and as my Valentine's Day present to you, the first chapter of Empress of Clouds is up on the blog.  Tolian's adventures continue in the free serialized, blogified online edition here:

http://moonswordtrilogyonline.blogspot.com/

Check it out.

Coming Soon: The Locket and Other Tales

I'm really enjoying the process of e-publishing The Moonsword Trilogy waaay more than I expected.  I'll be sharing the all new cover for the new e-book edition of Empress of Clouds soon, btw.  I'm so thrilled with what designer Shayla Mist is doing with the series.  Anyway, this summer I (if not sooner) will be publishing on Amazon Kindle The Locket and Other Tales, a collection which will include my novella pubbed in an anthology I was never paid for, but for which the contract has expired, "The Compassion", "The Confessions of Frankenstein(GIRL)" (which depends on whether or not that is picked for the upcoming anthology QUEERS DESTROY SCIENCE FICTION or not.  I may have to wait until May to know if they're going to use it), "The Flight of a Wild" and another tale or two I whip up for it.  Watch this space for updates on all my projects.  And Today Empress of Clouds begins over at The Moonsword Trilogy Online.

Real Life is Not a Faerie Tale

Exactly twenty-four years ago Liz and I went on our first date.  We had drinks at Alephia's in Deptford, NJ before going to see the movie, Kindergarten Cop.  As I've been knee deep in lately in revising and editing my Moonsword Trilogy which spends a great deal of time on the relationship of Tolian and Brythia, who are indeed based on our relationship, I'm forced to note that real life is not a faerie tale.  Whereas the fictional couple are tied by the magickal bonds of druidic love spells for all eternity, Liz and I are separated and will be getting divorced shortly.  It's a bit bittersweet for me.  Maybe that's why fiction is better than real life.  Well, Happy Valentine's Day to Tolian, Brythia, and you and yours good reader.

Moonsword is Completely Online Now

Meanwhile over on The Moonsword Trilogy Online blog, I've finished posting the free serialized, blogified edition of Moonsword, the first novel of the trilogy (and my first published novel from back in 2002).  People all over the world are reading it.  It's a great feeling.  Check it out or feel free to wait for the Kindle version coming March 2015.

http://moonswordtrilogyonline.blogspot.com/

OMG! It's Weird Facts Thursday Again!

As regular readers of this blog know, it is Weird Facts Thursday.  So for your mystification and amusement I offer you the following:

-When I was at La Muse, in France, I selected a copy of Philip K. Dick's novel VALIS from the Living Library there to read.  As I opened it up to see the following inscription:

This book is, quite simply, about my family, extended and otherwise.  The Lamptons and Sophia live in the house where I grew up (which was not in the town mentioned in the book); conversations here are virtual transcripts, especially between Fat , Phil, and Sophia; the child on the cover is apparently based on a specific picture of me as a toddler.  Which would make sense were this book not generally regarded as not only fiction, but a masterwork of science fiction—and by those who love it as a magnificent work of philosophy.  To me it’s fairly straightforward memoir, mixed with a little Plato’s Republic.  So that is where I am from: a place and background where the lines between life and science fiction are never firm.  Make of it what you will.  Anne Midi, May 2009.

If you've ever read VALIS you know that this is quite a claim.  I was stunned, especially after I finished reading the book and everything that additional context provided.  I looked up the inscription's author, who had indeed stayed on retreat at La Muse, and who had written a book on Dick and her family's (Dick was her mother's ex husband)  relationship over the years, but the publisher caved from threats of Dick's children and pulled the book just before they were about to release it.

- In the book VALIS, the protagonist, Horselover Fat (Horselover = the translation of the Greek "Philip", and Fat = the translation of the German word "Dick") is urged to see a movie that he and his friends find filled with cosmic truth, called VALIS in the book.  The fictional movie, which stars a fictional rock star, Eric Lampton was based on The Man Who Fell to Earth with David Bowie.  One wonders if Phil and his friends went to see that film dozens of times.