(7 Lessons On Irish Whiskey, 27Press, 2013, ISBN 978-0-9887705-2-2)

I don’t usually write about commercial products, but what 27Press offers is more services than products.  Moreover, one needs to take a break from the seriousness of this blog’s op-eds from time to time.  Not that Irish whiskey isn’t serious…it’s serious fun to be had, although only legal fun for those over twenty-one.  If you’re under twenty-one, keep on reading, but don’t imbibe until you’ve reached that ripe old age.  (That ends my legal responsibility, I believe.  I know, how do you tell that to a U.S. marine who’s eighteen and fighting for his country, for example?  Seems unfair, but who said life is fair?)  Also, if you’re over twenty-one, explore Irish whiskey responsibly.  You’ll appreciate it better, in fact, if you have a clear head, clear from both the alcohol and any cold or flu viruses, in order to appreciate both nose and flavors.

David J. Kosmider, founder of 27Press, was kind enough to point out this little book to me.  At the time he did so, it was one of those KDP Select give-aways, but I waited too long and paid (oh!  The horror of it!) $0.99.  It’s well worth it at that price too.  Maybe not quite the bargain as my YA sci-fi thriller The Secret Lab or detective anthology Pop Two Antacids and Have Some Java, but we’re talking $1 here, folks—let’s not quibble.  The swill sold by Starbucks will set you back more (“swill” is just my opinion, of course—some people like it, both the traditional and the watered-down “blonde” version).  By the way, 10% of all author royalties are donated to non-profit organizations.  What a great idea!

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As a writer, I try to imagine what goes on in my characters’ minds, even the more violent ones.  I come to conclusions at times, partly based on observation, and some can make me uncomfortable.  Here’s an example: I think there’s a common thread connecting an arrogant misogynist to a serial rapist and killer.  This common thread is treating women as objects.

Historically, of course, treating women as objects was the same thing as treating them as property.  Our nation started with neither women nor slaves allowed to vote.  For other purposes (census, taxes, and apportionment, for example), each non-indentured woman counted one unit and slaves counted three-fifths.  Moving farther back in time, we find arranged marriages.  At best, there was the woman and her dowry—at worst, a man’s success was measured by how many women he owned along with his cattle, sheep, or goats.

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(Thomas Wm. Hamilton, The Mountain of Long Eyes, Strategic Book Publishing and Rights Co., 2012, 978-1-62212-028-4)

Depending on how you count them (see below), this anthology contains twenty-seven short stories of science fiction and fantasy.  There are only three fantasy stories, as I classify things, all three entertaining—the title story “The Mountain of Long Eyes,” “The Coming of the American Sun,” and “Red Blood” (the latter perhaps is more like a humorous horror story—I tend to classify anything with vampires or werewolves as fantasy, though).  The remainder, all sci-fi, run the gamut from space opera and alternate history to tongue-in-cheek stories that poke fun at our cultural hang-ups.

This collection is stylistically varied.  This is not uncommon with anthologies because the stories are often written over a long period.  There is some hard science here, mostly astronomy—the author is an ex-astronomer and has an asteroid named after him.  The best stories remind me of the acerbic and wry humor found in many of Phillip K. Dick’s and C. M. Kornbluth’s short stories, but Hamilton’s have settings that are usually more modern.

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[This is a special commentary on the election of the new pope.]

When I was a child I used to naively believe that religion and politics were two different things.  Today it’s almost impossible to believe that.  While Argentines appear to be happy about one of them being selected as pope to more than a billion Catholics, they should tone down their enthusiasm.  In particular, they and Catholics everywhere, as well as those people who left the Church in droves, should be asking:  Why is Timothy Dolan and other right-wing “princes of the Church” smiling?

Dolan not only is smiling.  He said on NBC’s Today, “We got a pope, and we got a darn good one.”  For him and his conservative cardinal buddies, yes, these are probably honest sentiments.  For the rest of us, we should be dubious.  Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now known as Pope Francis, at the very least will most certainly continue the conservative tradition of the Church, dooming it to eventual irrelevancy.  Dolan and his fellow travelers to the Conclave like the first part of that statement and don’t realize that they and their followers will be victims to the second part.

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Sen. Mitch McConnell is unpopular in Kentucky right now.  No, he didn’t bore his constituents with almost thirteen hours of bloviating browbeating like the junior senator from that horsey state.  Mitch doesn’t have the bladder or colon for that.  But his track record is not great.  After promising in 2010 that Obama wouldn’t have a second term, he led the GOP to defeat in 2012, marching like a lemming right behind Romney over that electoral cliff, and, with other GOP leaders, wielding the paintbrush that painted the GOP into a tight ideological corner where they’ll be hard-pressed to escape.  Now, he’s teamed with Boehner to bring the government to its knees, this deadly duo obviously thinking that small government means no government.

The Kentucky electorate is strange.  They support main Southern attractions like the Kentucky Derby in Lexington and the Creation Museum in Petersboro, the former where handsome thoroughbreds are shot if they pull up lame and the latter where Bible lovers can revisit their dinosaur-riding ancestors.  Not quite Disneyworld attractions, but close enough for coal-mining country.  If the mining magnates let them, some Kentuckians could afford to participate in those wonderful, awe-inspiring attractions and feel right at home with their brethren from next-door West Virginia.  Good, hard-working people they are, and they expect their senators to be the same.

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[Steve’s note:  Today we have an interview with Seumas Gallacher, crime fiction writer and master blogger.  His two novels (see below) have enjoyed a lot of success and he has won the Blogger of the Year award.  The following is taken from his blog (http://seumasgallacher.com/about/): Seumas “was born in the cradle of the Govan shipyards in Glasgow in the so-called ‘bad old days’ which were in reality the greatest of days, where everybody was a real character of note.  An early career as a trainee Scottish banker led to a spell in London, where his pretence to be a missionary converting the English locals fell on deaf ears.  Escape to the Far East in 1980 opened up access to cultures and societies on a global scale, eventually bringing the realization that the world is quite simply one large extended village.”  I’m sure you’ll find Seamus to be an interesting fellow.  I look forward to sitting down with him one day to debate the merits of Scotch whiskey v. Irish whiskey…hopefully with sampling.  Contact info for Seumas can be found at the end of this post.]

On Writing:

Steve: Why, how, and when did you start writing?

Seumas: An unfulfilled lifelong ambition just to ‘tick-off’ from the bucket list ‘writing a novel’ kicked in about 4 years ago. Prior to that, I’d dabbled with short story writing, and some teenage angst-riddled poetry, with some more elegant poems later in life. The novel became a crime thriller tale, and led to the next and now #3 is a work-in-progress, with at least another couple to follow—it IS addictive, isn’t it?

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Last Tuesday’s post was a bit heavy on Catholic humor—I’ll admit it.  All churches, synagogues, and other places of worship are often home to well-meaning people who enjoy giving a helping hand to people in need.  The emphasis is on “well-meaning people” and not the actual building, of course.  (In Soldiers of God, for example, one of the main protagonists is a priest who thwarts a terrorist attack by radical Catholics.  I admire people whose faith motivates them to do good deeds.)

No, in line with the interview yesterday, I thought that today I’d stay on the topic of writing and the writing business.  Don’t worry, though.  The title doesn’t mean that I have an old Borders or B&N store to sell you, though they’re generally in great locations for anything from an Apple store to a Victoria Secrets store or S&M store featuring “Fifty Shades literature.”  No, I’m going to write about setting or choosing locales in your writing.

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[Steve’s intro: Our interview today is with sci-fi thriller author Stephen Banks.  I reviewed his debut book Chaos Theories at Bookpleasures and in my Monday, March 4, post.  He has provided the following bio: “When I was in high school, my Career/Guidance counselor looked at my test scores and said, ‘You can do anything.’ Without any clear direction, I tried a little of everything instead. I majored in Theater at Bennington College for a year, dropped out, married my high school sweetheart, and started a family while bouncing between jobs—electrician, auto mechanic, shipyard mechanic and retail manager. Eventually, I started selling PC’s, taught myself programming, and worked my way up to CTO of several small companies.” In his spare time, Stephen acts, directs and writes for a number of community theaters and independent film companies. He lives with his wife and two cats in Atlanta, Georgia.  You can contact him at info@stevebanks.com.  His website isn’t active yet, but you can visit his Amazon page: http://amazon.com/author/stephenhbanks.]

Steve M: What got you started writing this book?

Steve B: It began as a different book entirely. Back in 2000, I was running an IT department and felt the need to do something more creative. I started writing a straightforward thriller about a software developer who shot everyone in his office, then lead a manhunt across country. This was about a year after day-trader Mark Barton went on an office killing spree.  I guess that’s what initially inspired me. The first chapter of that book became the third one in Chaos Theories, except that it was set in Boston, rather than near Seattle.

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One of my favorite classical pieces is Berlioz’ Roman Carnival Overture.  If you have it, you can play it in the background to accompany this post.  I’m writing about what’s going on in Rome–more specifically, the Vatican.  It’s a carnival atmosphere—well, as much a carnival as you can expect from that strange Christian sect, the Roman Catholic Church.  You will find that the light tone of the Berlioz piece is perfect accompaniment to this heathen’s sermon as I mount my rock in Hell to preach secular logic and lore.

The Pope’s retirement party creates several interesting questions, with many subquestions, including:  What do you call him?  Is he still the Pope, or Pope Emeritus, or his ex-Holiness?  Apparently that’s settled.  He’ll still Benedict and will be called Pope Emeritus.  I’d just call him Cardinal Ratzinger and use Pope Emeritus only at formal functions, like we do with old campus deadwood.  His function will be similar—Universal Church instead of University X.

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(Stephen H. Banks, Chaos Theories, CreateSpace, 2013, ISBN: 978-1482023770)

This debut novel is a sci-fi thriller.  It employs intense and suspenseful action, tight plotting, interesting characters, and chaos theory to weave an Aladdin’s magical rug of a story that will leave you breathless once you hop on it.  It is my kind of novel—profound, yet entertaining.

The style, where interludes of quiet beauty are sprinkled with startling violence, reminds me of old Dean Koontz before he detoured into rewriting the Frankenstein myth.  In spite of the title, the mathematics of chaos theory is replaced by a more philosophical treatment.  The butterfly scene with Tali, a precocious two-year-old who intuitively understands how probability and stochastic processes continuously reshape our world, reminds me of the butterflies in Cien Años de Soledad.  In fact, Tali is the fountain of magical realism in this book, although she’s not the main character.

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