“The Inspector Skelgill Series.” Bruce Beckham, author. As I continue my binge-reading of British-style mysteries, I came to this sixteen-book series (and counting?). Daniel Skelgill prefers fishing and running around the Cumbrian Lake Region of merry olde England to sleuthing, but doesn’t hesitate to travel to London, Scotland, or even Ukraine, to nick criminals who have committed murder most fowl. I identify with him a lot—not because I’m a fit fellow like he is (I have a few years on him), but because I’m an old curmudgeon too! These mystery/crime stories (police procedurals is another name) are well written once you get past the local slang, although the description of the angler’s activities and the Cumbrian countryside can seem a bit overdone at times.

One rather amusing novel, Murder on the Lake, finds Skelgill fishing when a storm pops up and a young woman calls out to him from the shore of the island where he’s heading. A murder has occurred at a retreat for publishers, agents, and writers, established or wannabes. Because of the storm, Skelgill stays the night at the island resort (not your Caribbean resort, mind you—amenities have disappeared because of the storm). Another person dies under mysterious circumstances overnight—Skelgill’s sleuth-senses go into overdrive, especially because is rowboat has been set adrift that same night, trapping all participants and Skelgill on the island. The rest of the novel allows the reader to peek into and understand some of the strange publishing world while the intuitive inspector and his DS team solve the murder cases.

This isn’t the best British-style mystery series I’ve read, but it’s quite entertaining with enough twists and turns in the plots and many interesting characters, including the complex Skelgill and his two DSs who work with him. The many trips from Cumbria to London and Edinburgh, with their characteristic customs and idiomatic expressions, allow one to appreciate the complexity of the small island off the European continent that has had so much historical importance.

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Comments are always welcome.

Sleuthing, British Style. This is my fourth published short story collection (ignoring the ones you can download for free—see my “Free Stuff & Contests” web page). The three stories here involve newly minted DS Logan Blake, who leaves his DC position with Scotland Yard for his new DS position in a police substation west of Oxford, hoping the English countryside will provide a more peaceful policing experience. Unfortunately, he immediately must deal with three different murders. But there’s a romantic perk that makes this hard initiation much more bearable!

Besides the stories, this is an homage to the inimitable Dame Agatha, who started it all; an introduction to the particular vernacular of British-style mysteries (there’s a list of English words and phrases); and a list of series like the one above I’ve binge-read. This little ebook is available most everywhere fine ebooks are sold. (Note to authors: This was an experiment in using Draft2Digital for self-publishing. Like Smashwords, D2D distributes to multiple retailers, but fewer than Smashwords. Unlike Smashwords, distributes to Amazon. Authors now have two choices.)

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

We have a representative democracy. The only effective, legal way to let our representatives know how they should be running our country is by voting. Those who represent us well should be voted in. Those who don’t should be voted out. It’s as simple as that.

If you don’t vote, you are dissing that sacred trust and helping to kill democracy in America. So please vote. It’s late for mail-ins, but if you have a ballot, fill it out, and put it in the nearest drop-box. If you plan to vote in person, do so…but safely by wearing a mask. Tomorrow is Election Day! (In case you didn’t know.)

Because of the election, there are no other posts this week. The next one will be Wednesday, November 11, which is Veterans’ Day. Irrespective of political proclivities, let’s remember all those who have defended our country…and allowed us to continue as a democracy when the forces of evil in the world try to destroy us.

[Note from Steve: I’d originally scheduled this for next Wednesday, but that would be anti-climactic, right? Also, Halloween is tomorrow. Your best plan is to skip it this year–some towns have cancelled their festivities, and with reason–but, whatever you do, be safe doing it. Protect your fellow human beings!]

Front Row at the Trump Show. Jonathan Karl, author (Dutton). This isn’t the best anti-Trump vaccine there is; Cohen’s wins that prize (recommended reading for anyone wanting to understand Trump’s crazy mafia and its Don). But Karl’s book takes a look at the sociopathic man from the media’s point of view, that fourth branch of the American political scene that the wannabe autocrat calls “the enemy of the people” (just like any autocrat of the last century, or this one).

What any intelligent reader can conclude here is that the media helped create the monster. Trump took off in 2015 because he became the media’s story many times. No one believed he was a serious contender for even the nomination, let alone the presidency. While their fascination was more akin to little kids’ as they laugh at the antics of a caged monkey in a zoo, Trump was really the lumbering and vicious caged and knuckle-dragging silverback…and they set him loose. (That’s insulting our simian friends, of course.)

In a sense, this is Karl’s memoire, and it’s basically intertwined with Trump, starting out when the reporter tried to interview Michael Jackson and his new wife, who were hiding out in the Trump tower (that glitzy building received its due in A.B. Carolan’s futuristic novel Mind Games—Trump skipped several floor numbers, by the way, so that it would appear taller). The book is a major reporter’s view of that crazy, incompetent Trump administration, so there are some insights to be had. It almost seems that Karl is the moth attracted to that evil flame, though, so who knows what will become of him in the days and decades AT (“After Trump”). I particularly like the portrait of Sean Spicer, but Trump has hired many incompetents, and fired many who showed some competence too. Maybe there’s not enough of that here.

So yawn, another book about Trump? Hopefully on November 3 or soon after, we have a good idea if America came to its senses and booted the worst US president ever out on his butt. If not, I might have to spend the next four years taunting and blasting him every way I can. Hopefully the parallel with 1930s Germany (Hitler loaded the courts in 1933 and Kristallnacht occurred on November 9 and 10 in 1938) will have fizzled and we’ll be safe with Joe Biden. If not, we should all be dedicated to make Trump wish he had never run for president…and that should include the media.

But, returning to Karl’s book, except for the insights into the media’s complicity and knocking how the Trump staff treats the media, there’s not much new here. It seems that everyone is writing a book about Trump these days. Like Woodward’s, Bolten’s, and the niece’s, this is one that you don’t need to read because if you find a lot here you didn’t already know, you haven’t been paying attention. Read Paul Krugman’s book instead and learn some economics theory, in particular how Trump is ruining the American economy. You’ll be far ahead of Trump who knows zero about business, let alone economics! Of course, he tweets a lot more than he reads. Maybe he can do flash fiction after he loses the election?

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Comments are always welcome!

Death on the Danube. At the end of Son of Thunder, #2 in the “Esther Brookstone Art Detective” series, ex-MI6 agent and ex-Scotland Yard inspector Esther Brookstone and Interpol agent Bastiann van Coevorden finally say their I-do’s. At the beginning of this new novel, #3 in the series, they embark on their honeymoon cruise down the romantic Danube.

When a strange passenger who is traveling alone is murdered, Bastiann takes over the investigation because the river was declared international waters in the Treaty of Paris. Who really is this gaunt victim? And who on the list of passengers and crewmembers is the assassin? Mystery, thrills, suspense, and romance await readers who join them in their journey. You can’t take this trip now because of COVID, but you can join them in spirit. Available in ebook and print format at Amazon, and in all ebook formats at Smashwords and its affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo and Walmart, etc.) and affiliated library and lending services (Scribd, Overdrive, Baker & Taylor, Gardner, etc.). Click to see the book trailer.

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

I’m not one who feels compelled to go to Starbucks for my sugary fix of a dipsy-doodle-whatever latte. First, I hate Starbucks—anything there tastes like I imagine burnt cow pucks might taste (all the sugar is to hide that taste). Second, I make great coffee, thank you—pure Colombian, flavorful, mellow, and satisfying. And third, I need my coffee to start my writing day, but I’m not going to dress up to appear at Starbucks along with bleary eyed addicts who shouldn’t even be driving because they’re half-asleep; and I won’t go there in my PJs either, as some are wont to do.

I sometimes have coffee at night too, especially when we have friends over for dinner (rare nowadays)—coffee after a good meal seems to stimulate conversation. But at night, I usually choose between tea or whiskey. I developed this habit once I was back in the USA; tea and whiskey in Colombia were too expensive (I’m not sure that’s still true), and there was certainly plenty of good Colombian coffee available down there! Yet tea and whiskey might just be in my genes. I’m only half-Irish by descent, but both drinks are civilized companions for a good PBS mystery or nature show or reading, which I mostly do. (Tea is appropriate for binge-reading British-style mysteries, for example, and I think Brits occasionally imbibe Irish whiskey more than they do Guinness). My preferred whiskey is Jameson—Irish whiskey, of course, that thrice-distilled elixir without the smoky burn of the twice-distilled Scottish aged in dirty old barrels (that reminds me of Starbucks’ coffee!), or the biting blast of once-distilled raw bourbon.

All of this is done in moderation, more so as I age. Too much coffee, and I can become as angry as any evangelical Trump supporter; too much tea, and my bladder becomes hyperactive; and too much whiskey will haunt me in the morning, requiring more coffee! The Goldilocks Principle applies here too: Just the right amount of each one is needed to file off the rough edges of life.

What are you choices? If you’re a reader, what accompanies your page-turning (or Kindle page flip)? If you’re a writer, do you need any liquid inspiration?

And now to end on perhaps a sad note (although some readers will jump up and down with joy): I’m going to dedicate a bit more time to writing, publishing, and promoting my stories. While this journalistic exercise of posting three blog articles per week is also writing (I’ve always felt it’s a good exercise for anyone who wants to be a minimalist writer who makes her or his point succinctly), everyone must realize that it takes an immense amount of time. In fact, I don’t know how writers with a full-time day job can do it, along with social media and other required writing that intrudes on storytelling. I could only do it by neglecting my storytelling.

So…as of November 1, I will post only one article per week. I’ve already ended my op-ed series (again, some will jump for joy), because next week some people will be voting (many already have). This blog pales in importance to the democratic duty we all share in voting for our chosen candidates. There’s nothing more important for a healthy democracy. Our leaders represent our will (although many of them avoid that), and that will can only be expressed by voting.

Of course, this blog also might have some entertainment value for my readers. I will keep that in mind as I reduce the number of posts and strive to make them more entertaining, but they’ll be focused on reading, writing, and the publishing business.

***

Comments are always welcome!

Origins: The Denisovan Trilogy, Book One. Kayla Jones has dreams she can’t understand. Her future seems determined as the brilliant STEM student looks forward to a research career, but her past gets in the way. As if the chaos afflicting the world and leading to her adopted father’s death wasn’t enough, killers begin to pursue her. With some friends who come to her aid, she begins to discover a conspiracy that can be traced to prehistoric battles between hominins bent on conquest of their world. Coming as soon as possible from A.B. Carolan!

And to tide you over until this new novel is published, please try A.B.’s other three YA novels, now on sale through December 31, 2020 at Smashwords. These three YA sci-fi mysteries, Secret Lab, The Secret of the Urns, and Mind Games will take you from the near to the far future, all set in my sci-fi universe mapped out in “The Chaos Chronicles Trilogy” and other stories. They will provide many hours of reading pleasure for young adult readers and those adult readers who are young at heart.

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

Murder at the Mill. Irina Shapiro, author (Merlin Press). This is #3 in the “Redmond and Haze Mysteries.” Set after the US Civil War when war-weary Captain Redmond, a medical doctor who tended to wounded soldiers, finds he’s inherit property north of London (Oxfordshire?) and becomes an ex-pat and duke to enjoy it, Redmond enjoys an idyllic existence punctuated by crime-solving with young and newly minted Inspector Haze (Redmond has become the pathologist doctor in this novel), but that existence is sorely perturbed by the arrival of his ex-fiance. She tossed him aside when he was stuck in a CSA prison, but she’s now lost a husband and intends to get Redmond back at tll cost. Will he succumb to her advances? Not if his new love, the vicar’s daughter, has anything to say about it!

Of course, a murder occurs that calls Redmond and Haze back into action, complicating all the romantic intrigue. This is where the author creates a Poe-like dark tale of murder most fowl, where the victim is a lowlife who has done fowl deeds himself. The reader won’t know whom deserves their sympathies, the victim or his killers! In other words, the author explores the darkness in men’s souls, the universal evil that has haunted humanity since Cain and Abel.

Highly recommended. Although the author isn’t British, these novels are written like other British-style mysteries, and they’re historical fiction well worthy of the time-traveling trek back to 1860’s England. You can read all the novels independently. And,  by the way, I read the first two books in the series—they’re also great reads—so you can binge-read the entire series. #4 is on pre-order now at Amazon.

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Comments are always welcome.

Origins: The Denisovan Trilogy, Book One. Kayla Jones has dreams she can’t understand. Her future seems determined as the brilliant STEM student looks forward to a research career, but her past gets in the way. As if the chaos afflicting the world and leading to her adopted father’s death wasn’t enough, killers begin to pursue her. With some friends who come to her aid, she begins to discover a conspiracy that can be traced to prehistoric battles between hominins bent on conquest of their world. Coming as soon as possible from A.B. Carolan!

And to tide you over until this new novel is published, please try A.B.’s other three YA novels, now on sale through December 31, 2020 at Smashwords. These three YA sci-fi mysteries, Secret Lab, The Secret of the Urns, and Mind Games will take you from the near to the far future, all set in my sci-fi universe mapped out in “The Chaos Chronicles Trilogy” and other stories. They will provide many hours of reading pleasure for young adult readers and those adult readers who are young at heart.

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

The US is a huge country, and that tends to make Americans a bit insular and more concerned about what’s happening in their own country. This spinning orb in space that’s our home is much bigger, of course, so others’ successes and problems are really ours too. As all avid readers know, those who travel hither and yon in their reading, the world’s more connected every day.

That connection isn’t necessarily physical—the internet extends it to the far corners of the globe—but my auspicious meetup with Alsandair Breandan Carolan at Blarney Castle was (see the pic on my website’s bio page). While my wife was busy kissing that famous stone there, A.B. and I had a chin wag about literature for young adults, often simply called YA (he hastened to point out that it’s also for adults who are young at heart!). We found we shared a common motivation: To write stories young adults can relate to, tales with smart, young women and men who have exciting adventures that help them enter the strange world of adults.

I convinced A.B. that there’s also a need to focus on young women. I’d too often heard, “Young girls can’t do math and science,” or worse, “Young girls should only aspire to find a husband and have children.” I’m sorry, but for me both sound like something a Taliban fanatic might say. Men put down women all the time here and elsewhere, of course, not just in Afghanistan, but such an attitude isn’t helpful when there are so many scientific and technical—and yes, cultural—problems that need solving. Or maybe such statements (made by women as well as men, mind you) come from people who ignore the world’s problems?

That’s segue to another topic of discussion A.B. and I had. We want to write YA stories that treat serious themes. Most of my books do that, and A.B. agreed that paying attention to them could only make the tale more meaningful. As little Greta Thunberg is showing (she’s considered an enemy by Mr. Trump), idealistic, young adults can make a huge difference! If we can make more activists like her (boys should sign up too!), our stories can help the world. So Shashibala Garcia (The Secret Lab), Asako Kobayashi (The Secret of the Urns), and Della Dos Toros (Mind Games) aren’t only smart, young women, they battle against tremendous odds to do extraordinary things. Kayla Jones in the “Denisovan Trilogy” is cut from the same cloth. (The first book Origins is finished—Lord knows when A.B. will get it published—and the second is a work-in-progress.)

So…where is A.B. now? He was already a bit of a shy recluse like many authors, but, like me, has become even more reclusive with the pandemic going on, spending a lot of time reading and writing there across the pond in Donegal, Ireland. Eire isn’t immune to COVID, of course, and Europe is experiencing a surge just like the US is as I write this article. Now people in Donegal have even more reason to think A.B. is a leprechaun, believing he’s just hiding somewhere and guarding a pot of gold he doesn’t have. But, as he’s listening to the music of that famous Irish bard and harpist, Turlough O’Carolan (A.B. thinks they might be related), he’s churning out new manuscripts containing stories for young adult and those adults who are young at heart.

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Comments are always welcome.

Origins: The Denisovan Trilogy, Book One. Kayla Jones has dreams she can’t understand. Her future seems determined as the brilliant STEM student looks forward to a research career, but her past gets in the way. As if the chaos afflicting the world and leading to her adopted father’s death wasn’t enough, killers begin to pursue her. With some friends who come to her aid, she begins to discover a conspiracy that can be traced to prehistoric battles between hominins bent on conquest of their world. Coming as soon as possible from A.B. Carolan!

And to tide you over until this new novel is published, please try A.B.’s other three YA novels, now on sale at 50% off through December 31, 2020 at Smashwords. These three YA sci-fi mysteries, Secret Lab, The Secret of the Urns, and Mind Games will take you from the near to the far future, all set in my sci-fi universe mapped out in “The Chaos Chronicles Trilogy” and other stories. They will provide many hours of reading pleasure for young adult readers and those adult readers who are young at heart.

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

I’m generally pessimistic and compensate for that personal flaw in my writing. I’d generally be depressed now if it weren’t for reading and writing. Politics depress me—every day there’s another abuse of power, usually orchestrated by Trump or one of his minions, and that tells me the slide into fascism continues. People depress me—I’ve lost faith in human beings, especially those fools who don’t recognize that Trump and the #GoodOlePiranhas are destroying everything good in America. Religion depresses me—maybe I’m just naïve, but right-wing Jews, Protestants, and Catholics might as well be the Devil’s servants, they’re so immoral and ready to take away other people’s rights.

Of course, COVID-19 is what depresses me most. Absent this pandemic, the haters, bigots, racists, and faux-spiritual leaders would crawl back under their slimy rocks, taking their leaders with them, to let the good in humanity shine brightly once again. The pandemic is akin to Pandora’s box, unleashing evils upon the world.

As I stated, reading and writing save me. Network TV, excepting PBS, has been reduced to reality and game shows, news reduced to sound bites, the first reminding me of how Trump treats governing and the second about human stupidity. We don’t have streaming video at home (everything there seems horribly in bad taste) nor a video game box (talk about mind-numbing plot lines!). But there are many books to read. There are whole series of Brit-style mysteries, for example (I’m now learning a bit of Cumbrian dialect reading one), and, during the last few months, I’ve been able to read a book per day at times (picking up a lot of other British slang in the process).

Writing? I only published two new books this year (they’re 50% off right now for my email newsletter subscribers), so you might think I’m slowing down. The key word here is “published.” I cut ties with my two small-press publishers for reasons I prefer not to dwell on here (it takes someone like Trump and his manic followers to make me burn bridges!), so I’ve been spinning around a bit on the publishing end. One MS left over from Penmore Press, Death on the Danube (#3 in the “Esther Brookstone Art Detective” series), has been released by Carrick Publishing (thanks Donna!), and they also published the sci-fi rom-com, A Time Traveler’s Guide through the Multiverse. I have another orphan left over from Black Opal Books, the sequel to The Last Humans, and a pile of new MSs more or less ready to go. So I’m not slowing down in the writing! I just haven’t published that much.

Yes, reading and writing have been two excellent psychs who have kept my depression at bay! What do you do to get through these COVID days? Cheer up. This hellish year 2020 will soon be over!

***

Comments are always welcome!

Death on the Danube. At the end of Son of Thunder, #2 in the “Esther Brookstone Art Detective” series, ex-MI6 agent and ex-Scotland Yard inspector Esther Brookstone and Interpol agent Bastiann van Coevorden finally say their I-do’s. At the beginning of this new novel, #3 in the series, they embark on their honeymoon cruise down the romantic Danube. When a strange passenger who is traveling alone is murdered, Bastiann takes over the investigation because the river was declared international waters in the Treaty of Paris. Who really is this gaunt victim? And who on the list of passengers and crewmembers is the assassin? Mystery, thrills, suspense, and romance await readers who join them in their journey. You can’t take this trip now because of COVID, but you can join them in spirit. Available in ebook and print format at Amazon, and in all ebook formats at Smashwords and its affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo and Walmart, etc.) and affiliated library and lending services (Scribd, Overdrive, Baker & Taylor, Gardner, etc.). Click to see the book trailer.

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

I haven’t written a new Chen and Castilblanco mystery/crime/thriller novel for years (the last, Gaia and the Goliaths, was published in 2017). The detectives were still alive and kicking in the last novel, Chen and husband Eric Kumala with a new baby and Castilblanco and wife Pam Stuart with two adopted children. Was that an appropriate way to end the series? I thought it might be a positive way to do that, a life-goes-on message where Dao-Ming Chen mellows out as a new mom and Rollie Castilblanco does his part to hold his family together, something very important to Hispanics (the two adopted kids are relatives).

In the novella “The Phantom Harvester” (a free download—see the web page “Free Stuff & Contests”), the reader can discover whether Castilblanco’s children follow the old detective into law enforcement careers. And in The Golden Years of Virginia Morgan, Castilblanco had more than just a cameo as he helps DHS agent Ashley Scott with her problems. He also has a few cameos in the first three books of the “Esther Brookstone Art Detective” series, including its recent addition, Death on the Danube, and Chen will have one in #4 (untitled as yet, although a preview is contained at the end of Death on the Danube).

Not long ago in these pages, I wrote about how an author must realize when a series should end. I can understand why some, even famous writers, can’t help themselves. (Baldacci, Child, Connelly, Deaver, Gerritsen, and others come to mind; Grafton was the worst; and Patterson just started writing everything else, including writing children’s books, all bad, abandoning Alex Cross. Oh, and let’s not forget that Pendergast series! Of course, the fault might not lie with these authors. Their publishers, the greedy bastards, prod the old mares and stallions in their stables, failing to realize that their prodding nearly guarantees formulaic stories from them.)

I wanted to avoid forcing another Chen and Castilblanco novel. My stories are often theme-based; many of the Chen and Castilblanco novels have more than one important them weaving through and around the plot. As much as I love Brit-style mysteries, their themes, if any exist, aren’t earth-shaking, especially when they border on cozies. Again, as much as I like Brit-style mysteries for my COVID reading, my mystery/crime/thriller stories are more complex—I don’t do simple! I want readers to think about those themes. I don’t see literature as escapism from the problems in the world.

I get that readers become attached to principal characters in a series—that’s the biggest reason why series exist! But authors fall into that trap too. If I never write another Chen and Castilblanco novel, they will still live on, maybe acquiring a bit of immortality I cannot have. That’s both sad and uplifting. Of course, in a thousand years, no one will care about any of today’s authors or their characters!

Maybe I’ll bring Chen and Castilblanco back. Until I do, you can binge-read the entire series of seven books. They’re evergreen in the sense that they’re as fresh as the day I published them, treating those important themes and filling them with twists and turns that might leave you head spinning. If these were the only books I’d written, I’d still be completely satisfied with my oeuvre. Happy reading!

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Comments are always welcome!

Binge on the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco” Series. The cases these two NYPD homicide detectives start with in the Big Apple but often take on national and international ramifications. In The Midas Bomb, they face a conspiracy involving a Wall Street swindler and terrorism. In Angels Need Not Apply, the murder of an FBI agent’s son leads to battles with a cartel, militia, and al Qaeda. In Teeter-Totter between Lust and Murder, Castilblanco’s attempts toward proving Chen innocent of murder leads to a group intent on overthrowing the US government, all financed by the illegal gun trade. Aristocrats and Assassins finds Castilblanco and his wife on vacation in Europe, his idyllic time there destroyed by yet another terrorist who’s kidnapping members of Europe’s royal families. The Collector has the two detectives fighting human traffickers where some of their victims are forced to work in porn and snuff videos, all financed by stolen artworks. In Family Affairs, Castilblanco’s own family is threatened, but both he and Chen are on their way to becoming parents. And Gaia and the Goliaths explores environmental issues and how fossil fuel companies, including Russia’s, will do anything to preserve their hegemony. All these novels are available wherever quality ebooks are sold.

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

I have a list of bad books, so I thought I’d end this series with my political dirty dozen. Some of these are up for election etc. Let’s hope voters and followers disavow them and stop them from ruining our democracy. Most belong in jail and certainly will meet their Maker as ultimate Judge (not Amy because she’s in the list), and they won’t like the sentence He gives them. They are listed in the order of those closest to the Devil to ones who are possibly innocent but at least commit the sin of being stupid and doing damage with their stupidity. In other words, all of them are dangerous for America and the world.

The Dirty Dozen:

President Donald J. Trump

Senator Mitch McConnell

Senator Lindsey Graham

Evangelical Franklin Graham

Judge Amy Coney Barrett

Senator Rand Paul

Representative Jim Jordan

Representative Matt Gaetz

Senator Tom Cotton

Senator John Kennedy

Justice Samuel Alito

Justice Clarence Thomas

Of course, there are other possibilities. For example, between hypocritical evangelicals Franklin Graham and VP Mike Pence (the fly was sent by RBG, I’m sure, as a reminder to him that he’s a hypocrite and full of…you fill in the word), it’s kind of a toss-up about who does the most damage; let’s just say that I wish Kamala could prosecute Franklin as well to show the world what a Nazi he is. Pence’s puppet strings are fully in Trump’s hands, as that one debate showed; Graham might do more damage, though, as the evangelical leader of the hypocritical hordes.

Cult member Judge Amy is Catholic but cut from the same cloth as the evangelicals (she might not believe the pope is the anti-Christ, though, just this “liberal pope”). Her position in this list is subject to change. Consistent with her cult-member status, she’ll go after women’s rights—after all, right-wing Catholics and evangelicals are violently in agreement that women are the property of men and have no rights, and that same-sex marriage is an aberration. Amy would also willingly overturn the ACA—she’s on record for that, and, no matter what she says, her opinions won’t change—and thus she’ll kill essential healthcare for millions. She’ll probably vote against many other rights we’ve worked so hard to obtain as well.

Of course, the orange-skinned Devil with the three-ply hair foldover is number one on this list. I’ve given you ample evidence for that in these pages. The sociopathic @realDonaldTrump is a danger to this nation and the world! He should be tried for crimes against humanity because he’s a mass murderer: Tens of thousands of people have unnecessarily died from COVID because of his mismanagement of the crisis; many more will do so unless we stop him…and the others on this list.

If you don’t know who all these people are, you’re part of the problem and shouldn’t be allowed to vote! They are all out to turn America into a fascist state run by their Hitler surrogate, Donald J. Trump. They are truly the Angels of Darkness leading the hordes of zombies against American democracy.

Does your list of dirty dozen differ from mine? Should I expand the list and call it “The Misfortune 500”? Perhaps I should just save some time by stating that anyone with proclivities toward supporting the Good Ole Piranhas is likely a danger for America and the world too? Many of you have already voted. I hope you voted wisely.

In any case, thank you for reading these Op-Ed Pages. This is the last post of this type before November 3 (I might have to return to them if Narcissus le Grand wins). If you haven’t voted, please do so. Democracy is on the ballot this year. A vote for Trump is a vote for fascism!

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Comments are always welcome.

Death on the Danube. At the end of Son of Thunder, #2 in the “Esther Brookstone Art Detective” series, ex-MI6 agent and ex-Scotland Yard inspector Esther Brookstone and Interpol agent Bastiann van Coevorden finally say their I-do’s. At the beginning of this new novel, #3 in the series, they embark on their honeymoon cruise down the romantic Danube. When a strange passenger who is traveling alone is murdered, Bastiann takes over the investigation because the river was declared international waters in the Treaty of Paris. Who really is this gaunt victim? And who on the list of passengers and crewmembers is the assassin? Mystery, thrills, suspense, and romance await readers who join them in their journey. You can’t take this trip now because of COVID, but you can join them in spirit. Available in ebook and print format at Amazon, and in all ebook formats at Smashwords and its affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo and Walmart, etc.) and affiliated library and lending services (Scribd, Overdrive, Baker & Taylor, Gardner, etc.). Click to see the book trailer.

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

This isn’t a travel blog, but I thought you, my readers, might enjoy a bit of distraction from the 2020 election’s bitter partisan battles by seeing descriptions of the Danube river ports featured in Death on the Danube, my new novel. Of course, you can read about how my main characters Esther Brookstone ad Bastiann van Coevorden react to them in the book, but this will give you a preview of what to expect…and maybe help plan your own riverboat tour?

I used several references to make these descriptions, too many to list here. Like an honest high school student writing a report, they were only used in spirit, rewritten but sticking to the facts, as I edited them in such a way to fit into the narrative in the story. (If you’re a high school teacher—I respect you all, especially now—you can use your software to check me.) Some focus on the sites, others on the history (particularly the one for Budapest). Enjoy.

Vilshofen, the largest town in Germany’s Passau district, has a history going back to at least the year 776, with twelfth-century documents showing its current name. With flooding from the river a constant problem, they began to construct dams in 1957. A new bridge was finished in 2002, and Vilshofen became a popular port for passengers beginning or ending their riverboat cruises on the Danube. Today visitors are attracted to the town not only for its old world charm, but also as being an excellent place for art, museum, and festival lovers.

Passau is a town in lower Bavaria near Germany’s border with Austria; it’s also known as the “City of Three Rivers” because the Danube is joined there by the Inn from the south and the Ils from the north. It was once an ancient Roman colony, but today it’s the last stop before Linz for riverboats cruising downriver.

Linz is the capital of Upper Austria and where the Traun flows into the Danube. It’s the third-largest city in Austria and the center for Austrian steel and chemical production. It’s in the country’s north-central region, approximately nineteen miles south of the Czech Republic’s border, and it spans the Danube. Long before it became one of Hitler’s “Führer Cities” and the proposed site for his new art museum (he spent nine years of his childhood there), Mozart spent a productive four days there composing the famous Symphony in C Major, now named to honor the city.

The Danube valley between the towns of Melk and Krems in lower Austria is called the Wachau. The river flows north-northeast from Melk to Dürnstein, curving southeast and then east past the city of Krems. In the Wachau, the town of Spitz lies on the Danube’s western bank and the town of Melk on its eastern bank. The whole valley is known for its vineyards and other agricultural products, particularly apricots.

Vienna isn’t typically Austrian; it’s as cosmopolitan as London and Paris. It’s the capital of Austria and its largest city, containing nearly one third of the country’s population. It has the sixth-largest population within city limits among EU cities. Until the beginning of the twentieth century, it was the largest German-speaking city in the world. Today, it’s the second-largest German-speaking city after Berlin, and is still a cultural center reflecting its rich history as the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, where many composers and artists became famous…and where modern psychoanalysis began with Freud.

Bratislava is Slovakia’s capital. It is one of Europe’s smaller capitals but still the country’s largest city. Bratislava occupies both banks of the Danube and the left bank of the Morava. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two countries. The languages of the Czech Republic and Slovakia are similar, and many citizens in one country have relatives in the other.

Even under Soviet rule, Budapest always leaned toward the West. It is the capital and most populous city of Hungary, as well as the ninth-largest city in the EU by population within city limits. Its eclectic mix of past glories and future promises often seem at odds.  Evidence of the bloody 1956 revolution still remains. The revolt started as a student protest, which attracted thousands as they marched through the city’s center and to the Parliament building overlooking the Danube, attracting more protesters by using a van with loudspeakers. A student delegation tried to broadcast demands and was detained. When the delegation’s release was demanded by protesters outside, they were fired upon from within the building by the Federal Police. One student died and was wrapped in a flag and held above the crowd. As news of protests and fighting spread, disorder and violence gripped the capital…until Soviet soldiers and tanks moved in to stop it…but they only added to it over several days.

Esther visited other places that aren’t Danube ports-of-call; they’re on side tours taken when your riverboat docks at these ports. And you will have to take a side tour to read the novel to experience them through their eyes…or sign up for a riverboat tour in the future!

[Description of figures, from top to bottom: #1 is Passau; #2 is the Lake District near Linz; #3 is the Wachau Valley; #4 is Schonbrunn Castle in Vienna; #5 is Bratislava; and #6 is the Parliament Building in Budapest. All photos copyright, Steven M. Moore.]

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Comments are always welcome.

Death on the Danube. At the end of Son of Thunder, #2 in the “Esther Brookstone Art Detective” series, ex-MI6 agent and ex-Scotland Yard inspector Esther Brookstone and Interpol agent Bastiann van Coevorden finally say their I-do’s. At the beginning of this new novel, #3 in the series, they embark on their honeymoon cruise down the romantic Danube. When a strange passenger who is traveling alone is murdered, Bastiann takes over the investigation because the river was declared international waters in the Treaty of Paris. Who really is this gaunt victim? And who on the list of passengers and crewmembers is the assassin? Mystery, thrills, suspense, and romance await readers who join them in their journey. You can’t take this trip now because of COVID, but you can join them in spirit. Available in ebook and print format at Amazon, and in all ebook formats at Smashwords and its affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo and Walmart, etc.) and affiliated library and lending services (Scribd, Overdrive, Baker & Taylor, Gardner, etc.). Click to see the book trailer.

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!