Jean-Paul Sartre is sitting at a French café, revising his draft of Being and Nothingness. He says to the waitress, “I’d like a cup of coffee, please, with no cream.” The waitress replies, “I’m sorry, Monsieur, but we’re out of cream. How about with no milk?”

***

Rogue Planet is now available for all reviewers on Net Galley.

The Golden Years of Virginia Morgan.  This novel, which is a bridge between the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series” and the “Clones and Mutants Trilogy,” considers the following question: how will the U.S. government in the future handle all those old people with classified secrets in their head?  This is just a Smashwords sale.  The book will be priced at $0.99 until June 1, reduced from $2.99.  The coupon code is MP45S (type that in when you order—be sure and specify the format you want).  Pass the word to your relatives and friends.

In libris libertas….

Zuckerberg’s $100 million to Newark schools, David Geffen’s $100 million to change Avery Fisher Hall’s name to his own, the Carnegie Foundation’s backing of PBS, Bill Gates’s attack on tropical diseases, and so forth all bother me because these “charitable works” are either blatant PR or trips to the public confessional to repent for sins committed.  This isn’t an “exclusive or” either, because a public mea culpa is both good for PR and repentance.

Most billionaires have left a lot of bodies in their wake as they cruise to riches.  Maybe some aren’t perfect sociopaths and occasionally feel guilt, so they throw a few alms (what the above amounts to) to feel better about themselves.  But super-inflated egos won’t let them do that anonymously—they have to derive PR benefit and public acclaim for their beneficence.  You can check out the bios of all the people I’ve mentioned.  They all have skeletons in their closets.

A local news item illustrates how this sickness has permeated our society.  Recently a woman in the NYC area was asked to sign a prenuptial by her future husband.  She refused, but she didn’t cancel the lavish reception.  Instead, she collaborated with the Salvation Army to select “deserving people” to attend a sumptuous luncheon.  I don’t denigrate those people chosen by her and the Salvation Army who attended.  Hell no!  But the woman reveled in the positive PR and the local media cooperated.  Why not cancel the event and donate the money anonymously to charity?  Just to stick it to the man who demanded the prenuptial?  OMG isn’t strong enough.  This is sicko.

I can’t complain about people who donate to worthwhile causes, but I will complain about people who want public recognition for it.  No matter the size of the donation, am I the only one who thinks that this is buying notoriety?  Americans are the most charitable people on the planet.  They donate and work for good causes.  Most of us do so without expecting anything in return.  Those who feel the need for recognition are warped.  Humility is a virtue that’s disappearing too fast.  Like most virtues, it’s often stealthily attacked by moneyed interests.  It’s so bad that I often ask myself, “What’s the agenda?”  Maybe I’m warped too by asking that.  Dunno.

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Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 p.m. Please use the back door. (Seen in a church bulletin.)

***

Rogue Planet is now available for all reviewers on Net Galley.

The Golden Years of Virginia Morgan. This novel, which is a bridge between the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series” and the “Clones and Mutants Trilogy,” considers the following question: how will the U.S. government in the future handle all those old people with classified secrets in their head? This is just a Smashwords sale. The book will be priced at $0.99 until June 1, reduced from $2.99. The coupon code is MP45S (type that in when you order—be sure and specify the format you want). Pass the word to your relatives and friends.

In libris libertas…

Slow down and save your breath.  Don’t be a clown and race with Death.

***

The Golden Years of Virginia Morgan.  This novel, which is a bridge between the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series” and the “Clones and Mutants Trilogy,” considers the following question: how will the U.S. government in the future handle all those old people with classified secrets in their head?  This is just a Smashwords sale.  The book will be priced at $0.99 until June 1, reduced from $2.99.  The coupon code is MP45S (type that in when you order—be sure and specify the format you want).  Pass the word to your relatives and friends.

In libris libertas….

Respect your peers and make new friends.  Shared tears and beers is how love begins.

***

May Day Sale.  It continues this week.  Mary Jo Melendez invites you to a Kindle Countdown Sale.  Her stories, Muddlin’ Through and Silicon Slummin’…and Just Gettin’ By, will be on sale through May 6, $0.99 each, reduced from $2.99.  That’s a lot of spring and summer reading for only $2.  Want more summer reading?  Check out my catalog: here’s my Amazon page.  Three more series, twenty more recent books, all save one for $3.99 or less, including my new sci-fi/fantasy novel, Rogue Planet, for $2.99.  What are you waiting for?

In libris libertas….

A Buddhist monk approaches a hotdog stand and says, “Make me one with everything.”  (Apologies to my Detective Castilblanco, who became a Buddhist.)

***

May Day Sale.  Mary Jo Melendez invites you to a Kindle Countdown Sale.  Her stories, Muddlin’ Through and Silicon Slummin’…and Just Gettin’ By, will be on sale from April 29 through May 6, $0.99 each, reduced from $2.99.  That’s a lot of spring and summer reading for only $2.

The human race may starve, but at least it will be GMO-free.

***

May Day Sale.  Mary Jo Melendez invites you to a Kindle Countdown Sale.  Her stories, Muddlin’ Through and Silicon Slummin’…and Just Gettin’ By, will be on sale from April 29 through May 6, $0.99 each, reduced from $2.99.  That’s a lot of spring and summer reading for only $2.

HAPPY TAX DAY!

This is the way the world ends: thinking the enemies of our enemies are our friends.

***

With two attacks on the World Trade Center, Oklahoma City, the Boston Marathon bombing, San Bernardino, and many other cases of attempted terrorist acts, it’s clear that terrorism is becoming part of our lives.  Many terrorists are religious fanatics.  How will our nation handle more sophisticated attacks by many terrorists like those in Brussels and Paris when the terrorist cells are spread among our own population?  And how will we stop unscrupulous people who devise schemes to take advantage of the fanatics’ desire to die for a cause?  Soldiers of God treats these questions and more.  This novel is a bridge between two series, the “Clones and Mutants Trilogy” and the “Chaos Chronicles Trilogy.”  The first edition is available in all ebook formats and print; the second edition is Kindle only.

There are 10 types of people in this world: Those that know binary, and those that don’t.

***

Mystery, suspense, sci-fi, conspiracies, and a multitude of thrills await you with the “Mary Jo Melendez Mystery Series.”  Mary Jo, an ex-USN Master-at-Arms trying to get her new civilian life established, is framed in Muddlin’ Through.  Her search to prove her innocence takes her around the world from one skirmish to another, a gypsy romance, winning new friends, and a new self-understanding.  In the sequel, Silicon Slummin’…and Just Gettin’ By, the bad guys are back, she acquires a stalker/serial killer, and she finds a new love.  Available in Kindle formatted ebooks only.

In libris libertas…

[Short, pithy, and biting humor is often better than a rant.  I’ll take a swipe at it here.  Maybe some enterprising cartoonists in the audience can work these into editorial cartoons?  Let me see them if you do.  Wish I were good at that.]

In ISIS HQ, Youssef says to Adil, “I just got a great deal on a Galaxy mobile phone—two for the price of one, unlimited data.  I gave the freebie to Abdul.”  “You fool!” says Youssef.  “That doesn’t have Apple’s great encryption.  You have to support Apple because they support us!”

On campus, Gretchen says to Hilda, “Are you going to the march against GMOs?  Everyone’s going to be there!”  “No, I’m heading to Recife with Ben to protest there instead.  They’re genetically modifying male mosquitoes to battle against Zika, and we have to stop that!”

Rupert Murdoch, exhausted from thinking about his future wedding night obligations with Jerry Hall and already considering who his next wife will be, is sitting in the armchair next to the nuptial bed as she beckons him to join her by crooking her pinkie.  “What’s more alluring than me?” she asks.  He holds up a book.  “Der Wanderer,” he says.  “It’s this wonderful play written by Goebbels.”

The S&M aficionado asks his victim, “Do you know why this editorial cartoon isn’t in color?”  When she shakes her head in pain, he says, “Because it’s fifty…”  (You can finish that one–did you think I was talking about Gawker?)

Evo Morales dreamed that Hugo Chavez and he met Josef Stalin in the Devil’s Bar.  “Bros,” says Papa Joe, “you just never could learn that democracy is a dictator’s worst enemy.”  Evo looks at Hugo.  “Democracy?  Is that some strange Russian word?  I’ll have to ask Vladimir Putin.”

To the hobbyist, who flew a drone into the path of a landing plane, the judge asks, “Did you ever think about what a drone could do to a jet engine?”  The response?  “I wanted to say hi to my fiancé who’s back from Europe.  I was going to use a laser but didn’t want to blind the pilot.”

The cop in the interrogation room asks one of the thugs who participated in a recent gun heist by a ten-man gang, “What were you thinking?  Chances were good we’d catch you.”  The thug responds, “We’re NRA members and believe in Second Amendment rights.  Every American deserves to be armed.  And why should gun manufacturers make all the money?”
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