I’m considering both others’ stories and my own. First, those others gems:

“To Serve Man.” You might have seen the Twilight Zone episode based on this Damon Knight classic short story published in 1950. It has influenced all my ironic sci-fi short fiction. And Mr. Knight’s Creating Short Fiction should be on every writer’s reference shelf.

“The Marching Morons.” I’ve been using the title and referring to this novella in these pages for a while now to describe Trump’s voters (thanks to SecState Tillerson for reminding me of the story by calling Trump a “f*&^ing moron). When C. M. Kornbluth published this novella in 1951, a gem filled with irony and satire, he couldn’t have known how well it described so many voters. Moronic, lemming-like behavior often seems more contagious and deadly than Covid.

“To Build a Fire.” Our eighth-grade teacher read this Jack London gem from 1908 to us. I’ll never forget this story about desperation and struggle for survival. It too has influenced my writing. You might be more familiar with the author’s novel Call of the Wild (recently made into an excellent movie starring the ancient Harrison Ford), but this short story shows the power of short fiction—few words making a big impact.

“The Silk and the Song.” Charles Louis Fontenay’s 1956 novella is another gem that’s both haunting and a lesson about escape from slavery. It influenced several of my novels and deserves a lot more credit than it has received.

All three sci-fi stories are on my list of “Best Sci-Fi Short Fiction.” (By the way, I apologize. That and other “best” stories mentioned on my website are now archived offline. Drop me a note using my contact page if you’d like a copy.)

Now for my favorites from my own oeuvre:

“The Phantom Harvester.” Someday I might make this mystery/thriller story into a novel. Certainly enough happens, and I’d like to develop the main characters, Castilblanco’s two adopted children, a bit more. It’s mostly a dark tale about evil and the opioid epidemic.

“Portal in the Pines.” A sci-fi tale about the wrong way to approach first contact, it’s a bit dark too. Unlike “The Marching Morons,” this is a bleak warning…and differing a bit from my usual sci-fi fare.

“Fascist Tango.” Like many of my stories, but especially my short fiction, this tale is a warning of what might happen; in this case, what if the US and the rest of the world continue the current spiral down into worldwide fascism. It’s also another tale that could become a novel one day, but in its first outing here, it’s just a novella I’m rather proud of.

“The Case of the Carriageless Horse.” If “The Phantom Harvester” is post-Castilblanco, this one is pre- and about Castilblanco’s first homicide case. I never found it completely satisfying, but it does show the detective’s promise that came to fruition in the seven novels in the “Detectives Chen & Castilblanco” series. Chen only has a cameo. It’s found in the anthology World Enough and Crime, and Donna Carrick reads it on her podcast (see the link on my “Home Page”).

“Gamin.” When I lived in Bogotá, Colombia, gamines were ubiquitous—these are homeless street urchins who begged and stole. Padre Luna, a true priest and gentleman (the Roman Catholic hierarchy in that country are hypocrites), would take some of them to his farms and try to turn their lives around. I had the idea that human colonies on the moon and beyond might have street urchins too—humans will surely take their social problems “out there” if we don’t destroy Earth first—so this seemed an appropriate story for the anthology Howling at the Moon. I think it’s one of my best.

And so there you have my current favorites. I say “current” because these are the short fiction works that came to mind while writing this post. I’ve read and written so many stories that tomorrow my list of favorites might change. What are yours? (You might jog your memory with the lists of “Best…” that I can send you from earlier blog posts.)

“The Phantom Harvester” and “Portal in the Pines” are free downloads found in the list on my “Free Stuff & Contests” web page. “Fascist Tango” is found in Pasodobles in a Quantum Stringscape, Volume Three, also a free download. “The Case of the Carriageless Horse” is found in the anthology World Enough and Crime, while “Gamin” is found in the anthology Howling at the Moon—both anthologies are available on Amazon, the first edited by the Carricks and the second by #WolfPackAuthors (I’m proud to be a member).

***

Comments are always welcome!

A. B. Carolan’s Origins: The Denisovan Trilogy, Book One. Syrian refugee Kayla Jones is a successful STEM student. Her bad dreams no longer torment her, but, just as she thinks she’s on her way to a rewarding career, strangers start pursuing her. With some friends who help her, she struggles to find out why. A. B.’s new action-packed mystery/thriller for young adults and adults who are young-at-heart is filled with suspense and ancient intrigue, and it will keep all readers guessing about what’s coming next. Available wherever quality ebooks are sold (but not Amazon).

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

The Montclair Film Festival, before Covid and before it became dominated by Colbert and his wife, featured some excellent documentaries. One was Tricks (a 3generations.org production), which had an impact on me by portraying human trafficking mostly in service to the sex trade—sex trafficking, to use the common phrase, where evil people exploit young women and girls, turning them into prostitutes and sex slaves. This is a theme I consider so important that it appears in two novels and some short fiction.

I often mention that observations leading to what-ifs and themes can be woven into plots (see my little course “Writing Fiction”—a new revision is available as a free PDF download on my “Free Stuff & Contests” web page). Watching a documentary is using observations made by the creator or director of the documentary, but secondhand observations are fair game too.

My first novel to use this theme was The Collector, #5 in the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco” series—you can read the book summary on my “Books & Short Stories” web page. This novel was inspired in part by Tricks and my worry that buyers of stolen art can go beyond rich people desiring to own something no one else could see. This second theme brings in Esther Brookstone for a cameo appearance, a prelude to the “Esther Brookstone Art Detective” series, which leads to the second novel with the first theme: Palettes, Patriots, and Prats, #4 in the series. (See below. Human trafficking is also a theme in the earlier Angels Need Not Apply, #2 in the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco” series, but it’s not a major one. It’s often associated with the drug trade and immigration abuses.)

Human trafficking is an important theme. We no longer have overt and legal slavery, but it still exists illegally, and the traffickers feed its deadly maws with new victims all the time. If I were forty years younger and knew what I know now from Tricks and other sources, my life’s work might be trying to stamp it out. There are those who work toward exactly that, thankfully, and I applaud their efforts.

Palettes, Patriots, and Prats has more themes because it’s a longer novel. There’s the art trafficking theme and the themes of people falsely accused of or getting trapped in crime. There’s the theme of Putin and his cronies and the Russian assassinations. And there’s the theme of aging, especially for Esther.

Unlike some authors, I believe themes are as important as plot. I find novels without themes far less interesting than those that have them. A story is just fluff without them.

***

Comments are always welcome.

Palettes, Patriots, and Prats: Esther Brookstone Art Detective, Book Four. Esther Brookstone, ex-Scotland Yard inspector in the Art and Antiques Division and ex-MI6 spy during the Cold War, and new husband, Bastiann van Coevorden, have just returned from their honeymoon cruise down the Danube, refreshed and reinvigorated despite Bastiann’s having to handle a murder investigation as his last assignment as an Interpol agent. Esther is content running her gallery, and Bastiann works as a consultant for MI5. They hope to enjoy their active golden years together, but more adventures as sleuths await them, colliding with their idyllic existence, as they aid an American artist, try to thwart a Russian assassin, and go after the illegal art trade and human traffickers. Mystery, suspense, thrills, and intrigue once more await readers. Available at Draft2Digital’s affiliated retailers (Apple, B&N, Kobo, etc., but not Amazon or Smashwords) and library and lending services (Scribd, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor, etc.)

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

The Montclair Film Festival, before Covid and before it became dominated by Colbert and his wife, featured some excellent documentaries. One was Tricks (a 3generations.org production), which had an impact on me by realistically portraying human trafficking, mostly in service to the sex trade—sex trafficking, to use the common phrase, where evil people exploit young women and girls, turning them into prostitutes and sex slaves. This is a theme I consider so important that it appears in two novels and some short fiction.

I often mention that observations leading to what-ifs and themes can be woven into plots (see my little course “Writing Fiction”—a new revision is available as a free PDF download on my “Free Stuff & Contests” web page). Watching a documentary is using observations made by the creator or director of the documentary, but secondhand observations are fair game too.

My first novel to use this theme was The Collector, #5 in the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco” series—you can read the book summary on my “Books & Short Stories” web page. This novel was inspired in part by Tricks and my worry that buyers of stolen art can go beyond rich people desiring to own something no one else could see. This second theme brings in Esther Brookstone for a cameo appearance, a prelude to the “Esther Brookstone Art Detective” series, which leads to the second novel with the first theme: Palettes, Patriots, and Prats, #4 in the series (see below). (Human trafficking is also a theme in the earlier Angels Need Not Apply, #2 in the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco” series, but it’s not a major one. It’s often associated with the drug trade and immigration abuses.)

Human trafficking is an important theme. We no longer have overt and legal slavery, but it still exists illegally, and the traffickers feed its deadly maws with new victims all the time. If I were forty years younger and knew what I know now from Tricks and other sources, my life’s work might be trying to stamp it out. There are those who work toward exactly that, thankfully, and I applaud their efforts.

Palettes, Patriots, and Prats has more themes because it’s a longer novel. There’s the art trafficking theme and the themes of people falsely accused of or getting trapped in crime. There’s the theme of Putin and his cronies and the Russian assassinations. And there’s the theme of aging, especially for Esther.

Unlike some authors, I believe themes are as important as plot. I find novels without themes far less interesting than those that have them. A story is just fluff without them.

***

Comments are always welcome.

Palettes, Patriots, and Prats: Esther Brookstone Art Detective, Book Four. Esther Brookstone, ex-Scotland Yard inspector in the Art and Antiques Division and ex-MI6 spy during the Cold War, and new husband, Bastiann van Coevorden, have just returned from their honeymoon cruise down the Danube, refreshed and reinvigorated despite Bastiann’s having to handle a murder investigation as his last assignment as an Interpol agent. Esther is content running her gallery, and Bastiann works as a consultant for MI5. They hope to enjoy their active golden years together, but more adventures as sleuths await them, colliding with their idyllic existence, as they aid an American artist, try to thwart a Russian assassin, and go after the illegal art trade and human traffickers. Mystery, suspense, thrills, and intrigue once more await readers. Available at Draft2Digital’s affiliated retailers (Apple, B&N, Kobo, etc., but not Amazon or Smashwords) and library and lending services (Scribd, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor, etc.)

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

In my extended series (“Detectives Chen & Castilblanco” is the longest at seven books), I often avoid focusing on one genre. My stand-alone books can be in any genre, or multiple genres, too. Other authors and marketing gurus have told me that’s a mistake, that I’d sell more books if I would only pick one genre and stuck to it. Maybe they’re right? (If you’re an author, express your thoughts in the comments.)

First, let me emphatically state that I don’t write my stories to become rich. I write them to entertain readers. If each book entertains at least one reader, I  consider it a success. My bar’s not high because, even when I started to publish my stories, competition was ferocious, and it’s only become worse. I never expected to publish any bestsellers. My goal was simply to have some fun storytelling and to entertain a few readers in the process.

Second, I could never be happy sticking to one genre. I only assign genres and other keywords when I publish a book. Up to that point, I just tell the story, a process which is unfettered by constraints on themes and plots, settings and dialogue, and other novelistic elements. Each story carries the Moore brand, of course—my mix of story elements that’s probably as unique to me as fingerprints or DNA—and yet I’ll experiment. The result is hard to describe with a few keywords, and that’s all genres are.

Third, being somewhat an old curmudgeon with a leprechaun’s twinkle in my eye—the blarney in me, if you will—I’m just as likely to wander through that vast forest of genres and subgenres that critics have created as I mimic a wise old owl flitting to various perches to hoot at the folly of those who try to pin me down…and enjoying it all immensely.

The only people who really need genres (and only out of habit, mind you) are librarians and bookstore clerks who have to figure out where to shelve and display a book, and reviewers and critics who feel the need to pigeonhole the book in some way. And all that is especially irrelevant for ebooks—most of my books have no print version! (I only use those for book events, which have become non-existent during Covid. They’re expensive to produce, so I won’t produce any more either. My apologies to those of you still living in mid-twentieth century.)

When I start a story, I have no idea whether it will become a short story, novella, or novel. And I don’t really care how readers and pundits categorize it when it’s finished. I focus on the story. Traditional constraints are largely irrelevant now in this new world of publishing. Genre is one of those.

When I finish a story, though, genres might appear among the keywords. I often doubt that “post-apocalyptic thriller” helps readers when eyeing novels in “The Last Humans” series, or “mystery/thriller” helps readers deciding to purchase books in the “Detectives Chen & Castilblanco” or “Esther Brookstone Art Detective” series, simply because I focus more on the book blurbs when selecting my own reading material. But, just in case genres are of some use to book-buyers and others, I include them in keywords (I can’t help how online retailers’ search engines work).

And maybe genres are more of a warning to readers? I certainly use “romance,” “erotica,” “horror,” “psychological thriller,” and a few others in that way to avoid choosing some books I know I probably won’t like. I try to keep an open mind, though. It’s always possible the author, publicist, or retailer has incorrectly categorized a book. (A local Barnes & Noble shelved my Rembrandt’s Angel in their arts section!). A sharp reader allows for human error and focuses on the blurb and a “peek inside.”

Selecting one’s reading material isn’t easy. By focusing on blurbs and the “peek inside” options (equivalent to browsing at a bookstore), one can protect oneself from purchasing a book they’ll maybe start but never finish. (Maybe I should write some lessons akin to my free download “Writing Fiction” about how to buy books? Of course, most avid readers are already experts at that!)

***

Comments are always welcome.

A. B. Carolan’s Origins: The Denisovan Trilogy, Book One. Kayla Jones has dreams she can’t understand. Her future seems determined as the brilliant STEM student who 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’s on her way to discover a conspiracy that can be traced to prehistoric battles waged by hominids bent on conquest of a primitive Earth. An ebook for young adults and adults who are young-at-heart, only available on Smashwords and its affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc.) and library and lending services (Scribd, Overdrive, Gardners, etc.)

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

In my post “Changes to My Website” (4/23) and a few previous posts, as well as my website’s pages, I’ve explained why no new books of mine will appear on Amazon in the future. For this reason, A, B. Carolan’s new novel Origins: The Denisovan Trilogy, Book One is now available in all ebook formats at Smashwords and its affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc.) and library and lending services (Overdrive, Scribd, Gardners, etc.), and not on Amazon.

Also in previous posts, you’ve seen a preview and some background material for this new sci-fi mystery/thriller for young adults and adults who are young-at-heart. It’s A.B.’s fourth book, and Origins is just as exciting as the previous three. It answers physicist Fermi’s famous question about ETs, “Where are they?”, by “They’re right here among us!” (Of course, you’ll have to read the novel to find out how that came to pass!)

Not being available on Amazon doe not mean you can’t download it to read on your Kindle or Kindle app. Those .mobi files that Amazon likes to pretend as proprietary and exclusive for Kindle use are the only ebook files you can download from Amazon, but Smashwords offers you the option to download any ebook format, including .mobi, when you purchase an ebook from them. Its affiliated retailers only offer their own formats, of course, (.epub is the most common not .mobi) but Smashwords offers them all.

To buy and download your .mobi ebooks from Smashwords, please do the following: (1) Open a Smashwords account if you don’t already have one, and choose .mobi as your download option. The account is free, and it will allow you to explore a brand new world of ebooks that are there for your entertainment, including Origins. (2) Get your Kindles’s email address from Amazon (you probably created it when you bought your Kindle) and put it on file at Smashwords. (3) Also on Amazon, list edelivery@smashwords.com as a trusted content provider for your Kindle. This process is less complicated than it seems. Amazon likes to hide these details and make them seem complicated, of course, because they want you to buy ebooks exclusively on Amazon. Please don’t play their game!

I bought and downloaded a .mobi-formatted copy of Origins from Smashwords exactly the way described, although I had already done steps 1-3 long ago to purchase other ebooks (many not on Amazon, by the way!). It always feels good to put one over on Amazon, of course. And, as an author, it also feels good to “go wide” and offer A.B.’s and my ebooks at multiple e-retail sites (as well as Walmart—have you seen the Kobo kiosk there?). This follows the marketing advice: The more retail sites where a product is available, the greater the sales figures for that product!

By the way, keep your Amazon account active if you feel the need. Smashwords and its affiliated retailers only sell ebooks! Amazon started out that way, but we all know what a greedy monster it has become. We use Amazon only for some other things now, not books. In any case, we prefer local merchants and suppliers to Amazon—no waiting and no shipping fees! Some will say, “But I have Prime!” Don’t kid yourself. Your Prime membership fee has prepaid your shipping fees. Amazon makes tons of money off that big swindle! (Of course, you might be a reseller with a garage full of products bought from Amazon—a Prime account might work for you in that case! Some activity like that was going on during the pandemic where people made a killing by reselling PPE and even toilet paper.)

Our local merchants include local booksellers, which we use primarily for non-fiction doorstoppers—again, who wants to wait and pay those onerous shipping costs? And that way we stay involved in our local community by supporting local vendors. We’re coming out of the Covid pandemic now, so we’re increasingly doing that!

Many tech giants have become monopolistic—Amazon, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Twitter, and so forth. But they don’t need to be broken up. They just need some serious competition. That’s what it takes to make free enterprise work.

Do your part to break Amazon’s ebook monopoly if you’re not already doing so. A.B. and I are doing ours. Please download your .mobi copy (or any other format) of Origins now. A.B. and I will appreciate it…and happily welcome you to our book boycott of Amazon.

***

Comments are always welcome!

Origins: The Denisovan Trilogy, Book One, by A. B. Carolan. Kayla Jones has dreams she can’t understand. Her future seems determined as the brilliant STEM student who 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’s on her way to discover a conspiracy that can be traced to prehistoric battles waged by hominins bent on conquest of a primitive Earth. Available at Smashwords and all its affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc.) and library and lending services (Scribd, Overdrive, Gardners, etc.).

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

Did you watch Prince Philip’s funeral procession and ceremony last Saturday? I didn’t. I was never into a lot of pomp and circumstance for any reason. First, in my first three years of high school, I had to play trombone in Elgar’s march of that name far too many times, sometimes in 100 degree heat. (At my own graduation, I wore Bermudas and sandals under that damn toga!) Second, I’d seen too many little girls want to be princesses (that song in Frozen was super-annoying, but not quite as much as the Titanic song, both of them repeated over and over again ad nauseum!). Third, how that old British empire ruled by their royals exploited their colonies, turning their citizens into second-class subjects, was unconscionable and unforgivable (the American and Irish colonies are a bit close to home, of course), and many current problems around the planet can be traced to that. I hasten to write that’s all more British government, a so-called democratic monarchy.

Fact is, I love the British people. Binge-reading British-style mysteries in la grande dame Agatha Christie’s tradition has made the Covid-19 pandemic more tolerable for me too. Some PBS shows from Britain also offer great entertainment for me—I’m a fan of “Shakespeare and Hathaway” (but not of “Downton Abbey”). I read all of the James Bond books from Ian Fleming long before that movie franchise began. (The earlier movies were better because they followed the books more closely. It’s gone off track.) British actors are among my favorites. I just don’t understand the Brits’ obsession and infatuation with their royals…and even less Americans’. And the royals’ “work” is to move around the kingdom to add sparkle to public events? C’mon!

While the British royals might seem closer to Americans (Lord knows why, because we booted mad King George’s army out in the American Revolution), my problem is with royals in general, and for much the same reasons—they represent an anachronistic age that’s entirely irrelevant if not detrimental in the 21^st century, a lot of pomp and circumstance signifying nothing…or worse. I suppose Philip was a decent guy most of the time, and I mourn his passing in that sense, but only in that sense. He wasn’t a Bernie Madoff, after all, nor an Idi Amin. He looked like a guy I could sit down with at a pub and enjoy a pint. Of course, he never would invite me, out of propriety. I’m too low class and half-Irish besides.

As a result of my anti-royal bias, I don’t have many in my books! Prince Harry has a cameo in The Golden Years of Virginia Morgan and several royals (not Brits) appear in Aristocrats and Assassins (#4 in the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco” series). A prince is a main character in Rogue Planet, a story that takes place in the far future. #4 in the “Esther Brookstone Art Detective” series, Palettes, Patriots, and Prats, will have a duke in a supporting role. That’s about it. And most of these stories portray royals as good persons trapped in a bad lifestyle they’d rather not have to live.

You see, I also feel sorry for royals. They can’t be scientists, engineers, bankers, politicians, and so forth now even if they wanted to live normal lives. They are mere ornaments on the Christmas tree of nostalgia. Some of them might achieve greatness doing other things, but they’re basically stuck in their royal lives with all the pomp and circumstance. They’ll never feel hungry or be without safe lodging. In general, they’ll only theoretically know the struggles of ordinary folks at best. Many can never know true love either, although Harry might be an exception, and old Elizabeth seemed rather fond of her old consort.

But I feel even sorrier for those people who would like to live the life of a royal. They’re much better off being what they are because of the reasons already enumerated.

***

Comments are always welcome!

The “Esther Brookstone Art Detective” series. In a way, these three novels (soon to be four) are a nostalgic bow to my years as a young reader. The novels also pay homage to la grande dame of mystery, Agatha Christie, and her two famous sleuths, Miss Marple (Esther’s role) and Hercule Poirot (Esther’s paramour Bastiann van Coevorden’s role). I often wondered those many years ago why Christie never allowed her two sleuths to solve a crime together. Of course, Esther and Bastiann are very much twenty-first century characters, so I have added a lot of thrills and suspense to the mystery. Available wherever quality ebooks are sold. Print versions can be ordered for you by your favorite bookstore, or they can be found on Amazon.

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

…past, present, and future. I’m always tweaking things, so I thought it might be appropriate to discuss some recent changes that you, the reader, might find important.

Generally speaking, my “Home” web page is the least permanent, if only because I announce events and books to be published or were recently published there. For example, I recently announced updates to my list of free PDF downloads, which include the new Sleuthing, British-Style, Volume Two (two novellas)—Volume One is available everywhere quality ebooks are sold…for only $0.99—and, to continue, an update to my little course “Writing Fiction,” and a press kit for general use. I also announced the imminent publication of A. B. Carolan’s new ebook Origins, Book One of the Densisovan Trilogy. Other than such newsy items, the random visitor might not notice many changes between visits.

Policy changes are announced too, and they’re spread across the website’s pages. For example, I announced that after March 1, 2021, I’ll no longer offer new books on Amazon. I won’t dwell on my reasons—if you read these blog articles regularly, you’ll know some of them. Ebooks will only be sold via Smashwords or Draft2Digital and their affiliates. (For example, my Irish colleague A. B. Carolan’s new ebook will only be offered on Smashwords and its affiliated retailers and lending and library services. Never fear, Kindle users! .mobi formatted ebooks are available on Smashwords and many of those affiliates.) I won’t be publishing anymore print books after that date either. These are big policy changes!

I’ve also stopped posting a newsletter in this blog. My only newsletter from now on is written exclusively for email subscribers. The major enticement to subscribe is found in select ebook sales I offer on Smashwords—only to subscribers! This is done via a Smashwords promo code, so subscribers can share this information with family and friends. Because all my ebooks are reasonably priced, that’s no biggie, but it’s something. (Note that my small-press-published ebooks available on Smashwords and its affiliates, Rembrandt’s Angel, Son of Thunder, and The Last Humans might be on sale at the publisher’s website, but they won’t be on Smashwords, simply because I have no control over that!)

Most of my tinkering goes toward making the web pages more readable. After fifteen-plus years, the website is a classic, so, like a classic car, I have to tune it up occasionally. You might have already noticed that I shortened my book blurbs and eliminated reviews on the “Books & Short Stories” web page, for example. Already published books are still linked to their corresponding Amazon book pages where reviews can be found, along with (sometimes different) blurbs and the “peek inside” feature (most retail sites also have the latter—for example, Smashwords, B&N, etc.). New ebooks will be linked to book pages on Smashwords or Draft2Digital. Most of the old reviews plus new ones will now appear in the “My Reviews” archive, including those not on Amazon!

You’ll still find free fiction in the “Steve’s Shorts,” “ABC Shorts,” and (new!) “Friday Fiction” archives of my blog, and the (now updated) list of free PDF downloads will still be found on the “Free Stuff & Contests” web page—look for new material I’ll put there from time to time, as I’ve just done).

I have several cover images I need to add to the “Books & Short Stories” web page. Of course, the title-links will still take you to some retailer’s page for the book that displays the cover in all its glory.

If you get the idea that all this tweaking is a never-ending process, you’re right! It’s probably why many authors’ websites are basically gravesites neglected by the authors or their publicists.

Onward!

***

Comments are always welcome.

“Detectives Chen & Castilblanco” series. These seven novels start in Manhattan, and some end up going national or international. All are “evergreen” in the sense that they’re as current and entertaining as the day I finished their manuscripts. Ideal for binge-reading, or just jump in anywhere—they all are stand-alone tales filled with mystery, suspense, and thrills. Available wherever quality ebooks are sold.

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

Nowadays I barely scan the “Review.” I haven’t purchased a book reviewed or featured in ads there in ages. (I’ve received some hardbounds as gifts which I often give away to schools when I finish—these are mostly non-fiction doorstops, lengthy tomes weighing ten times my Kindle.) When I finish scanning (max five minutes), I usually say to myself, “What a waste of time!” and wonder if there are other uses for this Sunday insert. I’ve come up with a few over the years: If you have a bird, paper the bottom of its cage with it. If you buy fresh fish, wrap it with it. If you need to start a fire (real wood or charcoal), it’s ideal because it burns well. I’m sure I’ve imagined other uses, but memory fails…because that insert is so immemorable and irrelevant to my reading life.

Harsh? You might object, or you might have other recommended uses and reasons for them. Mine are:

Only traditionally published books appear there. Except for some dying PODs who continue to swindle their authors by buying ads (after getting a second mortgage to pay for their spots, they might say, “Look at me! My book appeared in the NY Times ‘Book Review’!”), books and authors featured there are generally from the big NYC publishing conglomerates (the Big Five, soon to be Four) because the Times is a big NYC publisher itself and therefore biased to hell. Small presses and self-publishers are snubbed, which is sad, because I find the most interesting and entertaining books come from them, not the Big Five traditional publishers. (I can’t say I’ve read any traditionally published fiction lately except that coming from small presses!) This bias converts many readers into lemmings who follow the snooty crowd over the cliff and look down their noses at small-press and self-published books, doing just what the Big Five and their sycophant, the Times, wants them to do. It also negatively influences the Times‘s hiring and business practices for its reviewers, of course.

Reviews and interviews are little more than ads for the books or for their authors’ branding, both invariably those from the Big Five. Frankly, I don’t care about authors who sell their souls to these conglomerates for low royalties; they’ve drunk their Kool-Aid, so they must suffer the consequences (i.e. exploitation). Only the formulaic old mares and stallions in the Big Five’s stables get any help; new authors suffer and are tossed aside at the first book that doesn’t sell well.

Above all, the reviews are worthless to me because they don’t provide me enough information to make intelligent decisions about my book purchases. There’s usually no cover image (probably because those for most traditionally published books look like something done on PowerPoint); no “peek inside” (don’t think Amazon, because nearly every online retailer offers a cover image and “peek inside”), and libraries and bookstores at least allow you to browse—that could be done with a few excerpts, but I’ll admit it’s hard to do in a newspaper and subtracts from the reviewer’s bloviating space; and they don’t tell you whether a paper or ebook version is available.

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Sci-fi often extrapolates current science or “invents” new science we might see in the future. A.B. Carolan’s new book Origins (see last week’s preview) does both, but it’s mostly based on ongoing scientific discovery about human beings’ past. Denisovan and Hobbit hominids have had more press lately than Cro-Magnons and Neandertals because they’re new discoveries. They flourished thousands of years ago, and bits of their DNA are found in modern humans’ DNA (modern humans are mainly Cro-Magnon descendants). A.B. summarizes the current situation in his end notes:

“When I began thinking about a plot with genetics as a theme, Anna Utkin [an early short story of mine] turned me towards human prehistory. The final inspiration occurred when I found the portrait of a young Denisovan girl. (The interested reader can google ‘What did Denisovans look like?’ to see answers to that question—I focused on the BBC version.) It might seem weird, but I immediately thought, ‘Here’s a young girl who doesn’t look like any girl I know.’ That led to other thoughts along the lines that we often react negatively to people who don’t look or act like us and don’t seem to fit into our personal ‘tribe.’ Could I write a story that takes such a girl and makes her into a reluctant hero—almost a superhero even? I could and did, and you have just read the first installment. I hope more will follow.”

“That BBC portrait* has an interesting history, by the way. From genetic material in a pinky and jaw bones (not from the same archaeological site, mind you), researchers were able to construct the entire Denisovan genome and then use it to show us what that Denisovan girl must have looked like. For me, that portrait is Kayla [A.B.’s protagonist], a twenty-first-century Denisovan descendant who is super-smart and can kick ass with the best superheroes”

“The search for the origins of modern humans and their cousins continues to be the focus of exciting research, and the Denisovans, only discovered recently, are no exceptions. Unlike the equating of ancient hominids to burros and horses, i.e., species unable to breed and have fertile offspring, a theory found in Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens (his first two chapters, in particular), which Steve and I read long after I wrote the manuscript for this book, the DNA evidence shows ancient hominids did interbreed. Yet I had to wonder: If they could do so, why not more? Why aren’t we more of a mix of Cro-Magnons (always called Homo sapiens by Professor Harari), Neanderthals, and Denisovans, as well as other ancient hominids thrown in? Considering that Cro-Magnons’ descendants have come to be the dominant species, maybe that just means that they were the bad-ass denizens of ancient Earth? Maybe they were so bent on conquest that they didn’t have that much time to intermingle? I then asked myself: Would they even do so if that hominid evolution was interrupted by visitors from the stars?”

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First they ignored masks, social distancing, and washing hands…young (i.e. idiots less than forty) doing just what the virus wanted people to do. It was all about hedonism and freedom; “we deserve to have fun!” Completely irresponsible behavior! Now they refuse to be vaccinated. As we approach a situation where vaccine supplies are more than enough to vaccinate anyone over sixteen, i.e,. we can achieve herd immunity in a safe way, too many in this age group now express their freedom by refusing the vaccine.

Unlike the “marching morons” in C. M. Kornbluth’s classic novella, our current morons might be bright enough otherwise—and maybe that’s how their sociopathic behavior arises—but they’re too stupid to realize they’re playing Russian roulette with five chambers loaded. And, when it comes to public health, they’re selfish people who don’t care about their fellow citizens.

It’s not for lack of information. They obviously don’t read this blog, which isn’t much of a surprise (they might never read anything intelligent!), but can’t they see and hear all the warnings about the danger of those crazy actions mentioned above? Maybe they do; they just don’t believe them because they don’t want to.

Because of political proclivities, religious beliefs, conspiracy theories—whatever—some of these current morons rationalize their actions with them. That verb is absurd’ there’s nothing rational going on here. Others are just in defiance. They’re all marching over the cliff. Generally there a lot of hypocrites too…or maybe some part of their brain is just wired wrong, causing suicidal actions?

Their leaders, unlike the lemmings, sometimes exploit this for political and religious gain while secretly getting vaccinated (like Il Duce aka Mr. Trump the Big Loser), if the morons actually listen to them. Two recent cases show that all too often leaders are members of the marching morons too. Both Florida and Tex-ass governors have banned the use of “vaccine passports” in their states: No institution there can require a vaccine! This is the same thing as not allowing a “no shoes, no shirt, no service” policy or prohibiting states from requiring vaccinations for school children (why people are allowed to skirt these requirements for any reason is the ultimate stupidity!).

We’ll see who wins in future SCOTUS cases when this resistance to vaccination is adjudicated—I suppose the current court will approve policies that amount to mass suicide because they don’t give a rat’s ass about protecting public health (especially cult member Amy and the perverts Kavanaugh and Thomas). Democracy is being attacked from many directions! Logic and reason are thrown out the window!

If the suicidal morons only marched to their own deaths, I wouldn’t give a damn; I’m tired of these people, and the world would probably be a better place without them! But they’ll hurt the rest of us, and that’s equivalent to aiding and abetting murder. And if they kill me or anyone else I love and there’s an afterlife, I’ll try to make sure they go straight to hell when they die! I don’t want them to mess up heaven for me or my family and friends!

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Comments are always welcome!

The “Detectives Chen & Castilblanco” series. A seven-book series ideal for binge-reading. You’ve seen some reviews in “Reviews not on Amazon,” and I’ll be archiving more on Wednesday.  Pick an ebook and jump in anywhere. Available everywhere quality ebooks are sold.

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