RANTS AND RAVES
With the revelation of The Panama Papers, it does not appear that the concept of ‘trickle down’ worldwide, is working very well.
POEMS AND FLEETING THOUGHTS: REMEMBERING MY NIECE, LISA
Written 11/23/15
Lisa Eckert, died when 25.
Today would have been 41.
She is remembered.
Lisa
There is a love beyond description,
Beyond the commonplace,
The love of a child
Fractured by fate,
Innocent of understanding
In a world
Where that may be a gift,
Surrounded love,
Existing in love,
Until love took her home.
SCIENCE FICTION BECOMING SCIENCE FACT
Since I write science fiction, I had to give praise to SpaceX landing their 14 story rocket on a barge, not a very large barge, in the ocean.
How many of us, advanced in age and wisdom remember rockets landing in movies or TV in an identical manner. I do not know why but watching the missile land, the fact that the top of the rocket was perfectly flat was something I had never pictured. It’s delivery, gone.
I just had to mention this historic event and contemplate the next science fiction turned science fact. I might share that War of the Worlds is one of my favorite science fiction movies along with The Thing from Another World which scared the shit out of the seven or eight year old Walt. Remember the last line of The Thing after the vegetable James Arness is fried?
“Look to the skies.” I love that line.
RANTS & RAVES: HISTORY’S DESTRUCTIONS
I deplore the destruction of history, something that focuses its madness. But they are not alone in this demonstration of stupidity. Didn’t British soldiers, during World War I, use the Sphinx for target practice with their cannon?
No culture had a premium on stupidity; not any nationality, religion or purpose.
POEMS & FLEETING THOUGHTS: WINDOWS’ VIEW, PAST AND PRESENT
I was born and raised in Newark, New Jersey, a city not known for its beauty or soft heart. Not my choice, but it helped to form what I am. These words are meant to describe the difference between my life then and now.
After all these years I still ponder my life in Newark, and appreciate the emotions and experiences the city provided.
As I sit, advanced in age
Looking out back from my home
I see a multitude of trees
Denying the presence of neighbors,
I recall the home of my youth
And the views I saw then,
Beer factories
And the back windows
Filled with clothes lines
And hard-packed ground,
Beyond the bordering fence of wood,
More of the same.
I now pray
Not to take for granted
This present life,
And not to forget
The past.
FROM GOOGLE
I just received this email from Google. I have no idea of it,s importance, or whether I’m being ripped off ( which happens these days, but has always been the practice of a certain element of society, i.e., losers).
https://web.mail.comcast.net/zimbra/mail?app=mail#5
I’m also including the sit they reference.
To be honest, I would prefer you purchase my story from Melange Books. I make money, and more in important, my publisher makes money.
As a side note, I occasionally check my name on Google. It’s not an ego thing, I just want an update on what of my work has been published. Interestingly, I did discover one of my stories publish. That knowledge was new to me. I also found that the first two chapters of Elmo’s Sojourn has been published in China. I waited for the money from millions of sales to roll in. Of course, I knew that China has little use for our copyrights, but the next time I visit the Orient, I expect a huge outflowing of love.
In spite of my age, I still dream.
A SECOND LOOK AT GEORGE R.R. MARTIN
Those of you who follow this blog will remember, in the past, I have expressed negative opinions on George R.R. Martin’s series, The Game of Thrones. I felt, and still do, that the novels were overwritten. If they were shortened, the story would move along at a much interesting pace. In my opinion, the description of the character’s clothes and other details were far beyond necessary. While talking with a friend, I found that he also had a problem reading these novels, and had an interesting observation. He commented that the novels were really screenplays, providing details needed more for a visual representation of the story than what the novel required.
These are opinions of the author’s works of fantasy. Now I would I would like to express my limited exposure to the Martin’s science fiction.
Due to a local library’s overflow of books, I inherited a book of Martin’s science fiction work published by TOR in 1985, with the individual stories first published during the 1970’s. The first and best story, Nightflyers, was a read I highly recommend. All of the stories making up this anthology are worthy of a lover of science fiction’s attention.
From reading this the brief amount of Martin’s science fiction, I think his writing in this genre is superb and definitely plan to read more of his efforts, if I can find them. I found the stories in Nightflyers to progress at a rapid pace and entertaining.
My opinion of this author has suffered a turnaround. This is the fault of forming an opinion until all the facts are known.
POEMS & FLEETING THOUGHTS: THE CREATORS
Have you ever wondered
Of the giants,
The geniuses of the arts, the sciences?
How they suffered
Their daily lives?
The revelations and emotions,
The creations born
Yet the mundane thoughts
Crowding their existence,
Long gone
We put them on pedestals,
Gaze at their work in museums
Or read their efforts,
But remember,
Know they were human,
Lived day to day,
Dealt with life,
Some, their talent realized
Only once gone,
The gamble
Of being
Creative.
I try to appreciate every creative effort I read on the blogs I follow. To create something from nothing takes effort, whether grand or small.
POEMS & FLEETING THOUGHTS: TERRORISM
Brussels
Innocent they gather
For the usual experience,
While those deprived
Of a future
Plot their destruction,
Lives torn apart,
Bodies torn apart
On both sides
Of the equation,
Where is the meaning
The hope
When hate overcomes
The value of life?
POEMS AND FLEETING THOUGHTS
Progression
As my years gain numbers
My once youthful mind
Cannot comprehend
This change,
Ponders
The fading past
And wonders
At the future,
I sometimes feel
Like Kafka’s
Roach,
I went to sleep
At seventeen
And awoke
Nearly seventy,
Trying to grasp
The thoughts
Hopes and dreams
As they drift away,
How will time
Treat my questioning
Soul?