Today is Thanksgiving in Canada. As with so many times of the year, it arrives ahead of our American friends’ observation of the occasion. (Please don’t take offense, my tongue was firmly in my cheek as I wrote that last sentence.) My eldest sister lives in Utah, so I have a habit of pointing that out to her every year. What is a younger brother for, if not to bother older siblings, of which I have two? In Canada, the…
In this episode of Funny Friday, I thought I’d talk about funny as in “weird” rather than funny as in haha. I’ve often spoken about the different parts of the writing process and how I do in the various parts. I do pretty well in outlining, but it’s fairly hot and cold. If I get an idea, I can run with it, but it will sometimes take me a while to get into outlining a story. Editing, proofing, grammar checking…
I have been working on a novel since April, and I can finally see the light at the end of this particular tunnel. “If Not For the Entail” is my best composition yet, if you believe those who have read it through to the end. The plot revolves around Elizabeth Bennet’s efforts to save the family estate from a fraudulent ownership claim. I sent the manuscript to the editor today, and I plan on publishing somewhere around the third week…
I’ve been thinking a lot about life and mortality of late. If you read Colin’s tribute post you will know that our mother passed away at the beginning of the month. In the latter years of her life, she began to struggle with immobility and problems with her legs that left her walking with a walker, and then later essentially confined to a wheelchair when she wanted to get around. Even worse, she was diagnosed with dementia, which became so…
Artificial intelligence seems to be all the rage now. It is not a new concept; Science fiction authors have written sentient robots into their stories since the beginning of the twentieth century, if not before. In my humble opinion, Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation” is one of the best series ever written, and his protagonist is a self-aware robot, governed by his Three Rules of Robotics, although the revelation of who he is comes late in the series. In the Star Trek…
Summer is over at the end of this week and I am not looking forward to the season’s change. I love spring, because it signals five months of good weather. Autumn, on the other hand, reminds me that winter is just around the corner, and I cannot find anything good to say about the coming weeks of cold weather. I’m not saying there is no beauty in the year’s third season, but rather, that it is fleeting. The leaves going…
I am a child of the 60’s. When Beatlemania hit in 1963, I was seven years old, but even at that age I loved their music and, honestly, about ninety-five percent of the music from that decade. Were those ten years the pinnacle of musical achievement? In my humble opinion, while some fantastic compositions were penned in that period, they don’t hold a candle to Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt, and a host of other composers from the previous three or four…
As tempting as it is to compose a maudlin, sorrowful essay, I am instead celebrating my mother’s life. She passed away on Sunday morning, one month to the day before her 97th birthday. I loved my mother deeply. She was a kind, thoughtful woman who I think deserves to be lauded for putting up with me, her oldest and always rebellious son. She and my father did their best to raise me to be a righteous, Christian man. Unfortunately, until…
Today is Heritage Day here in sunny Alberta, Canada. Although this is not a national holiday, the first Monday in August is a provincial holiday in most of Canada’s ten provinces. The name of the day varies from one province to another, but the day off is a welcome diversion as we pass through the end of the dog days of summer. We had some hot days between 38 and 43 Celsius (100 to 110 Fahrenheit), but it’s cooler now….
Today I want to talk about Douglas Adams’ science fiction masterpiece, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I discovered the novel a few years after its publication and fell in love with his irreverent and quirky sense of humor. I cannot remember where or when I found this book, but what I do remember is the strange looks my wife gave me as I giggled and chortled my way through it. Yes, it is classed as science fiction, but the plot is…