Tag Archives: fiction

Is Returning to the Gilded Age Worth It?

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Gilded Age: A period of gross materialism and blatant political corruption in U.S. history during the 1870s that gave rise to important novels of social and political criticism. The period takes its name from the earliest of these, The Gilded Age (1873), written by Mark Twain in collaboration with Charles Dudley Warner. The novel gives a vivid and accurate description of Washington, D.C., and is peopled with caricatures of many leading figures of the day, including greedy industrialists and corrupt politicians.—From Encyclopedia Britannica

That guy in office seems to think he is part of this movement, when he is just a buffoon acting out for television. He envisions himself as a savior, and sadly enough, people still believe in him. They believe he will bring about a new Industrial Revolution, but he is lacking in the ability to understand that he is no President McKinley (who, by the way was assassinated in office). This belief in the robber barons won’t solve our problems. And his billionaire friends don’t want to bring back industry to the U.S. because they don’t want to re-invest their money or pay a decent wage to their workers. They simply want to stay separate from the rest of the world, and look down from their ivory castles. There is no thought to the dignity of others, especially immigrants and their current foreign employees.

And as for all those red states in the south and the mid-west who are farmers and craftsman, I ask you: “How does it feel now?” He is turning on you as well. When will you figure this out that he is not for the little guys who toil in the sun and soil. He has never had to work. I am sad to see that you still don’t get it.

We gardeners are all getting out in force and making little places in our back yards to feed ourselves. Wouldn’t it be lovely to see local small farms and CSAs thrive this summer? Wouldn’t it be lovely to see that we can work together to provide food for everyone, one neighborhood at a time? Something to think about.

Finally, it is a sad thing when over 60% of the military, police and fire voted for that guy in office. I was proud to be a part of law enforcement back in the day, as well as being a proud democrat. Now, I am having a hard time sympathizing with them. The federal cuts to programs and services, and especially veterans’ services should be a wake-up call. What did you guys think was going to happen? I feel for all of those who did their duty, and are now in need of protection and services, but somehow it is a dilemma that could have been fixed if you voted a different way. The Biden administration increased services to help veterans, as well as give money to programs to aid law enforcement and fire departments, and these were promptly slashed within this new administration.

So I am calling for everyone to listen to what Senator Elissa Slotkin said when she asked us to not TUNE OUT. In her speech, she said, “It’s easy to be exhausted, but America needs you now more than ever….If previous generations had not fought for democracy, where would we be today?”— Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin

I am asking that you all read more about our triumphs and failures and learn from the past. Support those who will listen to the people, and do the right thing. Keep demanding town meetings. Keep working towards a better voter turnout. Keep educating the new voters so they are better informed. Have conversations with your local mayors about what else we can do in our little towns. Question those representatives who are being ridiculous. Tell them how you feel about what they are saying. Tell them that they are spreading lies about what is really happening. Somehow the truth will rise up and maybe the cult can be broken.

I send out love to all tonight in hopes for a better tomorrow.

Creating the Story of Your Life

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Today I was thinking about all the people who tell me: “Here is an idea for a book!” or “Here’s a great title for a book!” I smile politely (sometimes through gritted teeth) and say to them: “Thank you, but I have more ideas than I can possibly write about in my lifetime. I encourage you to write about your ideas!” And: “I am looking forward to seeing your book that you’ve written with this title!” Amazing…. So, if you are in the mood to give advice to authors, please think before you speak. The art of creating is not as easy as you think it is, and dedication to finishing any project is a life-long endeavor.

Here are some of my weird beginnings of late. So many ideas for so many tales that haven’t been told. I’d love to hear how your story goes with these beginnings!

  • These contributions to the dangerous and fascinating subject of ….
  • With the door shut…..
  • As a junkie craves a fix, ….
  • Walking around the rooms differ so completely, like growing up in a fairy tale. One room has a southwestern theme, so many Indian prints, and southwestern woven fabrics on the futon. One room has leather couches and Japanese calligraphy. And of course there is the baby’s room with Winnie the Pooh. This house won’t make Decorations Quarterly, but it is very lived in and full of love. (Walking around the house one day when Kiddo was little)….
  • Flies do indeed have internal clocks….
  • It happened one day, almost by accident….
  • In the ways only cats were given….
  • I’d had a series of unfortunate jobs….
  • The walls of my memory divide the thorns from the roses….
  • You realize, of course, he’s going to turn 14 someday and rebel against all of your religious patter….

We all have stories to tell and we desire to be heard. Stories don’t have to be tragic or angry diatribes. They can be magical; tales we told our children. They can be mysterious, scientific or science fiction. They can be soulful. They can be beautiful memories that might seem common to the individual. But to the people who read them, they can inspire a new generation of storytellers.

There are only so many days to put it out there in our lifetimes. Wouldn’t it be great if we wrote these beautiful thoughts down every day that we live to pass on for generations?

I love you all on this beautiful day and hope you write about your wonderful dreams of how we should live in the world.

Bugs Saves the Earth

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Remember when we watched Bugs Bunny as a kid and Marvin the Martian appeared on an episode? Remember what joy Bugs and company brought to us when they came to save the day? And the best episode? Duck Dodgers in the 24 ½ Century brought about during the reboot of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century in 1979.

So now, they are doing a new reboot of Buck Rogers with George Clooney on Netflix. I don’t know about this. I loved the old comic book stories about this iconic spaceman protagonist. And when they created a series in 1979, the version was campy and didn’t do justice to the imagination of us older kids. If we wanted campy, we would just go watch Bugs Bunny. The Buck Rogers comic strip first appeared in 1929, and was created by writer Philip Nowlan and cartoonist Dick Calkins. Nowlan debuted the character of Anthony (“Buck”) Rogers in Armageddon: 2419 A.D. (1928–29), which was serialized in Amazing Stories, a magazine I subscribed to for years. It was the first magazine that popularized serious science fiction stories. And to a lay audience, the strip introduced and popularized such science-fiction paraphernalia and concepts as ray guns, robots, and rocket ships that previously had been written about only in pulp magazines. The comic strip was first titled Buck Rogers in the Year 2429 A.D. It was renamed Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, and in the earliest film production (1939), it was changed to Buck Rogers.

Honestly, I think we should leave these campy reboots behind because now is the time to regale science fiction with more sincerity and respect to the genre. Now is the time to create beautiful new stories and movies based on the greats such as Poul Anderson, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Ben Bova, Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Michael Flynn (he came later to the party, but I love, love, love his vision and writing). The many things we all lived through in our lifetime, as well as my parents’ lifetimes, came out as cautionary tales for the future in these writers’ books. But their stories also created a more positive outlook for our future. Their stories can be re-told now, but only if screenwriters and directors have actually read the books and interpret them how they were meant to be interpreted (Hear me Disney, Hulu, and Netflix and other streaming media!). They can be adapted in much better films if you have the right voice. We don’t need more hilarity or horror in space. We need positive experiences and outcomes that will help us know that our children might just survive off planet in the future. We want outcomes where they find a better world than what we have created for them on this planet.

I just bought and began re-reading Poul Anderson’s three-volume set of The Psychotechnic League on my Kindle app (I have the originals in paperback) because my story line for the final Caitlin Ferguson novel sparked a memory of the messages from these books. They took me in the direction I needed to go. The joy of remembering his stories brought me such clarity as to how I am ending this series. So, a little science fiction in our lives is a good thing. It sparks memories of the past and enhances choices of what we will be making in our future for survival.

My thoughts for all of you out there: Enjoy a little science fiction in your lives and contemplate the future in a unique way. (I have sooooo many more suggestions for your reading list!) Get beyond your earthly trips and seriously think about all that our kids will be able to see and enjoy in their futures.

Watch and laugh at the Marvin the Martian characters but know that the many true rocket scientists and engineers are attempting to find a way for all our children to survive off planet. Even if we don’t personally get to go, I will be there applauding the future generation!

For more entertainment featuring Marvin the Martian and Duck Dodgers, you can tune in on YouTube and see the best of the best:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT5zcmLeRLo

Merry Christmas everyone! Little Jewels says Hi to all Y’all!

The Art of Storytelling: Unleash Your Inner Writer

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Writing is always about your personal discipline. Many people do not want to commit to taking time out of their lives when it comes to writing. Everyone has a story to tell about their life and the life of others they know. A human life can go in so many different directions. But you do have choices. You can lock yourself up in your house away from the world and fear the unknown. Or you can take time out each day to explore the world you live in and speak the truth. You can embrace the world, whether you fear it or not, and be involved with every aspect of nature and humans and their interactions with nature. Sometimes nature is the enemy. Sometimes humans are the enemy. It’s all those little interactions that make a story a wonderful experience for the reader.

People don’t seem to be brave these days and that’s sad to me. They pursue various artistic endeavors, but don’t consider that writing is also an art. If we could just face our fears, write them down and process our thoughts on paper (or computer), we would get a little better every day. So…. stop talking, create a practice and write every day. Stop saying to me, “I could write a book,” or “I started a book a long time ago.” The simple solution is to sit down and draft your own story. Finish what you have started. Tell us how you deal with the turmoil and strife, the love and the hate, and your view of the world today. Write about things you see and love every day. Write about the beauty of the world. Visualize dreams you want to happen and make them happen, first in story form, then in the real world.

I once read that a university student asked a well-known writer, “Do you think I could be a writer?” The writer responded, “Well, I don’t know…. Do you like sentences?” The writer/author was Annie Dillard, author of The Writing Life. She also wrote one of the best books I’ve read in a long time: Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (and so many other beautiful works). She is an incredible person who posed these and other questions to students. She posited that like painters, they paint because they like the smell of paint. So, of course, you must like sentences! “Can the writer isolate and vivify all in experience that most deeply engages our intellects and our hearts?” she asked her audience. And, finally, she asked, “Can the writer renew our hope for literary forms?”

Another fantastic book to read to give you a beautiful storyteller’s step by step process for writing is Anne Lamott’s book Bird by Bird. This has been my writing bible for decades.

I implore you to start your journey today. I’ll leave you with an incredible quote I try to embrace each day, authored by novelist Joyce Cary:

“The truth is that life is hard and dangerous; that he who seeks his own happiness does not find it; that he who is weak must suffer; that he who demands love will be disappointed; that he who is greedy will not be fed; that he who seeks peace will find strife; that truth is only for the brave; that joy is only for him who does not fear to be alone; that life is only for the one who is not afraid to die.”  Or if I may simply put it: “It’s a good day to die, so let’s live life to the fullest!”

Everyone has a story to tell. I would love to hear yours. Have lots of food and fun this weekend and write about it, then publish it! Love and hugs to all.