Up Next

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Since the last time I posted my current reading titles, I moved on from Elantris (Sanderson) for my Audible title.  I started and finished The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan.  It's the first book in the Wheel of Time series, I think there are only like 74 other books in that series 😉

Believe it or not, even being a fan of epic fantasy, I never really took on this series.  At the time in the early 90's I was reading a lot of David Eddings, Tad Williams, re-reading Tolkien, and others.  I didn't read as prolifically back then either, so this one just didn't enter my orbit.  I'm glad I've finally made it around to this.  It's a very rich world that Jordan has created and I do like it, though it is a slow, long journey.  I'm on to The Great Hunt now, so this one is going to keep me busy for a while.  Each book is around the 30 hour mark of listening.  Lots of time during my commutes to burn through them.

I'm still reading the Night Angel Trilogy and have made it to book 2 in the series.  The book I have is the entire trilogy in one binding, so I'm only at the half-way mark (around 600 pages out of nearly 1200) so it feels like very slow progress.  It's an interesting contrast to Robert Jordan and I kind of like having them both going at the same time.  The pacing is much faster and more focused, which can be a detriment since I usually read it at night and depending on the action going on, I'm given to staying up later than I should to finish a chapter (or three).

I think I need to pick up sometime "light" to add to the list...

Photo Credit: Libby, of course.  She has a very good eye for a scene.  Several of her sunset pictures are really breathtaking.  I liked this one because it just feels warm, almost like there's a fire in the background that isn't the sun.  It's been gloomy and rainy in Ohio lately, so it felt like the sun was needed, if only in digital form.

Dog Poop and Demons

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Isn't that a great title?  Unfortunately, it isn't mine, check out the story - Dog Poop and Demons.

I don't know this author personally or anything.  I get emails from the Medium website and the one that came over today had this title in it.  You have to click the link when you set a title like that.

Without spoiling the story too much, I will say that it involved a Roomba and dog poop.  A phenomena I've encountered first hand.  My story didn't end the same as this one, but it certainly started the same way.

Give it a read, I'm sure you'll get a chuckle out of it like I did.

-David

Meet Tad Cooper

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tad_cooper

This is Tad Cooper, the newest edition to our family (as of a few weeks ago).  When he comes up and eats worms off his rock, we call him Godzilla.  He's about the size of a quarter, but he has the fierceness of at least a dollar fifty.

I am trying to keep my posts central to writing, and I just know there's a piece of flash fiction to be written about a tiny but fierce turtle, I just haven't found the plot yet.  Still mulling it over...

If you don't get the Tad Cooper reference, feel free to check out this YouTube video from Galavant.

What I’m currently…

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Reading:  The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks - I picked up this 10th anniversary edition.  My wife calls it the "demon book" because it's all black.  Even the page edges.  It has nothing to do with demons.  I keep telling her that.  It actually has to do with ninjas, but they really aren't called that.  It's an epic fantasy series that revolved around a criminal organization that employs "wetboys" - a class of assassins with special "talents".  I'm about 1/3 of the way through having finished the first book last night.  And one third is 400 some odd pages in a nearly 1200 page saga, so this is going to keep me busy for a while still.  It's a good read and I'm finding I like Week's writing style.  I won't give full judgement yet since I'm not finished, but I was satisfied with the first book.

Listening:  Elantris by Brandon Sanderson - I finished this up a couple of days ago in Audible.  Those who know me, know I'm a big Sanderson fan, but I only picked him up a couple of years ago and he quickly became my favorite author.  I read the Mistborn series first, and have been listening to a lot of his other work on Audible on my daily commutes - including his Stormlight archive.  Elantris was his first published novel.  I did enjoy it, but his later work is so much more sophisticated, it was difficult sticking with this one at times because (in the order I read these) it feels regressive.  Nonetheless, like all of Sanderson, there is something truly unique about each world, magic system, and story.

So what are you reading/listening to?  Any suggestions for my next round?

Photo Credit:  Libby's pictures, of course.  I'll get a photo gallery up soon.  I like to fit the pictures to the post, but since this is Memorial Day, it seemed fitting.  My thanks to our soldiers - past, present and future, living and fallen.

For the site

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I decided to share a piece on the site that I wrote for the NYC Midnight Flash Fiction competition last year.  Ultimately this piece wasn't submitted to the competition as I'd written two and liked the other one a bit more.  Nevertheless, Rex Spencer deserves to see the light of day beyond my writers group.  I hope you enjoy the piece and please read my section on the overall experience in the NYC competition so you can get an idea of where it fits in.

Without further adieu...

Rex Spencer and the Missing Mittens

The Day After…

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Coincidentally enough, the day after I published "Heaven's Helpdesk" at Flash Fiction Magazine, I noticed another story titled "Day Two" by Charles Breckenridge.  It's funny how things sometimes come in pairs.  This tale is a very witty, wry conversation between a representative of human kind in heaven and the almighty.  I thoroughly enjoyed the humor and it echoed some of the themes in my piece.

We exchanged a few comments between our stories and I was surprised to find out this was Charles' first published piece.  Check out his story, it is certainly worth the read.

For Heaven’s Sake

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My story "Heaven's Helpdesk" is now live on Flash Fiction Magazine!  Check it out.

It's a quirky, funny little piece I wrote a while ago.  Took some time to find it the right publisher, but I have to admit, I'm very happy that it went to FFM.  The editor didn't even really have me make any material changes to it (just a few minor formatting changes).

While it met it's fair share of rejections, everyone who read it for me and gave direct feedback really liked it.  So I kept plugging away and this past Jan/Feb, I got the acceptance.  Took a while for it to appear in their journal, but I'm proud to have it appear there.

Enjoy.

-David

Photo Credit: Another of Libby's pieces.  I thought the clouds appropriate for the theme of the story.

Taking Flight

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taking flight

It's here!  A few weeks ago, I decided I wanted to take the plunge and stand up a website for my building collection of short stories and all my adventures in writing over the past year or two.

I'd never really designed a website before, but being in IT for my day job, I had just enough experience in this area to be dangerous (though probably not as effective as I might like).

Everyone here at home will tell you that they heard plenty of choice curses from behind my laptop screen the past couple of weeks, but I've settled down now and I think I've figured most of this out.  The WordPress CMS platform is actually not too bad once you get the hang of it.

So here it is, full of published works, writing resources and friends pages.  I really hope you enjoy the content and would love to hear any thoughts or suggestions for improvements.

Thank you!

- David

Photo Credit: To my daughter Elizabeth Batteiger (insert shameless nepotism here) who relentlessly stalked this redtail hawk to get a picture.  I'll be featuring more of her photography in my posts.