We'll See If It's a Big Announcement



Big new announcement coming up within the next few days on the newsletter—big announcement.

Um … well, it’s big to me. I mean, in the cosmic scheme of things it’s pretty small. I’m not exploding a star, or starring in a movie, or moving to Tibet … okay, so maybe it’s a small announcement. Stop mocking me!

But it’s about a book, and not the one I’ve already told you about. And it’s about a book you can get for free, and that free book is connected to that other book of mine I told you about, and … you know what? It’s huge.

Huge. There. I said it.

If you haven’t already signed, head on over to www.markrhunter.com, and go to the bottom where it says subscribe to our mailing list, and the rest is pretty easy. As I’ve said before, I don’t sell e-mail addresses or sign people up for spam, unless I receive at least fourteen million dollars per address. And sure, in theory that could happen … and in theory I could star in a movie filmed in Tibet about an exploding star.

But I really doubt it.

Not this one ... but it's connected.

Christmas In Almost February

Winter almost beat the Hunter family Christmas celebration. Almost. But in the end we celebrated, if only a month or so late.

First there was illness. Then work schedules. Then more illness. Then weather. Illness. A tonsillectomy. (I realize that fits under illness, but still.) Then work schedules again. Okay, a lot of illness: flu, bronchitis, tonsillitis, a stomach bug, friggin' scarlet fever. Seriously? I thought the last person who caught scarlet fever was Charles Darwin. Luckily he survived, what with him being the fittest and all.

Some of this was with my oldest daughter's family: Two eight-year-olds collect germs the way I collected publisher rejection slips. I think my youngest daughter only got sick once during that period; my wife and I collected five illnesses between the two of us, trading them back and forth like Pokemon cards.

But finally our schedule was cleared, our lungs cleared, and the roads cleared: We would meet at my oldest daughter's house to celebrate Christmas on Sunday, January 29th. Enough time had passed that one of my grandkids asked if we were celebrating last Christmas, or next Christmas. But at least the unusual warm weather made the trip seem like smooth sailing.

I walked out that day to load presents in the car, and discovered we'd been rewarded with a white Christmas.

Well, it didn't seem too bad, not really. I mean, not for northern Indiana in January. I even shot a fun video of it, then went inside to get another load. When I walked outside again, a blizzard had hit. I've taken to calling it the Blizzard of Ours, because it seemed to be times for right when we were about to drive twelve miles.

It was a snow squall, really--it didn't last long. After that it was just heavy snow, compared to zero visibility and seeing (or rather hearing) houses blow by. At least, I think it was a house. I haven't checked to see if the neighbor's garage is still there.

But you know what? We were having by-gosh Christmas, and no more delays! The happy ending is that we made the drive safely, successfully dodging the guy who did not successfully make his turn in front of us. We all emerged unscathed, and I got new fur-lined house slippers, which every successful and unsuccessful writer should own.

And the best part is, we also made it home safely, leaving my daughter and son-in-law to deal with the present we got the twins: a home kit to make your very own volcano.

Looks like they're in for rough weather.







I was actually speaking while filming this. The audio makes it sound like I was moaning, which come to think of it I was doing internally.



Dog days at the dentist

Bae was very worried all day yesterday: It got rough for me at, and after, the dentist. Actually, I'm not sure if he was worried, or sick of all my moaning and groaning.


Mary Tyler Moore



I’m not sure why Mary Tyler Moore’s death hit me so hard. I never saw her in a show I didn’t like, but there were lots of shows I liked. Maybe it’s because I never pictured her as being old; the last time I remember watching her on TV was “Mary” in 1985. (Over thirty years ago!)

I’m also not sure younger people realize what a big deal she was: Mary Tyler Moore invented the modern woman on TV. She was mod, and hip, and all that stuff, on “The Dick Van Dyke Show”. Then she got her own show, as a single woman making her own way in life, and blew everybody right out of the water.

There’ll never be another Mary.



Speak of the Devil: Revenge Of The Flying Kilts

Speak of the Devil: Revenge Of The Flying Kilts: It's Robert Burns Day today. I have an image blog for the occasion, and a word of advice: no matter what they tell you... don't tr...

Dogs and Kids and Ibuprofen

Note to self: When taking an eight year old to the playground, please remember that you yourself are not eight years old, and neither is your spine.

On a related note, remember to stock up on ibuprofen and that stinging green slime stuff you get from the chiropractor.

On another related note to self: Steal a photo from Emily to illustrate this cause and effect, and how the dog was certain this activity was crazy human stuff:


But on the other hand, at least I wasn't recovering from having my tonsils removed, like my other grand-twin was.

Daphnis Up Close

Daphnis Up Close: The wavemaker moon, Daphnis, is featured in this view, taken as NASA's Cassini spacecraft made one of its ring-grazing passes over the outer edges of Saturn's rings on Jan. 16, 2017. This is the closest view of the small moon obtained yet.

My Funny Valentine: Because what else is there in February?



For those of you totally ignorant of the fact that Valentine’s Day is coming up (I’m looking at you, men), the humor anthology My Funny Valentine is still available in print and e-book. (I have a few copies on hand myself.) Maybe your loved one is sick of chocolate, or flowers, or chocolate flowers (Chocolate flowers? The perfect gift!) I’m one of the contributors to My Funny Valentine, which is unsurprisingly about Valentine’s Day.

If your loved one has an e-reader, the Kindle version is just $2.99. If they don’t have one, don’t be cheap—buy them one. If they already have one, be cheap. Or, you could get the print version for $9.95 at Amazon:

I’d advise against getting them the book for the second or third year in a row, though—they’d certainly notice. But I suppose in that case you could go over to www.markrhunter.com (or Amazon, or Barnes and Noble, etc.) and grab one of my romantic comedies for the loving one you love.