Happy Leap Year! Or unhappy, depending on your point of view.
Speak of the Devil: A Leap Into The Proverbial Abyss: It's Leap Day today, and as such, I have an image blog for the occasion. Enjoy!
Indiana Beach ... Gone For Good?
Here's the interesting history of the "Riviera of the Middle West":
https://ndsmcobserver.com/2020/02/indiana-beach-gone/
For several years I got Indiana Beach tickets through my work, and would take my kids, and sometimes their friends, there. Later Emily and I went, once taking the grandkids. Like the local drive-in theater I've talked about before, it seemed like it was becoming a multi-generational thing.
Now, although there are efforts to keep it going, the almost century old Indiana Beach Amusement Park seems gone for good.
The last time we visited was in rainy, dreary weather, which maybe I should have taken for a sign.
I took the news personally, because I just finished changing the title and doing a few corrections to my so-far unpublished young adult mystery, Summer Jobs Are Murder (formerly Red Is For Ick, but I'd rather we all forget that.)
The story's protagonist is a teenager who investigates a murder while also working her first job--at an Indiana amusement park. Since Indiana Beach is the only amusement park of its size within easy driving distance, I used it as an inspiration and model for my fictional park. Details were changed, of course, to protect ... well, me. I'm getting ready to send that manuscript back out on the agent hunt, so I'll let you know.
This isn't my first time stealing, as the basic layout of the town of Hopewell, in my published novel Coming Attractions, is based on Kendallville, Indiana. In the immortal words of Thomas Edison, "Why invent, when you can steal?" (Kidding!)
So I'm taking this loss a bit hard, and I hope against hope someone will step in to get the park running again. Meanwhile, I'll continue my efforts to show non-Hoosiers that there is still more than corn in Indiana.
https://ndsmcobserver.com/2020/02/indiana-beach-gone/
For several years I got Indiana Beach tickets through my work, and would take my kids, and sometimes their friends, there. Later Emily and I went, once taking the grandkids. Like the local drive-in theater I've talked about before, it seemed like it was becoming a multi-generational thing.
Now, although there are efforts to keep it going, the almost century old Indiana Beach Amusement Park seems gone for good.
The last time we visited was in rainy, dreary weather, which maybe I should have taken for a sign.
I took the news personally, because I just finished changing the title and doing a few corrections to my so-far unpublished young adult mystery, Summer Jobs Are Murder (formerly Red Is For Ick, but I'd rather we all forget that.)
The story's protagonist is a teenager who investigates a murder while also working her first job--at an Indiana amusement park. Since Indiana Beach is the only amusement park of its size within easy driving distance, I used it as an inspiration and model for my fictional park. Details were changed, of course, to protect ... well, me. I'm getting ready to send that manuscript back out on the agent hunt, so I'll let you know.
This isn't my first time stealing, as the basic layout of the town of Hopewell, in my published novel Coming Attractions, is based on Kendallville, Indiana. In the immortal words of Thomas Edison, "Why invent, when you can steal?" (Kidding!)
So I'm taking this loss a bit hard, and I hope against hope someone will step in to get the park running again. Meanwhile, I'll continue my efforts to show non-Hoosiers that there is still more than corn in Indiana.
http://markrhunter.com/
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"
Because it’s there?
I have a Mardi Gras themed book wallpaper!
No, I have absolutely no idea what I’m going to do with it. Why do you ask?
http://markrhunter.com./
No, I have absolutely no idea what I’m going to do with it. Why do you ask?
http://markrhunter.com./
First Responders Health Resource: 45th Anniversary of the 1975 NY Telephone Exchange...
Hundreds of firefighters dying from cancer ... unacknowledged.
First Responders Health Resource: 45th Anniversary of the 1975 NY Telephone Exchange...: Red Star of Death By Danny Noonan- retired FDNY Firefighter and former Fire Technology Instructor Miramar College, San Diego, Calif. ...
First Responders Health Resource: 45th Anniversary of the 1975 NY Telephone Exchange...: Red Star of Death By Danny Noonan- retired FDNY Firefighter and former Fire Technology Instructor Miramar College, San Diego, Calif. ...
Stupid Is As Facebook Does
(This may seem like I just
need to vent. I do. Been a rough week.)
Facebook won't let me post a link to a BOOK REVIEW. How is that possibly against community standards? How have they actually lasted this long? Why aren't they being replaced? MeWe isn't getting any traction--maybe we should all go back to LiveJournal.
Facebook won't let me post a link to a BOOK REVIEW. How is that possibly against community standards? How have they actually lasted this long? Why aren't they being replaced? MeWe isn't getting any traction--maybe we should all go back to LiveJournal.
Lately I've been getting only a handful of contacts
on my FB posts, anyway. They must have changed the algorithm to make it even
less possible to stay in contact without handing over money. For those of you
who actually want to stay in touch with what I'm doing, hopefully you'll have
more luck at my author page over at https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter/,
but maybe it's just a matter of time before they won't connect anyone with
that, either. Hook up with my newsletter at the website, http://markrhunter.com/,
or the blog at https://markrhunter.blogspot.com,
before I vanish entirely.
(Or Twitter, which thus far doesn't seem to have a
problem with linking to the blog.)
book review: The World War 1 Triva Book, by Bill O'Neill
I wanted to get away from all the anger and destruction going on in the world today, so I went looking for some light, fun reading.
I chose World War 1.
Nobody ever claimed I make all the best choices.
My only defense is that the book was a lot more fun than the actual war. In The World War 1 Trivia Book, Bill O'Neil takes us through some interesting stories and random facts from the war, and I know because that's the book's subtitle. It's a quick read (and would be useful, I suspect, for high school students looking for an overview), and O'Neil doesn't go into detail about every battle, or in depth about personalities involved.
He does give us an overview of related subjects, including the new technologies developed during the war. He explains clearly the political and ideological causes that led to the war, including the nations that came and went, before and after. More detail is put into the after-effects, and how they led to World War II and then beyond to linger into present times.
No blood and guts, but O'Neil also doesn't pull any punches about the effects of developing technology on the individual soldiers, and on their difficulty recovering from the conflict.
If you're already soaked in the history of the era this probably won't tell you anything new, but it's a good overview of a bad time, easily understood, and if you want you can ignore the quizzes at the end of chapters. (I got about a 90%, so yay me.)
The only real complaint I have is that the cover shows a World War II era tank, but what the heck.
I chose World War 1.
Nobody ever claimed I make all the best choices.
My only defense is that the book was a lot more fun than the actual war. In The World War 1 Trivia Book, Bill O'Neil takes us through some interesting stories and random facts from the war, and I know because that's the book's subtitle. It's a quick read (and would be useful, I suspect, for high school students looking for an overview), and O'Neil doesn't go into detail about every battle, or in depth about personalities involved.
He does give us an overview of related subjects, including the new technologies developed during the war. He explains clearly the political and ideological causes that led to the war, including the nations that came and went, before and after. More detail is put into the after-effects, and how they led to World War II and then beyond to linger into present times.
No blood and guts, but O'Neil also doesn't pull any punches about the effects of developing technology on the individual soldiers, and on their difficulty recovering from the conflict.
If you're already soaked in the history of the era this probably won't tell you anything new, but it's a good overview of a bad time, easily understood, and if you want you can ignore the quizzes at the end of chapters. (I got about a 90%, so yay me.)
The only real complaint I have is that the cover shows a World War II era tank, but what the heck.
Red Is For Ick, or: How icky is that title?
I've been kidding myself with the name of one of my novel manuscripts. It's not that I was in love with the title: I was more in love with the possibilities the title represented.
Many readers are familiar with book series that have a progression in their titles. One For the Money, for instance, is followed by--well, what are the Stephanie Plum stories up to now? 27? And each numbered in order.
Sue Grafton has a letter in each title of her series, meaning that Z has to be her last one unless she starts throwing in subtitles, or something. AAA Is For Roadside Assistance might come after Z, but she started way back with A Is For Alibi.
When I started my young adult mystery novel, I wanted it to be a series, so I looked for something like that. Famous author names, cities, types of flowers, whatever. That would also make it clear to editors and agents that I was interested in a series, and series are big these days.
So, for instance, A Is for Asimov, or Boston Mystery, or Carnation Crime, or something like that. After thinking not long enough on it, I chose colors. For one thing, I could do those without going alphabetically. I'm not that good.
So I chose Red Is for Ick. I didn't realize at the time that all of Grafton's books have "is for" in the title, or maybe I'd have thought longer. But hey--red's the color of blood, and this novel would have a murder or two; and what would my fifteen year old hero, Cassidy Quinn, say about the blood? Yep: "Ick!" (You get to meet Cassidy, and briefly her father, in my YA adventure The No-Campfire Girls.)
It was brilliant.
Except for one problem.
The title makes sense when it's explained, but I just took three hundred words to explain it. You don't get that kind of space when you're querying an agent or editor. You need to cut to the chase.
I've been using this manuscript on the agent hunt, and got compliments and a few requests for the complete manuscript, one of them very enthusiastic ... but in the end, three dozen rejections. No, no one ever said they rejected it because of the title, and maybe the title's just fine and doesn't need explaining. But in the crowded world of publishing, you need every advantage you can get--starting with your title.
So what do you, the reader and/or writer, think? Granted, many titles are changed after the book is picked up, but (assuming you don't self-publish) you have to get the proverbial fish on the hook, first. Yay or nay on the title?
Here's a brief description of the book, if it helps:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Being a murder suspect will really cut into Cassidy Quinn’s summer vacation. When the teenager takes over her dad’s simple, safe surveillance job she becomes the only witness to the murder of her best friend’s father—except it turns out the victim is the father’s double, and only she saw the real killer. Now Cassidy must find out why her friend’s family disappeared, why strangers are stalking her, and how anyone making minimum wage can save up money for a car. Luckily her dad has the transportation, her sister the computer (and cookies), her grandfather the attitude, and Cassidy herself the wit and determination. The bad guys—and small-town Indiana—had better watch out.
Now, if you've read this far, yesterday Emily and I brainstormed title ideas, and we've already come up with a potential new one:
Summer Jobs are Murder
Opinions? I also considered My Dad's Going to Kill Me, something Cassidy thinks in the opening scene, but that's misleading.
http://markrhunter.com/
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"
Many readers are familiar with book series that have a progression in their titles. One For the Money, for instance, is followed by--well, what are the Stephanie Plum stories up to now? 27? And each numbered in order.
Sue Grafton has a letter in each title of her series, meaning that Z has to be her last one unless she starts throwing in subtitles, or something. AAA Is For Roadside Assistance might come after Z, but she started way back with A Is For Alibi.
When I started my young adult mystery novel, I wanted it to be a series, so I looked for something like that. Famous author names, cities, types of flowers, whatever. That would also make it clear to editors and agents that I was interested in a series, and series are big these days.
So, for instance, A Is for Asimov, or Boston Mystery, or Carnation Crime, or something like that. After thinking not long enough on it, I chose colors. For one thing, I could do those without going alphabetically. I'm not that good.
So I chose Red Is for Ick. I didn't realize at the time that all of Grafton's books have "is for" in the title, or maybe I'd have thought longer. But hey--red's the color of blood, and this novel would have a murder or two; and what would my fifteen year old hero, Cassidy Quinn, say about the blood? Yep: "Ick!" (You get to meet Cassidy, and briefly her father, in my YA adventure The No-Campfire Girls.)
It was brilliant.
Except for one problem.
The title makes sense when it's explained, but I just took three hundred words to explain it. You don't get that kind of space when you're querying an agent or editor. You need to cut to the chase.
I've been using this manuscript on the agent hunt, and got compliments and a few requests for the complete manuscript, one of them very enthusiastic ... but in the end, three dozen rejections. No, no one ever said they rejected it because of the title, and maybe the title's just fine and doesn't need explaining. But in the crowded world of publishing, you need every advantage you can get--starting with your title.
So what do you, the reader and/or writer, think? Granted, many titles are changed after the book is picked up, but (assuming you don't self-publish) you have to get the proverbial fish on the hook, first. Yay or nay on the title?
Here's a brief description of the book, if it helps:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Being a murder suspect will really cut into Cassidy Quinn’s summer vacation. When the teenager takes over her dad’s simple, safe surveillance job she becomes the only witness to the murder of her best friend’s father—except it turns out the victim is the father’s double, and only she saw the real killer. Now Cassidy must find out why her friend’s family disappeared, why strangers are stalking her, and how anyone making minimum wage can save up money for a car. Luckily her dad has the transportation, her sister the computer (and cookies), her grandfather the attitude, and Cassidy herself the wit and determination. The bad guys—and small-town Indiana—had better watch out.
Summer Jobs are Murder
Opinions? I also considered My Dad's Going to Kill Me, something Cassidy thinks in the opening scene, but that's misleading.
http://markrhunter.com/
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"
New newsletter--now with more dog!
In the newsletter this week we discuss time consuming book
projects, how useful they are during winter, and how the dog appears to feel
differently about seasons than I do.
https://mailchi.mp/cf7620a98195/fun-with-writing-projects-no-fun-with-winter?fbclid=IwAR2ZLy0YbSkhD4ru1nppEuPGkkNuUKbXcR41rUrSEf0i8JqWJrrhWhBdFb8
Oh, and the main draw: At least one photo of the dog in every newsletter.
On Valentine's Day, Be Meme
I was going to write a loving Valentine's Day salute to my wife, otherwise known as sucking up. But I got sick, also known as every freaking holiday and anniversary, so instead I stole a chose some nice holiday related images.
When I started looking for some fun images, the first thing I noticed is that there are a LOT of single people out there who are just a bit, shall we say, bitter.
I've been there, back in the olden days. Still, some are trying.
They're not necessarily doing well, but still.
For we people who are taken, there's still a challenge. Well, not for the women so much, but for the men.
Been there, too. In fact, been there on Valentine's Day morning, every one of the last ten years.
My wife and I spend a lot of time together--she's doing a lot of the work related to my writing career, while I selfishly just write, so you could say we're coworkers.
But that's cool, because we're both the boss, when that's okay with her.
And the strangest part is that after almost eight years of marriage we still get along, even when I annoy her, which is usually.
Cute. By the way, I'm much older than her, so that image isn't accurate. I looked for one, and let me give you a piece of advice: Don't Google "Older Man With Younger Women" unless you're sure of your safe search settings.
I love Emily lots. I even say it a lot, because I try not to take her for granted, even though I still sometimes do. I told her the other day that in addition to having her, I wouldn't have a writing career if she hadn't come along and started pushing me. I wouldn't have gone outside my comfort zone on some great vacations. I wouldn't have had the dog, also known as our furry child.
I also wouldn't have to worry about Valentine's Day. But hey ... you make sacrifices for love.
When I started looking for some fun images, the first thing I noticed is that there are a LOT of single people out there who are just a bit, shall we say, bitter.
I've been there, back in the olden days. Still, some are trying.
For we people who are taken, there's still a challenge. Well, not for the women so much, but for the men.
My wife and I spend a lot of time together--she's doing a lot of the work related to my writing career, while I selfishly just write, so you could say we're coworkers.
And the strangest part is that after almost eight years of marriage we still get along, even when I annoy her, which is usually.
I love Emily lots. I even say it a lot, because I try not to take her for granted, even though I still sometimes do. I told her the other day that in addition to having her, I wouldn't have a writing career if she hadn't come along and started pushing me. I wouldn't have gone outside my comfort zone on some great vacations. I wouldn't have had the dog, also known as our furry child.
I also wouldn't have to worry about Valentine's Day. But hey ... you make sacrifices for love.
Free Humor Anthology for Valentine's Day
Did I mention free?
Of course, I have a piece in there, which is why it's "our" anthology. Look for me near the middle, right where the heart is; I'm the one who had to sleep in the car. There are print copies available for anyone who wants one as a gift, but you can get your free e-version over on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/My-Funny-Valentine-MyFunnyBooks-Writers-ebook/dp/B006JROL8K
Some samples:
I don’t need a special day to be awkward, uncomfortable and falsely selfless. That’s what dating was for. Blythe Jewell
This is not to imply that the only men who remember Valentine’s Day are philanderers. Some of them, for example, are only thinking about cheating. Greg Podolski
We lovingly refer to it as Valentine’s Day because "Sex for Chocolate Day" was vetoed by the greeting card industry. Leigh Anne Jasheway
Valentine’s Day is about those five little words: Charge it to my Visa. Jim Shea
Inappropriate Valentine's Day Gifts include: Tickets to a ball game, box of chocolates left over from Christmas, vacuum cleaner, herpes. Jonathan Shipley
Clubbing a man over the head with a bat and dragging him into your love den has been interpreted as somehow criminal, by people who belong to fringe groups like the "police" and the "courts". What in heaven’s name is a girl to do?! Kate Heidel
GRADY HARP, Hall of Fame Reviewer, says:
"One of those `must have' books not only because it is terrific reading but also because it has a lot to say about contemporary relationships. Kudos to a crew of writers who are very in the know about love and relationships. This is a little treasure of a book with some of the most terse humor being written today!"