September 2008
I rewrote all my short stores on the Good Story to Read.com website and those posted on Booksie. I don't want to go into details here about why I decided to rewrite them, except to say somebody showed me they could be improved. I will not update the podcasts at this time.
August 2008
I did new podcasts for the three short stories on the Good Story to Read website. I used some new audio recording software that I bought this Summer. I am still learning how to use this software, so I didn't do anything fancy. I just tried to make the recording loud and clear enough. I hope anybody who doesn't have time to read my stories will download the podcast.
July 2008I decided to move the chapters from my novel, Cedric of RoseThorn, to the
Booksie website. I think it is better to have them there, then tucked away here on this website. I will continue to put a new chapter there every one or two months.
Drag
June 2008
I found a box of my old paperbacks from when I was a kid, and I decided to read When Worlds Collide written back in the 30's by P.G. Wylie and E. Balmer . Despite its failings, it is still an intriguing story about the end of the world with a twist- some of us can get away to start a new world.
In the end I was left with the feeling that someone could make quite a fantastic movie out of this. I looked around the internet, and I found that it was tried back in 1951. But most people agreed that the result was poor. Then I was surprised to find out that Dreamworks is now working on a movie called "When Worlds Collide". Go to http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0455856
I read people's comments on this film project. It seems that some people want to update the story setting for the movie and put it in more modern times. But personally I like the story as it is set in the 30's. Atomic power is offered as a drive system for rockets. Scientists are considered the smartest and wisest people, but they still have very little understanding of space travel. Russia is communist. The main characters smoke cigarettes and drink cocktails. And women are women and men are men in the 1930's sense.
May 2008
My family and I visited Chicago over Memorial Day weekend. The kids enjoyed the 110-story Sears Tower and the Adler Planetarium. Although I never remember having to wait so long to go up the Sears Tower before. The weather was cool and sunny. We took the Chicago River boat tour for the first time. Despite the corny jokes, it was interesting to see the Windy City from the river. Also, it was interesting to hear that Chicago has started building a 150-story building on Lakeshore Drive which will be called the Chicago Spire. It is planned to be finished by 2010.
We also made sure to have some Chicago deep-dish pizza. But this will have to do it for summer trips this year. I will try to sneak in a camping trip. But gas prices just hurt too much.
April 2008
I decided that the Good Story to Read website needed a new, simpler look. I am pretty happy with the results. After I finished there, I decided to do the same for my own website. I wanted to make it not only easier for people to read, but also easy for me to update. I am hoping that this will encourage me to add more information more often.
March 2008
I am reading the children's story, Coyote Autumn (by Bill Wallace), to my kids. Its about a boy who moves from the city to the countryside. He has always wanted a dog, but he ends up with a coyote pup. The story tries to show the difficulty of raising a wild animal. It is very engaging to my kids, and I like the details about raising coyote pups and living in Oklahoma. The author must have some personal experience with coyotes or know somebody who does.
You can find more information about Bill Wallace at this website-
http://title3.sde.state.ok.us/literatureanda/bill.htm