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Showing posts from February, 2017

Book Review: Isaac Asimov's "Tales of the Black Widowers"

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Isaac Asimov is well known for his extremely numerous writing contributions to science and science fiction.  But not everyone knows he was also a mystery author and regular contributor to Ellery Queen Magazine, as well as a few others.  His most famous crime sleuths never actually went to a crime scene, nor did they go into police headquarters and announce they had cracked an important case.   No, these amateur sleuths, who call themselves the Black Widowers because once a month they come together for a dinner of just themselves and one invited guest, a man.  Women are not allowed to attend this function, hence their nickname.  For one night a month they can enjoy just the company of each other without female company, not that they object to women.  It's simply their own little club.  The members of this little club are based on friends from the author's own life and are listed here: Geoffrey Avalon, a patent attorney (based on  L. Sprague de Camp ) Emmanuel Rubin

My Review of "Talon: Come Fly With Me"

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Have you ever felt like you would never fit in?  Of course you have, we all have at one point or another.  But for some this is not simply being awkward socially, but much more.  For 10 year old Matica, the problem is a physical one.  She is not growing.  Despite her age and having a younger brother, Matica has the body of a much younger child which has made her life a real challenge as far as making any friends in the little village in Peru where her parents are missionaries trying to help the local tribe.  The tribe finds Matica's situation strange and tend not to associate with her, making her more lonely than ever. However, Matica does have knack for making friends.  In this case its a pair of condors, which seems to fascinate the local villagers.  But they are even more surprised when the bond between the undersized girl and the huge birds becomes so strong that when their egg is threatened by poachers they allow her to watch over and care for it.  Soon the egg hatche

More Thoughts On Collaborations

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Having finally gotten moved out of my old apartment at CSUMB, and into a new one, I can finally start getting back to regular postings here.  I'm not taking any classes this semester either which also frees me up to do more writing in the future.  And let me tell you all, I've been feeling the itch something fierce.  Some days I think of myself as a parent whose been neglecting his kids, and I've hated it.  But this doesn't mean I haven't been thinking and plotting like crazy.  Once I get going again, which will be soon, look out.  I've got plot twists and turns that will make a game of Twister played by a bunch of octopuses, look boring. However, I haven't only been thinking about story ideas, I've been thinking about some of my recent experiences with one of my collaborations.  Those who've been regular readers have already been introduced to my high school buddy and partner in crime Rich Caminiti.   We've been working on an unusua