Musings of Two Creative Minds

****COMING DECEMBER 1st, THE LATEST INSTALLMENT OF THE PARA-EARTH SERIES****   Twenty-five stories, spanning 150 years...   “The Vampyre Blogs – Coming Home” introduced a new cast of characters to the Para-Earth Series. This anthology answers and raises questions about their backstories and relationships. What otherworldly threats has the Professor dealt with? How did Nathan’s altered self affect his service in the Civil War? What other mysteries linger on Nathan’s estate? What did a German like the Professor do during WWII? Who are some of the other people Nathan has met over his unnaturally long life? Are Nathan and the Professor the only ones who’ve had close encounters with Para-Earth beings? These and more, including the return of certain characters from “The Bridge” or “The Ship” will be explored within these pages.   KINDLE PRE-ORDERS BEING TAKEN NOW AT THE LINK BELOW:   https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KMN78B2?ref_=pe_3052080_276849420 ...

Many of us have a particular establishment where we go for a good cup of coffee, tea, and maybe even a pastry.  We might even like to park ourselves at a table, maybe by the window, or in a corner so we can sit, read, do a bit of texting, writing, artwork, or just dream.  But how many of us pay attention to the other folks sharing that space where we like to relax and unwind? After reading “Love and Coffee” you may find yourself paying more attention to those around you and wondering what roads they’ve traveled down. “Love and Coffee” is a collection of short vignettes that all take place inside not just any coffee shop, but a very special one.  It’s run by a woman everyone calls Little Italy, who knows just what you need even before you make up your mind.  She’s assisted by her cohorts Big Red, and Angel, as well as a music box that seems to have come straight out of the more benevolent corners of the Twilight Zone, along with Little Italy who simply ...

When I started out on this writing journey, I never saw myself as someone who could a whole bunch of writing projects going at the same time.  That kind of thing was reserved for some of the great prolific authors like Isaac Asimov, who was notorious for working on multiple projects on a regular basis.  The man insisted on having a portable typewriter or two wherever he went.  And if he couldn't get his hands on a typewriter, he'd pull out a pad of paper and a bunch of pencils/pens and wrote the old fashion way, long hand. But me, I could never picture myself even thinking about working on more than one story at a time.  In fact, the very first novel I started working on was set in the early 1800's and I had gotten about 2/3's of the way through the tale when my wife pointed out that a historical piece would be harder to market.  On hearing this, I gave it some thought and put the story aside and began a whole new piece which eventually turned into my fi...

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. Sp...

A fun and fulfilling collection of the most tangled, yet intriguing, tales one might want to read.  Miss Kings, a. k. a. the “Vampire Maman” has enchanted many with her blog “Vampire Maman, Musings of a ModernVampire Mom”.  It is a very popular blog, and where all the tales found in this collection originated.  Of course, while one could sift through her blog, it would take hours or possibly even days to find each of these tantalizingly delicious vignettes.  Each story stands on its own merit, yet are connected at the same time, as the author shares stories not only about her own long existence, but those of her brothers, children and family friends which include zombies, the occasional werewolf, ghosts, elder vampires, and more than a few ordinary humans. Our dear Vampire Maman, weaves each tale in such a way to make us laugh, smile, feel a little remorse, or simply take a moment to appreciate those around us.  She brings wit and wisdom as well that ...

After reading Miss Du Maurier's classic "Rebecca" I set out to find more of her works, in particular I wanted to read some of her short works.  In "The Doll: THe Lost Short Stories" I found a treasure of tales which left me both fascinated and a bit disconcerted.   One might easily wonder at how I reconcile those two emotions, but I can safely say I learned from the author herself.  In this collection of early works, we get to see the sharp insight Miss Du Maurier had to the minds of people.  Each story contained in this tome, involve people making bad choices in love and relationships, yet still pursuing objects of affection who are most definitely wrong for them.  Those they pursue are either disturbed, toxic, or playing games with the affections of others.  Yet, Miss Du Maurier keeps our interest in each tale, as the reader finds themselves reflecting on their own relationships and behavior, or those of family and friends who they've watch...

I know, I know, I haven't even put out "The Ship" yet, and I'm already working on another book?  Well, I'm waiting for feedback from some of my beta-readers who are going over "The Ship" so there's not much I can do on that front at the moment.  And it felt so darn weird, sitting at my computer and not working on something, other than doing Facebook and games. Besides, I've been getting a lot more views on "The Vampyre Blogs--Private Edition" blog sites that have been looking very encouraging.  I really hope my creating those sites will lead to me having a really good sized audience clamoring for the book when it finally comes out in December.  In this day and age of Indie Authors and self-publishing, one has to try and be inventive to build an audience for your work.  And I keep hearing over and over again about how important it is to get the word out about your works (both finished and in progress). But what I really want to ...

I changed the name of my vampyre blog, because the name would be exactly the same as the book's title.  I wanted to keep the two similar but not identical.  Some people might get confused, so I decided to add the words "Private Edition" which is actually appropriate.  Since none of the entries appearing on that blog will be showing up in the actual novel, it seemed appropriate. Readers just wind up getting a bit of free background info on the characters, as well as scenes that can be considered free short-stories.   I've already decided that since that blog has already had over 400 views in the month and a half that it was put up, I will continue to keep it going even after the novel comes out in December of this year.  I find I enjoy doing these little shorts about my vampyre and the people who's lives touch his. I also plan on doing more novels with him, if the first one does well.   So in the meantime, come see what's been happening at his dance ...

Mr. Ray Bradbury died on June 5, 2012.  It's been a year since he left us with a legacy of books and stories, some of which have been made into movies and TV episodes (check out Ray Bradbury Theater on Amazon or YouTube).  In this blog entry I'm not going to recap his life story.  Mostly I'm going to share my own thoughts and feelings on the man from what I saw of him in his works. Mr. Bradbury could capture the imagination in ways not many authors can.  I'm a huge fan of his short story anthologies, as well as his more lengthy works.  But it was those short stories that always captured my attention the most.  I've not done many myself, but I'm hoping to expand eventually.  I'm afraid I'm one of those authors who feels he has a big story to tell most of the time.  Perhaps I just haven't come up with the right character(s) to be the voice or focus of some short stories.  I've got one or two in mind but I have to learn a bit more about who th...