Dandyfunk

Get Ready for Les Paul Day - June 9th

I like mine wine red.

What I'm reading now

Airships and Lizard-men -- what more could you want?

Get it here.

I will give up . . .

Everybody loves a sunset.

More Info on "Politics Unusual"

 

Are you tired of the same old politics?  Fed up with candidates slinging so much mud it puts thong-wearing lady wrestlers to shame?  Have strategically-timed ‘gotcha’ videos turned you into a jaded cynic?  Do you want fresh ideas to revive your interest in social narrative and public discourse gone stale?  Do you want them in an easy-to-digest pamphlet size that’s no bigger but no less incendiary than Thomas Paine’s Common Sense?  If so, then you won’t need terrabytes of polling data to figure out that Politics Unusual is the literary choice for you.

Join writers Patrick Lundrigan (L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future award-winning author), J. Monell, Brian Pedersen and Neil Morris as they spin tales of fantasic contests in the civic arena:  in Patrick Lundrigan’s The Political Machine, a master of old-fashioned realpolitik must adapt to challenges posed by an artificially-intelligent candidate in a technologically disorienting virtual debate; negative campaigning gets a taste of New Age medicine in the battle for a young woman’s soul in J. Monell’s The Media Medium; Brian Pedersen’s Falling for a Presidential Hopeful features an ambitious wife grappling with the possibility that her nominee husband may not be of this Earth, while Neil Morris’ The Living Document pits an anthropomorphic United States Constitution against a Supreme Court Chief Justice in a debate over the most controversial issue of our time.

For readers, though, there’s simply no debate: whether you’re a nobody in the ninety-nine percent or a one percent patrician, Politics Unusual will leave you wholly entertained.

Available at Smashwords : Politics Unusual

New Story out

My story "The Political Machine", from the anthology Politics Unusual, is now available at Smashwords:

 

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/246176

10 Years gone by

I've always been a storyteller. I remember standing in the second grade schoolyard and captivating some classmate with the most outrageous string of, ahem, embellishments to the story I was telling.

A few years later I committed those stories to loose-leaf paper, with drawings and report covers. Next came attempts with typewriters.

Years later, I realized that there were such things as How-to books, and stocked up and read a whole bunch of them. But it wasn't until 2001 that I seriously started to write. By that I mean I took an on-line class in how to write, joined Critters, and I not only wrote, but keep track of what I was doing.

So back on May 10th, 2001, I wrote the first 380 words of my professional writing career. Since then I've written about a hundred stories and  more than 700,000 words of fiction. Which means I'm still working on the one million words of crap they say writers have to produce before writing something good. But I have managed to sell six stories and win a few contests. Did I show any promise with those first few hundred words? You be the judge:

 

The Pierian Spring

 

               Krane felt a lurch in his stomach as the lander dipped into the atmosphere.  The steady keel of the carrier was long gone, replaced by the bobbing and weaving of this small craft as it descended.  He could feel the thin wisps as they slowed the lander, and the wingtips began to glow.  Weightlessness and inertia traded places, and he was pulled into his seat.  Another swift turn, and the ocean below was revealed.  Clouds, white like all clouds; waters, blue for the most part.  Vast patches of greens and blues hugged the shorelines and equator.  He accessed for a moment.  These varieties of plankton were similar to species found thirty-two other worlds.  Preliminary studies showed them to to quite unremarkable.  Genetic makeup was closest to…  He felt the beginning of vertigo,  despite the momentary smoothness of the lander.  Closing his eyes, he concentrated until the feeling, and the information, faded.

               Krane looked over at the pilot.  No queasiness showed, only an eager grip on the controls and the intense stare of concentration.   His flightsuit bore colorful badges of rank and missions in contrast to Krane’s single insignia—a small stylized microscope.

               “We’re coming up on the continent.” he said, acknowledging Krane for the first time.

               Krane had seen the continent from orbit, of course.  Now it was appearing on the horizon.  The only major land mass on this planet, beside tiny outcroppings and volcanic chains of islands.  He was about to access the tectonic and geological records, but hesitated.  Later, he thought.

They were now over land, the descent moderated somewhat.  The lander was now an aircraft, and Krane imagined the sonic booms below him.  There was nothing to hear them, though, this area being devoid of any life on an already sparsely inhabited world.  Those simple creatures, plants mostly and a few phyla of insects, had their fate in Krane’s hands.

How High the Moon -- the Movie!

Well, not quite a movie.

My short story, "How High the Moon", originally published at Flash Fiction Online (read it here), has been made into a short film by Canadian Filmaker Nguyen-ahn Nguyen.

It's in French, without subtitles, but you can follow the story. See it here:

Si Haute, la Lune.

 

 

How things have changed

I watched Endeavour's final flight at the breakfast table, linked to NASA's webpage on my laptop through the home wireless network.

Years ago, I watched Apollo 17 take off from the moon. On a black and white TV set, with my brother on the roof with a broomstick turning the antenna to get the best picture.

At this rate, the next time NASA has a new launch vehicle, I'll be watching in 3D HD on my phone with surround sound.

 

 

 

 

 

First Crocus of spring

And the last day at work.