An Unabashed Plug for a Very Good Friend

I like Sarah A. Hoyt.  I mean, I REALLY like her -- as a person, as a writer of science fiction, and hopefully, as a good friend.  I enjoy her website According to Hoyt, I enjoy her books, I enjoy her writing at Mad Genius Club, and I enjoy the occasional emails we exchange.  One of these days I'm going to conquer my medical problems and go over for a personal visit, since we both live in Colorado Springs, and she's extended the invitation.  I want to meet her in person, I want to meet her husband Dan, her sons Robert, and Marshall.

Sarah's book, "Darkship Renegades", came out just before Christmas.  I'd asked my children to get me a copy, and they did -- both of them.  I also got a copy of her previous book in the series, "Darkship Thieves".  I enjoyed both immensely.  My only problem with both books is that, since I read at about 450 words per minute, they lasted less than a few days for both.  I'll go back and re-read them this summer, hopefully at a slower, more relaxed pace.

Sarah is far more prolific than I am.  In addition to "Darkship Renegades", she has several other books either already out, or coming out in the next few months.  A follow-up to "Darkship Renegades", "A Few Good Men" will be out in March.  "Noah's Boy" will be released in July.  This is part of Sarah's "shifter" series, which includes "Draw One in the Dark" and "Gentleman Takes a Chance".  (If anyone would like to buy me a present, I need this last book, preferably for Kindle.)

You can follow Sarah on Facebook, and join her group at Sarah's Diner (by invitation, I believe, but I'm not sure).

I'm not much of a reader of fantasy, but Sarah offered a new fantasy novel "Witchfinder" (currently in edit, I'm not sure of the publication date) on her website, a chapter every Friday.  I became hooked, and couldn't wait for her to complete the novel.  Now I want a chance to read it all at once, in edited format.

Sarah has been exceptionally good at promoting the work of her weblog readers.  This has helped boost the sale of my novels five-fold.  This poor effort is my attempt to reply.  Do visit her website, do visit her listings on Amazon (Search for 'Sarah A. Hoyt'), and do buy her books.  If you like science fiction, you won't be disappointed.

PS:  Sarah has written (and may currently still be writing) other venues.  I haven't read any of them, but if they're anywhere as entertaining as her science fiction, they're a winner!

"Why Does It Matter?"

I've read a lot about Hillary Clinton's testimony to Congress about Benghazi, and her statement of "What difference does it make?"  I'd like to answer that as someone from the trenches, someone who spent the majority of his life in the Military as a mid-rank NCO.

First of all, Mrs. Clinton, we in the military have a policy that is implemented from the bottom to the top:  we do not leave our wounded -- or even our dead -- behind.  Yet not only did the Obama Administration leave people behind, they did so when they had plenty of available forces to rescue them.  That sends a message to everyone that wears a uniform, or who has ever worn a uniform:  this administration doesn't care about you.  Not only did they leave Americans behind, not only did they withhold support that was readily available, but they actually relieved commanders of their position that pushed hard to actually do what they were trained to do, and what had been instilled into them from the moment they entered the military. 

Can any reader imagine what this does to morale among the lower ranks?  Among the officers that have sworn to uphold the Constitution, and to do all they can to rescue any wounded or dead comrades?  Any officer who believes the Constitution is above the petty behavior of elected or appointed official?  It's deadly.  If it were MEANT to destroy faith among the military in their leaders, it couldn't be more deadly. 

The decline in morale among the military is only slightly greater than that among parents and loved ones of those, not only in the military, but anyone who is serving in what could at any moment become a hostile environment.  There is no faith that any member of this administration would go out of its way to rescue hostages, anywhere.  If you work for an embassy, if you're part of the military assigned to an embassy, or if you're part of a military unit assigned to a hostile war zone, you're on your own if you're captured.  If you're just an employee of a multi-national company and happen to work in what could be a hostile place (I.E., Algeria), you can't expect this administration to care.  This administration won't put itself out on your behalf, or even on your nation's behalf, if it might cost them even one vote in the next election, or one bit of bad press.

We've come a long way in the last 100 years, from an armed force that was hardly capable of wiping the nose of a tinhorn guerilla (Pancho Villa) to the finest and best military in the world today.  Yet it only takes one incident like Benghazi to destroy it all  THAT'S what difference it makes, Madame Secretary of State.  Both you and your boss are idiots for not understanding that.

My "Other" Life

 December 28, 2012:  Time for a major update!

I've become an almost full-time writer over the last year.  In the process, I've all but forgotten this weblog (the major exception was posting the chapters of "Greenfields" here one at a time until the novel was finished).   That was a mistake.  I really need to get back to writing on this weblog at least every week, if not several times a week.

I have started reading a half-dozen writing weblogs, which is making my writing better.  At the same time, they're taking up a lot of time I used to spend doing other things (mostly reading online "news" sites).  Here are a few refreshers:

I've finished and posted three novels this year:  "Rising Storm", a sequel to "Cynthia", "Greenfields", a stand-alone in the "Last Flight" universe, and "LOST!", a stand-alone novel in the "Kings Cross" universe.

I've started between six and eight NEW novels, including "Skye's the Limit", a sequel to "The Wizard of Skye"; "King's Bench", a sequel to "King's Cross"; "Ysiyeh", the final volume in the "Cynthia" trilogy; "Roll of Honor", a totally stand-alone novel, "Heretic", a totally stand-alone novel, and a revised and updated "Introduction to HTML for Writers", plus three or four other fiction works I haven't decided on the title for yet.

I'm still not really anxious to make a lot of money writing. I'd much rather be READ than RICH. I used to give more books away than I sell -- now it's about an equal split. I especially like to give my books to people I've met and interacted with over the past 45 or 50 years. I especially like to give my books to people I went to high school with, to those I've served with in the Air Force/Army/Marines, and those I've met and developed a friendship with on the Internet.

That doesn't mean I wouldn't like to make some money at this. That is the true measure of success, I'm told. I don't want to make money off my friends and family, but I wouldn't be unhappy with making money from THEIR friends and family. Word of mouth is still the most successful form of advertisement in any market.  I just have to keep it in the low five digits if I'm to continue to draw Social Security!

For those of you who don't yet know, here are my books, in the order I wrote them, with a brief teaser and a link to where they can be found.

HUKATA

 (For Kindle, go here, for Nook go here.)

Mankind has wondered about life elsewhere ever since he realized the lights in the sky were other stars. Scientists dedicate their entire career to looking for extraterrestrial life. Professionals in more than a dozen specialties try to envision new ways to contact other civilizations. Nobody expected them to "just drop in".

-- In the middle of the night.
-- Forty miles from nowhere.
-- In a blizzard.
-- By the gross.

When aliens drop in, it can change your life forever.

Jim Frasier simply set out to rescue a stranger who made a wrong turn heading for a ski holiday. Instead, he finds himself trying to cope with disaster on a dozen levels at once. He has to somehow keep 700 aliens from freezing to death. He has to get help, and he knows that if he doesn’t do it quietly, he’ll be overrun by media and the curious. The complications are enormous – Jim has never faced anything like this before. Food for 700 people, with obvious different backgrounds and different nutritional needs, is alone a catastrophe waiting to happen, and that’s just one of many problems he faces. Just accepting these strange creatures actually exist was a major challenge.

Debbie Fontenot, young, deeply battered by a past she'd like to forget, suddenly finds herself shoved into a series of dilemmas. On a professional level, she’s challenged to provide emergency treatment to creatures that are definitely not human, but who, without care, will surely die. She’s confronted on a personal level by events that shove her into the arms of a loving older man.

And John Tolliver, the sheriff of a small, peaceful mountain county, suddenly finds himself not only the center of the most historical event in a thousand years, but is also confronted by murder, mischief, and a plot to steal half the county.

Last Flight from Queensland Station

 (For Kindle, go here, for Nook go here.)

Queensland station was a nice place, until a rogue neutron star decided to pay a visit. Then the entire civilized galaxy had to pitch in to move the inhabitants out of harm’s way. A few brave scientists, and the crew of the Galactic Communications and Information (GCI) heavy cruiser Excalibur, would remain behind to record the planet’s demise.

Another group, using the evacuation of Queensland Station for its own purposes, plans to make it Excalibur’s final moment, as well. Their failure puts the lives of more than two hundred men and women in great danger, and sets up a confrontation between what some feel is the most powerful non-government group in the galaxy and those that have attacked it.

Last Flight from Queensland Station is suspense, drama, intrigue, romance and comedy, mixed together in a fast-paced, easy-to-read story.

Cynthia

(For Kindle, go here, for Nook go here.)

Cynthia Canarias was a nice young girl who'd attended all the "right" schools, learned all the "right" subjects, and always moved in the "right" circles. Cynthia wanted more than just a quick marriage to the "right" person - chosen by her mother - and a long, dreary life as someone's personal possession. When she tried to find a different life, she found out just how poorly all those "right" things prepared her for reality.

Reality turned ugly quickly, and Cynthia found herself thrust into a series of difficult situations that took every bit of ability, skill, and just plain luck she possessed to survive. She and her new friend, her first real friend, Judy Garcia, not only managed to survive, but to end up fabulously wealthy young ladies. Judy also found romance, and began her own family. That was something Cynthia desperately wanted, but it seemed to constantly elude her, until one young man with the courage to persist entered her life. Reality once more interfered, and Cynthia was once again faced with the possibility of a deep personal loss. Fighting for what she wants encounters some complications, including some totally unexpected - and even humorous - ones.

The Wizard of Skye

(For Kindle, go here, for Nook go here.)

Jaren Nordreiker was a nice young man from a planet that didn't believe in mental powers - what the rest of the galaxy called "Magic". He'd still found a way to attend the prestigious "College of Wizardry" on Frome. His newly-minted diploma, even with honors ribbons, appeared to be no help, however, in finding a job in his chosen field, weather manipulation. He'd been barred from joining the Society of Magicians, who control most of the jobs graduates from the College of Wizardry usually fill.
Finding a job that didn't require membership in the Society of Magicians wasn't impossible, only quite difficult. Jaren finally accepts conditional employment on the strange world of Skye, which apparently won't hire anyone who IS a member of the Society. It's not an easy job. The weather on Skye can be unbelievable at times. His job is made more difficult by another person who unknowingly interferes with his work, and by a growing feud between the Society of Magicians and worlds like Skye.

King's Cross

(For Kindle, go here, for Nook go here.)

Steve came fully awake slowly. He knew he wasn’t alone in the room. There were at least three other people with him – he could see that many feet. He had no way of knowing if there were more in the room without letting them know he had regained consciousness.

“I think he’s awake,” a quiet, whispery voice said.

“Good,” a more guttural voice answered from behind Steve. “We have much to say to him, and much to discuss.”

“Where’s Tommy?” Steve asked, not moving from where he lay.

“Tommy? Oh, the boy. He’s safe, don’t worry about him,” the guttural voice answered. “You are hungry. You need to eat and drink. When you are finished, we will talk.”

“I want to see Tommy! He’s my responsibility. I’m supposed to keep him safe,” Steve answered.

“Eat, young Marine,” the whispery voice said. “Your young boy child will not come to harm. He is safe with us. Hurry, eat. We have much to discuss.”

Steve realized he wasn’t going to get any further answers, and gradually sat up. The room was small. The seven people in it made it even smaller. One reached down and grasped his right hand, easing him to his feet. As Steve stopped swaying, an eighth person brought a tray of food into the room. Her appearance – she was definitely female – and her clothing gave him his first indication of who had kidnapped him. That knowledge only made him more curious. Why would the Universal Church, known for its peaceful behavior and generous philanthropy, suddenly begin kidnapping people?

Being kidnapped was just the beginning of a new life for Steve, one he’d never have considered before. Only time would tell what that new life would mean, not only for him but for his sister and her husband, his best friend and fellow Marine, Rob Wollcott.

Rising Storm

(For Kindle, go here, for Nook go here.)

Cynthia Canarias had finally found the man of her dreams, and had married him. Their future was destined not to be one of quiet comfort, however, as events around them wouldn't let them be ignored. Cynthia and Tim were forced to expand and change their lives time and again as the enemies that arose against them pressured them, pursued them, and hounded them and their commercial companies.
Cynthia and Tim, with Judy and Bodinghe, were under constant attacks from both internal enemies of the Council of Worlds, and also by dozens of invading species of aliens. Some of the invading species were friendly, but still placed demands on Cynthia and her family that only expansion and growth would relieve.

The more Cynthia worked to reduce the pressure on her family, the more she came to the attention of the Council of Worlds government, until she's forced both by circumstances and government action to take over as the governor of DownHome. Her actions draw both anger and praise as she continues to succeed against incredible odds. Cynthia has to decide, repeatedly, if the costs of success are worth it, and what she should do as the dangers grow around her.

Greenfields

(For Kindle, go here, for Nook go here.)

Jeff Sullivan, a geologist under contract to evaluate several mineral veins for the company that hired him, thought he was the only person on the as-yet-unnamed planet. A brigade of Global Communications and Information (GCI) battle marines forced him to re-evaluate the situation. What would GCI Marines be doing on this out-of-the-way place not one in a billion people had ever heard of?

A herd of mongolores, a species native to another world several hundred light-years away, tells Jeff that something was not right where he is. The actions of another group, an unknown alien species herding the mongolores, forces Jeff to not only seek shelter from the GCI Marines, but also warn them they are in danger.

Jeff volunteers to help the Marines discover who is behind the mongolore stampede, and several other hostile attacks. In the process, he helps uncover a major plot aimed at destroying both GCI and much of the Council of Worlds government – from within.

Fate and circumstances force Jeff into roles he had not expected to play for another decade, including that of husband, father, and most importantly for him and his family, protector. He finds himself embroiled in both GCI and Council of Worlds politics, trying to keep his wife, his family, and his new friends, safe.

LOST!

(For Kindle, go here, for Nook go here.)
  

The prestigious Sun-Dancer luxury passenger liner on a voyage in between worlds in a crowded part of Human space was on course and on schedule when their world fell apart around them. First they were kicked somewhere within a huge sphere, but no longer in Human-occupied space, then ejected from Transspace. Then their engines were destroyed, and most of their stored power is lost. The crew manages to wrestle the ship to the ground on a mercifully inhabitable planet nearby.

The captain of the Sun-Dancer would soon come to view that as a minor miracle. Factions form from the very beginning - those that don't believe the ship is disabled, those that believe they'll be found immediately, and those that don't believe they need "them" to help them survive, even those that believe they should be waited on as if nothing had happened - create a hostile atmosphere matched by the hostility of the flora and fauna of their new home.

The shaping of a somewhat stable society from among a dozen bickering parties, establishing a place to live on a hostile world, and smoothing the hostilities between human and alien societies, would require all the leadership, energy, and activity the surviving passengers and crew could spare.

Let there be ... Aliens?

Science fiction is the fiction of the future -- almost exclusively the future of humanity.  It almost always shows descendants of today's human population in futuristic settings, doing things that few even consider possible today.  Much of it shows ONLY humans.  A few stories include non-humans, ranging from semi-intelligent to super-intelligent aliens, allied with, indifferent to, or in direct conflict with humanity.  Sometimes aliens are the bad guys, sometimes the good guys, and frequently mostly for scenery or a plot device.

How realistic are these depictions?  We'll never know if/until we meet them.  The one thing that's certain, however, is that IF you're writing Science Fiction, and you use alien creatures in your work, how realistic are your characters to your readers?

Past depiction of aliens run from human or almost-human to so bizare they're almost impossible to relate to.  Some of them work, some of them don't.  Let's look at what a realistic alien needs to possess in order to "work" -- to appear realistic to readers.

One of the major considerations for creating aliens is to construct a realistic social structure.  Individuals, regardless of the type of creature you create, cannot extend beyond it's own ability, and no individual can do everything it takes to build civilizations.  To expand beyond the individual requires a social structure, whether it's the family, tribe, nation-state, planet, or greater.  The more complex the alien civilization, the more complex the social structure needs to be.  This doesn't mean you have to create that social structure in your book, but you MUST create it in your mind, and remember it when writing your words.  This is THE major blunder writers make when working with aliens.

Social structures need advances in individual capability to develop and mature.  That means language, probably art, and definitely science.  It doesn't mean it has to be anything LIKE human language, art, and science, but that the alien society has developed something similar. 

No alien is going to get beyond the early hunter/gatherer stage without the ability to create and use tools.  While a multiple-armed tentacled creature could develop the ability to use tools, its society would be definitely more constrained than something like humans with opposable thumbs (it takes a tremendously greater amount of mental activity to control twelve limbs than it does to control two limbs, two hands, and ten fingers.  Intelligence isn't likely to expand beyond basic tool usage, because too much brain activity is being concentrated in manipulating appendages -- or otherwise brains are so huge they don't fit in confined spaces).

Our alien has to have sense organs in order to percieve its environment.  Another strike against our tentacled creature above would be the probable necessity of having a unique sense organ for each of its manipulative appendages.  Coordinating that much information would again require such a huge amount of brain space that there would be little room left for intellectual pursuits. 

That doesn't necessarily mean that our alien's sense organs need to be the same ones we use.  There may be an alternative to the five senses we employ (sight, touch, hearing, taste, etc.).  There may be a telepathic sense that provides all the external evaluation sensors we employ, or an all-inclusive sense of touch that lets the individual interact with its world.  It isn't as important what they are as that they exist, and have understandable parameters that establish what they can -- and cannot -- rely upon their sensors to provide.

Those sensors also have to relate directly to the world where they developed.  For instance, let's say that our aliens developed on the planet around a red dwarf.  Red dwarfs don't give off enough light for the human eye to function well.  The alien's eye would have to compensate for that dimness in some way -- by a better vision transfer means than our rods and cones, of larger eyes/vision organs, or by the ability to significantly manipulate the vision organ to provide a greater range of operating, such as down into extremely low frequencies.  At the same time, a creature that has developed around an F-type primary needs the ability to restrict the amount of light that enters the sense organ, or they'll end up with eyestrain.

We need to back up just a minute, and inject a little hard science.  When we talk of red dwarfs and F-type stars, we're talking about stars of different brightness -- and also, of different evolutionary development rates.  The best source of information for this is the Hertzsprung-Russell (Hertzberg-Russell) diagram (do a Google search).  ANYONE who wants to write science fiction and wants to get out of the Earth's solar system should know this information implicitly. 

The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram plots stars according to their size/surface temperature.  There are three basic groups of stars:  the MAIN SEQUENCE, the WHITE DWARFS, and the GIANTS.  The main sequence stars are divided into CLASSES based on their surface temperature, from the hottest to the coolest.  These solar classes are O, B, A, F, G, K, and M, with a half-dozen other classes to classify the non-main-sequence stars.  An easy way to remember this is the mnemonic "Oh Be A Fine Girl, Kiss Me."  Stellar main sequence evolution also relates to size/surface temperature, with the largest stars being the shortest-lived, while the coolest stars live the longest.  This is because of the star's energy budget:  an O-class star must burn massively more hydrogen than an F-class star, and an F-class star burns significantly more hydrogen than an M-class dwarf.

All of this has meaning for your alien civilization.  An O-class super-giant would never exist long enough for a civilization to form before exploding into a supernova, destroying any planets that might exist around it, and any developing civilization that might have existed.  On the other hand, an M-class dwarf would probably not provide enough energy for something akin to plants to develop, much less a civilized society.

This doesn't mean that M-class dwarfs don't have planets -- we've already discovered some that do.  They just aren't a very good choice to find an advanced civilization.  The best, most logical choice would be around the suns that can provide enough energy for a civilization to come into existance, enough longevity for the long, slow evolutionary process to take place, and sufficient energy to keep the process moving.  This pretty much leaves with F-, G-, and K-class stars.  Luckily for us, these groups make up the second-largest number of stars in our galaxy (and any other, for that matter), behind M-class dwarfs.

All of this leads us to our next biggest area of consideration:  the environment in which your civilization develops.  That depends on two things:  the output of the source of energy, and the distance from that source where your planets are located -- the so-called "inhabitable zone". 

What this actually defines is the zone where water can exist as a solid, liquid, and gas, at least during part of its stellar cycle.  This more or less defines the "inhabitable zone" for humans and aliens similar to them.  That DOESN'T mean that some weird form of life can't exist in other areas, such as the clouds of Jupiter-type planets, the surface of Titan and similar environments, or other areas, just that it's less likely.  The energy budget for such creatures would be so small their movements would have to be measured over decades, or the source of energy would have to come from other sources, such as gravitational forces that heat Jupiter's upper atmosphere to temperatures similar to those found from central Europe to the tropics  (Robert L. Forward's novel "Saturn Rukh" handles this very well, and very intelligibly).

So, our alien has to fit his environment, which has to fit his world, which has to fit his sun.  That means his development through stages to intelligence, then up the ladder to where he can at least contemplate life elsewhere, to where he can physically search for that life among the different stars.

One other thing needs to be discussed, then I'll shut up:  sex.  How do you handle alien sex?  You cannot ignore it -- just as it's a main driver of human development, it will most likely be a main driver of alien development.  The drive to reproduce is what keeps the numbers climbing, and civilization being forced to come up with more and more ways to accommodate the higher numbers.  Civilizations that don't have a population growth don't have any other kind of growth, and soon die.

Alien sex can be anything from asexual (very unlikely, but possible, especially on a planet with surface conditions similar to Titan) to requiring up to a dozen individuals to succeed (very possible, especially on a planet around a very active sun, where multiple copies of the genetic record are needed to keep mutations from destroying the society).  Sex, like the other characteristics of your alien, are shaped by its environment, not our wishful thinking. 

The following is just a personal evaluation of aliens, and only shows how I have developed and depicted the aliens I have used in my stories.

I believe that there are far more planets in our galaxy than most scientists are willing to admit.  I also think that much of the identification of large, close-in gas giants is actually the detection of multiple planets, instead of one.  I can't see gas giants being viable around F-type and hotter suns.  The solar wind would strip any atmosphere they may have from them, leaving a rocky core which would be significantly smaller than what's being measured. 

I also believe life is far more pernicious than most people think.  Life is found everywhere on the planet Earth that it can exist, from the permanent snow line to the deepest depths of the oceans.  I would expect life to develop wherever there was the possibility for it, which would include an energy budget to allow it to exist, the raw materials for that type of life, and the time for it to have evolved.  (I also believe that when God created life, He created the OPPORTUNITY for life to develop - a viable energy budget, the raw materials, and a gentle nudge based upon the laws that govern the universe [created by God, so they're God's Laws].

With life, Intelligence should also have developed.  That does NOT mean it's "our" kind of intelligence, or even something we can understand -- just that intelligence will develop anywhere there's the possibility for it.  All in all, I think we have a lot of friends - and enemies - awaiting us once we learn how to get to them. 

A change of passion.

I haven't written very much lately, mostly because I either haven't felt well (chronic pain limits a LOT!), or I've been busy.  On the busy part, consider that I finished "Rising Storm", the novel I've been working on the last three years, and written AND PUBLISHED both "Greenfields" and "LOST!", two new novels now available on B&N.com for Nook, and Amazon.com for Kindle.  I'm also trying to rebuild my publishing history, and may move it to another website, if possible.  I've also got another five or six projects in various stages of completion.  One of them, "King's Bench", is set in the same universe, and employs a few of the same characters, as "King's Cross", but is otherwise quite different.  The other project, "Ysiyeh", will be the final book in the DownHome trilogy.  I also plan to link to the writings of recent friends, especially Sarah Hoyt, Amanda Green, and Cyn Bagley, plus others. 

I've got a few other projects in the works other than my writing, and I'll try to discuss some of them here, also.  I also plan to write more about society and politics, so if that's your cup of tea, keep coming back.

I've got a couple of medical tests scheduled for this week, and I may or may not discuss them here.  I also plan to do quite a bit more cross-posting about medical developments that affect me personally, and that also affect some of my friends. 

I haven't given up stamp collecting, and I'll still post something now and then about that, too, along with whatever else I think of.

New Book

 This is the beginning of my new novel, the one inspired by the commenters on Sarah Hoyt's weblog, http://www.accordingtohoyt.com/">According to Hoyt.  It was a great party, and a nice free-for-all.  This novel is the payback... 

 I'm looking for a title.  I've had several come to mind, but they just don't seem right.  I'm open to suggestions.

 I've listed the table of contents to give everyone an idea of what's in the book.  I'm currently writing Chapter 11.  Several chapter titles have changed since I wrote the outline, and several more may change before I'm finished.  That's not unusual -- no outline ever survives the awakening of the characters.

 Enjoy!  

Table of Contents

Table of Contents ii

Dedication iii

Disclaimer iii

Prologue: CRASH! 1

Chapter 1: Breakout 4

Chapter 2: First Kill 19

Chapter 3: Uprising! 29

Chapter 4: Multiplication 49

Chapter 5: ...and Division 75

Chapter 6: Theft and Desertion 95

Chapter 7: Swarm! 116

Chapter 8: Growing Pains 128

Chapter 9: Feast 145

Chapter 10 . . . and Famine 164

Chapter 11: Reprieve 184

Chapter 12: Rainy Season 202

Chapter 13: Summer? 203

Chapter 14: Rescue 204

Epilogue: Found! 205

AUTHOR'S NOTES 207

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 219

Dedication

This book is dedicated:

To the memory of Ric Locke, an author whose story ended too soon;

To Sarah A. Hoyt, who has openly accepted the battle of tutoring many new authors, and helping us all in the development of our writing skills;

And finally, to Sarah's commenters on a particular thread at http://accordingtohoyt.com/>According to Hoyt

(http://accordingtohoyt.com/2012/06/23/consensual-2/) from June 23^rd, 2012. That free-for-all resulted in the idea for this book. Thank you, the members of that event. Here's the final result. I hope you enjoy the ride as we have an adventure together.

Disclaimer

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, locale, and activities are solely from the imagination of the author, and do not reflect any real people, places, or actions. Any resemblance to people, places, or things, past, present or future, is purely coincidental.

Copyright 2012, by Michael A. Weatherford and Weatherford Enterprises. All rights reserved.

Prologue: CRASH!

“What in...”

Gayle Martin picked herself up off the floor of her small second-class cabin, and started to get back into bed. She hadn't felt anything except landing on the floor. As she pulled back the thin blanket, the ship lurched a second time. She managed to put her hand out in time to keep her from being slammed head-first into the bulkhead wall.

“This isn't right,” she thought as she turned over and sat down on the bed. “Something has to be wrong. What's going on?”

“ALL PASSENGERS AND OFF-DUTY CREW, PLEASE STRAP IN FOR MANEUVERING. I REPEAT, ALL PASSENGERS AND OFF-DUTY CREW, PLEASE STRAP IN FOR MANEUVERING. PASSENGERS NOT IN THEIR STATEROOMS MUST RETURN THERE IMMEDIATELY. STAND BY FOR MANEUVERING.”

The message was repeated over and over. A shiver of fear ran up Gayle's back as she lay down on her bed and fastened the straps that would hold her in place during any maneuvering the ship would do. Frightened, she lay back on the pillow of her bed and closed her eyes.

She had no idea how long she'd lain there when she heard a blaring alarm shriek throughout the ship. Moments later, the ship began bucking and shaking, threatening to toss her from her bed once more. She reached out and tried to steady herself with her hands, but with little success.

The alarm, and the bucking and shaking, went on and on – how long, she couldn't tell. Suddenly there was a massive jolt, followed by a different shake, one that lasted for several long seconds. When the shaking ended, the ship was absolutely still.

“ALL PASSENGERS REMAIN IN YOUR STATEROOMS. REPEAT, ALL PASSENGERS REMAIN IN YOUR STATEROOMS AND STRAPPED DOWN. WE MUST DO SOME ADDITIONAL MANEUVERING. THIS MANEUVERING MAY CAUSE PERSONAL INJURY IF YOU ARE NOT FIRMLY SECURED.”

That announcement had a very different – and ominous – sound to it – different than all the others she'd heard during the five days of her current voyage, or any of the other three voyages she remembered taking. Significantly frightened, she continued to brace herself against the walls and ceiling of her sleeping booth.

What followed wasn't so much frightening as confusing. She could feel she ship moving, especially as its rear swung around as if the ship was pivoting into a parking gate. There was also a low-pitched vibration – not quite a sound, but a slight, rhythmic shaking. The shaking continued for about three minutes, then all movement stopped.

“ATTENTION ALL PASSENGERS AND CREW – PREPARE TO DISEMBARK. DRESS WARMLY, AND TAKE AS MUCH OF YOUR POSSESSIONS WITH YOU AS YOU CAN CARRY. YOU MAY NOT BE ALLOWED BACK ABOARD THE SHIP TO RETRIEVE ANYTHING YOU LEAVE BEHIND. DO NOT SPEND TOO MUCH TIME PACKING, BUT TAKE EVERYTHING YOU CAN WITH YOU. YOU MAY ALSO TAKE ANY LINEN OR OTHER ITEMS FROM YOUR CABIN THAT YOU CAN CARRY. NEITHER CREW MEMBERS NOR PORTERS WILL BE AVAILABLE TO ASSIST YOU. YOU MUST DO THIS YOURSELF. PLEASE PREPARE TO EXIT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.”

Second-class passengers weren't allowed much in the way of luggage, and Gayle had little to pack. She quickly dressed and stowed everything she owned in her one small bag. She grabbed the blanket from her bed, both the clean and dirty linen from the small sanitary unit, and the tissue box from the fold-out nightstand next to her sleeping booth, and shoved everything but the blanket into her backpack with her passport and tickets. She tied the blanket around her waist, slung her backpack over her shoulder, and picked up her suitcase. She was ready to leave before the announcement had been repeated three times.

The hallway outside her small stateroom was in chaos. Many of those traveling second-class were parents with young children. The Hans, in a larger stateroom across the hall from hers, had four children. Two of them were in the hall, crying, holding tightly to their mother's hand.

“Hello, Marie,” Gayle said, kneeling down beside the two small children. “What's the matter, hon?”

Gayle didn't really know the family, but they'd seen enough of each other in the hallway, in the second-class dining facility, and elsewhere to be on speaking terms. Marie was the next-to-youngest, barely four years old, and obviously the most upset.

“Can you take her outside with you, Gayle?” Mrs. Han asked. “Tom is getting the luggage, and the two boys can handle themselves, but I could use some help.”

“Of course,” Gayle responded. “Come with me, Marie. Let's go see what all the fuss is about.”

It was hard making progress. People and luggage filled the hallway everywhere. Slowly they made their way to the main cross-hall that led to the closest passenger loading doors. Marie kept looking back to try to see her parents, but that was impossible over the mass of people.

Gayle silently led Marie through the dozens of corridors that wound through the ship toward the stairs that would lead to the ground below. Crew members were directing everyone toward the few open exits, all on the right side of the ship. Finally they arrived at the airlock.

“Here we are, Marie. Now we can see where we landed,” Gayle said as they stepped into the open airlock.

What lay beyond the doors shocked her into immobility. She had expected a terminal building and docking facilities. Instead, there were miles and miles of trees on low rolling hills, with snow-covered mountains in the near distance. The wind was cool, but not cold. The air was full of strange smells.

This was definitely not what she'd expected.

Our Adolescent President

I just read an article over at Sarah Hoyt's weblog that clarified something about President Obama I've been thinking, but didn't know exactly how to express. She's given me the words.

Our president is a 50-year-old adolescent.

Consider:

President Obama has lived a charmed life. He's never really had to work for anything. He was sent to the most exclusive schools, and "succeeded", regardless of what his grades were (we don't know - they're sealed).

He's been groomed and moved from point A to point B to point C with little or no effort on his part. He and his wife both have held jobs that paid well but required little actual work. He was always among people who praised him and protected him from reality.

His political career has been equally manipulated. He was elected to the Illinois State Senate, later to the US Senate, and finally the Presidency when the people he was running against collapsed, either from their own efforts or from being undermined by others, including a fawning press. His achievements in lower office are minuscule to non-existent. His "achievements" as President have been outright dangerous.

There are plenty of signs of aged adolescence scattered throughout the President's first term. His most repeated display of always blaming his predecessor for every problem, his inability to make clear decisions, his "flip-flopping", are all signs of arrested adolescence. Michelle Obama has also displayed many of the same signs, but in her case it's spending the people's money on extravagant clothing, vacations, and parties (teenage use of Mom and Dad's credit cards, anyone?).

The president has also failed, and shown signs of arrested adolescence in his inability to get along with the rest of government. He's used a heavy hand, demanding that things be done HIS way, regardless of what the law limits him to do. That trait is called "bullying", and it's a part of arrested adolescence where someone has never faced a determined foe that can slap the nonsense out of him.

Another major problem that reflects poorly on the president is his surrounding himself with sycophants who are as arrested in their development as he is. He's also surrounded himself with bullies and petty tyrants, yet he's quite willing to "throw them under the bus" whenever it's convenient to him. He has no long-range, deep commitment to anyone but himself.

Some of the other signs of arrested adolescence that President Obama displays include his inability to follow through on task, compromise, accept failure, or understand when something doesn't work and won't work. There's also his tendency to openly reward those that flatter him, and to destroy those that don't.

November 6, 2012, will determine whether the United States will be governed by an adult, or a 50-year-old teenager.

Obama's total lack of Understanding

President Obama told business owners last Friday (July 13, 2012) that, basically, they weren't responsible for their business success, and that it was government infrastructure that was responsible for it.  Everybody, on both sides of the aisle, have been using that to show how Obama is so out of touch with the world today.  That's not my purpose.  My purpose is to show that President Obama has absolutely no understanding of what kind of government we have, and what its purpose is.

Thomas Jefferson expressed the basic idea of this nation when he wrote in the Declaration of Independence that:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.  That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, 

The preamble of the US Constitution describes what the Founding Fathers were attempting to do to create a just government for the people of the United States:


 We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Basically, the Constitution was created to govern the people and the states, to establish a common system of laws and commerce, defend the nation, and ensure the rights and privileges of its citizens.

There are some things that need to be done at the national level, such as providing for the common defense, establishing a basic infrastructure of "post roads and highways", establishing a common currency, and ensuring that the laws are both just and equally administered.  The government pays for those by assessing taxes and fees.  The government has NO money of its own, and can only do these things from the taxes paid by its citizens. 

To believe that those who create business have never, ever paid a dime in taxes before their business is a success is absolutely stupid.  Each and every one of us has paid for the current infrastructure, the current defense, and the current legal system since we were born - either directly or indirectly.  Every successful business pays taxes by the gross, but even the failures have to pay some licensing and start-up fees. 

The President, in essence, was saying that's not enough, you need to pay more.  You need to be punished with higher taxes because you succeeded.  And he stresses that this is "only fair", because you benefited from all those things you've ALREADY paid for. 

There's a saying that if you want more of something, subsidize it; if you want less of something, tax it.  The President of the United States has gone on record that he wants less successful businesses.  Successful businesses are what keep this nation prosperous.  Without them, this nation would collapse.  Is that what the President wants?

Treasures

I visited Sarah Hoyt's website because I'd seen the name a few times, and she'd substituted for Glenn Reynolds when he went on vacation.  I like most of Glenn's substitutes, and have them bookmarked, but this was the first time I'd approached Sarah Hoyt's site.

I found a treasure.   Several of them, in fact.

Sarah frequently talks about family and other things, but she also talks about writing -- her own and the work of others.  She's recently talked about the changes in the publishing industry, what's happening and why.  She's an unabashed supporter of "indie" (Independent) publishing, and ebooks.  I've been visiting her site less than a month, and what I've learned already will make a significant difference in my own writing.

I've also read one of her novels, "Draw One in the Dark", which is about shape-shifters.  That's not something that's appealed to me until I read a short excerpt from a book she's currently writing.  I liked the excerpt, and I liked the book.  It's not something I would write, but it was entertaining.

Almost as entertaining as Sarah's blog are the "regulars" that comment there.  Some of them have imaginations that leave me struggling far, far behind.  They've also given me the ideas for at least three new books to write, one of which is going quite well.

Sarah posts a chapter or two of another book she's writing, "Witchfinder", every Friday.  Again, it's different than the books I normally read, but entertaining -- pleasantly so.  I don't know if I could do that -- write something in the early hours of the morning, and show it to several hundred people before noon.  I did appreciate the idea, and copied it, posting a chapter or two of my recently-finished but unedited novel "Greenfields" online, soliciting comments from readers.   I may do something similar with the novel I'm currently working on.  If I can find somewhere that I can upload it, I may post the entire thing, then hold a contest to supply the title.

Sarah has several links to other weblogs on her site, many to fellow writers and friends, plus other people in the publishing industry.  I've been so busy writing and reading Sarah's site I haven't checked out many of those, but the few I have are definitely worth the effort.

Check out the site, the links, and the works.  If you like writing, and talking about writing, her site's a treasure.

Where I'm coming from

My childhood was one of the most fascinating, enjoyable times of my life. The first eight years of that was spent in a house my dad put together from two temporary buildings he bought from Army Disposal, and joined with an eight-foot extension. There were no inside walls. Each was about 24 feet square. One was used as living room/kitchen/dining room, the other as a bedroom for both my parents and my brother and me. We had propane for the stove, but heat was provided by two wood-burning stoves. Some of my most enduring memories is helping my dad cut wood with a cross-cut saw. I was young - six to eight, I guess - but provided some help, and at least kept the saw balanced. It was also my job to cut the kindling to start the stoves. I do wish I'd known about pine cones back then... (G).

I ran pretty freely most of my childhood - from about the time I was four until I left home. Most of the area beyond our home was open forest - about 220 acres of it. I had access to it all, and it became my domain! We caught crawfish (and occasionally fish), I ran a small trap line for a couple of years, we raised a HUGE garden (a little more than an acre - all hand-turned, hand-weeded, and cared for), and we had animals - cows, chickens, a small donkey for awhile, and turkeys. Somewhere here in my house I have a negative of myself riding a turkey I had as a pet. We had to kill him when I was about seven, because he'd attack ANYONE ELSE but me. He dressed out at 67 pounds! HUGE bird.

When I was eight, we moved down onto the road into a house Mom and Dad bought on three acres of land. At the time, it was a major improvement -- there were FOUR ROOMS, and my brother and I had a bedroom we didn't have to share with Mom & Dad. We still didn't have indoor plumbing (that didn't get added until I came home with my new bride, who was a "city girl". It also had inside walls that we covered with wallpaper. There was also running water in the house, in the kitchen. As in Sarah's case, cold water only, but we had city gas and electricity. I helped Dad add an extension when I graduated from High school before I left for the Air Force. After that, my brother and I both had a room (I left three months after that was finished, and before the bathroom was put in).

I now know I did many, many things other people haven't done. I realize now that we were "dirt poor" in the true sense of the word, but I never felt deprived. I also had relatives. My grandparents lived on one side of us, and an "uncle" (actually a cousin by marriage) on the other. My uncle's mother-in-law lived across in front of us when we first moved down onto the road, and my uncle and his wife moved in after she died. There were a dozen other families that lived nearby that were related by blood, and many, many more that were "relatives of consciousness".

I went to school in the same school for twelve years, with pretty much the same set of classmates. That's totally unheard of today.  I also went to school with a number of relatives -- two of my dad's youngest sisters until third grade, and with cousins my entire twelve years.  I graduated with two of my first cousins, at least one second cousin, and two fourth cousins.

Part of the neighborhood is reasonably the same, but most of it's changed.  Not surprising, since it's been 48 years since I graduated and left home.  The houses I grew up in are long gone.  The state built a freeway through the town, and many of the roads I used to travel no longer go through.  The school I went to no longer exists, replaced by a junior high school.  The football stadium is the only thing that's still where it was, but even it has changed.  The changes are more than I care for, and I don't go back there very much except occasionally for a family reunion.

Fire!

Sitting here at my desk watching the western third of Colorado Springs burn.  It's hard to keep my mind on most things, but I have finished editing Chapter 2 of "Greenfields".  I'll post it tonight, and Chapter 3 on Friday.  I may continue to do this if the editing continues to go this smoothly.  I'll still miss things, so if anyone catches something, let me know.

I've discovered a new weblog, According to Hoyt, written by author Sarah Hoyt. I love it! It's already provided some information I don't think I'd have gotten from anyone else, plus I've found a community of people I'm immensely glad to be a part of.

This post is in response to one of hers, where the "group" begin talking about communities. That post, plus a couple of others, included quite a bit of discussion about online communities, and how they're shaping our world. Like many ideas, this one percolated through my brain -- slowly -- for a few days. I responded to Sarah's posts, but it's time to discuss this a little more in-depth. Rather than take up her space, I'm putting it here.

Fiction authors have been creating "communities" since the first man learned to draw pictures on cave walls, or string two hieroglyphs together on papyrus. Shakespeare created communities in his plays. Dickens depicted the communities around him for people to find decades, even centuries, later. That's what authors do - they create communities, populate them, have those people interact, solve problems, and be rewarded or punished as the author chooses. How many people who have read JRR Tolkein's "Hobbit", or "Lord of the Rings", didn't wish to join his world? How many people want to attend Hogwarts College of Wizardry after reading J.K. Rowling's tales of Harry Potter? The hundreds of role-playing games that have bloomed across the Internet, and in high schools and college dorms, speak forcefully of the commitment to imaginary communities, many of which not only don't exist, but actually couldn't exist in our world.

Science fiction and fantasy authors go beyond that. They not only create communities, they create whole worlds, societies, empires, and much, much more. They create interactions not only between human beings, but between them and aliens, strange beasts, hostile environments, deadly diseases, and implacable foes. Anne McCaffrey's "PERN" worlds with their huge dragons, or the FT&T '9-Star League"; Piers Anthony's "Xanth"; Jerry Pournelle's "Falkenburg" or "Janissaries" series or the Mote worlds; Robert Heinlein's "Woodrow Wilson Smith" series; Edgar Rice Burrough's "Jack Carter" books; this list only lightly touches the surface of a depth of enjoyable, entertaining, and frequently inspiring books where authors have established alternate communities. In most cases, they're not only alternate communities, but viable, vibrant, ALIVE communities that most people would be proud to be a member of.

Online communities are much the same way. Instead of a gathering of people who live in close proximity to one another, they're communities of people with shared backgrounds, shared experiences, shared goals, and often, shared problems. They don't so much replace physical communities as they augment and overlap them. The barriers of physical presence have been broken down, replaced with pixels that can allow people to share words, photos, ideas, suggestions, encouragement, sympathy, and prayer. Instead of isolated little enclaves (especially in big cities), we have overlapping circles of communities that expand our horizons, bring us closer together with people we enjoy being with, and allow us to end the loneliness and isolation many of us have felt around us.

As with anything, it can be taken to extremes, and be destructive. People can so isolate themselves from the real world that they become virtual prisoners in their own homes. Most of us are intelligent enough to avoid that fate. The ones who aren't would have found some other way to self-destruct. We can reach out and try to help them, but they are responsible for living their lives, physical or virtual.

The world isn't through changing. Neither is human society. Both will provide challenges for centuries to come. The communities we belong to will help us adapt to those changes, whether those communities are physical or virtual. In the meantime, hang on! It's going to be a wild ride.

I'm currently taking an online workshop on digital publishing. It's pretty interesting, but something that was said has made me interested in posting my own online workshop, on HTML.

Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the language of the internet. Every single page you read on any site consists of basic HTML, plus some fancy add-ons, such as Javascript or XML. HTML, however, is still the basis of the page. If there's enough interest, I'll post it on my website, a chapter at a time, and later put it together in an online course via Amazon or B&N.

I recently "found" Sarah Hoyt's website According to Hoyt. There's a very interesting discussion about creativity at the moment. That's where the information about the online workshop came from.

What the Constitution says about "rights".

I read another comment on a weblog today about how the Constitution "gives" us rights. I wish there was a way to slap every person who thinks that up side the head with a clue-by-four. It just ain't so.

Now before all of you Constitutional scholars out there jump all over me about the so-called "Bill of Rights", I want to explain to you something that you should have gotten in seventh-grade Civics class in public school. The Bill of Rights DOES NOT GRANT ANY RIGHTS. What it does is say that the Government cannot abridge the "unalienable" rights of a free citizen.

The people who actually wrote our Constitution believed that free men were born with rights, and that these rights came from their Creator - God. There were too many people alive then who still remembered the treatment the colonists had received at the hands of George III. Before they would accept the new Constitution, they wanted an ironclad guarantee (or as close as you can get in politics) that the rights they had fought for and won during the War of Independence would not be usurped by the new government.

This is why each of the first ten Amendments to the Constitution LIMITS the power of the Federal government.

Amendment 1: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

There are three clauses here, beginning with the prohibition of Congress against making any laws either establishing a national religion, or prohibiting the free exercise of any religion. Today, this particular clause is under attack by those that demand a 'wall of separation' between "church and state", which is not the purpose of this amendment. "God" and "state" can coexist. It is NOT the purpose of this amendment to exclude religion from any public or private function. The only prohibition is the establishment of a State religion, or the State of prohibiting the free exercise of religion. ANY ACTION that either attempts to establish a State religion, or to restrict the free exercise of ANY religion is UNCONSTITUTIONAL. The ACLU can't seem to understand that. What is NOT allowed is the use of force or coercion to obtain a conversion, or to punish someone solely based on their religious beliefs.

The second clause states that the federal government cannot abridge the right of the people to say whatever they want, just about anywhere they want to, or to publish whatever they want. Just because you CAN say it, or print it, doesn't mean it's always wise to do so. Another person may take your words, written or spoken, as a personal attack upon them, their beliefs, or their actions. In some instances, they have recourse in the courts. Defamation, outright lies, slander, and libel can result in a judgement against the speaker. See the last few paragraphs.

The third clause simply says that the people have the right to peaceably assemble, and to petition the government to correct what the people believe are legitimate complaints. When the government doesn't listen, see Amendment 2.

Amendment 2: A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

We as a people as a whole constitute the "militia of the common". In most states, every free male over the age of 16 and under the age of 60 was expected to be a member of the militia, with few exceptions. The average militiaman was expected to provide a weapon and ammunition in support of the "common good". There is another reason for the militia, also, one few current politicians dare discuss. The militia was the last, best hope against a tyrannical central government, whether at the local, state, or national level. This is one reason the clause "against all enemies, foreign and domestic", is in the US military oath of enlistment. It's also why many dictators and those who pretend to excessive power work feverishly to disarm the average citizen. It's the first step toward totalitarian power and dictatorship, regardless of where it occurs.

Amendment 3: No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

One of the problems the US citizens had with George III was his penchant to quarter troops in the homes of average citizens -- sometimes with the citizens remaining in the homes, and sometimes with their being expelled. This amendment specifically says the federal government cannot do that except with the approval of the owner, or if in time of war, as by law. This particularly hated practice is mentioned in the Declaration of Independence as one of the reasons for our dissolution of bonds with the British monarchy.

Amendment 4: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall be issued, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The government is restricted in its ability to attack you, or seize anything that's yours, without due process, except when they can convince a judge that there's a very good chance you've broken the law. That doesn't mean that they suspect you of breaking the law, but that they have evidence to link you to a crime. Even then, they can only take what they have sworn to a judge is evidence against you. They can't take "everything", although the lines have gotten a bit blurry lately.

Amendment 5: No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.

Here the government is limited in how it can treat citizens it might suspect of a crime. If the government suspects you of a crime, they have to get a grand jury to issue an indictment. Without that, they have to "catch you in the act", or provide a very good reason to ignore this particular step. Doing so may, and frequently does, result in a judge dismissing the case for improper behavior on the part of the arresting authority. The military has a slightly different system, but it still recognizes that there must be probable cause to hold you accountable. This amendment also provides protection against being tried for the same crime twice, and against self-incrimination.

Amendment 6: In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of council for his defense.

Government MUST tell you what you're being accused of. You also have the right to see the evidence being used against you, the right to confront the witnesses against you, and to be able to subpoena witnessed in your favor. You're also guaranteed a speedy and public trial, the right to an attorney, and the right to have the trial in the state and district where the alleged crime was committed.

Amendment 7: In suits at common law, where the value of the controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

"Common law" is mostly civil law, as opposed to criminal law, or local laws like registering your dog. You have the right to a trial by jury. You also can't be tried for the same offense again.

Amendment 8: Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Again, Government is constrained in what treatment I can use against the citizen.

Amendment 9: The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

You may have additional rights that the government also cannot abuse. Just because they aren't listed (enumerated) here doesn't mean they don't exist. The problem is convincing the government that they DO exist, and how the government is limited in responding to them.

Amendment 10: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the People.

THIS IS THE MOST ABUSED AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION, virtually ignored by the Federal Government. The Constitution sets out specific, limited roles the federal government is supposed to have responsibility for. Anything else is supposed to be left to the States, or to the people. We know how well THAT turned out! Another reason for that pesky Second Amendment.

There is one other, VERY important thing that needs to be said about the exercise of the rights of the citizen: the exercise of ANY right carries with it an implied RESPONSIBILITY to act wisely, and in a way protective of the rights of every other citizen. Failing to act responsibly has led to government over-reach into the affairs of all of us.

Today these rights are being assaulted from all sides by people who think they know better than our founding fathers, who actually had to FIGHT for their freedom against a very mighty foe.

Our form of government was created to serve a "morally upright" citizenry. In fact, it is strongly based on the Judeo-Christian heritage of our founding fathers, and on their understanding of both rights and responsibilities of citizenship. Today's citizen is hot for his rights, but not so keen on accepting the responsibility that goes with them.

Is an eBook from an unknown author worth reading?

I'm an avid reader. I read between 200 and 400 books a year. I read fiction, non-fiction, biographies, textbooks, and just about anything else that strikes my fancy at the time. I also go back and re-read some of my favorites from time to time. Unfortunately for me, and for a lot of readers like me, my favorite authors, the ones I grew up reading in my teens and early twenties, are fast disappearing. Finding new authors to take their place hasn't been easy. The local library has helped, but only marginally. Most of the books by new authors I've read lately have been ebooks.

The expenses of producing a hardbound book have gone up explosively over the last fifty years. Publishing houses aren't stupid -- it's a big risk paying for something from a new author. It's even expensive just to look at something an unknown author has written. In the past, there was a way for publishing houses to screen for new talent. While they couldn't (or wouldn't) "invest" in new talent, quite a few magazines, especially genre magazines, were quite willing to accept something from a new writer. If the writer managed to sell several stories to the magazines, there was a good probability that books by that author would also sell. The number of magazines that have gone bankrupt in the last fifty years would probably rival a medium-sized town's telephone directory, and many of the remaining ones are also relying on established writers with a known 'draw'. These two facts have made it all but impossible for a lot of new authors to get published. The ebook is beginning to change all of that.

The legacy publishing industry has estimated that about one million books are written each year. Out of that, possibly as many as one THOUSAND are purchased and printed, either in hardbound copies or in paperback. The other 999,000 never reach an audience.

The Internet has the potential -- a potential that is being rapidly turned into reality -- to guarantee those other 999,000 books can be shared. These books can be, and frequently are, offered in electronic format. There are several different ways these books can be distributed, but the most convenient is in a recognized ebook format by a major retailer. Two of the major sellers of ebooks today are Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/) and Barnes & Noble (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/). Just about anyone who has ever written a book can now upload it to either (or both) of these websites, and offer their product to the world.

Barnes & Noble has created and marketed a device, the Nook, that will present an ebook in a format that mimics a printed book. Amazon also has a device, the Kindle, that does the same thing. Each, however, has created a proprietary software format for their devices, and their books. For Barnes & Noble, the format is ePublisher (xxxxxxx.epub); for Kindle it's Mobi Pockets (xxxxxxx.mobi). Books in .mobi format cannot be 'read' on a Nook, and books in .epub format cannot be 'read' on a Kindle. Both the Nook and the Kindle will display books in Portable Document Format (.pdf), and in Hypertext Markup Language (.html). There are problems, however, on how well these other formats appear on both the Nook and the Kindle. Some of the .pdf formatting doesn't translate well, and isn't displayed as well on either device as it is on a personal computer. Both the Kindle and the Nook are retailed for about $150-$200. If that price is too high, both companies allow proprietary software to be downloaded and installed on a personal computer, usually for free.

An ebook may take up anywhere from 500 kilobytes (Kb) of date to well over three megabytes (Mb) of data. Modern storage technology has so significantly reduced the price of data storage as to make that a very minor cost to the retailer (a 300 gigabyte [Gb] hard drive now costs less than $300, and can store 100,000 three-megabyte books. The cost of storing any single book is reduced to about $0.003. Most of the books that are written are much smaller than that, ranging in the neighborhood of 1Mb. Five 300Gb hard drives could store 1.5 MILLION 1Mb books. A retailer could sell one copy of each per year and make $1 million in sales. If sales are greater than one book per year, the gross sales will also go up.

About half the ebooks a retailer may offer are the same ones that a reader could reasonably expect to find in a library of a medium-sized city. Those ebooks usually sell for about the same price a paperback of the same book would bring. Some cost more, a few cost less. New authors, however, can't afford to offer their ebooks for that price, and expect to make a sale. Ebooks from new authors usually sell for about $0.99 to $4.99 each. Most readers would probably be willing to pay that amount to buy an ebook from an author they haven't heard of before. If it's not any good, they haven't lost much. If they enjoy it, they won't hesitate to purchase additional books from the same author at the same or similar price.

So, is it worthwhile to buy an ebook from an unknown author? That depends, and primarily on what you're looking at to purchase. If you're looking for fiction, there's a very good chance that you'll find a few good reads among the unknowns - along with the probability of finding quite a few you will quit halfway through. Some of that will be because of the quality of the writing, some of it will be because the book wasn't what you thought it was going to be, and some of it will be because the author's point of view may vary greatly from your own on a given subject. Non-fiction is different. Non-fiction will depend not only on the person's background and knowledge of the subject, but also how well he presents that knowledge through his writing.

The biggest beneficiary of the new ebook technology is, of course, the reader. Both the amount of material and its variety is growing exponentially. The reader will have a much better chance to find something that satisfies his or her individual taste than what the average legacy retailer can stock.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I am a writer of ebooks available at both Barnes & Noble and Amazon. I'm also pretty well "unknown".

Time for a class-action lawsuit

The EPA is doing what it's done the most under President Obama - over-reaching. It's time for the free people of this nation to fight back. I think the first place to start is a class-action lawsuit against the EPA for declaring that carbon dioxide is a pollutant, that it causes harm, that it has to be regulated, and that the EPA has the authority to regulate it. At the same time, I would recommend a fraud investigation of ALL "anthropogenic global warming/climate change/climate disruption/etc., ad nauseum" activity. I also think it's time to start submitting Freedom of Information Act requests to the EPA to find out how much influence non-government groups have had, how much funding they've received from the government, and who supports them.

Let me say, too, that I'm not some far-out wingnut. I know that human beings have caused some change to climate, both long-term and short-term, and this has been going on since humanity discovered agriculture. At the same time, I cannot believe, as many on the "environmental" front do, that everything mankind does is bad, dangerous, and has to be stopped. Those people who believe this are the worst kind of Luddites. I also know that most of those that are the leaders of the environmental movement have absolutely no concern for the environment per se, but only their own personal reward. Some of it's from "being on the right side of history" (in their eyes), but the majority of it is purely financial. In my personal opinion, Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, the Human Resources Defense Council, the Earth Liberation Front, and most of the other "green" groups are either frauds or shills. While a few of the lower-ranking members may be serious about what they believe, the leadership is conducting a massive fraud that is costing the United States billions of dollars while enriching themselves. Instead of chaining themselves to a tree, they should be hanged from one.

Peace comes from Strength, not endless apologies.

I learned a lesson a long time ago that unless you were determined to win, don't pick a fight. I also learned that a lot of people are willing to start a fight based on a lot of false assumptions, but if they suspect you're meaner and nastier than you are, the chance of them picking a fight with you are next to nil. I've managed to keep out of a lot of fights by giving the impression (backed up on occasion by example, as some people ignore impressions) of being the meanest, nastiest person in the neighborhood.

The United States used to have that same reputation: don't mess with the US unless you're willing to accept a nasty defeat. Unfortunately, we seem to have lost that reputation in the last few dozen years (gradually eroded since Korea), and more and more clowns are willing to pick a fight with the US. When we do get into those fights, we try to "fight nice" - hard enough to win, barely. We're paying the price for that attitude today in Afghanistan, where more and more of our soldiers are being shot in the back by our supposed "allies".

There is no substitute for winning. We knew that in World War II. We forgot it in Korea. We won the war in Vietnam, but allowed a cowardly Congress to lose the peace for us. We did just enough to get Iraq out of Kuwait, but not enough to eliminate the cause of the problem. Our civilian leadership wasn't willing to retaliate in Somalia, and that hellhole continues to cause the entire world problems. We've won the war in Iraq, but managed to lose the peace through "progressive" leadership.

Afghanistan is a disaster, robbing us of blood and treasure every day. Our feckless "leaders" are afraid to stand up to insanity and demand it stop, so it will continue. So will the continued erosion of our reputation for strength in the world. As a result, the likelihood of a much greater, much more costly war becomes more likely, and soon.

For 50 years, the world feared the might of the United States would be used against them if they attacked us. That fear has all but vanished. We had 50 years of more peace than war. We've been fighting a war against a heartless, ruthless enemy for the last ten years. That enemy, and many others of our enemies, are emboldened by our constant show of weakness. As a result, we will have more wars, more frequently, and more deadly, until we once again learn that it's much better to be feared than to be viewed with contempt.

Good advice!

One of the best pieces of advice I've ever read or heard is "when you're in a hole, stop digging". Apparently our government either has never heard that (which I doubt), or they don't care.

The United States is more than $15 TRILLION in debt, and going further into debt at the rate of about $4 Billion a day. The House of Representatives passed a budget back in April, 2011. That bill, along with another twenty or so, still sits on Harry Reid's desk, and he and the Democrats don't plan on doing anything about it except buy more shovels.

The economy is in the tank. The unemployment is officially 8.9%, and unofficially above 12%. The underemployment figure is something like 17%. Every day, however, sees more regulation, more rules, more restrictions that keep employers from being willing to hire, and keeping investors from parting with their money.

I think the best thing the electorate can do come this November is buy a large bulldozer and fill in that hole our current government is digging -- with them still in that hole. Getting rid of between a third and a half of our current bureaucracy would do wonders for job creation, and would reduce spending considerably. All in favor, say Aye, and get behind that dozer!

"What's wrong with you?"

I'm disabled. You can't really tell it by looking at me, unless you catch me in one of those periods where my pain is definitely showing in my face, and even then you probably wouldn't think much of it. Looks, however, are deceiving.

I have a number of problems, beginning with a bad back. I've got problems from my skull to my tailbone. The biggest problem is osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis begins whenever the bones or joints have been damaged, and they add calcium in response. I've had two surgeries on my neck to have some of those deposits scraped away, to relieve the pressure. Each time, they've removed one or two disks, and fused the vertebrae together above and below where the disk was. This limits how much I can turn my head, or how high I can look up. The surgeries did relieve some of the pressure (and pain) each time, but it gradually returned.

I also had surgery on my lower back to correct "severe spinal stenosis". That's where the vertebrae grow extra bone, putting pressure on the spinal column and the nerve roots that come out between the vertebrae. The surgery helped a lot to relieve the lower back pain I had, which had become permanent, and unrelieved. I still get it from standing, walking, or moving, but it's nowhere near as bad as it was before the surgery.

My osteoarthritis is everywhere. There's not a joint that doesn't have at least some minor problems. One of my Air Force doctors said I was the first person he'd every heard about that had osteoarthritis of the collarbone. In addition to the osteoarthritis, some of my joints are "blessed" with bursitis and tendonitis, too.

I also have a problem called neuropathy. Neuropathy (literally "nerve pain") is where the nerves are being trapped, rubbed, or pressed by the arthritic build-ups around them, or the excessive movements of the joints. The same problems that cause neuropathy also cause numbness, tingling, "dead" places where I have little or no sensitivity, and lack of coordination. One major problem I'm having right now is trying to discover whether particular problems are being caused by my osteoarthritis, or by diabetes, which can also cause neuropathy.

Another problem I have is degenerative disk disease. This is usually caused by the disk tissue not getting enough nutrients, and they dry out, compress, and even deteriorate ("degenerate"). That puts pressure on the spinal joints as the disks degenerate and the vertebrae rub together ("bone on bone"), or where the facet joints (the joints holding the spine in place) are strained. This, too, causes pain.

I also have Type II diabetes. I'm not taking insulin yet, but I do see that in my future, and perhaps not too far in my future. Diabetes does quite a number of things to your body, including causing degenerative disk disease and neuropathy, especially in the upper and lower extremities (arms and legs).

I also have a problem called sleep apnea, where I literally stop breathing for periods from thirty seconds to two or three minutes while I'm asleep. I've only found out recently that sleep apnea is a serious condition, and can cause loss of brain cells and memory. Luckily, it's not that hard to treat.

I have a few other problems, too. Some of them stem from the problems I listed above. Others are caused just from getting old (I'm 65+). One of the problems is tinnitus and hyperaccusis. Tinnitus is a ringing in the ears, and hyperaccusis is pain caused by noise above a low background level. They're both problems for which there is no cure, and very few successful treatments. I also tore the cartilage in one of my knees, and had to have surgery to have it corrected. That knee allows me to forecast weather changes far better than any meteorologist! I also had carpal tunnel surgery on one hand, and probably didn't need it - the real problem was some of that neuropathy I mentioned earlier. I also had to have cataracts removed from both eyes due to a nasty virus I caught somewhere.

My biggest problem is just plain old pain: headaches caused by nerves in my neck being pinched, pain in my upper arms, pain in my legs and feet, and pain in my neck, mid-back, and lower back from my spine. On a good day, I'll hurt for about six hours, reduced by medication to something I can tolerate. On a bad day, I never stop hurting, the pain medication I take reduces the pain to maybe half of what it is at the worst, and bad days can run together for more than a week.

I'm not going to 'get better' - ever. All of my problems are more or less permanent. I move in the opposite direction, since many of my problems are degenerative in nature. I've learned to live with my problems for the most part, except when they're really bad and not responding to medication. Luckily, or by design, I have a very high pain threshold, and I can still take care of myself, and do a few things around the house. A lot of the times, however, when I'm not on Facebook, when I don't update my weblog, or I don't respond to emails, it's because I just don't have the energy or clear enough thinking to do so. Pain can make you very, very tired!

I appreciate people saying they "hope I get better", but it's not going to happen. Just forgive me when I get grouchy and irritable, and smile and ignore when I screw something up. That's the best thing you can do for me!