Hot Wheels: Cool Assassins 2 (Book) - 12/16/2019 9:12:36 AM
Congrats on a new book. Your excerpt leaves me wondering. From my experience, especially for a woman, the solar plexus is the worst place to punch. The Adam's apple is much more effective. But, in this case it appears that Jen's adversary has had some kind of plastic surgery making his solar plexus sixpack look good, but actually be just a veneer over a soft underbelly. But I'm probably wrong.
Would like to hear some of that "off-the-wall," car chase and definitely how Kuala Lumpur is dealing with global warming… Flooding? Storms?
Ron
PHANTOM (Short Story) - 4/5/2016 1:39:18 AM
Well-fed, but not dead is where I left Jo and Pix, two persons of interest, as they leave the fast-food restaurant for the rest of their adventure you've staked out. As characteristic of your writing: realistic dialog and details move the plot forward.
Trucker Blues (Short Story) - 12/6/2015 11:35:51 AM
If Edge is your browser, Microsoft won't let you download the PDF. It opens the file with an in-house version of Adobe reader, so that the "BOLD" hyperlinks jump to locations askew of the targets. If you click on "..." in the upper-right corner and choose "Open with Internet Explorer, the file should open with Adobe Reader, and you'll find the words in bold typeface will link to the definitions and then back to the narrative.
Trucker Blues (Short Story) - 12/6/2015 8:12:42 AM
Once again, I commend you on your writing skill. Trucker Blues looks to be chapter 4 of a novel in progress. While I was able to discern most of the acronyms, I was pleased to find the glossary at the end to help with some.
You are quite adventurous to think of the year 2076. Like some of my earlier science fiction, I believe you may be way off on some things and right on, on others. I believe that some of the fuels that you mention will be obsolete and no longer available at regular refueling stops. While you mention it in the glossary, I think that hydrogen will be readily available at regular refueling stops in 2076. And, truckers may be gone altogether with deliveries being made by automated vehicles rather than driven. For example, drones may replace delivery vans and even mail carrying very soon if some corporations get their way.
While it seems like a very good description of "life in the times," I didn't get any another storyline here. If it is a chapter to a book, that may be why.
I come from a family of truckers. My father was one. I will pass it on to my brother and brother-in-law for their enjoyment. And to my cousin who lives in Whittier and used to live in San Bernardino. Thanks.
Ron
Trucker Blues (Short Story) - 12/6/2015 3:32:23 AM
An apt title for a look behind the scenes through the eyes of Tomas. It was so realistic, you had me wondering how you were so familiar with this line of work and the cards stacked against all the struggles an independent trucker faces to deliver the goods on time.
Well-written and quite authentic without frills!
Haida Gwaii (Short Story) - 8/7/2015 11:20:33 AM
The vivid details of your story encapsulate your knowledge of Native Americans of the Northwest. You use this to your advantage through believable characters and the dilemmas the younger generation face straddling the line of honoring their culture and the lure of the modern world.
Haida Gwaii (Short Story) - 4/13/2015 6:04:42 AM
Your writing is fascinating and your knowledge of Northwest Pacific Indian lore is very instructional. I did catch some strange anomalies like the computers in 2076 being very similar to computers in 2015 as well as some other so-called technology that seems to be very similar to our time rather than that future time. For example, the game that Edgar and Raven plays seems to be more of the 20th century rather than the 21st.
I didn't know that the Pacific Northwest had such a rich fauna and flora for hunting and gathering as you describe. It reads like a Garden of Eden. And I would agree that the old ways, practiced for thousands of years, will probably outlive the new that are constantly changing.
Finally, this didn't appear to be a short story, but rather a chapter from a book.
Ron
Blood Seeker (Short Story) - 3/26/2015 12:30:31 PM
An entertaining and very creative viewpoint from the perspective of a vampire. Quite different from the usual vampire tale, this one got my interest.
Ron
Robot or Human? (Article) - 5/4/2016 7:04:48 AM
You missed one. I think robots would be terrible at sex (like about half of the male population). ;-)
Some very valid points. All animals seem to operate like robots with preprogrammed patterns of behavior (instincts) that operate through trial and error to help them survive until they, of course, like all carbon/oxygen/water based life, die.
Without human repairers, robots could possibly reproduce/recycle without human intervention and actually improve by determining what worked in improving the functionality and useful life of previous robots (just like animals except for reproduction). The human thought process which enables us to do all those "cognitive" things might also happen in the self improving, self learning process of the silicon/geranium/lithium mind and the first "thought" might cross the regimented, mechanical, extremely well ordered mind of the robot.
Ron
Robot or Human? (Article) - 5/4/2016 12:42:34 AM
I always knew that Roomba couldn't clean a carpet as well as the human wielding an upright vacuum. Your article made very valid points for what a robot can excel at, and how the human touch is superior.
Behind The Scenes (Article) - 10/9/2015 8:11:50 AM
Interesting and a worthwhile topic. I only know one former hooker. She is not only honest to a fault, she wants me to write her story. Hopefully, we can find a way to do it, although she doesn't have time with me to go into detail to get it done.
Long ago in the early 1960s, in a college course, I read a book of profiles of 10 or so prostitutes from someone doing research. Each and every one of the profiles was dramatically different in both the origin of the women and their experience in the trade. It opened my eyes to the universality of prostitution and that it affects a portion of society and not just the stereotype that most people would think of.
I'll check into your sample more…
Ron
Behind The Scenes (Article) - 10/7/2015 2:54:56 PM
An honest portrayal of most ladies of the evening who keep their word. I've no doubt 'Loose Threads' navigates that gray area the way only a taxi driver can. After all, those gals taught you all the short cuts.
Democracy for Whom (Article) - 4/18/2015 9:33:21 AM
The link was there and worked for me. Your article shares many of my concerns. I don't think that innovation occurs at the corporate level. Innovation tends to occur in government or private universities and/or their new graduates and then is, if successful, bought or merged into corporations where change and real progress gets bogged down in huge inertia, like many government bureaucracies.
I watched a webinar yesterday with some very smart people looking at the future of food and water and "connecting the dots." World statistics are quite encouraging, as far as human populations are concerned, but there are many issues related to our now expected population peak to be about 10 billion people about 2050. There are several emerging countries where incomes, on average, have risen enough so that about one third of those populations are suffering from malnutrition caused by changing lifestyles from rural to city. Water is also a big issue with food. Clean water is essential and it's getting harder to find all the time.
The countries experiencing the most difficulty are the ones with the greatest income inequality. Those findings fit very well with your article. We need to do something about it in the United States. Many people are now fleeing the United States for countries where they feel they can live more democratically.
Ron
Hexagon Cities (Article) - 4/5/2015 8:34:07 AM
Your article got me thinking of Buckminster Fuller. It also is quite impressive for the innovative approach that it presents. I do recall a planned city that I had the pleasure of driving in… Washington DC… With its traffic circles causing considerable confusion and traffic tie-ups. It would be interesting if a hexagonal city could be built somewhere, perhaps from some developer like Donald Trump, to start, so that the concept could be tried out in real time. However, simulations could prove whether or not such a city would be, not only feasible, but practical, as well.
While I do think that by 2010 there will be considerable rise in the oceans, the 50 m mark is not predicted by any information that I've read. They only predicting 10 m in the worst case. However, if we reach a tipping point where all of the trapped methane is suddenly released, this scenario maybe even worse in new cities will have to be built to accommodate all the evacuees from the sea.
Ron
Alternatives for Cheap Energy (Article) - 7/23/2014 7:57:28 AM
Reads like a chapter from a book, and I seem to have read it before, but don't know where.
Ron
Anomalies of History (Article) - 5/21/2014 7:28:02 AM
History in a nutshell. While I do believe that if we study especially early civilizations, they tend to follow the same pattern until they fail for, often the same or similar reasons. As for cycles linked to astronomical events, I'm not so sure. However, I am sure that the moon's cycles have a definite influence on life on earth, ranging originally from ocean tides, into bodily activity like menstrual cycles.
Ron
