Otherways- Fiction Fanatics

I am a freak of nature, and I know it. I even chose it. You see, when my children were small, I discovered that I truly hated commercials. Not that I’d ever been exactly fond of them, but the ones aimed at kids deepened my dislike into loathing. Sick to death of hearing what over-hyped toy they ‘needed’ every other day, I did the unthinkable and cut off our cable.

Those little kids are graduati...

One of the coolest things about old science fiction, is reading those passages that predict something. Jules Verne comes to mind almost immediately. Sure, some of his works, like Journey to the Center of the Earth, are just good fiction. Others contain submarines, diving apparatus, and electric lights, none of which were in vogue, or even really feasible, when he was writing.

While the esteemed Leonardo DaVinci ...

I’ve been considering doing a post on novels featuring puns for several days now. I couldn’t very well do such an article without mentioning Robert Asprin’s Myth series, or Piers Anthony and his famous Xanth novels. As I did a little reading, supposedly to research for the articled, but really more because I am a world class procrastinator, I began to see a disturbing trend in the commentary.

B...

I guess I’ve been feeling cheerful lately, what with the blog posts on the plague, intestinal flora, and now famine. Perhaps I should do a nice friendly post about fluffy bunnies instead, but as I have a deep fascination with genetics, you’ll need to bear with me. Trust me, it’s pretty cool.

Most of us have a basic grasp of genetics. Mom plus dad equals baby. The fittest organisms survive. DNA ...

There’s nothing like having a civilized adult conversation about something as elevated and cheerful as gut bacteria. Honestly though, the darn things are pretty interesting, if you can get past the ick factor. The one most people know best is the ubiquitous E. coli, although for most it’s the nasty bug that infects everything from spinach to hamburger and makes you sick.

While I am all for food handl...

I doubt there’s a single disease that is better known than the infamous plague. Yes, that plague, also affectionately known as the black death, the one that swept through Europe starting around 1348 and eventually claiming somewhere between 25 and 50 percent of the population. Even in the modern world, where we understand the causes of contagion, a disease that infects thousands would cause widespread panic. It didn’t help anything that the da...

While I cheer hardest for science fiction and fantasy novels, and have a deep affection for a good horror or mystery, I have to say that dark romance is the hardest to write well. Before anyone has me drawn and quartered, let me explain.

You see, I’ve written everything now but mystery. In the other genres, you have to create an entire world from scratch, it’s true, and those worlds need to at least...

We have a tradition in my house that may sound a little bizarre. Every so often, as the need arises, we make what is affectionately known as “refrigerator stew”. Often, I freeze the leftover bits of meals for just such an occasion. We have a farm, so when I am good and the weather is cooperative, we have an abundance of fresh produce, meat or nuts, depending on the season. All that gets eaten, or canned for later, but because we have put so mu...

In every generation, there is a legion of young girls that are head over heels in love with horses. For a lot of those girls, the closest they get to living their dreams is the pages of a book. Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty, Walter Farley’s Black Stallion books, Margaret Henry’s Misty of Chincoteague, and The Saddle Club books by Bonnie Bryant, as well as titles by ghostwriters, are the closest those get to full blown equine addiction.

Anyone that has ever taken a tired, hungry two-year old on a ‘quick trip’ to the store, knows that there is absolutely nothing simple about delayed gratification. In all fairness to that child, it is hard to wait for things. Most of us adults are willing to wait a little bit in order to get a better pay off, but we aren’t all that good at it.

Sure, our prisons are populated with people that exh...