All those moments have been lost.
Like tears in rain.
Entering eternity.
Farewell, Roy Baty
July 24, 2019
Aliens are among us! Um, apparently…
April 30, 2019
Still, the fact that someone as highly educated as Chi wrote an entire book based on salvation by extraterrestrials could be a sign of how daunting our future is starting to look.
Or, conversely, how wack some Oxford dons really are…
Amazon shoppers misled by ‘bundled’ star-ratings and reviews
April 5, 2019
The combinations of formats and editions make it impossible for readers to pick between multiple versions of the same products, and allow those selling badly put together editions to piggyback on good reviews.
At this point, Amazon should just admit that its review policies are a complete shambolic mess. If they refuse to allow fellow indie authors from reviewing each other and even prevents their own friends and relatives from reviewing their work, how can Amazon justify trying to sell dreck this way?
Hypocrisy.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/apr/05/amazon-shoppers-misled-by-bundled-product-reviews
You must not go into the Wood at night!
December 21, 2018
Check out this free five-minute reading of “The Magic Wood,” by Henry Treece, one of many New Apocalypse poets who influenced Neil Gaiman’s dialogue in Sandman. Available only for the next 29 days.
Truly creepy. With Great Pleasure at Christmas (great title, BBC).
Link courtesy of the wordsmith Neil, himself, @neilhimself. Thanks!
The predictive space powers of Linda A Langworthy
November 28, 2018
I’ve made good progress on my mother’s high school manuscript — up to Chapter 9 (out of 15). Taking notes while I type, particularly about cultural references and language usage, I came across one interesting prediction:
“The space program of the two major nations [US and Russia] were joined after the moon project because it was cheaper to outfit; also, with the world’s greatest minds working together, better vehicles could be built.”
This was written a full 9 years before the joint Apollo-Soyuz (or Soyuz-Apollo) Test Project in 1975 that basically ended the “space race” started by the launch of Sputnik.
Written by a 17-year-old in 1968. The reality was more complicated, but still, heck of a prediction. Go, Mom!
Reality bites
November 25, 2018
A literary agent just told me (via email) that I need to “ground each scene in reality.”
Of a science fiction slash fantasy novel. In outer space. With asteroid miners, space pirates, Martian settlers, astral walking, and elemental morphing powers.
Um. Okay.
The limits of genre
November 18, 2018
Hi, everyone. I know it’s been a while since I blogged here. But I have been writing.
And editing. And then writing again. And, yes, in multiple genres. That’s my philosophy. That’s what you get if you read my writing.
I think I’ve probably written about this before, but I find myself increasingly disliking current writing styles. Short paragraphs. Bad grammar. No internal monologue. Things blowing up. Continue Reading
Four generations of strong women: The paternal-maternal side(s)
September 11, 2018
It has been said that men write history but women live it.
In my family, it’s also been the women who were the keepers of family history, the tellers of tales and stories. The saver of old photographs and documents.
Which is why I have this photograph of four generations of women who brought four different families into our lineage. Thank you, Aunt Linda, for saving it. Since they are gone, I have an obligation to tell their stories. Who are they? Continue Reading
The Apple Falls Far from the Tree
September 3, 2018
My family name is Apple, but I am not related to anyone by that name.
Well, legally, yes. And by marriage. But genealogically no. So the old adage is definitely NOT true. At least not genetically.** Continue Reading
Finding the Tree in the Family Forest
August 31, 2018
While visiting Montreal and Upstate New York for summer vacation, my family were greeted by an unhappy surprise.
My mother has Stage 4 cancer.
I’ve been spending the past two to three years researching my ancestry (at, you guessed it, ancestry.com) and I had already hoped to talk with my mother about her memories of our Irish and French Canadian heritage.
I’d already managed to find quite bit online via various databases, both public and private. But there’s no substitute for family stories. And now I have a time limit.
M Thomas Apple Author Page 