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Yeah, A first for me, but not a good one.

After more than two decades of computer work, I finally had one crash. Yuk. Luckily it was the motherboard that died, and not a hard drive crash, so I didn't lose anything. My past six days have been making decisions, buying new (This was also a first--buying off the shelf), reloading programs, working out bugs...Nearly have it all fixed, but, WOW am I behind with so many things!

But still reading! An escape from all the OS and other technical concerns. Reviews are on the horizon!

April is National Poetry Month

Renewal
I repot plants
the first dark moon of Spring.
A ritual to honor the new
year of growth.
Begonia and Fiddle Leaf whisper songs
I pretend come from Tamarack or Fir.
I fashion peaks with black soil,
add perlite glaciers.
Creeping Charlie smells sweet
and I dream of Mountain Laurel.
Spider Plant tangles wreathes of roots
around its old container.
I, too, feel pot bound,
strangled by the house
closed up all Winter in this
temperate city locked in
ironic snow storms.

Although my source is far North
still buried in icy blankets,
I have sprouted a family, and tendriled
on nourishing friends.
They may never vibrate with the first thunder over Chief Mountain,
nor hear the joyous answer
of my uncle's drum.
But those innate memories
(rich as peat--warm as midday sun)
are sequestered buds among
my cultivated roots.
Retrieving the past,
I anticipate new blooms.

© 1987 Kae CheathamMore poems by Kae

Two decades ago I was living in the Southeast. I'm glad to say I'm back North where I belong, and heard the first Thunder just this week.
SPRING IS HERE.

It's that time of year when I switch my focus...Maybe I should say blend my focus. All winter I've been writing on my and getting Dead Heroes off to a printer. The book is nearly in hand (5 April). [It can be PREORDERED the print edition of Dead Heroes through 31 March 2012. $16.95. Autographed and free shipping. Use the or do it from the book site.]

I've also had projects I've worked for others--formatting, layout, et cetera. Pretty much everything has been written word oriented.

And now comes SPRING. And with it, my work with the spoken word and photography. My first 2012 was on St. Pat's Day at . A good audience and I had a fine time talking about history and ancient dogs and horses, and the cultures that used them and still exist today.

This Saturday, 31 March, is my first Art show of the season. It's the 28th Spring Art and Craft Show at the Helena Civic Center. So now I'm refining my photo inventory, examining frames and deciding how to set up in a 12' x 7' space. (An indoor space. This picture is from the Music Festival last year) I've been doing the Civic Center Spring show for six years, at least; it should be a snap. But not.

I'll get through this...I always do, even when I feel a bit lost, with my thoughts scattered, during this time of year.

I'm pleased to see an Amazon review of Dead Heroes.

Others of you who have downloaded this title--Reviews are deeply appreciated. :-)
For those who don't eBook, the print edition will be out later this month.

I downloaded Michael Wallace's book, Mighty and Strong after reading a blurb about it. The subject was something I knew little about, and the mystery involved intrigued me.

From the book page:

Son of a polygamist leader, Jacob Christianson is approached by the FBI to infiltrate a millennialist cult similar to his own church. [The FBI] lost an agent, tasked to penetrate the cult and investigate a plot to kill a U.S. Senator and presidential candidate. The agent is no longer communicating, and they fear she's either dead or a hostage.

This is a sequel to Wallace's thriller The Righteous, Mighty and Strong. I haven't read that one, but it isn't a prerequisite to appreciating this book. The characters are well defined and distinctive. The writing is very good, especially the action scenes. I have read a few other titles that deal with polygamist cults, but they have been from the point-of-view of outsiders--and generally written by authors that eschew the practice of polygamy. Hence, I found this story enlightening as well as interesting.

Mighty and Strong provided a mystery that went beyond the missing FBI agent, as a girl from the cult is found murdered...Add to this a lot of emotional intrigue, and this is a book that I won't soon forget.

Today is the first day of Read an eBook Week. Need some suggestions?

Click the covers at the bottom of this page. :-)

The fifth annual will be held in Denver this year on March 7-10, 2012. A visit to the site will link to videos of readings, as well as the list of activities for the four days.

What fun! I really enjoyed book Hotel Carousel. Science Fiction mystery, with sometimes kitschy humor. Neat. I downloaded it after reading an overview on an online site.

From the book page:

Janski Fox had a plan. Buy gold Armani Wellingtons on her credit card. Obtain a refund. Now she's over 24,000,000,000,000 miles from home irradiating drain hair to repay the debt. When a chewing gum failure destroys the ship taking Janski to join a mineral ore mining team, what's left crashes at the Hotel Carousel, where a non-paying guest soon realises Janski is the perfect mouthpiece to help it confess its crimes--hopefully she won't die like the others did! As well as staying alive, Janski must prove she's not a jewel thief, outwit a bunch of Psi officers wishing to excavate her mind, convince a mad professor that scooping out her brain isn't such a good idea and save Muse, a royal fugitive who has the genetic hots for her. And then there are the manoeuvring tests... Hotel Carousel: All Aliens Welcome!

I finished this book several weeks ago, and due to myriad complications just got a chance to write the review. I didn't have to go back to the book to find names, situations, etc., because I remembered them all. A sign I enjoyed the book.

The omniscient narrator keeps the story from getting out of hand, and also inserts these great descriptions of the "guests" at Hotel Carousel. They're all from somewhere else, and since Janski is totally out of this galaxy--very few of them (except Muse) resemble anything she knows. But this telling about aliens doesn't get overdone. It's applied skillfully and when needed.

All the characters were distinguishable not just by their quirky alienness, but with distinct personalities that played throughout the book. The several mystery elements were straightforward, which is important in a book with so many peculiar characteristics. Along with sleuthing to save her job (and her life) Janski is involved in action scenes that are believable and well portrayed.

is witty, well written and a fun read.

It's --another separate celebration of American History. Many activities at libraries and museums. at Info Please has some interesting quizzes and bits of information.

This weekend, the new science fiction Dead Heroes will be free for Kindle users through Monday midnight.

The hope is a few of the many people who download it will give a review and/or mention the title on their blog. Will that be you?"

Here's the overview:
The people of the planet New Esrii, refugees from Earth, live in a time of uncertainties. The star Lambda2, from a neighboring binary system, is on a tangential orbit that will closely pass their galaxy. Preparations to withstand the predicted hardships have been underway for several years. But now comes a new problem. A fleet of ships is approaching from another planet in their system.

The covert Hurist Coalition, watchdog of New Esrii culture, is certain these approaching ships will attack them. The reason for their alarm is secreted in the culture's history, when dissidents were shunted aside so advancements could be made. The combined events have this vitalistic society headed for civil war.

Four people from New Esrii are in prime positions to aid their culture. Sinoa and Nathan are drawn to each other by uncanny means, and each has the ability to shed light on the various inaccuracies in their culture's history. Zaya, Sinoa's mother, is part of the Hurist Coalition and has concerns for what is developing; her actions become crucial as civil war looms. Gerren, space fleet commander, will sacrifice everything to get New Esrii citizens to understand what's going on. Each wants to avert the civil war by bringing the truth to New Esrii.

Can they do it? And, since Lambda2 threatens to wipe New Esrii off the star map, will their actions be for naught?

To download the book, .