Tough week

I got bit by a dog yesterday, and now this ...

I'm far from a computer geek, but I'm not inept. I self-published a book, uploaded it Amazon, built my own blog, in fact had one of the first blogs for a newspaper in SD, but I'll be danged if I can get this stupid Twitter link to appear on the side of this blog. I have the code. I copy and paste it in every place I can think of. But it doesn't show up except if I do it in a post like this.

Maybe I am inept.

So here it is: Follow @markhaugen

I've had the Twitter account for some time just to follow some people I'm interested in, but I've never actually Tweeted. Yes, a Twitter virgin.

But if I get a handful of followers I may just Tweet on occassion, if for no other reason than to frighten some people close to me. Follow me and I'll follow you and we'll get lost in the moment together.

I wonder if he's read Joshua's Ladder?

Like most of you, I have some guilty pleasures. For instance, I'll watch SpongeBob Squarepants any time, any day of the week. I also like Enrique Inglesias music, not nearly as much as I like Prince, but I don't feel guilty about loving Prince. I am proud to be the biggest Prince fan in South Dakota. Enrique? Eh, not something I brag about.

Perhaps my biggest guilty pleasure is being a Minnesota Viking fan, but I'm not sure if they could be described in any way with the word "pleasure."

None-the-less, I don't talk much sports here, but will in this instance mention the Vikings' punter Chris Kluwe and point you to this story in the Star-Tribune: Kluwe's a Renaissance man for the Internet age

He doesn't sound like your typical football player. One teammate says:

"When I first saw him punt, I thought he was phenomenally talented. Then I came over here from Green Bay and realized that football was just a means of supporting all of the other things he wants to do in life.

"I think guys know what you get with Chris, which is a very, very intellectual guy. So if people give him grief, they've got to be ready to take some grief back, because he's a lot smarter than a lot of the guys around here."

I can relate

"Every morning between 9 and 12, I go to my room and sit before a piece of paper. Many times, I just sit for three hours with no ideas coming to me. But I know one thing. If an idea does come between 9 and 12, I am there ready for it."

- Flannery O'Connor

Some links and a review

The newest reader review on Smashwords was 5 stars and has all the astronomers talking:

"Really enjoyed this book. Joshua and his "climb" was really interesting and kept me wondering what would be next throughout the book. Joshua was easy to like and so were the rest of the characters in the book. I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a quick fun read. Am wondering what will happen to Joshua next..."

And don't sue me for missing the last couple Haugen Hump Day Link-o-Ramas. Besides, there are much better reasons to sue me than that. So here are some link-worthy linky things:

I'm always up for a good war-buddy reunion story. So there's this from the Star-Trib:

The last time they saw one another was late October 1944. Marine pilot Lloyd Flynn and his gunner mate Dan Williams said goodbye on Engebi Island in the South Pacific after eight months of flying missions together in a two-person warplane.

On Thursday, the two World War II vets saw each other for the first time since that farewell, this time outside Flynn's home in Edina.

"Captain, how are you?" said Williams as he stepped sprightly out of a vehicle, saluted and stretched out his hand, laughing.

Flynn was too choked up to say anything at first, and the two buddies, stooped with age, just hugged.

"I told Bruce it'd be emotional, and it is," Flynn finally choked out. "Son of a gun, how are you?"

I ran across a list of 15 books your kids should read, according to somebdy I never heard of. I'm surprised ol' Harry Potter isn't on there. I've personally never read a Potter book, though I caught a couple movies, but I credit that series with getting my daughters into reading.

As for book series, I was big into the Encyclopedia Brown and Hardy Boys books as a kid. The series I also read which aren't on this list include the Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan series and bookshelves full of Louis L'Amour books my grandma Renli had.

Today's tweeners most likely only know of the Tarzan movie. Would be nice if they knew he wrote over 20 Tarzan books. Hey, tell somebody! Ed's first Tarzan book (his friends call him Ed) came out in 1912. That shows a good imagination, unlike milk, doesn't have an expiration date. He wrote over 70 books total. You can access the Tarzan ebooks for free at Gutenberg.

With L'Amour, a North Dakota boy, I felt like I practically grew up with the Sacketts and that series of books. All told, LL had 89 novels. It's amazing to me how prolific some of those writers were.

So next time your kid says" I'm bored!", introduce him to Barnabas Sackett.

Here's one guy's list and the link to the story:

15. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
14. Asterix
13. Charlotte’s Web
12. Childhood of Famous Americans
11. Encyclopedia Brown
10. The Hardy Boys
9. Have Space-Suit, Will Travel
8. Homer Price
7. The Mad Scientists’ Club
6. Mrs. Coverlet Novels
5. The Spaceship Under the Apple Tree
4. Tom Swift, Jr.
3. The Three Investigators
2. My Side Of The Mountain
1. The Chronicles of Narnia

A Cassiopeia (5 star) review

Yeah, either I really know my astronomy or know how to use the Google machine. You guess which.

It's always nice to click on ol' Amazon.com and see a new five-star review pop up. This one for Joshua's Ladder, the e-book version:

"I thoroughly loved reading this book, I was hooked from the start and found myself laughing on one page and crying on the next. The characters are entertaining, charismatic and very well developed as is the plot. Being a resident of the Black Hills of South Dakota I loved the familiarity of the setting. I would highly recommend this book... can't wait to start reading the sequel!"

Haugen Hump Day link-o-rama

This week, featuring stories in the great South Dakota towns of Mitchell, Onida and DeSmet ...

The Mitchell Daily Republic tells us about this 98-year-old first-time author (Good for her!):

God has always had a strong presence in Lorraine Wise’s life. Now, God has a presence in her new 166-page book, “God is Real: Excerpts from my Spiritual Journey through 78 Years.”

Wise will hold a book signing from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday at the Reader’s Den, Mitchell, promoting the publication, which she wrote when she was 97. The book’s subtitle refers to the number of years since Wise’s spiritual awakening as a young woman.

Wise, who is now 98, said the idea for the book came to her about 15 years ago, during a reunion with two of her closest friends.

And we're always up for a good rodeo here in the Black Hills. We'll soon see if that allure is worldwide, as Amanda Fanger of the Onida Watchman explains:

Sutton Rodeos of Onida are set to participate in a world-changing event – the first ever rodeo in China.

Called Rodeo China, the event is one of historic proportions. This 8-day rodeo will take place at the National Stadium in Beijing, China. It is being organized by Less and Forever More, Inc., an organization started by Richard and Carrie Tucker.

Jill Callison of the Sioux Falls Argus Leader writes about the 40th anniversary of the Laura Ingalls Wilder pagent in DeSmet.

If Charles Ingalls had his way, his family's stay in De Smet would have been brief.

"Given his own way, it seems to me, Charles would have gone into the sunset forever," says Marian Cramer, referring to the wanderlust that took Ingalls and his family more than 1,500 miles in a covered wagon.

But Charles Ingalls had married a woman much less inclined to roam. Caroline Ingalls made him promise to take a railroad job that brought the couple and their four daughters to Silver Lake in Dakota Territory.

And she made him promise to stay.

Amyzon!

Just a heads up to you Kindleheads out there. Amy's Ladder is now available in ebook form at Amazon.

So as not to be confused, or to confuse you more, Amy's Ladder is the sequel to Joshua's Ladder in the ebook format.

In the paperback format, Joshua's Ladder includes the Amy sequel. Got it?

OH! And I received my first-ever royalty check today! Not Koontzian, but it's a start.

Hump day link-o-rama

*** I've written before of my respect for former Argus Leader sportswriter John Egan and how honored I was to work with him and to call him a friend. The Argus has a story about his book, Drop Him Till He Dies.

Imagine growing up believing your father had murdered your mother and had been executed for the crime.

Or that your grandfather had murdered your grandmother and was hanged for it but knowing little else.

Or knowing nothing about it at all.

That was the situation John Egan found himself in 30 years ago when an Argus Leader co-worker writing a story about capital punishment nonchalantly asked, "How come you never said anything to me about Thomas Egan?"

"Who's that?" Egan replied.

*** Bill Keller, executive editor of the NY Times, laments how most of his staff is out writing books instead of doing their jobs. One of his funnier columns.


*** And finally, a good ol' small-town newspaper, the Freeman Courier, has a nice story about a good ol' small-town church celebrating its 125th anniversity.

The people of Salem Mennonite Brethren come together to celebrate 125 years with appreciation, reverence, pride and a renewed call to make 'little things become large.'

Interesting stuff, literally

Last year Ledbury poetry festival asked poets to name their most hated words. For this year's festival – running from 1 to 10 July – they've asked for the expressions that have become such cliches that they have lost all meaning. Here are their responses.

Veto Von Botherland, was born in Germany, he understands German, responds to German and enjoys German Schutzhund Sport. So what is so special about Veto Von Botherland? Veto is the first German Shepard canine with a position on the Black Hills National Forest. Check it out.

Denver's Tattered Cover Book Store has been a focal point for the city's literary community since 1974. Owner Joyce Meskis explains the challenges of operating an independent bookstore in an ever-changing climate, and the future she sees for the nation's independent booksellers. NPR has the story.

Nice lil' 5-star review on Amazon

LOVED this book!!, June 23, 2011
By WGR
Amazon Verified Purchase
This review is from: Joshua's Ladder (Paperback)

I am a voracious reader, mostly of non-fiction (politics, current events and history) along with Christian-based books. A friend recommended Jacob's Ladder and I'm so glad they did. I really enjoyed getting to know Joshua and his life story, staring in South Dakota, then to Cocoa Beach and back. The characters in the book are unique and the author really makes them come alive. If you are from the Midwest, there is going to be a lot to recognize in the story. There are surprise twists throughout the book, which are actually two stories (Joshua's Ladder and Amy's Ladder). A couple shocking developments made me hunger for more. I would HIGHLY recommend this book to everyone and I look forward to more of Mr. Haugen's writings in the future. A wonderful book!

Tiger Mom, meet Irish Setter Dad

One of the more talked about books this past year was Amy Chua’s Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother and what is the best way to raise your kid. Seems the basic question is: Do you raise them to be career/money oriented or do you raise them to be happy?

P.J. O’Rourke offers his thoughts in this column “Irish Setter Dad.” (You have to sign in, but it's free.) Here's a snippet:

"My kids fit the success profile. I’ll bet Muffin and Poppet are accepted at the University of Idaho, assuming Wii is a Title IX thing. And Buster will be waving goodbye to Harvard while he’s still in junior high.

Amy Chua, I’ve got bad news. “A” students work for “B” students. Or not even. A businessman friend of mine corrected me. “No, P. J.,” he said, “ ‘B’ students work for ‘C’ students. ‘A’ students teach.” Teaching in the Ivy League gives you a lot of time off, Amy—enough to write a crap book, worse than Yale prof Erich Segal’s Love Story. Maybe when you get some time off again you should come to rural New Hampshire and meet the Irish Setter Dad children.

Buster, age 7, is a master of passive resistance who can turn staying up past his bedtime into Tahrir Square. He could hire himself out as a civil disobedience coach to Mahatma -Gandhi and Martin Luther King, if they weren’t dead. Poppet, 10, is a persuasive saleswoman, not to say charming con artist, who can hand you a sheet of black construction paper with a hole in it and convince you it’s a science project on collapsed super-novas. And Muffin, 13, has her own .410 shotgun and knows how to use it.

Try your Chinese Tiger Mom stuff on my kids."

In my mind, O’Rourke has managed an incredible career by appealing to the diverse audiences of The Atlantic Monthly, The American Spectator and The Weekly Standard, as well as viewers of Bill Maher and listeners of NPR. Author of 16 books, he is considered the most quoted living man. Don’t doubt me, Wikipedia says so!

In a 2008 LA Times column, O’Rourke shares his take on mortality, after learning that he had:

“of all the inglorious things, a malignant hemorrhoid. What color bracelet does one wear for that? And where does one wear it? And what slogan is apropos? Perhaps that slogan can be sewn in needlepoint around the ruffle on a cover for my embarrassing little doughnut buttocks pillow.”

Haugenmail

Okay, I'm going to start stepping it up here. Lately I've been busy, distracted and generally unmotivated. But that's about to change. So let's go to the mail bag with questions and comments from actual people who actually interact with me via email, Facebook, phone or at baseball games.

From a guy with too much time on his hands in Faith, SD: "Finished reading Joshua's Ladder this weekend (family travel - so it was also the first book I read on my phone). I'm ready for the next rung on the Ladder! I hope his next love interest has a less hazardous occupation :-) It was great! Good Job!"

My first thought is of my grandpa Clayton Renli and what he would think if I were to flash back 40 years and say to him: "Hey, Grandpa, I just read a book on my phone." He'd probably ask: "Mark, have you been drinking out of the cattle tank again?"

I still remember Grandpa and Grandma's party line phone and the two rings that were theirs. Sometimes I would "accidently" pick up the phone on other rings and listen to others talk until somebody said: "Hey! Is there somebody else on the line?" Then I'd hang up, though I think the guy from NSA stayed on. That was probably the first evidence to suggest I might someday become a nosey journalist.

FYI, my grandma Lydia's best friends were named (and this is not a joke): Alma, Selma, Thelma and Helma. And Selma (this is not a joke) was married to Selmer. More proof that God has a sense of humor.

From an in-law, so doesn't really count as an actual person: "So Joshua's Ladder in ebook is different than Joshua's Ladder in paperback? Wha?"

Yes, those in-laws are easily confused. Here's a publishing update on all things Haugenish. I'm typing slowly so everybody will understand.

Joshua's Ladder ebook - Is available for every kind of ereader known to mankind. You can access them all at smashwords.com (even a Kindle version) but if you are a hard-core Kindle user and cling to your Amazon website like your first teen love, it is also now available at amazon.com. Seems originally Smashwords thought it was close to cutting a deal with Amazon to have their books distributed there, but it fell through. But that doesn't affect you now. All is good.

Amy's Ladder ebook - This is the sequel to Joshua's Ladder. It's been finished for a couple years and I was going to publish it later this year but changed my mind. Two reasons: 1, a few sad-sack weepy readers were so angst-ridden over the ending of JL that I thought I better get AL published for their own mental well-being (compassion is my middle name); 2, see below.

Joshua's Ladder paperback version - The paperback version also contains Amy's Ladder. This will appease the previously mentioned issue of distraught readers and basically gives you old-fashioned book readers a two-fer. This is available at amazon.com for a very reasonable price of $14.95, if I say so myself. You can also ask your favorite brick and mortar bookstore to order it for you, and then when enough people ask they will catch a clue and just stock the dang book. It will also soon be available at the world famous Wall Drug bookstore and some other elite sales outlets across the Rushmore State.

And, lastly, from a Haugen groupie/reader from Rapid City, SD: "Reading this on my vacation in England. Well, when I'm not at the pubs. Loving it so far!"

Keep on drinking, baby. It gets better with every sip.

Now in Paperback: Joshua's Ladder

I have it on good authority that if Oprah hadn't retired last month, Joshua's Ladder was next on her Oprah Book Club. Such is my luck.

Sooooo, we'll have to settle for announcing it on this blog. Joshua's Ladder is now available in paperback! At the low, low price of just $14.95.

CHECK IT OUT HERE.

The paperback version is extra good because it combine's Joshua's Ladder and the sequel, Amy's Ladder, all into one easy to read book. As e-books, those two were, at least for the last two days, the top sellers at independent book publisher Smashwords.com (and you can also get my Hitchhiker short stories there for free).

It's really worked out quite well as I've had over 1,500 downloads of the e-books and now the paperback version is out on their heels.

Check out my close personal friend Mr. Bill (he took the interview more seriously)

Bill Flynn is a featured author in this weeks “E”ndependent Publishers $2.99 Ebook Club enewsletter in the "general fiction" category.

Reasons/Motivations/Inspirations Behind Why I Wrote The Feathery

I started in golf as a caddie at 12 years old. Caddies were allowed to play free on Mondays. I worked at a golf course assisting the greens keeper during high school and continued to play and become enamored by the game.

Fast forward to my adult year … as an aerospace engineer I worked in Naples, Italy, Paris France and The Hague, Netherlands over a period of ten years. While in those countries I played golf there as well as in Scotland, England and Ireland. The Feathery is set at the golf courses of Turnberry and St. Andrews, Scotland for the golf segments. London and Ireland provide a venue for drama in the book.

While in Europe I attended four British Open Tournaments and one Ryder Cup. Back in the United States I followed an acquaintance PGA Professional from Q-School and behind the ropes at The Masters. This gave me insight into the atmosphere and play at those major championships and helped me to create that same atmosphere in The Feathery.

After retiring from Aerospace, I started a golf product export business. As part of this I was consigned a collection of golf antiques and memorabilia. This took me to Japan and back to Europe in an attempt to sell them. Included in the collection were several feathery golf balls made and played at St. Andrews, Scotland in the 1800’s. I didn’t sell the collection, but feathery balls became my mantra of interest. I researched the method of manufacturing the ball and its history when used in play at St. Andrews. I decided to write a work of fiction with a valuable and most sought after feathery ball used during a record round being an object of collector greed. Besides golf play I wrapped this feathery ball in the story around teenage defiance, foreign intrigue, sleuthing, suspense and romance.

It took me about five years to complete the book. It was accepted by a traditional publisher, Sleeping Bear Press out of Michigan with a $2500.00 advance. Half way through my work with that publisher’s editor, Sleeping Bear was sold to Clock Tower Press. The new CEO decided not to do fiction. I was able to keep the advance because of a clause in my contract stating in effect; that if the publisher changed his mode of doing business the advance would be retained by the author. I self-published with Booksurge in 2007 and since then I’ve sold a total of 612 books through bookstores, book signings, direct sales and Amazon.

About the book: Scott Beckman inherits an antique feathery golf ball used in 1849 during a record match at St. Andrews, Scotland from his mentor, a golf professional, Sandy McNair. Sandy’s intervention had kept Scott and his best friend, Matt Kemp, away from juvenile delinquency by involving them in the game of golf. Scott moves on with Matt as his caddie to play on the PGA Tour. After running out of funds to stay on tour Scott reluctantly submits the valuable antique feathery ball, bequeathed to him by Sandy, to an auction in London. Ironically, after doing so, his earnings on tour start to soar. Scott removes the feathery from the auction much to the chagrin of those who were set on possessing this treasured artifact. One collector’s obsession is so strong he’ll murder and rob to own it.

Scott leaves the solution of murder and robbery up to Chief Inspector Bradshaw of Scotland Yard and Detective Riley of the NYPD while he continues play at the British Open. But his good play there against hot competition is interrupted when his caddie and friend, Matt Kemp, is abducted. A threatening note demanding Scott’s withdrawal leaves the tournament leader with no alternative … unless Scotland Yard’s quick intervention is successful.

About the Author: Bill Flynn is a retired aerospace engineer who lives in New Hampshire with wife, Barbara. His follow-on career was devoted to golf product exporting. Both careers took him to the places where his book, The Feathery, is set. He has been fortunate to have played imperfect golf on many of the perfect golf courses on this planet. Bill’s first novel, A Deadly Class Reunion was published in 2004 and available on Amazon.com. Bill’s work in process (working title: A Drumbeat Too Near) is about the adventures of three boys on Cape Cod in the 1940′s while German submarines lurk off shore. One sub launches two spies, and the boys stumble in on their covert mission. The back story describes the life and love of a German U-Boat commander who is not as enthralled by the Nazi regime as some of those in his crew.

Buy The Feathery at Amazon by clicking HERE.

Q&A with reclusive author of Joshua's Ladder (paperback version coming soon!)

As one of the featured authors in this week's Endependent Publishers Book Club, I had to submit to a question-and-answer session that you may, or may not, find enlightening. Here it is:

Q&A with Mark Haugen

Q: Haugen? Is that Swedish?
A: Norwegian. Don’t call me names.

Q: No offense. So what’s the book about?
A: Joshua’s Ladder?
Q: You have other books you want to talk about?
A: It was just a marketing thing - repeating the name of the book.
Q: Clever.
A: Thanks.

Q: So what’s Joshua’s Ladder about?
A: A guy who builds a ladder and climbs onto his roof and replaces some shingles.
Q: Seriously?
A: No.
Q: Can you be serious for a minute?
A: Okay. Joshua’s Ladder is about a guy who lost his parents and brother and then had a falling out with his fiancé and cancelled the wedding.
Q: Does he go looking for his family?
A: No. They’re dead. Killed in a car accident.
Q: Sorry.
A: That’s okay. They weren’t my family.

Q: So Joshua is bummed out?
A: Very. He retreats to his cabin in the Black Hills of South Dakota, drowns his sorrows, for 10 years.
Q: That’s a lot of beer over 10 years.
A: Whiskey, actually.
Q: Then what?
A: He goes into town about twice a year. On his most recent trip he finds that his old friends have given up on him ever returning to the Joshua of old. So he moves.

Q: Where?
A: Cocoa Beach, Florida.
Q: Good choice.
A: Yep. Falls in love with an astronaut.
Q: He’s gay?
A: No, the astronaut is Amy. But he meets a couple friends who are. Joshua and Amy fall in love, his life is coming back together. All is good.
Q: Until?
A: Until things go bad. And just when you think he’s fallen to the bottom of the ladder, he goes back to South Dakota, Amy rejoins him, his old friends meet his new friends, they bust a nationwide crime ring.
Q: And all is good?
A: For most of them.
Q: That’s kind of vague.
A: You want me to give away the ending?

Q: I’ll ask the questions here. How’d you come up with this story?
A: I read Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises and it really struck a nerve. I decided I wanted to write a mystery/adventure/romance that was thoughtful, emotional, kind of the opposite of the serial killer/murder mystery stuff I usually read. No grisly murders, no courtroom scenes, just a narrative of a guy going up and down life’s ladder, something we all do but maybe not to the adventurous extent of Joshua.
Q: Will this book make me cry?
A: You’ll come close.
Q: Will it make me laugh?
A: Wet your pants.

Q: Is there a moral to the story?
A: Life is about the stories you can tell at the end of it. Stories, that when you tell them, people will arch their brow.
Q: Would your life’s stories make people arch their eyebrows?
A: Their eyebrows would fall off.

Q: Without getting into those stories, assuming the statute of limitations hasn’t expired, what’s your background?
A: Journalism. I’ve worked for newspapers belonging to two of the nation’s largest chains, Gannett and Lee Enterprises. I’ve also worked for small weekly newspapers. I’ve been a reporter, editor, sportswriter, written obits, pretty much everything. Finally, I started my own weekly newspaper from scratch, ran it with some success for five years, then sold it to Gannett.
Q: Went the full circle?
A: Yep.
Q: Where do you live now?
A: I’m a fifth-generation South Dakotan, and never strayed too far away. Lived the past six-plus years outside Rapid City, SD.

Q: Family?
A: Wife of 22 years; two daughters, 19 and 17; son, 13; a retriever/lab named Stanley; and a pet rabbit, Johnny Depp.
Q: Your rabbit is named Johnny Depp?
A: Yep.
Q: That explains a lot.

No Pulitzer, but the 'E'ndependent Publishers $2.99 Ebook Club came calling!

Just received notice that Joshua's Ladder will be among the six romance novels promoted in the May 15 newsletter of the "E"ndependent Publishers $2.99 Ebook Club.

Say what?! You don't belong to that club? I have just one thing to say to that: Loooooser!

But it's not too late for you. You don't have to be a loser for your entire life. You can subscribe to this ebook club and receive its enewsletter and your life will improve dramatically - guaranteed, almost. Guys, you know the hot neighbor lady who has never given you a second glance ... well she'll be ogling you up and down now! Gals, the FedEx guy who ignored you in your see-thru teddy last time you answered the door ... well he'll be dropping that sign-in tablet thingy and whispering sweet nothings in your ear now that he's learned you belong to the "E"ndependent Publishers $2.99 Ebook Club.

Whadayou have to lose? Nothing but your loser status.

It costs nothing, and then you might even find an inexpensive ebook like Joshua's Ladder that will exponentially improve your standing in life - guaranteed, maybe.

The book promos are scheduled to run May 15. Subscribe to this link.

Books you will find offered include:

Romance
◦Helmy Kusuma - Ai :/lʌv
◦Sheri Leigh – Star Struck
◦Mark Haugen – Joshua’s Ladder
◦Skylar Hamilton Burris – Conviction: a sequel to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice
◦Rebecca Melvin – In the Brief Eternal Silence
◦Skylar Hamilton Burris – An Unlikely Missionary

General Fiction:
◦Bill Flynn – The Feathery
◦Colleen Wait – Lessons Learned at Summer Camp
◦John Guenther – Soul Runner
◦E. V. Mitchell – Color of Heaven
◦Diane Morlan – Too Dead to Dance
◦Patricia Rockwell – Sounds of Murder

History, War and Military (fiction and non-fiction):
◦Marva Dasef – Tales of a Texas Boy◦James Spurr – Sworn for Mackinaw
◦Jane Gill – A Matter of Pride

Non-Fiction
◦Colette Ellis - Focus on Your Vision
◦Genieve Dawkins - Words of Hope for the Depressed, Oppressed and Recessed
◦Tannieka Dawkins – Cultivating Lilies
◦Maria Papadopoulou – From Hell with Love
◦Vickie Johnstone – Kaleidescope

Sci-Fi – Fantasy – Vampire - Horror
◦George Straatman - The Converging: Closures in Blood
◦Brent Nichols – Bert the Barbarian
◦Laura Lond – My Sparkling Misfortune
◦Sheri Leigh – Graveyard Games
◦Peter Shackle – A Disruptive Invention
◦Laura Lond – The Battle

20 books for instant rice readers

We're an impatient people for the most part, and I'm usually leading that parade with baton in hand. So, if you are looking for 20 classic novels you can read in one sitting, check this out.

Of the ones I've read (only nine), The Red Badge of Courage stands out to me as perhaps one that you don't usually see on these kind of lists as it rightfully should be. It was assigned reading in my English-teacher Dad's classes and I went back and reread it again a couple years ago with a lot more appreciation, and maybe a tad bit more maturity than I had 30 years ago. Just a tad, maybe more like a smidge.

Random thoughts

LEAVE IT TO BEEVES: Reading the Custer County Chronicle today, which incidentally is my favorite newspaper in the state, I noticed in their "Down Memory Lane" column a reference to something I'd never heard of: "130 Years ago, 1881 - Notwithstanding that there were four butcher shops in town, Jim Clark was keeping up his lick and was killing six beeves daily."

Consider, I grew up on a farm; I was editor of a large and influential regional ag newspaper; I even once dated a girl from South Dakota State University; but with all that agricultural background, I've NEVER heard of the term "beeves." I first considered whether Mr. Clark was butchering beavers, but thought six a day seemed like a lot, plus who would eat them? It's not like they had Taco Bells back then. Still befuddled, I consulted the internet, where one should always go for accurate irrefutable answers to your questions. At dictionary.com I learned that "beeves" is/are: 1. the flesh of a cow, steer, or bull raised and killed for its meat; 2. an adult cow, steer, or bull raised for its meat.

Well, dip me in honey and call me sticky, but I learned something. I'm going to have to pull that out of my hat next time I'm talking with one of my rancher buddies and see if he knows that he's raising beeves.

BAN MY BOOK SO MORE PEOPLE WILL READ IT: My collegiate daughter proudly proclaimed last week that she has read five of the top 10 banned books in the world. Good for her. There are worse ways to rebel against authority. The top 10 are: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Lolita, The Catcher in the Rye, Harry Potter Series, The Anarchist Cookbook, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Candide, 1984, Satanic Verses, and Brave New World.

Speaking of Huck Finn and the rewriting of a politically correct version, it strikes me that right or wrong, it takes some serious stones for somebody to sit down and think they are worthy of rewriting anything Mark Twain ever wrote.

As for being unworthy, I'm reminded of the writer I most admired while growing up. He was John Egan, legendary sportswriter at the Sioux Falls Argus Leader. He was my writing god. Fast-forward to me in college at 18 and nabbing a parttime gig in that sports department. I often sat at desks adjacent to John, I marvelled at his abilities and the gentlemanly manner he carried himself. He even spoke to me! By 22, I was fulltime on staff, often did night desk duty where I actually edited John's columns and stories and put headlines on them.

I just chuckled to myself. For one, John's writing was so immaculate and precise, it didn't need editing. For two, the last thing he needed was a slug like me portending to fix anything he ever wrote. He cared so much, he even called late at night to find out what headline the 22-year-old punk had decided to afix to his stories. He never called me a punk, probably didn't even think of me as a punk; but, I was a punk - probably a lot like the punks who have the audacity to edit Mark Twain now.

FYI, Twain died April 21, 1910. It's a pity he's not available to defend his masterpiece.

Catch the wave

Ride the wave, be the wave ... From CNN Money: The publishing tide is shifting fast: E-book sales in February topped all other formats, including paperbacks and hardcovers, according to an industry report released this week. Story here.

Spring cleaning? Stick to windows

Here's a story about the challenges of spring cleaning, which in their mind means getting rid of books cluttering your house. I'm not so sure I consider books to be clutter.

Though I probably don't need those Encyclopedia Brown books from my grade-school years. But, but, but someday I might.