Wayzgoose: Blog

Did you ever see one of those 'old Yankee' carved kids' toys where the arms of a character go flying around or the bicyclist pedals like mad when the wind blows? Sometimes, I imagine myself balanced on a fencepost with both arms flailing in the wind as I try to keep my balance on the narrow ledge where I'm anchored.

Especially this month when I've been in winds ranging from 20-50 most of the month. There's an old joke here about how Laramie, Wyo was founded. Some settlers coming west over the mountains were hit by an incredible blast of wind coming across the plains. They sought shelter down by the Laramie River where they decided to wait until the winds died down. They're still there.

And I'm here! Laramie, Wyoming, setting of Devon Layne's trilogy of Erotic Paranormal Romance Western Adventures. I've managed to acquire a bottle of Wyoming Whiskey (and will probably get another before I leave the state) and have been getting reacquainted. I even went over to the library that was so helpful in researching my books and signed and gave them copies. As Devon Layne. This is a town where I have to keep my identity straight. Alas, Devon's research assistant, Aubrey, has moved on to greener fields since I was last here three-and-a-half years ago.

I plan to move on west on Friday when temperatures are expected to be above freezing and the pass to be clear. With luck, Friday night I will be down to about 6,000 feet elevation and might start to get warmer.

Tonight, City Limits chapter 4, "Whirl-a-Gig" will post on SOL. So imagine you've got a mysterious ticket to the County Fair that not only gives you admission, but a free ride on the Whirl-a-Gig. A carnival ride where the arms spin around as you are buffeted in the wind. Would you go?

How about if it was the only clue you had as to what your identity might be?

Gee Evars, the man without a memory, follows the urge to investigate and steps into the middle of an attempted kidnapping. But is he the hero or the scapegoat? Tonight will tell.

And City Limits is progressing on other fronts. Review copies in both eBook and paperback will be available in limited supply in mid-May. If you are or know of a reviewer with a forum (book blog, website, magazine, newspaper) who might be interested in reviewing City Limits when it is released June 20, please let me know or have them contact me.

But wait! There's more!

Usually I'd let Devon announce this, but he's not likely to write a blog post until the weekend when it happens. He'll be releasing Wonders of My World 2, American Backroads on Kindle and Nook Saturday. Only $3.00. And what do you get by buying the book that you wouldn't get by reading it for free on SOL? Well, it's been edited and cleaned and scrubbed. And forty photographs have been added.

Of course, I've had to read the book a couple of times in the past two weeks and can only be complimentary about the skill and experience Devon brings to the second volume of the memoirs of aroslav, the avatar of the pseudonym of the alter ego of the author. Though I wouldn't trust anything he says as true, it's remarkable how much some of his adventures remind me of mine.

And, yes, volume one U.S. Highways is also available.

Well, I have a client with a fiction story to edit today. I could use the money, so I'd better get hopping-or reading.
Enjoy!

Or what day, for that matter? I find I have trouble remembering. I know that Monday I had a long driving day (for me). I traveled 250 miles from Oakley, KS to Chappell, NE. I was expecting just 170. That's because I'd used a direct line distance calculator and not one that figured roads into the equation. But it was okay. I also crossed from Central Time to Mountain Time, so I gained an hour.

But there is really nothing while I'm traveling that distinguishes one day from another. I'm either driving to a new campsite or I'm sitting in a campsite reading and writing. A lot of reading lately, so that means I often think it is actually whatever day I'm reading about.

But today is Wednesday. Here. Your mileage may vary. That means that City Limits Chapter 3: Bearing False Witness will post somewhere around 8:30 Eastern Time this evening.

I got an interesting comment after chapter two posted last week suggesting that I'd lost a reader because he didn't like things that were anti-religious or mind control. I can appreciate that and firmly believe and encourage readers to read what pleases them and not to look at a new story as a chore or an obligation. I recently stopped reading a fairly long story that's been posting for some weeks, even though it was well-written and by one of my favorite authors. The subject matter just didn't float my boat.

On the other hand, I don't want people to think that I'm anti-religious. I'm NON-religious, I admit. To me, a church or religion is subject to the same temptations and foibles as any other business, social club, or gang. I'll treat a church, minister, congregant, or official the same way that I would treat a political party, corporation, or mob. Not saying they are evil, but they can be and I'm not going to avoid them because others think they are holy or infallible.

It's interesting to me that in the first draft of City Limits, the villain was the mob and a few Italian bosses. One of my editors commented that she really didn't ever need to read fiction about the mob or child sex trafficking again in her life. But the real problem was that I didn't know anything about the mob. (Nor do I think most authors who write about it.) So it felt like it was all made up. And it was. I do, however, know about churches-from the inside and the outside. I was once one of them. It became much more believable when I rewrote A church and A minister as villains (not all churches or religions).

I just finished re-reading Living Next Door to Heaven and Model Student. (Funny how anything aroslav reads, I read.) Anyway, both Brian and Tony are non-religious. Tony declares, "I'm an atheist, thank God!" Brian says, "To be an atheist, you have to care. I don't." But both have strong interactions with churches and people of faith. Tony has a close relationship to the one-time Lutheran minister in his hometown. He develops a collaborative working relationship with the priest, Father Andrew, while at the same time having a near war with the Archbishop. Brian discovers he has no interest in religion, but when John's faith is shaken to the core, it is Brian who encourages him not to give up his faith because another has betrayed him.

Mind control? I suppose so. The hypnotic effect of the drug Lustre allows the preacher to control his congregation and to deprogram youth and children. I guess that I can find no other reason that sane people would believe and adhere to what he preaches. Like so many right-wing "believers" today.

Please refrain from trying to convince me your religious views are correct and I am mistaken in calling churches a social club or business. They are institutions of faith. Everyone from college professors to preachers to my former father-in-law have tried to prove to me that God exists, the Bible is true, and that there is a heaven and hell. I know that is all very comforting to some of you.

I pose to you the fact that if you can prove the existence of God, then you have taken faith out of the question. That makes your religion a science, not a faith.

Or, as the famous atheist revolutionary Thomas Paine once wrote: "If I do not believe as you believe, it proves that you do not believe as I believe, and that is all that it proves."

I'll close with another Thomas Paine quote that I try to adhere to. "My country is the world, and my religion is to do good."

Hello! You might think I'm a new author here as my first story has gone live as of last night. The truth is that I have 31 other stories on SOL under the name 'aroslav'. But I invite you to take a look at something that is outside the norm for Aroslav's writing.

City Limits is my next literary work (I have five other books available on Amazon under this identity) and I've chosen to share it here on SOL before its official June release to the public. It is a 'no sex' story, though there is some more mainstream romance involved.

Gee Evars stumbles into Rosebud Falls, exhausted and dehydrated, but snaps into action to save a drowning toddler. Injured, Gee is taken to the hospital, where he discovers he has lost his memory and his wallet. His identity uncertain, Gee sets about making Rosebud Falls his home.

In the process, Gee uncovers many of the City's secrets and develops an understanding of the mystic Forest in its midst. But his efforts to make the City a better place are not universally appreciated and Gee often finds himself in handcuffs or hospital-sometimes both.

Will Gee's relentless effort to save the wild woods and stop the trade in a drug distilled from its toxic nuts be enough to rally the town, its youth, and its children? And will it be enough to win the love of the reporter who continues to search for his true identity?

Enjoy the ride. Chapters post for thirteen weeks on Wednesdays.