Standing Tall on the Yellow Footprints

USMC League

MCRD San Diego Back in the Day

Everything must begin somewhere. And in the United States Marine Corps, my enlisted tour commenced with yellow footprints. Drawn on the asphalt of the recruit depot with heels close together and toes angled out to 45 degrees, they are where I, along with seven other guys from our suburban Chicago neighborhood, stood to begin military service. Then we marched somewhere, boxed up our clothes and mailed them home, coming to the realization that our new life would be different from drinking beer behind a bowling alley.

The Vietnam War was winding down, at least for the United States, though the North Vietnamese would launch a huge attack against South Vietnam toward the end of March as we conducted infantry training at Camp Pendlelton. (In September, now a Private First Class, I would find myself in an Army hospital called Camp Kue on Okinawa, sharing  a ward with American advisors who'd been wounded helping the South Vietnamese forces stop the communists.)

In 1991, I visited the footprints on a vacation to San Diego with my girlfriend. (Now My Fine Wife or MFW.)

In 2002, I stood on a hill in Vietnam called Con Thien with a Vietnamese guide who told me about the obliteration of his village by B52s, bombing the NVA advance.

In 2008, I was back at MCRD finishing up a marathon with Team in Training.

But on a Friday night, January 14, 1972, I stood on yellow footprints. Oh, right before we boxed up our clothes, this happened:
(The following scene is rather accurate, except there's no C&W music. Just buzzzzzzz.)

h/t: amp1776


   

Book Horde: What to Read in 2017

Great lead-off choice, I think.

Book Horde: What to Read in 2017: January Buddy Read Book Horde's To-Read Pile It looks like snow is headed my way but that's perfectly fine with me because I ...

Happy Early New Year!

Somewhere it is now 2017.

A few 2016 hours remain here on the West Coast, but I'm going to bed before the ball drops, as is my habit these days. All the best, party pleasantly, and we'll chat again next year. 

Merry Christmas from Me, the Kramdens and the Nortons

A seasonal greeting from back in the day. Hope you're all well and enjoying hearth and home.


h/t: Brad Shey

A Pinky and the Brain, Freakazoid! Hallow Mass Christmas

Tumbir hosts a new blog breaking down every P&B episode. This fresh venture calls itself The Same Thing We Do Every Night, Pinky . . . and sets out to explore the tales of two laboratory mice whose genes have been spliced. 

All matters Freakazoid may be discussed over on Reddit, where thoughts, notions and observations about the Guy with Lightning in His Hair may be bandied about with like-minded folk. Stop by today for "a can of hash and some coffee."

Available Here, I Tell You.

Over on Amazon, reader cool breeze refers to my horror novel, Hallow Mass as a "weapons-grade satire of political correctness . . . " Thrills, chills, Lovecraftian horrors, and Boston traffic combine in this dark comedic updating of H.P. Lovecraft's "The Dunwich Horror." Now on sale through December.

And a Merry Christmas to many and a Happy Hanukkah to some!

Fictional World Building: 5 Do's and a Don't

Veronica Sicoe

Story Real Estate Needs a Solid Grounding

At first I thought Pinterest another time suck. I'm excellent at wasting time. I need no new shiny online trinkets to distract me from writing. But I may have been hasty.

As I'm world building for a sci-fi/fantasy YA book, I've delved into Pinterest much more, going so far as to build my own board.

There are ways to maximize your Pinterest boards, but I'm not there yet. Right now, I'm merely seeking images that serve as springboards for characters, scenes, and settings.

And speaking of settings, here are five sites loaded with world building do's:

1. Reddit
2. Writer's Digest
3. Science Fiction Writer's of America
4. terribleminds
5. Victoria Strauss

And a large don't:

i09

Build well and wisely.

Speaking of worlds, enjoy a few pages of my Lovecraftian thriller set in and around devil-haunted Dunwich.

Now I must go move a car from one side of the street to the other. 

Pearl Harbor Diamond Anniversary

History

Before 9/11 There Was 12/07

I don't want to say "Happy Anniversary" because it wasn't a very happy day 75 years ago. Over 2,000 American servicemen and civilians died during Japan's surprise attack on our Pearl Harbor naval and air facilities. If I may wax historical, two things really saved the U.S.:

A. Our aircraft carriers were out at sea.

B. The Japanese didn't bomb the Navy's fuel tanks because the smoke would obscure their bombing and torpedo runs on our battleships. 

Without aircraft carriers, it's likely there would've been no Coral Sea and the Japanese would have successfully invaded southern New Guinea and cut off all supplies to Australia.

Minus Hawaiian Island fuel, American warships would've needed to top off back in the continental United States and the Pacific War might've drug on long enough to get my father killed, hence eliminating my Dec. 7 blog posts decades before they began. 

Here's a sample post from 2007:

"A day of infamy," said President Franklin Roosevelt about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. (On a documentary, a surviving sailor recalled his reaction less poetically: "Holy smokes! Those are Japs! This is the real McCoy!") Reams have been written about what FDR knew and when he knew it. As the United States had broken the Japanese diplomatic code, there was speculation that the president deliberately withheld knowledge of impending attack from the military so as to use the bombing as an excuse to enter World War II.


Also check out:

Time and Mrs. Murphy from 2008

Not Everyone Mourned from 2009.

Famous People Born Dec. 5th

From December 5, 2011, I repost my birthday thoughts on fame and fortune. Since my last repost in 2014, what have I learned in two years? Age is a state of mind provided you're healthy, and it's cool being retired if your wife works a good job.

Note: My friend Randy reminded me that noted physicist Walter Heisenberg was also born on this day, but I'm not certain about that.






Thank you very much to all who have, so far, wished me Happy Birthday. In thinking of this day, I am reminded of several famous Americans who share my date of birth. I will list three and examine their accomplishments as compared to mine.

1. Martin Van Buren - b. Dec. 5, 1782

2. George Armstrong Custer - b. Dec. 5, 1839

3. Walt Disney - b. Dec. 5, 1901

4. John P. McCann - b. Dec. 5, 1952

1. Martin Van Buren succeeded greatly in becoming the 8th President of the United States but was hardly remembered even in his own day. He had a large bull frog stuffed and used as an ink well in the White House. However President Taft later sat on it by accident and they had to throw the thing out. That's about it.

2. George Armstrong Custer succeeded greatly as a soldier in the Civil War but had a mixed record fighting Indians. (1-1-2, I think.) He is best remembered for his  spectacular fail at the Battle of the  Little Big Horn. At first, everything was going well; then it all fell apart under an Indian tsunami. In later years, Custer had a park named after him as well as a monument and a movie where his part was played by Errol Flynn. That's a whole lot more than Van Buren ever got.

3. Walt Disney succeeded greatly in animation, a pioneer in the field, creator of iconic characters—but not the word 'iconic' which has been seized upon by junior execs.—established Disney studios and Disneyland and is fondly remembered to this day. Nonetheless his body is frozen in a vault beneath Disney's Burbank lot and should Walt be reanimated and start making decisions again it could effect his legacy.

4. John P. McCann was greatly successful as a Hollywood atmosphere player. McCann was the ship-board stand-in for a Canadian actor portraying Errol Flynn in My Wicked, Wicked Ways. In addition, he is visible catching Dennis Quaid's jacket at around 1:19 in a clip from  Great Balls of Fire.
More successful in animation, McCann created the non-iconic character of The Huntsman. For the next fifteen years, he piggy-backed onto as many successful shows as his friends would allow. While the record is still being written, outsiders agree that McCann will be remembered by Bank of America and several other creditors who might reasonably feel aggrieved should he pass from the scene within the next several months.

Images: whitehouse.gov, Parcbench, fold3

Pacific Rim 2 Redux

They're big and they're hitting each other. I'm so happy!

Hunnam Out, Boyega In

Sure, I like kaiju. I've got a Pinterest board to prove it. But what I really enjoy are giant robots festooned with cool weapons battling kaiju with their own bio-weird-acid-stuff. But since Pacific Rim 2 won't be around until 2018, I'd best find something else to occupy my time. One activity might be reading about Pacific Rim 2, such as this nugget concerning the upcoming film's story:

"Reports suggest that Dr. Newton "newt" Geiszler and Dr. Herman Gottlieb will play an important role in the sequel, leading some fans to believe that Newt's experiences inside the minds of the Kaiju may have disturbed him psychologically, potentially turning him to the dark side."

Read more over at Movie Pilot.

Yog Sothoth Doesn't Respect Safe Spaces

Evil is not a social construct.

On the subject of reading, take advantage of a 41% Christmas discount on my horror novel, Hallow Mass. Discover what happens when the politically correct faculty of Arkham University clash with Lovecraftian monstrosities from another dimension. It's pc versus H.P. as a young grad student learns she must party less and study more if the world is not to be drug into another dimension.

Book Horde thought enough to promote Hallow Mass on this sunny California day.

Ebook version is only $2.99 through the holiday season. Kick the tires first and check out a free sample here.

Outlining to a Cheshire Moon

the most beautiful thing

First light and a wet moon smiles down on me from the top of the sky. When "the 'horns' of the crescent moon point up at an angle, away from the horizon . . . the moon's crescent takes on the appearance of a bowl or a smile." So it's a pleasant AM to have insomnia and continue working on my sci-fi/ fantasy young adult novel. 

A word on my new method of outlining. On a blank Word screen, I wrote out 22 chapter headings. I choose the number at random as a starting point. With characters and a rough idea of where things are heading, I add stream-of-consciousness info to chapters.  For example: here is Chapter 10:

"Four days later. Panic stricken Lysander despite having half the Light Horse camped on the outskirts. A small party sent forward, including Boris, Tambara, the sub-commander from the relief of the Dressel watch tower, and a political operative in charge; a nice enough older man, but very dogmatic, urging him not to antagonize the Veen under any circumstances. And to translate exactly everything that he says.

Tambara forces her way into the treaty party. Hopes Boris isn’t mad at her for refusing to take the honorarium and letter down to Lambert and Holly. "

These info nuggets serve as mental markers. Often, I will experiment with different outcomes to each situation, listing two or three possibilities. Right now, I'm up to almost 30 pages of scenes, dialogue, back story, etc. When I finish, I'll sort through and see what manner of story I can whip up. Next comes:

Time line.

Map the world.

First Draft

Research

Second Draft

A lot more drafts.

Beta reads.

Polish.

Send out to publishing house.

Continue until a sale is made.

Who needs sleep?

(Note: Now the Cheshire Moon has retired from sight for the day.)

   

Insomnia and Back Story

rense.com

Couldn't sleep, flipped and flopped; thought about the fantasy book I'm researching; had some great ideas for backstory; got up and wrote them all down, four pages, single-spaced. Now I'm considering going back to sleep. But I thought I'd post this rare triumph over my recent writing ennui.