Tag: San Francisco

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this is not the dystopian future I imagined

Hello, Readers!  I hope you are all taking good care of yourself as we isolate ourselves and hope this virus situation doesn’t get any worse.  I’m trying to stay optimistic, but I’ll admit it can be hard.

It’s so weird to see the traffic map completely green!  I’ve been in the SF Bay Area for twenty years, and I’ve never seen it before!  My town, which is normally filled with people out walking is a ghost town.

As someone who has read a LOT of dystopian stories, I’ll admit, when I considered what our future might look like, how our society would fall apart, I did not have my money on virus-caused-economy-crash.

So, how are you occupying your time, Readers?  I hope you have coffee and good books to read.  I’m still job hunting, and in a time like this there are still a lot of job postings, but not so much with the hiring.  It’s going to get worse before it gets better, so remember to wash your hands, stop touching your face, and take care of one another.

This crisis can make us better people, if we let it.  It is already helping out Mother Earth.  Check in on the elderly and vulnerable in your neighborhoods, and remember to keep your distance.

Meanwhile, I have a short story to write and a novel to start editing.  Hopefully some more editing work will be coming my way soon.  Happy Friday, my friends.

Photo by Jeffrey Blum on Unsplash

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Gram’s Town

Ever since I was a teenager, I’ve had a love of horror novels.  I found a John Saul book at a garage sale when I was around 14, and having already cut my teeth on Steven King’s Salem’s Lot and Carrie, I was hungry for more.

That book was Comes the Blind Fury.

comes the blind fury

I’m not a huge fan of most horror movies, mostly because it’s the psychological horror that pulls me in, not none stop blood with no real story to induce the fear response.  But books?  Yes please.

It should come as no surprise then that I have had my own horror story floating about in the darker recesses of my brain since about the time I was 17.  It has never really made it to the page, because I had trouble finding my voice.

However, recently I wondered if I could condense it into a short story for an upcoming anthology, and words started to pour out.

Yes, this makes three novels currently in some stage of creation on my computer.  This is me, after all.

I doubt it will be short enough for the anthology, now that I’ve gotten into it, but that’s okay.  It’s fun to be writing something very different from my usual.  The constant rain here is very atmospheric as well.

Speaking of rain, I had to wade through rivers of run off to get into the office this morning, and I should probably dive into the ever present, ever growing pile of work.

Happy Wednesday, Readers!  I hope you find yourself someplace sunny and warm, with kindness as your companion.

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go, go gadget girl

I’m the first to admit, I am a lover of gadgets.  If I could, I would have all the gadgets.  Well, maybe not all of them.  I’m not an Apple lover (but I couldn’t find a freely available picture of a collection of Samsung gadgets).

Some gadgets I came to late in the game.  My first MP3 player was a gift from a company I was working for at the time.  My first fitness tracker was a gift from my mother.

This week I stepped up from just a fitness tracker to a smart watch.  My hesitancy to make the jump had more to do with battery life than anything, and I am still trying to find my rhythm with when and where to charge it.

I’m still wearing my Fitbit for the time being too, as I figure out the differences between them so that I can interpret the results on my Samsung watch in relation to what I am used to.  For example, as I sit here at my office desk, my Fitbit says I’ve put in 2846 steps, while the watch says 2196.  The other area I notice a real difference is in sleep tracking.

The whole point of the watch was to replace the Fitbit, which is having serious issues since I cracked the screen in Italy.  Doing it before the Fitbit dies completely was important to me, so that I could make the transition the way I am.

Of course, the problem with all this connectivity is that I get notifications for things on my computer, my phone and my watch now, and they aren’t perfectly in sync, so they buzz, buzz, buzz at me!

Anyway, it’s another rainy day here in San Francisco.  I hope there’s some sunshine where you are, Readers!  I’m off to have some coffee.

 

Photo by Pepi Stojanovski on Unsplash

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in the morning fog

Winter in San Francisco generally means temperatures in the mid 40s to mid 50s and fog.  Sometimes really thick fog.  That does seem to be the case this year.  Even though I live a good 45 minute BART ride outside of the city, my little city can get pretty socked in too.

Fog means dangerous driving conditions, particularly when you don’t know the roads you’re driving on.  For me, I find fog mysterious and beautiful, especially when it hangs low over the mountains or the bridges.  I never do seem to get out into it with my camera however.  One of these days I’m going to get up to the Marin Headlands when the fog rolls in.

Just imagine what the world of horror movies would be like without fog!  It sets a mood, for sure.

where-shadows-fall

If you have been waiting for the paperback to get your copy of Where Shadows Fall, your wait is over.  As of this morning, the paperback is available.  Click HERE to get it.

We’re headed into the busiest time of year, with holiday parties and get togethers, shopping and cooking and chaos of all kinds.  My life is no exception.  I’ll be trying a new-to-me cookie recipe this coming weekend for a company pot luck, and I have my first holiday party tomorrow evening.

Then it’s all a landslide into Christmas for me.

What about you, Readers?  Do you have a special holiday tradition, no matter what holiday you celebrate?

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early morning San Francisco

I’m the first one in the office, which isn’t unusual.  Outside my window, the sun is starting to show itself between the buildings and the cloud cover.  I’ve worked from home for the last two days, and my house is not in a good position to watch the sun rise, so this is a nice treat.

I thought I’d talk a little bit today about books I’ve been reading.  Recently I finished From Unseen Fire, by writer Cass Morris, who I met at last year’s Sirens Conference. It is her debut book, and if you like well researched alternate history, this could be a good choice for you.  I’ll admit that the frequently flipping points of view made it a little difficult for me to get into at first, but her writing draws you in and you can see the research she put in before writing.  Beautifully drawn characters and a believable alternate Rome made this a solid four star read for me.

There can be no surprise that I had There Before the Chaos in my hot little hands the day it released.  My love for K.B. Wagers’ writing has been a long term affair, and this follow on to her debut trilogy was intense.  I tried to take my time and savor it, the way Hail savors her favored blue chai, but it went by all too fast.  Political and savvy, this first entry into the Farian War trilogy drops us in on Hail Bristol in a rare moment of peace, but peace was clearly not meant to last.  Kickass characters, heart stopping action, heartbreaking emotion…it’s a whirlwind.  You need to get in on that whirlwind and go for a ride. It gets a solid 5 stars.

One of the things that brings a book up to a five star experience for me is world building.  I can tell when an author has put in the hours to create a world I can crawl into.  It’s something I strive for as I write.  Both Wagers and Morris did this very well.

It looks like the day is starting here as people keep coming through that door, so I should refill my coffee cup and buckle down.  Happy Wednesday, Readers.  May it be filled with small pleasantries and deep kindness.