Hello, once again from Sunny Sarasota. Our co-host, Ernie Ovitz, is not with us this evening. He and his lovely wife are celebrating their wedding anniversary.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!
It was a tough winter all over
the country, even here in the warm enclave of the central Gulf Coast. But
Spring is upon us, with mild evening temperatures in the sixties and warm days
reaching the low eighties with clear skies. It is probably the best time of year,
as it meets the weather preferences of most people. It will soon be hot.
For those of us who enjoy the warm weather, we will be happy for a long time
until it cools off again in the Fall, well, maybe around Christmas. Whatever
the weather, enjoy it–we can’t change it.
After a brief update on each attendee's activities, we got right into
the reading portion of the meeting, starting with Don Westerfield. Don is
a poet and writes about the world from his point of view as a senior citizen,
pilot, aircraft mechanic, and career military veteran, among his many roles in
life. Tonight, he regales us with three offerings: To Race the Wind,
Echoes, and Night Flight. His poetic descriptions of
soaring above the clouds, drifting with the gale, and approaching the ‘gates of
Heaven’ take our breath away and let us feel the joy of flight. Poetry allows
Don to tell of the past in a way that lets us hear the Echoes of its passing
and feel it in our hearts. When darkness overwhelms us, the analogy of flying
through the night sky, trusting the machine and our pilot's skill to get us to our destination safely, allows us to relax and engage in introspection
of our soul.
Already an accomplished Haiku author, Scott Anderson recently completed
a course hosted by a Haiku master. Having picked up some important tips, he
presented us with a collection of poems he had written during and after the course.
How many different ways can a reader interpret a Haiku? We find out that it may
be unlimited.
In a rare incursion into the
world of fiction, Roberta Molaro shared a rewrite of Chapter Two of
The Reluctant Heiress. On a trip to rural Pennsylvania, our adopted
heroine encounters several residents of the small town where her birth mother
once lived. Roberta crafts a story that gives us all a chance to look into the
lives of people in small-town, rural settings, as one might find across our
country. We get the opportunity to see what we do not experience daily. That is
the joy of reading.
Was, or is, Ursula Wong an
experienced spy, or is she just a damn good writer? One might draw either
conclusion while reading her soon-to-be-published novel, Strategic
Deception. Now, reading from the rough draft of her newest book, the installment following up on her previous book, she sends Grace back into
the fray in Lithuania. Having developed an AI program called Eparlay, she destroyed it in an attempt to prevent it from being used improperly. But a
single copy survived and fell into the hands of a Russian politician/espionage director.
Oh, what webs we weave.
How many of us had paper routes back
in the day? I suppose, somewhere, there are still youngsters out there peddling
on bicycles or walking the streets delivering newspapers. Danny Spurlock
remembers and tells us about it in That’s the Job. Saving up for
a new bike, the newsboy collects 35 cents a week from customers, then pays 24 cents a week to his route manager. Saving all 11 cents,
he earns $4.07 per week. A new bike costs almost $40, two and a half months’
work. But ‘That’s the Job.’
How’s your memory? In Nadia
by Bruce Hadrich, Nadia has some blank spots. We all do; our brains
discard useless material sometimes, or at least, files it away where it won’t
get in the way until it’s needed. Wait a minute, wouldn’t we remember something
as important as our birth? Apparently not, at least according to Nadia’s dream.
Hold on here. Nadia wasn’t born; she was manufactured, destroyed, and
remanufactured in a different form. Look, you’ll just have to wait until Bruce
publishes it and then read it for yourself. It’s worth waiting for.
Bob Miller is writing a
memoir; his working title is From Nowhere to Somewhere. Your life
is a straight line from nowhere to somewhere, OOPS! Wrong! Look back from where
you are. Connect the dots. Up, down, sideways, in circles, that’s nowhere. It’s
where we are today, that’s somewhere. But we’re still traveling. Take any time
frame, and you can say you traveled that path between nowhere and somewhere. Bob,
keep going toward somewhere; you’ve already been nowhere.
Advance the Line by
James H. Kelly follows a young man into the chaos of war. The latest
chapter is from the viewpoint of the German command in Metz, France, on 15
April 1918. Knowing American troops have arrived and taken up positions on the line in an area that has been quiet for some time, the German commander plans to launch a push to break through the untested newcomers to the Western Front. Marshaling three battalions of Stormtroopers (not like the ones
in Star Wars), the German forces hope to break the untested Americans and force
the French and English to stop fighting. The Stormtroopers creep forward toward
the American lines. Advance the Line is the latest in the saga of
the Mackenzie family of soldiers.
We did it! Another interesting
journey through the works of some fine authors. We meet again on April 1st
at the firehouse in Nokomis. The meeting starts at 6:30 PM but come early. There
is usually somebody there around 6:00 PM. Get on the sign-in sheet as it’s first-come,
first to read.
We look forward to seeing you
there. In the meantime, READ, Read, read some more; then, WRITE, Write, and
write some more.
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