books – Late to the Theater

Big Announcement!

On OCTOBER 1st, you will be able to read the words I read to you in various bad accents and with mumbly pronunciation these past months yourself!

Friends!

Yes! You are correct, you didn’t see an episode of Escape Into Storytelling yesterday. That’s because:

It was a holiday weekend in the USA.
I was tired and needed a break.

But! I have big news!

Virago will be available in print and e-book format OCTOBER 1st.

That’s right! On OCTOBER 1st, you will be able to read the words I read to you in various bad accents and with mumbly pronunciation these past months! YES! You will be able to hold the book in your hands, either in print or downloaded to your tablet or Kindle. I already have a working relationship with Amazon, and am going to be looking into other opportunities for self-publishing.

To be clear – Virago was originally published in 2015. This version has been workshopped and revised, and anyone who owns an old copy can trade it to me for a new one, free of charge. Or if you want both, I will give you a copy of the new one, free of charge.

The 2021 revision will contain:

New scenes
A character index
A map of the city

The other news is I will be GOING BIG with the podcast on Spotify. THAT’S RIGHT! You will be able to stream the episodes from a REAL PODCAST SOURCE that is not just my dinky blog. BIG TIMES.

So! Mark your calendar! OCTOBER 1st.

It’s a Friday, it’s the first day of the best month of the year, which contains not only Halloween but also my birthday AND when temperatures in Orlando start to creep down into those autumnal 70s and 80s.

So! Mark your calendars, set an alert, do whatever y0u do to remind yourself of big important things. Because they are coming – Oh, yes.

As always, thank you for supporting independent and self-published authors like me. Until next time, be seeing you!

Escape Into Storytelling News – Future Podcasts and Book News

Good morning, friend!

Here are some developments happening with Virago that I’m excited to share with you! Read on for musings on self-promotion and to find out what’s ahead for Escape Into Storytelling!

People Eating Together: AMC’s The Terror (Season 1)

the_terror_titlecard — Great Caesar’s Ghost!

People Eating Together entries discuss that age-old tradition of people coming together to tear each other apart — Cannibalism! So settle in, maybe grab some coffee or a snack(!), and let’s explore this last social taboo together – because you can’t practice cannibalism alone.

Sometime in about the year 2007, while bored at my job at a children’s textbook publisher, I fell down a Wikihole about cannibalism. In between reading about Sawney Beane and Jeffrey Dahmer, I ran across the Franklin Expedition, which is to Canadian history what the Donner Party is to American. The article was fascinating enough, so imagine my excitement bordering on hysteria when I reread the article in 2017 to find that AMC was making a TV show about it. I loved the show, and immediately listened to the novel on which it’s based. There are significant differences which I’ll go into in the spoilers section of the review, but for now let’s focus on reviewing the show.

the_terror_Goodsir — “Say ‘cheese’ everyone! Ha Ha, just kidding, we haven’t eaten cheese since 1846 and have forgotten what it tastes like.”

(Note: The Terror is planned as a historical horror anthology. Season 1 deals with the lost Franklin expedition (with supernatural elements) and is based on Dan Simmons book of the same name, but season 2 will be about life in a Japanese interment camp in the US during the Korean war, and stars George Takei at the head of a predominantly Japanese-American cast. After the high bar set with season 1, I’m eagerly looking forward to season 2.)

Continue reading “People Eating Together: AMC’s The Terror (Season 1)”

Jen In England 2018 – Part 2: Driving and Dining in a Babysnatching Kind of Place

First, I found Oxford University. I found it 4 times in fact, because I kept missing the damn turn on the roundabout.

Recently, Jen took her first ever trip outside the United States. Please enjoy Part Two of this multi-part series chronicling her tale abroad, along with the requisite musings. Part One can be found here.

Note: The internet is full of posts by smart, photogenic people taking meticulously staged selfies at famous landmarks, so this travelogue is restricted to actual personal thoughts, including things I found fascinating and/or hilarious. This entry contains baby snatching, naked arthouse mannequins, and a brief moment of uncontrollable public sobbing. Off we go!

Oxford Bound

Thursday I bid adieu to London and my Airbnb, and headed to Marylebone train station. After walking probably 30 miles the previous few days, I was looking forward to a train ride.

Oxford_marylebone — Pictured: Thursday Morning Bustling

Along the way, I people watched.

Continue reading “Jen In England 2018 – Part 2: Driving and Dining in a Babysnatching Kind of Place”

When haoles stole Hawaii: a book review (and travelogue) of Princess Ka’iulani of Hawaii, The Monarchy’s Last Hope

What I learned in middle school was that a small group of right-minded revolutionaries overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy to bring democracy to a nation mired in outmoded traditions. My textbook told only one side of the story.

This book review is going to be as disjointed and ultimately unresolved as my entire trip back to the Big Island where I grew up. It’s a review of Princess Ka’iulani of Hawaii: The Monarchy’s Last Hope by Kristin Zambucka — a book that I picked up in my last hour in Hilo, at the locally owned and Hawaii-focused bookstore Basically Books.

Continue reading “When haoles stole Hawaii: a book review (and travelogue) of Princess Ka’iulani of Hawaii, The Monarchy’s Last Hope”