Monday Morning Musings

First I want to invite you to visit the Bookbrowsing blog by PJ Nunn, where I am a guest today. I wrote about my experience collaborating on the mystery, Doubletake - the challenges and the fun. 

Next, I'm excited to share some news from Terry Odell, author of several mystery series. I especially like her Blackthorne, Inc. series and her latest, Windswept Danger, is available for preorder. To celebrate, she's offering Windswept Danger at a low introductory price of 99 cents. When it goes "live" on October 26th, it'll be $3.99. But if you'd like to have the book ready and waiting on your Kobo, Kindle, iPad or other compatible device, you can order it now.  You can read a sample chapter on her Website, and then decide if you want to order the book.

Buy at Kobo * Buy at Amazon * Buy at Apple

In case you missed my announcement last week, the revised edition of my YA  novel Friends Forever  is also available for preorder. Preording helps improve the book's ranking on Amazon, which is so important as we try to gain visibility for our work.

What I'm Reading: A fascinating book about the oil industry in South America. Law of the Jungle will be published on Sept 23 by Crown, and I was sent an ARC for review. It, too, is available for preorder. The book is about the 20-year legal war between indigenous tribe members in the rain forest in Ecuador and the multinational oil company Chevron. At the center of the tale is Steven Donziger, an American lawyer whose campaign on behalf of the Ecuadorians and the Amazonian environment went horribly awry.

I will be doing a review late in October, and so far I am finding the history and the facts quite intriguing.

What I'm Dismayed About: We hear a lot about the Keystone XL Pipeline and the dangers it poses in pushing Tar Sands Oil through pipes across the middle of America, but we don't hear enough about other pipelines that have already been approved, such as one by Enbridge that will go across Illinois. According to Doug Hayes, an attorney with the Sierra Club, “There’s been a pretty deliberate attempt to try and avoid the permitting process and public involvement. While everyone was paying attention to Keystone, there were all these other projects being approved behind closed doors.”

What I'm Happy About: We are only into our second week of full rehearsals for the original play "Bonnie & Clyde in Winnsboro" that I adapted and am directing, and already the cast is starting to get into character. Here is the Barrow Gang.

Clyde in front, Bonnie to his R. Brother Buck behind on R, Hank on L and Blanche on Hank's L

Now the Joke For the Day
A young man goes into a drug store to buy condoms. The pharmacist tells him that the condoms come in packs of three, nine, or 12, and asks which ones the young man wants. "Well," he says, "Ive been seeing this girl for a while and she's really hot. I want the condoms because I think tonight's the night. We're having dinner with her parents and then we're going out. Once she's had me, she'll want me all the time, so you'd better give me the 12 pack!"

The young man makes his purchase and leaves.

Later that evening, he sits down to dinner with his girlfriend and her parents. He asks if he may give the blessing and they agree. He begins the prayer, but continues praying for several minutes. The girl leans over and says, "You never told me that you were such a religious person."

He leans over to her and says, "You never told me that your father is a pharmacist."