The 39 Steps by John Buchan

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An amazing tale and a quick read! This is a classic tale of the mystery genre that has been the inspiration for several movies. The 39 Steps is an early 20th century story of intrigue, murder and suspense in Great Britain. The hero is a typically wealthy, idle young man (30 something) looking for a bit of adventure who bites off a bit more than he is able to comfortably chew. As he becomes more mired in this web, he meets, and is alternately befriended and hunted by, characters from all walks of life. Mister Buchan developes strong characters and spins a vivid tale which kept me on the edge of my seat till the very last paragraph.

By the way, you can get the ebook free at PlaneteBook.com

Bored Angels

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Peters photo 02-2013

 

The Arch Angels, Jeff and Matt, were bored. It was a Wednesday, mid-week, hump day. There were no Lenten services, it was the wrong season. Choir practice was done for the year. No one was getting married, no one had died–although Jeff told Matt he smelled like someone had crawled up his ass and expired. “It’s the stale communion wafers! They always give me gas, you know that!”

“Well why do you eat them then?”

“You know very well why–Blood of Christ, Body of Christ–we’re angels, what else can we eat? So I binge on the leftovers once in a while, forgive me!”

“Whatever…”

Bored angels were generally not a good thing. Of course there were all the rules. No interfering with an individuals right to choose good versus evil. No showing yourself to those still alive. No playing cupid, except of course on St. Valentine’s day. Being an angel wasn’t all fun and games. In fact, that was Jeff’s major complaint. He figured it should be all fun and games. “I mean really, I got the golden ticket, right? Why not flowing chocolate fountains?”

“Let’s go check out that big Leadership conference of the Order of the Holy and Pious. I think it started yesterday in Geneva.”

“Sure, it could be interesting. There’s plenty to talk about what with global health crisis’s, child pornography, drug abuse, trashy ecosystems, opportunity inequity, hunger…”

“Well, lot’s has been getting better, too. You shouldn’t always keep harping on the negative! Accentuate the positive!”

“Whatever, let’s see what some of the break-out groups are studying.”

“…we’ll need to increase security to assure safety post-transition, of course…”

“… abstinence, that’s God’s way. We’ll crack down on those having relations for reasons other than procreation! I mean, really, if I had only known what I know now when I was a teenager…”

“…welcome you all to Protecting Yourself from Lawsuits – 1001. This class is vital to the fiscal preparedness of the…”

“…attendance numbers are down in the United States and Europe, let’s hope that the conversion focus on Latin American and Africa can bring back…”

“Oh my God, this just makes me want to break into the communion wine!”

“Come on, Matt. This is worse than being bored. Let’s go see if we can save some poor slob from slitting his wrists over the futility of trying to house, clothe and feed his family of four on his two, no benefits, part-time jobs at McBurgers and Walsmart.”

The inspiration for this story came from my nephew’s drawing.

Too Much of a Good Thing or…The Winter That Would Not Quit

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Have you ever had brain freeze from slurping a DQ treat on a hot summer day, a tummy ache after 17 different State Fair foods “on a stick” or a toothache while feeding your sweet tooth it’s favorite Butterfinger candy bar? If you have, you know that no matter how wonderful something tastes or how beautiful it may look, it is possible to have too much of a good thing.

State Parks = good things

Winter Wonderland = good thing

Snow making the State Park closest to your North Shore weekend lodging a Winter Wonderland in April = not that great a thing.

Max, a calming entity for those with trepidation, fear or phobia.

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Max came to us as a six year old champion that needed a change of scenery. He was the perfect age, right between our two year old Whippet and our sixteen year old Italian Greyhound. The two year old had recently lost his fifteen year old Whippet playmate and all of us needed a “pack” addition. We knew Max was special from the start and as he came out of his shell and got to know us we realized what a calming presence he was.

When my father went into memory care, right before hospice, Max visited him with me every week. Not only would Max lay by Dad and stretch his body to touch Dad along his entire side as Dad lay and listened to the rest of us visit and read, but before and after the visit with Dad, Max would entertain the rest of the staff and residents in the twelve unit wing where Dad was staying. One resident, Lisa, loved dogs, but could not care for her own anymore. She would take Max by the collar and lead him around the wing. Every once in a while he would look back at me, wondering if I needed him, but would continue with Lisa until I went to get him or until she let go of his leash. Lisa also had a buddy in the unit, Rob, that used to raise “police” dogs, in his words. He was relatively new to the facility as a resident and would often become agitated at how difficult it seemed to be for him to leave the place (he wasn’t able to leave as he was a resident and simply couldn’t remember it). The staff really liked to see Max come because no matter how difficult things were with Rob, when Max showed up he forgot all his frustrations and could not say enough about how well trained Max was as he praised his calm manner around people.

Therapy dog 01

Both of Max’s pack-leader parents go to work in a dental office all day. Trish is a five year old patient. The last time that she was at the dentist she had two baby teeth extracted. While it was done relatively pain free and simply, she associated those missing teeth with going to the dentist and was not particularly interested in another visit, no matter who promised fun flavors and simple procedures. She came in nervous and clinging to her parent. When Dr. Amble asked if she liked dogs she simply gave a single nod of her head, so he suggested that she might like to meet one of the office mascots. When Max came down the stairs he quietly came up to Trish. His head was basically at the same height as hers, so with his head bent down he gave her just a little peek out of the corner of his left eye. When all she did was look back at him he kept twisting his head until he was lying flat on his right side in front of her with his chest and tummy pointed toward her. It was really sweet and Trish finally reached out to greet him. He totally turned it around for her and before we knew it she was smiling as she ran down the hallway to her appointment which, by the way, went fine.

Therapy dog 02 Therapy dog 03 Therapy dog 04

Just because you are an adult doesn’t mean that a dental appointment doesn’t give you the butterflies, either. Max is never adverse to saying “Hi”, offering a reassuring head to pet, or even in some cases, spending a few minutes giving an all-out body hug.
Max has calmed many a patient prior to their visit, some during their visit, and even a few more after their visit. He and the rest of his dog pack spend the majority of their working days on the second floor snoozing, scoring treats and chasing tennis balls around the business manager’s office and the break room.

The Mao Case by Qiu Xiaolong

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A writer friend of mine, Joan Drury (she owns Drury Lane Books in Grand Marais, MN) recommended this book to me during a recent trip. She said Qiu is one of her new favorite authors. It was a great recommendation!

The book is actually sixth in a detective series set in Shanghai, China with the main character, Chief Inspector Chen of the Shanghai Police Bureau. The book’s author, Xiaolong, is a translator and poet who lives in the states now. This book includes many quotations of classic Chinese poetry, as well as some of his own.

I spent a lot of time in Shanghai during a previous job working with engineers and field associates developing, designing, constructing and starting up a manufacturing facility. The realism of Xiaolong’s scenes, his characters and their speech patterns appealed to me greatly. He created a tremendous mystery that would only work, in my evaluation, in the Chinese society. It was based on their history, honor and belief system.

Inspector Chen is a warm, human character that does his job well and I am looking forward to going back to read his previous adventures. I’ll also be checking out some of Qiu Xiaolong’s other writing from his website.

 

A Review of “The Book of Mormon” at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis

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“The Book of Mormon”, book, music and lyrics by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone.

Book of Mormon

My friend, Linda, in her on-going efforts to keep us up to date with theater wonderment, spearheaded the procurement of tickets to “The Book of Mormon” for us this weekend. This is a production that has been around now for a couple of years and seems to be perpetually sold out wherever it plays. This afternoon (Sunday, February 10, 2013) was clearly no exception as the four of us slogged through heavy, wet slush to get to the Orpheum Theatre from our parking ramp. The people came in bus loads for what promised to be a funny romp and stomp over the most well known religious practices of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, more commonly known as Mormons.

I’ll start out with a warning / disclaimer. If you are easily offended, have a dark attitude toward foul language, are deeply serious or spiritual or simply unable / unwilling to see comic relief in most every daily interaction we partake in, I suggest this is not the show for you.

If you’re still reading, I assume you’ve decided you’re game for all the above. The show is really irreverent and makes very heavy use of parody. In my view there were also several scenes, at the location of “call” that Elder Price and Elder Cunningham find themselves after training, that have so much actual and referred human misery on a daily basis it becomes difficult to laugh, even at the over-the-top raunchy jokes and musical lines. With that said, I can see the humor in almost anything and parodies of religion accompanied by bad language don’t bother me in the least.

I was very pleased with the cast of Mormon Elders “in training”. They were, with one exception, handsome, slender, talented singers and dancers…the picture of my expectation for door-to-door Mormon salesmen. The one exception, Elder Cunningham, was not slender, but he stole the show with quick, flexible witty delivery of his comic lines and had a very flexible tenor voice to boot. He clearly has the talent and energy to be in the top trio for the show, but I was even more impressed when I read that this show was his professional theater debut. I believe we will see much more of Christopher John O’Neill.

Mark Evans is a singer / actor with many credits to his name and I believe the Book of Mormon will be another star added. He brought energy, terrific dance moves, a marvelous and expressive face and beautiful delivery of prose and verse to the other star role as Elder Price. To round out my top trio in this play, Samantha Marie Ware, as Nabulungi at the Elder’s “call”, did a great job as the local enthusiasm builder and “text” junkie. She was a talented singer as well, but suffered from some high register flatting that might have been associated with the sound system, as I mention later.

The production itself was quite good. I loved the costumes for the song “Turn It Off Like A Light Switch”. Let’s just say that the quick addition of color to the black pants, white shirt, black tie was a real surprise and looked fabulous! The song is a great little lesson in how to keep all those pesky emotions organized and controlled. The setting for the “call” also provided opportunity for several costume changes. Baptismal white was one of my favorites. The only fault I have for the production is that the sound seemed like maybe it was pushing the limit of the speakers. There was some distortion that made it difficult to understand the words at times.

Finally, I always enjoy visiting the Orpheum Theatre. It’s a classic beauty and was wonderfully restored about 25 years ago. The beauty of the massive chandelier, suspended by a single chain, is always a thing of marvel for me.

Orpheum Chandelier

However, the comfort of the seats leave much to be desired and I sincerely hope that the next restoration takes into account theater goers need for a little additional leg room and proper back support.

If you don’t have tickets yet, check out the Hennepin Theatre Trust Box Office. I understand there is a lottery for a few $25 tickets prior to each show. You need to be there and respond really fast if your name is called!

Beautiful Pleasure

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Once there was a much loved Mother that gave birth to a son.

He was beautiful and round and brown and soft and she loved him so.
He cried and he suckled and he smiled and he suckled some more.
As he suckled she thought to herself “I shall call him Beautiful Pleasure, because he brings me pleasure and he is beautiful.”

The son grew, happy in the shadow of his mother, constantly aware of his surroundings and gentle in his heart.
His life was like a train ride with some track smooth, some bumpy and some so rough that the cars seemed as they would be bounced apart.

As happens sometimes in life, the rough parts overtook the smooth and the gentle soul was snatched out of the son’s body, leaving only a husk, with no promises of return.
The husk was not allowed to die, nor was it allowed to live…exactly.

Through it all, the much loved Mother never quit her Beautiful Pleasure and the husk never lost all the oils that had once made it smooth and soft.

When the land helped smooth the rails again, as nature has a habit of doing, the gentle soul slowly resurfaced.
Renewed, and still gentle, but with a stronger covering, the boy sprouted and grew and survived and overcame and succeeded.
Now he was again beautiful and round and brown and soft.

But now he also had a fire light shining within him.
Sometimes it burned blue and soft, while other times it burned red and hot.
It wasn’t always controllable, but it was always true.

The much loved Mother, who thought of her Beautiful Pleasure often, but saw him not, was able to feel the fire light.
Most often it warmed her, but indeed, even she was scorched at times.

When she felt the scorch, she said, “My beautiful, round, brown and soft acquired a rocket that will not be tied down.”

And together they smiled, in their hearts, knowing and loving each other well.

Copyright 2012

A Review of “The Servant of Two Masters” by Carlo Goldoni

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I saw “The Servant of Two Masters” by Carlo Goldoni, presented by The Guthrie Theater, based on a recommendation from a friend who was familiar with the actor who played Truffaldino in the play. This play falls within the classic Italian comedy style called “Commedia dell’arte” and it’s author, Carlo Goldoni, was a well educated and prolific writer who was very successful in this genre in the 18th century. This style of play is characterized by having a handful of well known “types” in every production (from merchant, doctor / lawyer / professional to lovers, etc.) and, originally, the scripts tended to be heavy on scene setting, but light on written dialog. The success of these plays was very much dependent on the energy of the actors and their ability to excel at improvisation.

I love Italian opera, am a fan of the professionalism of Guthrie Theater productions in general and would love to live a life of comedy, but I was a newbie to this well established genre, “Commedia dell’arte”. After a couple initial “what the devil…” moments, I quickly proceeded to snickers, guffaws, eye rolls and was soon quite sold and thoroughly enjoying the evening.

The cast was so full of energy, at times it seemed like I was watching a slightly sped up previously recorded version of the play. I was impressed that they could keep the level of energy up throughout the play, which almost all the seven primary actors did. My favorite two characters in the play were Truffaldino, played by Steven Epp and Il Dottore, played by Don Darryl Rivera. Steven Epp brought tremendous energy and excellent improvisation skills to the servant, Truffaldino and Don Darryl Rivera played the short, round, impatient, professional father with great humor and pomposity.

The set was simple, but effective, with a couple of lighting effects that made the audience “ohh” and “ahh” at the right times and some simple sound effects that continued repetition made funnier. Costumes and hair are often excellent at the Guthrie and this production was no exception. However, I must say that, as a writer, the single thing that fascinated me the most  about “The Servant of Two Masters” was the language. I don’t speak any Italian, nor am I an expert of 18th century English, but I know when innuendo, jokes and double-edged meanings work in this time period. I think I must send my applause in two directions, to Constance Congdon for her adaptation of this work, and to the actors, for well played and placed verbiage and ad-lib lines. Huzzah to you both!

For me, this production worked on so many levels. It is classic Italian stage work that intrigued the actor, singer, verbal lover in me, but it is also accessible to people that would never sit through an opera or who might be bored to tears with a non-English language production of a 200 year old work. Take your Mom, take your teenager, take your boyfriend. I think they’ll all leave laughing.

A Celebration of Christmas

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Here are a few offerings for this Christmas Celebration. Mom and I celebrated and sang some of Dad’s favorite carols.

White Christmas

Santa Baby

The Hanover Winter Song

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Blessings also for other past and future celebrations: Winter Solstice, Pancha Ganapati festival, Yule, Kwanzaa, Chanukah

Guest post by Edward Jakab

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I asked Edward Jakab, author of “Fearless”, to participate in the “next big thing” self-interview. Here are his answers.

1) What is the working title of your current/next book?

Well, it depends on which book you’re asking about. I am currently working on two items simultaneously. “Mine” will be the sequel to “Fearless.” And “Chosen” is an entirely different project. So I don’t confuse you, I’ll talk about “Mine.”

2) Where did you get the idea for that book?

Fearless ended in such a way that it just called for a sequel. I’ll admit, I did that on purpose. Starting college and living on my own for the first time in my life has given me many stories to write about.

3) What’s the genre of the book?

Gay young adult.

4) If you could pick actors to play the lead characters in your story, who would you pick?

The actors I can see playing my characters in “Mine” on the big screen would be:

Jacob = Logan Lerman

Drew = Ezra Miller

Nicole = Dana Davis

Austin = Spencer Boldman

Superman = Taylor Lautner

5) How would you describe your book in one sentence (10 words or less)?

Life gets in the way.

6) (a) How will your book be published, submitted through the traditional route to a traditional publisher or will you be handling it yourself through Indie Publishing methods? (b) If you’re an Indie Author, will you be publishing through your own Indie Publishing company or in a collective with other Indie Authors?

I’ll be self-publishing through Amazon.

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of this book?

I haven’t entirely finished it yet, to be honest with you.

8) What other books within your genre are similar to yours?

There aren’t any like mine. (See what I did there? Pun.)

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?

A few boys…

10) What about your book will pique the reader’s interest?

The hidden code, finding out who this book is inspired by or written for…

Edward Jacob’s book can be found at à http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0096CQ2SW

Edward himself can be found on twitter at https://twitter.com/EddieBtVS