Custer’s Revenge

My father, Jack Erwin Vaughn, was a very interesting, albeit complex man. While he passed many years ago, I wanted to archive a few of his best stories (as I recall them) so his great grandchildren and others might get to know him better. This is one of those stories.

LiveJournal Tags: Fort Leavenworth,Custer,Short Stories

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Last Sunday, my miss-matched set of friends from choir sat around a small table at Shari’s. We always meet here after church; mostly because we could usually get in and out before we died of starvation, and the food was tolerable. As usual, conversations twisted this way and that; someone’s latest operation; who was dating the widowed soprano; if our food would ever come. At this point, someone thought it would be fun to pull a prank on our director and all eyes turned to me. Based on their experience with my elaborate April Fool’s Day stunts, they knew I must have a PhD in silliness.

“It comes naturally,” I said. “My dad was by far the most dangerous kind of practical joker. He was infinitely patient.” And so I began the story of Custer’s Revenge.

After our tour in Thailand, we moved into a two-story brick duplex at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas dating back to the 1860’s. Someone, perhaps my dad, started a rumor that said George Armstrong Custer was quartered in this very house. Our next-door neighbors, Neil and his wife Dottie, became great friends. My parents would often have them over for dinner or evening drinks. The men would regale us with fanciful stories about their exploits, but dad invariably steered the conversation to tales of Custer’s lavish parties and his love for Leavenworth, organ music and especially Bach.

“Some say, he wanted to be buried here,” my dad said as they gathered in the living room after dinner. My brother and I pretended to be getting ready for bed, but stayed within earshot.

“Oh really,” Dottie said.

Knowing my dad, I now doubt any of this is true, but at the time, we were both enthralled by the stories.

“The Andersons, you know the couple that lived here before us? They thought they heard noises late at night,” my dad said.

“Noises?”

“Some footsteps in the attic, but mostly music.” My dad was barely making eye contact, loading his pipe with tobacco.

Neil gave my dad a skeptical glare. “The Beatles?”

“Sure. The Beatles,” my dad laughed and got up to refill glasses.

“What kind of music?” Dottie asked.

“They didn’t say. I can write to them if it matters.”

“Oh, no. Don’t bother.”

The conversation drifted to other subjects and sleep pulled us upstairs to bed.

That night, every creak, every branch clicking on the window sounded like bony fingers pulling at the sashes, but when I heard something clump, my curiosity got the better of me. Tiptoeing down the narrow, twisting stairway leading to the basement, I saw a flickering light, and yes, I heard muted shuffling as if someone was dragging boxes or a body over the floor. Once I worked up the courage, I peeked around the corner expecting to see General Custer, sword and all glaring back at me, but no one was there. My feet were cold, so I switched off the light and climbed back up to bed. Later that night, distant organ music and bloody scenes of Custer fighting at the Little Big Horn filled my dreams.

In the morning, I asked if anyone had heard music or noises from the basement. My little brother scoffed (as usual) and mom convinced me it was nothing. The next night, well past midnight, I heard the same—at least the music. Though very faint, I eventually recognized Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor, one of dad’s and my favorite organ pieces. This went on for about a week until one morning, as we were finishing breakfast, Dottie appeared at the back door, her hair still in curlers. She looked as if she had not slept a wink. “Fran, did you hear it?”

“What was that Dottie?” Mom ushered her in, settling her into a chair with a cup of coffee.

“Music. Handel I think.”

“Bach. It was Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor,” I said, returning to the comic strip.

“You heard it too?” Dottie said, pulling down the paper.

“Sure. I hear it every night.”

“Go get dressed,” mom said in her “get lost” voice.

I took another bite and hung around in the hallway, just out of sight.

“Jack’s been…” Mom whispered.

“Been what?” Dottie asked.

“Pulling a prank. He’s been playing organ music through a speaker he stuffed into a hole in the wall between the houses.”

“No!”

I had to cover my mouth to stifle the laugh.

“I’m afraid so. I’m so sorry.”

Dad had struck again.

We didn’t hear any music after that, but early Sunday morning, persistent knocking got all of us out of bed, including my dad who liked to sleep in on Sundays. From the top of the stairs, I watched my dad open the door to a stern Military Police Sergeant.

“Col. Vaughn?”

“Yes, what is it?”

“Honest Jack?” the Sergeant said, reading from a large piece of cardboard.

“What is it Sergeant?”

“Sir, with all due respect, you know it’s against regulations to run a business out of your quarters.”

“Again, Sergeant. What’s the issue here?” My dad’s voice was getting louder as if it made him easier to understand. It didn’t.

“Sir, you’ll have to take down those signs.”

“Sergeant, Miller is it? I still don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.” Dad was now in his “take names and fire back mode.”

“Sir, can you come with me?”

“Now?”

“Now, sir.”

In bare feet, my dad reluctantly followed the Sergeant into the front yard who pointed down the block before marching around to the back of the house with my dad close behind. I scurried around to watch from my brother’s back bedroom. Someone, probably our neighbor Neil, had taken his revenge by placing signs on the handful of cars parked behind the house: my dad’s VW Variant, my mom’s Ford, my 1930 Model A Ford, and my brother’s 1942 Plymouth. Each car had been priced and tagged with pitches such as “Classic”, “Great Deal!” and “Runs Like New.” We later discovered that someone had also posted signs all up and down the block with arrows leading to our alley such as, “Big Sale at Honest Jack’s.” Why wouldn’t the MPs think my dad was running a used car lot behind the house?

My dad was eventually able to talk the MPs out of filing a report, but I shudder to think what he did to retaliate. I do know that my dad never got even. He always got ahead.

The Timkers—A New Beginning

About eighteen months ago, I had a wild, exciting dream. No it was not (entirely) one of those dreams, but it was thrilling none-the-less. When I awoke, I decided to take an entirely new direction in my writing. While I love the characters and stories in The Seldith Chronicles, I wanted to create stories that are more “adult,” where I could more freely describe passion—platonic, intimate and brutal that adults experience. I wanted to bring my readers to the exotic and interesting places I’ve visited all over the world, starting with Seattle. I also wanted to tell the story of strong female characters and the men that shape, suppress and support them. To that end, I wrote The Timkers.

Ruth is one of those characters. She walks into the story wearing muddy coveralls, with dirty, matted red hair, worn-out shoes, and intensely green eyes—eyes that drew men to her. I had to get to know more about her, get her cleaned up and awaken her strength and the determination to bring herself and her family back to life in the mire of the Great Depression in 1930.

A number of time travel stories have also influenced me, and I imagined scenes where someone from our time visits the distant past. I wondered if  modern-day talents would be of any use. Sam is smart, tech-savvy and street-tough, but with a soiled history. He lost two years in the for-profit Texas judicial system, only to be re-entangled on the tough streets of modern-day Seattle. When The Timkers starts, Sam’s on the run again after a deadly encounter with a street thug. Stowing away on a bus heading out of town, he soon finds himself in 1930. Sam’s convinced things could not get more complicated—right up to the point where he meets Ruth in a Pioneer Square bordello.

In the first month since its publication, The Timkers has earned ten five-star reviews. But don’t take their word for it. Take a look at the preview and see if you aren’t drawn in. Yes, The Timkers is a series, like the romance and mystery novels you love. And yes, another is on the way.

The Timkers is written under the author name of WR Vaughn to help my readers find my New Adult titles.

Enjoy.

Bill

del.icio.us Tags: Timkers,Time Travel,Fiction,New Adult,Seattle,Pioneer Square,1930

IMHO: In Regard to The Climate

In regard to the climate, we should spend another couple of decades debating and discussing and pointing fingers. We should figure out what each specific President did or didn’t do and send them to bed without supper. We should discredit the scientists and astrophysicists, biologists, anthropologists and computer scientists who predicted what’s happening because it’s all just a silly unproven theory.

As I see it, this scenario is more like “On the Beach” than “Leaves of Grass”.

Believe it or not, the earth is in real trouble. Some countries get it and are harnessing wind and solar as fast as they can. They support mass transit and their cars get better mileage—they have to because they charge the real cost of gas. At the same time, other countries like the US are still talking about the problem—even denying there’s anything wrong as the water splashes at our ankles on Wall Street. At the same time, other (very) serious polluters upwind from the US are facilitated by American businesses. They’re planning to ship these global polluters our coal and fracked oil because it’s too dirty to burn here. Don’t they get it? The smoke ends up here, in our lungs—in our kid’s lungs.

IMHO, the day of fossil fuels has been over for some time, but is nuclear power a viable alternative? Excuse me? Have we learned nothing from Fukushima, Chernobyl, or Three Mile Island? What about the mess we have yet to clean up at Hanford? And what about the used fuel from the safest plants? Yes, there are other alternatives, but give up meat? Seriously? We need to take real steps toward real long-term, sustainable solutions. Will we have to give up electricity? Why? There are many other ways to generate electricity. And yes, it’s obscene that states are passing laws to make adoption of solar or wind or alternative energy sources more expensive or even illegal.

The time to discuss whether there is a problem or not has long since past. The ship has hit the iceberg. Deciding what’s going to be served in the Windjammer dining room for dinner is a waste of time.

As a country, we should be ashamed of ourselves. We have permitted all three branches of government at the local state and federal level to be taken over by forces whose profits depend on the status quo. These corporations (and individuals) will no-doubt continue to deny, delay and block solutions as long as the financial markets focus on next quarter’s profits, not realizing that the very existence of their corporations is in jeopardy in the long-term. Frankly, they don’t care. As long as their fourth home in the mountains in Montana is above the high-water mark, they’re happy.

Our children’s tears and anger will be directed at us for generations to come. They will curse the day we were born for doing nothing, for despoiling their only world, for leaving them with a dead sea and an uninhabitable planet. The loss of life, property and security of our nation and our very existence depended on what men and women did twenty and fifty and a hundred years ago—but more importantly what we do now to correct their mistakes and our own.

Bill

Amazon and Reality

Amazon is in the news lately for their dealings with the Hachette Book Group—a very large mainstream publisher. Folks, as I see it, the core of this problem is the bizarre publishing business. Consider that when a minor miracle happens and an author gets a mainstream publisher to carry a new book, the author usually get an advance (usually, but not always), but little after that unless the books goes viral. The publisher edits the book, produces the cover, prints up copies and does some (less that most would like) marketing—but generally only to bookstores. The publishers don’t really sell anything to individuals—not directly. The books are marketed, sold and shipped to distributors who warehouse the books, and supply bookstores who order them and ship them out again. The bookstores shelve the books, keep them dusted and wait. If they sell, they (might) order more but when they don’t, they arrange to ‘return’ the remaining books to the distributor for a refund. What usually happens is that the unsold books are donated to a rural landfill or pulped. In this system, each layer takes a cut. The publisher, the distributor, the bookstore chain, the shipping companies, the landfill operator and the bookstore itself. This means a good author typically gets less than 15% in royalties.

In the Amazon model, the author writes a book, formats it for Kindle and submits it to Amazon for publication—no money changes hands. Amazon does not edit the books unless the author pays for that service. Amazon posts virtually all submissions on their website (for free) and if it sells, they send the author up to 70% of the sale. The author pays for download fees out of their cut.

If the author wants to sell printed books so they can give a copy to their mom, they can go to a vanity press and order N thousand copies and keep them in their garage until their spouse runs into them with the car. In this case, they have to market and sell the books to retail outlets themselves and act as the shipper and distributor and take back books if they (when they) don’t sell as fast as the bookstores would like. I’ve done this, but I ordered 100 or so at a time from a local on-demand printer. This was in 1992. I also did not let bookstores take the books on consignment nor would I take books back if they didn’t sell. Only one bookstore in five would work with me. In the end, I was selling 50 or so a week out of the house—just before Microsoft Press picked it up. I wish there was an Amazon in those days.

With the Amazon/CreateSpace model, authors can take their Kindle-formatted book, run it through an online program to generate a for-print version in a few minutes. They can take the time to create their own cover or use the Amazon cover wizard. All of this can be done for free. Of course, if you want Amazon to provide the ISBN, you can—for free. If you want Amazon to provide “expanded” distribution that will cost you—$35.

As far as independent bookstores go, these small businesses are being hurt by Amazon in that they have to compete with books sold at very low margins (perhaps because there are fewer middle-men) and while readers can’t touch Amazon books before they buy them, they can get them in a couple of days by mail. These indie stores are also hurt by Kindle or eBook sales except when the author has gone to the trouble of creating alternative formats using companies like Smashwords to produce and distribute the electronic copies—versions that the indies can sell directly. But the indie bookstores are also woven into the establishment problem. It’s often just as hard for us independent authors to get on their shelves as it is for us to be picked up (assimilated) by the mainstream publishers. Some bookstores won’t even talk to us without a successful book in hand—just like the big publishers. Some won’t do book signings unless we can do it in conjunction with other authors. Sure, this makes sense for them, but it’s just another hurdle for low-budget authors. Frankly, I don’t expect these businesses to be around for long.

This whole business is feeling the same pressure as the record industry when cassette tapes became popular. Now that anyone (as in really friggen anyone) can create an eBook in a matter of minutes and get it on the Amazon site in less time than it takes to read the Sunday New York Times (well, in about a day), independent bookstores and brick and mortar stores are feeling the pinch. But their business model is bloated as there are too many middle men, shipping companies, building rent collectors and people dusting and selling books by hand to support. Will this trend reverse itself? I don’t think so. Okay, no. Will the independent bookstores have to adapt? Of course, or they will face the same fate as Meg Ryan in You’ve Got Mail.

But what will us independent authors do? I’ll continue to work with bookstores like McDonalds Book Exchange in Redmond, WA and JJ Books in Bothell that carry my series The Seldith Chronicles and try to lobby other stores in the area that want to take books on consignment. Yes, this is a burden for them as it means author-specific accounts and more overhead for them but they get to deal with an author who will bend over backwards to help promote the books and the stores. I’ll also continue to write and publicize the books whenever and wherever I can. Yes, I’m that guy you met on the bus when you were reading your Kindle and asked if you like fantasy fiction. Sorry, I just had to ask.

Learn Something New Every Day

I ran across Kirsten Lamb’s blog entry where she describes “Six Easy Tips for Self-Editing Your Fiction.” I opened “Quest for The Truth” (the third novel in The Seldith Chronicles) and discovered that I too had slipped into passive voice far too many times. I opened the navigation pane in Word and did a search on ‘was’—not a single chapter was spared. Of course, we all need to use ‘was’, but using it in passive voice such as ‘she was sewing’ instead of the active ‘she sewed’ can distract the reader, but more importantly, the editors and reviewers that look for this sort of thing.

I wasn’t as guilty of many of the other suggestions in her article, but that’s only because my mentors have already pointed them out. I’ll keep learning as I evolve from an award-winning technical writer (where the code has to work) to a budding fiction writer where the words have to work.

During my last editing pass I also discovered I had not always used the right punctuation when writing dialog. For example,

“How is this done,” he said. (is right, but…)
“How this is not done.” He said. (is not)

I wrote a Word macro to ferret these out and correct them en-masse.

Bill

Cloud Atlas—A Classic Before its Time

     Fifty years from now, high-school students (if there are any) will be writing homework assignments on this masterful film. Today, in the year 2012, viewers under 18 aren't permitted to see this R-rated film without their parents. I agree with the rating. It does portray adult themes and it is violent, but still, little is shown that young-people today don't see on the web or while playing Halo 4.

     As a creative fiction writer, I think that I learned several important lessons from the film and the insightful story it tells. First, there are no limits to the way vitally important messages about humanity can be told. I expect that some might have trouble following the story-line, as it was told as if someone was weaving individual strands of people’s lives into an magnificent tapestry that transports the viewer from one era to another between heartbeats. Before long, we recognize the commonality of the threads as we lean back and see the story as a whole. It’s not just the faces of the hauntingly familiar characters that ebb and flow in the plot, like the years and ages that flash by before our eyes, it’s their common humanity or lack there-of. In each era there are those who strive and sacrifice themselves to make the world more habitable for themselves, but more importantly, for others. And there are those who would pray on the helpless, and the hapless and those who are just sitting astride the planet as if they were riding a carnival ride eating popcorn. For them, there are a number of exciting 3D chase scenes.

     I also learned that this story raises the bar on writing, directing and acting. I now have a rather lofty goal to create something at least half this impactful. I hope to fold in more of these life lessons of sacrifice, generosity and courage into my future work.

     Go see it. After you see it, consider taking your older sons and daughters and explain it to them or listen while others try to explain it to each other. I’ll be listening too. We all are in this together. I hope we survive.
Bill

What Were The Iranians Looking For?

In December 1978, I was working for Ross Perot at Electronic Data Systems. I mean, for Ross Perot himself . Before then, I had been working as a senior developer on Part B healthcare systems. One afternoon after lunch, I found a yellow sticky note stuck to my monitor. My first thoughts: I’m screwed. I took too long for lunch. We knew Ross monitored our card-key comings and goings and I had taken an extra ten minutes. I’m totally screwed. “What’s with this?” I asked Darrell, my manager. He just shrugged and told me to hustle my ass upstairs. I scurried up to Ross’ office on the 7th floor. His secretary/gatekeeper recognized me at once. “Hi Bill, go on in. He’s waiting for you.” Her cute Atlanta accent was wilting. How did she know me? I smiled, and began walking my final mile toward Ross’ office. The door was open.

“Hi Bill, have a seat. How’s the wife? I understand you have a new daughter.” His signature east-Texas twang made me feel a lot less like a condemned man and more like he lived next door. For the next few minutes I filled in the details on my family and how well I liked my job. But he already seemed to know everything. He knew how I had hacked into the EDS mainframes all over the country using a Radio Shack antenna switch to get my programs compiled on idle systems. And he had heard how I had soldered together my own personal computer, written my own BIOS and was programming at home as much as I was at the office. He didn’t know that I thought his operation was inefficient and I had bypassed many of their rules to get more done in less time. I’m screwed.

And then he told me why he had asked to talk to me. Ross had read a story in Popular Electronics that said the 8080 CPU would revolutionize the world. For the next hour we discussed the future of computing. He was a good listener. To make a long story short, that’s when I started to work for Ross himself as his technical advisor. I was moved into an office on the 7th floor and asked to sit in on meetings and consult on any number of technical issues. I eventually began work on an accounting program that would be sold with IBM 5110 “personal” computers to small businesses.

Fallout from the Iran Mission

In December of 1978 several bedraggled men were placed in the vacant desks all around us. Despite the fact they were wearing the EDS uniform (3-piece business suits), they looked like they had just returned from a harrowing battle in Vietnam. At first they didn’t really say much. But over the next few days we learned more and more about how EDS’s grand plans for Iran had fallen through.

They told us how EDS wanted to expand their foreign offices. When they discovered that the Shah of Iran wanted to modernize their systems to ostensibly keep track of their citizens, Ross jumped at the chance. He flew a team to Iran and EDS was awarded the bid. For some reason, the other vendors wanted a lot more time to get the system up but Ross’ people were confident they could get it up in a year. What they didn’t know is that it usually took several years to get anything through customs. The onsite team worked around this by “storing” the shipment in a sealed warehouse within the customs security fence. Less than a year later the system was up. After some time, they were bringing in a million dollars a month. It was widely rumored was the database was being used by SAVAK to track dissidents.

All was going well until the Shah was deposed and the government stopped paying their monthly bill. Eight months later, the situation had deteriorated dramatically. While the State Department was not providing much sensible intelligence, the EDS employees and their families were already very concerned. When someone drove by the EDS building and sprayed the second floor offices with an AK47, they knew they had to get out while they could. After getting the go-ahead from Dallas, the staff backed up the system to tape and formatted the hard drives. The tapes were taken to the American Embassy and put in an embassy pouch to be delivered back to the Dallas headquarters. Unfortunately, an informant working for the company notified Khomeini’s people. Most of the staff escaped Tehran as quickly as possible.

The story of what happened to the EDS employees (Paul Chiapparone and Bill Gaylord) that didn’t get out was fodder for a Ken Follett book “On Wings of Eagles.” After they were thrown in prison, the question they were asked a thousand times was “Where is the data?” Ross was able to engineer an escape for his employees and they returned to the Dallas headquarters. When I heard about it, I volunteered to fly the chopper out of Turkey. Ross thanked me but turned me down. He had recruited my flight-school instructor pilot.

When the mobs attacked the embassy in April of 1980, they turned the building inside out looking for something. Was it the data tapes containing SAVAK files?

Again, an American company was was paid millions (perhaps through naiveté) to make a tyrannical regime more efficient at monitoring its citizens (and victims). While EDS was told this system was to replicate the functionality of the Social Security system in the US, did the EDS people onsite know it was being used by the SAVAK, the Shah’s secret police? Were they ignorant, or did they turn a blind eye? Did Ross know? Only those men who survived this really know. Perhaps we should ask them—just to get the story straight.

Of course, all of this unfolded over three decades ago. My memory is not what it once was but this is the story as I remember it. Perhaps it will help those individuals working for companies here and abroad to be more cognizant of whom they are helping with their skills.

Bill

Yes Virginia, We Blame Bush and the Republicans.

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I saw a post from a frustrated woman who was “tired” of people blaming Bush for the country’s problems. It’s as if her car was broken and the shop had taken four years to fix it. The American (or world) economy and our complex political situation is not as simple as a Honda Civic on a five-year warranty. While women’s issues, marriage equality and vote tampering are an important reasons not to vote for a party whose men think they have a God-given right to control their property (their women), there are many other, just as serious issues to consider.

Yes, Virginia, we blame the Republicans. You should blame Bush and the Republican Party. They squandered trillions on war while cutting taxes for the wealthy. They borrowed money from the Chinese to run the government instead of keeping the Clinton-era rates that taxed the wealthy at higher rates. As a result, the Republicans drove our economy into the deepest recession since the Great Depression and took the rest of the world’s economies with it. They dropped regulations that had kept Wall Street in check for decades. That's a fact, not an opinion.

But in all fairness, I think George Bush (Jr.) is not to blame for our problems. IMHO, he was simply a puppet of the Dick Cheney's of this world. The Republican machine, funded by men like the Koch Brothers and a host of healthcare, big oil and other mega-corporations like Halliburton wanted a President that would smile and do their bidding. They wanted someone to rubber-stamp their plans to lower taxes for their friends and go to war—regardless of the threat. 9/11 was a godsend—a Tonkin Gulf that gave them an excuse to attack everyone in sight and spread Christianity. It was The Crusades all over again.

So, Obama takes over after four disastrous years. The banks are on the verge of collapse, Wall Street is heading for 1929 levels and  and what do the House Republicans do? They make defeating Obama their first and foremost goal. That's a fact. They block jobs legislation and vote over a dozen times to undo Obamacare. Why? Their billionaire friends like the fact they don’t like to pay their share of taxes. These are the same companies and individuals that bought legislation (paying millions in lobbying fees) to let them carve out massive payouts in reduced taxes and benefits. These same billionaire friends using their own media outlets (Newscorp which owns Fox and several influential newspapers) slam the President at every opportunity, making up the facts as they go. As a result, millions of Americans are grossly misinformed. Fox and their “pundits” ignore the fact that the Republican nominee has distorted the truth and outright lied about his position and his intentions. Actually, he’s never told anyone the specifics of his plan to get the economy back (unless you count the arithmetically impossible policies he’s selling like snake oil.) He hasn’t given the American public any idea what he’s really been paying in taxes or about why he’s so bent on shipping jobs to China.

And then the desperate Republicans have hired “consultants” to block Democrats from voting. There have been arrests, lawsuits and other attempts to stop this, but many voters won’t be able to cast their ballots through intimidation, unconstitutional laws and operatives destroying voter registration forms.  

Despite the Republican’s best efforts, Obama’s policies are working; albeit not as well as they could if the Republican House would cooperate. The housing industry has turned around, foreclosures are down, the number of employed is around 93% (that’s 7% unemployment), we’re out of Iraq, we’re getting out of Afghanistan, we haven’t started a war with Iran or Syria or North Korea or Somalia (despite demands by the Republicans that we do). We have a new healthcare law that covers millions that were on their own, for the first time in decades, healthcare costs are not over the level of inflation. Ironically, Obamacare is a law designed by the healthcare providers and the Republicans that the Obama administration didn’t want, but accepted in a spirit of compromise. And now the Republicans hate it—because it makes Obama look good.

So we’re finally coming out of the steep dive that the Republicans put us in and you want to give them the controls again? If you want them to rule your life and pillage the economy, vote for them. Heaven help us if they win.

Bill

In Search of Names

I’m in the process of writing Truth Awakens, the third book in my Owl Wrangler trilogy and I would like to tap your imagination. I have created a new teenage character that appears in Chapter 1 and she and her parents need names. Of course, I have already chosen place-holder names but I think it would be fun if my readers got to choose the names for these new characters.

Based on a few requests for more details, I have included a short description of the character's predicament to set the scene. In Truth Awakens, we open the story at the simple camp of a clan of itinerant Seldith elves. Traditionally, the Seldith despise and shun any faeries that they encounter; treating them like insects and often attacking them on sight. Feesa, her older sister and her parents, are faeries, but they have hidden their wings and not long ago were able to blend in with a Seldith clan. So far, they’ve live quietly, pretending to be elves. After all, they look like elves (except for their dragonfly-like wings), so they’ve been able to pull this off—until now. A few days ago, Feesa’s 16-year-old sister was attacked and brutally killed. Feesa, only about 14, witnessed the attack. She hasn’t been able to tell anyone what happened—wanting to spare her parents and afraid of revealing their identity. Her sister was as close to Feesa as anyone could be. They shared their happy times, their worries and their aspirations. But Feesa’s sister was restless. She enjoyed being a faerie—especially flying, and looked forward to accepting the crown of Queen of the Faeries one day. Feesa knew that she felt trapped among the Seldith—and so did Feesa. Both Feesa and her sister hated having to put up with the jokes and bigotry about faeries, and having to laugh along with the rest. While Feesa wasn’t sure how it happened, somehow her sister’s real identity had been discovered and she paid for it with her life. She has spent every day and night since then unable to forget and blaming herself for what happened. But Feesa’s and her parent’s troubles had just begun.

I need names for Feesa’s parents and her sister. Can you suggest some? 

When I develop names, I often go to Google Translate and translate English words and phrases into Dutch, Flemish, German, Spanish or other languages that (more or less) share our alphabet. These give me ideas about how to come up with unique but meaningful character names.

I will be posting the suggestions to my website and to Facebook where I will permit anyone to vote on them. If your students would care to participate, just let me know. It would be best if they provided names with a short description of what the name means to them.

Bill

Fifty Shades of Grey—A Formula for Success?

After having seen countless references to Ms. E.L. James’ best-seller, I had to read it—at least that’s what I told my wife. I explained that I wanted to see what made a self-published book so popular. She just nodded and gave me her disapproving frown.

My more-experienced (and published) friends told me that Fifty Shades was not well-written, so I did not expect much in the way of literary excellence. Having read my share of ‘adult’ books (few of which were well written), I also had another benchmark with which to compare Ms. James’ work.

For me, I found Ms. James’ character arcs interesting and engaging. Miss Steele, the protagonist, seems, moral, genuine and naïve (at first)—hesitant to take advantage of Mr. Grey’s offers of gifts and the other ‘benefits’ of their budding relationship. In time, she evolves into to the controller—the one who dictates how the relationship is to proceed, and the boundaries to which it must be confined—at least to some extent. Mr. Grey’s domineering character also softens as he realizes how much he cares for his latest submissive.

While there are a number of passionate sex scenes, there are also love scenes which most of the adult books I’ve read don’t generally include. As Mr. Grey pushes Miss Steele’s boundaries, she resists and expands his own limits.  It’s these tender moments that make both of them feel more like lovers than simply sex partners, and what makes this book more than porn.

Is this a great work of literary art? Not really. I thought it could use another editing pass, as the word-choice was distracting from time-to-time and it could have been tighter in places. And no, I didn’t read the fine print in the seemingly endless contracts, but they did give me a better idea of what goes one behind the scenes in an dominate-submissive playroom.

So what makes this a best seller? I would say it’s the lack of sex. When you pick up a typical adult (okay, porn) book, you can turn to almost any page and find graphic intercourse nearby. Ms. James’ book has sex, but it’s the meat in the stew, not the slurry of flavors around it. Because of this, any reader can pick up Fifty Shades of Grey and not feel guilty about reading about people having sex and the intimate dance that leads up to it. It’s like buying Playboy—we (all) read it for the articles—at least mostly. Of course, reading Fifty Shades on the Kindle makes it far easier to be discreet.

“What are you reading, Sally?” A voice over my shoulder broke my concentration.
”Oh, just another political thriller,” I say, catching my breath and looking up. I pull the Kindle to my chest. It’s Donald, my boss. He doesn’t need to know that I’m immersed from the waist down into 50 shades.
”It must be exciting, you’re kinda flushed.”
”It’s just this fleece.” I discreetly press the power button on the ereader and give him my full attention, unzipping my sweater a bit. I can feel his steel-blue eyes seeing right through me. If he only knew what I was thinking…

Fifty Shades of Grey is a story is about two people with radically different ideas about romance and sex and male-female relationships, and how money can buy anything—but love. I liked it.

Bill

Are We Witnessing a Coup D'état?

     I spent my high-school years in Bangkok—we had a great time and came home having learned a great deal about other cultures. However, we also discovered that in Southeast Asia (like other parts of the world), one part of the military or another attempted to take over the government in a coup d'état every year or so. We just stayed home from school when the tanks started rumbling through the streets. In Bangkok in the 60’s, it was considered to be an unfortunate part of the culture.

     Typically, a coup would occur if one or more of the power groups felt it could not get their way through the elected government. Here in the US, we’re seeing the same thing playing out in the media. No, there aren’t any tanks in the streets (they aren’t back from Iraq yet), but this kind of coup is being fought with money and the media.

    Yes, IMHO, I think we’re witnessing a coup here in the United States. While it’s not the military taking over the TV stations (yet), it’s a coup just the same. Years from now history students will pour over the news accounts from Faux News and the spineless media outlets that played into the hands of the mega corporations and discuss how it happened—or almost happened. They’ll shake their heads as they add up how much money was spent buying votes (projected to be over $5.8 billion). While much of this money is coming from secret sources and corporate donors, too much of it is been wrung out of individuals from both parties using fear tactics, harassing phone calls and urgent pleas that suggest if a deadline isn’t met the election will be lost. In these hard times, this money would have paid for groceries, gas to get to work and rent. It’s a disgrace.

I made the mistake of giving to the Democrats. After that, I was called, emailed and incessantly prodded for more. I even offered to make another donation if I would not be contacted again. It’s like giving money to your derelict uncle who keeps coming back for more once he figures you’re a soft touch.

     Sadly, this entire election seems to be about money. The for-profit corporations that provide us fuel, healthcare, food and supply the military and about everything else have seen a golden opportunity to take over the country—literally. They know if a progressive congress is put back in place run by a progressive President, their days of wonton profiteering and election rigging are numbered. The military suppliers (what Eisenhower called the ‘Military Industrial Complex’) want us back in Iraq and Iran and North Korea—because they’ll be paid for everything from bombs to body bags. The corporations know if President Obama is reelected, the Supreme court will be repopulated with justices that really believe that corporations are not people and don’t deserve the rights and freedoms of individuals. They know that the people will ultimately insist that media corporations be held accountable for what they broadcast. I think it’s obscene that while a network can be fined for showing a human breast but are permitted to blatantly lie without fear of censure. While there are shades of truth to any story, outright lies and evil distortions of the truth must be eliminated from political discourse. If that takes a Constitutional amendment, then so be it.

     I expect campaign reform to be a plank of the Democrat’s platform. We have some very serious problems to face in the next decade, but we can’t face them if we don’t hear the truth from our media sources and those who would use their money to influence elections beyond their single, individual voice.

Bill

To Independent Voters—Trying to Make Sense of Campaign 2012

 

An independent voter asked how one should attempt to make sense out of the current election hype. I offered this appraisal.

---

I'm a democrat, but I think I understand your position. It's tough to know anymore given the overblown extremist rhetoric—on both sides. However, I suggest you consider who is driving the “Republican” party now-a-days. Long ago, we used to be able to depend on the Republicans for sanity, calm reason, and financially conservative points of view that balanced the oft’ over-exuberant Democrats—but those sane men and women aren’t in control any longer. For the most part, the current party leadership (which I call Talibublicans because of their extremist views on religion and gun violence that rivals the Taliban), is funded by wealthy individuals and corporations who have a lot to lose if the Democrats get control of the House and Senate—and the Presidency. In one case, (and there are many others) It’s no secret that the Koch brothers have invested hundreds of millions of dollars into the campaigns—both local, state and national. The Citizens United Supreme Court ruling made all of that possible thanks to republican appointees on the court. The brothers Koch are also the primary funder of the radical Tea Party movement who has a thin understanding of the separation of church and state and the NRA. Despite the lack of any but a miniscule number of in-person voter fraud cases, the Talibublicans are also behind a host of outrageous bills to stop the poor, minorities, elderly and disadvantaged from voting. These state laws and local city regulations are clearly against existing, clear and enforced federal laws. Their purpose is dissuade at least a small percentage of the voters in key swing states. And it’s working.

Another problem the country is facing is the infiltration of the media. Years ago, the far right-wing Australian Rupert Murdoch purchased Fox (News Corp) and the Wall Street Journal (as well as many local TV stations all over the country). He staffed Fox’s CEO with the former political head of the Republican Party propaganda arm, Roger Ailes. This means virtually every story from man-bites dog to attempted assassinations is spun to make the Republicans look good or the President appear to be an interloper from Kenya. I’m not saying that the other media outlets are unbiased. They’re also running scared and worried about big advertisers pulling their funding—like the drug companies who pay for the evening “news”. So getting accurate, unbiased information for independent voters is as hard as it was in the days of Taft. I read and watch the BBC, NPR and the Seattle Times. All of which seem fairly unbiased and provide a refreshing off-continent point of view.

Basically, the Republicans want to take us back to the Bush years or to the 50’s whichever is closer. This was the time when the country was pushed into debt by two endless wars and unfunded mandates that fed the bottom-lines of their friends at Halliburton and the pharmaceutical companies. In response to their “socialism” comments, consider that most western countries provide healthcare and their presidents don’t keep pictures of Marks or Lenin (or Stalin) above the fireplace. Yes, Democrats feel it’s just fine to ask the wealthy to pay their fare share and pay for the infrastructure they depend on to maintain that wealth. We also think it’s rotten to send jobs overseas and pass laws to make it more profitable. We think it’s treasonous (if not criminal) to pass laws that help the wealthy move their money off-shore to avoid paying the lowest taxes they’ve paid in many decades. Democrats (or at least I) feel it’s criminal that people can’t afford health insurance while the healthcare providers are showing record profits. The right can spin that as socialism or communism or anyism all they want, it’s simply not right.

When it comes time to go to the polls, I suggest you vote your conscience. If you care about those that need our protection, about women’s issues or others who are the subject of bigotry and hate; if you care about the viability of our form of government and keeping the mega-wealthy from polluting our legislatures with millions in contributions to create and promote customized laws that keep them wealthy, then you’ll know how to vote.

History will look back on these times and wonder what we were thinking. They’ll wonder why education was handed over to the evangelists. They’ll wonder why proud Americans would let their country be taken over by oligarchs and international corporations.

And a side note. No, not all Republicans have embraced the radical ideas of the Tea Party, the misogynist views of Mr. Akins or the silliness of Sarah. Not even all of the Republican leadership has done so. But their candidate for Vice President has. Mr. Ryan the golden boy of the Talibublicans. Sadly, enough of the Republican leaders and their loyal followers have turned to the dark side. The saddest point of all is that they have a good chance of winning this election.

Bill Vaughn

Discounts When They’re Not

I just had a long talk with an exceedingly helpful person at CreateSpace. They’re the arm of Amazon that prints my books. I spoke to another helpful person at the Pacific Northwest Writers Association (PNWA) conference last week, who suggested I email my questions to her and she would get them answered ASAP—I sent the mail on Monday. This is Wednesday. That’s pretty fast turnaround for a large company. Well done.

So, their answers to my questions will bore you for the most part, but a few might enlighten others who deal with CreateSpace or buy my print books.

1) The discount codes that I’ve been passing around to everyone who shows even a passing interest in my book (like the poor guy trapped in the elevator with me the other day) aren’t of much use. It seems they only work if you buy from the CreateSpace site directly. This means if you go to Amazon to buy my book (in print), you can’t use the code. It also means that Kindle purchases won’t accept the code. Sigh. The kind lady on the phone did indicate that this is a common concern for authors/publishers and might be addressed in the future. So if you want to use the discount code, you’ll have to click on the link shown above. Sorry. De’ms da rules.

2) The pricing for my book with color illustrations is far too high at $62.68. Apparently, because I asked for “Expanded Distribution” (which includes bookstores and libraries), the price jumps considerably due to the increased cost of distribution. As it is, I get no (as in zero) royalties at this level. I expect that will have to change now that I understand that the retail price is out of my control. And no, I don’t expect to sell many at this price—not even to my mother-in-law in Leavenworth, Kansas. Perhaps I should buy these in bulk and sell them myself. After all, that’s how I got started back in the early ‘90s with Hitchhiker’s Guide to VBSQL.

All in all, I was very pleased with the extra effort taken by the CreateSpace team. They seem to be very open to suggestions to make my and my reader’s experience better. 

Moonrise Kingdom

     I jumped at the chance to get out of the house when my spouse suggested we take in a movie. We had seen a trailer for Moonrise Kingdom a few weeks ago—I was intrigued. To begin with, Bruce Willis in a movie with Bill Murray and Frances McDormand was quite a combination. We arrived at the AMC theater and tried (repeatedly) to buy tickets. It was senior night, but the young man (apparently his first day), was unable to charge us less than a dinner for two at the Capital Grill. After a brief conversation with the manager, we finally got in and were in time for the trailers for an upcoming movie Hyde Park on Hudson starring no other than Bill Murray as President Roosevelt. It looks great.

     Moonrise Kingdom is the charming story of a pair of kids (about Romeo and Juliet’s age) that fall in love and make elaborate plans to run away—sort of. They live on an island off the coast of New England so they can’t go very far in a miniature canoe. As the story unraveled, I was pleasantly surprised by the writing, wit and jabs at the establishment. One nameless character “Social Services” stuck out as especially stereotypical, but that furthered the plot. 

    Sam (played by Jared Gilman), while purportedly an out-of-control orphaned youth, was one of the least troubled kids in the movie. Suzy (played by Kara Hayward) was just as troubled, confused as any thirteen-year-old girl. The fact that she carried a good-sized suitcase of her favorite books the whole way (and read to the lost boys at night) was especially touching—and funny. I also enjoyed the seemingly endless supply of children dressed in felt animal costumes standing two-by-two in the wings for the church play about Noah.

     As to the rating: It’s PG-13. There was brief nudity (we saw Frances McDormand’s breast from the side for about 6 frames (OMG). While there was kissing and light petting, the love scenes were sweet and innocent. There was implied violence and a number of bloody shirts and noses. And a dog (the dog from The Artist) was killed by an errant arrow. I would wait until my granddaughters are 13 before I would take them, but I expect more mature kids would thoroughly enjoy it.

     I wish I had written down the titles of all the books Suzy read. Can anyone fill me in? As a young-adult writer, I would love to be able to capture the innocence of this lovely story. Go see it. You’ll come out smiling.

Who is William Vaughn?

I’m not a new author—far from it. I’ve written over a dozen books and contributed chapters to a handful of others. I’ve written more magazine and Internet articles than Justin Bieber’s hair stylists, and I’m not counting the documentation I pumped out for Microsoft. Except for my two novels, these were all ‘technical fiction’. You know, books written about Microsoft software for developers. One has to be pretty imaginative to write an easy-to-read book on the data access interfaces SQL Server and still keep the reader awake.

Apparently, none of this experience helps get one recognized as a competent writer in the young adult world. That’s understandable—very few teens read Hitchhiker’s Guide to Visual Studio and SQL Server (7th Edition), and they wouldn’t get the jokes anyway. That’s fine. I know how to restart my career on a new path. I’ve had to do it many, many times over the last forty years. Anyone who’s worked in the personal computer industry also knows how to file for unemployment.

So I had an idea for a novel that would to weave a story about our turbulent times. And, of course, I wanted to wade into taboo topics of politics, religion and bigotry.  I saw (and still see) political corruption, corporations buying their own laws and media spigots dumping their propaganda on the naive public. I saw many social problems ignored or glossed over by the popular books impressionable teens were reading. I was convinced that our future leaders needed another 1984, Animal Farm or Alice In Wonderland. Ambitious? Of course. I expect that Don Quixote and I are cut from the same cloth.

I spent about three years and a bunch of money on classes, books, editors and illustrators to create The Owl Wrangler. On the surface, it’s a young adult story about tiny forest elves no taller than a pinecone. The Seldith live in the forests around the Northwest, perhaps behind that blackberry bush behind your fence line. They have parents, teachers and village elders that expect and demand quite a bit from them. Seldith teens are faced with most of the same hormonal and social pressures that my own kids faced when they were in their teens. But these elven teens are special. Many of them have fledgling magical powers that they’re just learning to wield. Check out http://theowlwrangler.com for a précis.

I published The Owl Wrangler April 1, 2011 on Kindle, Nook (1 sale) and through CreateSpace. 90% of the print copies were sold by hand to people that came to my book signings and through consignment placements. These have sold very well, but only in the local area. I’m a good salesman.  

The result? Despite tepid sales, the book got 99% 5-star reviews—but too few of them. I thought it was time to start marketing in earnest. While I found a publisher that was “very interested”, communicating with them is like standing in the back of a busy bar trying to get a drink on a Friday night. I’m still looking for a sincerely interested publisher. Sure, I’ve been racking up rejection letters, but my ego can only take so much rejection. I’m not as frail as George McFly; no experienced author is, but given the state of the publishing industry, does it make sense to keep prodding publishers that only want best sellers? One of the blog articles that clog up my browser like malware pop-ups, suggested that the only key to success for a new author was to write—and keep writing. So I did.

The story continued with Guardians of the Sacred Seven. This took another fifteen months, more classes, editors, copyeditors, conference fees and thousands of hours on Facebook, Twitter and countless blogs and reading similar fantasies. July 1st (2012), volume two of The Owl Wrangler trilogy was done. I’m happy with it. Taking my own advice, I started writing the third immediately. Frankly, the characters are calling me now to come back and listen to their stories.

Sure, I keep getting the occasional request to consult on SQL Server or Reporting Services projects, but I’m having too much fun listening to the Seldith tell me their stories.

Follow me on @vaughnwilliam or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/OwlWrangler.

A Revised Website

I spent the day (between writing sprints) revising my book’s website. I created a new header, incorporating the Ink’s Eyes cover. Take a look and let me know what you think. Look for http://theowlwrangler.com.

Mata is at it Again—A Craigslist Scam or a Poor Churchmouse?

I got another message from “Mata” today. She says that she’s a poor church mouse living in Nevada City… but I’ll let her tell the story:

“Hi! I am a single mom who works as a teacher's assistant in church at
Nevada City. I want to give your item to our pastor as a gift.Do you
have a PayPal account? Invoice me using the same e-mail.

If you do not have a PayPal account, Kindly provide me with your
Fullname and Address to enable me send you a cash delivery money
order.

i will be adding an extra funds during payment for shipment cost
because you will be required to ship the item. I prefer USPS Shipping
Method.

Have a Bless Day.”

So, the first time I got this message I hesitated a moment. It seemed strange that a “teacher’s assistant in church” would have the money to buy a $1500 professional camera. And as a teaching assistant, you would think her English would be a bit better. So I checked. “Mata” has been sending this same message to folks for quite some time—word-for-word. I don’t know how her scam works, but I expect she forges money orders. I guess she forgot that she and I already had an exchange about fraud—she sent me another message this morning.

What I don’t understand is why no one has put a stop to her nefarious deeds? Are there no police in “Nevada City” if that’s where she’s from? I expect that the “pastor” is on a mission in Nigeria and she would want to have the camera sent directly to him so folks don’t have Mata’s real address. Right.

Just watch yourselves folks. There are all kinds of fictional stories out there that more than stretch the truth.

Bill

Guardians of the Sacred Seven has Arrived
After two years of writing, editing and rinse and repeat, I'm proud to announce that the second book in The Owl Wrangler trilogy has been published with brilliant illustrations by Sarah Livingston.


In Guardians, Hisbil finds that only a few of the clan believe his impossible story about uman giants, riding awakened beasts and transmogrifying his father back from an eagle. Who would believe it? Even his friends are skeptical. Alred convinces him to take an accounting of his exploits to the Summit at Glencairnon where it will be accepted into The Book of Truth--then they'll have to believe him. Unfortunately, the council members he got thrown in jail are plotting their revenge and a way to get back in power including writing their own account of Hisbil's evil ways. 
Hisbil's friend Weiger pays a heavy price to learn that Neychen and his cohorts will stop at nothing to put things back the way they were. While Hisbil has inherited his father's magical powers, it does not take long before he realizes the deadly burden he bears each time a spell is cast. Will he be able to overcome the treachery, lies and deceit or will he sacrifice everything to save Kassie, his sister and his clan?




Guardians of the Sacred Seven is currently available on Kindle and soon to appear in the Amazon listings for paper copies. Until Amazon catches up, you can find the print version on CreateSpace.  I've done something different this time--I've included color illustrations. This should enhance the reading experience for the Kindle Fire and other color Kindle eBook readers. There's also a special color print version available that includes these color illustrations.

A new beginning...

A new start. Sometimes that's what it takes. I've been fighting my MovableType blog for over three years--the six months or so with paid help from SixApart but it still does not work correctly. I have better things to do with my life than debug Perl scripts, so I thought I would try BlogSpot.
Let's see how it goes...