Hello, all:
Before I get to the big news, which is really best for the writing update part of this, a word about Threads, which seems to have been the discussion topic this past week: I saw it once, and yikes, that was scary. The Day After was frightening as well, although to be honest, Special Bulletin is plenty scary too. I’ve only seen the tail end of that one, but, yow. I suppose that’s the point of nuclear-war films; they’re not exactly in it for the lolz. Of course, there are two exceptions: War Games, which is slightly lighter in tone (after all, spoiler, Matthew Broderick doesn’t really destroy the world in the end), and the classic dark comedy Dr. Strangelove. (“Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the War Room!”). Anyway, the main thing I recall about Threads is that it was set in Britain, one poor guy was caught in the bathroom when everything went kaboom (what a way to go, amirite?), and-
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I’m getting word from the management that I may have misunderstood things. Evidently people were not talking about the nuclear war film from 1984; they were talking about the new social media app that Mark Zuckerberg launched to compete with Twitter, which apparently is doing gangbusters business. So, yeah. I did look into it briefly. Official opinion: Eh. I think I like Substack and Facebook (ironically) better, to be honest.
Anyhow. On to more fun things:
Writing Update
Talking of things that launched this week, I’m very happy to announce that my new novella, Who Killed Ron Raven?, the third in the Constance Series, is now live on Amazon!
I include the book summary below:
Ron Raven's been nearly dead before. When you're a superhero with the ability to instantly heal yourself, you get that a lot. He's made the trip to the Pearly Gates and back so many times he's lost count. This time, however, things are different. Ron's been killed off for good, and his friends back home barely have time to cope with the loss before they're plunged into an all-out fight for their lives and souls. Fortunately, Constance the Angel has arrived to help. She's fought dragons and nuclear missiles; now she must take on supervillains in her search to answer one question: who killed Ron Raven?
Additionally, this weekend only, you can also get the other two books in the Constance Series in Kindle format free at this link! A bargain! Tell your friends! Tell your enemies! Tell your passing acquaintances!
Also, this week had another first on the ‘Stack: a guest question submitted by William F. Edwards of The Warthog Report, which featured in the latest Ask the Captain column! More guest questions are welcome, as always; feel free to email or comment with your own!
Ask the Captain: Confidence!
Closing Time
I was reminded this week of a wonderful pun from Father Mulcahy on M*A*S*H, in the episode “"So when the two sisters' car broke down, I said they should go over to the fruit stand. After all, don't nuns always travel in pairs?"
#BaDumPsh
Until next time,
Michael