Vacations, Verizon, and Injunctions

Vacation happened.  Yes, it's true. We took off in our loaded-to-the-gills SUV in a driving rainstorm, and it didn't improve much for the next five days.  Despite a thorough round of thunderstorms, we enjoyed doing nothing much for a week, reading tons of books, playing cards, and doing puzzles. I know, the most boring vacation on the planet, and it was, in all honesty, not what we'd planned. Hello, sun, sand, gentle lapping waves? Where were you?

But it's all good. We got out of town, and that's a plus in the dog days of August.  I'm not sure all the work it takes to get out of the house is worth it, (who knew there was so much laundry to be done before locking the front door?), but so far, it's a draw, and I'm fine with that.  I just wish I'd been disciplined enough to get some writing done.

Came home with one burning questions, however, and that is: how will an injunction on eight Samsung phones affect their current owners? My daughter has one on the banned list (and I'm betting the injunction is entered sooner rather than later), so we visited our neighborhood Verizon store yesterday to see what the contingency plan is.  I mean, if I were Verizon and I was expecting to lose Samsung phones from my inventory, I'd know what was what.

Nope. No one in the Verizon store had any knowledge of the Apple v. Samsung lawsuit, its outcome, and the pending request for an injunction.  We still don't know if apps will be available for the phones on the  hit list, if repairs and parts will be accessible, etc. Consumers, buy a Samsung phone at your own risk. Verizon ain't watchin' out for ya.

I'll get off my soap box for the moment. More brewing, but I must go pick up all the trash the dogs pulled out of the waste baskets.  They weren't happy about going on a doggy vacation of their own, and have been letting us know is several unsubtle ways for days now.

How would you feel? Creative Hijacking

First, mea culpa for not posting in a while. Life has been crazy, as in five hours of sleep is the norm, and the rest of the time I barely have time to blink.  It's slowing a bit, thank heavens, and I actually got about six hours of snooze last night! Progress!

I've been thinking about this post for a while. As I've said before, I'm a fan of the first four, maybe five, Craig Johnson LONGMIRE mysteries.  The character, Sheriff Walt Longmire, is a man of infinite patience, deadly aim, sharp intellect, and great melancholy. In short, he's a man I'd like to meet.  The mysteries are good - the first three are really a trilogy - and character-driven. My cuppa, for sure.

Couldn't wait for the A&E series to start. Despite the fact Katee Sackhoff looks nothing like the dark-haired Italian deputy,Vic, I was willing to go along with the casting. But the stories...whoa there, pardner.  Not a one bore a resemblance to any of the novels. A series has to have more than five or six stories, sure, but couldn't they have used some of them? Then lo and behold, last Sunday's episode centered around some white teen-agers who raped a developmentally disabled Cheyenne girl. At last, I thought, a plot line I recognize! It was going to be fun to see how they dramatized it.

Only they didn't. Not the novel plot, that is.  Didn't like it. Then I realized how they've changed Longmire's character, and that what's bothering me the most. He's churlish now, almost juvenile in his pettiness. Downright mean to his daughter. The real Longmire would never snap at Cady. Never.

And then there's the new plot line involving Longmire's dead wife. Everyone who has read the novels know she passed away from cancer, leaving a huge hole in her husband's life. It seems A&E has decided she was murdered, and Longmire kept it from their daughter. Bleeech. My mouth tastes bad and my head hurts. Why mess with the character and the basics of the books? 

I realize when you sell your book to a production company, you pretty much give them carte blanche, unless you're Nora Roberts.  But really, did A&E have to mess with what was a really good mystery series so drastically?  I feel for Craig Johnson, but maybe he's fine with all that sc**wing around with his creative work.  Me, I'd be hiring lawyers and going to war.

Nobody messes with my peeps. And my characters are my peeps, make no doubt about it.

Tragedy at Pocono

The tragic death of a fan and injuries to eight more as the result of a lightning strike in the stands today has brought incredible heartbreak to their families and and host of questions. Deepest condolences to the families.  I wish I knew why Nascar didn't warn the fans about the approaching storm,  since the weather people were frantic about the danger. It's more than a person can bear to think.

Yes! The Seekers is up!

After a long haul of re-reading and tweaking, playing with different covers and titles, I'm am so happy the first Mythmaker western is finally available on Kindle and Kobo.  (I have yet to figure out B&N.)  The Mythmaker series centers around Beth McFarland, army daughter and sister to Noble McFarland, army scout, and their lifelong friend, Johnny Two Hats, also a scout.  When Beth is captured by the Kiowa on her way back from school in the East, Noble and Johnny race to find her before she's killed.  Little do they know how resourceful she is.

As the Kiowa and Comanche, Johnny's mother's tribe, raid that summer for cattle and coups, Beth finds strength in forgiveness.  As she prays for the recovery of a small Kiowa boy, her only friend, she is healed of her anger at her captors and finds she is now an accepted healer, a woman of note. 

Johnny rejoins his tribe to try to track down Beth, and in so doing, discovers he is more Comanche than white.  Noble, heading another direction to rescue his sister, is struck by tragedy and pain, but also an unexpected love.  Their search for Beth leads both men in paths in their own lives they had never imagined possible.

As the tribes gather for the Medicine Lodge Treaty, Beth, Johnny, and Noble reunite one final time. Their lives will never be the same.