bloomsite: 201103

20110329

Beacon

There is a beacon that does not burn.
And I catch myself looking up
A dozen times a day or more,
Hoping to see it light up,
Again, and again.
But it is dark,
Unmoved.

And so I wait.
And so I watch.

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20110326

My Friend

My friend
I long to hear from you again

And I'll reach across the galaxy
For your style of dignity

My friend
Watch me make this straight line bend

And I'll fast forty days in the wilderness
To fix the fortunes that went amiss

My friend
My friend

How I long to
Hear from you again

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20110324

Memphis Blues Again

Chapter 1.1 available here.

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Myanmar Earthquake.

new earthquake. big.

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20110317

Memphis Blues Again blog

See the new Memphis Blues Again website here.

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TFOB: Future of Publishing

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20110316

TFOB: Telling Stories That Matter

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TFOB: Conservative Attack on the Constitution

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TFOB: Modern Hero(ines) in Science Fiction and Fantasy

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TFOB: Sharpen Your Dialog Using Theater Techniques

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20110315

TFOB: Martin Cruz Smith Interviewed by Tom Miller

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TFOB: Space Travel and Spacefaring Societies

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TFOB: Exposing Corporate Malfeasance

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20110314

Kitt Peak

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TFOB --> Kitt Peak

I'll be assimilating events from the Tucson Festival of Books for some time, and in the days to come I'll be posting content from there. But today I'm off to Kitt Peak for a different kind of experience.

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20110313

TFOB: The Conservative Assault on the Constitution

see the video here

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TFOB

Another great Tucson Festival of Books! The last session on the future of publishing was especially informative. Many thoughts I'd had were put into the words I'd lacked and crystallized. I'll probably never think about a book/content the same way again.

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TFOB

only abt 30 min battery time left........be back w you late tonight or tomorrow.....

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TFOB

Ran afoul of several sessions already packed..........ended up by accident in Modern Hero/ines in Science Fiction and Fantasy cos they moved it to a different room.........oh well.

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TFOB

First session starts in a few minutes.....

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TFOB

Need to get some coffee in me and head down to day 2 of Tucson Festival of Books.

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20110312

Tucson Festival of Books, Sunday Itinerary

1000-1100 Mark Rudd, Martha Tod Dudman, Joyce Maynard, Sheila Wilensky; Right On! Far Out! Looking Back at the '60s; Gallagher Theater

-or-

1000-1100 Tom Leveen; Toil and Trouble: Sharpen your Dialog Using Theater Techniques; Education 349

1130-1230 Bonnie Marson; Unleash Your Creativity: How to Sark Original Thinkage; ILC 151

-or-

1130-1230 Mark Rudd; Writers as Social Activists; ILC 135

1300-1400 Erwin Chemerinsky, Sam Kleiner; Conservative Assault on the Constitution; Gallagher Theater

1430-1530 Jane Hamilton, Julia Glass, Annette Everlove; Telling Stories That Matter; Chem 111

1600-1700 Kathryn Conrad, Jana Bradley, Sam Henrie, Jim Whitehill; Future of Publishing; UA Bookstore

Having some trouble deciding about a couple of these. See you tomorrow at the book festival!

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TFOB: Saturday pix

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TFOB: Martin Cruz Smith

At his session Martin Cruz Smith mentioned that it takes him abt 3 years to write a novel. The first year is research. The next two years are also research. Not sure when he does the actual writing. He said the first task is to write a lousy first draft. The next task is to turn the lousy first draft into a novel.

Afterwards, when he was signing Gorky Park for me, I pointed out to him that had special significance for me since I finished my lousy first draft yesterday. He congratulated me and wished me well.

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TFOB

Great 1st day here at TFOB. Going to skip the last session so I can go look at exhibits, maybe buy a book or two, take some pix, etc. . . .Be back tomorrow.

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TFOB

last session abt agents very informative but dead battery for voice recorder! quick trip to bookstore & will do better at "writing abt corporate malfeasance." great day at TFOB!

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Tucson Festival of Books: See you soon!

Off to the #TFOB. See you all there!

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Tucson Festival of Books, Saturday Itinerary

1000-1100 Amy Rennert, Claire Gerus, Richard Yetwin; Literary Agents Tell All; ILC 120

1130-1230 Arlene Weintraub, Michael Blanding, Gerald Goldberg; Spin, Ink: Exposing Corporate Malfeasance; Koffler 204

1300-1400 David Weber, timothy Zahn, John Vornholt, Catherine Wells, Mary Elizabeth Hart; Writing the Future: Space Travel and Spacefaring Societies; ILC 120

1430-1530 Martin Cruz Smith Interviewed by Tom Miller; ML 350

1600-1700 Roy Peter Clark; The Glamour of Grammar: A Journey Through the Magic and Mystery of Practical English; Arizona Daily Star Pavilion/UA Mall

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20110311

Memphis Blues Again --> Tucson Festival of Books

Okay everybody. . . .I have just finished the first draft of my new novel, Memphis Blues Again. Now over the weekend I'll be blogging about the Tucson Festival of Books.

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Memphis Blues Again

‎230,438 words and 329 days later: THE END.

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20110310

Wisconsin: the next step.

I think the next step is for the UN to impose a no-fly zone over state of Wisconsin, shut off any more of the insane, babbling communication coming from Gov. Walker, and block him from importing any more North African mercenaries into Madison to make war on the citizens he's supposed to be championing.

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20110309

US Uncut crashes Bank of America Conference

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The Forbes 400: the Richest People in America

We're most fortunate that they only have our best interests at heart. Don't worry. As soon as the middle class is liquidated to pay for their crimes we can all be friends again. By the way. . . .you don't let any of these guys influence your worldview in any way, do you? Didn't think so.

read the story here

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Watch Space Shuttle Discovery Return to Earth

space shuttle Discovery landing.

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Novel Excerpt, Chapter 18

Looking ahead, the canopies and awnings appeared to be very closely jammed together in the last dash to the Hyatt. There came a clothing and souvenir shop, the River Grill (lacking a menu alongside the door, they passed it by), a great ductwork snaking all the way down from the top of the building like a plundering python, a little whitewashed clothing boutique with its window behind a rather serious-looking security grill lying underneath a series of large and abandoned, sickle-like brackets protruding up toward the dark sky where a number of balconies had been removed, another more appealing boutique up a few steps from the sidewalk and tucked away under a massive brick arch, Vic's On the River with its potted palms ("Sounds hoity-toity and pricey," Nora said) side by side with a tiny salon and gift shop whose open doors teemed with pirate tee shirts (a sign at the bottom of the door proclaimed: HAUNTINGS TOUR TICKETS SOLD HERE), another noisy bar with a few tables out front blocking the walkway and a series of lacy iron balconies stretching away overhead without any floors, another candy store, this one much larger than the one they had seen earlier, fronted by a line of wine casks bursting with palms. They passed by the River Boat Ticket Office and came to a large, brightly lit Greek restaurant with blue doors, its long blue and white striped awning glowing luridly and wrapping all the way around the far corner of the building. A short, cobbled alleyway with a paved brick lane down the center bent back to the south there, illuminated by a line of tall and slender lamps on the far side of the street, running away for a block to the back side of City Hall, its windows set at staggered levels between a symmetrical pair of downspouts, all topped by a twenty-four carat gold rotunda and a clock face shining down toward the Savannah River. Directly ahead of them the Hyatt Regency also threw itself forward toward the water, leaping completely over the centuries-old boulevard so that River Street was compelled to pass underneath the hotel through a boxy, tunnel-like affair. On the further side of the street some statue was raised on a pedestal, and the river ebbed slowly forward on its effortless course through the Georgian night.

"Now what?" Nora asked.

"Well. . . .I guess we go back to the Cotton Exchange, if that's okay with you."

She nodded. "It's fine."

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3rd Annual Tucson Festival of Books

see the website here

I'll be posting about the festival in the days to come. . . .

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20110308

Recall Efforts In Wisconsin Face Tough Odds

read the story here

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20110307

Down With the Plutocracy

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Down There at the Mardi Gras

Down there at the Mardi Gras is where I want to be
Not stranded here in cactus country dogged by history
Down there in the streets where happy people all parade
A purple and gold masquerade where the bright ones promenade
I wish I were at the Mardi Gras down in New Orleans
I'd love to swap these tiresome faces for some other scenes

Wish I were rollin' on the bayou with some Cajun queen
Calliopes and smokestack lightnin' fill up every dream
You can smell that fat chocolate river from ten miles away
But I'm stuck in Tucson watching calendars wither day by day
Back to the Mardi Gras is the only place I long to go
Back in the delta swamplands flung out in the Gulf of Mexico

Somewhere Mardi Gras floats roll by and all the people cheer
And I'm sure I'd feel a whole lot better if I were only there
Or maybe I'd mosey up to Vicksburg to see what's coming down
Or to Rosedale or Yazoo City, I'd be Mississippi-bound
The Mardi Gras calls out to me, wish I could catch an early flight
But I'm stuck battling recalcitrant robots night after rotten night

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20110306

Alien life? For real?

read the story here

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20110304

A Day of Peace: It's Not Too Late to Join In.

Day of Peace

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20110303

Love Reagan Love a Union

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