Is the title of an anthology if I were an editor who was putting one together.  It would contain science fiction and fantasy stories set in or based on the 60s and 70s.  Those were the times of chaos and unrest, cultural awareness, drugs, sex, and rock and roll.  I was born in 1962 (geez...that long ago?) and remember those decades, the 70s a bit more clearly than the 60s.  I was shielded from a lot of it because my parents were too busy supporting us to have time to care about changing the world.  I do remember 8-track tapes, black lights, hippies, smiley faces, Charlie's Angels, the Vietnam War, Elvis, party-line telephones...I could go on, but I won't.

I have a whole list of themes and titles for kick-ass anthologies.  Whenever I need a story, I go to this list and write one to go into a pretend anthology.  One of the stories to bloom from this process was "Mellow Yellow."  It's flash, not quite hitting 500 words, but I love it.  Really, what's not to love about smiley faces, even evil ones?  Hmmmm...

Below is "Smile" by Christian Pound.  It personifies the story perfectly, and I wish I could post the story with the photo as illustration, but since I hope to sell "Mellow Yellow," you'll have to be satisfied with the photo only.  When it sells, I'll post the info so that you can check it out.

It's starting to cool down here in northwestern Florida, and I know I'm grateful.  We had a beautiful weekend with highs technically not above low 90's, though it was terribly hot on Saturday at a Back-to-School Summer Bash in which Erica and her baton team twirled.  She did two solos each for 2-fire-baton and another 2-fire-baton routine with two of her teammates.  Those fire batons made it a little warmer for them :).  It was a nice festival, pulling in about 3K people.  It was sponsored by two churches and they gave away free school supplies to the hundreds of children there.  A lot of folks around here are hurting from the economy suckola going on and took advantage of the generosity.

Keeping in mind that we'd all like to see a touch of winter at this time, below is "Winter Fairy" by Mark Hayes.  I'm ready for some of that falltime cool that should be arriving in a few weeks.  It won't get truly cool and breezy here until probably mid-October which is my absolute favorite weather month.

I love this photo.  I think the stubble on the chin adds worlds to making the cyborg look human.  I can just see a story revolving around this photo.  Story images are whirling now!  The photo is called "Alien Cyborg" by Christine Kublanski.

I've never been a mask wearer.  Sure, when I was little, I'd dress up for Halloween, and while I don't remember, I'm sure I wore the assorted mask for the trick-or-treating.  Other than that,  I don't like them, either on other people or me.  For the most part, I find them creepy and disturbing.  I exclude the Venetian masks from this list though.  I find them beautiful and exotic.  Yes, I admit to some of the creepy factor happening in the back of my brain, but because they are so beautiful, I try to mentally override my natural instinct with them.  Many times, the human brain, especially mine, just doesn't make sense.

The photo for today is Mask by Yuk Ching Lee.  Great photo, but bleck on the masks.



*Photo can be purchased at iStockphoto.com

I'm going to commit heresy as defined by some people, and admit that I've never been a huge Beatles fan, much less a huge John Lennon fan.  His legacy however cannot be denied, and I applaud his life for that.  Imagination is the crux of what we spec fiction writers do, and without it, life would be dull indeed.

I rather liked the photo below which is of the John Lennon Memorial in Central Park.  Klaas Lingbeek - van Kranen brings it to us in a lovely tribute photo called, what else, "Imagine."

It's the weekend and we should all be feeling froggy :).  I've been a little behind on posting photos, so I'm hoping this will make up for it.  After all, how often do you get to see a robot frog?  If there's anyone out there who can say more than just this one time, I want to hear about it.  Please comment if you have a story.  So, enjoy "Yellow Robot Frog" brought to us by Milan Zeremski.

I don't write a whole lot about my personal life here because I try to keep it writing related.  My readers aren't personal friends from my life yet, haven't met my family, and right now, the only connection we have to each other is our interest in reading and writing sf/f.  The upcoming issue to too important to ignore though.  I've decided to share it so that others can know and possibly impart to others they know.  I doubt my readers would ever commit this transgression, but they may know someone who will.  No, it's not a criminal transgression, but it should be.

The set up:  My daughter is dating a young man whom Steve and I love.  No, he's not a perfect person, but if we were to choose for her, he'd be right on up there with the best of them.  He's hard working, responsible, honest, affectionate, and reminds me of a big, floppy, happy dog that any family would love to have around the house.  The fact that he's also adorable just adds to the lovely mix.  He hasn't had a lot of chances in life, including a grounded education.  He's actually very smart, but his early education was spotty at best.  He's a labored reader.  He can read and he does read for pleasure.  He's currently through book 9 or 10 of one of those epic fantasy series (not my taste, and I don't remember which one).  He's just rather slow at it, and his own grammar and spelling skills are horrible.  He's still young, and I figure a lot of these deficiencies can be improved still.

Point in case:  AnthologyBuilder is holding a writing contest which has a category for young authors, 18 and younger.  He's now 18, just at the edge of eligibility.  My daughter and he have written separate stories to enter into the contest.  I had encouraged both of them to enter and was thrilled when he said he'd love to write a story just to see if he could.  To this point, he said he'd never written anything longer than two pages.  They wrote them without help from me or each other.  I've read the first draft of both of them.  I was shocked when I read his story.  While, yes, it was hard sifting through his story due to the lack of paragraphs, punctuation and spelling, it was actually quite good.  It had a beginning, a middle, an end, generally good structure, detail and was 6 or 8K words long.  There was some characterization and flow.  It's not my usual choice of reading material - quest driven and violent - but for someone who reads that sort of story, they would probably enjoy it in its final form.

My problem, and it should be everyone's problem:  During this process, he mentioned that an English teacher that he and Erica had the year before last had told him that he'd never be a writer.  He made a 5 out of 6 on a county test that every student takes.  His teacher told him that she "knew" he had copied off of one of the girls in class and that she "knew" he'd never have been able to write what he turned in for the test.  She "knew" he'd never be a writer of any sort. 

The grading is usually done by a teacher, just not the student's teacher.  His grader obviously recognized the hidden structural skill he had to have displayed in order to get a 5.  This test is strictly an essay, and at this grade level (10th at the time), copying isn't a quick and easy fix for a cheater.  The goal in this test is to state a belief, support it, and then summarize your position...kind of a beginning, a middle, and an end thing.

I was horrified.  Not only did his teacher accuse of cheating without any proof, she told him what he'd never be able to do.  How dare she limit him to himself!  How dare she, as a self-proclaimed teacher, not encourage him and lift him up.  How dare she take a young person, attempt to kill his self image, and then stomp on any potential that he might have for writing.  And to top this travesty off, she won the high school's "Teacher of the Year" this past year.  Hmmmph.  At this point, there's really nothing to be done about it with her or the school, but how she's made it this far as a teacher is beyond me.

Erica typed the story up for him, and he's currently in the revision process.  I've given them some general pointers about story organization and what to look for in the revision process.  He is so proud of himself that he's actually written a completed short story.  Winning doesn't even matter to him.  Just the fact that he's done something someone in a position of authority told him he'd never be able to do is a point of pride for him, and it should be.  I will continue to encourage him to send it out if it doesn't place and to possibly start a new one.  His English skills will improve as he goes.  Storytelling isn't really about English skills.  Sure, they're important, but they aren't the story.

This story is done, so far.  I'll let you know how it all goes in the coming months from a judging perspective.

Most Americans I know recognize and appreciate the freedoms our previous and current military folks grant them.  And for the few that don't, for the few who feel it's no big deal that they don't wake up in occupied or warring territory, then I say hit the bricks on the other side of any border.  Our military forces rock!  They are comprised of everyday Americans who do extraordinary things.  They do them so that those they love can live in freedom.  I hope the photo below, "American Military" by Jami Garrison, reminds all Americans whom to thank...other Americans who have answered the call.

The photo below is "Earth Nebula" by Andrey Prokohorov.  It just hit me right and here it sits on my blog after purchase to share with you :).  I think I missed a week posting art, so shame on me.  I hope this will make up for it. 

I am a Cheater, Cheater, Pumpkin Eater Reader.  I should stand up, introduce myself, and admit it.  I frequently pop to the back two or three pages of a book and read it as I am somewhere in the middle of the book.  The climax is usually over by then, and the author is just tying things up in a lovely bow. 

Normally, I don't understand the last pages seeing as how I've missed at least half the book.  I'll read characters' names who haven't been introduced yet.  Usually, reading a book this way is more fun than not.  I get to guess as I go through the book what the ending was all about.  It's kind of like a little puzzle as I piece the ending clues together as the story unfolds.  Usually, this doesn't bite me in my considerably large butt.

Until now.  I've never paid as high a price for Cheater, Cheater Reading as I did on Bad Girls Burn Slow by Pam Ward.  It's not spec fic, so if you're not interested, here's your chance to bug out.  It's a mainstream suspense thriller with a lot of mystery thrown in.  It's one of the books that I'm jealous not to have written.

I have no idea as to how to go about a review, but I will say this:  Don't read the last two pages or the main twist of the whole book is ruined for you.  I may or may not have guessed the mystery/twist portion of the book.  Sometimes I'm paying attention to the details, and sometimes I'm not.  Knowing the twist of the book required me to pay attention to the details because, as they say, the devil's in the details.  If you're paying attention and thinking outside of the box, it'll be obvious, as it was to me at that point.

Now, I did enjoy knowing the twist as I could better appreciate the details that Ms. Ward threw in all over the place.  It gave me a much better sense of appreciation for the actual writing of the book.  If I was simply a reader and not an aspiring author, I would've been really pissed off at myself for ruining the end.  At least I have that.

I highly recommend Bad Girls Burn Slow, but don't read ahead.  The reward for your reading time is pretty much all tied up in the last few pages.

Not to get into the discussion about religion being fantasy, it is categorized as fantasy within the sf/f genre.  "Madonna della Salute" is the name of the photo by Gianluca Fabrizio.  The piece was originally gifted to the church in the late 1800s by an anonymous artist.  It's dedicated to Madonna of the Health who is the protector of the unhealthy.  I don't know how long it took the artist to create, but it had to take a while, a long while.  It is an amazing piece of art.

One of my stories made it to Round 3 which is the story pool at Andromeda Spaceways.  This is my first shot at the pool here, so we'll see if it gets chosen or not.  This short is a contemporary fantasy highlighting a young woman who has a little help finding the right man for her.

And one of my flashes is being held for "further consideration" at Abyss & Apex.  I've been rejected with good comments here, but never held for further consideration, so this is hopeful for me.  This story is a flash which I don't want to spoil for you since the concept is the highlight of the story, but it centers on the color yellow.

I don't want to get my hopes up too high, but that's just superstitious nonesense.  I think most people just don't want to be too disappointed if it doesn't work out.  I'm going to go ahead and be hopeful because that's a lot more fun.  I'll deal with the disappointment later.  I'm a big girl and can handle it.  There are other things in my life on which to spend my disappointment dollars.

In the meantime, yahoo!

Happy Tuesday to everyone, and to everyone a happy day!  It's been a productive day so far, and I'm hoping for a great afternoon.

Today's art piece is called "Cracked Skin" by Dundanim.  I find it interesting, and think it may be a good jumping off point to a story.

I have nine stories out for consideration now.  Yaaay!  It's a personal record for me.  I've got a few more stories I need to start, but I'm working through them right now.  I'll let you know how it goes.  Until then, enjoy.