A Good Read To Lean Upon

The dawn of a New Year--may it be a happy one for you!--is a good time to remind visitors that the main purpose of this blog is to advertise my literary efforts. I have self-published six books. Chief among them are the four volumes of the MERCENARIES series:

 I:  Storm Approaching

II: Gold and Glory

III: Resolution

IV: The Free Lands

The first three are a connected series; the fourth is a stand-alone, but should be read only after reading the first three.

How to sum them up? This blog contains excerpts and other information, but here is a poem about Volume One:

No magic swords or mighty rings,

No orphans who are really kings,
No elves or dwarfs or prophecies;
No ghouls or vampires, if you please.
A mercenary regiment,
Its men (and women), where it’s sent;
Its training, tactics, work, and play;
A growing threat (still far away);
That’s Storm Approaching. KIndly look
At this self-published, worthwhile book.

 There are also:

And Gladly Teach, a satirical novel about a fictional boarding school, and

Hodgepodge, a collection of humorous essays on many topics.

Why not try one (or two)? They’re really pretty good. J

There Is Nothing New Under The Sun

Reading Gibbon’s Decline and Fall, I found this about the Emperor Julian (361-363 AD): “... he could employ his hand to write, his ear to listen, and his voice to dictate; and pursue three separate trains of ideas without hesitation and without error.”  Who says that multitasking is something that came in with computers?? The Romans gave us that, too! :-)

Prescience?

The other day I used my credit card and the clerk presented me with a receipt on a tablet device. When I asked what to sign it with--expecting a stylus--I was told to use my finger. (I did; this is not productive of calligraphy or even legibility). Afterwards I reflected on one of the many famous lines from Fitzgerald’s rendition of Omar Khayyam: “The moving finger writes, and, having writ, moves on…”. About 150 years after he wrote it, this has now become literally true. Did the 19th-Century poet envision the touchpad?
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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! And remember, as you plan your reading for 2019, that my six books--details of which are available here--would provide you with many hours of delight. :-)