Monthly Archives: July 2017

New Books Out

Here are all four of my novels to date. The first three are newly published. All are available through the links under the BOOKS page on the header above, or by clicking on the book title image. Support typewriting – all of these were laboriously crafted on typewriters until my fingers were numb!

cover-art-brainwaves-kindle-july-231.jpg

BRAINWAVES: Neuroscientist Robert Frank decides to experiment on himself when he discovers a way to cross the blood-brain barrier.

MATES AND MEN—A TRILOGY

The Sexy Synesthete: a rare medical condition leads Miles on a quest to discover meaning in his charmed but unfulfilled life.

The Short Fuse: the odyssey of Jerry, a man of little ambition sucked into a deadly game for which he is woefully unprepared and even less willing.

The Lost Friend: the sage ends in a package of thrills that carry on right to the final page.

AN ENGINEER’S GUIDE TO PARIS

Heller, a soon to be graduate engineer, goes to Paris for a short holiday before school is to commence. When his best friend doesn’t show up as planned, Heller is forced to face the fact that his life has been on auto pilot, and he doesn’t like where it’s headed.

THE GAME OF HEARTS

The lives of two young couples are intertwined when on the night of a full moon Helen and Joan, strangers, arrive at hospital where each gives birth to a son.

 

Leave a comment

Filed under Books, NaNoWriMo, Typewriters, Writing

Typing Assignment #5

They say this is a cliche, but why is that? My friend Joe Van Cleave challenges you to prove otherwise in his series of typing videos, This is Joe’s Typing Assignment #5.

Leave a comment

Filed under Typewriters, Writing

Port on a Port Wine Table

Port on a port wine table
A bistro by any other name
Wouldn’t be half as sweet

Have another slug of Dow’s Late Vintage

How sweet it is with tea biscuits
Irresistible as they are I sample each
Some more than once – I can’t help it

This evening should last longer

The sun sets on time every night
Nothing can stop it or the seasons
Time passes irrevocably

We exist in the present moment

Every taste of port and biscuit
Can last for an eternity or an instant
Solely dependent on savouring the moment

Pass the bottle

Leave a comment

Filed under Philosophy, Poetry

Hail Ultraports!

IMGP9081

Now this thing has to be the lightest typewriter I’ve ever come across! It was made in England and sold at Eaton’s as a Playfair Feather Touch. The only metal I saw on it were a few screws, and every other part was plastic, including the type slugs, which have 3 characters each. This you could carry on a backpacking trip, if only it was likely to work. It did seem to work from my testing, but the tiny ribbon, about 1/4″ wide, was not inked enough and was all twisted, so that was an assumption. They were asking a ridiculous price for it too, so I let someone else have it.

This great generosity was well rewarded soon after when I picked up two real typewriters in succession, both very similar to each other and for a good price.

IMGP9766

First was this one:

IMGP9764

ROYALITE&U18001-001

IMGP9778

ROYALITE&U18002-001

4 Comments

Filed under Technology, Thrift shop finds, Typewriters

Understanding Literature Through Typing

I know, this has been done, but so what? I thought I would try it out. What I would really like is to get a grant to go to Venice and do it beside the Grande Canal, watching the occasional dead dog carcass float by. If anyone is interested I will frame my work for a reasonable sum.

Particulars:

typewriter: Royal Caravan (same name and brand as Bob used, but not strictly the same model, since I don’t own one of those)

subject: Like a Rolling Stone, by Bob Dylan NL (Nobel Laureate).

choice of subject matter: LARS has been voted to be the greatest song ever written, in the pop genre (modern era). Its author has been recognized for this too (see above).

IMGP6827-001

the machine:

IMGP6826

Leave a comment

Filed under ecstatic typing, Music, Typewriters

Canada 150

canada day 2017004 (2)

What a great day, and more to come later! Canoe rides, hot dogs, ice cream, music, old cars, frogs, typewriters… It all began last night at the thrift store with a rare typewriter.

IMG_0802-001

This is not one that gets much publicity in my experience, but wow, what a great machine! This is seriously up there with the modern hall of famers like the SM3, SC SS5, H3K, and what have you. I don’t know what to call it, any suggestions? TGE perhaps?

I even weighed it because it felt so light: 5kg, or exactly 11 lbs. The case is made of super thin cast aluminum or something, and the machine feels featherweight for one of its size. It has carriage shift, but it’s relatively light and speedy. The tab function is amazing, as it moves rather slowly, not with the usual sudden zip-thunk of most machines, even ultra good ones.

The platen is still soft! At first I thought it looked like one of the SM3 cases, but it’s made of lightweight plastic, and has a removable base plate. There were several minor issues; the whole innards were full of tiny white correction specks, which I brushed and vacuumed up for the most part. A soft round pointy paint brush did the trick. Then there was the poor paper feeding. I couldn’t see what was the matter, so I thought I’d fiddle with the platen to see how simple it was to remove and I could look at the pinch rolls. To my delight the platen comes off in 30 seconds flat, simply by unscrewing each end knob. Stuck to the surface of the pinch roll tray was the answer – an old sticky label that fell in there and adhered itself to some rolls. I cleaned it off and reassembled things to find that all works perfectly well again. Maybe some unfortunate PO had so much trouble with this they decided to give this away, but this is pure speculation. There are no repairmen left in this town though, so it’s strictly DIY here.

IMGP6715

More pictures below, after this poem and a frog.

IMGP6701

canada day 2017001

Here are a few more pics of the TW. I should mention the keyboard – I think it’s Dutch. But it is QWERTY! How lucky is that?

IMGP6718

1 Comment

Filed under Painting, Poetry, Sketching, Typewriters, Wildlife