Paddy's Wanderings

Reviewing YOUNG JUNIUS

Three months ago, I got my copy of Young Junius and was thrilled. I could not wait to dig into it and explore that world. Alas, life gets in the way and one thing led to another and before I knew it, time slipped by. A new job will do that. ..sigh...

So my reading has taken a hit and it irritates me like you cannot imagine. Finally, I got to sit down and read Young Junius by Seth Harwood. Go to that link right there if you have not already and take a gander at that world. You will be amazed.

I am not a trained reviewer, just some schmuck who reads, a lot. I know what I like, and what I don't. I like this novel for many reasons. The pace is quick and sharp, just like the language. The characters are compelling and as a reader, you can really get into them. The story has a feel of 'you are there' to it.

What really does it for me? I finished the story and wanted more from that world. It is a story, a place, a time that sticks with you after you close the book. That makes it good in my opinion, very good. Unlike other stories that are forgettable, this story is not, by any means.

If you want to read more, go to the website link, see what Seth Harwood is all about, what he writes, what he does. You can even get the low down on the story line, listen to podcasts about Junius, even read the story itself. Then, if you're like me, you'll get pulled right in and get a copy and get lost in that world for awhile.

No spoilers here, take a taste before you buy. I have no doubt you will like it as much as I did.

 

Music+Video=Groovy

 

Ok kiddos, time to take a trip in the Wayback Machine. Back in the day, when the world was young, those of us who lived in cable purgatory and could not get MTV, had the next best thing, Friday Night Videos. Now dont get me wrong, I spent many an afternoon in the living rooms of my more fortunate friends abodes. Believe me, I soaked up a lot of music videos that way.

But you know, I couldnt move in and had to leave. So Friday night would roll around, there was a football game and then a dance, then if I put the hammer down in ye olde Firbird, I would make it home for the begining of Friday Night Videos, and it was pure cool.

I even watched when I was off in college cause I got a kick out of the show. Sure, I had MTV, but Friday night would roll around and I would fire up the tube and catch the show. Then I lost track of the show, even though it was on air after Letterman until 2000. Its too bad really, it was a cool show.

I stopped watching MTV and moved on to VH1 cause MTV forget it was a music video network somewhere along the way. Eventually VH1 became.. meh. Now there is Youtube, and its groovy. Tonight is a Friday Night Videos kinda night, which is cool. I gotta few I remember from way back when and I still like em. Enjoy..

 

 

 

 

Junk Drawer Jan 2011

Hey, after what seems like forever, I posted an actual pic of a junk drawer, currently existing within the ol' homestead. You would not want to see the computer file I have titled junk drawer, even I am loathe to go there unless I really need to find something. The junk drawer in my head may be even more scary, I don't know, I rarely visit it consciously. Stuff from there just pops out in conversation from time to time. I find it adds to the aura of strangeness.

But here in ye olde blog, it kind of wraps up the previous month and all that is going on in the world of wandering. A mish mash if you will, of what is going on. Sometimes it is funny, sometimes it is rather dull.

We had a good holiday, it was fun. The techno-tot got a pair of hockey sticks and a street ball and puck. That was the big, cool thing. So we have been shooting various and assorted pucks, balls, pieces of snow balls and anything else that comes in contact with the stick all over the drive and, on occasion, in the house. Well not the snow, but almost anything else.

So far, no stitches, but I did get a high stick to the jaw. It hurtbut I was okay. But the little guy? He got pretty upset and cried. Hopefully he will learn to control the stick a little better, but at five, he gets pretty excited and likes to do the big slap shot. I just have to be a little quicker!

On the job front, I completed training and am out doing the job. Going pretty good so far which is super cool. I know down the road there will be more training and more and more to do and that is exciting. All is well and that makes me pretty happy.

Been reading a lot, nothing new there. Not been writing much, but that is more to do with getting used to the new job and getting acclimated. I have done some, but no where near the pace I was on before. It is a great trade off though, the job is very important and the writing? Yeah.. that will comeback as I get used to the schedule and get a tad bit more comfratable at work. Then we'll rock it again. Past couple of weeks have been pretty good with that, so.. baby steps, baby steps.

All in all, a good month. This month should be even better. What more can anyone ask? Oh.. um yeah..

We have a metric buttload of zip discs floating around this house, why there was only one in that drawer is a minor miracle. I have words and pictures on a vast menagerie of media devices floating around the abode. Doesn't everyone?

Happy Wanderings

 

 

 

Carnac's Nose ~ AtFoD Excerpt

a small excerpt from After the Fall of Darkness...

At the top of a small hill in a clearing, Logar and Storm had stopped and seemed to be arguing. Even back toward the lands of home, they still sent scouts forward for safety. As the rest of the group approached, Storm and Logar fell silent. Krish could see a faint trail leading to a line of smoke to the north. Something they had missed as they passed by last night in the fading light. Krish turned to Carnac who was smiling, eyes closed and breathing deeply.

 

'What are you doing?' asked Krish.

 

'Can't you smell that?' asked Carnac, 'that is the smell of summer sausage cooking in the frying pan.'

 

'How can you can smell that?' asked Sam, 'that smoke must be a couple leagues away, at least.'

 

'Ahh good food is hard to come by,' said Carnac, 'and I could use some right about now.'

 

'Well if we would stop letting Krish cook for us, not only would our sense of smell return, but we may actually start to enjoy eating again,' said Storm.

 

'As if you are any better,' said Krish, punching Storm in the shoulder.

 

'And if you would stop before dark, I could gather more herbs and actually cook some decent food,' said Sam, 'but no, it's always hurry, catch up, stop dawdling from you men.'

 

'This doesn't get us anywhere or answers the question of who, or what is making that smoke,' said Calorn.

 

'That is exactly what I was trying to find out from Storm,' said Logar.

 

'You know about the smoke?' asked Krish.

 

'Not exactly,' said Storm,' I just noticed the path yesterday, thought maybe there might be something interesting down there.'

 

'I doubt there is much in the way of wine or women,' said Krish, 'you can get all the song you want here though.'

 

Raif snorted and danced over toward Storm, nudging him. Laughing, Sam pinned him from the other side and they all chuckled. With Storm it was always something. Not waiting for the rest of the group to stop playing around, Carnac started walking down the trail, following his nose. Krish waved them down the path, hoping it was indeed just an isolated farm and not another trap.

 

They needed to be on their way, it was a couple weeks of walking back and a side trip was not a very good idea with Elder Odae waiting. Then again, as they walked down the hill, Krish could smell cooking sausage and their supplies had been kinda slim the past few days. The little village shared what they could, but the travelers ate little, seeing how tough times had been for the people.

 

Leave it to Carnac to decide to go wandering off in search of food. He was not the biggest of men, rather short actually, that was why he went to study with the Druids. Carnac wasn't built for the life of a warrior, but he could eat like one, and there was no doubt he smelled fresh food cooking as they all could smell it now.

 

Sure enough, Carnac's nose led them to a small creek with a big farmhouse and stables. This place was one of the manor houses they had heard about but had never seen. The people that lived here were the type of people who had left the grove, and only attended to the village or Elders during ceremonies. This farmer was doing well and seemed safe enough, which raised the hair on the back of Krish's neck in warning.

 

'Hold my friends,' said Krish as they approached the treeline, 'We should announce ourselves before we enter the good man's property.'

 

'Speak quick, you are already on the master's property' said a voice from above,'Who is your master and what is your business?'

 

'I am my own master, a free person,' said Krish, holding out his hands, 'I am Krish from Clan Wenona and these folks are my companions.'

 

Storm rolled his eyes and edged back into the trees. Krish was sounding all important again and likely to get them killed. Logar and Raif slipped off to the right to get a better view. Krish and the rest just stood there, waiting. Storm shook his head and looked over at Vaughn, at least he seemed ready for a fight.

The Year That Was

Hey thats me enjoying summer!

So here is the year in review, and it was an even year, so a year of change. Allow me to explain. Every even year, for as long as I can remember, was a year of change for me. This year was no different as a lot of new stuff rolled out the door, much has changed.

I worked for two months in the old job, then spent eight months laid off, then the last two months I have been at the new job. This is a good thing. I dig the new job and it is a great opportunity, so I am very thankful for the change. I can't wait to hit the ground running in the new year and really hit it out of the park on the job front.

That is the the adorable Miss O!

We are very fortunate to have a new addition to the family. Miss Olivia is now five months old and the first grand baby. Now we can shop for girl stuff! After three boyos and ignoring the girl section of the toy store for years, a whole new world has opened up and we can double the fun of toy shopping. Does Barbie drive construction equipment? She will in this house.. we'll get her a hard hat and bulldozer and put her to work! This is a good change too.

The Techno-tot self portrait.

Our little guy turned the big five and is growing so fast. I got to spend a ton of time with him over the summer and that was a big bonus to being laid off. We had a ton of fun and although the transition to me being back at work has been kinda tough, we are just fine. We had a good year and did some cool stuff. This year, we can do even more and have a lot of fun being five.

The two older boys, being goofy and having fun!

Hard to imagine our little guys have grown up to men. Well.. they are still kiddos to me, but you know, when you hit your twenties, you really are not a boy anymore. Although.. they do have fun and can still make us all laugh. It seems some days that those twenty plus years have gone pretty fast. They grew up a lot this year, and that is good too.

Hey! I know this girl!

Better half in her teen years. Really though, she has not changed very much at all. Okay, well maybe the hair has changed, she does not sport the Farrah/80's hair anymore but really she looks the same. And noooo, I am not trying to score brownie points or anything. I just dont have a good recent photo and she will probably yell at me for putting this one in the blog, but I figured I was safe, it is her FB profile pic.. wish me well on this one.

A lot of change for us this year, but its good change. We got a lot of stuff brewing and we cant wait to tackle the new year. I might even be able to convince her to allow a new pic on the blog! But.. if I have learned anything, I do enough crazy stuff that sometimes I must just accept there is a limit to my crazy ideas and one can only do so much.. but I am persisitent.

I just dig this pic that my good friend Joe did for me, it rocks!

On the crazy writing front, I did a lot of cool stuff this year. I wrote for a few websites, got a poem and a short story in anthologies, published a few poems in online mags and did a ton of work on the blasted novel. I blogged a lot as well. All good, all good. Lots of change in there too, lots of firsts. I achieved a ton of goals on this front, all but one. I did want to finish the novel and start shopping it around and I have not finished yet. Oh it is close, I just need to devote some serious time to do the final rewrite and edit. That is a goal for this year, to have it done and see if I can get it published.

A lot of new stuff happened this year, and really, it was all good. I had a good year on many fronts, and the small set backs were and are, only temporary. So yeah.. it was a good year and I am thankful. Change is good. This year should be more of the same and I am looking forward to it.

Have a Happy, Wandering New Year