The fun never ends

Did I ask to be born in the middle fo a highly unstable timeline?
Well, did I?

Okay, those of you who believe we choose our time and place of birth can zip it. I don’t want to hear it. I’m not objecting to it on the basis of its not being part of my religion. I’m objecting to it because I don’t think I’d be that much of a sap.

Oh, look, times of change are exciting too, of course. And scary as heck, because we never know how things will turn out.

And change processes very slow through the human culture. In many ways you could say we’re still processing the agricultural revolution. At some level, at least. Take the way communism is very attractive to the irrational part of the human brain. That is because in hunter gathering societies share and share alike is essential. First, because, of course, there was no refrigeration, and if you brought down a mammoth (or any large game) there was enough for everyone to eat, and in fact you’d need all stomachs on deck before the meat went bad. In the same way, sharing your hung with your neighbors meant that only one neighbor needed to get lucky when the tribe was out of meat. Also, honestly, in very small communities, what is available is relatively limited, and therefore hoarding is bad.

Now, of course that was completely broken by the agricultural revolution, which gave people food that was storable either in the form of livestock and the products thereof, or grain, or– whatever. And suddenly hard work paid, saving for hard times paid, and while we might teach about charity (and in an early agricultural there was a lot of need of charity) the notion that those who worked and made the right decisions should be rewarded started to take hold.

And of course, in our world — a direct descendant from the agricultural revolution — working and provident thinking also pays. And should pay. Because it is work and private property and provident thinking that gave us a world so prosperous that our homeless and “hungry” are not actually in danger of death from starvation or exposure and, to a great extent, choose to be homeless or live off charity. But the back brain doesn’t know that.

Here’s the thing, though: since the industrial revolution, we’ve been on an accelerated “revolution.” I’ll leave it to historians to determine whether what we’re going to is the completion of the industrial revolution. Sure, call it a digital revolution. Call it a purple dinosaur. But in the end, it’s part of the industrial revolution started with automation and steam.

BUT — as with knowledge that builds end on end, and …. things get faster.

Mind you, I’m grateful — very — for things like GPS because I have what’s known as “sense of direction issues.” I’m grateful for computers. I’m grateful that the typewriter my parents gave me at 14 isn’t in fact the tool I use to earn a living.

And I’m grateful beyond measure for Indie publishing.*

But it has drawbacks. One of the drawbacks is that back when the world didn’t change that fast, say 100 years ago, you could learn your trade, get really good at it, get used to “the way things worked” and by middle age be more or less set in your way, and able to work in a rut, with predictable rewards.

Okay, so middle age was more like your forties, not your late fifties. And the rewards were predictable, but also limited.

Looks skyward: But did 2021 need to really take what 2020 did and take it to the next level?

Okay, yes, this hissy fit is in fact because Bezos has stepped down and Amazon and handed it over to the guy who managed web services.

Which means….

Which means that I don’t know. We always knew that Amazon was not particularly reliable, not at this stage of the game. And we are working on alternatives: a lot of alternatives. But those take time.

So, we hold our breath and pray that this thing holds until we have alternatives.
And we work, hard.

What else is new?

If Heinlein was right about the most important part of staying young being having new experiences and learning new things? We’re gonna live forever.

*And in indie…
I’m putting up the books that reverted at the end of last year, starting with the shifter series:

Draw One In The Dark

Something or someone is killing shape shifters in the small mountain town of Goldport, Colorado.
Kyrie Smith, a server at a local diner, is the last person to solve the mystery. Except of course for the fact that she changes into a panther and that her co-worker, Tom Ormson, who changes into a dragon, thinks he might have killed someone.
Add in a policeman who shape-shifts into a lion, a father who is suffering from remorse about how he raised his son, and a triad of dragon shape shifters on the trail of a magical object known as The Pearl of Heaven and the adventure is bound to get very exciting indeed.
Solving the crime is difficult enough, but so is — for our characters — trusting someone with secrets long-held.

Gentleman Takes A Chance

Family! Can’t live with them and can’t eat them.
Tom Ormson, owner — with his girlfriend — of The George, a diner in downtown Goldport, Colorado is well on his way to becoming a responsible and respectable adult, despite his rough start and the fact that he turns into a dragon.
But then the unpredictable Colorado weather, the ancient leader of a dragon triad and an even more ancient shifter-enforcer combine to destroy his home, put his diner at risk and attempt to kill him.
All this, of course, has to happen while Tom’s friend, Rafiel, is trying to solve a series of murders-by-shark at the city aquarium, and Tom’s newly-reconciled father is attempting to move to Denver.
Fasten your seat belts, a wild ride is about to begin.

Noah’s Boy

Tom Ormson and Kyrie Smith are suffering the growing pains of young romance and young business people. Tom worries obsessively about the new fryer in the diner exploding.
As though he didn’t have enough on his mind, though, life decides it’s time for a sabretooth with vengeance on her mind to come to town, and for the Great Sky Dragon to try to arrange a marriage for Tom.
Meanwhile, out at the old amusement park, the one with the really good wooden roller-coaster, a series of bizarre murders is taking place.
And, as if that were not enough, Conan Lung, dragon shifter, ex-triad member and waiter extraordinaire starts his country singing career with an original song “If I Could Fly to You.”
When Kyrie is kidnapped, it’s all Tom can do to make sure he protects her while not eating anyone.

And yes, I will finish Bowl of Red and All Hot to put out before Summer.

If it’s not obvious my schedule is suddenly very full, which is a GOOD thing. It gives me less time to read the news….