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This week is favorite movie or book quotes.

The Lion in Winter: Geophrey to Eleanor concerning Henry. "We know. He knows. We know, he knows. He knows, we know he knows We know he knows we know. We're a knowledgeable family."

Henry to Eleanor: "You're like a democratic drawbridge. Going down for everyone."

Eleanor: "At my age there's not much traffic anymore."

Friendly Persuasion: Friend Purdy tells Jess Birdwell to pick up a gun and fight the rebels that are burning farms. Jess says he's not prepared to do that. Purdy tells Jess that war time calls for a change of thinking. Sam Jordan, who's not Quaker says: "Times may have changed Purdy, but you haven't. Last week you told my son he's going to hell for fighting. Now you're telling Jess he has to fight. Whatever's right for Purdy has to be right for everyone else."

Fifth Element: The police make a raid on an apartment complex. The police ask Corbin Dallas if he's human. He answers: "Negative. I'm a meat popsicle." 

Corbin Dallas is looking on the computer in Phloston Paradise. Cornelius asks what he's doing. Corbin says he's looking for Leeloo. Cornelius asks if Leeloo is in trouble. Dallas says: "When is Leeloo not in trouble."

King Lear: The king is told his bastard son wishes to speak with him. Lear says: "Why not, there was sport in his making."

TV show Moonlighting, episode Atomic Shakespeare. Patruchio tells Katarina, "Where there's a will..."

Katarina replies: "There's a won't."

Patruchio tells Katarina she's his property. Katarina replies: "Try to ploweth this acre and thy blade might get broken."

Romeo and Juliet: Romeo: "But soft, what light through window breaks? It is the moon and Juliet is the sun. Arise fair sun and quench the envious moon."

Juliet: "What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

Citizen Kane: Mrs. Kane at the breakfast table speaking to Kane: "What you said in your editorial yesterday, what will everyone think?"

Kane: "What I tell them to!"

Gone With the Wind: Rhet Butler to Scarlet: "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn."

Princess Bride. Wesley to Buttercup: "Life is pain. Anyone who says otherwise is selling something."

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Today's topic is books you'd want to see on a Netflix or movie.

Top of the list: Casca: The Eternal Mercenary.

There are now 50 books in the series started by Barry Sadler. This could keep a series going practically forever. Unlike Conan which is in the same time period and location. Casca is all over world history. From the Roman Empire to China, Middle East, Northern Europe, Russia, India, you name it Casca is there even Medieval Japan. He rides with Genghis Khan, on the Russian front in tanks, in Vietnam, at the Little Big Horn, with Napoleon in Russia... Get the idea.

Here's a great idea for a daytime drama (soap). Colleen McCullough's First Man in Rome series.

It starts around 150BC with the rise of Marius, goes through the civil wars between Marius and Sulla, covers the life of Julius Caesar from birth to his death, and the rise of Octavian and deaths of Anthony and Cleopatra.

As a daily soap opera it would be a refreshing change from the ones like Days of Our Lives that my wife watches. The history channel could make a killing off of it in advertising. Each book could take years and years before getting to the next one. It doesn't have to be done as fast as I Claudius. The success of I Claudius would indicate this is entirely feasible.

Books that would make good movies:

Book Review: Promise Me Tomorrow

 

Sarah H. Baker is a local author and fb friend. I'm always happy to read her books. Promise Me Tomorrow Book 1: The Prisoner, is a post apocalyptic romance. A kind of taming of a barbarian.

New Village is a struggling enclave on a plain near a forest. Kole is the protector and he's out with the children gathering fire wood when a group of outsiders come out of the forest riding Wolfhorses. A horse with a wolf face and large fangs. The first glimpse that this is an after a nuclear war world and there are mutated animals.

The village is attacked and much of their food is stolen. A number are dead and many injured. One of the raiders, a woman, was injured and left behind. The villagers want to kill her. Kole takes her to his house and has the village healer tend to her wounds, after he's tended to the villagers in need.

For most of the story Kole has to defend the woman from the villager's wrath while helping her fit into their society. He's a widower with two children and still mourning. This strange woman as she wears his dead wife's clothes brings up painful memories.

Shylah is puzzled by Kole tending to her and feeding her. She comes from a valley that is a dog eat dog society. The strong take what they want and use others to their own ends. As a woman she's been used by the strongest male, but has scars all over her body from fighting to eat. She thinks of the villagers as marks, the children as mutts, and she expects to become a slave.

She expects her people to return for her, but plans her escape.

Kole treats her with kindness and reassures her she won't be harmed. He even tells her when her wounds are healed she's free to leave. The problem is that the forest is lethal at night as wolves, wild boars, wild cats and bears feast at that time. Those who died in the raid aren't buried they were laid in the forest for the predators to consume. Kole lets her know she wouldn't survive one night.

Shylah had to learn some manners especially when eating, and it wasn't easy getting her to take a bath and put on women's clothing.

The rest of the story Kole and Shylah develop a respect and the budding of love is formed. He begins to teach her how to read and tells her of how the world used to be before "The Beginning."

 Kole takes her and a few others to visit the old city as they need more tools and weapons to defend New Village from another attack by the outsiders.

Old city turns out to be the ruins of Denver. They encounter the outsiders. Shylah is faced with the dilemma, does she go back to her old life or help Kole and New Villagers.

This is part one of a new series and it is excellently written and compelling. 

New Project

I've taken on a writing project. I kind of hit fork in the road with A Private Pain, so I'm putting it on a back burner for now. 

A friend of a friend has a couple of remembrances from an ancestor. She was the daughter of a Confederate soldier during the war. Her father was killed outside of Atlanta. The first essay was about growing up and her life before the war and how things changed when her father died and the aftermath of the war. The second essay is about her mother, brother, and sister and she leaving Mississippi for California in 1870 for California. She has a great description of what she's leaving behind, the train ride across the country and interesting people they met and what it was like trying to settle in Northern California.

The gentleman wants me to bring this woman's story to life. My mind is already thinking of numerous ways to approach this, with one small hitch. This family owned slaves. She's wrote these essays in the 1930's and I'm having trouble with her reference to the slaves as "darkies."

There's no way to tell their story from having a plantation with 50 slaves and a comfortable life to losing absolutely everything, then having to start from scratch thousands of miles away and not use the term. At the time it was the genteel way of referring to slaves, but some might take exception to it today.

This is only at the very beginning of the story and most of it is about their new life in California. 

Dear readers, any thoughts?

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Today's Challenge is: What I wanted to do, and what I do now.

At age 15 I surrendered to full time Christian Service. It was at a youth camp and I felt the call to be a missionary. My plans were set. I would go to a college then on to seminary. 

My senior year in high school I was state champion in the mile and it earned me a scholarship to Wayland Baptist College. I majored in History and English, but had 15 hours of religion classes. I knew I'd get most of what I needed at seminary.

My junior year at Wayland I blew my out my knee at the beginning of the track season and my scholarship was over for senior year. I was in love and at the end of the semester I married. Senior year we both worked and I had a light load to finish, she already graduated graduated as she was a year ahead of me. A fictionalized telling of my marriage and it's break up is told in this story.

After graduation we went to Fort Worth and seminary. She developed a chronic and life threatening illness and went home for medical treatment. I finished out the year, but went home to get a divorce. My dream of being a missionary was gone. The Southern Baptist Convention frowns on ministers and missionaries being divorced.

Anyone reading my erotic stories under the pen name Javan Tenebrae might be shocked at what I wanted to be.

Now for what I did. I returned home, got the divorce and found a new love. We've been married for forty-two years, have two children and three grand-children.

I attended UNM, Go Lobos, got my teaching certificate and taught for 27 years in History and English at middle school and high school.

I wrote Vander's Magic Carpet in the 80's on a 286 PC using Bankstreet Writer on 51/2 inch floppy discs. It was for a writing contest, which I didn't win. In the 90's I began writing Optimus: Praetorian Guard. It took ten years to finish. It took two years banging my head against the wall trying to find an agent and publisher. In 2006 I went with Print on Demand a sleezy company called Publish America. I did have two copies of my book within three months of contacting them, but in a few years I shelled a thousand dollars buying the books from them and selling them at book signings for a two dollar profit. After factoring in time, and rental space I was well in the hole. 

I wrote Human Sacrifices to strengthen my female characters.

At this point I retired. 

I've been retired now for 10+ years and spent six years as a legal assistant for an attorney. Actually a glorified gofer. I scanned documents, kept an eye on the office when he wasn't there, and delivered documents to the courthouses. It did give me an office and plenty of free time to write. I bought my printing rights to Optimus from PA and revived Vander's. Had to update it from the 80's and factor in the new security state since the Twin Towers fell and how hard it would be to sell a flying car today.

I turned Human Sacrifices into a novel and started publishing all my books on Smashwords and Amazon.

Once Amazon went to KDP, where you have to be exclusive I've e-published through them since 2011. The last time I checked my royalty status with them in that time I've earned $230. Most of that was before 2014. It was when everyone was buying e-readers and there weren't that many writing e-books. That changed when Amazon went with Unlimited. There's a huge glut on the market today, and it's hard for indy writers to get big time.

Recently I've been able to convert my e-books into paperbacks with Amazon. I set the price on the e-books, they set the price on the printing costs and I set the selling price with a substantial discount for the author, and free shipping. I can get five to ten copies of my books for under a hundred dollars. It's nice to have copies of my books on my shelves, but alas, Hastings has gone out of business where I did my books signings. And the places I can still have book signings are closed to the pandemic. This shall pass and I've got other books to write and revise the ones I have. It's good to be retired.

Click here to see my author's page at Amazon.

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Books I loved But Never Reviewed

 

James A. Michener:

Alaska

Texas

Centennial

Poland

Chesapeake

Hawaii

 

Harlan Ellison:

Deathbird Stories

The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World.

Pain God and other stories

Dangerous Visions

Again Dangerous Visions

The Glass Teat

Science Fiction:

Nine Tomorrows

Caves of Steel

I Robot and other robot book series

Foundation Trilogy and subsequent series

 History:

The Greeks a Glorious Adventure

The Roman Republic

The Roman Empire

The Egyptians

The Near East: Ten Thousand Years of History

Harold Robbins:

The Carpetbaggers

A Stone of Danny Fisher

The Betsy

The Adventurers

Goodbye Jennette

 Anne McCaffrey:

Dragon Riders of Pern series

Harper Hall of Pern series

Crystal Line series

Ship Who Sang series

Collen McCullough:

The Thorn Birds

First Man in Rome series

All my books.

 Here are all my e-books now available on Amazon. Click here for my author's page.

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Today's challenge is: your favorite tropes in X genre.

My genre is science fiction.

The tropes that make Star Trek, Star Wars and other space exploration stories possible are:

Warp speed, or faster than light travel

Phaser beams, disrupters and other cool weapons

Teleportation

Cryogenics or stasis for long voyages without a person aging.

Different forms of alien beings

Time or travel portals: star gates

Flying cars

Force fields

Galactic empires

Advances in medicine

My book Vander's Magic Carpet is about marketing the first flying car. See review.

My current book serialized on this blog in previous posts, A Private Pain, uses stasis and light speed ships for hundred year voyages to set up a transportation portal for exploitation of solar systems by corporations.

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Today's topic is books with colors in the title.

Pathfinder of the Seas: Matthew Fontaine Maury

Since I married my wife, whose maiden name is Maury, I've known about the most famous person in their family tree. At a used book store I bought a biography of his and discovered just what an amazing man Matthew Fontaine Maury was. 

My father-in-law was not in the direct line of MFM. They share a common ancestor Rev. James Maury.

I've always thought about doing a fictionalized history on him to bring him to life. Then I checked Wikipedia, which I do occasionally to see if there's anything new about him. I came across this.

Numerous historical markers commemorate Maury throughout the South, including those in Richmond, Virginia, Fletcher, North Carolina, Franklin, Tennessee, and several in Chancellorsville, Virginia.

On July 2, 2020, the mayor of Richmond ordered the removal of a statue of Maury erected in 1929 on Richmond's Monument Avenue. The mayor used his emergency powers to bypass a state-mandated review process, calling the statue a "severe, immediate and growing threat to public safety."^]

I know since George Floyd was murdered and the BLM protests started that many Confederate statues have been torn down. In New Mexico monuments to the Conquistadors have been removed. 

I agree with ending the glorification of generals and politicians who are only known for their treason. Not too sure about disparaging the Hispanic history of New Mexico, which make up 60% of our population, to appease the Native American Pueblos. Explorers and conquerors are seldom kind and gentle.

Matthew Fontaine Maury is another story. His place in history has nothing to do with slavery or the Confederacy. He was one of the giants of 19th century science. Perhaps one of the greatest scientific minds ever. 

He was nicknamed "Pathfinder of the Seas" and "Father of Modern Oceanography and Naval Meteorology" and later, "Scientist of the Seas" for his extensive works in his books.

Riddle me this: How could someone who first charted the ocean currents that made sailing safer and faster in the 1800's be a severe, immediate and growing threat to the public?

How could the man who headed the endeavor to lay the first transatlantic telegraph cable from the U. S. to Europe, be a severe, immediate and growing threat to the public?

He never owned a slave or condoned slavery, he advocated sending all the slaves in Virginia to Brazil in order to shift the economy away from this practice. It was a futile attempt, but it shows he was against the practice.

He stayed faithful to his southern roots and resigned his commission and joined the Confederate navy. The only problem was, there wasn't a Confederate navy. He spent most of the war in England lobbying, unsuccessfully, for the UK to side with the south.

The only strike against him is before leaving for England he invented something still in use today. He called it the Electric Torpedo, we know it as the naval mine.

Farragut's famous quote: "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead." Was in reference to them.

The majority of the union navy ships damaged and sunk were from those torpedoes.

Is that enough reason to consider such a great mind and the accomplishments he made in his lifetime for his statue to be considered a severe, immediate and growing threat to the public?

The same reasoning could be applied to Albert Einstein for the atomic bomb, Werner Von Braun for his V2 rockets which caused American casualties in WW2.

Click on the link and read what Wikipedia says about his accomplishments and then decide if he's a war criminal or a truly great American hero worthy of our respect.