Genius, like gold and precious stones,

is chiefly prized because of its rarity.

Geniuses are people who dash off weird, wild,

incomprehensible poems with astonishing facility,

and get booming drunk and sleep in the gutter.

--from "Genius" by Mark Twain.

Speaking of genius, I've mastered the weird, wild and incomprehensible. My writing time has been devoted to getting information together for the boys adventure book and editing a novel I'll be submitting for something special. I do have a dime detective story that begging to get finished, but I'm trying to keep two irons hot and can't do justice to a third at the moment.

I visited the DMV today to renew drivers license. With all the fancy upgrades they've made, I had to bring a passport and the old DL as well as a bill or insurance statement AND a paystub showing my current residence. I thought my insurance card had my current address. I was mistaken. Instead of using that--which I hadn't looked at until I was handing it to the kind and helpful lady who was the exact opposite of the DMV worker stereotype--I had to run upstairs to my office to get online to get a gas bill and print it out. However, there were complications. Once I got online, I typed the password I had recorded. It. Didn't. Work. Then I had to go through the process of setting up a new password (the same one I had tried to use). That only took about three emails with a new code each time. Then, after that was set up, the gas co sent a verification email with another code. I really miss the days when I just put in a password and the pages opened up for me without all the emailing and texting back and forth to prove it's really me. I can't open my work computer at all without a magical code confirmed by my phone every time. It drives me batty--or at least exacerbates the pre-existing condition.

Enough rant. I'm nearly done with Tarzan the Terrible. It hits all the usual ERB tropes and complicates the story with more time than expected for Jane and a WWI German officer who's pursuing her. There's also another mysterious character. I'm pretty sure I know who he is, and imagine he'll become important in the final chapters.

I'm halfway through Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun, which is where the history bite below is from. I picked up The Anglo-Saxons by Marc Morris. It's a history of England from 400 to 1066. (And I'm wondering if maybe I've already read it).

While I do recommend all my books and stories, let me give a special recommendation to "A Stardust Memory" which can be found here, among many other good stories.

No new music purchases, but I did enjoy listening to the Styx album Pieces of Eight. I have had a couple of Styx albums since high school, but Pieces wasn't one of them.

In movies, I recently completed Un Mariage Sans Fin, and also just finished Six Days in August. The former is similar to Groundhog Day. The latter is about Brigham Young and the death of Joseph Smith. I enjoyed them both. Six Days had some touching lines and moments for me.

History Bite:

Hernando de Soto persuaded his men to move farther into the interior by reading a false letter from Gallegos of the promise of good fortune ahead. De Soto headed east from Tampa Bay with 320 people and herd of pigs. A vanguard of horsemen and a few footmen went ahead to clear the way. The immediate goal was a large village called Urriparacoxi. The chief of that place hid in the swamp and refused to come meet with the Spaniards. De Soto traveled on from the derelict town. Eventually, after some skirmishes with Indians, on July 26, he came to the Swamp of Ocale, where they crossed the Withlacooche River--the poor location for the crossing may have been because the Indian guide intentionally led them into an ambush. As the Spaniards made their way through the swamp, parties of Indians rushed from cover to fire arrows and then vanished back into the swamp. De Soto did capture a few and had them lead him. They led him into difficult crossings and more ambushes. In order to encourage better performance from the others, De Soto had four of the guides thrown to the dogs. It had the intended effect, and one of the guides led him to a better trail.

Don't miss these freebies and bargains:

The Not So Chosen - unusual heroes in scifi and fantasy

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