Have you ever sent a text to the wrong person?

We all have. When you did, was it funny? Calamitous? Let me know.

I didn't send a text to the wrong person last week, but I sent contact information that went through an interesting transmogrification. The recipient, we'll call her Marie, put the information into her phone under the wrong name. Later she told me that the person (Ike) wasn't answering her texts. She also mentioned a contact named Julie as if I knew her. When I told her I didn't know who Julie was, she insisted that I did, and that I had been texting Julie. Finally, through a series of texts to Ike and Julie, we discovered that Marie had entered the info for Ike into her contacts as an alternate number for Julie. When Marie thought she was corresponding with Julie, she had been texting with Ike. That actually sounds like it would make a good story setup -- which could get interesting when Marie and Julie decide to meet for lunch. I'll have to remember that.

Before I get to a couple short reviews of my own books, and my review of someone else's book, let me show you a picture of Lynx. My wife and daughter call her Cream, but I know Lynx is her true name. You can see why I sometimes refer to my home as Le Chateau du Chat Gris.

A couple brief reviews to share:

This was a review posted on Amazon for The Shrinking Zone:

 A dystopian tale for our time

Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2022

Over all a good read.

Gets preachy at spots, but not excessively so.

Sure to offend the enemies of liberty everywhere.

Now that's a concise and accurate review.

This was a review posted on goodreads for my novel Smoke:

This is a noir novel with quite possibly the snappiest dialog I have read recently. There are some plot twists but I mostly enjoyed the wit and humor of the protagonist.

Stanley Wheeler also writes another series in a different alt history genre. I need to read those books.

also he is an entertaining blogger and reviewer.

Thanks for the fun read, Stanley!

My thanks to the reviewer. I do enjoy writing dialog, and I found more pleasure in writing the conversation in Smoke than I have in any other book.

Book Review of Ark Royal by Christopher G. Nuttall

I acquired this for free -- which is still the price on Amazon. The book has almost 3,000 reviews there, so my few words are unlikely to do any harm. Ark Royal is a story of an aging and out of date space carrier, and Ted, her disgraced captain. The other prominent players are James, and Kurt. James has connections and expects to take Ted's command. Kurt is a reserve starfighter pilot. An alien invasion brings these characters together when Ark Royal comes out of space anchorage as humanity's last hope against the invaders.

I found the characters interesting and relatable. The captain was my favorite. He faces a string of difficult decisions, any one of which might be bring the ruin of humanity's hopes. Each of the characters has their flaws which may threaten the outcome of the dangerous mission. While the story moves slowly at times, there is plenty of action with exciting fleet battles and starfighter clashes.

Nuttall refuses to tell too much, but he does tell enough to craft an exciting story that kept me interested throughout the entire journey--which is why I read fiction. Although the book reaches a satisfying conclusion, not every thread is tied up. I have my suspicions about Barbie, but I suspect that I'll have to read more deeply into the series to discover if I'm correct.

If you like Sci-fi, you should enjoy Ark Royal.

Speaking of Sci-fi, I'm contemplating including a Star Trek minute in the newsletter. It would be a quote, or observation from the series that I would include in the newsletter. It would be something no longer, and probably shorter than the book review of Ark Royal. Give me your thoughts, a thumbs up or down on the idea.

Stanley