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Author Michael Craft’s ‘Inside Dumont: A Novel in Stories’ Now An Audiobook
Are you listening? Author, craftsman and master storyteller Michael Craft has just released his latest novel, Inside Dumont: A Novel in Stories, on audiobook.Narrated by the author, Inside Dumont: A Novel in Stories uses interconnected viewpoints to tell a touching, funny, intricate narrative about lead character Marson Miles’s later-life journey toward discovery—of himself, his desires, and his place in a town called Dumont.
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By the Light of the Fake Fire
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Lee Lynch’s Amazon Trail: Zipline Vegas
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Photo by Sue Hardesty Guest Column
Lee Lynch’s Amazon Trail: Zipline VegasIn the end, it’s all about ego. I’ll do almost anything, apparently, to protect my ego from being bruised.
She’s going on a zipline in Las Vegas. That’s what my sweetheart announced this morning. It gets worse. She said the zipline goes over city streets and buildings—and here I was envisioning a sweet pastoral zip across raging river rapids and sharp rocks. Now I only have to worry about her colliding with concrete, metal, and glass. Head first. Seems you have options; she plans zip to belly down, like a diving bird, a Peregrine falcon perhaps, which can reach speeds up to 200 mph.
She concocted this scheme with our friend Heather, who lives in Vegas and knows all the cool things to do. I have a feeling this trip will be a lot different than the one I took to the Lambda Literary Conference back in the early 1990s.
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It’s Back! The Live Mic Podcast Returns, with Guest Dave Hughes of RetireFabulously.com
“Watch out! It’s a live mic!”
You know it’s a new year, right? 2018 is already off to a great start. I’m living in our house in the New Jersey woods, loving life, and making plans. One of them is to get back to a favorite pastime: interviewing interesting people. I’ve been doing it for years, both written interviews and in podcasts. I just like talking to people, and sharing them with readers and listeners. So, here we go, the first Live Mic with Mark McNease podcast for a year that promises to be fascinating.
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January Subscriber Exclusive: Complimentary Copy of Jean Ryan’s ‘Lovers and Loners: Stories’
Coming soon in the January newsletter: I’m excited to be offering subscribers a complimentary copy of author Jean Ryan’s stellar short story collection, Lovers and Loners. Jean is a master storyteller and among the authors I feel privileged to know. She makes the extremely difficult seem effortless. It’s the kind of writing in which you just know every word was the perfect word, the only word that could have been chosen. She’s that good.Said Publishers Weekly of her previous collection, Survival Skills: “Ryan controls devastating psychological material with tight prose, quick scene changes, and a scientist’s observant eye.”
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Book Review: Robicheaux, by James Lee Burke
By Terri Schlichemeyer
The Bookworm“Robicheaux” by James Lee Burke
c.2018, Simon & Schuster
$27.99 / $36.99 Canada 449 pagesYou don’t want to talk about it.
You’ve been through rough times, had a few problems, but that’s all in the past. Today’s a new day, a new beginning and besides, as in the new book “Robicheaux” by James Lee Burke, what happened yesterday could get someone killed.
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6 Questions for Author Jean Ryan
By Mark McNeaseThis interview originally appeared at LGBTSR.org, February, 2015
I’ve recently had the pleasure of getting to know Jean Ryan, a gifted writer and generous spirit whose story, Manatee Gardens, opens the collection Outer Voices Inner Lives. Jean has since kept up a correspondence with me and had several of her blog posts featured here at lgbtSr. Her collection, Survival Skills (Ashland Creek Press) is available for anyone interested in superb writing and stories with deep insight into the human experience. I couldn’t think of anyone better for a 6 Questions feature. – Mark/Editor
MM: It’s been really good to get to know you more since we “met” through the Outer Voices Inner Lives collection. Can you tell readers a little about Jean Ryan? Native Vermonter, now in Napa, CA …
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A Dog’s Life
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One Thing or Another: Still Life with Benefits
It’s always One Thing or Another … a lighthearted look at aging, life, and the absurdities of it all. By Mark McNease
I read once that the most revolutionary thing we can do is slow down … And now, in the woods, with darkness and animals just on the other side of the wall, I am doing that: slowing down. It is revolutionary. It changes and transforms.
It’s that time of year when custom encourages us to take a look back over the past twelve months and contemplate what we’ve been through. It’s always a lot. Have you ever reached the end of a year when there weren’t events of great significance? January begins with hope and December ends with surrender—that’s the annual passage we take again and again until the journey ends. Some of us lose loved ones, some of us change jobs, some of us find joy above and beyond simply waking up each morning slightly amazed we’re still here. I don’t know about you, but that’s really how I feel most days when I find myself conscious once more: what in the world is this? How did I come to be, and how am I able to ask that question? It’s as miraculous as anything will ever be.
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Dave Hughes of RetireFabulously.com Releases ‘Smooth Sailing into Retirement’
I’ve been singing Dave Hughes’s praises for several years now. His columns on retirement at RetireFabulously.com have been incredibly helpful and I can’t recommend them enough. Whether you’re retired, single, coupled, or planning this most enjoyable phase of your life, Dave has the experience and guidance that can help you navigate this sometimes stormy sea. Oh, and you’ll notice it was edited by yours truly! An honor and a privilege.About ‘Smooth Sailing Into Retirement: How to Navigate the Transition from Work to Leisure’:
Smooth Sailing into Retirement will guide you from your last few months of work through your first year of retirement. It identifies the many ways your life will change and prepares you for the emotions you may experience along the way. At each step, you will receive strategies for dealing with these changes.
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‘The Cat in the Window’ Short Story Now on Amazon for .99 Cents
“… truly excellent — New Yorker-worthy, one might say. It was a perfect little Sunday-morning read.”– Michael Craft, author of Inside Dumont and The Mark Manning Mysteries
I recently gave a complimentary copy of my short story, The Cat in the Window, to email subscribers as a ‘thank you.’ Now it’s available to anyone with just a click and .99 cents.
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Book Review: We’re Going to Need More Wine, by Gabrielle Union
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm“We’re Going to Need More Wine” by Gabrielle Union
c.2017, Dey St.
$26.99 / $33.50 Canada 263 pagesHere’s to us.
A toast to our years together, our friendships, things we’ve done and laughs we’ve had. Here’s to us – together forever. We need to do this more often. We need to stay in touch. As author Gabrielle Union says, “We’re Going to Need More Wine.”
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Me and Santa and a Wayward Elf
