Welcome to Saturday. It’s been a busy blogging week for me, and I am ready for a cold beer and a chance to score some bonus points. Linda G. Hill is going to help me with the latter via her Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt.
“Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is ‘product/produce.’ Use one, use them both, use them any way you’d like. Bonus points if you use both. Have fun!”
If we were having a beer, you’d come very close to insulting me. In fact, I think you did.
“Hi Dan. Things, back to normal yet?”
“Things? Normal? Well, I went to the firemen’s carnival for dinner on Thursday, that seemed like normal.”
“He’s having a Corona with a wedge of lime. That’s normal. What about you, David, John Howells’s Bourbon, snifter of seltzer and a glass of ice – a.k.a. normal for you.”
“No, that’s not what I meant. I mean, yes to the bourbon, Cheryl, but no to the normal. I wanted to know if your blog is back to normal.”
“If you mean a place for high quality entertainment, yes, it’s normal.”
“With all due respect to your own high opinion of your work product, Dan, I was referring to a week of endless posts arriving in my inbox. Are we going back to one a day anytime soon?”
“One a day and not every day. Yes, David, very soon. There are two more scheduled stops on the launch ride and then we’re done.”
“Two more? Today and tomorrow?”
“Nope, I’m taking, er, giving you the weekend off.”
“And kicking back with a beer. Here you go, Dan. And David, here’s your collection.”
“Awww, and three cherries. Thanks Cheryl.”
“Well, two are ‘normal’ and one’s for showing up at my blog this week.”
“I forgot where you were hiding your blog, Cheryl, until Dan pointed to it. I love your photos and videos.”
“Thanks.”
“Cheers Dan. Here’s to a successful launch tour and an excellent book.”
“Wait, you read my book, David?”
“Yes, and for all the grief I give you, I have to say, I enjoyed it.”
“Well, thank you.”
“There is one thing I’ve been meaning to ask, though.”
“And that would be?”
“Well, there’s a point where Abbie says: ‘I love how people your age always add the ‘transistor’ part to that description,’ in one of her interruptions – I love those scenes, by the way.”
“Yes, I remember that scene. What about it?”
“Well, that’s very similar to a remark Skippy made here last month. I was wondering if you borrowed that comment from him.”
“Whoa, David. Are you suggesting that Dan plagiarized a comment from Skippy? That kid can barely read the label on a wine bottle.”
“I wasn’t accusing him, Cheryl. It’s just that, well, it reminded me of Skippy.”
“David, I assure you, I produced that bit of dialog in the book long before Skippy said something similar.”
“You have to admit, it’s a coincidence, Dan. And we really only have your word for when you wrote it.”
“I can offer proof that I wrote it first. It’s circumstantial, but that works on Law and Order.”
“And what would your proof be, Dan?”
“When I wrote that section of the book, I had to research when transistors were actually invented. You know, to make sure my timeline was correct.”
“Sometime in the early sixties, I think. Am I right?”
“No, David. They were actually invented in the nineteen-forties.”
“How does that prove you didn’t steal the line from Skippy?”
“Because, once I found out it was in the nineteen-forties, I offered it as one of the three things for, ‘The Armadillo Files,’ Teagan Geneviene’s current serial story.”
“Isn’t her story set before or during World War Two?”
“Yes, well with Fang at the controls, it’s hard to tell where they might end up. It actually started later when Dilly first got tangled up with him in human-form. That, by the way, is my proof.”
“I don’t follow you, Dan.”
“I gave Teagan ‘charcoal grill, transistor radio, and root beer’ as my three things. Now, if I had given her three things when the story was in the time before that date, say in tenth century Bagdad, I wouldn’t have included the radio.”
“I believe him, David, except maybe for the root beer. I guess they didn’t have Corona back then. Which would you like now, Dan?”
“Corona, Cheryl.”
“That is compelling, albeit, as you say, circumstantial evidence, Dan. But how do I know it’s true. I mean, I’ve met Teagan here at the bar, but it’s not like I know her well enough to ask her to corroborate your alibi.”
“You don’t need to, David. It just so happens, ‘The Armadillo Files’ is back. Episode twenty-eight was published this morning, and Teagan used my three things in today’s adventure. You can read it for yourself.”
If you haven’t already been to Teagan’s blog, I urge you to head over there now. Her serial stories are wonderful, and this one is fast becoming a favorite of mine.
Next week, here in the US, we will be celebrating the 4th of July holiday. I thought it might be fun to invite Ritu Bhathal to join us from the UK. You know, now that our two countries have made nice with each other. I have some questions for Ritu about her writing. I hope you can join us.
All five of my current books are now available in audio book form thanks to Amazon KDP’s Virtual Voice process. The voice is AI generated, but I can honestly say, it’s pretty darn good. The audio books are reasonably priced (all below $7 US) and, if you already own the Kindle version and want to add an audio version, you can do that for $1.99. There is a five-minute sample on the book page for each book. If you’re interested, click on any of the Dreamer’s Alliance book links below the image or on the link below for my latest book.
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