Dan Antion

The Signpost Up Ahead – SoCS

There’s an exit door in the background, but I remember when I was learning to drive and having to identify signs like this by their shape.
Modelo draft
The sign has recently been repainted and the insignias replaced with bright new versions.

It Saturday, and it’s uncommonly warm here in Connecticut. We will break 70°f (21°c) today and tomorrow. We could be working on those fallen leaves well into the last hour of sunlight. That would be productive, especially since tomorrow, that last hour of sunlight will occur earlier. That’s OK, at least I won’t be walking in the dark every morning. Instead of all that work, I’m at the bar with David. We’re going to relax, and I’m going to try and meet the challenge Linda G. Hill gave us with her Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt,

“Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is ‘your favorite word.’ Decide on your favorite word and use it in your post any way you’d like. Enjoy!”

You might recognize the title from one of the introductions to The Twilight Zone. Apparently, Rod Serling never actually said “imagine if you will,” but ‘imagine’ is my favorite word.

If we were having a beer, you’d be trying to imagine something about me.

“Cheryl, give my young friend one of his favorite beers, that is unless you’re ignoring him.”

“Why would I ignore him, David?”

“Well, he was cheating on you.”

“You went to another bar, Dan?”

“I did, Cheryl. It wasn’t my choice; I was meeting a friend at his favorite place.”

“That’s fine. I’ll allow that. I’ll bring you a cold Modello and what about you, David?”

“I’m back with John Howell’s Bourbon this week, Cheryl.”

“I’ll be right back with those drinks.”

“So, Dan, what were you doing in Granby?”

“I think I covered that on Thursday, David. I was meeting with a friend.”

“Yeah, yeah, I can read. But you didn’t say what friend and you didn’t say what your meeting was about.”

“Here you go guys. One beer, one bourbon, seltzer in a snifter, ice-on-the-side combo. Now Dan, what were you doing in Granby?”

“I’m afraid I can’t reveal those details. I’ll have to leave that to your imagination.”

“Cheers, Dan. You say that as if I’m the guy creating characters that tour the world in their dreams and look into the future. My imagination brings me to a dead end, Dan and that dead end is in Granby, Connecticut.”

“Then you will have to wait, David.”

“Wait? How long?”

“About thirty days, and perhaps six or seven months.”

“I don’t know about my imagination, but my confusion quota for the day has been satisfied.”

“I was meeting with an expert.”

“An expert? On what subject?”

“On two subjects.”

“Would you care to elaborate?”

“Sorry. I can’t.”

“Are these subjects pertinent to your book?”

“Yes. One subject relates to a scene in the book that is being released at the end of this month. The other is relevant to a book that might be released in May or June.”

“I can understand not wanting to reveal spoilers for a book that’s due out in a few weeks, but what makes you think I’d remember something from today in May or June?”

“Knowing what might happen in May, might help you imagine what will happen later this month.”

“Again, my imagination is barely idling. Confusion is close to the red line.”

“Sorry.”

“What’s the title of the book coming out later this month?”

“When Evil Chooses You.”

“A sequel to ‘The Evil You Choose’ I suppose.”

“Correct.”

“What’s the title of next year’s book?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you have a ‘working title’?”

“I do.”

“And that would be…?”

“Book Four.”

“Cheryl, could we get another round. Maybe a little more alcohol will help Dan be more forthcoming.”

“I’m sorry, David. Book Four is still nebulous.”

“Is it part of the Dreamer’s Alliance series?”

“It’s too early to tell.”

“OK, then, tell me about ‘When Evil Chooses You’.”

“Have you finished ‘The Evil You Choose’?”

“Not quite.”

“Then I won’t introduce ideas that might spoil that. I’ll talk about the next book, but in a post you can choose to ignore.”

“I can’t imagine why you’re messing with me, Dan.”

“It’s quite simple, David. The three books are part of a series. They took me two and a half years to write, but I will have released them in a span of nine months. People will likely take longer to read them. I don’t want to ruin that experience.”

“You’d rather ruin my bourbon?”

“Your second bourbon, and you appear to be enjoying it.”

This little flower decided, since it was going to be 70°f (21°c), it might as well bloom
I would have used Smokey for Cee’s “animals unaware” on Monday but he seems aware.
These leaves have just turned this week
The birds are holding a meeting in the penthouse
No one to complain :(
Our Burning Bush has also started to turn bright red
One last chance to spread its seeds
We aren’t usually in the take0ff pattern
One last week of walking in the dark
Auto-focus on the plane
Auto-focus picked the tree this time
As the leaves fall away, you can see where the squirrels are living
Still a mix of color, but there isn’t much green left
The sun has moved as I looped through the park
Morning light
Rise and shine, Old Glory


If you like magical realism with suspense, action and a bit of family sarcasm, you will enjoy these books:

Knuckleheads
The Evil You Choose
When Evil Chooses You

Series page on Amazon

My profile page (and books) on Lulu

All available on Kindle Unlimited!

69 comments

  1. Dan I think you have David’s brain tied up in knots!! I am really looking forward to book three…When Evil Chooses You! Also excited about book four too!
    I also love the photos of light colour and sky. Say high to Cheryl and David from me. Have a good week.💜💗

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  2. “My imagination is barely idling. Confusion is close to the red line.” That was my laugh-out-loud. The back-and-forth between you and David, this amalgam of your friends, is so the way between people who know each other well. I think writers do well to keep things to themselves until they’re ready to carve it in stone. Oddly warm here, too. Definitely plants are confused.

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    • One of my real friends did comment that he didn’t want to know anything about the third book because he is just starting the second one. It’s a dilemma, but I’m sure I’ll figure some way around it. I imagine a large number of disclaimers in my future.

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    • Big sigh, for sure, Judy. So many ordinary things remind us of her. I will be enjoying the warm weather for a couple days. I might squeeze in a few jobs I thought I had run out of time for. Have a good weekend.

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  5. Awwww, Maddie’s deck with those leaf bags brought tears to my eyes. I know she told Murphy from up in Critter Heaven, “See what I had to put up with?”

    I just love that feisty little flower with the sun doing its darndest to shine on it.

    That sole dandelion is probably laughing…”I’ll be back next year with more of me!”

    Beautiful shot of Old Glory with the sun trying to catch up with her.

    Enjoy the wonderful weather this weekend Dan. In the not too distant future I won’t be using the word “wonderful” with the word “weather”!

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    • I feel her tapping her front paws at the sight of those leaf bags, Ginger. (You can’t hide behind Anonymous). We feel her absence more than any dog that we had.

      The flower and the dandelion are both shaking their fist at the calendar. They’ll both be back in five or six months.

      I know this warm spell is a tease, but I’m going to take advantage of it. I hope you have a great weekend.

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  6. Oh how you made me laugh first thing this morning, Dan. What a way to start my day!! Thank you! As for your gallery I see that you have a lot of color left like we do. I’ve never seen such a gorgeous November much less leaves still on some trees AND color still plenty. Warm? We almost hit 80 here yesterday! I actually got sun burned a few days back …. that sun is not only hot, but big and …. it is setting in the South-west. Very strange if you ask me and since imagination has been touched upon in this post, mine has been full blown wondering what is going on? I’ll take this weather, thank you very much! And as for the sun and it’s odd position in the sky, I’m keeping my eye on that too. Have a truly wonderful weekend! Congratulations on the books. I wish you much success!!!

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    • Thanks Amy. We will take the weather we get and try to keep our sense of humor. It does get hot out there. Hat, sunglasses and maybe shorts are in order. I’m not sure I remember ever raking leaves in shorts. Have a great weekend.

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  8. You kept me going there, Dan. I almost thought you were going to give David a hint, but you do hold to your plan, don’t you? haha I think you would have made a good spy.

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    • Thanks GP. In many ways, my main character is a spy. The sequel does include several spoilers for the second book. I’m going to be careful how I promote it. I know there are people who want to read it. There are people who’ve said they’re waiting for the third book to drop before beginning the series. I need to market the darn thing, but I don’t want to ruin the experience. . Beyond the blurb, I might be quiet about details.

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  9. So many smiles in this post–Smokey in the tree looks like a bunny’s nose… the beauty of the railroad sign in half-light, the number of leaves on the ground, just a beautiful life. Thank you!

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  10. I’m not sure if I have a favorite word. Interesting concept though. I’m going to think about it.

    “I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things I’m afraid of.” —Joss Whedon

    J Lenni Dorner (he/him 👨🏽 or 🧑🏽 they/them) ~ Reference& Speculative Fiction Author, OperationAwesome6 Debut Author Interviewer, and Co-host of the #AtoZchallenge

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    • Your imagination can take you anywhere. Santa Claus said it in Miracle on 34th Street, and Mr. Rogers said it often. Or, perhaps he didn’t but I just think he did (like the Rod Serling thing). I hope you have a nice weekend.

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  13. Okay, could you be any more cryptic, Dan? 🙄😂Poor David. I see you’ve been have my go-to brew more and more these days. I love Modelo but the dark is my favorite. You rarely find that on draft though. Sorry about DST. We have none of that down here in Central America. They don’t call it Paradise for nothing. 😉 i love the train shot. Reminds me of the train museum we visited in Savannah. There are record warm temps over in Nebraska right now too. As long as the poor trees don’t get tricked into sprouting new leaves you have only so much longer to rake. 🙂

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  15. Kudos to David for trying to ply information from you. He does make me laugh.
    The photos with the sun shining directly at you are so pretty. Is that called ‘flare’? Whatever it is, I like it.
    Sweet Maddie. I heard her comments about those bags on her porch and had to smile. It hurts to love so much.

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    • I heard her, too, when I put the bags there, Lois. I miss her so much. We never had a dog that loved to just sit and watch the world go by. I’m not sure if that’s lens flare or not, but I do like the effect.

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  17. Dan, I told you early on that there were more stories in you. I’m glad you are working on another one.
    I guess my favorite word might be “discombobulated.” A favorite since childhood when I sat in the living room floor watching an old “Tammy” movie (she used the word). LOL, and appropriate since I often feel discombobulated!
    Good luck with the writing. Hugs on the wing.

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    • I’ll find these stories, eventually, Teagan. I appreciate your confidence. Discombobulated is a good word. I think I’ve felt that way a lot since retiring. I hope you’re having a good weekend. Hugs.

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  18. Just so you know Dan, I will probably read those books in a matter of days, tops. I binge. Your favourite word is appropriate. Mine is prestidigitation. Oh, spellcheck got it right again! I am so impressed.

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  23. You sure are making good use of your retirement, publishing this series at the speed of light. ;) I love the light in your photos. Imagine is a wonderful word. Here’s to imagining the best!

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  24. Ooo…so exciting more books are on the way! I still need to order the second one in the series and there are already a 3rd and 4th…I better catch up soon. I pondered ‘imagination’ as a favorite word and then thought of you. It fits you much better than it does meandering me. ;-) I love the photos, missed Maddie on the porch with the leaf bags. All the colors you captured are so vivid, and the flag, love the flag photo. I hope your morning walks are enjoyable now that the time has changed.

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