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Friday, May 25, 2012

The Darkening of the Light, cover art

Nick Buchanan's wonderful art work is always awesome.  Here's his cover my my latest novel, The Darkening of the Light.

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Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Abandoned owls, revelation and insanity

An interesting post on Word and Film urges Harry Potter fans to stop abandoning their pet owls now that the movies have come to an end.

http://www.wordandfilm.com/2012/05/harry-potter-fans-stop-abandoning-your-pet-owls/

The same post goes on to point us to a "three-part Opinion piece in the New York Times (here's part one) exploring the difference between spiritual revelation and mental illness."

What, exactly is the difference between revelation and insanity?  Are children mentally ill when they see monsters in the closet or under the bed?  Are religious people insane when they talk to an invisible God?  Are creative artists crazy, or perhaps childlike?

Was Philip K. Dick mentally ill when he encountered information from a parallel universe?

I don't understand why the New York Times piece refers to the "golden fish".  Phil always called it the "pink light".  In any case, it is interesting that a university professor finds the subject worthy of exploration.

Here's a snippet:

Skimming through and across multiple encyclopedia entries, Dick found links and correspondences of ideas everywhere. He also stumbled into the primary texts of a number of philosophers and theologians — notably the pre-Socratics, Plato, Meister Eckhart, Spinoza, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Marx, Whitehead, Heidegger and Hans Jonas. His interpretations are sometimes quite bizarre but often compelling.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/20/philip-k-dick-sci-fi-philosopher-part-1/

Professor Simon Critchley seems blissfully unaware of the fact that Phil studied philosophy at the University of California, or that he continued studying philosophy on his own after leaving the university.

A word of advice:  If you click the links, read at your own peril.  These things might expand your mind.

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Monday, May 21, 2012

Win a grant for your favorite animal rescue group

One of Philip K. Dick's most endearing personal qualities was his love for animals.  This love shows up quite clearly in his novel Bladerunner (originally titled Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), as well as in many of his stories and novels.

One way to honor him is to help homeless pets and wild animals that need help.

The Animal Rescue Site has set up a challenge on Causes dot com to help animal rescue groups.

All you need to do is enter your favorite pet photo.

Spring is in full swing, and so is Round 2 of The Animal Rescue Site $300,000 Shelter+ Challenge of 2012 with Petfinder! Enter your winsome pet photo in the Spring Fling Photo Contest and you could win a $2,000 or $1,500 grant for the rescue group of your choice. 

Click here to learn more: http://shop2give.us/CauseSpringFling

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Friday, May 18, 2012

My books are now available in Europe and the UK on Amazon!

My books are now available On Amazon Europe and Amazon UK!


That includes my latest novel, The Darkening of the Light, in which we follow Edna Stax down the rabbit hole of alternate worlds. 


Yippee! 


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Thursday, May 17, 2012

Swagbucks - make a little pocket money - it's easy

One of the ways I make a few extra bucks is with Swagbucks.  I usually cash out for an Amazon gift card, but you can also get Paypal or other gift cards.  Right now, there's a great promotion going on at Swagbucks. 



It's called "The Swagbucks Carnival".  This promotion gives you an opportunity to earn bonus Swag Bucks each day just for earning the way you normally would. 


Once you have joined Swagbucks, check the meter on your homepage and you'll see a daily goal and how close you are to hitting it.  


When you reach the daily goal, you add to your bonus!  You'll get additional bonuses based on how many days of the Carnival you're able to hit your goal.  


And Swagbucks is having a Swag Code extravaganza on Monday - that means lots of codes, lots of Swag Bucks and lots of fun! 


Oh, and if you haven't joined Swagbucks yet, here's my referral link: 


http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/tuffy777










Monday, May 7, 2012

Excerpt, The Darkening of the Light


If you like my other books, you're sure to love my latest novel, The Darkening of the Light.

Here's an excerpt: 

“Clear!” the doctor shouted, and then came the shock.  Again he shouted, “Clear!” and again the shock came.  And yet a third time, the charm, “Clear!” and then the shock, as if Dr. Frankenstein were bringing the monster to life.  The dead parts began to live, and the sinus rhythm settled into a regular pattern on the monitor, and the beeping became more regular and less frantic. 

Clearly the light had begun to darken, yet she lived.  Unable to move, but seeing and hearing all those around her, she lay in the hospital bed while her faithful suitor sat in the chair and talked to her, or Mother sat reading aloud from the newspaper, even reading the want ads, but never the obituaries, for the thought of death must never enter this room.  

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Available on Amazon HERE 

or on Kindle HERE

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Cover art by Nick Buchanan