Lunar Eclipse Tonight

What are you planning to do this evening? If you don't have any particular plans, I'd like to suggest that you go outside and stare at the sky.

Okay, I'll be a little more specific. Tonight we'll get both a "supermoon" and the fourth of a lunar tetrad, which will lead to a "blood moon."

A supermoon happens when the moon is full at the time when it's closest to Earth. You won't see the moon filling the sky or anything like that, but it will be a little bigger than usual.

The lunar tetrad is a series of four consecutive total lunar eclipses, which is pretty rare. The blood moon happens when the moon is fully eclipsed and turns a sort of reddish-orange color.

Take a look at this website: timeanddate.com It shows a cool animation of what to expect when you're looking up at the eclipse (no special glasses or shields are necessary for a lunar eclipse). It also gives you a lot of information about where and when you can see it.

I recommend giving it a try. The so-called "blood moon" is a fascinating sight, and it's also interesting to track the path of the eclipse as the moon first darkens (in Earth's penumbra) and then turns color (in Earth's umbra).

As you might guess, I have a certain fondness for anything involving a Penumbra.

I hope you'll give it a try. I plan to be out there, once again baffling the neighbors by standing there with my head thrown back while I stare upward. Maybe they're used to it by now and won't even notice!

Work continues on The Other Side. There's still a lot to be done, but I'll keep working on it. Thanks for following my blog!

Escape

I had an interesting vision the other day while I was sitting at work, wishing I could be at home working on The Other Side. I pictured my purple three-ring binder, which holds that tale, on the table next to the computer. Then, unexpectedly, I saw the binder flip open and my characters start to climb out.

It was kind of fun, a bit of whimsy to break up the workday. It also reminded me of two important facts:

1. My characters do not only live in that binder. They live in my head, in the novels published so far, in novels yet to come and in the heads of my readers. (It means a lot to me that they live in someone else's head now, too.) I need to keep in mind that they're "real" characters and they need to be portrayed as such, not as cardboard cutouts. I need to stay true to each of them.

2. What is in that binder is a story, not just a lot of words that I have to shepherd into place. I might write the greatest scene ever, but if it doesn't belong in the story, out it goes. Once I've made sure I have everything worded the way I want, I need to double-check to make sure I still have a story that's fun to read and worth the time.

All of that from one little fantasy! That's one of the fun things about being a writer: you can have crazy little random thoughts ... and then you get to interpret them so you can make something out of them.

Closet Spaceship Part 14

[NOTE: This installment contains a spoiler. If you haven’t read In the Shadows yet, I suggest you read it before this blog.]

It’s easy to find Tim Caswell: if he isn’t fixing the electronics somewhere, he’ll be in the radio studio. I don’t know why I didn’t do it sooner.

I was on the radio sometimes, in college, but the studio didn’t look anything like the one where I found Tim. For one thing, I was using turntables. That’s right: LPs and 45s. I know I’m showing my age, but there it is. I think there was some finesse involved, knowing exactly how far to rotate that disk so the song would start just as I finished introducing it. No countdown timers or anything like that, just a working knowledge of the song.

But Tim knows a lot about music, so I can’t criticize him. It’s kind of strange to think that what’s new to me is old to him, especially since he’s younger than I am. That makes my brain shiver a little bit.

When he saw me, he seemed more curious than anything.

“Are you looking for somebody?” he asked.

“No, why?” I said.

He shrugged. “I didn’t think I’d ever get a visit.”

I sat down. “So I’m kind of like a ghost, then? You never know when—or if—I’ll appear.”

“Kind of like that, yeah.”

“It’s funny,” I said. “That’s how I think of all of you sometimes. There are times when I don’t think you’re ever going to show up again.”

He scowled. “But we’re right here all the time.”

“I know, but I can’t always see or hear you,” I said. “Writer’s block.”

“Oh,” he said. “I understand that. Sometimes I sit here and I can’t think of anything to say.”

“It’s rough, isn’t it?” I said.

He nodded.

I smiled. It’s always nice when I discover something I have in common with one of my characters, at least when it’s something good.

“That was pretty amazing what you did with Devereaux,” I said.

I really know how to kill the moment. Tim immediately frowned and crossed his arms.

“You mean, when I made friends with him and thought he was legit?” he asked.

“No, that is not what I—”

“I know,” he said, “but that’s what I did. I even vouched for him.”

“You know what?” I said. “I did that once, too.”

Tim rolled his eyes. “You vouched for a mass murderer?”

“No, I didn’t, but look, I don’t have the type of job where I run into those. I just run into weasels, crooks and the occasional back-stabber, that’s all. I work in a cubicle.”

“Wow,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Me, too, sometimes.”

Before Tim could ask me for details, I said, “I mean, when you tricked him into talking.”

“Yeah.” Tim inspected his headphones. “Nick was gonna shoot him.”

“Oh, that would have been helpful,” I said. “It’s a good thing Nick wasn’t serious.”

“He wasn’t? But he had the gun and everything.”

I glanced around to be sure we were alone. “He thought he wanted to do it, but Nick isn’t a cold-blooded killer any more than anybody on this crew. Why do you think he made sure the captain saw him? He could easily have shot Devereaux before the captain knew he was there.”

Tim considered that. “I guess you’re right.”

“Nick did it for Reg,” I said, “and you did it for Captain Lamont.”

Tim nodded. “I heard him talking to Martinez. He’s had to do a lot of things, but that would have been too much, beating the truth out of Devereaux. I couldn’t let him do it.”

“You saved a lot of people, Tim,” I said. “Don’t ever forget that.”

“That’s what the captain said.”

“He knows he’s one of them.” I stood up. “I was here to see you, Tim. Maybe I’ll see you again.”

“Okay,” Tim said. “But next time we’re talking about your cubicle.”

Cue the ominous music.

      A good DJ doesn’t talk over the music, so I made a hasty retreat.

Third Video

Happy Labor Day Weekend! For many of us, it's a chance to rest and recharge our batteries before we launch ourselves back into the labor that helps us pay the bills.

For me, it's been a chance to finally finish my third video! I think I must be the world's pickiest person because I spent a lot of time this morning adjusting transitions and effects. It's a good thing I'm not a movie director because considering how much time I put into a one-and-a-half-minute video, can you imagine how long a two-hour movie would take??

This video is for the third novel in my Penumbra series, In the Shadows. Please share it with friends and family.

Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozZbYu15Q_I

I appreciate your support!