"The Campaign" is on sale!!!

My first published novel "The Campaign" is now on sale for just $0.99! If you haven't gotten it, now's a good time to make the buy. The sale will end around June 28th, so keep that in mind. Come July first all of my novels will increase in price to $4.99 for the e-book version. The $4.99 price is more in line with mainstream self-published novels, so my novels are getting a price bump up to that level. They're still a bargain compared to the traditionally published e-books. 

Here's a copy of the review from Publishers Weekly that "The Campaign" earned as a semi-finalist (then the top fifty of five thousand general fiction entries) in the 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards. The novel has been revised since then to address the issue raised in the review, but is essentially the same story.

"ABNA Publishers Weekly Reviewer

In this fun romp, newspaper reporter Ronald Grey gets laid off and decides to try writing a book about the development of a national ad campaign. He chooses WNLT (We’re Not Like Them), a boutique agency that has just gained national attention for Fluffy, a toilet-paper commercial which premiered during the Super Bowl. The resulting money allows WNLT to move to more upscale offices and hire new staffers to supplement the original employees -- who include levelheaded Robert Smith, sensitive artist Kate Hatcher, colorful writer Sara Hackman, and business-minded Steve Winkler. When the agency gains the Sassi Sausage account -- which, like Fluffy, is a small company looking to go big during the Super Bowl -- Ronald figures his book is in the bag. Hijinks ensue after the creative team revolts, and it’s up to the business side to produce the Sassi campaign. Despite memorable characters -- especially Myrtle Perkins, owner of Mr. Pinkie the trained pig -- the plot meanders in the first half. Things really pick up about halfway through the book, as Ronald chronicles both the Sassi Sausage effort and the creative department’s work on a campaign for Wide Bodies, an exercise facility for obese men. Both sides learn valuable lessons about the dangers of making assumptions in this charming tale. An original plot, solid characters, and a good jolt of humor make this a winner."

"The Campaign" has also earned an average review of 4.8 stars out of five on Amazon and an average of 4.2 out of five on Goodreads.

If your interest is piqued, you can click on the photo of the book cover to the right to take you to the Amazon page for "The Campaign."

Thanks for taking the time to read this and consider "The Campaign." And if you like what you read, my other books are also available with a new one, "Annie's Gift"  coming out soon. 

Countdown to Big Brother 18!!!

The new season of Big Brother 18 is already underway, we just can't see any of it yet. Based on past seasons, here's a hint of what we've missed so far.

The season typically starts with the house guests getting their keys and being given an hour to pack their little Big Brother duffle bag. In reality they're never surprised by this as production calls them in advance to schedule the key ceremony. And the one small Big Brother duffle bag does get packed, but so does a suitcase or two besides.

On Wednesday's show, after we see the key ceremony we'll then see Julie calling them on stage where she'll announce, "This is the first time the house guests are seeing the people they'll be sharing the house with." That's largely a lie as they've been in sequester at the same hotel for a week or more. Many have seen one another at auditions and callbacks for the casting. In some cases they've flown in on the same flights and been picked up and driven to the hotel in a group. They're often taken shopping as a group to buy any supplies they need for the three month stay. They often will get packed together into vans for the trip from the hotel to the studio. They'll be in hair and makeup together backstage. By the time they're all together on the stage, they've pretty much all seen one another quite a few times.

Then Julie will announce three or four names and into the house they'll run. This is one of those, "Holy crap! I'm really here and doing this!" moments. Then all twelve of the house guests will be in the house and after a few "Oh my God!" moments, they'll settle in the living room for the first of the semi-scripted sessions of the year. The meet and greet with champagne.

At the meet and greet we'll get our first look at how the house guests will perform in the Diary Room as they intersperse their first diary room segments with that session. We'll get comments on how this person or that person is hot, setting the stage for the future showmances. At the meet and greet the more observant of the house guests will realize there are only twelve of them. Some are likely to notice that two of the house guests also bear a remarkable resemblance to former house guests. I don't think either Tiffany (Vanessa's sister) or Paulie (Cody's brother) will avoid detection for long.

Towards the end of the meet and greet Julie will come on their television and give them her usual chat about "expect the unexpected." About then the doorbell will likely ring and the four mystery house guests (Davonne, Nicole, Frank, and James) will charge in with their small little BB bags in hand. After a few minutes of "Oh my God" from the newbies Julie will come back on to announce the initial twist. Coaches, mentors, team leaders, whatever and likely announce that the returnees are safe from eviction.

I'm guessing that the returning house guests may be named team captains and a schoolyard pick will take place for them to assemble teams from the newcomers.

Next up will be the first HOH challenge of the season. This is typically an endurance comp of some sort that few really want to win. They all think if they lose the first challenge it won't make them look like a threat. Sure. That never works. The only way you're safe in Big Brother is if you're the HOH. I would never throw any HOH comp. Someone will default into being the HOH likely by not quitting fast enough, and we'll get our first live look at the new HOH room. (I love the fish tank headboard, but the doorless bathroom is annoying. Now friends of the HOH can't lurk in the bathroom eavesdropping as easily.)

The HOH will then form a gazillion alliances with everyone in the house, assuming they haven't already. Everyone will swear their undying loyalty to everyone else, knowing full well that they don't mean a word of it. The HOH and his/her alliances will think the game is easy and map out their road to the finale. "I won HOH this week, you'll win it next week, then you'll win it. We can't lose!" (Oh, yes they can!) 

Then will come the first nominations. At this point two of the house guests who thought it was a good idea to throw the first HOH will learn that they were wrong. This would typically end the first show, but we've got a two hour debut on Wednesday so unless they sneak in a lot of filler material, something else will occur. We'll find out what that will be on Wednesday.

Things to look for in the first show. The bathroom floor. Sand covered the bathroom floor in the very early house tours, but oddly none of those doing the house tours mentioned it in the taped segments that aired. A later photo of the bathroom from The Hollywood Reporter showed the sand gone. I'm guessing production figured out the sand wasn't worth the trouble and killed it and asked to have any mention of it removed from the Entertainment Tonight, and other house tours. The producers could have also asked for them to just not mention it so it'll be a surprise. We'll find out on Wednesday's show if it's still there or not but, I'm betting the sand's gone.

We have some sort of a new mystery comp/ceremony to take place on Sunday's show. This takes the place of the fatally flawed Battle of the Block. We don't know what that comp will be or how it will affect the game just yet, but we'll find out soon. Hopefully it's not something that's as easy to rig as the Battle of the Block was.

Things to look for over the course of the season will be preferential treatment given to any of Alison Grodner's pets. The four returning house guests, Frank in particular, she loves Frank, will likely get some sort of early advantage. I strongly suspect Paul (bearded, tattooed, MMA fighter, model, musician, etc.) will be a new favorite of Grodner's too. I'd be very surprised to see both Frank and Paul out of the house before jury. One might go, but I doubt that both will.

The countdown to the new season is pretty much done! It's almost show time! Let's hope this cast doesn't disappoint and production behaves themselves. (Like that will happen!)

Garden update!

My Purple Wave Petunias are dominating things early on this season, but so far, so good.



The Impatiens are now starting to come on pretty well. I put the first seventy two of the Impatiens out in late April when the long range, ten day weather forecasts were showing days in the seventies or higher, and night temps in the upper forties to fifties. Unfortunately those forecasts were wrong and a few of those nights dipped into the mid-thirties which dinged the Impatiens and those first plants are just now rebounding. 

That large green mound in the front of the screen is a Japanese Anemone that when bought twelve or so years ago was supposed to only grow twelve inches tall with two to three foot flower stalks. As you can see it grows a lot more than twelve inches tall. It's also nearly impossible to get rid of. I've dug it out multiple times, hit it with Roundup, weeded it out constantly and it still comes back. I've now largely conceded defeat and have opted to live with it. It's a very pretty plant even if it does try to take over the world.

For the first time since we added the porch I'm going with no hanging baskets. My old baskets were getting a bit brittle and several had come crashing down last summer, so I put pots on the railing instead and added vines (Thunbergia and Cardinal Climber) to climb up the posts and across the top to more or less form a curtain of green dotted with flowers. We'll have to see how that works, but so far, so good.

My back garden, which had been largely ignored for the last few years as I cared for my mother, is in the process of being reclaimed. The majority of the bad stuff is now gone and the perennials are doing well. It's still got a ways to go, but I'm back on top of it and things are looking good.

My View on Gun Control

Whenever there's a mass shooting like that which took place in Orlando, the cry goes up for more gun control. Our Democratic elected officials in the House of Representatives disrupted the moment of silence for the victims of the shooting by shouting out more demands for gun control.

The fallacy of the argument that more gun control would save lives and end these shootings can be traced to one simple fact. Those who commit such acts don't care what the law is. If they cared what the law was they wouldn't murder people as murder is against the law. The fact that they're willing to murder people tends to imply that they wouldn't care if the guns they used were legal or not.

Arguing that we can prevent these crimes through better gun control is like arguing that we can prevent drug addiction by making drug use illegal. Wait? What? Drug use is illegal? But, how do so many people get addicted to drugs if they're illegal? There's a black market you say? Well, how about that.

What those arguing for stricter gun control don't like you to know is that a recent survey by the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that 79% of prison inmates convicted of a gun related crime bought their gun from the street, a friend, or family member. This despite guns being readily available in retail establishments. Rather than go through the background checks, registration, and comply with the existing gun control laws/statutes, they buy their weapons on the black market. A black market that's thriving by the way.

Reports indicate that a brand new, never used, high end gun will sell for about $100 to $200 more on the street than in a retail shop. In some cases, with lesser quality weapons, the price difference disappears and can even be lower on the street than in a retail establishment.

The people who get shot by the bad guys aren't less dead if the weapon is from the street rather than a reputable gun shop. Those who wish to hide their acquisition of a gun will always buy on the black market where the laws don't apply. The more restrictions that are placed on the legal sales of guns, the more people we'll drive to the black market.

Laws serve two purposes. They serve as a guideline for acceptable behavior and as a means to punish those who go outside those lines. The vast majority of gun owners never use their gun to commit a crime. They obey the laws, register their guns, purchase them legally, and cause no trouble. Their guns spend most of their life safely locked in a storage cabinet.

Those who are acquiring guns for illegal use now typically (79% of the time if one believes the survey by the Bureau of Justice Statistics) get their guns through sources other than licensed gun dealers. If we shut down every gun store in the country and banned possession of all guns at this very moment, it would  have little to no impact on shootings and gun related deaths. Those who are willing to break the law in taking another's life would have no compunction against acquiring a gun illegally. We'd make the black market dealers a lot more money and keep them a lot busier, but we wouldn't solve the problem.

Gun laws aren't magically imbued with pixie dust that makes those willing to kill someone unwilling to break a lesser law to get a gun illegally. The bad guys will pay any price necessary, break any law you can write, to get the guns they want. Fully automatic weapons have been banned for decades but they're readily available on the black market. Convicted felons are routinely caught in the illegal possession of a firearm. "But that's illegal!" They don't care. It's that simple. They don't care. That's why any additional gun control legislation won't work.

And guess what? When any new legislation doesn't work and there's another shooting, and there will be regardless, those crying for more legislation now will say, "Clearly we didn't go far enough! We must be more aggressive." And when there's yet another shooting after that, you'll hear that same cry. It'll be repeated time after time and this is a problem that will never end.

We learned from prohibition that criminalizing alcohol consumption doesn't work. We learned from the drug wars that drug consumption isn't stopped by making drug use illegal. What on Earth makes anyone think we can stop gun violence by putting more restrictions on gun sales? There's already a thriving black market in gun sales. Seventy nine percent of felons surveyed bought their gun illegally now.

"But we've got to do something!" Not if it won't achieve anything, and additional gun control legislation won't achieve anything other than driving even more sales to the black market. Far too often our politicians "do something" but ultimately achieve nothing. Right now they want to "do something" about gun control. What will they achieve? Nothing.Why? Because the bad guys who are going to murder fifty people don't care what the laws are. If they cared about the law, they wouldn't murder fifty people. Murder is against the law. They don't care what the laws are. That's why adding more barriers to possessing a gun won't work. Those wanting a gun will just get one off the street as the majority do now.

The new Big Brother house guests!

We've now got the names, bios, and early interviews for the twelve new house guests for Big Brother 18. What we're seeing so far is a glimpse into them, with lots more to come.

We've got mostly twenty somethings again this year with one fifty year old guy (Glenn) tossed in. It's a generally pretty cast. Here are some early impressions.

Bronte is a bit goofy, but I like what little I've seen of her. She's in it for the money which is nice.

Paulie is the brother of Cody from BB 16. He wants to follow Cody's social game. I'm pretty sure the other house guests will figure out his identity pretty quickly. Will that make him a target?

Corey seems like a pretty solid, all American guy. He's a baseball coach and won't compromise his morals to win.

Paul is next up. (I hate having both a Paul and Paulie in the house. One of those two has to go to keep the updaters sane.) Paul has an odd Mohawk style haircut and a long beard. He's our designated tattooed guy this year. He seems okay, but we'll learn more as the season goes on.

Jozea is a guy who I thought would be a Frankie clone from the photo, but he seemed pretty solid in the interviews I've seen. I'm guessing he's a recruit to the show as he seems to have very little knowledge of the game.

Bridgette is a traveling nurse who's literally bursting with energy in the interviews. She has a cat named Hercules. She thinks she'll be great at the game. We'll have to see.

Tiffany is up next and she plans to lay low for the first few weeks. She's the sister of Vanessa Rousso (the pro poker player from BB 17) and doesn't plan to tell the others she's related to Vanessa. (She looks enough like her sister that they'll figure it out quickly.) She'd rather win and be hated than lose. She's afraid she may be too competitive and win when it would benefit her to lose. She's got an owl tattoo on her right shoulder and several written tattoos on each arm.

Michelle is a huge fan of the show and is thrilled to be in the house. She's kind of nerdish in a cute sort of way. She has no trouble lying, breaking alliances, or doing anything to win. I think she's my early favorite so far. She's a dietitian and may drive the other house guests crazy if she's too dictatorial about it. She'd rather win and be hated than loved and lose. She's planning to be a big time game player.

Glenn is our designated old guy at 50. I'm betting endurance comps won't be his strong suit. He's a very "normal" looking guy in that he's not super buff.  He's a former cop turned dog groomer. (I have a feeling Glenn will feel very, very old in that house.) He thinks his mouth will get him in trouble if someone gets under his skin. (Thank God! When I heard he was a former cop I was afraid he'd be another Derrick and look to calm things down.) He'd rather win and be hated.

Natalie is originally from Caracas, Venezuela. She loves glitter. She's very pretty and has long dark hair. I was expecting more of an accent, but there's not a lot of an accent there. She wants there to be an all girl alliance. (Good luck with that!) She seems like the most girly girl of the group.

Zakiyah is our African American house guest. She's a preschool teacher and a fan of the show. She's single (as is pretty much everybody but Glenn this year) and is willing to flirt to win. She's trusting her ability to read people to tell her if someone is just playing her. She's expecting to be more of a mental threat than a physical threat.

Victor is from New Orleans and is a fan of the show. He's only watched a couple of seasons. He thinks he's a triple threat in the mental, physical and the social game. He's hoping to flirt with as many girls as possible. (Dangerous if they compare notes.) He's the one player who's not sure how far he'd go to win the money. He's worried about the endurance comps as he doesn't run much.

I'm cautiously optimistic that we'll see some good game play this year. Nearly everyone wants the money which is a nice change. Too many times in past years people have wanted to play for the experience, to meet new people, to find a romance, etc. This group wants the money! Greed is good when it comes to BB.

Philadelphia Eagles Countdown to the Draft!!!

There's lots of speculation now about the Eagles moving up in the draft and going after one of the top two quarterbacks. The crazier part of me wants to believe this is a real possibility and prior to the Browns signing RGIII, there was a way that could happen.

The Browns had expressed a strong interest in Sam Bradford last year and reportedly offered their second first round pick to the Eagles in exchange for Bradford. Coming off a year where neither knee exploded and Bradford survived playing behind a bad offensive line, and with a new contract locking him in for two years at a moderate price, his value is arguably even higher than it had been last year. He's a lower risk option now than he was last year, so his value is arguably higher.

With the Browns valuing Bradford and the Eagles having what they believe to be a viable alternative in Chase Daniel, it wasn't too hard to see a scenario where the Browns, who have had miserable luck drafting a QB, would pass on drafting a kid high, take Bradford and the Eagles eighth overall pick, letting the Eagles move up to the second pick to take one of the two quarterbacks.

With Tennessee more or less locked into Tunsil, a team would have to really knock their socks off to get Tennessee to trade back. If the Eagles traded up to second and another team did trade up to get that first overall pick, then the Eagles could grab Tunsil who's the best offensive tackle in the draft. It would be a win-win for the Eagles. They could then grab one of the second/third tier QB's later in the draft and hope to get lucky.

With the Browns signing RGIII though, they're more likely to be creating an offense around a mobile quarterback and Bradford's not an especially mobile quarterback. With both of the young quarterbacks reportedly needing a year or two of seasoning before they'll be ready to start (one of the few things everyone seems to agree on) the Browns are counting on RGIII surviving this season while the kid learns the game. Counting on RGIII staying healthy and being a good teammate is a gamble, but it seems to be the one the Browns have settled on.

Unless another team up high in the draft really, really wants a Bradford (or maybe a Fletcher Cox whose contract negotiation is taking forever) the Eagles don't really have the ammunition needed to trade up very far. It's possible the Eagles know they can't resign Fletcher Cox at what they consider a fair value and would be willing to move him. I doubt it, but who knows what's going on behind the scenes. Any team trading for Fletcher Cox would have him locked up for this coming season under his existing contract and could tag him next year, so they'd get two years of play from him. I just don't see the Eagles trading away Cox though.

At this point it looks like Tunsil will go to Tennessee, the Browns will grab whichever of the two quarterbacks they think will succeed. The Chargers are a bit of a wild card. I'm not sure anyone knows what they'll do. Most seem to have them grabbing a defensive player. Then come the Cowboys.

Jerry Jones says the Cowboys will absolutely not take a QB in the first round. I'm not sure he isn't lying about that. Tony Romo first injured his shoulder last September. Then he re-injured it in November. He had surgery recently. It's likely to be a while before he's ready to do any serious upper body work and he's unlikely to have done much since the initial injury in September. It's almost April as I write this, so that doesn't give him a lot of time to get his upper body ready for the pounding a quarterback takes in the NFL.

The Cowboys have been very conspicuous in not signing one of the free agent quarterbacks who could have been a competent backup for them. Going into the off season, nearly everyone, including some Cowboy insiders, all agreed that the backup quarterback situation needed to be addressed. Despite multiple free agent options available, the Cowboys did nothing. Why? My best guess is because they're planning on getting one of the top two guys in the draft. (Most likely Wentz, who they coached in the Senior Bowl.) Moving up from four to one isn't quite as big a climb and the Titans could still likely get Tunsil, or Stanley to solidify their offensive line.

What would the Cowboys have to give up? I would figure the price to be one of their top young offensive linemen of the Titans choosing, this year's fourth overall pick, and likely next year's first round pick. The Titans would likely end up with Tunsil, who'd they'd draft anyway, or if the Chargers or Browns grab him then they could pick up Stanley and still upgrade their offensive line. It's a win-win for the Titans. They'd get a proven starter, a good young player in the draft and a first round pick in next year's draft. The Cowboys would get their quarterback of the future, and Jerry Jones would be convinced the Cowboys would rebound next year so the pick they gave up for next year's draft wouldn't likely be a higher pick.

Jacksonville, Baltimore and the Niners could all be potential trade partners for the Eagles to move up a bit if the guy they want falls. The cost of moving up a spot or two isn't quite as high, so we could see a move there. I'm not sure we will though.

I've got a suspicion the top two quarterbacks will go one and two. I think the Cowboys will move up to one to grab their quarterback of the future, likely Wentz. I think it's a doable move for them. The Browns will take whoever is left, likely Goff, and pray he doesn't implode on them. With the top two quarterbacks gone one and two, the Chargers will then have their pick of the top defensive players or Tunsil, then the Titans will grab another top offensive lineman. The consensus seems to be that the Jags would take Myles Jack. Baltimore would likely go with a lineman, either offensive or defensive depending on how they have guys rated. With both quarterbacks off the board the Niner's might opt to trade down or possibly take a wide receiver.

The Eagles could find themselves with only the third best offensive lineman, or third best quarterback on the boards, neither of whom might be worth the pick. Ezekiel Elliot might start looking pretty good to them about then. They could also try trading back to pick up some extra picks. If I had to say right now, I'd say they'd take Ezekiel Elliot.

Expect lots of craziness to take place in the draft this year. I think the top two quarterbacks will go one and two. That means the Titans will trade down and a quarterback needy team will trade up. I'm leaning towards it being the Cowboys, but it could also be the Niners, Eagles, or someone else. Even the Browns could move up a spot to be sure they get their guy. I think this will be a fun draft to watch.

An update on my Kindle Scout campaign!

My Kindle Scout campaign for "Sara X" ended at midnight last night and I ended up with 177 page views and 46 hours of being hot and trending. The numbers aren't great and probably inadequate, but I gave it a shot. I'll find out in the "next few business days" if Amazon picks it up or not. If they don't, then it's off to self publishing for "Sara X."

If Amazon does pick it up, then they'll reportedly send it to Kirkus for an editing review. I'll then have the option to make, or disregard the suggested edits, and Amazon will then get around to publishing the e-book version of "Sara X". I'll get a $1500 advance for the novel and then a 50% royalty on sales. I believe most Scout books are priced at $4.99 which means the royalty would be about $2.49 per book sold. It'll take about 600 sales to earn out the advance before any additional cash will be flowing.

On to other news. The seedlings are doing great! The purple wave petunias and calibrachoas are growing like weeds. I've got 144 impatiens seeds started now also along with 15 red salvia seedlings. The petunias and calibrachoas will soon be spending days outside. We're in a bit of a warm streak right now with days in the seventies, but that won't last. However, I can take advantage of those days and move the more cold tolerant seedlings outside on warmer days to get some sun and to start adjusting to the outside life.

My self-cleaning aquarium filter is now partially functional. I haven't fully automated it yet, but the system is working well. The moving roll of floss is doing its job and now I simply have to figure out how to wire in the stepper motor and program the controller for it. It looks like this will work pretty well though. If things keep progressing like this I'll build a third prototype out of acrylic in the near future that will be more of a finished product.

The silly season of the NFL season is now underway (or will be by noon when the legal tampering period of free agency starts up for real.) Expect to see lots of signings announced on Wednesday shortly after the new season officially starts at four PM. I don't expect to see the Eagles making any bold moves this free agency period. The Eagles may resign a guy or two of their own who's now a free agent if they don't find a contract to their liking and want to come back, but I don't see the Eagles being overly aggressive.

In the next few days I should hear back from Amazon on whether or not they'll pick up "Sara X". As the next group of impatiens seedlings emerge, they'll get moved to the better plant lights. It won't be long before plants are going outside for real. We're maybe six weeks away from the hardiest plants being reasonably safe going out. This is a busy time of year for me.