Jaleth and the Dragons, Now in Paperback

In 2017, I published Jaleth and the Dragons as a stand-alone e-novellette for Kindle and Nook. I did not publish it as a paperback because it is 50 pages long, a "long short story." I intended, at some point, to publish a short-story collection that would include Jaleth and the Dragons, in both print and e-formats. 

However, I realized my parents would not be able to see Jaleth in its e-incarnation, so I decided to put together a print version for them. (It is much easier, by the way, to do the print version first.) I did most of the work and then there it sat for six years. There has been a lot going on. But I finally finished it, got ready to get them copies, and thought . . . why not? I had done all the work and it was ready to go . . . so I went ahead and put it up for sale on Amazon. I'm still planning to do the short story collection, but at this rate it will be a few more years, so Jaleth and the Dragons can stay in print until then.

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

  

Portrait

 

La Bella Principessa by Leonardo da Vinci

My favorite painting by Leonardo da Vinci surfaced a few years ago and was sold at private auction. It is a picture of a girl, in profile, with beautiful wavy hair. It is believed to be the portrait of a fourteen-year old Italian noblewoman, Bianca Sforza, commissioned for her marriage. She was married and then died just a few months after the portrait was painted, probably from complications from pregnancy.

Such deaths were common then. They are not common now in the developed world, largely because of a network of women's healthcare that includes, but is not limited to, access to abortion for those who require it. 

Bianca Sforza had few human rights. Noblewomen's marriages were arranged. She was, in essence, sold, just as her portrait was sold centuries later. Her father, and then her husband, made the choices about her body that led to her fate.

Many more deaths like hers will now occur, and there is now no da Vinci to immortalize them.   

Ghost Yoga

I want to do a show on the Travel Channel called GHOST YOGA. It will be either:

1) People do yoga at haunted places to see if they can feel the ghostly energy.

2) People do yoga with ghosts.

3). Ghosts do yoga. (Because ghosts are invisible, this one would be a camera pointed at an empty location for an hour.)

March

 March comes in like a penguin and goes out like an irritable penguin. 

Small Sanction

 In support of Ukraine, I have ceased distribution of all my Amazon book titles in Russia. 

Haiku for #CalltoEarth Day

The leaves fall like tears
Raining from the last bright trees
Of the last autumn

#CalltoEarth

On the Occasion of My Fiftieth Birthday

I have a Birthday coming up in a few weeks. I do not want to be this age. I have not accomplished everything I wanted. But looking back, there is so much light and beauty and love.

This past year I have seen things I never thought I would see, and made choices where every option was a bad decision. I do not think I am better or stronger because of these experiences. I am damaged. I am about to turn fifty and there are strands of moonlight in my hair; but then I have always loved the moon. My family is alive, and I am alive, and my trees are green and beautiful, and taller than last year.