Tag Archive for time travel

Cultural Bias, Cultural Differences, Group Decision Errors, Newsletter

Cultural Trauma

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Bloody 4th of July

I felt devastated by the shootings in Uvalde. How could we have allowed this to happen? The video of the police response was recently released. Hundreds of gunshots can be heard. The police carefully edited out the screams of the children. I can easily imagine my own children’s voices…and I can’t even… The mass shooting during the 4th of July parade in a sleepy Jewish suburb of Chicago was another blow. A close friend grew up there. Her backyard neighbor was one of the killed, and she spent hours trying to learn the fates of her classmates. The little boy who will grow up without parents, for what? What do we get to gain by equipping ourselves with weapons of war? The guns used in these two and most other mass shootings were made to kill people. They are very at it. Why do we need these weapons among civilians living in a peaceful nation? America is very efficient. If it ever came to us needing weapons to defend ourselves from enemies, I’m sure we can distribute them to those who know how to use them — our national guard in no time. Apocalypse is great to watch in the…

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book promotion, Newsletter, Pipsqueak Articles

Cool books, peril loops, tech talk, and other sci-fi reading traps

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Paris in the future from 1905

Rock? Or classical? Sometimes, good content is difficult to classify. But once you find someone good, it almost always works out (well, except for the last chord–what happened there?). I’ve mentioned before–when I find an author I like, I read everything they’ve ever written. This works for music, too. It’s a safe strategy, for the most part. But it does send me searching on a regular basis for someone new to love. Writers simply can’t write as fast as I can read. It’s one of the reasons that as a writer I don’t feel like I’m in competition with others in my genre–writing is a slow, slow process. So for the last year, I’ve gone on an adventure of searching for new authors to love. I’ve read multiple collections of short stories, old and new. And I also read a few biographies, notably Isaac Asimov’s last book, where he describes not only his life but also the history of the science fiction as it became its own literary category. [A bit of an aside: I met Isaac Asimov in New York many years ago at a science fiction convention. I thought he was a total *ss in person. His autobiography…

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Cultural Differences, My Books, sci-fi bites, short story

Time Travel Suicide Therapy

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Cleopatra's Death

“Can I help you?” Dax stood up and quickly covered the screen with his body. It was five minutes to closing time and he wasn’t interested in helping on yet another bored teenager, or house partner, or grandpa, or history student, or whatever to fulfill their sick time travel dream. He had his own problems, thank you very much. “Dr. Ooren sent me,” the girl said, walking into the lab, keeping her eyes on the floor. She looked like she was still in her teens, perhaps a first-year college student. She was fidgeting and pulling down the sleeves of her oversized gray sweater over her hands and fingertips. She was thin, with dark circles under her eyes, and she didn’t look like she wanted to be in his lab any more than Dax wanted her there. Which was not at all. “We close at five.” Dax pointedly glanced at the time displays on the wall. It was just about five in the afternoon. He had already loaded the jump for his own time visit — he allowed himself several exquisite minutes of suffering every Friday evening, after closing hours. He was treasuring his chosen suicide, taking his time, enjoying every…

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Book, book promotion

Time Travel and Alternate History Giveaway

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TIME TRAVEL & ALTERNATIVE HISTORY Looking to give a gift of story to your loved ones? Check out these time twisters and alternative histories. Click the link and claim your book(s). 25 Winners will be picked for prizes like Kindle Fire tablets, Amazon Prime subscriptions, free audiobooks, KU subscriptions, cash prizes, gift cards, and more! CLICK HERE to ENTER OUR PRIZE GIVEAWAY *** My story, Twin Time, is part of this collection. It is partly a story of my grandmother, who, as a child, had to run from her home in the middle of the night when the Reds came to kill her family after the Russian Revolution. It is also a story of what it feels like to be unable to communicate and experience time in an alien way. It’s a story of desperation, love, redemption, loss, and the pain of having your child born different. Who is this woman? Find out… *** Like all families, we argue. Sometimes, it’s about mundane stuff — the milk will die if the fridge is left open — sometimes, it’s about what would happen if time travel was possible and you could back and kill Baby Hitler… We didn’t agree on what each of us would…

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