Rio

 

On Saturday, February 3^rd, our beloved kitty, Rio passed away. She was no ordinary cat, however, and the grief we are all feeling is quite intense. We’ve been lucky to have a few great cats over the years. The type of cats that aren’t just cats, but have their own unique personalities that make them something special. In the past we had K.J. and Mosi, and we still have Stryker, and Rio was one of these special family members.

When she passed, we think she was about 14, and we were lucky enough to have her enrich our lives for ten years. When our girls were younger, Rio would often sit with them while they were playing school or store, acting like she was just one of the girls playing along with them. She would even let them push her around in a little plastic shopping cart. As we all got older, she would sit with us while we played games, like she was waiting for her turn.

When Rebecca was especially sick, Rio would stay in the room with her, trying to take care of her. We always called her Nurse Rio because she really thought she was helping to take care of her, and the truth is, her love really did help. She was just such a good little girl.

When I would be working, she would often lay on the back of my chair, and when she wanted attention, she would tap on my shoulder. I don’t know where she learned this, but she would often tap on us when she wanted something. I’ve never had a cat that did this, and this was just one of the many things that made her so special.

She would often sit with me and Lex as we watched Clone Wars or Bad Batch, never wanting anything more than to love on us and be loved.

She was never the type of cat to get in trouble. She didn’t bite or scratch, she didn’t get into stuff, she just wanted to love and to be loved, and she was loved so much. As Rebecca has said, there is a Rio sized hole in all of our hearts, and we’re all struggling to try to come to terms with this loss.

I know there are people out there that will say she was just a cat, but animals aren’t duplicitous like humans. Their love is so pure, and Rio was an extra special little feline. There has never been a cat like her before, and there will never be another one like her.

 

 

Echoes from the Deep has been reviewed

It's a short review on Amazon, but it's always good to hear that you're a favorite author to somebody. Check out the review at https://amzn.to/3Us4277

Another Echoes from the Deep excerpt

Phineas found the waters to be warmer than he would have expected, but there was nothing strange below the boat, and there was no sign of the probe. He dove as far as he dared, but found nothing, not even a behemoth. Nothing. He began to re-surface when he heard the identity echo of Long Fins from above. He paused in his swim for a few seconds. Long Fins was his favorite female in the pod, and he couldn’t help but feel a slight arousal when he realized how proud she’d be of him if he could learn something. He decided to stay under a little longer.

He suddenly felt a strange sensation in his tail. It was the same sensation he felt when there was a behemoth nearby, or the same feeling he used to feel on Earth when there had been sharks nearby. He spun around, but sensed nothing. The feeling was still there however, so he sent off more intense echoes, but nothing came back to him.

Nothing came back to him! From the south, there were no echoes returning, but there was a reef not more than half a mile from him, but nothing returned. He swam in a quick circle and sent off another series of echoes. Nothing!

“Phineas, what is it?” The call was from Long Fins, but he didn’t respond. There was something to the south. He couldn’t see it or sense it, but he knew it was there. He couldn’t detect anything, and he knew that meant there had to be something there.

The water suddenly cooled to a temperature that he would have expected, so he sent off another series of echoes. This time, the echoes of the reef to the south came back to him. It was then that he realized that his lungs were burning from lack of oxygen. He shot to the surface, shaking his head violently once he was above the water, and gasping for air.

“Phineas, what did you see?” It was Eric’s voice being translated into Delphin that he was hearing.

“Nothing.”

“Did you detect anything?” Eric asked.

“No.” He had no idea why he was lying. He just knew he had to. Of course, it wasn’t really a lie. He hadn’t detected anything, not one damn thing.

Just then, Shark Lover swam up to the boat. Without thinking, Phineas lunged at him, dragging rows of teeth along the smaller dolphin’s dorsal fin. It made Phineas feel better.

“Phineas, stop!” It was Long Fins’ echoes.

Phineas just swam away from Shark Lover, away from the boat, away from the shore, away from the impossible lack of echoes he’d experienced. Phineas just swam.

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Bestseller for January 2024

It's probably not much of a surprise, but my best selling title to start off the new year was Do You Really Want to be a Writer? Apparently a lot of people do want to write. And it's still holding strong at #30 on the DriveThruFiction Bestsellers list.

Do you really want to be a writer? It’s a serious question that anyone thinking about entering the field of writing should ask.
In this collection of essays, prize-winning science fiction author and editor J Alan Erwine uses his usual wit and sarcasm to educate and entertain potential writers as they start their journeys.
You won’t find essays about plot or character development here, but instead, you’ll find 17 essays that talk about the business of writing. Erwine uses his more than a quarter of a century of experience to talk about the submission process, and more importantly, what to do with your writing and career after you’ve started selling.
Do You Really Want To Be a Writer? is a great source of information for the new writer as well as the experienced writer.

Order from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3OfhN5t

Order from Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1503357

Order from DriveThruFiction: https://www.drivethrufiction.com/product/466362/

Four novels for $10!

You can download all four of my novels for just $10 from DriveThruFiction at https://www.drivethrufiction.com/product/468859/

You get The Opium of the People, Red Moon Rising, A Problem in Translation, and my latest novel Echoes from the Deep. This is an opportunity you don't want to miss!

Have you had your fifth taste of the madness yet?

The fifth volume is here!
A collection of six previously published short stories, that are available only for a limited time. Travel to distant planets and travel to different mad visions that prize-winning sf author J Alan Erwine has come up with, but beware, you can never be sure where his weird mind might take you.
Again, this collection is only available for a very limited time. And if you're a Kindle Unlimited member, it's available for free at https://amzn.to/3Sho9lH

A screenplay?

While going through some files last night, I found a screenplay I had started for A Problem in Translation. I remember starting it many years ago, and I thought I'd written something like five pages. I decided to take a look at it, and was surprised to find that it was actually 75 pages long and about half way done.

I realize that the odds of actually selling it would be very slim, but I'm still wondering if it might be fun to finish it. I only have about half a dozen projects going on...what's one more right?

If you'd like to read the book, please check it out at: https://amzn.to/42jDOWy

Two bestsellers at DriveThruFiction

Two of my titles are currently listed as bestsellers at DriveThruFiction. At the time I'm writing this, Do You Really Want to be a Writer? is listed at #27 and Echoes From the Deep is listed at #33. Check out the complete list at https://www.drivethrufiction.com/top_100.php.

This is the first time in quite a while that I've had two titles in their top 100. Let's see how high we can push both of them! And, of course, thanks for buying my stuff and supporting my writing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Echoes from the Deep is the Deal of the Day

My new novel, Echoes from the Deep is the deal of the day today at DriveThruFiction. You can download it for just $2at https://www.drivethrufiction.com/product/467842/.

The first human and dolphin colony team has arrived on Epsilon Eridani 2, a planet that was once inhabited by a highly advanced species that has gone extinct.

On this exciting new world, the humans have brought all of their typical problems with them, while the dolphins adjust quite easily to their new home.

All of this changes when bizarre events begin to happen to the colonists. Is the stress of a new colony causing unknown neuroses and psychoses to suddenly surface? Is there something in the atmosphere that the colonists didn’t know about? Or is there something else behind the bizarre occurrences?

An Echoes from the Deep excerpt

Prologue

From the journals of Eric Young

One of these days, something unfortunate is going to happen to our dear Governor Jornion, and I just hope I’m there to see it. Ever since our arrival on Epsilon Eridani 2, Jornion has been running this place like he’s some kind of dictator. I seem to remember him being chosen by the powers that had been on Earth, but then what did they know? That was more than fifty years ago. They may have killed themselves off while we were in hibernation. It certainly wouldn’t surprise me, even if we had been improving the species.

Suffice it to say, traveling ten light years hasn’t necessarily improved people, especially not Gov. Hendrik Jornion. Maybe I’m being cynical. Maybe it would be better to say that politicians haven’t changed, but I don’t really think anyone ever expected they would.

On the other hand, Phineas and the other dolphins seem to love their new environment. It’s been a year since our arrival, and they’ve already begun to reproduce, unlike the humans. I worry that we’re going to have to start pulling eggs and sperm from the labs to keep the human line going. This shouldn’t be necessary for the dolphins, except to add some genetic variation to the gene pool.

It's almost impossible to believe that I’m on a planet that once held intelligent life. Unfortunately, we really haven’t learned much of anything about that race yet. The archaeology team hasn’t found anything that I would consider of great importance at the first site, although I’m sure they’d disagree with my interpretation of their findings. The only thing we can say for certain is that the Eridanians were an amphibious species. Their coastal cities rest half in the oceans and half out, and it’s clear that they were designed this way because the structures are designed to climb down the coral-like reefs where they need to.

The Eridanians seemed to have had a special reverence for geometry, or maybe art, or maybe it was both. Their cities are laid out in geometric patterns, very few of which are squares or rectangles. In addition, the cities are symmetrical. It’s a truly awe-inspiring sight. There are also very few tall buildings, almost none more than seven stories tall. The city is also small, as are all of the Eridanian cities. Apparently, they had a small population that could live spread out, much as twenty-first century Earth had become after the plagues.

The idea of learning something about an alien race was one of my main reasons for wanting to leave Earth, never to return again. It was second only to my desire to protect the dolphins from the exploitation they might face at the hands of people like Jornion.

I guess that will have to be it for now. Someone’s knocking. I’m sure it’s going to be Nate Howahkan. We have to take the probe back out to the Silent Sea. I’ll write more about that later.

                                                                                                     Eric Young

                                                                                                     Chief Marine Biologist

                                                                                                     Epsilon Eridani 2

Order from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3U70l6L

Order from Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1509505

Order from DriveThruFiction: https://www.drivethrufiction.com/product/467842

Do you need some help with your writing career?

From the Nomadic Delirium Press Blog:

We have just the book for you... J Alan Erwine's Do You Really Want To Be a Writer?

Do you really want to be a writer? It’s a serious question that anyone thinking about entering the field of writing should ask.
In this collection of essays, prize-winning science fiction author and editor J Alan Erwine uses his usual wit and sarcasm to educate and entertain potential writers as they start their journeys.
You won’t find essays about plot or character development here, but instead, you’ll find 17 essays that talk about the business of writing. Erwine uses his more than a quarter of a century of experience to talk about the submission process, and more importantly, what to do with your writing and career after you’ve started selling.
Do You Really Want To Be a Writer? is a great source of information for the new writer as well as the experienced writer.

Order from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3OfhN5t

Order from Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1503357

Order from DriveThruFiction: https://www.drivethrufiction.com/product/466362/

A Taste of the Madness Vol. 5

The fifth volume is here! And remember, this title is free if you're a Kindle Unlimited member...

A collection of six previously published short stories, that are available only for a limited time. Travel to distant planets and travel to different mad visions that prize-winning sf author J Alan Erwine has come up with, but beware, you can never be sure where his weird mind might take you.
Again, this collection is only available for a very limited time.

Order today at https://amzn.to/48Zo0dz

Echoes from the Deep

My latest novel, Echoes from the Deep is now available.

The first human and dolphin colony team has arrived on Epsilon Eridani 2, a planet that was once inhabited by a highly advanced species that has gone extinct.
On this exciting new world, the humans have brought all of their typical problems with them, while the dolphins adjust quite easily to their new home.
All of this changes when bizarre events begin to happen to the colonists. Is the stress of a new colony causing unknown neuroses and psychoses to suddenly surface? Is there something in the atmosphere that the colonists didn’t know about? Or is there something else behind the bizarre occurrences?

Order from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3U70l6L

Order from Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1509505

Order from DriveThruFiction: https://www.drivethrufiction.com/product/467842

#19 on the bestseller's list

My newest title, Do You Really Want To Be a Writer? is at #19 on the DriveThruFiction bestseller's list at the moment. Obviously this number can change, but I hope all of the writers and writer wannabes will help push that number higher. Check it out at https://www.drivethrufiction.com/top_100.php.

If you're not familiar with this title, here's the description for you:

Do you really want to be a writer? It’s a serious question that anyone thinking about entering the field of writing should ask.
In this collection of essays, prize-winning science fiction author and editor J Alan Erwine uses his usual wit and sarcasm to educate and entertain potential writers as they start their journeys.
You won’t find essays about plot or character development here, but instead, you’ll find 17 essays that talk about the business of writing. Erwine uses his more than a quarter of a century of experience to talk about the submission process, and more importantly, what to do with your writing and career after you’ve started selling.
Do You Really Want To Be a Writer? is a great source of information for the new writer as well as the experienced writer.

Last chance to get A Taste of the Madness Vol. 4

There's less than a week left to download A Taste of the Madness Vol. 4, and remember, if you're a Kindle Unlimited member, the download is free.

Download it while you still can at https://amzn.to/3SpgjYR

A collection of six previously published short stories, that are available only for a limited time. Travel to distant planets and travel to different mad visions that prize-winning sf author J Alan Erwine has come up with, but beware, you can never be sure where his weird mind might take you.
Again, this collection is only available for a very limited time.

New Year, New Game sale

From the Nomadic Delirium Press Blog:

It's time for the annual New Year, New Game sale at DriveThruRPG. You can save on the core rulebooks for all three of our games...Rocks on the Other Side, The Battle for Turtle Island, and Ephemeris. Head over to https://www.drivethrurpg.com/rpg_newyear.php?manufacturers_id=2805&filters=0_0_0_0_0_44298#selectpub and you can be playing a new game immediately!!!

Do You Really Want To Be a Writer? is the deal of the day

From the Nomadic Delirium Press Blog:

You can pick up our latest release, Do You Really Want To Be a Writer? for just $1.50 from DriveThruFiction today only by downloading the book at https://www.drivethrufiction.com/product/466362

Do you really want to be a writer? It’s a serious question that anyone thinking about entering the field of writing should ask.

In this collection of essays, prize-winning science fiction author and editor J Alan Erwine uses his usual wit and sarcasm to educate and entertain potential writers as they start their journeys.

You won’t find essays about plot or character development here, but instead, you’ll find 17 essays that talk about the business of writing. Erwine uses his more than a quarter of a century of experience to talk about the submission process, and more importantly, what to do with your writing and career after you’ve started selling.

Do You Really Want To Be a Writer? is a great source of information for the new writer as well as the experienced writer.

The contents of Do You Really Want To Be a Writer?

Are you interested in what you might find in my new non-fiction collection of essays on writing, Do You Really Want To Be a Writer? Here’s a complete listing:

• Why Hasn’t My Story Sold?
• How Do I Revise?
• Finding the Right Market
• What To Do With a Rejection Letter
• Somebody Wants to Buy Your Story, What Now?
• Reuse, Recycle
• Expanding Your Short Story into a Novel
• Using Social Media
• Marketing Your Fiction, and Yourself
• How to Survive Bad Reviews
• Maintaining Your Sanity as a Writer
• Creating a Short Story Collection
• Writing for Anthologies
• Writing Shared World Stories
• Collaborations
• Self-Publishing
• Writing Science Fiction

Order from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3OfhN5t

Order from Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1503357

Order from DriveThruFiction: https://www.drivethrufiction.com/product/466362/

A website update

With my first non-fiction book having just been released, and with a new novel coming very soon, and having recently published my 70th short story, I figured it was well past time to update my website. I've streamlined it, and tried to make it easy to navigate by mostly getting rid of much of the "fluff" that used to be on it. The site doesn't have all kinds of bells and whistles...it's a very simple design because I'd rather spend my time writing than doing web design, but please feel free to check it out at http://www.jalanerwine.com.

 

Do You Really Want To Be a Writer?

New from Nomadic Delirium Press!

Do you really want to be a writer? It’s a serious question that anyone thinking about entering the field of writing should ask.
In this collection of essays, prize-winning science fiction author and editor J Alan Erwine uses his usual wit and sarcasm to educate and entertain potential writers as they start their journeys.
You won’t find essays about plot or character development here, but instead, you’ll find 17 essays that talk about the business of writing. Erwine uses his more than a quarter of a century of experience to talk about the submission process, and more importantly, what to do with your writing and career after you’ve started selling.
Do You Really Want To Be a Writer? is a great source of information for the new writer as well as the experienced writer.

Order from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3OfhN5t

Order from Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1503357