Mother Nature has taken pity on us. After more than a week of heavy rain and flooding, the showers this week have been intermittent and the sun’s even put in a few appearances. Most of the leaves are now on the ground, at least those I haven’t raked up yet, and the trees are looking sparse. Looks like we’ll have plenty of sunshine to start the day.
On a positive note, the price of gasoline (petrol) dropped another two pence this week. So we’re now at £1.59 a liter. With the current exchange rate of $1.21, this makes the equivalent cost of a U.S. gallon $7.28, a an increase of three cents from last week.
Tomorrow the Small Business Christmas Market begins and runs through Christmas Eve. If you happen to be in the Dunfermline, Fife area during this period, why not stop into the Kingsgate and see what’s on offer. There’ll be plenty of gifts to choose from as well as a mixture of goodies to sample. Hope to see you there!
The number of American college football games shown on Saturday increased to seven. This weekend, there were four from the Southeastern Conference, three from the PAC-12, and none from the Big Ten. As always, I recorded all of them. I was really disappointed the clash between Michigan (11-0, 3rd in the College Football Playoff) and Ohio State (11-0, 2nd in the CPF) was shown. While it was close at halftime with Ohio State leading 20-17, Michigan kicked it into high gear and went on to win 45-23. Go Blue!
Here’s this week’s quote (Compliments of http://www.wisdomquotesandstories.com/):
“Focus on good thoughts and good things will happen. Stay positive. Think positive. Do positive.”
So who was born on this date in history? Let’s find out who in the writing world was born on November 27th, the fourth and final Sunday of the month:
John Murray II, Scottish publisher (publisher Lord Byron); Aleksey Apukhtin, Russian poet and friend of Tsjaikovski; Jose Asunción Silva, Colombian poet (Nocturno III); Charles A. Beard, American historian (American Continentalism); Jatindramohan Bagchi, Indian (Bengali) poet; Władysław Orkan [Franciszek Ksawery Smaciarz], Polish author (Nowele Zebrane); Pedro Salinas, Spanish writer (Generation of 1927); Giovanni Battista Angioletti, Italian author (Il giorno del giudizio); Fredric Warburg, British publisher (Animal Farm) and author; L. Sprague de Camp, American sci-fi author (Goblin Tower, Hand of Zei); James Agee, American author (African Queen, Death in Family); Elaine Greene, literary agent; Ole Sarvig, Danish writer and critic (Limbo, Glem Ikke); John Maddox, British science writer and editor (Nature); Vladimir Maksimov, Russian writer and dissident; Gail Sheehy, American author (Hustling); Nicole Brossard, French Canadian poet; Kathryn Bigelow, American director, producer and writer (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty); and Kevin Henkes, American children’s book writer/illustrator (Caldecott Medal).
Any names familiar to you? I recognized one: Kathryn Bigelow. Whether you recognize anyone on the list or not, if today’s your special day I hope you have a great one!
My Work in Progress
I completed and posted chapter nineteen of Frozen Conquest to the two online subscription writing sites I use. There were another eighteen reviews this week, bringing the total to 341. As always, plenty of good suggestions to improve my story and I’m greatly appreciative of the support.
Here another snippet:
Liam and Winston lifted the unconscious Ailsa from the floor and tossed her on a bed.
They straightened her body and put a pillow underneath her head.
“Good enough. Start placing the GSM bugs—they all have built-in batteries, so just make sure they’re hidden. The cabin’s small, so the bugs should pick up every conversation.” Winston located Ailsa’s cellphone and tried to access it.
Locked.
He picked up her hand and swiped her fingers across the phone. I’m in. “I’ll download the spyware app to her phone. She’ll never know it’s there.”
“Should I put a bug in the bathroom, too?”
Winston shrugged. “Why not? No telling what we’ll hear.”
Moments later, Liam stepped from the bathroom. “Done. Now what?”
“Let’s get out of here. We’ll go back to our cabin and check the connections.”
* * *
Carina’s eyes flicked from her watch to the companionway expecting Ailsa to appear at any moment.
“Something the matter?” A bemused smile etched across Gunner’s face.
“Yes. After Ailsa and I went out on deck, she said she was going back to the room to retrieve her camera so she could take some group shots.” Carina glanced at her wrist again. “It’s been almost thirty minutes—she should be with us by now.”
“Perhaps she needed to use the toilet.”
“For that long?” Carina shook her head as she stood. “Something’s wrong. I’m going to check on her.”
Gunner drained the last of his coffee. “Wait a minute. If something strange is going on, I’d feel better accompanying you.”
“Thank you.”
* * *
Gunner and Carina left the rest of the team and made their way to Ailsa’s cabin.
Carina reached for the door handle.
“Wait!” Gunner pointed. “Look. The door isn’t shut. Let me go first in case someone other than Ailsa is inside.”
Carina stepped aside.
He edged the door open and peeked inside. Not seeing anyone, he entered.
“Holy smokes! Carina—it’s Ailsa. Something’s happened.”
Carina rushed into the cabin, stopping by the edge of the bed.
Gunner had gone to the other side and cradled Ailsa’s head in his arms.
She started to stir. “W-What happened?”
More next time.
Promotions
Five of my novels (all but Revenge) are also participating in a Mayhem & Motives: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Reads. This one allows five books per author and there are currently 146 novels participating.
https://books.bookfunnel.com/mysthrillsus-nov/4nmgssn0ek
This brings us to an end for another week. I hope you found something of interest. If you have any suggestions for a topic you’d like to read about, please let me know. Until the next time, thank you for reading and hope you drop in again.
© Copyright 2022 Randall Krzak. All rights reserved
