Mother Nature decided to give the forecasters a break. We were supposed to have multiple thunderstorms overnight-only had one brief storm. Supposed to be a rain-free day today, and I hope that bears out as we’ll be at a local farmer’s market.
The Detroit Pistons won gave five of their best-of-seven series with the New York Knicks, but lost game six, ending their season. Hopefully, Detroit will bounce back when the new season begins.
The Detroit Tigers played seven games over the past week, winning four of them. Their record is now 21-13, and they are still in first place in the American League Central Division, with a game and a half lead over Cleveland.
“You don’t start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it’s good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it.” – Octavia E. Butler. Compliments of https://getfreewrite.com/blogs/writing-success/55-motivational-writing-quotes.
So who was born on this date in history? Let’s find out who in the writing world was born on May 4th, the eighteenth Sunday of 2025 and the first lone in May. (Compliments of https://www.onthisday.com/birthdays/).
Richard Graves, English writer; Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus, German encyclopedia publisher; Horace Mann, American educator, author, abolitionist and politician who pioneered public schools; William H. Prescott, American historian; Joseph Whitaker, British publisher (Whitaker’s Almanac); Mynona [Salomo Friedlaender], German-Jewish philospher and writer (The Creator); Ramiro de Maeztu, Spanish writer (Don Quixote & Celestine); Wilhelm Lehmann, German writer; J. W. F. Werumeus Buning, Dutch poet (Daily Bread); (Nicolaas) “Cola” Debrot, Dutch lawyer, doctor, author and politician (Governor of the Netherlands Antilles, 1962-70); Lincoln Kirstein, American writer and impresario; Jeroom Verten [Jozef Frans Vermetten], Flemish playwright; Emmanuel Roblès, Algerian-French novelist and playwright (Lesson Hauteurs); Jane Jacobs, American-Canadian author and urbanologist (The Death and Life of Great American Cities); Peter Blum, Afrikaan poet (Capricorn; Gerlind Reinshagen, German novelist, children’s book author, and playwright (Himmel und Erde (Heaven and Earth)); Carlos Monsiváis, Mexican writer and political activist,; Amos Oz, Israeli author (My Michael); Robin Cook, American physician and novelist; Monika van Paemel, Belgian writer (Accursed Fathers); Narasimhan Ram, Indian journalist (The Hindu); Graham Swift, British author (Waterland, Last Orders); and Ishita Bhaduri, Indian (Bengali) poet.
Any names familiar to you? There weren’t any for me this week. 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
Things are moving forward with Harding’s Challenge: The Great Rebellion. The first twenty-three chapters are now posted to the two online subscription sites I use. There were eighteen new chapter reviews this week, bringing the total to ninety-eight. As always, plenty of feedback to improve the story.
Here’s the first snippet:
In the spring of 1848, Johann Spreckler, a tall, thin man in his early thirties, maintained a small workshop in the Jura mountain region of Switzerland. A watchmaker by trade, his true passion was trying to create completely mechanical animals and machinery. Using the tools and parts from his trade, he developed the inner workings of life-size mice that would move about his worktable with amazingly realistic movements.
In his delight, he shared his little toy mouse with his friend, Carl Ludden. His friend was astounded at the machine.
The shiny brass rodent moved about the desktop but, eventually ran off the edge and crashed to the floor.
“I must find a way to control the movement,” Johann said.
That was where his troubles began. For ten years he worked late into the night after his shop closed, trying to develop a mechanism to control his various machines. If he was to control the workings of his creations, he needed a power source other than winding the mechanism as you would a clock.
One night, Johann was overcome by fatigue and rested his head on his workbench. In a dream, he saw the materials needed to create not only a power source, but a signal that would give the machines the ability to move on their own naturally. When he awoke before dawn he set about forging the materials needed to create the power source.
It took another three years for the ‘accumulator’ to be perfected. To his amazement, the creatures took on near-perfect behaviors. They no longer ran off the edge of his bench, but would scurry about the floor avoiding chair legs, hopping onto the rugs. To Johann’s astonishment, the smaller versions would crawl up his sleeve and rest on his shoulder while he worked. Something magical, even mystical occurred in the accumulator’s wiring.
Johann didn’t understand what he had created but was thrilled at the results.
He thought his toys to be innocent fun. He prepared a dozen mice, a small palm-sized bird that would fly about the room, and a miniature man who would sweep the floor with a small straw broom. He planned to offer his wondrous toys for Christmas.
In his shop, he allowed two of the mice to scurry over the counter.
The bird sat on the shelf chirping and flapping its wings. Without any command, it would take flight, circle the room, and come back to the shelf.
When a customer reacted, Johann would proudly tell them the creatures were for sale and quote the price. To his utter and complete disappointment, no one was interested, and in a lot of cases, the customers were terrified of his creatures and fled the store.
The snow was drifting and piled against the front of Johann’s watch shop the morning the mayor, the town elder priest and a rich landowner came into the shop.
From their scowls, Johann knew it wasn’t a cordial visit. He welcomed them. “Good morning, gentlemen.”
It was at that moment the bird lifted from the shelf and looped around the shop.
The priest made the sign of the cross.
The landowner turned to the mayor. He whispered, “See, what did I tell you?”
“Where did you get that creature?”
Johann smiled broadly. “I made him.”
“How can a man create something that is alive?” the priest asked.
‘It does imitate a bird, but I would not say it was alive. After all, it doesn’t eat, drink, or breathe.”
“Satan is the ultimate imitator,” the priest replied. “He has his way of imitating all things that are true and pure in God’s creation.”
“How did you learn to make these creatures?” the mayor asked.
Johann didn’t fully reflect on the way his answer would sound. “It came to me in a dream.”
The priest turned to the major. He spoke in a soft voice. “De profundis clamavi ad te. (Evil calls for help from evil).”
“Do you renounce Satan and all his work and ways?” The landowner acted as if he was performing an exorcism.
“I think you misunderstand my work gentlemen. I am a watchmaker. The toys are but machines. Is a clock or watch a thing of the devil?” Johann tried to hide his fear of where the conversation was going.
The priest could barely contain his anger. “All day long they distort my words. All their thoughts are against me for evil.”
“I am not evil. I am a simple watchmaker and inventor. Why do you see me as doing something against God? He doesn’t enter into this work. I have made innocent toys.”
The landowner slapped his hat against his palm. “To lead children astray. To remove God’s creation with imitations.”
“This will not do,” the mayor said. “I cannot let this distraction from the Church go on in my city. I order this shop closed. I will send the chief magistrate to lock and secure it.”
“You can’t!” Johann protested.
“I can and I have,” the mayor snapped.
More next time.
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 2025 Randall Krzak. All rights reserved
In case you missed it, I can now reveal the cover of Ultimate Escalation, which will be released by Solstice Publishing. We’re closing in on the publication date. I’m currently going through the PDF file the editor-in-chief sent me for the third, and hopefully, the final time.
subscription writing sites I use. There were another fifteen reviews this week, bringing the total to 317. As always, plenty of good suggestions to improve my story and I’m greatly appreciative of the support.