Birthday Thoughts 2020

One day, back in 1965, I projected my age into the future, decade by decade. Let’s see, I thought…I’ll be 15 in 1970, 25 in 1980, 35 in 1990, 45 in the year 2000…that’s a new century, if I make it that far…I thought 45 was “old” at the time…55 in 2010…and now I’m 65…as … Continue reading Birthday Thoughts 2020 →

Competition

Everything we do is likely to put us in competition with others. Playing the trumpet and being around the music business for many years has taught me that much. Even writing the little bits and pieces of fiction and non-fiction I’ve posted so far means I’m competing with serious writers, famous authors, and clever bloggers. … Continue reading Competition →

Vehicles

Dizzy Gillespie used the word, vehicle, when referring to a song suitable for jazz improvisation. Fiction with a point or two refers to stories as vehicles to convey larger ideas. I classify most of my stories as light science fiction, more like what C.S. Lewis called, science fantasy. The SF elements are there for basically … Continue reading Vehicles →

Advice to a Young Person

Advice to accompany the famous poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow... The Wreck of the Hesperus is a poem about hubris. Hubris is over-confidence. Hubris is arrogance. Hubris is foolish pride. It’s good to take pride in a job well done, like a successful performance, a good test score, or improving your ability in some way. … Continue reading Advice to a Young Person →

Chronology

You might say I’m a little obsessed with time. Stories like H.G. Wells, “The Time Machine,” fascinate me. When I was growing up, I watched a T.V. show called, “The Time Tunnel.” In the late 90’s, “Seven Days” caught my attention. Then there was “Continuum,” in which the characters totally effed up the flow of … Continue reading Chronology →

Thoughts on “A Higher Calling”

The Novelette, “A Higher Calling,” found on the Fiction menu, was the result of thinking about the role of STEM and arts education as well as pondering the purpose of religion. The story began as two short story ideas that I eventually realized could be combined to set up a larger scenario. One involved the … Continue reading Thoughts on “A Higher Calling” →

It Was Never About the Trumpet

I taught trumpet for more than 42 years. I lost track of the number of private lessons many years ago. After teaching at the same university for 37 years, I was “retired” in a time of “financial exigency.” Three of my music colleagues were likewise “retired” that same year. In my case, the reason given … Continue reading It Was Never About the Trumpet →

Performing, Recording, and Writing

The sound of the trumpet is hard to miss. The trumpet stands out. It’s bold and brassy. It’s “in your face.” A trumpet player can’t hide, no matter how much he or she may want to. In a reverberant space, a single mistake made by a trumpet player seems to last an eternity – well, … Continue reading Performing, Recording, and Writing →

Not Dreams

There is a brief period between sleeping and waking. In that time, ideas may come, random thoughts about what my brain has been mulling overnight, often without my knowledge or consent, may appear unbidden from the fog of unconsciousness. The brain works on what it chooses, when it chooses. Maybe that’s “the stuff dreams are … Continue reading Not Dreams →

Dreams

Sometimes my stories are inspired by dreams. For example, the opening scene of "The Emissary" was inspired by a dream. I used that dream to begin a story. The questions came. What happens next? Where do I go after that? Who sent the module? Why? And as the main character asks, "why me?" Edison's proposition … Continue reading Dreams →