60+ year old thread.

Agents seem to be a necessary evil for some reason. I have no idea how to get one interested. I had a professional editor read my first book and call me up half way through it to offer a partnership, and another nationally famous editor give me a decent review, but without an agent it appears the publishing companies are only interested in the same old, same old. Hollywood is a hard nut to crack, too. I've known people that spent a half million climbing the ladder to get a movie made and finally realized paying for access was just them being milked.

 

Dang, OP I think it's time to rename this thread "60's, wannabes, and book nerds"!

Only kidding. I am impressed by the discussion and the breadth and depth of the books being discussed. I have never been much for the classics myself. I've read everything Neal Stephenson has written, co-written, or influenced. Walter Isaacson writes fabulous biographies, although I bogged down on his Da Vinci book and didn't finish it. I burn through the occasional Jack Reacher too, when I'm in the mood for that.

I'm feeling a bit under the weather; sinuses stuffy and digestive tract not happy. I'm trying to decide whether or not to use one the home ***** tests we have. I think I had better do it.

 

Self Publish it!

Budd Davisson has two books out, Cobalt Blue and Stonewall File. For years he couldn't get a publisher but started self-publishing it and they took off so finally, a publisher did print it. I've mentioned Budd before as he has a blog "Airbum" about years of flight, teaching, etc. Just a blast to spend an evening with. We went out to dinner, with Budd his wife, and my brother. My brother is blind (both retinas detached, too many blows to his head from his Army Days '68-'72). We had a great time, I had to point out to Marlene to start with "John" and then ask your question. Blind, he doesn't join a conversation until his name is spoken first. No straws in his drinks, either. You lean forward and stab your eye. So if a drink were served with a straw, I'd warn him. So he was quiet at first, but with Budd, they started talking about Gibson. Budd had done of the first catalogs for Gibson, as was paid with custom Guitar. The next three hours they were going on like crazy. Not bad for my brother who wanted to bail on dinner as he had nothing to say "to an Airbum". Flight Journal is a fantastic magazine, Budd researches stuff like crazy so anything published has many accurate details.

http://airbum.com/

A few years away from retiring, but I have my reading list waiting!

Edit: Corrected. It was Gibson, not Fender. Budd still has an original Les Paul that was his payment. Zero plans to sell it, my brother still plays Bass and owned a Les Paul in his earlier band days. He made good money playing Harmonica. He would hear a tune once and could repeat it with any instrument. Retina's detached some 40 years after his army days, but VA had his records and could document the history. Sadly he is still dealing with his own demons, life hasn't been easy on him.

 

I think I have a copy and have read every book John Grisham has written. Good writer. I have read nearly everything Tom Clancy has written, but it seems that he has put his name on many books written by other authors, many of which are not of his caliber.

 

Morning all:
I am not a book worm, but as always, am enjoying the posts being made by those who are.
BUT, I am spending WAY too much time on the computer reading and researching various things of interest.

 

I've considered that, however, given the book is written in first person and given I wrote it long before I had learned much about the syntactical requirements of inner dialog and such; needless to say, it'll need many-many hours of editing before it can even be given to a professional editor. My career has literally exploded in my mid-60s meaning I'm so over the top busy there will be no time for that manuscript, or any of the half-dozen others I have waiting in some stage of development, until I retire in another eight years or so.

 

The one huge exception to the book written either as a Tom Clancy collaboration, or entirely ghostwritten, is Red Storm Rising co-written with Larry Bond; great book.

 

Actually Dave I was tossing it around to rename the thread "Anything you want to know from a group of folks that someone will know the answer". A lot of knowledge on many different levels of topics. Amazing the knowledge we have here. Great group. If only groups were allowed on Jeopardy we could get rich

 

Well, there's always Family Feud!

 

Covid update - I know some of you have had Covid and many haven’t. Thought I update you all so if you get it you’ll know what you might expect. It seems the newer variant’s aren’t as serious, are more mild but are more contagious and still make you quite ill. Thought I’d keep you all updated on how it goes. My wife’s symptoms started 4 days ago and mine 5 to 6 days ago. We contacted our doctor soon after we tested positive using our home test kits and he prescribed antiviral meds. 3 pills twice a day for 5 days. Our cases are mild but due to age (over 60) antiviral’s are recommended. The antivirals made my wife sick and nauseous. For me a little nauseous and kind of a metallic taste in my mouth. I have 1.5 days left of the medications.
The symptoms for both of us are like having a bad cold. Coughing, sneezing, very very mild fever that goes from normal to 99.5. Mild fatigue and weakness. Just generally feel lousy. I’m feeling better and doing things around the house but taking it slow. The thing you have to be vigilant about is any pulmonary problems - trouble breathing, short of breath. If you experience that contact your doctor immediately or go to ER. So far no pulmonary problems at all. So basically overall very similar to a nasty cold.

I’ll update this every couple days.
This thing is most worrisome for us older people but if you are vaccinated and boosted the odds of a serious case diminish dramatically. One other thing for the antivirals to be prescribed and effective they need to be started within 5 days of the first symptoms.
Time to go back to reading and napping.

 

Get better soon Ken. Take care of the Missus.

 

@Sprig, here's hoping you shuck it off soon and with no long-term effects. I got my first round of COVID in late January 2020, before it was supposedly even here in the States; that round lasted ten months; the first three with hard symptoms, the final seven with painful joint swelling. I got my second round of COVID about three months after my second Pfizer shot; light symptoms for a day, hard COVID garbage for another day, then nothing; all better. I got my third round of COVID after my first booster; symptoms were middle of the road, but only lasted for a day.

The fact you're vaccinated should see you through it without too many trials and tribulations.

 

I recall reading Tom Clancy’s “Red Storm Rising’ shortly after returning from a 6 month deployment to Iceland. Much of the story was set in Iceland and Clancy did an excellent job capturing the look and feel of of the land and the people.

 

I absolutely agree, I hadn't been to Iceland for a few years when I read the book and felt the same way about his description of that island. Funny thing, last weekend my wife and I booked a long overdue vacation for August; a week based in Manchester traveling in and around northern England, southern Scotland, and of course a day trip to see Thomas Telford's Menai Suspension Bridge. On the way home we're stopping in Iceland for five days and have the Golden Circle trip in our plans; first time I've been to Iceland since 1985.

 

Went and saw Southern Culture on The Skids Thursday night with my son. It was in Mill Valley. If you know who they are then I don’t have to tell you how much fun it was. Worth the drive and effort!

If you don’t know who they are given-them a listen. You might like them.

 

Good morning fellow Porchatonians!!!

 

Morning
New car is fast and has potential for more.
A second and a third overall and 1st in class for yesterday. Serious brake overheating issues but working on solutions. Hope today is just as good.

 

Morning , 90+ degrees today and tomorrow. Boat day

 

Sweet! Can I, once again, say I am in awe of your mechanical skills??!!

 

Thanks.
Someone has to drive it though…


Notice the pit bikes in the background. Couldn’t do anything without those.