AJAlansonAuthor

A friend said something clarifying this morning: courage isn’t evenly distributed. We were talking about people in general but I think it can be applied to the individual as well. Heck, I even confuse myself. I mean why do I stand up in this area of life and shrink, slither off, or worse, run screaming in another? People might call me a few colorful terms, but lacking self-awareness was never one…

Click to view the Bass Wrapper Leave a comment Cancel reply Δ ✓ Subscribed

Written and researched by Chris Chiller About a thousand years ago, an ethnic group left northwestern India, moving west. These were people who maintained a tight community, clinging to their language and customs. Using borrowed words related to horses and commerce as clues and historical records, it seems likely that the group spent time in Persia. The group continued to move west into Greece…

A treat from my writing partner. Enjoy! On Almost Adults – by Chris Chiller On Wednesday, we dropped our daughter off for an overnight freshman orientation. She was one of several hundred incoming 17 and 18-year-olds. They were housed in a dormitory with a circular drive near the entrance. We stopped behind three other cars, and all of us opened our back hatches to fetch luggage for the…

Summer always brings the same angst to a writer: I’m behind. Every year, the same old saw grinds, back and forth, back and forth through my ego. I’m behind. Never enough hours in the day—even though it’s supposedly longer. I’m behind. Like, somebody’s been lying since the earth first began to rotate. I’m behind. The days aren’t longer. I’m behind. And even if they are (I’m behind), there isn’t…

Summer always brings the same angst to a writer: I’m behind. Every year, the same old saw grinds, back and forth, back and forth through my ego. I’m behind. Never enough hours in the day—even though it’s supposedly longer. I’m behind. Like, somebody’s been lying since the earth first began to rotate. I’m behind. The days aren’t longer. I’m behind. And even if they are (I’m behind), there isn’t…

By Chris Chiller In previous installments of Fact of Fiction we reviewed pirates and smugglers in Maine from Colonial times up to early US restrictions on trade with Great Britain which led to coastal Maine becoming a center of illicit trade for all of New England. Maine’s first Governor, William King, appears to have enriched himself by running British goods from Barbados to Bath, Maine.  One…

I, like many of my people, wake in the morning and plan my day. While falling asleep at night, I size up all I’ve achieved—and all I didn’t. Sounds pleasant, positively Puritan, as though Ben Franklin should have a cute rhyme about it, like, “Raise your head, mind the chores. Close your eyes, judge your worth.” This ritual is not so much a tradition in my upbringing as it is a law. That said,…

Writing the twelve-book arc of The Admiral Inn Mysteries has been, among other adventures, a Tip-o-the-Iceberg experience. For every tidbit of true history in the books, mountains of research is compiled. My writing and research partner is putting together the files behind the running back themes floating around the Admiral Inn. Enjoy! Fact of Fiction: Smugglers of Maine

This weekend, Connecticut Book Festivals has put together a two-day-only affair at Westbrook Outlets, 314 Flat Rock Place, Westbrook, CT! This is such a clever idea and fantastic opportunity for member independent authors and readers alike. Like magic, the store will appear out of the mists at 11 am each morning, Saturday, April 18th and Sunday April 19th, and fade away each afternoon at 4pm.…

Humans across cultures and time often name themselves by what they “do.” Jerry Herder, Oliver Miller, Joe Carpenter, well, loosely saying, but you get the point. And not only in the European traditions but this naming convention is found around the world. Of course, not all Smiths make stuff. These names were passed down as surnames for lineage or clan association, but my point is many humans –…

I will be signing my books at the Velvet Mill in Stonington, Connecticut on March 21st from 11-4. If you’ve never been, this is a really great shopping district with boutiques, eateries, and a farmer’s market. Oh, and 48 Authors with piles of books. Join us!

My eyes, glued to the screen, squint. “It that real? Are his abs even possible? The internet these days is like some navy SEAL training camp for my Nasty Aunt Eunice alter ego. I’m straining to catch the tiniest mistake, to find a flaw, to nitpick (and with great glee) any wrinkle, beauty mark, or scar, because I’m hunting for humans. Everywhere, in everything, the bastardization of reality…

I caught a commercial the other day that gave me a giggle—not because it was funny but because humans are so weird. This fake celebrity woman was selling something at a mock press conference, peppered by questions under strobing photo flashes and I don’t even remember the product. Just the duck lips. The immovable forehead. The skin stretched back to her hairline. And I thought: what a time to be…

Last week, one of my friends posted a cartoon to my timeline about writer’s block. I don’t know if he jinxed me, but it came at a time when I had pushed back from drafting the 11th book in The Admiral Inn series because I just wasn’t feeling it. I would sit down to write my quota—and I did—but the scenes were lifeless, boring, and each day fast became an exercise in diminishing returns. Now, I…

Twenty-six years after I had sent these pastels as gifts, they came back to me with a request: take them to a framer and have them matted, glassed and framed. Because I had created these candid portraits of three sons over the course of a year and each time, mailed them off, this moment a couple of weeks ago was the first time I had seen them again in a quarter century, and the first time I had…

I came across the phrase the other day, “Building Character,” as in whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, but the first time through, I read it wrong because I have a “building” character. And for anyone who knows the admiral’s mansion in my books, that building builds character, too. A few surprises cropped up after I started The Admiral Inn 12-book series. I’d like to say I planned out…