Laer Carroll

I have always been skeptical of deliveries by drones. I’m an engineer and know the many problems with such systems. But two recent ones have shown how they can be successful. One is domestic, one foreign – in Africa! This moderately lengthy YouTube video shows how, and in a very entertaining way at that.

I just published the ebook Shapechanger’s Destiny on Amazon. It completes the trilogy Mary McCarthy: Shapechanger. Click images to read the first few pages and to buy the books.

There’s an excellent article on the Goodreads website. It includes a sampling of new fantasy and science fiction of this new year It displays the covers of the books. If you click the image a popup window gives basic plot info. If that sounds interesting, the image has a link to a full page of detailed info and (in some cases) a link to where you can buy or pre-order the book. Click the image to…

An author whose works greatly influenced my stories was James Schmitz. I seek to give my readers the same feeling of wonder I feel reading anything he wrote. I just finished re-reading a collection of his Vegan Confederacy stories and begun re-reading another collection. The second is of some of the stories taking place in the Confederacy’s Hub worlds. Click image to read the first few pages and…

MARY is BUILDING an AIRPLANE

I am now not quite at the 80% point in writing the third book in the Mary McCarthy: Shapechanger trilogy.  Mary has built a research facility just outside Pittsburgh. She has hired almost a hundred people to run it. The first task is to build an airplane which is a compendium of all the aeronautical research discovered and tested in Europe. In her timeline heavier-than-air vehicles have been…

THE SILVERED Great Fantasy Novel

I just finished Tanya Huff‘s THE SILVERED. It pulled me in and pulled me along to the very end. Understandably I highly recommend it. Available in Kindle, Audiobook, Hardcover. From the Amazon website: The Empire has declared war on the small, were-ruled kingdom of Aydori, capturing five women of the Mage-Pack, including the wife of the Were Pack-leader. With the Pack off defending the border, it…

PROGRESS made on SHAPECHANGER’S DESTINY

I thought I’d let anyone interested know that work has been paused on the last fifth of the final book of the Mary McCarthy: Shapechanger trilogy. This was because of a plot problem. Not that I’ve been completely halted. I turned to work on the third novelette about Amelia Earhart as a Star Guardian while my subconscious was working on the Shapechanger book problem. Then two days ago as I was…

WEDNESDAY Great Netflix Streaming Show

I highly recommend the Netflix limited-episode streamer about the Addams family’s daughter titled eponymously Wednesday. I rarely recommend a streamer until I’ve seen all episodes. I do so now because even if it drops off in appeal the first two episodes deliver enough delight to make watching it worthwhile.

Back to work on SHAPECHANGER’S DESTINY

I’ve not been working on my latest book for the past six weeks. That time has been taken up with finding a new home; the oldest one has become too expensive. And prepping for a move in several ways such as getting rid of lots of stuff I no longer need. And moving. And settling in, which included getting a new bed, the older one being too big for my cozier space. Finally, I’m back at work. On the…

FREE MS Word is available

Recently I decided to use Microsoft Word rather than LibreOffice to write my stories. I wanted to use Grammarly to help me copyedit my stories and LO did not have that option. The current version of MS Word is available only as a subscription service. I did not want to be captive to Microsoft in this way, nor pay the high price of the software. So I researched downloading free older versions. I…

SHAPECHANGER’S DESTINY 70% along

I just passed the 70% mark toward a projected 100,000 words in the last book of the trilogy called MARY MCARTHY: SHAPECHANGER. Here’s the latest cover for the book. Click images to read the first few pages and to buy the books.

YANN TIERSEN’S “Les Jours Triste”

These two videos bring me to tears. I’ve heard many versions of Yann Tiersen‘s “Les Jours Tristes” from the soundtrack of the movie Amelie. These two videos are among my favorites. The ballet makes me wonder what dancing we will do in the zero-g of space stations and the one-sixth gravity on the Moon. To see the video click on it. Then you can click on the YouTube logo to watch on YouTube. Or…

MS MARVEL is terrific

I normally don’t recommend a streaming series until I’ve seen the last episode. I just saw Ms. Marvel’s finale and can now happily say that I loved the six-episode series.

SHAPECHANGER’S DESTINY 60% along

I just passed the 60% mark toward a projected 100,000 words in the last book of the trilogy called MARY MCARTHY: SHAPECHANGER. To celebrate and urge me on I created a cover for the book. For the curious readers of the previous two books right now she is in Pittsburgh in 1880 and about to meet 45-year old Andrew Carnegie and hobnob with the three (or four) Mellons, 34-year old George Westinghouse,…

SHAPECHANGER’S DESTINY progress report

The skeletons of enough scenes to fill a couple of chapters wrote themselves as I gradually came awake this morning. By lunchtime I should have done a draft of the middle of the final book in the Mary McCarthy trilogy. UPDATE A day later: I’m working on the second chapter now. Mary is in America and riding west on a train to Pittsburgh. In the Shapechanger universe that city is home to some of…

THE EMPRESS OF UNITY timeline

THE EMPRESS OF UNITY, a companion piece to THE SPACE ORPHAN trilogy, is contemporaneous with the middle book. Click image to read the first few pages and to buy the books.

THE EMPRESS OF UNITY is now available

Astronaut Major Felicia Romero is working in Luna City on the Moon when she keeps having a puzzling dream. She sees a mysterious door in a sub-basement. It is free standing and floating a foot above the floor. She finds it and very cautiously investigates it. She finally yields to curiosity and goes through the door. On the other side she finds something very strange. THE EMPRESS OF UNITY is a…