Death with Dignity
My home state of Michigan is currently contemplating the passage of a bill — dubbed the "Death with Dignity Act" — that would allow terminally ill adult patients to request medical aid to die. I know this is an emotionally charged topic, especially here in Michigan, given our history with notorious native son Dr. Jack Kevorkian, whose advocacy for phyisican-assisted suicide earned him the press nickname of "Dr. Death." Some people are adamantly opposed to this based on religious grounds, and I...
A Spoke on the Story Hub
Writing climate fiction — or eco-fiction — can make it all too easy to slide down into an abyss where things grow darker as you drop, and the light above your head can collapse into a pinprick. That's one of the reasons I've embraced the solarpunk movement in climate-conscious SF. Writing a dystopian climate future is easy; sharing an optimistic vision, where we get our act together as a species and find creative ways to meld technology with the natural world to heal instead of plunder...well,...
Grieving and Bereaving
It's been a rough week. My mom passed away in 2019 ( https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/fort-wayne-in/barbara-burt-8964527 ), aftetr a long battle with Alzheimers, and that was devastating enough. My dad passed away last Friday after a series of falls that left him vulnerabile and compromised. He's reunited with my mom now, which is a blessing, albeit a mixed one: https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/fort-wayne-in/john-burt-11380169 .
Watching your parents fade into the twilight...
Smoke Choke
The climate change-fueled extreme weather adventures for this summer continue, wafting close to home again for me and my family. The dangerous smoke from Canadian wildfires is once again drifting over Michigan, threatening to choke the labored breathing of vulnerable folks or anyone stuck working for extended periods outside:
Michigan is in for another round of Canadian wildfire smoke
Sure, we can take refuge in our air-conditioned home, hiding indoors until the smoke clears (literally and...
Revenge of the Orcas
Sometimes, fact really is stranger than fiction. I recently came across a fascinating PBS News Hour story about pods of orcas attacking and sinking vessels off the Iberian Peninsula. Scientists are generally baffled by the behavior, which is unique to this distinct subpopulation. One theory to explain the coordinated attacks? Revenge! Some experts believe that an orca matriarch named White Gladys suffered a traumatic injury inflicted by a boat and is now coaching members of her pod on how to fight...
Green Mirror and Blue Nation
I was pleased and honored to contribute a story to the eco-fiction anthology No More Fairy Tales: Stories to Save Our Planet, released to inspire action at the COP27 Climate Conference. But Denise Baden and Steve Willis, the dynamic duo behind this effort to share tales offering a positive vision of the future, have much more ambitious plans. In this wonderful interview with Tom Raftery, host of the Climate Confident podcast, Denise and Steve discuss their whirlwind journey to deliver the anthology...
Writing for Climate Action Gains Momentum
I was recently honored to be a contributor to an eco-fiction anthology (No More Fairy Tales: Stories to Save Our Planet) aimed at inspiring the delegates to the COP27 Climate Conference. Since then, I see sign after sign that the tide of public opinion may finally be turning in a "slow-building tsunami" that promises to overwhelm traditional "status-quo" apathy on this topic. I find this heartening, a much-needed source of optimism as we turn the corner from 2022 into 2023.
I had a chance to...
COP27 and the Power of Climate Fiction
I'm thrilled to be a contributor to a unique fiction project: an anthology of diverse short stories intended to inspire the delegates to the recent COP27 Climate Conference. No More Fairy Tales: Stories to Save Our Planet was compiled by Dr. Denise Baden and the folks at the Green Stories writing competitions with the explicit goal of presenting optimistic visions of a future Earth where we've embraced, and creatively addressed, the challenges our planet faces due to climate change. These stories...
Aquarius Rises Again
My eco-fiction trilogy, Aquarius Rising, was originally published by Double Dragon eBooks. To my shock, Book 1 of the series, In the Tears of God, won EPIC's eBook Award for Science Fiction. Book 2, Blood Tide, won the Readers' Favorite Gold Medal for Science Fiction. It was certainly a bummer when Double Dragon decided to close their digital doors...but it also presented an opportunity.
I decided to release all three books of the trilogy via Kindle Direct Publishing in one, consolidated volume....
Tales from the Deep Launches
Flying Ketchup Press has released their latest anthology, Tales from the Deep, on Amazon. I'm thrilled to have my short story "Neptune's Children" included! Here is how the editor, Polly Alice McCann, describes this collection:
From an apocalyptic ocean, to the empty void of space, from the ghosts in the human psyche to the center of the Earth. In “Tales from the Deep” asks questions answered best in the dark. Artist Alex Eickhoff brings these short hybrid fictions to life. Don't dip your toes...
D&D: Storytelling in Realtime
As a writer, I've always prided myself on having a pretty vivid imagination. But I've recently been humbled by the incredible creativity of the Dungeon Masters who shepherd their friends through Dungeons & Dragons adventures. My middle son is the DM for a D&D campaign on a flooded water-world, sprinkled with mysterious islands each harboring a treasure (and deadly menace) of its own. The rest of the family (me, my wife, and our other two sons) and a family friend are questing to find the arcane...
Rave Reviews for Mindshards
VERY psyched that Readers' Favorite has just published a 5-star review of my new short story collection, Mindshards.
Mindshards is a work without comparison, a thriller genre junkie's ultimate fix." Five out of five stars
It's always nice to see some positive reviewer feedback! You can see the entire review published on the Readers' Favorite web site:
Readers' Favorite Book Review: Mindshards
And here's yet another "hot off the presses" review of Mindshards from Diane Donovan of Midwest...
Goodreads Kindle Giveaway
To celebrate the release of Mindshards: A Collection, I'm giving away 100 Kindle copies on Goodreads. The giveaway will run for the next 30 days. Enter early and often...or at least early...or feel free to skip the suspense and just buy a copy for the bargain price of $2.99. ;-
Book Giveaway For Mindshards: A Collection
Mindshards Explodes
On August 3, my first published collection of short stories -- Mindshards -- releases on Amazon. I'm very excited to share this collection of speculative fiction that runs the gamut from science fiction to fantasy to horror. I'm even more excited because my eldest son, Cormac, crafted the original cover art!
This eBook will be available to all Kindle Unlimited subscribers, as well as for a reasonable price to non-members. If nothing else, at least click through to check out the cover art (and...
To Self-Pub or Not to Self-Pub?
Why "4wrd" for the new blog? Because brevity is the soul of wit...and I struggle mightily with brevity. Because the online world loves "handles" that condense meaning into fewer characters. Because a cybersecurity geek should learn lessons from the (white-hat) hackers he admires. Also, because a Foreword is an introduction to a written work, and I hope to introduce you to some of mine. And I sincerely hope we can move forward together.
I was very lucky, about a decade ago, to submit my first...
4WRD