Hey Reader,

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It’s Jonathan, again.

Lance asked me to come back.

Okay, you got me. I nagged him to let me come back.

See, I really liked it when a bunch of folks downloaded A Perfect Blindness. Hundreds of people. All these folks, reading the words that brought my world to life. Me included. Man, getting to stand on stage again and sing. That’s was sweet.

Sure, we had to go through a lot or b.s. to get there, but damn, it felt good to hear the applause again. And yeah, I’ll go through all the rip-offs, broken promises, and heartache again. For everyone who wants to give that time in Chicago a spin. I’ll suffer it all again just to get on stage one more time.

See, since the rush of readers … it’s been a bit quiet. And I want to play my keyboard again. Sing. I don’t care how much we had to endure to get there. The struggle is always worth it.

So recently, I’ve been giving Lance grief about getting the word out about my world. Letting me perform again.

He’s an obliging sort. Once he got sick of me nagging him. He’s started doing some ads. Trying to tap into the veins of people who’d truly enjoy a journey back about 40 years. Right now, he’s got something on Amazon.

Told me he’ll start on Facebook soon. This week, with luck. You might catch one there if you are a fan of 80s music and the clubs. That whole vibe. Like being immersed in what was, with an added dramatic twist or three.

Like this reader, Kris L

The soundtrack made up of songs I listen to in the book. The soundtrack to my life. Lance can hook you up with that

Now, I’ve got only vague ideas of what Amazon or Facebook is. Lance tells me they’re things everyone knows about now, whether they like it or not. The one takes off about seven years after my book ends. The other another ten years later. Frankly, they both sound weird to me, but what the hell do I know? I’m just a twentieth-century boy trying to make it in a band.

But my success takes your, or someone’s, eyes to let me climb back on stage again, where I promise I’ll give it my all. Every time. We all do. Scott, Nancy, and AnneMarie.

By the way, if you haven’t given me a chance to play music for you yet, A Perfect Blindness is available free, right now, on Kindle Unlimited. Check it out. Take a stroll through Chicago’s club scene back in the 80s, where I do my thing in Mercurial Visions. That’s the name of the band. Yeah, we’ll do a lot of stupid things and won’t treat everyone as well as they should have been. But I try to do right. Every time. Seriously.

For anyone without Kindle Unlimited, Lance is working on a countdown deal around the holidays. For less than a buck. Less than the price of a trip on Chicago’s L train. Even thirty-odd years back. More on that later. Promise.

Just remember. I’d love to come out on stage and play for you. Performing is the only time I feel alive.

Oh, if you have read it, do Lance a solid and drop a star or five on Amazon or Goodreads. Don’t have to leave a review. But if you liked the way I sing, or how things turned out for Jennifer, or felt the tragedy of Scott, we wouldn’t mind a few words. Either place. It helps other people find A Perfect Blindness, which lets me free to sing.

To read it free on Kindle Unlimited, just go here: A Perfect Blindness, and select Kindle Unlimited. (Ya gotta have KU to use it, I’ve been told.) It’s also where you can get a softcover or Kindle version to keep. If that’s how you swing.

To find out more about A Perfect Blindness, go here (text link). (You’ll even be able to get the soundtrack Kris L was listening to. Plus, check out what else Lance is working on.! And I have to tell you— I’m looking forward to getting my hands on Walking the Darkmaker’s Way. And The Book of Visions after that. The man has a mind for making worlds feel real.)

Lance is pulling the hook on me, so I’ve gotta go back to A Perfect Blindness. Hope to see you there. Rock on!

—JS

From the Department of Found Words

Furbelow—the word for a flounce or ruffle on a garment, curtain, tablecloth, or like stuff, and so for anything unnecessary but showy. It’s at once obvious: a strip of fur below the edge of something and obscure. Bonus, has many a use today. I’m thinking it’s pronounced FERbelow.

Kickshaw—not a two-wheeled cart, pulled by someone, as I first read it. That’s a Rickshaw. No, this is closer to a furbelow, but on the cheap side, except when used for food. So, it’s either a cheap, showy object of no value, a trinket, bauble, gewgaw, or gimcrack OR a fancy food item. This word fell out of the French language ages ago and was Anglified, basically, beaten into a shape that fits an English speaker’s mouth more easily.

Macaronic—almost like our word above, but not. It means to have the character of mixing two or more languages in speech. It started off in Italian, for macaroni, the same way macaroon did. Much like kickshaw started in French.

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A Taste of Chirp​

I listen to more books than I read them. Of late. I’ve polished off (or abandoned) 97 titles in the past couple of years. And here is a taste of a couple:

Invader by Marjory Kaptanoglu 3 of 5 stars

Dug it. The twist at the end wasn’t as absolute as it could have been. Whiffs of what was actually going on seeped through the edges between alternating stories. But still, the narration hung in there and kept me interested through the end, even if only to see if I was right about what was happening. I was close. With layers of mystery. The voice actor helped the story along.

The Anubis Gates 4 of 5 stars

There is a lot to like about this listen. Intriguing premises, including a royal assassination by a famous poet. Interesting characters. A complex magic system that holds together pretty well. Yet, these very things make it hard to keep track of. So many characters in so many plots and various levels of magic used for different ends, I found myself getting lost in time and place sometimes or not quite remembering which of the plotlines I was following at the moment. Overall, enough cool things and action to keep me listening in spite of the sheer volume of things to keep track of.

I’ll let you all know about what’s coming up next nearer the Holiday Season.

Now, do you like Jonathan coming in to write these for me? Or Gary? If you do, I’ll work on getting Menno or one of the other folks from Walking the Darkmakers Way or the Book of Visions.

Cheers,

Lance