F. P. Dorchak

Speculative Fiction (New Weird) Author

Leisure

Crackers

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I always talk about my last dog, Mac, but one of the other dogs in my life was one of our family dogs, Crackers. Crackers was a mixed Dalmatian. We’d found her in a Yonkers area (I believe it was, since we’d been visiting our New York City area family at the time) animal shelter, when I was still a kid. I remember this clearly, but we’d walked into this shelter, looking for a new dog, and as we were talking to the person up front, one of us (me?) went into the back and saw this cute little puppy all happy and puppy-y, leashed up by another desk. The person up front said, sure, we could take a look at her, even take her; she was so new, she’d just been brought in and hadn’t even been in-processed.

We took her.

She was such an adorable puppy (what puppy isn’t?), and as we were beginning our long drive north, home, we were all trying to come up with a name for our new critter. I wish I could remember who it was, it might have actually been my dad, now that I think of it, but one of us said “crackers.” We all loved it, so “Crackers” it was!

Crackers actually plays a part in Psychic. I have  a couple scenes where she’s incorporated, but in her first scene, one of my characters, a remote viewer, named, Travis, is reminiscing as he laments about his current position as a government-trained remote viewer (basically, a psychic spy). He’s recently divorced (“I’m not really a loving husband, but I play one in real life“), and hates that his life has become devoted to “…poking his nose around in everyone else’s shithole business….” He goes on to remember that:

“…he [Travis] and Crackers  had gone for a walk on crusty snow in a field of theirs in upstate New York. Crackers had run up ahead and gotten caught in a section of snow where brush had poked up through the crusty surface. She’d fallen through and couldn’t pull her hind legs out. She looked up to him, helpless. Travis, his heart breaking, rushed to her, lifted her out of the hole she’d made for herself, and taken her away to where the snow wouldn’t break from her weight. He knew he wouldn’t see her that next year…and hadn’t. His dad had had to put her down. Her arthritis had been far too advanced, she’d had a loss of bowel control, and there had been all her whining and groaning at night in her sleep. It was too much even for his father, a tough upstate New York State Trooper. Crackers had had one last summer before she’d met her Maker.”

Except for the remote viewer and NYS Trooper part, that’s all real, pulled from my life. I can still see that helpless, pathetic look on our now-long-gone-girl’s face, as she’d gotten stuck in that encrusted snow. It was heartbreaking. It was also the last time I’d seen her (I had to have still been in college and must’ve been home on a Christmas break). She’d been hit several times by cars, over the course of her life, so arthritis had set in. My Dad had to listen to her whine in pain at night. He gave her one last summer, then did the only humane thing he could.

So, to Crackers, I thought, I wanted to somehow immortalize her. She was a good dog and I love her part in this novel, however small. It always puts a smile on my face reading her scenes.

Save The Weather Channel?

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Okay, I admit it, I do watch The Weather Channel (TWC).

There, I said it.

I usually have it on in “the background,” unless I have Pandora on, or some cool science fiction or supernatural show or movie to “set atmosphere” when I’m writing. I love Wake Up With Al for the banter and amusing repertoire between Al Roker and Stephanie Abrams. They need their own show, if you want my opinion. Have great chemistry. I’ve always been interested in the weather, certain family members across the country and I always ask about it when we talk. Maybe it makes us all feel “more there” with each other, since everyone can identify with the weather, or maybe it’s from always having been outside and active, or all the many cool and varied weather patterns and weirdness that the weather can cause and exhibit as it envelops our planet. Maybe it’s all of these things. But just this weekend I learned that DirecTV is axing TWC tonight. The first thought in my head was, hmmm…I bet TWC is asking for too much money…or at least “too much money,” according to DirecTV.

This morning I did a quick search, and sure enough, that’s the issue.

So, whether (pardon the pun) or not DirecTV is being unreasonable or TWC is being greedy, I don’t know, and am not about to delve any deeper, but the claims I’ve been hearing from TWC all weekend (the Keeptheweatherchannel campaign) about them saving lives…?

Sigh.

Okay, I can see how a weather channel can save lives, but as one article put it, TWC, stop the hyperbole!

Forty percent (that 40%!) of TWC programming are reality shows! In addition to that, I discovered a long time ago that local forecasters are far better at predicting the weather for any location I’ve traipsed through than TWC. DirecTV has also started its own weather channel, channel 361 (TWC’s is 362), called Weather Nation (the link doesn’t even really work, yet!). This may not be a good sign, but my first stop on it this morning yielded a rather long commercial. And with the recent upgrade at TWC’s studios, I’m sure TWC feels justified in their asking price, to stay more engaged and “hip” with their audience. Apparently they are still on other providers, and that’s great.

But…saving lives? That’s their campaign?

I wish TWC all the best in their fight to stay on DirecTV, I do think they’re a great service, amusing, informative, but I do not turn to them when real, life-threatening concerns affect my living space. I find this media attack an affront to my intellect. If anything, I use the local stations. Sorry, TWC, I’m just being honest, but good luck!

Merry Christmas, From WestJet!

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Okay, I don’t care what your thoughts on commercialized Christmas or Xmas are, focusing on Santa or on any religious meaning, this was really cool, what the Canadian airline, WestJet, did for some of its passengers. What the people of the company did. Read the story here.

As the article says, it’s nice to know that with all the bad out there, there are still those who try to do some good.

Do I care that it “only” comes at Christmas time?

No.

I care that it happens at all.

We like to bemoan, “Why doesn’t this kind of stuff happen throughout the year,” but do we really believe that, or do we just like to complain? There are all kinds of people and companies who do this kind of thing throughout the year, at differing levels of activity. And, sure, you could complain that it’s a marketing ploy. You could.

Orrr…you could just enjoy the caring and giving spirit of the simple act in and of itself and allow yourself to be swept away by the emotion of people helping people at all. About people trying to make the world a little better at all. About people trying to brighten other people’s lives at all.

And if you still can’t find it within yourself to see the good in people or this wonderful act, then maybe you should look at your own self and outlook on life and how your actions and thoughts contribute to making the world a better place in any way.

Oh, and WestJet says that since they met and exceeded their goal of 200,000 view (they actually got over 27 million views in a week), they are also going to donate holiday flights to charity.

Merry Christmas, everybody!

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Going Indie—What I’ve Learned (So Far)—Part 8

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Busy
I Can DO This! (Busy. Photo credit: AJC1)

Wow, could things get any busier?

I have been pushing more of the social media thing, the past month or two, at the expense of working on my manuscript-in-progress, Psychic, and kinda “burning the candle at both ends.” It gets exhausting…but cool to find new avenues, like iAuthor. I’m even considering starting up a quarterly newsletter, but when will that happen, since I’m stuck on the initial insert the subscription widget onto my blog site part! No, I’m not all that technically inept, but it seems as though some crucial “it’s easy” step or two is missing from the WordPress instructions. I’ve e-mail their Help depot.

Okay, since my last post on this topic, here are some more things I’ve learned on my adventure of “Going Indie”:

  1. Selecting ISBNs on CreateSpace.  Be careful with you go in and select which type of ISBN you want for your book, and whichever one you do choose, ALWAYS also select the expanded distribution. Read the different types very carefully before selecting, because once you select, you cannot change the ISBN—unless you totally delete your book’s account and start over. I recommend the custom ISBN option for $10 and then get a graphic designer (which will cost you, of course, but is well worth it!), like Lon Kirschner, to design a “faux imprint” for you to have on the bottom edge of your cover, like my Wailing Loon. It looks cool and gives you a brand for your work, other than the generic “CreateSpace.” You can display a little more your own creativity of “who you and your books are.”
  2. Changes To Your CreateSpace file. I found I had to go back into The Uninvited to add some missing front matter. It’s kinda “scary,” doing this, because you really don’t want to F-up your already nitpicked and edited file, but it’s easy to do. You simply select the interior or cover portion of your file, under “Setup,” on your Project Homepage for the book in question, and on the next page, you’ll see a place that says “Make Changes,” and go from there. You don’t have to change anything other than what you need to change, like, for me, the front matter blurbs. You can just “Next” on through the other stuff. Just be careful to not touch anything else. And for any proofing, you can have an actual “proof” copy of the book sent to you (versus doing this all online, for free), though you have to pay for it (like $5, plus shipping), and on the back page of the book is stamped “Proof.”
  3. Interested in signed copies? I decided to get that PO box, so I could mail stuff back and forth to any readers out there. I’ve posted the address about, but it’s F. P. Dorchak, P. O. Box 49393, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80949. The Post Office says you can do a 3-month version, but you have to also get the automatic renewal, which makes zero sense, because that makes the term 6 months. So, really, the lowest amount of time you can get a PO box for is 6 months. That’s government reasoning for you. But it’s cheap (mine is $39). If you get something larger than the box you have, they just give you a key to a larger box, for no charge.
  4. Chain Reviews and World Domination. I put out there that if anyone was interested in reviewing my books, I’d send free, autographed copies. The first 5 per book would get a free book. Offer still stands.
  5. Book Review Outlets. I’m looking into these, you know, what with all the free time I have. Check these out.
  6. Facebook. So far, this is a bust. No more begging from me! And still no “FB Superpowers,” i.e., I still cannot “Like” other pages or save the world. But, not giving up, cause it’s still early, but, feel free to drop by my FB page. Thanks!
  7. Newsletters. Found a great couple of Writers in The Storm links for newsletter info. Thanks, WITS! Thought I’d do this this year, but may have to wait until next year.
  8. Word of mouth. This is where I get lots of comments from people, either by e-mail or through my wife. This is where people rave about my work. Not Facebook (well, at least not so far…). And, of course, I have some “virtual friends” with which I routinely interact, and they’re very supportive (thanks, again, folks)! But, word of mouth seems like the biggest factor in my marketing and promotion. It’s everyone one of you, out there, reading my work and talking about it. Telling others. I hope you will also write an online review (e.g., here und here) at your favorite outlets, too. Please. Thanks!
  9. iAuthor. Found a new overseas outlet, out of the U.K., called iAuthor, so I added The Uninvited and ERO to this site (Sleepwalkers doesn’t have a HighDef cover file, so I’m told by the site it most likely wouldn’t be allowed, because it would degrade he overall quality of the images). It’s free for authors. But…the site seems to have issues during the “height of the day” in loading and such (just now, the site didn’t load right; it should display tons of book covers). I had to do my uploads in the early hours of the morning (i.e., 3 a.m.) before I got them to work, so be advised.

That’s all I have for this year, for my ongoing “Going Indie” adventure. As always, thanks for stopping by, and have a Happy Holiday Season, in whatever way you choose to celebrate (or, uh, not celebrate…) it!

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Amazon.com Against the World!

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I watched a recent interview on 60 Minutes with Jeff Bezos, of Amazon.com fame, and it was most interesting. Once again, it showed the forward thinking aspect of the Amazon.com Mindset.

No wonder traditional businesses hate them!

Why?

Because traditional businesses are stuck in antiquated mindsets, that’s why. Plain and simple! I don’t agree with everything Amazon does, but I do agree with how they’re thinking outside the box. How they’re customer-centric. How they’re delaying immediate gratification. Good Lord, if other businesses applied the same or similar mindsets, it’d be a far different (and hopefully better!) world!

Now, do I really know what’s in the heart of Mr. Bezos? Not really, all I can see is what’s presented. But, if actions speak louder than words, what we see is what we’re getting. Sure, news is slanted toward whoever’s paying the bills, but we see, everyday, how Amazon operates, and they operate in a way traditional businesses do not operate and therefore cannot understand, because traditional businesses are driven purely by and for profit and immediate gratification at the expense (pardon the pun) of the customer.

Do I want drones cluttering our airspace and depositing packages at our homes? No, I don’t. It’s just more clutter. Above our heads. They claim they want a 30-minute fulfillment ability, and these drones could very well deliver that…but not before 2015. So, would you have to be right there to collect your delivery? Is that the plan? If not, imagine this…people-of-ill-repute seeing these drones…following them to your home…and stealing your goods.

Okay, but it is cool on a Science Fiction level…but I still cringe at the thought of the air above our heads cluttered with low flying drones everywhere! Bird strikes! Small aircraft! Maybe getting fired upon by military drones from above, oh my!

Well, fact of the matter is…though not every idea at Amazon meets with success…successes at Amazon do seem to be more frequent than not. They are thinking outside the box and attempt to do what stodgy, traditional businesses seem unable to do: reimagine.

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December Is Here!

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Snowshoes
Snowshoes (Photo credit: Singularduality)

December is here!

I have three favorite times—or months—of the year. July, October, and December.

Why?

I think, to me, they (except for October, which is all about Hallowe’en) signify (note itals) being in the “middle” of two seasons, summer and winter, though, technically, less than half of December is in “winter.” But, when I was growing up in upstate New York, believe me, with first snow beginning to fall in October, and continuing on through into May, there was nothing “autumnal” nor “fall-like” about December! Of course, my birthday is in December, and—for the “Kid Year”—nothing beats “Kid Year” activities like Christmas, so I’m sure both of those affected my love for December (and I’ve always loved snow and all-things wintry)! At least once, our family actually went out caroling with others in the dark, frigid coldness of an Adirondack winter, not to mention all the other fun stuff we did, like snowshoeing, skiing, snowmobiling, or just (for me) hiking through the “back 40” of our and our neighbor’s heavily wooded properties, much like I described in ERO (well, except for the “weird shit”), in thick snow boots, wool pants, and everything else you typically wore back in the 60s and 70s. I love how the cold winds bite, the trees crack, the snow falls. The sound my boots (or snowshoes) make in the snow. How, with tons of fallen snow, all “the dirty” takes on that fresh, sparkling, “clean” look. The creation of ghostly vapors from my warm breath breathed out into frigid air….

I love the contrast in the seasons. Love how, in winter, the season becomes more…”pensive.” Inward directed. At least that’s what happens to me.

And, now, there’s snow falling all over this blog! I love it!

Can you hear the jingle bells?

I thought you could.

Happy December, everyone!