Arizona in Spring

Phoenix

We lived in Arizona for twenty-five years, then my wife and I moved to Nebraska to be close to our grandkids. Our life is busy, so I rarely thought about my previous home state. Last week, we visited friends in Arizona and I felt a sudden nostalgia for my old stomping grounds.

Every morning before breakfast, my friend and I walked the desert hills of his neighborhood. The weather was perfect and spring wildflowers bloomed everywhere. There is a stillness to the Arizona atmosphere that I have seldom encountered elsewhere. I used to say that there were two places in the world where you could deplane and immediately know your location by the feel of the air. One was Hawaii and the other Arizona. Different feel for each, but each unique. I also miss the desert landscape. Nebraska is flat, but in every direction, the Arizona skyline is serrated with craggy hills and mountains.

If it doesn't bite, and it's not poisonous, then it's not native.

Since I winter in San Diego, I can get good Mexican food anytime I want, but I forgot that Arizona Mexican food is spicier and the variety greater. Not as many taco shops, but more high end restaurants, some serving Mexico City cuisine that's outstanding.

The homes have a style unlike any other region of the country. Land is cheap, the temperature hot, and slab foundations means that even the largest homes are single-story with windows deeply recessed into the walls to ward off the sun. The architecture gives neighborhoods a spread out, open feel that's close to the ground. The big sky and vibrant colors invite you to enjoy the outdoors.

I encountered something I didn't like. With boom-town growth, traffic has become increasingly clogged, especially during work traffic hours. It's not as bad as Los Angeles, but frustrating just the same. When we moved to Phoenix in 1991, it took me thirty minutes to drive to work in off hours and thirty-five minutes in work traffic. A five minute penalty. That's all. That was nearly thirty years ago and the city's breathless growth has never paused. Now it's congestion galore.

Phoenix is called the Valley of the Sun. It's a fitting description because the sun dictates so much of life, architecture, and clothing styles. The sun isn't just a hot ball in the sky. Arizona has some of the best sunrises and sunsets in the world. And great nights. There is nothing like a cocktail and swim after supper in the warmth of a summer evening.

Damn. If my grandchildren were't so cute, I'd move back in a heartbeat.

Pine, Arizona. Where we had a summer cabin.

Time Travel Anyone?

I love time travel. We’ve all experienced time travel whenever we’ve opened a book and been transported to another place and time. When you slap the book closed, it returns you to where you started. Well, sorta. You may lose a few hours, but nothing's free.

All books do this, but I particularly like the time travel genre. Two of my favorite time travel books are A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and Lightening. In 1889, Mark Twain sent his character Hank Morgan back in time to the reign of King Arthur in the sixth century. Like all of Twain’s work, life lessons are delivered with humor and skillful storytelling. Another great time travel novel is Lightening by Dean Koontz. Written in 1988, Lightening takes a unique perspective that cannot be described without a spoiler. Despite being over thirty years old, the novel has traveled to the present wholly intact.

Up until recently, I didn’t believe time travel was real. Then my nephew showed me his time travel machine. After testing it, I assure you that it works perfectly. Instead of flashing lights, electric pulses, or whirling brass spindles, he made his machine with duct tape, a kitchen timer, and a bathroom scale. He duct-taped the kitchen timer to the bathroom scale. That’s it. When you’re ready to travel, you set the timer to where you want to go and then climb aboard. When you hear the timer’s ding, you’ve arrived.

Pretty nifty, huh?

Famous Last Words

The Washington Post has an article on “The 23 most unforgettable last sentences in fiction.” Many critics and readers focus on the first sentence, but the last sentence is the one that leaves the final impression. Here are a few of my favorites.

“I got to light out for the territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she’s going to adopt me and sivilize me, and I can’t stand it. I been there before.”
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

“It’s funny. Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.”
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

“He was soon borne away by the waves, and lost in darkness and distance.”
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

“After all, tomorrow is another day.”
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

“He loved Big Brother.”
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

I can't resist. Here are a couple of my favorites from my own books.

“I kept my head and Chestnut facing east.”
The Shopkeeper by James D. Best
(I didn’t want my hero to ride off into the sunset.)

“And then he was gone.”
Tempest at Dawn by James D. Best
(James Madison, an old man had left the room, but he soon after left the stage as our last remaining Founding Father.)

In truth, neither the first nor last sentence can make a good story. The entire narrative has to pull the reader forward until they read the last sentence. A story told properly will cause the reader to seek out another book by the same author.

The Steve Dancy Tales

Honest Westerns filled with dishonest characters.

New Release: Crossing the Animas, Audiobook Edition

Narrated by Paul Manelis

Audible.com     Amazon     iTunes

“Ben Law is tough...and mean. He enjoys taking care of problems for his boss. He won’t just verbally assault you. He and his men will hurt you. Bad.”

Steve Dancy is about to find this out. With his new home in Durango, Colorado, the kind with a nice white picket fence, and marriage on the horizon, the last thing Dancy wants is trouble. Especially with a mining tycoon and his henchmen. But this is the frontier ... and sometimes a feud finds you. Sometimes, it even chases you. When the quarrel endangers Dancy’s fiancée and friends, he has no choice but to fight. And this is a fight Dancy must win.

Buy From Audible.com

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If you would like a free copy of the audiobook, Crossing the Animas, send me an email (jimbest@jamesdbest.com) and while they last, I'll send you a promotional code.

Crazy Rich Asians Tells an Old Story Anew

Last night we rented Crazy Rich Asians based on the book by Kevin Kwan. I had heard a lot of good things about the film, but I was disappointed. I had seen the story before. 

Then I remembered an old Kurt Vonnegut lecture on the shape of stories. I had posted the short video a few years prior and followed his advice in Crossing the Animas. Evidently, I was not the only one. Kwan adapted one of his story lines and transferred it to Singapore. Vonnegut said writers were free to use his model and claimed that any who did would make a million dollars. Kwan cashed in. Me, not so much. However, if you liked Crazy Rich Asians, take a gander at Crossing the Animas. (Soon available in audio in a fine reading by Paul Manelis.)

Watch Vonnegut's talk. It's funny as hell, yet still packed with good advice for storytellers.

Selfish San Francisco

Water Source for San Francisco

San Francisco supports denying water to the Central Valley so a tiny fish called the Delta Smelt has a pristine habitat. Except San Francisco gets its drinking water from the other side of the Central Valley. If the O'Shaughnessy Dam below Yosemite was demolished, the Sierra runoff would flow naturally into the Central Valley.

To further explain the source of San Francisco water, here is an excerpt from Deluge.

“The TV.” She pointed to a television mounted high on the wall. The sound had been muted, but the agitation of the newscasters was obvious. The chyron read, “O’Shaughnessy Dam collapse harms San Francisco.”  In smaller letters below, it read “Water and power at risk.

Smith grabbed the bottles and said “Come on. Let’s get back.”

When they entered the flat downstairs, Wilson and Ashley were chuckling like a couple of teenagers. Baldwin had the impression that if they hadn’t returned when they did, they might have found the flat locked, with a man’s tie hanging from the door handle.

Smith immediately went to the remote and turned on the television.

The newscaster was saying, “San Francisco receives eighty-five percent of its water from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, which sits behind the O’Shaughnessy Dam. A dam that no longer exists. This dam also produced over seven hundred million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year for the city. The mayor has declared an emergency, and water as of this moment is severely rationed. It appears that for the first time in a century, San Francisco will be forced to pump and filter its water. The question on the minds of nearly three million people in the Bay Area is, how long it will take to replace the water supply for the city? Our sources said months. The irony, of course, is that after over a week of nonstop rain, how can the city be out of fresh water … and potentially short of electricity?”

“Oh, crap,” Smith said. “The Restore Hetch Hetchy activists got their wish. They’ve hated that dam since John Muir fought its construction early in the last century. Now we’ll see how Sierra Club members with a 94123 zip code like rustic living.”

“Don’t fool yourself,” Wilson said. “The rich always live comfortably. It’s the peons who’ll suffer. If need be, the rich will have Perrier home-delivered in quantities large enough to shower whenever they want.”

Ashley pointed at the faucet. “This water comes from the Sierras? That’s hard to believe. Why? The Delta always has water.”

“It’s pure mountain water,” Wilson said. “We’re one of the few major cities in the world that doesn’t filter its tap water. It’s uncontaminated … and delivery is gravity fed. The city moves it from the mountains to that tap without fossil fuels.” She stroked the faucet spout. “Our pristine mountain water is a matter of civic pride.”

“As well as the pee on the sidewalks,” Smith said. “Gravity fed, pure, and one hundred percent organic.”

“Guys, quit squabbling,” Baldwin said, pointing at the television. “The Don Pedro Dam just below Hetch Hetchy also failed. Modesto and outlying areas are in the flood path. People are dying, and you’re worried about showering.”

Storms, politics, and gangs pummel California but that isn't the scary part.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to All ... Everyone Have a Great 2019

Christmas is great. Lots of family, friends, and good cheer. And for dessert, we leave for San Diego on the 27th for more family and friends and hopefully, lots of surfing. (I'll let you know if I can still catch waves.) We stay in California for the winter and won't return until we see a no-snow forecast for thirty days. 

I always get more writing done in San Diego because I have less distractions. I surf in the morning and have the rest of the day free. I need to focus on No Peace, A Steve Dancy Tale. I'm excited about the story which takes place a couple years after Crossing the Animas ended with Steve and Virginia getting married. It's been a happy two years for the Dancys, but as the title implies, tranquility is coming to an end. Boy, that's an understatement. 

Honest westerns filled with dishonest characters.

Anyway, if you've read all six books in the series, consider Deluge to fill the time until No Peace hits the bookshelves. 

Storms, politics, and gangs pummel California ... but that isn't the scary part.
A Santa Barbara police chief and a history professor risk everything to salvage their state from near-total destruction. While others run in terror or rush into danger to exploit the tragedy, Greg Evarts and Patricia Baldwin fight for the only action that can save California and avoid a national economic collapse.

Will anyone listen?

I mentioned in my last post that my twelve year-old granddaughter wrote a great short story that received a 100% in her writing class. I published it with Amazon and she will get paperback copies as a surprise Christmas gift. Here Lies Revenge is now available in print and Kindle versions. Man, I wish I had started that early.

 A scary story that will make you think twice before offending the odd girl in school

It's Christmas. Top Dozen Tips for Book Gift Giving

A book is always a great gift … especially if you take the time to match the recipient’s taste in fiction or nonfiction. Suddenly, your thoughtfulness becomes part of the gift. Whether your relatives or friends are interested in the Civil War, literature, romance novels, westerns, paranormal fiction, railroads, guns, cooking, collecting old comic books, antique automobiles, or anything else, there's always a book that will bring a smile to their face.

I'm giving my granddaughter a unique gift this year. She's twelve and wrote a short story as a class assignment. The six thousand word story received a 100% from her teacher. My gift is that I published it on Amazon as a 5X8 paperback and a Kindle book. She'll be surprised to find the paperback in her stocking on Christmas morning. Cool, huh?

The episode reminded me that the most popular post on this blog is my Top 10 Tips on book gift giving. I decided it needed updating ... so here are my twelve tips.

Top Dozen Tips for Book Gift Giving

1. There are books about every hobby and interest in the world. Picking the right book shows you care.
2. Write a personal message on the flyleaf that won't get tossed out like last year's Christmas card.
3. Write surprise messages in the margin of random pages.
4. Search out an author signing for your recipient’s favorite author, or give a collector’s version of the recipient’s favorite book.
5. If you need professional help or want something unique, shop at an independent or specialty bookstore.
6. If you subscribe to Amazon Prime then shipping is free, or mail books early to take advantage of media class at the Post Office.
7. Give a book as a piece of art, like a fine print book, unique coffee table book, favorite book as a child, or collectible cover art.
8. Make a highly personal photo book with ShutterFly or Apple Photos.
9. Give a bookseller gift card for e-book and audio book enthusiasts.
10. College students will appreciate a gift card for their campus bookstore. For fun, you can put it inside a trash novel.
11. Tuck crisp currency into the flyleaf as a bookmark.
12. If your friend or relative already owns piles of books, give a unique set of book ends to hold them in their proper place.

One final tip that comes close to re-gifting—find an Amazon print book that includes a “Match Book” deal. Gift the printed version and download the e-book for yourself.

Children's books are also great gifts. We search for autographed storybooks for our grandkids. Bookstores always have children book signings around the holidays, and this is one area where we join the crowd. The icing on the cake is that we get to read from one of these books when we visit.

Books are a great entertainment value. They provide hour upon hour of personal pleasure, and then they can be passed on to another person. What could be better?

You might even gift one of these.