My short story “Talking Old Soldier” is featured this week on Espresso Fiction. The story is pushed by e-mail to the site’s subscribers, who can express their thoughts about it through a straw poll (ranges from Wow to Could not Finish) and comments. I’ll get a summary of the feedback in a few weeks, which should be interesting. Some of the other stories I’ve received (one each Tuesday) have been quite good, but a few were less than stellar. They are a paying market, but not a pro market, with a flat $30 fee for stories of 1000-3000 words. Take a gander at “Soldier” and let me know your thoughts, if you’re so inclined. Though the site is caffeinated, this story isn’t.
Laurie Metcalf rocked on The Big Bang Theory. She played Leonard’s mom, called into action when Lennie turns into a basketcase after he’s canned for calling his new boss an idiot (with footnotes). Good to see a religious fundamentalist character who swears like a sailor. It was also good to see Rose back and scheming on the 100th episode of 2-½ Men.
With trepidation, I tuned into Samantha Who. From the previews, it looked like Christina Applegate over-acted. Still, I thought I’d give it a chance, and it was actually okay. She does mug a bit for the camera, but not as much as I’d feared. The premise is absurd, but the notion that she wasn’t a nice person before her accident and has to learn stuff about herself that she doesn’t like could have some interesting repercussions. How long can that go on, though? How soon before the premise runs out of steam?
We had a good soaking yesterday afternoon. Round ’bout 2 pm it got black as night outside my office window. We’ve been a bit dry lately. My poinsettia gave up the ghost a few weeks ago. My wife thinks it’ll come around but I think it’s toast.
