I don't talk about politics here.
On the other hand, Russia's invasion of Ukraine isn't political, in the normal sense of the word. On the third hand, I'm still not going to talk much about it: I have nothing new to add beyond saying Putin is a power-mad dictator who wants to restart the Russian Empire, something most of us knew long ago.
The United States hasn't been invaded since WWII, and that was just a Japanese landing on two small, remote islands of a US territory, Alaska. We can only imagine what it's like. We can also imagine this: If Putin really does want to take back all the lands that used to be part of Imperial Russia ... that would include the aforementioned Alaska. Just sayin'.
War is horrible, even as it sometimes brings out the best in people. There's no doubt the Ukrainian people are suffering, and they're sure to suffer more. We can only take some small comfort in their spirit:
There's the old lady who walked up to a Russian soldier and handed him a packet of seeds, so flowers would grow where he died.
There's the farmer who hitched his tractor to a Russian Army vehicle and hijacked it.
Another Russian vehicle ran out of gas, and the locals offered to tow it back to Russia.
And of course there's the president of Ukraine. I expect the former entertainer wasn't taken very seriously when he was first elected, but he's stepped up, and then some.
I'm pulling for these people ... especially since the situation overseas right now reminds me way too much of what was going on over there in the late 30s.
Well, I guess I had more to say about it than I thought I did, even after throttling myself down.
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Here's something that might cheer you up: My granddaughter with her watch dog. Lilli's going to get a baby sibling in a few months!
We took Beowulf to the doggie doctor for a checkup earlier this week. He's suffering from a few fairly mild ailments, which can all be summed up with: He's getting old. Aren't we all? But as you can see, he still has spirit when his little friend who drops food stops by.
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In times like this, more than ever, we need a little distraction and entertainment in our lives. That's why screwball comedies and musicals were such popular movies back in the Great Depression. So, although we don't have any new publishing news, I decided to give you a short scene from a novella I just finished writing.
You might recognize the main character, Chance Hamlin, who appears in three of our four Storm Chaser books. Come to think of it, he also has a cameo in the fourth one, The No-Campfire Girls, and he's popped up in some bonus short stories here and there. This new novella is set during a snowstorm, but it's really about the Hamlin clan and their extended family, during their battle with the elements.
This scene is early in the story as Chance, an Indiana State Trooper, tries to serve a warrant on a violent suspect. The novella is a prequel, set before all the other stories: I wanted to use it to introduce new readers to the Storm Chaser series. (I'm always surprised to call it that--I never meant to turn it into a series, but the characters were just too much fun.)
Over the next several months we're going to reissue Storm Chaser, The Notorious Ian Grant, and Storm Chaser Shorts (now Storm Squalls) in new and less expensive editions, so this novella will be a gateway into the series.
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