Patrick’s Smashed Potatoes

This is a reblogging of a post about one my character’s recipes. This character, Patrick Franklin, appears in my horror novel Maledicus: Investigative Paranormal Society Book I

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This post continues a series of posts I have done featuring recipes from characters from my horror novel Maledicus: Investigative Paranormal Society Book I. Patrick Franklin, along with his twin brother Michael, is a secondary, but important, character in this book. He is a retired Marine Corps Officer who fought in the first battle of Fallujah in 2004 in the Iraqi War. He is the protagonist’s—Roosevelt Theodore Franklin—nephew and a strong supporting element in the story.

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Like his uncle, Patrick prefers rustic and basic meals to that of haute cuisine. One of his favorite is what he calls smashed potatoes.

The recipe: (intended to feed 8-10 people at a large meal)
5 pounds of red potatoes
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup heavy whipping cream
fresh paprika
fresh dill
fresh black pepper
coarse sea salt

*Rinse, clean, but do not peel the potatoes. Cut away any bad…

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What Book Would You Read?

This is a reblogging of a post from last summer, and I enjoy this topic and question. I thought I would pose it again.

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One of my best memories from summers when I was a child was of those days when I didn’t have to do anything. Work had not yet reared its head, chores were finished, and the weather was just right. It wasn’t too hot, and the humidity was low. The sky was filled with imagination-inducing legions of clouds.  On such days, I remember sitting under a tree, leaning back against it and reading a book—all day, with the exception of going in for lunch and supper. They were perfect days.

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Now, imagine something like that. For one day, you have no responsibilities, the weather is nice—75 degrees, almost no humidity, and a sky of bright blue and cumulus clouds like scattered cotton candy—and you have the time to indulge in reading a book. At your side is a container of coffee, iced tea, or whatever you like. You also…

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Birth of Erich Maria Remarque – If It Happened Yesterday, It’s History

This is an important post on the writer of one of the best and most powerful anti-war books of the 20th Century.

First Night History

June 22nd 1898
Birth of Erich Maria Remarque

On June 22nd, 1898, Erich Maria Remarque was born in the city of Osnabruck, in the federal state of Lower- Saxony, in Germany. He is the famed author of the classic novel, All Quiet on the Western Front (1928).

He was drafted into the German army at the age of eighteen, where he witnessed first hand the horrors of the Great War. He, himself, was wounded during the war by several pieces of shrapnel. His injuries would…

Source: What happened this month in history? – If It Happened Yesterday, It’s History

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Quotations on Diversity

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“It is never too late to give up your prejudices”

                                                            Henry David Thoreau

 

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“Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilisation.”

                                                             Mahatma Gandhi

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It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.

                                                            Maya Angelou

 

Samuel Sadlowski—Hidden Grief

A reblogging of an earlier post about Samuel Sadlowski, one of the central characters in my horror novel, Maledicus Investigative Paranormal Society Book I

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In Maledicus Investigative Paranormal Society Book I, my horror novel, the protagonist Roosevelt Franklin, along with two very close friends formed a ghost hunting group. In a previous post, I gave some background information on Roosevelt, and I will give more in the future, but I want to turn my attention in this and future posts to his friends.

In today’s post, I will speak about Samuel Sadlowski, a retired homicide detective. Sam, as he prefers to be called, is a short, stout, balding man. In his youth, he kept in excellent physical shape, but in his older years, he has let his physical well-being deteriorate. He eats as much junk food as he can, and loves to drink beer. His seeming self-destructive physical choices are, in some ways, a reflection of his inner turmoil.

Like the other two men in the ghost-hunting group, he has had someone…

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Why I Write Science Fiction & Fantasy

This is an excellent post on why to write Science-Fiction and Fantasy by a writer, whom I admire greatly.

Kate M. Colby

If you follow me on social media, you may have seen this month’s exciting announcement: for the second semester, The Cogsmith’s Daughter (Desertera #1) will be taught in a university classroom.

This time, TCD features in a Science Fiction & Fantasy literature class. When I saw the syllabus, I nearly cried. To have my book read alongside such legends is an incredible honor — and one I do not take lightly.

In fact, it got me thinking…what is it about Science Fiction and Fantasy novels (and TV shows, movies, video games, etc.) that I love so much?

Why, out of all the genres, have I chosen to commit my creativity to Sci-Fi and Fantasy?

Well, I think the answers are one in the same.

First, I’ve never had a good story idea that doesn’t fall under one of these two genres. Yes, I’ve got a contemporary romance bumbling about…

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What Book Would You Choose To Be?

This is a reblogging of a post I wrote about a year ago, and I particularly enjoyed it.

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One of the central themes in the Young Adult novel I am writing is the issue of who controls knowledge and of book banning. I was thinking about it this morning, and I remembered an assignment I used in several classes that reflects this question. I have taught Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, the most recently in a class on Banned Books.

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Montag, the fireman book burner turned book lover, finds a group of people living on the outskirts of society, who are dedicated to the preservation of books by becoming living copies of the books. They choose a book, commit it completely to memory, and then find another young person to pass this knowledge to until the time comes when the books can be once again printed and read.To have my students understand this idea personally, I assign them to choose a book they love and to…

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Another horrific shooting

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My thoughts and prayers are to the victims, the friends and families, and to the larger community of Orlando.  Once again, an unthinkable mass shooting has happened in America.  I am almost incapable of words–the horror is again too much.

But I will say this–I stand with Orlando, and I stand with the LGBT community.

 

Helen Murray’s Peanut Butter Cookies

Here is an updated blog entry on Helen Murray’s peanut butter cookies. She is a character from my horror novel Maledicus: Investigative Paranormal Society Book I

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I have shared some recipes from the three gentlemen who make up the ghost hunting group in my horror novel Maledicus: Investigative Paranormal Society Book I. These are the main characters in my novel, but there are other very important people also, and they will also share recipes with you.   Today, I wanted to offer a baking recipe from Helen Murray.

Helen Murray, one of the main secondary characters, is a high school history teacher and the guardian of her niece Helena who was named for her.  Helen became the child’s guardian when her sister and brother-in-law were killed by a drunk driver.  The child was an infant when this tragedy occurred, so she has grown to the age of 5 thinking of Helen as her mother.  One of the tasks involved with caring for the little girl that Helen embraced was baking.  Previously, she had done very…

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Quotations on Courage

I have focused on this theme before, but I believe it is always important.

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“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”    Edmund Burke

While today, we would say people instead of men, the importance of  the message remains. When evil or the potential for it exists, it must be opposed.

 

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“The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”     Albert Einstein

Both men from very different times and different political and social backgrounds give a moral imperative to people to stand up to evil, that it cannot and should not be ignored.