Friday Five: January 15th

This is a challenge from Long and Short Reviews. Stop by and read some of the other entries. I had fun writing this on Friday night, so I edited a bit and posted Saturday.

This week’s words: seminar, mine, law, crisis, address

“Professor”, the young woman said, as Dr. Brenner looked up. “The camera is at the top and you need to speak into it.”

It was hard to understand with the girl’s mask on. She wasn’t a girl she was a 25 year old woman, but all the graduate students looked like boys and girls to her nowadays.  Dr. Gretchen Brenner was near retirement, but  once a semester  she did a seminar for the law department.  This time she had to do it online. She hated all this. 

She remembered her first lecture- ready to address an assembly hall full of students who took in each word and wrote furiously on notepads. Now the college didn’t have the numbers it once did and most of them half listened and stared at their phones. But at least it was real life.  Now she had to prerecord lessons in her stuffy little office at home. 

The grad student, Eliza, had on a mask but was making another of her frustrated snorting noises. “Maybe we should move to the kitchen. The light in here sucks.” 

 At least it was better than Zoom. She loathed that. Talking into the void to students who couldn’t or wouldn’t show their faces and she got an odd feeling about some of them.  As if, they weren’t really there. She was afraid so often nowadays. Every noise made her jump. Every rattle of the pipes made her heart race. The house had been broken in twice; and the police did nothing. Broken glass and some stolen loose change wasn’t much of a priority. 

Dr. Brenner hadn’t wanted a grad assistant this year. Ten, fifteen years ago when she was at her prime there would be plenty for a bright, young woman like Eliza to do. But she didn’t do any research anymore. Her inquisitive mind had carried her along paths she’d wished she’d never known. She was never doing research again. At least Eliza was good at all the computer stuff she couldn’t be bothered to do. But the girl had little regard for personal space. Always moving the chairs or opening and closing the curtains or running some type of extension under her desk.  Dr. Brenner would complain more but then maybe Eliza would get annoyed and never return and lately she hated the thought of no one ever coming by. With the break ins and the noises, she felt better with Eliza here. 

 Now, the girl was shuffling the books on the shelf.

“I have those in order.”

“I think it might be better if we can see all of your books in the center. That way they can see all your work.” 

Crisis in Coverton County. The most famous because it went mainstream. The original academic paper had a far more cumbersome title “The Coverton County Riots: A socio-political analysis of discrimination, regional unrest and government response”. It was full of details and legal minutiae that no one outside of a narrow field of interests would even care about and only reached the larger public  because of the supposed cause of the first riot-witchcraft.

 Last year, the Coverton County Riots had been featured in a  Netflix documentary. Dr. Brenner tried to watch it-but it had far more sex and violence than she remembered in her thesis. 

One of the books on the topmost  shelf thudded to the floor. It was a hardback, faded, with a broken spine. Eliza leaned to get it, but the old professor was surprisingly  spry and scooped it up first. 

“Is that another one of yours? We can put it in the center? ” the assistant asked. 

“ No.” Dr. Brenner said more forcefully than she meant to. “This copy is mine. I mean, it’s for my eyes only. It was never published.” 

No one saw this book. It only had a limited run, and the publisher was gone. The whole warehouse burned to the ground. 

“Okay, sure,” the girl just shrugged. Nutty professor. Crazy old cat lady. That’s what Dr. Brenner read in the shrug of those shoulders. The girl went back to her keyboard, blissfully unaware of panic and fear that wrapped itself around the older woman. Completely oblivious to the darkness that seemed to come over the room as soon as the book had fallen. 

Dr. Brenner’s heart raced as she clutched the green book to her chest.  This was the book she’d written that no one else could be permitted to read. This was the follow up to Crisis in Coverton County that should never see the light of day.   She should have destroyed it. She was certain she kept it locked up in the safe box in her bedroom. How had it gotten down here? Had someone or something take it out? 

Copyright 2021 Echo Ishii

5 best places I’ve visited

I appreciate any place I visit, so it’s hard to narrow it down. I always like to visit my friends. When I graduated from college I went to visit one of my classmates who had a job working for the park service in Wyoming. It was the most breathtakingly beautiful places I’d ever seen.  It was one of the first times I’d ever seen an elk and didn’t realize they were so large. 

Speaking of wildlife being larger than you expect, I also went to a sea turtle preserve off the coast of South Carolina. I had a summer job as a camp counselor but one weekend we got a chance to visit a preserve and learn about sea turtles. We traced the sea turtle tracks along the beach. 

I got a chance to take a short tour of Italy because it was work related. Some day, I’d love to explore more leisurely. I did get to visit the Colosseum and Pompeii. Pompeii was eerie. You saw a whole town stopped in time. As a history buff, I was truly amazed. There have been a lot of recent discoveries in Pompeii so I’d like to go again. 

My husband and I went to England for our fifth anniversary. We both wanted to visit a country we’d never seen. We did the tours in London, but Stonehenge was really special. I’d seen pictures of it all the time but it’s a whole different experience up close. 

This is a little closer to home. The Oshino Hakkai Springs World Heritage Site is a series of ponds and deep water wells. Its truly remarkable and last time we visited I got some lovely photos. Enjoy.

Friday Five Writing Prompt Challenge

This is a new challenge from Long and Short Reviews. There are words to use in a writing prompt. I’m a little late, because I just read some others, but thought I’d try something quick. I gave myself fifteen minutes and this is what I came up with.

deport, direction, deliver, distributor, sister

My sister stood in front of the customer and plastered on her best smile. She was much better at customer service than I was. For one thing, she was dressed in a cream colored suit, with flawless make-up, and a French twist bun. My hair and face had been under a work helmet all day and even I was afraid to see what I looked like.

“We work with all the best cybernetic distributors in the business,” she said. “I’m sure we can find what you need.” 

“You came highly recommended,” the new client said.

 This woman was one of the upscale cyborgs, with sleek silver suit and gold and pink wings. She was clearly designed for aesthestics more than war; though she’d probably been a private body guard at some point. She followed my sister to the direction of the conference room while I went back to work.  New customers got a one on one so that Gina could assess whether or not we’d take them on. It’s not so much that we couln’t work on any cyborg that came through the door; it’s that we wouldn’t. Our father and mother had built Drummond Cybernetics Services from the ground up and weren’t willing to take on just anyone. We served the only the best. Custom made security cyborgs and even military grades if they were from special forces. Off-world professionals who needed to customize their bodies for space travel. Occasionally, we even did an android or two. All the grunt soldiers could get cut-rate replacement parts delivered from anyone, so we didn’t really do those kind of cyborgs.

copyright Echo Ishii 2021

My Goals for 2021

Weekly Wednesday Blogging Challenge

I am trying not to get too wrapped up in goals, especially since last year. There were many big changes in work, so I had to adjust to the new realities of my job and keeping my family ok, and my child educated. Most of my year felt like survival mode. I have gotten much better at the work side of things, which meant learning a lot more new computer skills. And I absolutely loved spending more time with my family. Our family outing became bicycle rides and my husband repaired all our bikes and bought new tires. I treasure these times.

Health Goals:

Everyone always wants to lose weight. I do, but I’ve learned that the pick a weight loss number approach doesn’t work well. So, I decided to change my diet about three months ago. I have high cholesterol, so I want to get that under control. A local market sells locally grown produce (some organic) and has special sale days and recipe cards. So each week, I try to learn a new vegetable dish to make. So far, the one’s that were successful were ginger and honey carrots, roasted beets, and zucchini carbonara. I also found a place that sold more wheat and grain bread rather than plain white. Hopefully, with better eating habits an more family bicycle trips I can improve my health this year. 

Family and Friend Goals: 

I want to improve my contacts with writer friends. I hope to be better about blogging, but also about beta groups. Currently, I joined a Japan based groups for writers. We meet on Zoom an that was fun. 

Writing Goals: 

Last, my writing goals did not go as planned. I had a hard time with it. On the positive side, I read more craft books. I was making outlines, but I needed to learn how to make effective outlines for characters. I did get another book in my series published (Terran Attraction)  and I wrote two novellas. One of them turned out fairly well, so I’d like to try a follow up. My writing goal for this year is writing, writing, writing. I want to submit to a lot more short story anthologies this year.  Mainly, I want to stay positive and focus on my accomplishments rather than my failures. 

Rewatches/ Re-Reads:

Blake’s 7. At the Horizon fansite, they have just started doing group rewatches from Season 1, Episode 1. 

The Twilight Zone. I want to rewatch all of the originals. I have amazon points cash in, so maybe I will purchase the set. It’s a bit pricey for my region at the moment, but we’ll see.

Bugs. This is a somewhat obscure TV show (iTV?) from the 90’s, but I really enjoy it.

 I did my annual New Year’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy watch but haven’t read the books in years. Perhaps, it’s time. 

What are your goals for 2021? Large or small.

Sunset Views

There is a small mountain near our house which I like to walk up for the view. It had been closed recently because the flooding and rains in the summer caused landslides. It took time to repair the roads. A few of the trails are still closed to visitors. I don’t often catch a good sunset but I got lucky even though all I had was a camera phone.

Books that would make great gifts

This is a part of the blog hop from Long and Short Reviews.

First of all, I apologize it things look a bit wonky. I am redoing my blog and website and still getting used to it.

Are there any books that don’t make great gifts to a book lover?

I’m a firm believer in that people should read the books they enjoy and make them happy. If you like mysteries, romance, science fiction, westerns, historical fiction, suspense, or anything else if it gives you joy, fun, adventure and a sense of escape that’s a good thing. I don’t put down other people’s reading preferences. People’s lives are hard enough without someone putting down their little corner of joy. And especially with all the turmoil people have had in the past year, I hope books can be of some relief.

I am looking forward to my winter vacation reading. Christmas isn’t a real holiday in Japan, so I will be working. A couple of Zoom classes and a faculty meeting for my holiday. But for New Year’s I will have time off to relax. I plan to do my annual Lord of the Rings rewatch and have a few books that are ordered and waiting to be read.

The Fated Sky/ Mary Robinette Kowal. This is the second on the Lady Astronaut series which I am addicted to.

Grave on Grand Avenue (An Officer Ellie Rush mystery)/ Naomi Hirahara. I loved the first book about a bicycle cop in LA and look forward to this.

Leviathan Wakes(Book 1 of the Expanse) James S. A. Corey. I thought about getting the audiobook, but decided I wanted the paperback.

When it comes to ‘gift books’ for the holiday I usually splurge fancier copies or rare books I don’t normally purchase. I read a lot especially, paperbacks and e-books, but for the holidays I might go for a box set or an art book. 

I loved Blade Runner 2049. I want to see it in the theater twice and the 3D version was amazing. I am a fan of the original Blade Runner also. I have the Blu-Ray and the soundtrack and I really want this book. Needless, to say I am also eagerly awaiting Villeneuve’s DUNE. I know the plan is for streaming in the US, but I am hoping a few theaters will show it overseas. I cannot wait.

Favorite songs or musicians

Wow. This is a lengthy topic so I will narrow it down a bit.

I am a huge fan of music history and covers. One of my favorite podcast is Coverville, which does covers of different songs, performers etc.

 One of my favorite albums is Motown Sings the Beatles. I also like the Motown Christmas album which my parent still have the LP off.

I also have very bad driving anxiety. So in order to calm myself I listen to the Priscilla: Queen of the Desert soundtrack and or Monty Python Sings! Yes. I know it’s strange.

Anyway, I am also a fan of music history and tidbits. One of my favorites is Hound Dog. Although most widely known with the Elvis version, it was originally recorded by Big Mama Thorton a few years early. It was her biggest commercial success. And even after her version, there were a few more blues, R& B, and country versions release before it became the runaway Elvis hit.

My next one is Fever. Most people now know the Peggy Lee version(1958) because it was her signature, but the original was by Little Willie John (1956) and a Billboard best seller. Music in the 50’s and &0’s was strictly segregated, even in radio play, so it’s not surprising that many of the early blues, soul, and R&B versions were pushed out of the mainstream music history. 

I also have very bad driving anxiety. So in order to calm myself I listen to the Priscilla: Queen of the Desert soundtrack and or Monty Python Sings! Yes. I know it’s strange.

I also like an African musician named Wiyaala who does a cover version of ABBA.

And of course, the weird YouTube finds. Because everyone needs a medieval tribute to 50 Cent.

How I decide what to read next

This is the worst nightmare for a person as addicted to reading as I am. I agonize over it; especially if it’s Christmas and I’ve gone a bit crazy with my holiday reading purchases. I usually have a series I’m reading, so next in the series gets priority for orders. I finished THE CALCULATING STARS by Mary Robinette Kowal which I loved, so now I have book 2 of the Lady Astronaut series on order. I am also eagerly awaiting the next Vera Stanhope book, but it won’t  be out until next Fall. 

Sometimes, I’ll choose a book based on mood. I loved reading the Song of Ice and Fire, but after that I was craving fantasy that was a bit lighter, ie. less rape and murder; more elves and fun. 

Which reminds me, book with sexy Elves always gets moved to the top. Haven’t found a good handsome elf hero in a while. Must remedy that. 

I balance out my mystery books. If I read a darker mystery/crime like Ian Rankin; I have to balance it out with a Stephanie Plum. If I read a dark romance, I balance it out with a romantic comedy. 

Sometimes, especially with non-fiction, I’ll read it immediately. Usually because I watched a movie or went to a museum or lecture or something that triggered and interest in a topic. I’ve done a lot of castle visits lately, so I’m slowly building up a library of castle and sword related books. (Those I can afford.)