Welcome to my new website now hosted by Weebly. It's still a work in progress as I make the transition. Without going into great detail, I was placed in the position of having to completely rebuild, and could not retain my former template. Therefore, it seemed logical to explore other options. My research led me to use either Wix or Weebly. I'm led to believe Wix has a more flexible site-builder tool, but I have had problems viewing some Wix sites in the past with my preferred browser (Firefox). The browser showed the site as loaded, but the screen was blank. I'm not saying Wix is the cause of the problem. It could easily be something on my end, but it made me hesitant to use their services. So, I went with Weebly.
So far, it's been fairly straightforward and easy to work with. I think I spent more time deciding on a template than I did building the first page.  My book page took more time and I discovered in the process that several of the links to reviews of my books are no longer valid. Sad, since they had some really nice things to say, but such is life on the internet.
I have been able to preserve the content from my old site and will transition as much as I can to this new site. While building my book page, I discovered that some of the tools/widgets I used on the old site were no longer functional (changes in the provider's policy made them expire) so I won't be including them anymore. But I'll do my best to find other ways to make the site interesting.
I have imported most of my old blog posts, (and will work on importing the rest) but unfortunately, I couldn't preserve any of the comments.

In October 2014, after several years of hiatus, one of my favorite comic strips returned to the internet with an all new storyline. Melonpool, by Steve Troop http://www.melonpool.com
I was first introduced to the adventures of Melonpool many years ago by my niece and instantly fell in love with the characters and storylines. The story of an alien whose obsession with Earth pop-culture, especially  Star Trek, Star Wars, The Andy Griffith Show, and Gilligan’s Island, leads him and his crew into unique situations that offered satire, parody, and homage all at the same time. Troop’s humor and artwork struck a chord with me and I was saddened a few years ago when he announced that he was retiring the strip. But now it’s returned and taking a hint from the Star Trek franchise, has rebooted the story in an alternate universe where things happen in different, but still fun and exciting ways.
Today, 1/14/15, marks the 100th strip since the reboot and I’m in love with it all over again. There are some unfamiliar characters, and characters missing from the original storyline, (although this new universe has jumped back in time, so we may yet see them), but the storytelling is as strong or stronger than before, and the artwork is better than ever. Following the newspaper format of black and white panel strip dailies, and a full color expanded  Sundays, it’s worth checking out. Who knows, perhaps you’ll enjoy it as  much as I do.
http://melonpool.com/

My brother and I have been working hard putting the finishing touches on our latest children’s book, Yeti In The Freezer, and I had hoped to release it on Black Friday. That’s not going to happen now. On Friday, just after uploading the source documents for the print edition, I attempted to delete one of the many sub folders of
illustrations from my hard drive, but ended up accidentally deleting the  main project folder. Everything I’d prepared for both print and ebook versions...gone! Everything for adverts, my website, the Facebook page...wiped out!
No, it was not in the recycle bin. I did a hard delete. Now, this is not the first time I’ve done something like this and I typically keep backups on a thumb drive that I carry with me. However, in this case I didn’t. You see, there wasn’t enough space left on the thumb drive to hold this project, so I put it off, figuring I’d get a new, larger thumb drive. But, of course, when I’m at the store I’m thinking of other things and keep forgetting to get  one. So I had no backups.
Like I said, I’ve done this kind of thing before, so I also have recovery software and as soon as I realized what I’d done, I pulled the battery and power cord from my  laptop to keep anything else from being written to the drive. I pulled the hard drive from the laptop and hooked it up as an external drive on one of my other computers and started a recovery scan. I don't know if you've ever run a recovery scan, but it takes a long time, so I let it run overnight. I checked the next morning and it looked like most of my files could be recovered, so I went through the process to do just that.  I was able to recover a few things, but much of what the software said was recovered, wasn’t. At least not completely. Most of the documents were corrupted enough to be unusable. Some wouldn’t open at all, some would open, but much of the data was missing. It was really depressing how little data was actually recovered.
So I was left with the process of rebuilding. Fortunately, I was able to re-download the last set of illustrations, and some of the conversion software I’d used left copies of the working documents in other folders on the drive, so I was able to piece together all of the items necessary to recreate what I’d done before, and I’ll be working feverishly to get  that done.
But more importantly, I have now installed software that automatically backs up my data to a network drive on a daily basis. No longer will I rely on remembering to manually backup to a thumb drive. (Much less remembering to buy a new thumb drive for it to fit on.) The software I’m using is called SyncBack. It’s a freeware package from 2BrightSparks. I’ve only been using it a couple of days, but I’m quite happy with the results. It was straightforward to set up, and the execution has been
flawless. It’s nice, each morning, to be greeted with a status report that assures me that my data has been safely stored away, in case I pull another boneheaded stunt like I did Friday.
And with that process in place, I’d best get back to work getting Yeti In The Freezer out. Watch for it soon.

They don’t come around here anymore.
There was a time when we had to prepare. To stock up on provisions and clear the area of potential obstacles and dangers. A time to make repairs, replace burned out light bulbs, and lay out welcoming decorations. A time to let the world know that this is the place to come to find what you’re looking for. And we welcomed them all. All sizes, all shapes, male, female, even different species. All were welcome at our door. But alas, that time has passed.

It’s been many years since we’ve seen so much as a single traveler, when we used to get so many. They used to come alone, in pairs, but most often in small groups. We donned appropriate accouterments, exchanged the traditional greetings, heeded the dire warnings, and ultimately made friends of the potential adversaries.

But time has moved on and the neighborhood has changed. What was once a young and vibrant place, has aged. With grace, of course, as the landscape has evolved into a
comfortable, living, and lived-in state, with a beauty worthy of quiet contemplation. But in this world of sound bites, videogames, increased internet use, and diminished attention spans, what once was thought a comfortable distance, is now considered too far to travel, at too great a risk, for limited reward.

Where the travelers of old had a wanderlust, and the greatest of prizes went to those with the highest endurance and drive, today they gather together in appointed places at appointed times, and willingly accept the portions of generosity in equal measure. It’s a safer option, different, but still fun.

I’m told there are places where the old ways are still practiced. Where the quest is still paramount and the rewards are gained all along the journey.

But not here.

No, they don’t come around here anymore.

The terms of service for the Amazon reader forums forbid authors from promoting their books anywhere but their "Meet The Author" <strike>corral</strike> forum. Unfortunately, many new authors either don't read the terms of service or ignore them. In almost every category, there is one or more discussion threads devoted to reminding authors not to promote their books, yet everyday, self-promotion occurs. This has led to an extreme prejudice against self-published authors, and a hyper-vigilance among the forum members. Even if you’ve never engaged in self-promotion activities, you are still tainted by the actions of others, so following are the Additional Rules for Self-Published Authors who wish to post on Amazon reader forums.

1. You are not a reader, regardless of how many books you've read and plan to read, once you publish a book, you are no longer a reader. Your opinion of someone else's writing is not enhanced by understanding the process. On the contrary, your opinion is now biased by jealousy, hero-worship, or association with other authors and cannot be trusted.

2. Never ever recommend a book by a contemporary author. (See rule 1.) If you want to recommend a book in a reader forum, make sure the book is at  least as old as you are, or that the author is dead, thereby reducing the impression that you have a personal relationship with said author.

3. Your book never, I repeat never, meets the criteria for anyone requesting a suggestion on a book to read. It doesn't matter if your book fits a point-by-point description of what they're looking for, it still doesn't meet the criteria. Don’t mention it.

4. "Recently Published" does not include your book, regardless of when it was released. As an author, you cannot make recommendations in a "recently released" discussion. (See rule 2.)

5. Never mention that you are an author in any discussion. You may only have that information in your profile for anyone interested enough to check.

You may think these additional rules will make it next to impossible to get your book discovered, and you’d be right. Even though Amazon’s KDP Tips For Merchandising  include “post on message boards, join user communities,and promote your  book on sites across the Web”, that doesn’t include their own forums.