Join Tony for a cruise

I’ve been on three cruises in my life. Cruising here is means riding a big floating hotel in the ocean for a while as opposed to driving slowly up main street with a bucket of chicken looking for girls on Friday night. 

Each cruise had its own flavor, some were demonstrably better than others. The best, hands down was our cruise to Alaska. It was so good in fact, that I took Tony Flaner along, at least in theory. I should have written the whole thing off as a research trip, but alas, Tony took too long to get his act together and fall onto the page.

Nevertheless, cruising. Yes, we’re about cruising today. It’s not for everyone. And lately, I’d say it not for anyone. Covid has turned it all into a real mess. Tony only had to contend with Norovirus, “cruise ship flu” when he went. Not that that was the real danger. There were badgers out there that menaced him more. Kinda.

So, although I’d recommend Alaska cruising up the Inside Passage most days, these aren’t most days, and I can’t now. But that’s okay, because you can go with Tony Flaner up the coast of Alaska and have more adventure and butter drenched desserts than you could dream of in your Overeaters Anonymous midnight meeting.

Remember, that when you read a book, your synapses react and reform as if the experiences you’re reading about actually are happening to you. So… yeah, I’m offering you an Alaskan cruise for the low low price of $5.99 for the ebook and $17.99 for the all inclusive paperback. Boarding begins on October 15, but reservations are being taken now at:

CLICK HERE

Be safe everyone and read on!

Historical Document

 I was asked by Jared Quan, the current League of Utah Writers Historian to do a set of interviews discussing my career and the place of the League in it along with other stories of daring dashing do. He'll get around to editing it all together in a more concise format, but in the meantime, the first interview was conducted and uploaded. Here it is, for those interested in my writing journey

That's it for now. Catch you next week.

—J

Chasing Tomorrow

 So this happened.

I'm in this.

This marks my second short story reprint. My tale, The Lodge which originally appeared in Peaks of Madness, was selected by the League of Utah Writers to be included in this year's award-winning anthology. I say award winning anthology, because in order to be considered for the book, the story has to have placed in the League of Utah Writers writing contest, which The Lodge did. It won a Second Honorable Mention in the category of Horror, which is kind of like a fourth place. I'll take it.

Anytime I get words in print, I celebrate. Chasing Tom

Check out Chasing Tomorrow for a collection of excellent stories. It's cheap on Amazon.

The weekend, the wife and I

We have access to an old family cabin up in Flaming Gorge. It’s not ours. It’s our relatives, but once in a while we get up there. We did that last weekend, just the wife and I.

The old cabin is running down. The furniture shows the years, older than my kids. The carpet remembers the Berlin Wall. Once a luxurious getaway, now it’s a rustic getaway, but a getaway it was.

For so many years it has been a part of my summer. A week there on the lake, in the woods, in the family room. Games, music, swimming, talking. The whole bunch of us. This time however, it was just the wife and I.

Little time we had, not the whole week, just a couple of days between shifts at the hospital, pressures of publishing pouring into my hourglass, concerns that would wait, but not long. So we took the not long and we went. Just the wife I.

Once it stood alone in a meadow, but now there are neighbors. Close and view-blocking. But they weren’t there this weekend. And it was just the wife I.

I had brought the usual. A pile of books coated in good intention, a computer for music, iPhones for internet tethering.

Do you see it?

The phone. The computer. It would not be just the wife and I as long as the world could appear in my screen. Many’s a trip I don’t change a thing about my daily routine except the view out the window and the mouse hair on my chair. Working as usual, distracting myself as usual, keeping up on things, which I’ve learned is more properly called “doomscrolling” in this hellish time.

How can there ever be space for just the wife and I under those circumstances?

Seeking that space, we went, but took the wire with us.

Without the other voices of the family. In the cooling cabin, under a four hour thunderstorm burying us in hail, we resisted the siren call.

We left it turned off.

We read. We sat. We walked. We ate. We drank. We talked. We saw a snake, a coyote, cows and crows, hummingbirds and mice. We were together in the quiet of the woods.

Unplugged for a weekend, in an old cabin in familiar forest, it was just the wife and I.

SNEK

In The Wake of Captain Lord preorder

Hello Friends,

We're in new waters, cold and icy, glacial in fact. Silly. Murderous. We’re in Alaska. The Inside Passage and Tony Flaner has issues, some of them aren’t even personal.

I’m thrilled to announce that IN THE WAKE OF CAPTAIN LORD pre-orders is available.

If you’re thinking, “Gee, I really want something great to read in October,” this is just the thing for you. There are people who think that far ahead, I’m told. People who make use of their wedding crock-pots and plan a meal the day before they’ll eat it. Those kinds of people. I’m not judging.

Follow this link to place an ebook Pre-Order and be prepared!

Thank you. Carry on.

—Johnny

IN THE WAKE OF CAPTAIN LORD - Cover Reveal

I am so excited. If you haven't heard already, here it is. Tony Flaner is back! His third novel-length adventure is set on the high seas, or rather, kinda causing a coastline, But there's water—salt water. And bears and eagles and murder

IN THE WAKE OF CAPTAIN LORD

Coming soon!

Cold murder and old flames sailing the Inside Passage

Tony doesn't know why he did it. He just went. Forgetting to even call Allie, he boarded a plane and then a cruise ship to Alaska. While he's trying to figure out what is wrong with him, he has to figure out how an old college crush can get out of a murder charge when she admits to stabbing her millionaire husband.

Tony Flaner is back, and his newest case is his coldest and most complicated yet. Can he avoid the all-you-can-eat buffet along with the bullets shot at him? Eh, no. Of course he can't.

Tourism, murder and blame aboard an Alaskan Cruise Ship full of multi-level marketers, comedians, and killers and all bound for trouble.

Impulsive, sarcastic, Tony Flaner takes a trip down denial when he joins a luxury cruise without telling anyone until he’s gone. Responsibility has never been one of his strong points, but this is one for the books.

Aboard the Royal Danish Cruise line ship Success, Tony wrestles with his failings while murder is afoot. As fate would have it, an old flame is on board, along with a multitude of multi-level marketers – The Pod People. When the flame’s S.O. turns up D.O.A, it’s S.O.S for Tony to break a complex web of mayhem and murder in the short time it takes to binge on butter buffets and bear brawls, pondering personality problems along the Alaskan coastline.

Coming October 15, 2020

Quills 2020 Virtual Conference August 13-16th+

QUILLS 2020

I want to invite all you writers out there to come to Quills, the League of Utah Writers Fall Writing Conference. This event will be virtual so the whole world can come. It’ll have scores of recorded classes that’ll be available for some time, including early access for those who register soon. there’ll be live Zoom workshops with great authors and teachers, me included, so that’s cool. Chances to pitch to agents and editor and a general virtual new normal Covid-19 writing fest. Here’s the flyer and check it out at www.quillsconference.com. August 13-16 plus (classes stay online for a while).

By the way, League of Utah members get $40 off the conference cost. Membership costs $30. You can thus get deep discount and join a League of Utah Chapter and Zoom in with us for critique and more writing goodness. Just saying. My main chapter is called the Infinite Monkeys. More info here: http://www.leagueofutahwriters.org. You don't have to live in the state to join. Lockdown has opened the world.