Yule 2025

 It's the Winter Solstice tonight and I'm celebrating the Shortest Day and Longest Night with champagne, blueberry muffins, a Solstice candle and some good music: S. J. Tucker, Mary Carpenter, Tori Amos, etc.

This year has been hard.  It's been hard on everyone. Even those people who seem to have it all, who seem so perfectly put together. It's been hard on them too.

And I am tired. So tired of all the negativity in the world. Of all the hate and malice and consciously-choosen evil. 

But the Yule gives me hope.

It reminds me that darkness doesn't last forever. That light returns. And it reminds me that the world will return to something like sanity eventually. 

The world is a wheel. Sometimes it grinds you down into the muck and the filth, but if you hang on long enough, the wheel will life you back up into the warmth and the light.  And things will get better.

So, I hope that, wherever you are, you're enjoying this Yule and maybe taking some time to just breathe and watch a candle's flame flicker.

Happy Yule, gentle readers.

Even Good Things Can Happen

 Hello gentle readers,

Well, we're about two weeks into the New Year, and I thought I'd take a look at how things are going so far.

For me? Not that bad.  I have had an amazing uptick in creativity which has led to lots of personal writing, but nothing new for publication.  I did proofread a friend's first Kindle book and even though the subject matter isn't my cup of tea (historial romance veering into fantasy), I thought it was well written if short. 

I wish I could say that the larger world is having a good year, but between the fires in California, the blizzards on the East Coast and the continuing political and cultural divisions separating the country, I just don't see it.  The world continues to fragment, the old orders clinging to power even as their foundations crumble beneath them.

However, I am not going to be a doomsayer. There are good things happening in the world too. People continue to be kind and generous in the face of disaster and want.  Hamas and Israel just announced a cease fire agreement. Nine out of every ten cars sold in Norway last year were electric. A woman in China has lived to be 124 years old.

We're in a new year. 

Anything can happen.

Even good things.

Hope in the New Year

Hello, gentle readers!  The year is turning, the old year wheezing its last breath, and the new one… well, the new one is a mystery wrapped in an enigma, sprinkled with a generous helping of hope.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking.  Hope?  In *this* economy? With *this* weather?  With the state of the world generally resembling a particularly grumpy badger?  Yes, my friends, even then, hope remains.  It's a tenacious little weed, that hope, stubbornly pushing its way through the cracks in the pavement of despair.

I’ve spent years wrestling with uncertainty – the leap into the writing life, the occasional financial panic (because let's be honest, a writer's income can be... unpredictable), the whole "what if I fail?" existential dread. Yet, here I am, still typing away.  Why?  Because somewhere, deep down, beneath the anxieties and self-doubt, a stubborn flicker of hope persists.  The hope that the next story will be the one, the hope that the next year will be better, the hope that maybe, just maybe, I'll finally master the semicolon. (A man can dream, can't he?)

Hope isn't about ignoring the problems; it's about facing them with the understanding that things *can* change.  We adapt, we evolve, we learn.  We stumble, we fall, and sometimes, we get back up and try again, fuelled by that same quiet, persistent hope.  It’s the belief that even in the darkest night, the sun will eventually rise again.

So, as we stand on the precipice of a new year, let's embrace that hope.  Let's allow ourselves to dream, to plan, to envision a brighter future.  Let's acknowledge the struggles, but also celebrate the small victories, the unexpected kindnesses, the moments of joy that pepper our lives.

Because hope, my friends, is not a luxury; it's a necessity.  It's the fuel that keeps us going, even when the going gets tough.  It's the quiet whisper that reminds us that even in the midst of chaos, there's always a chance for something better.  And perhaps, just perhaps, that's enough.  

Until next time!

RIP Tina Turner

 Today, when I came home from dropping my car off at the garage, the first news article I saw after going online was an announcement: Tina Turner had died.

After a not-so-great day, this news knocked the wind out of me.

Tina Turner is one of my favorite celebrities. I have her albums, I've seen the movies, I've read her biography.  She was one of those celebrities, those personas, that just seemed fixed in time and space. Immutable. Unmovable.

But nothing and no one lasts forever.

Miss Turner passed at her home in Switzerland, this morning. She found fame and fortune, true enough, and weathered the slings and arrows of an unkind world, but in the end, she found someone to love, who loved her.  

I hope that, when she passed, it was with grace and in peace.

And, I hope that, wherever she is now, she knows that she had a positive impact on a lot of people, who will still listen to her music and draw strength and inspiration from it, and the life that she lived.

Rest in peace, Miss Turner.

You will be missed, but not forgotten.

Happy New Year...Finally

Hello, gentle readers.

It's been a while, hasn't it?

Sorry about that.

I'd like to say that I've had a good excuse for not posting more frequently, but the only one I can offer is that life has just sort of happened and this blog has suffered for it.

Not to worry, though, you haven't really missed anything.

I was working on a new book. It's at about novelette-length, at the moment, but I've put it aside because it has become more a chore than an act of joy, and I'm one of those people who can't write if I don't enjoy what I'm writing.

I know. That's terribly unprofessional of me, but at least I'm being honest.

I have noticed a bit of an uptick in my Amazon sales lately, which is very nice. If I make another, I can afford to buy a bottle of Coke.

Anyway, gentle readers, the holiday season is finally over. I'm a little older, a little wiser, a little more jaded and a little wider.  There's not much I can do about the first three, but I'm trying to get the last under control again.

I hope that the end of 2022 saw you in a better position than when it started and that 2023 has gotten off to a good start.

I will, sincerely, try to post more frequently.

My Absence

Dear readers,

The last couple of months have not been pleasant for me.  I had some medical issues crop up that waylaid me and I'm only now beginning to feel even remotely normal.  

That said, I'm hoping to return to the world of Lux Tenebrous soon.

Actually, I'm hoping to return to any kind of writing soon.

Until then, thank you for your forebearance.

Sick Day

Bit sick today. A touch of stomach flu I think. Stayed home from work because I was up this morning puking my guts out. Lovely. 

Feeling a lot better now. Been drinking water as if it's about to run out and just finished some saltines and pedialyte.  Think I'm good enough to go to work tomorrow.

*fingers crossed*

The Perils of Tsundoku

The problem, when you finish reading one book, is that you must choose a new one to start. For most people that isn't a problem, but I, alas, am a victim/practicioner of tsundoku.  For those of you who don't know what that is, it's the practice of acquiring and stacking books that you intend to read at some future point.

I have several stacks of books, scattered about my bedroom. And I have absolutely no idea what to read next.

The current candidates are:

Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior by Chogyam Trungpa

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

and Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman.

Any suggestions as to which to read next?

A Sad Day :(

Today is a sad day for me.  This morning, I received word that my friend, J. Tuberski, had passed away. I am not entirely surprised by this news as Tuberski had a history of heart/circulatory problems. He was about 7 feet tall and I'm told that very tall people often have similar issues. I know that he was on a plethora of blood pressure related medications.

It's been a while since we spoke, but we would email quite a bit.

I'm sad, but I'm doing okay. I'm sitting here, thinking about my friend and remembering his life. I think he had a good one. I think he enjoyed his life. I think that the one thing that would have made his life better is if he could have found a quality lady to share it with. I think he would have liked to have been a husband and father.

My friend is gone now and I will miss him. But I take comfort in the fact that he had a good life that he seemed to enjoy. I hope his passing was gentle.

Goodbye, Tuberski.