Blog | C. Lee McKenzie Books

Why Write Fantasy?

June 8, 2022 By C. Lee McKenzie 21 Comments

I suppose one obvious answer to that question is that a lot of readers love the escape it offers from the real world, so you have a large ready market. And these past two years have certainly heightened a need for that kind of escape for many of us.

Still, I was surprised when I turned my hand to a New Adult fantasy. In the past, I’d only written fantasy for Middle-Grade readers. (Alligators Overhead, The Great Time Lock Disaster, Some Very Messy Medieval Magic are three books in the Adventures of Pete and Weasel series. Sign of the Green Dragon is a stand-alone MG) So why did I suddenly craft a fantasy for the adult market?

I decided that besides providing a haven from modern news, fantasy would let me address polarizing issues without directly challenging prejudices. Fantasy can be quite sneaky and quite effective when a writer tackles such emotionally charged issues as say, bigotry or superstition. Let’s face it, being hit on the head with personal biases, only angers people and sends them into fight mode, right?

Fantasy would also offer me a chance to do a bit of teaching. My good guys could go up against my bad guys and show how right-thinking, honorable people deal with the bigots and superstitious folks in their world. SPOILER ALERT: The good guys win in my story, so there’s hope for a better future, and joy in knowing justice and happiness are possible in the end. Yay!

While this is semi-new territory for me, I feel pretty comfy in the fantasy nook, and I’m looking forward to sharing the story when it’s finished.

Do you read fantasy? Write it? Why? What makes this genre appealing to you?

Quote of the Week:

“One day, you will be old enough to start reading fairytales again.” C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia

I’m Back in the Saddle for IWSG’s First Wednesday

June 1, 2022 By C. Lee McKenzie 66 Comments

The month of May zipped by, but not without many wonderful experiences hiking in some of the most beautiful country in the US. A lot of people are excited about Paris or New York, but for me, there’s nothing more beautiful than the open spaces and nature’s architecture. Stop me before I wax poetic about petrified forests, slot canyons, waterfalls, and pine forests! I could go on for hours, and then there are the pictures that I will want you to see–lots of pictures.

Grand Staircase, Escalante — Grand Staircase National Monument Escalante

The road trip took 17 days. The average hike was 5 miles. I only got into trouble once when I was on a steep grade and the ground turned to sand. No matter how I tried, I couldn’t keep from sliding about ten feet onto the lower trail, filling my shoes with enough sand to keep me from going headfirst. I surprised a hiker below me with, “Look out! I’m on my way down.” I’m glad he was there because after him came the canyon.

At times the elevation made breathing while hiking up a mountain a challenge. Let’s face, it made it damned hard. I almost turned back a couple of times, but there was always a waterfall that I really wanted to see or a view that couldn’t be missed, so while those hikes took longer than I expected, I made it. Good thing I have great hiking friends for encouragement.

While I’ve hiked some of these trails before, doing it again was as if it were my first time. I’m much older than I was when I first visited these places and a very different person. While I was hiking what should have been familiar spots, sophomore year Philosophy 1A replayed Heraclitus who philosophized something like–and I paraphrase–You cannot step into the same river twice…

I’ve missed hearing what everyone is doing, so I look forward to visiting and catching up.

And now…

The awesome co-hosts for the June 1 posting of the IWSG are SE White, Cathrina Constantine, Natalie Aguire, Joylene Nowell Butler, and Jacqui Murray!

Every month, we announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG posts. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience, or a story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say.

Remember, the question is optional!

When the going gets tough writing the story, how do you keep yourself writing to the end? If have not started the writing yet, why do you think that is and what do you think could help you find your groove and start?

I’ve really already answered this question at the beginning of the post. My first resort when I’m stuck or in the writing doldrums is to get up and get out. Walking or hiking always clears my head and returns me to the story. It took me a while to figure this out.

For a long time, I’d force myself to stick with the page even when the words wouldn’t come.

Miserable!

Then one day, just before I hurled the computer out the window, I turned the thing off and headed outside. I think I walked ten miles that day. By the time I came back, not only was I feeling smug about how much exercise I’d had, but I also had the words I needed to move ahead with the story.

Well, duh! Why did it take me so long to figure this out?

Quote of the Week: “Look deep into nature and you will understand everything better.” – Albert Einstein

Gone Hiking

May 4, 2022 By C. Lee McKenzie

I’m taking a break this month, but want to welcome

Sandra Cox

as a new admin for #IWSG!

She’s a great addition to this group.

See everyone in June!

Interview With Alex

April 21, 2022 By C. Lee McKenzie 17 Comments

Another book in the Cassa series is here, and Alex Cavanaugh is visiting today to tell you a bit about himself as well introduce his newest book.

Welcome, Alex, and congratulations on this newest addition to your series.

Lee: When were you hooked on writing?

Alex: I wrote some as a teen, but it wasn’t enough to hook me then. It took years later when in my early forties that I picked it back up and started enjoying it. The total hook was finding an old copy of CassaStar in a drawer. I knew I could rewrite it better and was off like a shot!

Lee: Has your writing changed since you began writing?

Alex: Certainly it’s improved. I’ve become more aware of writing active rather than passive and learned how to add description without padding. I’m a bare-bones writer, so adding details was always a challenge for me. I haven’t ventured from my genre much outside of non-fiction pieces and one contemporary short story for a magazine. Maybe I’ll finally attempt a fantasy.

Lee: What intrigues you about writing?

Alex: The ability to take the visions and scenes in my head and put them down on paper for others to see. It’s the sharing of ideas.

Lee: Why did you choose to write a Sci Fi series?

Alex: Science fiction was an easy decision, but I never intended the first book to become a series. But when readers enjoyed it and wanted more, it prodded me to outline and write another book. And then a third. I really thought that was it, especially after creating another science fiction universe in a separate book. But after being strapped for ideas for so long, this fourth book hit me. This time I follow a different character, so while it’s part of the Cassa universe, it stands on its own.

Lee: What has been the biggest obstacle you’ve had to overcome in your writing career?

I’m a homebody and an introvert, so putting myself out there was a challenge. First just starting my blog and getting on social media, then promoting my books. It wasn’t easy. But after several books, making many friends, and starting the Insecure Writer’s Support Group, I’ve gotten much better at marketing and reaching out to others for help. I think the secret is to be supportive of others first. When it’s genuine, you’ll find a ton of support.

Thanks, Lee!

It has been great to have you visit here today.

Alex J. Cavanaugh works in web design and graphics, and he plays guitar in a Christian band. A fan of all things science fiction, his interests range from books and movies to music and games. Online he is known as Ninja Captain Alex and he’s the founder of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group.

http://alexjcavanaugh.com
https://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com
https://twitter.com/AlexJCavanaugh

CassaDark

By Alex J. Cavanaugh

“Cavanaugh returns to the world of his Cassa Series…for a fourth inventive space opera.” – Publisher’s Weekly

His world is unraveling…

Bassan’s father is stepping down from command. His best friend almost dies when Bassan freezes. Now, he’s being sent across the galaxy to speak at an important conference. Despite saving the eleven races years ago, he’s paralyzed by doubt. Could things get any worse?

Once there, new acquaintance Zendar convinces Bassan to visit his planet for a humanitarian mission. Bassan’s special connection to ancient technology is the key to saving Zendar’s people. One problem though—it’s a prisoner planet.

On Ugar, he discovers things aren’t so straightforward. As each truth reveals itself, the situation grows more desperate. If he can’t find the right answers, he might die along with Zendar’s people. Can Bassan summon the courage to be a hero again?

Print – 9781939844842 EBook – 9781939844859
EBook – 9781939844859
Science Fiction – Adventure/Space Opera/Space Exploration

Links:
iTunes . Amazon . Barnes & Noble . Kobo . Scribed . Goodreads

Welcome, April

April 6, 2022 By C. Lee McKenzie 70 Comments

Last week my post was A Big March Mess, and thank heavens that’s over with. My blog is back up and functioning as it should, the problems I had with my house and my car are resolved, and we had a bit of rain in an otherwise super dry state. For a while, all is well in my world. Now if only it were also the same on the rest of this planet. Regardless of the many woes today and of these past few years, writers continue to write, readers continue to read, so something is going as it should.

I’ll only put up one more post this month on April 21 for Alex Cavanaugh and his new book release, so come by then and read his interview. I’m taking off until the second week of May for a road trip and some hiking. It’s time for something different, and I’m sure everyone reading this understands that feeling. What a long two years of “stay at home” this has been.

I’ll be making a guest appearance on the AtoZ with J. Lennie Dorner on April 22–the letter S–just as I scoot out the door. Hope you’ll stop in and say hi to him and to me!

As Alex always says, “Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!”

Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and the hashtag is #IWSG.

Remember, the question is optional!

April 6 question – Have any of your books been made into audiobooks? If so, what is the main challenge in producing an audiobook?

The awesome co-hosts for the April 6 posting of the IWSG are Joylene Nowell Butler,Jemima Pett,Patricia Josephine,Louise – Fundy Blue,and Kim Lajevardi!

I haven’t produced an audiobook yet, but it’s in the future, and so far the biggest issue I have is choosing the company, and then–I’m guessing–the voice actor. Others who have already done this will have some things to share, so I’ll be interested in reading what they have to say.

And now…

Kiss of the Assassin, A New Book by Joylene Nowell Butler

Amazon.com . Amazon.ca . Google Play . Barnes and Noble . Chapters

I read and reviewed this book, so I can recommend it to those who like intrigue with interesting twists and romance. Here’s my review:

Kiss of the Assassin is a story about an intelligent and beautiful girl named Marina who becomes a highly trained assassin for a high-ranking Russian official. While she kills with skill, it sickens her, and she longs to be free from her “guardian’s” control.

On one mission, she’s charged with killing Marine Sargeant Mateo Arcusa. When she saves him instead, their lives are forever intertwined. And they are destined to love each other in spite of all the obstacles life throws at them.

However, it will take years of Russian machinations, assassinations, and finally Marina’s defection for Marina and Mateo to come together, and that’s the thrill of the story. Just when you think there’s hope for her safety and their union, something or someone intercedes.

Throughout the story, you want that happy ending, but just when it seems possible, it slips through the characters’ fingers. In the end, you understand that these two must trust no one if they are to survive and share a life together.

Butler pulls off something that had to be challenging. She makes a professional killer sympathetic. You develop empathy for Marina, and you are pulling for her to succeed and find happiness.

If you like fiction set against the backdrop of Russian/CIA intrigue and the Vietnam War era, you’ll enjoy Kiss of the Assassin.

Quote of the Week: “Returning home is the most difficult part of long-distance hiking; You have grown outside the puzzle and your piece no longer fits.”
― Anonymous

Big March Mess

March 30, 2022 By C. Lee McKenzie 32 Comments

Today’s a random mishmash, so you may just want to skip to the quote. That’s probably the most interesting part of this post.

This is how my website looks!
image credit **jonolist** on **Wunderstock** (license)

My website’s a disaster. At the beginning of this month, my blog roll vanished from my right sidebar along with my social media links and my embedded video. I finally found them all neatly stored in the footer. A lot of good they do there.

So after I figured this fix was way beyond my feeble technical skills, I reached out to someone who said he could take care of it…no problem. In the meantime, two posts went up on the same day. That was not my plan, but obviously, the website is now in charge.

Of course, this is the month I’m trying to tie up a lot of loose ends–personal and book-wise, so I can take a break at the end of April. Good luck, Lee.

Some things are working as they should. The first weekend in April, I’m going to be in Monterey, CA at the Conference Center with my books and sharing time with other authors. I’m looking forward to that.

I’ve almost packed for my trip and I’m excited about where I’ll be going. Some stops are Ely, Nevada; Escalante and Moab in Utah; Ouray, Colorado. Hiking in Zion and Bryce, exploring Devil’s Garden and Dinosaur National Monument. I haven’t been on a U.S. road trip in a very long time, so I’m ready to get started and my hiking boots are raring to go.

I may have mentioned that I’m collaborating on a book, and my partner and I are doing the “almost final” edits before the end of April. This has been an interesting experiment, and I’ll be sharing some of what happened after we wrap this book up.

Quote of the Month: “When things go wrong, don’t go with them.”–Elvis Presley

April Fools Alert

March 23, 2022 By C. Lee McKenzie 20 Comments

Have you ever heard of the Great Spaghetti Tree Hoax? It happened in 1957, and it wasn’t a small joke played on a few people. It was played on an audience of approximately 7 million people and by no other than the BBC. At that time, a little more than 15 million homes in Great Britain had “tellys.”

The film featured a Swiss-Italian farmer harvesting fresh spaghetti from a tree. The next day, the BBC was flooded with phone calls asking where people could buy a spaghetti tree or cultivate one of their own. Needless to say, the BBC was quick to issue a statement about the hoax.

Some must have put something in the BBC’s water cooler a couple of times because a few decades later (2008) They showed a film clip of a newly “discovered” phenomenon–flying penguins–evidence of an evolutionary step in modern times. These birds were equipped to migrate from Antarctica to the southern hemisphere for a bit of sun.

This computer-animated film was created by no other than Terry Jones of Monty Python fame, so that should have been a tip-off, but there are always the gullible amongst us.

Are you on your guard on April 1 for possible hoaxes? Do you play pranks on others or have you had others play them on you?

Quote of the Week:

“The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year.”–Mark Twain

That Extra Hour Come March

March 23, 2022 By C. Lee McKenzie 10 Comments

It’s said that during this month, people start behaving oddly. Well, no wonder. Here in California, everyone’s a bit nuts because we’ve lost an hour of sleep, and it takes a while to adjust. I’m used to writing early in the morning, so it takes almost all of March to get used to writing in the dark. Even the dogs are off schedule, needing their walk or their dinner at the usual time, but having to wait an extra hour just because…

Just because why?

Because it saves energy. That’s the justification. The idea came from New Zealand scientist George Vernon Hudson (1895) and British builder William Willett (1905). I think we’re lucky that neither of their proposed form of DST was adopted. Hudson wanted the clocks to go forward two hours! If we thought losing one hour was bad, think of two hours.

Willett had a more complicated suggestion. He wanted us to set the clocks ahead twenty minutes each Sunday in April, then back in the same fashion in September.

I don’t know about anyone else, but with this system, I’d never be on time to anything.

What’s your take on DST? Love it? Hate it? Could care less?

So what’s coming up that’s of interest to writers?

The WEP in April has a great theme: “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall” Entries start April 20. If you’re interested, here’s the LINK to the details.

If you missed the March 14 post about Where to Begin Your Marketing Research by L. Diane Wolfe, you can read it now. It has a lot of solid information for writers.

Quote of the Week: “I don’t mind going back to daylight saving time. With inflation, the hour will be the only thing I’ve saved all year.” — Victor Borge (It seems history does repeat!)

A Did-You-Know-This Wednesday

March 16, 2022 By C. Lee McKenzie 19 Comments

I’ve just finished reading Thunderstruck (thank you Jeff for the recommendation) and–as usual I’m impressed by Erik Larson’s research and writing. In short, Larson does another masterful job of threading together two stories that unfold during the same time and have historical significance.

In Thunderstruck, one of these stories is about Marconi’s struggle to perfect wireless communication while the other is about a Dr. Crippen, a mild-mannered man driven to murder by a dominating, demanding wife. I thoroughly enjoyed discovering how these two stories had any bearing on each other.

…and here’s the Did-You-Know-This part.

I also enjoyed discovering some things about this Edwardian period that I didn’t know. For one, I’d always thought the co-axial cable that connected Europe with the U.S. had been laid on the Atlantic floor sometime in the mid-1900s. Actually, it first connected both sides of the world in 1858. It ran from Ireland to Newfoundland.

And did you know Marconi was not a trained scientist? I didn’t. That was one of the reasons, the scientific community resisted his claims. Another was that he didn’t behave like a scientist–well, that figures. He refused to share his failures and fudged a bit on his successes. Not very scientific.

Whenever I learn something new while reading a well-crafted, well-researched book, I’m grateful and excited. If you have a book to recommend, I’m always up for suggestions.

This month I did a bit of promo for my Pete and Weasel middle-grade fantasy series. N.N Light Book Heaven is running a giveaway that you might be interested in if you’re a reader and like to buy books.

The Adventures Of Pete and Weasel — Available on Amazon

https://youtu.be/hv7-hdcvfQY

Enter Here

Enter and get some free books…maybe.

Quote of the Week: “You know, everybody’s ignorant, just on different subjects.”
― Will Rogers

Ashes On This First Wednesday

March 2, 2022 By C. Lee McKenzie 71 Comments

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and the hashtag is #IWSG.

Remember, the question is optional!

March 2 question – Have you ever been conflicted about writing a story or adding a scene to a story? How did you decide to write it or not?

The awesome co-hosts for the March 2 posting of the IWSG are Janet Alcorn,Pat Garcia,Natalie Aguirre, and Shannon Lawrence!

I’m skipping this month’s question because I don’t have an answer. I can’t remember being conflicted about including a scene. Now, I’m scratching my head because I’m wondering if I should have had this experience and somehow missed it.

For those who want to continue playing with WORDS FOR WEDNESDAY, please carry on. This is one long-lived meme!

It’s Ash Wednesday, so when that dawned on me, I turned my thoughts to what that day means for so many. Because my mind seems to skip around a lot, I re-read one of my favorite poets, Mr. T. S. Elliot, and then wrote this post.

The practice of marking people’s heads with ashes from the burnt palms of Palm Sunday gave this day its name. As I remember, the ashes are a symbol that represents man’s mortality. “From ashes you came and to ashes you shall return.” The ritual of this day is meant to remind Christians that while they are physical beings, they are also spiritual beings.

T. S. Elliot, had long been dissatisfied with the materialistic world of his day, and set out to explore this dissatisfaction in his poetry (The Waste Land and The Hollow Men). In his poem, Ash Wednesday, Elliot speaks to hope for human salvation in a faithless world. In it, the point of view character, begins as one who is hopeless and distraught about his human error. As the poem continues, it moves on to address what Elliot himself was striving for, an acceptance of true love. This was about spiritual love, not worldly love.

It seems that by the time he penned this poem, Elliot had turned from the materialistic world toward the spiritual one. He wrote, “Because I do not hope to turn again.” I take that to mean he believed he was on the right course away from the world he’d left us in with The Hollow Men and The Waste Land and was now headed toward one that was full of meaning and hope and spiritual fulfillment.

I’m sure my take on this is simplistic, but this is how I’ve always thought about these poems and T. S. Elliot who grappled with one of man’s largest choices in life. I’ve always been fascinated with how brilliantly he put such an important philosophical journey into words for others to consider.

If you’d like to read the entire poem, here’s a LINK that will take you to it.

Quote of the Week: “When the whole world is running headlong towards the precipice, one who walks in the opposite direction is looked at as being crazy.”– T. S. Elliot