Post Conference Post

07 Sep 2013 1 Comment

by C.O. Bonham in Uncategorized

I know I made you all wait forever (One month anyway) to hear about my first writers conference. Some of you were teased with a post, but I had technical issues.

So I am going to try and make it up to you. Hopefully I can figure out how to do this right.

The film is developed and the photos are scanned. Let it begin.

What is Realm Makers?

Realm Makers is a writers conference but it is also Comic con for Christians.

Me and Jeff

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And people wonder why I am not a Star Wars fan.

Red shirts die

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The TIE fighter is Jeff Gerke he is the founder of Marcher Lord Press. You remember it’s  the publishing house behind this:

Anthology Cover Art

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have to admit that I think I wanted to go just to meet this guy:

Me and Bryan Davis

 

 

This is Bryan Davis the author of the dragons of Starlight series and the Dragon in our midst series.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am so ashamed to admit that I was very star struck and probably did not come across as a very competent person.

While I was in St. Louis I made a point of checking out this thing:

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Very exciting experience being so high.

 

 

 

 

It wouldn’t be right call this Comic con Christians if there wasn’t an actual Comic book writer present. Luckily there was.

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Matt Yocum Marvel comics writer.

 

 

 

 

 

Also these guys:

L.B. Graham

 

 

 

 

 

L.B. Graham whose book The Raft the River and the Robot has some great Gateway Arch imagery in it.

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Treskillard

 

 

 

 

Robert Treskillard author of Merlin’s Blade.

 

 

 

 

 

Morgan and Jeff

 

 

 

And Morgan Busse author of  Daughter of Light with Jeff Gerke again.

 

 

All told it was an interesting experience. I would definitely do it again and probably have a better time just for having done it once already.

Anyway thanks for being patient with me while I figured out how to add so many pictures. Or as it really happened, I messed up, did it completely wrong, got mad, left it sit for a month and then finally went back and did it the way I knew I should have done it in the first place.

First Flights

12 Aug 2013 Leave a comment

by C.O. Bonham in Random Musing, Well founded paranoia Tags: , , , , , ,

Well i made it back from St. Louis. Realm Makers was Amazing! I had never done anything like that before. Sorry it took so long to write a post.  I do have pictures but they were on 35mm film and now that they are developed I have to scan them to the computer.

After all of my posts against technology does it really surprise anyone that I do not have a digital camera?

So anyway I thought I could use that note to talk about my first plane flight and how my avoidance of techno gizmos made it more enjoyable for me.

First security, this is the most embarrassing thing ever. The stupid full body scanner is so sensitive that it picks up the rivets on your jeans and the metal clasp on my pony tail holder. then you get patted down. Very embarrassing. But at least I didn’t have any electronics to dig out of my bags and place out in the open. Well I had my cell phone but that came off with my belt so no big deal.

During the waiting period electronics are actually encouraged, because the airports now have free WiFi and numerous plugin stations.

But after boarding there is a very short period of time that you can use your devices. The guy beside me grudgingly shut down his I phone. The plane taxied out and then we sat there for like twenty minutes. Now note that my plane was not late arriving in Detroit from St. Louis, this means that they knew ahead of time that we would have to wait. That whole time no electronics could be used.

So I am trying to read my book and the guy beside me is just antsy.

So let this be a lesson: Bring paper. A book a puzzle book buy a news paper if you have to. Your pilot and the person next to you might thank you for it.

Over all flying was pretty mundane. I have been desensitized to motion by riding roller coasters. So the actual flight was no more upsetting than driving in a car. The only thing that really blew my mind was the fact that I flew to St. Louis from Detroit in less time than it took me to drive to the Detroit airport from my house. It’s like Wow! I can go somewhere I have never been before and not have to spend long boring hours behind the wheel to get there.

Two Years In

15 Jul 2013 Leave a comment

by C.O. Bonham in Uncategorized Tags: , , ,

It’s that time of year again. It’s my Blogaversary. Well it was anyway. The actual anniversary was on the twelfth but I missed it. Oh well Happy belated Blogaversary to me.

Two years ago I started typing out my random musings and giving them a home here on the web.

I may not have always been consistent with my posts but I do hope that they were all interesting.

The highlight of the year was probably serializing my story “The Feud Worth Forgetting.” Which can be found under the Short Stories category, subcategory “The feud worth forgetting.”   Don’t forget to scroll all the way down to get to part one.

The past year also featured two of my stories being published in the Cross and Cosmos: Year One anthology. Last year was also my first entry into a writing contest. The Family Fiction Create Romance short short story contest in which I became one of the top 200 entries.

Thank you to everyone who visited my blog. I got 8 followers this year, you know who you are. I hope you liked what you found, obviously you did or you wouldn’t have followed my blog. I am going to try to post more often this year.

Who am I kidding? I will post when I feel like it. These are random musings after all.

 

Realm Makers

29 Jun 2013 Leave a comment

by C.O. Bonham in Uncategorized Tags:

I am sorry that I went almost two months without posting anything.  But I have been working a lot, trying to plan a trip and just being lazy. On top of all that there are so many cool movies in theaters right now that time must be made to see them. Plus books to read, TV shows etc . . .

Anyway I am ready to talk about the trip I am planning.

I am going to a writers conference. This is my first writers conference so I am not sure what to expect. I am attending the Realm Makers Conference August 2-3 in St. Louis, MO. This is the Writers conference of the Faith and Fantasy Alliance. Find out more here: www.realmmakers.com/index.php

I am excited because this will also be my first airplane ride. I have never flown before but it should be interesting.  I am looking forward to meeting with other writers. I wonder if any of them have heard of me? Oh it’s so close I can’t wait.

 

The Watson Anomaly or A Tale of Two Bells

22 Apr 2013 Leave a comment

by C.O. Bonham in Random Musing, Sherlock Holmes Tags: , , ,

In 1876 a groundbreaking event occurred that made possible our modern way of life. This event was the world’s first telephone call in which Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) uttered the immortal words “Mr. Watson-come here-I want you.”

This was, of course, not a reference to John H. Watson of Baker Street but rather to Thomas Watson (1854-1934) Dr. Bell’s assistant. The world would not meet Dr. John Watson for another eleven years when “A Study in Scarlet” would be published in 1887.

But in that same year 1876 another amazing event occurred. A young man named Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) began taking medical classes at Edinburgh university in Scotland. There he met a master of deduction named Dr. Joseph Bell (1837-1911). This Dr. Bell inspired the young man to create everyone’s favorite detective, Sherlock Holmes.

Interestingly enough Alexander Graham Bell was born in Edinburgh Scotland before eventually coming to the United States. Unfortunately without access to Scottish genealogical records I have no way of knowing if the two Bells were related.

So one Dr. Bell had a friend named Watson and the Other Dr. Bell inspired a fictional character who had a friend named Watson.

Really what are the odds these two men would have the same last name, both be Doctors, both come from Scotland and even live at the same time? Even without the Watson anomaly it is still very interesting.

 

I’m a Total Watson

16 Apr 2013 Leave a comment

by C.O. Bonham in Random Musing, Sherlock Holmes Tags: , ,

Yes it’s true.

I know that I would really love to be Sherlock Holmes. Brave, smart, mysterious and always morally in the right.

But I’m just not Sherlock. Besides Watson is plenty brave and smart. He’s not so mysterious but then neither am I. Watson does have an excellent moral compass though and it serves him well always erring on the side of compassion and human decency.

I am a Writer. I have a Blog. So I am like Watson in that way.

I might not be a doctor but I can peel the backing off a Band-aid.

I like to drink tea and I detest the foul smell of tobacco smoke.

I have a Dog though he isn’t a bull dog.

I am not really the leader, I am more of the tag-along type. I can take orders and I can give good advice I just can’t take charge.

Though I am intelligent I tend to live inside my head a lot and so am not very observant of the outside world. So I am like Watson in that way too. Holmes will never cease to amaze me.

I have Watson’s on my Family Tree. My Mother’s Father’s Grandfather was a Watson.  It might be reach up a bit on family tree but it’s still a direct line of descent. With out him having a daughter who had my Grandfather who had my mother I wouldn’t be here so, yea I am a total Watson.

The Feud Worth Forgetting: Part 12 (the last)

08 Apr 2013 Leave a comment

by C.O. Bonham in Short Stories, The Feud Worth Forgetting Tags: , ,

I apologize for not posting last week. I was really busy working and having Easter celebrations. But I remembered to do one now so here is one more installment of “The Feud Worth Forgetting”. I almost left this part out because I liked the note that part Eleven left off on but if I post this part it makes an even dozen. Plus I already had this written so I might as well use it.

*     *     *

The family, packed into the mini van, was settling for a long drive.

“Mom?” said Harriet.

“Yes dear.” Her mother turned around in the front seat.

“If you wanted to tell us some stories I could write them down for you.” She replied clicking her pen and placing its tip to the notebook in her lap.”

Her mom smiled. “What kind of stories did you have in mind?”

“We’re talking about Colleges earlier. How about starting there? You were an engineering major right?”

“Yes and we had to work really hard just to get in.” Mom turned back around to stare out the windshield.

“So what did you have to do?”

“Sit ins mostly. We just sat around taking up space.” She stopped and looked like she was trying really hard to remember something. She glanced over and saw that wicked grin on her husbands face. The grin she fell in love with. It was a grin that reminded her that she really didn’t want her children knowing everything that she did in college. So forgetting that she was trying to remember something she simply said, “Nothing really interesting happened in College. Just studying and learning.”

“Really nothing at all happened?” asked Carla.

“It was the sixties honey,” said their father, “No one can remember what they were doing back then.”

©  This story and subsequent parts are my own original idea and are protected under United States copy right law.

The Feud Worth Forgetting: Part Eleven

26 Mar 2013 Leave a comment

by C.O. Bonham in Short Stories, The Feud Worth Forgetting Tags: , , ,

“I remembered something.” Said Juliet, standing in the hall door, her mousy brown hair was just starting to grow back in. The ugly scar from the brain surgery was still visible through the spiky follicles. The Chemo might have stolen her hair but it was the surgery to remove the tumor that had left her a past-less and almost lifeless shell for the past four months.

“What do you remember, Honey?” asked her husband.

“It came back slowly at first. It might have almost been a dream,” she angled the recliner toward the couch and sat down. “It was at night. No it was afternoon but there was a terrible thunder storm. I kept starring at my reflection in this glass door watching the rain pour down outside. And I had a canvas, a painting I had done. That one actually.” She pointed above Joel’s head to a pointillism of an old wooden fence in a field of wheat.

“Then you came in the door Jerry. And you asked if I was waiting for a ride. I said ‘no, just waiting for the rain to stop so I could walk home.’ Then you said that I would have a long wait and that you were early anyway and you could give me ride if I was willing. Then I said that I shouldn’t ride with strange men and besides the rain would ruin my painting before I could make it to the car.” Juliet stopped her narrative and rubbed her temples as if trying to coax the memory back to the surface.

Her husband picked it up where she had left off. “Then I said my name is Jerry and I work in the library. And grabbed large garbage bags from the janitors closet and we wrapped the painting in then and I drove you home.”

“Yes that’s it exactly.” She stood up from her seat. And squeezed in between her son and her husband on the couch.

“You remembered the day we first met.”

“and I think I remember when Joel was born.” She reached out and wrapped her arms around her son. “And I remember that I love you so much.”

“I love you too mom.” Tears were beginning to pool in Joel’s eyes.

Her husband embraced his family with tears running down his cheeks. “It’s good to have you back honey.” He said.

“It’s good to be back. Do you still have my painting supplies? I think I’d like to start painting again.”

“It’s all right where you left it sweetheart. I am glad you’re getting your past back.”

“No not the past. My future. I got my future back.”

 

©  This story and subsequent parts are my own original idea and are protected under United States copy right law.

The Feud Worth Forgetting: Part Ten

19 Mar 2013 Leave a comment

by C.O. Bonham in Short Stories, The Feud Worth Forgetting, Uncategorized Tags: , ,

The girls, Harriet and Carla, pulled into the tree shrouded driveway and immediately sensed a grim stillness. They got down from the pickup which now seemed too high. They approached the house via an ever lengthening walkway to the front door.

The screen door squeaked open on it’s hinges. The sisters looked up to see their father placing two suitcases in the front hallway. “Your mother and I are going to Tennessee for a few days. If you’re coming you should probably get packed”

“Grandma?” was all Harriet could say.

Their father nodded and Carla took off to her room to start packing. Harriet was about to follow her twins example when the sound of heavy sobbing came out of her parents room. She pushed the door open and saw her Mom sitting on the bed crying into a wad of tissues. A cell phone was on the bed beside her. Harriet rushed in and wrapped her arms around her mothers shoulders.

“She didn’t even wait for me to say goodbye. Why? First she’s in the Hospital and now she’s gone. Why couldn’t she wait for me to get there?”

“Oh mom. It probably wasn’t her choice.”

Dad was standing in the door way listening, “I’ll go tell Carla that there’s no hurry now.,” he said and walked away.

“I just wish so much knowledge hadn’t died with her.” Mom said wiping her eyes again. “She was trying to find the truth in some of my Grandma’s old stories. At one time she had this great big book of Family History and your grandma had it traced almost back to the Revolutionary War.”

“What happened to it?”

It wasn’t Harriet who asked this.

Looking up from her tear soaked tissue pulp mom saw Carla standing in the doorway, her father’s arm resting on her shoulders. “I can’t really say. Mom must have found something bad in her research. Because she came home and burned it all. She said, ‘Alison remember, some things were meant to be forgotten.’ And then she threw what looked like an old diary into the flames after her family research book.”

“Wow.” Was all either of the girls could think of to say.

“I wish I could remember my Grandmas stories. I should have written them down.” Carla came in and joined her mother and sister on the bed. The closeness of her children started another round of tears in Alison daughter of Carolina Gellervice. “If I had only taken more of an interest in her research. Maybe I could have stopped her from burning our Family history.”

Dad finally entered the room. “Not if she was right.” He stood his wife up and held her in his embrace. “Maybe some things should be forgotten.”

©  This story and subsequent parts are my own original idea and are protected under United States copy right law.

The Feud Worth Forgetting: Part Nine

11 Mar 2013 Leave a comment

by C.O. Bonham in Short Stories, The Feud Worth Forgetting Tags:

Joel Richter slammed his car door. Then he slammed the house door.  “Your mother is sleeping.” His fathers voice hissed from the living room loud enough to compete with the blaring TV set.

Joel entered to the same sight that he entered to everyday. His Father, sitting in front of the TV, history channel on and a stack of papers to grade on the coffee table in front of him.

“Sorry.” Joel said taking a seat on the couch.

“So what’s eating you kid?” his dad asked.

“Just this jerk that cut right in front of me off road five. If I hadn’t been slowing down to turn we would have wrecked.”

“But you didn’t. That’s what I’ve been always telling you. You watch out for yourself. As long as you aren’t at fault the other guys insurance will cover it.”

“It was weird. I had the right of way but this truck it was like the driver couldn’t even see me. It was stopped. Stopped like it was going to let me go but then she just pulled out in front of me. Slowly, as if the intersection was empty, in no big hurry.”

“It figures. There are a lot of Crazy Drivers. You’ve got to watch out for them.”

“I know Dad,” Joel said. He stared at the TV and then decided that it would be better to change the subject, “So have you made any progress on your book?”

“No,” his father said placing the paper he had been reading back down on top of the pile. “I gave up. This morning I deleted everything from my computer and I threw away the rest of it.”

Joel looked at his father with a look of horror. “What, Why, How could you do that?”

“Because your mom was right. If the story isn’t true then there’s nothing to find except a pile of historical anecdotes and bizarre coincidences.” His Father paused and took a deep breath, “and if the story is true then it’s not for us to find out about.”

©  This story and subsequent parts are my own original idea and are protected under United States copy right law.

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