Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

After his long hiatus from issuing flash fiction challenges (only partly responsible for mine from writing flash fiction), Chuck Wendig is back, and urging us, appropriately enough, to write a story about a vacation . Any genre, up to 1500 words. My tale wrapped up in a bit over half of that. I probably should practice writing longer stories, but that's what came out. Genre is somewhere between humor and horror? The Devil’s in the Details “Watch your step as you exit the bus. The ground may be uneven or extremely hot. Watch your step…” The guide droned on, words and intonation exactly the same as each person stepped down out of the tour bus. He seemed unaffected by the exclamations of the tourists. “It’s sure hot here!” “Hope the hotel has AC.” “Darling, I don’t know…” “Well you said you wanted to go someplace warm.” The man and woman, dressed in plaid Bermuda shorts (him) and a hibiscus-print sundress (her) clutched each other’s arms as they looked around the blasted volcanic land...

This month's IWSG Question: What was your very first piece of writing as an aspiring writer? Where is it now? Collecting dust or has it been published? So before I get into my main topic, I'll see if I can answer this. Of course, there was the epic "Look into the Future" I wrote in grade school, in which I featured as a genius with a horse farm, thereby showing up my big brother and getting the horses I was crazy about, all in one. Other more sophisticated (but still rather puerile) stories and novellas followed in high school. My first real novel--the first to get close enough that I (rather naively) shopped it to agents--was a mystery novel about bike messengers in Seattle called Dispatched to Death . Coincidentally, I was working as a messenger at the time...and though I retain a fondness for the book, that one will remain in my files. Okay, on to the main bit of insecurity, which hasn't really changed from last month: I'm not writing. I know the reason f...

  Title: Bread and Roses, Too Author: Katherine Paterson Publisher: Clarion Books, 2002. 275 pages. Source: Library digital resources Publisher's Summary: Rosa’s mother is singing again, for the first time since Papa died in an accident in the mills. But instead of filling their cramped tenement apartment with Italian lullabies, Mamma is out on the streets singing union songs, and Rosa is terrified that her mother and older sister, Anna, are endangering their lives by marching against the corrupt mill owners. After all, didn’t Miss Finch tell the class that the strikers are nothing but rabble-rousers—an uneducated, violent mob? Suppose Mamma and Anna are jailed or, worse, killed? What will happen to Rosa and little Ricci? When Rosa is sent to Vermont with other children to live with strangers until the strike is over, she fears she will never see her family again. Then, on the train, a boy begs her to pretend that he is her brother. Alone and far from home, she agrees t...

Title: At the Water's Edge Author: Sara Gruen Publisher: Spiegel & Grau, 348 pages Source: Library digital resources Publisher's Summary:  After embarrassing themselves at the social event of the year in high society Philadelphia on New Year’s Eve of 1942, Maddie and Ellis Hyde are cut off financially by Ellis’s father, a former army Colonel who is already embarrassed by his son’s inability to serve in WWII due to his being colorblind. To Maddie’s horror, Ellis decides that the only way to regain his father’s favor is to succeed in a venture his father attempted and very publicly failed at: he will hunt the famous Loch Ness monster and when he finds it he will restore his father’s name and return to his father’s good graces (and pocketbook). Joined by their friend Hank, a wealthy socialite, the three make their way to Scotland in the midst of war. Each day the two men go off to hunt the monster, while another monster, Hitler, is devastating Europe. And Maddie, ...

This is a book I picked up because my Maine friend mentioned it (see last week's photos) . I think the author's a friend of a friend or some such. Close enough to make me pick it up (especially since we just visited a lake in Maine) and far enough not to affect my review in the least :)   Title: The Island of Beyond Author: Elizabeth Atkinson Publisher: Carolrhoda Books, 2016, 288 pages Source: Library Publisher's Summary:  Eleven-year-old Martin can hardly imagine a worse summer. His dad is sending him to his great-aunt Lenore, who lives on a tiny island called Beyond. Martin's dad wants him to like "normal" boy things--playing sports and exploring the outdoors. Martin's afraid he'll never be the son his dad wants him to be. Being stuck in the middle of nowhere won't change that. But nothing about Beyond is what Martin expects. Not peculiar Aunt Lenore, not mysterious Uncle Nedâ-and certainly not the strange, local boy who unexpectedly bef...

The Ninja Librarian has gone hiking again (or still, depending on when you last visited). So we're having    Friday a bit early. This one's from April 2014 and might help answer the question of what I'm doing out there... Pete the Peak-Bagging Pika This is a pika. He would be just a bit large to hold in your hand . He's also a wild animal, so if you see one, treat him with res pect and don't try to pick him up. Pika Pete wasn't like the other pikas.  Oh, they all liked the rocky talus slopes high up on the mountains.  But for most of them it was enough to find a burrow near an alpine meadow where they could harvest their winter provisions and watch the seasons change from the front porch.  Pete was different. Pete would sit on his front porch and, instead of looking down over the meadow and thinking about eating grass and harvesting stalks of delicious flowers, and preparing for winter, he would look up at the high peaks and dream about climbing them.  He ...

Okay, confession: we spent 5 days in Sequoia NP...and only saw a few of the big trees as we drove by on our way out.  How did we do that, you ask? We spent our time far above their habitat.  Here's the scoop. Day 1. After driving up from SF late on Friday, we had to rise early Saturday to go stand in line to get a backcountry permit. I miss the days when we just signed in at a trailhead and started hiking, but it's a reality. Numbers have to be limited in too many areas. We get our permit, and even after eating breakfast and finishing our packing, we are ready to hit the trail at something like 9 a.m. Yes, I'm making breakfast on the curb. With deer. And using a paper towel as a coffee filter. The trail to Pear Lake, our first camp and the only one that is a) below treeline and b) restricted, is crowded with dayhikers. That doesn't ruin the scenery, and people-watching can be a distraction from the hard work of carrying a first-day pack up 2000'. A prime feature of ...