Mercury Retrograde Project

One of my “Mercury Retrograde” projects is an older manuscript. Currently, the story is sort of set in the middle of naughty aughts, and reflects much of that, with an homage to old Austin, no longer visible under the sheen of new. Old Austin: Tech-Bro buried. The story might’ve been a thriller, at first, or even a legal thriller with an exciting denouement in a lawyer’s office, but as it sits? My current manuscript is just a novel-length exercise. Not my first. Won’t be my last, but I have to understand what I’m good at, and what is best left to others. In a similar vein, I know I’ve got a sample of me trying to read a passage from Shakespeare, and failing miserably at it. Made me think of the recent version of The Tragedy of MacBeth, and the titular character’s version of the “Tomorrow” monologue. There’s a hugely funny clip circulating, no linkage from me, about how to deliver the “To be or not to be,” as demonstrated by a pantheon of stage greats, each with a different take on just the first phrase.

Mercury Retrograde Project

But another Mercury Retrograde diversion for me? e–books. I went from being a doubter and anachronistic holdout until I discovered a local library that was nothing but digital. Do not misunderstand me, I still prefer a “book-book,” but when reading for pleasure, now I favor the digital downloads. Towards that end, an early criticism of my 99-cent books was some of the Kindle/iApple formatting. Think: lost in translation.

Mercury Retrograde Project

Mercury Retrograde 6/29 12:36 PM 26° Can. Full Moon 6/29 6:57 PM 8°14’ Can./Cap. Mercury direct 7/23 5:58 PM 16°18’ Can.

the Portable Mercury Retrograde

Stuart Woods’ Deep Water (A Stone Barrington Novel)

Stone Barrington, bon vivant, up by his own bootstraps, living a high stakes game of cat-and-mouse. From New York, to Maine, and across the pond to London, a killer out for revenge. It’s up to Stone and friends to stop the carnage.

Stuart Woods’ Deep Water (A Stone Barrington Novel)

But about the Stuart Woods’ books, and my growing collection of hardcover, first editions. I trace this back to a childhood event. Some part of a distant upbringing, I had, maybe, three or four Hardy Boys books, the blue cover, part of the collection, and there were two or three Nancy Drew books, as well. Yellow cover on those. Now, I’m basing this solely on personal recollections, and as such, subject to leaky memory, but the way I recall it? I was told that books like Hardy Boys were best as library books, even though my wee mind back then saw shelf full of the books. I wanted my own library. Old girlfriend, some years later, got me started reading the Stone Barrington novels, and I got hooked on the absolute lack of style in the prose itself. Ripping good yarns. Plot, pacing, story, character, and best of all? Straight narrative prose, no filler, just enough words. Pared down prose. Stylistically bland. I liked that, learned from it. Well, maybe I didn’t learn, but I did enjoy it. Do enjoy it. Start Woods, himself, shuffled off the mortal coil, but his literary estate lives on. There’s a subtle shift in the new authors and their attempts to copy that lack of style. Little voices creep in. Still, for my reading experience, I like the material.

Stuart Woods’ Deep Water (A Stone Barrington Novel)