‘small pieces loosely joined...’

among his books are...

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 07:43:35 -0500

My music, my movies, my images and the books of others all influence me... and how I select, assemble, reuse or remix them represents me. I wrote my first book in 1976 and my second one 30 years later, but there’s been a lot in between and since. Sometimes I wish that I had some old diaries to dig through but sadly, I do not. I can still tap into my mind for what has been important to me and has made enough of an impression on me to still be there. Sometimes I will even use a Google search to stimulate those recesses to encourage some old memories to surface. More and more, it's me.

The first book, Domestic Satellite: An FCC Giant Step, was the culmination of a year of graduate research at the University of Colorado in Boulder. The next was The Last Transition..., a fact-based novel that expressed my concerns about our post-9/11 world. I disagreed with our unilateral hostilities and I was frustrated with the direction that our country was moving in.

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graphics, pictures and paper...

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 17:55:43 -0500

I first began taking pictures when I went into the Army. I didn’t write much then... I didn’t like to but some of my fondest recollections have begun with a photo from the past. Apple’s Macintosh made everyone an amateur graphic artist and taught me how to be my own publisher. And as a retail rep for Apple, one of my first efforts was the creation of a small booklet called Upgrade Your World in which I attempted to remove the fear of personal computers for beginners and I extolled the virtues of using a Mac.

Leaping into the Mac World describes this experience of a then 50 year-old. I soon moved into writing short memoirs, adding words to the memories that my pictures resurrected from Vietnam to Iran. The Orphanage in the Jungle and The Rules of Communications set my creative juices flowing and with Apple’s introduction of iTools and a bit of encouragement from David Pogue [The Rules... became the kickoff for my novel], I was on my way to bigger and better things. My World is Beautiful was my first foray into creating cloth-bound storybooks over the Internet, paper products that let me touch non-computer people directly.

Leaping Into The Mac World

The Orphanage
in the Jungle

The Rules of
Communication

My World
is Beautiful..

storybooks for moms... and dads

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 22:31:11 -0500

One of my next storybook endeavors, It All Began on Brook Street, sprung from ‘the box of old pictures under the bed’ on the occasion of my Mom’s 87th birthday. I scanned a wealth of classic images from this trove into my computer and then set about the task of restoring each picture as well as identifying who appeared in them, which was particularly tricky as Mom was probably the only person who could truly confirm who these people from the past were and I didn’t want her to know what I was up to.

Moms seemed to dominate many of my efforts with It’s Your First Mother’s Day!, which I ghost wrote for Dylan, our first grandson, for his Mom and Grand Moms and with Presenting Ella Addison Rhodes, daughter Mollie’s first born and our first granddaughter, where I was more of a collaborator to Mollie. But as you will see later, I have been more than inspired by Miss Ella to make up for that on my own.

My most recent storybook, All In The Family, used nearly 200 pictures across 42 pages to create a guidebook to the Magnants, the Dansereaus, the St. Cyrs, the Gosmans, the DuVals and the Rhodes for the DeVoes of Redlands, CA, my son Zach and his lovely wife Marcy and our newest grandkids Danica and Max. Theirs is a wonderful story, worthy of a few more books that have yet to be written.

It All Began on Brook Street

It’s Your First Mother’s Day!

Presenting Ella Addison Rhodes

All In
The Family

just for fun books...

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 23:28:40 -0500

During the last few years, I entered a period of creating ‘just for fun’ projects, inspired by Mollie’s first publishing effort for Ella and Judy’s grandmotherly needs. Da’s Brag Book was my first of the new, soft-cover offerings from Apple, but it was certainly not the last. Ella’s second birthday and an outstanding visit with Santa in 2007 provided me some great photos that showcased our enchanting Ella. But unfortunately these first shots told only half of her story, so I had no option but to become more creative...

Through Ella’s Eyes is a magical trip through the world of one very special three year old, using her actual words and antics from the many Jupiter visits of the young Miss Rhodes. Stretching the limits of an Apple iPhoto picture book to include multiple pages of text, I created a fascinating adventure for everyone for Ella’s 3rd birthday. Every day since then has been just another wild trip, including an updated love-fest with Santa himself! And it seems that now I have all I can do to just keep up with her!

Da’s Brag Book...
2005

How To Be Two!!
2007

Merry Christmas 2007

Through Ella’s Eyes...
2008

A Christmas Kiss!!
2008

the world of blogging…

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 11:32:41 -0500

In 2008, in conjunction with my novel, The Last Transition…, finally becoming available for purchase nationally on Amazon.com, I began to post to an Amazon Authors Blog to keep my readers up-to-date on events related to the issues that were raised by my story and to share other contemporary thoughts with the greater Amazon Daily community of editors, writers and customers. I’ve been able to add my two cents to the public discourse on an average of twice a month, with my emphasis being on quality, not quantity.

I additionally comment on related issues on the blogs of others and I occasionally enjoy a Google search that shows where my words are popping up. In addition, I have posted some two dozen book reviews on Amazon that have somehow seemed to find their way into the postings of others around the world and hopefully add to an openness of dialog and global information sharing in the dawn of this Internet era.

Amazon Authors Blog Amazon Book Reviews