Probably tomorrow. It’s written, but is rather cranky – “The Five Lists of Five Things You Can Skip Next Christmas.” So decided to put it off…

Richard Skinner

Update — Regular Visitors is now in the Unlimited Library. For the life of me, I cannot figure out how to enroll in KDP Select before a title is actually published; all of the selections to “promote and advertise” are disabled until then. Sigh…

Three publications now. Regular Visitors (A Tale By The Road) is now (or soon will be) available on Amazon.

This one was two days past my target date, although I had thought I would make it until I got down into the weeds. The cover finally hit the “grudging satisfaction” point very late on Friday night, so I signed off to get some sleep. (The cover was a nightmare, of which saga I may write at a later time.)

Big mistake… When I opened up the manuscript, it was the first draft; notes scattered all through it for absolutely must do content edits. Urk. The afterword was pretty much done except for copy editing, but no blurb, no title page, not ready to start converting.

So content edits were yesterday, copy editing everything was today, and then compiling the Kindle book. On to the release post.

Oh! Wait, I almost forgot something. That dedication, which really doesn’t belong with a short story — but which I did anyway. I meant to provide at least a brief explanation for that…

“Ladmo” was a character on the then independent Phoenix (KPHO) station’s weekday afternoon schedule. Everyone had a local kid’s show then — but, to me, “The Wallace and Ladmo” show was special. I never watched the lady with her puppets. The neighborhood of another show was, frankly, booring…. Every so often, not very often, the Captain would catch my attention. Every weekday at 3:30 PM, though, without fail (unless the family was out of town, or the UHF repeater on the mountain to the west failed), my rear end was firmly planted on the floor in front of the television set.

“Just a kids show” — but it was different from the rest. Never talked down, never sanctimonious, never really tried to “teach a lesson.” Entertainment for children. If you want to understand more, follow the link to the fan site (yes, a fan site, decades after the show went off the air) at WallaceWatchers.com.

On Christmas Eve, Ladmo would always have a little piece, a simple little piece, where he told the story of The Little Drummer Boy. That little piece (YouTube here) was my official signal that it was really Christmas. (Um, yes, that meant a very short time that I was encouraged to be “good.” My mother took what she could get.)

*****

This is the second Tale — agreeing with Orvan’s advice to call the initial one, the introduction, the “zeroth.” It is not really “in sequence,” though; the next one was supposed to be one called “Fugitive.” It has been an extremely long dry spell, however. For many excuses and a few reasons — about which I will probably not write (at least not here). I did want to get out my “Christmas” story this year, though, which I failed to do last year at this time.

As will be the norm for these, it is rather odd — or perhaps Odd — or even ODD! Did The Road see the Virgin Mary as she journeyed to and entered Bethlehem to give birth to the Messiah? If so, what was its perspective on the whole thing? Does it maybe see other things, things that we do not — but could if we opened our eyes a bit more? My mind does wander in strange directions. I try to blame The Muse, but she is shaking her head at me, denying any responsibility whatsoever for these.

Anyway, the cover, which is of course also a link. I’m off to tangle with WordPress to get this published.

Even for The Road, there will be an end. Perhaps not, though — as an experience that cannot be explained by cold rationality, but only remembered and contemplated, may indicate that there is something more. Something more for Man and maybe something more for The Road that is his creation. The Road has been trod by countless many feet, but there was one man, and one woman great with child, that it cannot help but remember every year. A somewhat different take on the Story of Christmas. Enjoy…