Adventure

“Dad,” my son said. “If you had to choose between a clue or One Million Dollars, which would you choose?”

“I’d have to go with the million.”

“No! That’s the wrong answer! You were supposed to choose the clue!”

“Why?”

My son pulled out the book he was reading: “The Maze of Bones” by Rick Riordan. You  might know Mr. Riordan as the author of the Percy Jackson series. Much like the Percy Jackson series, The Maze of Bones is the first in a series of books where a kid or group of kids are thrown into a mysterious plot calling them to adventure. Standard Joseph Campbell stuff, but in a format that’s easily digestible by kids.

My son eats these up.

He told me all about the story, about the kids who are searching for 39 clues to get what he said was “a very important treasure.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier to just take the money and create your own adventure?” I asked.

“No, Dad. In THIS adventure, you might die!”

I sat back for a moment and tried to remember what it was like to be that age. This is Shaw Kid #4 (aka SK4). He’s only eight years old and, to him, the call to adventure in life is worth more than a Million Dollars. He doesn’t quite grasp the concept of that much money. To him, a million dollars might as well be a bajillion: an incomprehensible amount.

To my son, the call to adventure was worth more than all the money in the world. The fact that the risks might even include death only made it more exciting and, therefore, more worthwhile.

Shouldn’t it be that way for us? Sure, we have to pay the bills and take care of responsibilities. The adult world has to take these things into account. But it struck me how easily I’ve looked past good opportunities that came with some risk in favor of the easy solution, the path well-traveled.

We all have a call to adventure in our lives. We’re probably not being called to fight Greek Gods or search for Clues to unearth magical powers like in my son’s favorite novels, but we do have things we wish we could do … only if. Only if we had the time or less responsibility or if it were somehow less risky and easy to chase these adventurous options.

To chase all of them would be irresponsible. But to chase none of them is another form of death. It just takes longer.

The next time I see a call to adventure, I’m going to consider it. A million dollars would be nice, but the possibility of Real, True passion and meaning in whatever it is I’m doing is worth well more than that.

What do you think? What adventures are you considering?

The Picture – A Free Valentine’s Day Story from Jamie D. Greening

A picture holds a thousand words. But with today’s Free Valentine’s Day fiction, a picture might as well hold millions. Jamie Greening brings us another perspective on the paths love can take across a lifetime with his story: The Picture:

If you fell in love with this one, why not give some of the other authors a chance as well. Check out the sites for ALL of the Fondue Writers: Joseph CourtemancheJamie D. GreeningKathy KexelDerek Alan ElkinsRob Cely, and Dr. Paul Bennet. If you like what you see, why not pick up a few copies of their books? It covers the cost of everything, and it gives us hope in those long, dark nights when we’re dreaming up new stories, that Christmas miracles really do come true.

You might also consider our first collection of short stories, The Covid Quarantine Catina, written during the first months of the Covid-19 lockdowns. It’s available in Kindle, Paperback, and Audio formats.

Dr Paul Bennet will be back tomorrow with another Valentine’s Day short story. Until then, find someone you love, hug them tight, and remind them not to break anything.

Capital L

On Thanksgiving, our six year old son was nearly crushed by a 200lb, metal, lighted Santa Claus decoration. 

We went to the North Georgia mountains for the holiday to do some hiking and waterfall searching amongst the quiet of the pines, away from the hustle and bustle of destination resort town like our hometown of Orlando. 

It was great. At first. 

Then Santa slipped his tension wires just as our son was playing off-path in a park in Helen, GA. We told him repeatedly to come back, but he didn’t listen. The road less traveled was too tempting for him, and he paid the price. Let that be a lesson to all you would-be commencement speakers who quote Robert Grost. As a result, we spent Thanksgiving night in a remote Georgia ER, hoping for the bleeding to stop, and that our son had no brain abnormalities beyond those our genetics gifted him at birth.  

He was fine. No worries.  He DOES have a healthy distrust of Santa Claus now, though. Which is probably a good thing. 

In December, one of the stitches from my cornea transplant (from wayback in 2012) made its way loose. I had it removed, but apparently the place where said stitch used to be is now infected, which is a bad thing for transplants. The doctor says I’m 50/50 on whether I’ll lose the eye. 

“We’ll have to wait and see,” he said. Then, he added: “No pun intended.”

I’ve been here a few times over the years. Cornea transplants can reject easily, especially for those who are prone to rub their eyes with dirt-encrusted hands after wrestling with kids in the backyard. I’m hopeful things pull through. They always have up till now. It just means a few harrowing days of partial blindness and another doctor’s visit next Wednesday. Then, it’s either a few steroid drops and my eye becomes Arnold Schwarzenegger, or a I undergo surgery which will turn me into a white Nick Fury

Whatever happens, I’m living in the tension of waiting for things to return to normal, which is a tension I think we’re all familiar with lately. 

It would be easy to say that I can’t wait for Christmas break to end, for the kids to go back to school and me back to work. There IS a part of me that goes there, just like there’s a part of me that lamented being so far away from home when Santa assaulted my progeny. 

We yearn for normalcy, for predictability. But life isn’t normal. It rarely conforns to the best laid plans of mice and men.

When you focus on being normal, you miss capital-L life right in front of you. Like families laughing at each other when someone forgets to unmute themselves on the now-annual Holiday Zoom get-together. There is joy in the trenches and sadness in the peaks, because Life exists in both places. To focus on returning to Normal LIfe is to miss Life entirely. 

I’m spending the day after Christmas with the kids, watching Miyazaki films and eating popcorn (the same popcorn I got qs a gift from Captech as a gift for  Christmas. Thanks, CT!). Tomorrow, we’ll toss baseball in the backyard. On Wednesday, we’ll find out which path I take with my eyesight and go from there. Nothing I can do about it now, so there’s no point missing out on popcorn, movies, and baseball while we wait, right?

I feel good about this decision. 

An Other Christmas – Kathy Kexel

Aliens and Manger Scenes, Batman!

That’s the first thing that popped into my head when I ventured into today’s Fondue Writer’s Christmas story from Kathy Kexel. But that’s only because my brain is weird and operates in mysterious ways.

Today, Kathy Kexel blends Amish culture with science fiction with political intrigue and the Greatest Story Ever Told to come up with a wonderful tale of foreigners seeking refuge in unknown lands and finding a new place to call home.

There are also cows.

Check out An Other Christmas by Kathy Kexel.

Germany, place unknown | 2011 04 | Dairy cow on the “Kattendorfer Hof”.

If you have the time, please check out the sites for ALL of the Fondue Writers: Joseph CourtemancheJamie D. GreeningKathy KexelDerek Alan ElkinsRob Cely, and Dr. Paul Bennet. If you like what you see, why not pick up a few copies of their books? It covers the cost of everything, and it gives us hope in those long, dark nights when we’re dreaming up new stories, that Christmas miracles really do come true.

If you’d like what you see, you might also check out our first collection of short stories, The Covid Quarantine Catina, written during the first months of the Covid-19 lockdowns. It’s available in Kindle, Paperback, and Audio formats.

Jamie D Greening will be back with us on Wednesday. Until then, be kind to your neighbors, celebrate the miracle of Christmas with those you love, and, as always … don’t break anything.

The Patch – By Jamie Greening

It’s a skilled writer who can, with a mere head fake, encourage you to believe a story is going one way, while deftly sliding the knife between your ribs and into your lungs. There were some mixed metaphors there, but you get the idea.

And, when it comes to today’s Fondue author, Jamie Greening, I would not be surprised if he attempted a linguistic head fake and actually attempted to shiv me. He’s just that good.

See if you can’t get yourself equally thrown for a loop when you check out Jamie’s Halloween story, The Patch.

If you have the time, please check out the sites for ALL of the Fondue Writers: Joseph CourtemancheJamie D. GreeningKathy KexelDerek Alan ElkinsRob Cely, and Dr. Paul Bennet. If you like what you see, why not pick up a few copies of their books? It covers the cost of everything, and it gives us hope in those long, dark nights when we’re dreaming up new stories, wondering if the monsters in our heads matter only to us, or if one day they might come out of the dark to terrify you as well.

If you’d like what you see, you might also check out our first collection of short stories, The Covid Quarantine Catina, written during the first months of the Covid-19 lockdowns. It’s available in Kindle, Paperback, and Audio formats.

Paul Bennett will be back on Friday with another Halloween story. Until then, mind your Ps and Qs, always listen to your elders, and, as always, don’t break anything.

Dark Transit – By Michael DiMercurio

One of the great things about pursuing interests outside your “day job,” is that, beyond just building alt income streams, you get to meet all sorts of interesting people. Because I’ve been writing with the Fondue Writers for the last few years, and because Jamie Greening, Joseph Courtemanche, and I have been working on a few other projects, I got to meet Michael DiMercurio.

I’m going to say this wrong, because I never served, but DiMercurio is a graduate of the US Naval Academy and M.I.T. He served aboard nuclear submarines, saving the world from Communism and doing all sorts of things he can never speak about because of national security issues. He was an instructor at Annapolis and has, since the early ’90s, been a celebrated author of submarine fiction.

“Like Tom Clancy?” you might ask.

Yes, but good and factually accurate.

DiMercurio has written another book: his first in fifteen years. It’s called “Dark Transit,” and I had the pleasure to both read an early copy and listen to the audio narration from fellow Fondue writer, Joseph Courtemanche.

If you like military fiction, if you’re a fan of page-turners, I highly suggest checking out Dark Transit, which is available for pre-order in Kindle, paperback, and audiobook right now. DiMercurio is an amazing author. And this is just part 1 in his Anthony “Patch” Pacino series. I can’t wait to read the rest.

https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Transit-Anthony-Patch-Pacino/dp/B09G3MVF6F/

An Acre of Peace Part 1 – by Paul Bennett

A brand new story from Dr Paul Bennett. This one’s about reclaiming something that was lost, and bringing peace to a chaotic situation. Click on the pines to read the story.

If you’re not caught up with all of the Covid Chronicles, worry not! Scroll on down the page for the latest and greatest from all our Quarantined-and-slowly-going-more-insane-than-they-already-were. While you’re at it, check out pages for Joseph CourtemancheJamie GreeningKathy KexelDerek ElkinsRob Cely, and Dr. Paul J Bennett . There is a strong, non-zero chance you will come away happy.

Side Effects – an ABSOLUTELY FREE story from Kathy Kexel

Happy Friday, everyone. Happy GOOD Friday.

Kathy Kexel comes today with a brand new, table turning story about COVID-19 and those most vulnerable. It’s called “Side Effects” and it’s a great read. Give it a shot by clicking on ZZ TOP’s beards below.

That’s three weeks of #CovidCaptivity stories in the books. How’re y’all liking it?

Our original plan was for fantabulous author, Rob Cely, to join the crew tomorrow. However, since Saturdays are difficult for readership (and since it’s the day between Good Friday and Easter … and Rob is a pastor), we decided to slot him to Monday.

#JoPrime (aka Joe Courtemanche) will jump in with a story on Sunday, then Rob on Monday, Jamie Greening on Tuesday, Derek Elkins Wednesday, YoursTruly (aka #OtherJoe) on Thursday, and Kathy Kexel batting cleanup again (as she does so well) next Friday.

That’s the Name of the Game by Joseph Courtemanche

Laddies and Gentlepersons!

You may remember how I mentioned, previously, that a few good writers (and also: Me) planned to share some free content over the next weeks of CovidPalooza.

Well, Here we go again.

If you’ve got no place to go. If you’re feeling down. If you’d like to take a chance on us, here’s the first of those stories from Mr Joe Courtemanche (whose titles in publication will be listed in the comments). A little ditty about sickness in mind, body, and spirit in these trying times.

It’s called “That’s The Name of the Game.”

Give it a whirl and, if you change your mind on Joe’s stuff, Padre Jamie Greening will be here either later in the week with a new story, and Yours Truly will scrape the bottom of the barrel on Friday.