rogerinblue.com: October 2019

Oct 26, 2019

TWIZZLE - NaNoWriMo Idea # 4

NaNoWriMo Idea # 4

TWIZZLE

In the song lyric, Jonatha Brooke wrote, “All things being equal, her beauty was not her fault, and it was not her only advantage.” Nora Kinsley got her good looks from her mother. Her cunning, ruthless daring, and ability to lie, came from her father. Together, these qualities made bilking rich men and women easy, but they were not her only advantage. What made the difference was her je ne sais quoi, her Twizzle.

Oct 25, 2019

KEEPERS - A NANOWRIMO NOVEL IDEA # 4

KEEPERS

A NaNoWriMo Novel Idea (#4)

A Special Agent Mai Yazhi Novel

US Park Service Special Agent Mai Yazhi is back on the job after a year of therapy and two ceremonial cleansings following her brutal kidnapping by Walt Fremont and his half-brother Mel. Mai has been assigned to a park service unit that coordinates searches for people reported missing in one of the parks in Utah. Most cases involve a hiker who is lost and later found after a day or two of wandering in Canyonland’s maze. These cases are quickly closed. Other cases go cold. A few cold cases are re-opened when a body or skeletal remains are found in the park. These are the cases that keep Mai alive, especially when they involve young Navaho women.

ON THE HALF SHELL - # 3 idea for National Novel Writing Month

ON THE HALF SHELL

Jefferson Huîtres lives on a houseboat in the Marina at Key West Bight. When he isn’t drinking or fishing, Jefferson is in the recovery business; a skip tracer, who searches for stolen objects and missing men. A local socialite has hired Jefferson to find a missing pearl necklace and the pool boy she claims stole the necklace. Jefferson is confident he can find the boy however he knows the elusive nature of pearls. Growing up, Jeff fished for oysters up and down the eastern seaboard from Chesapeake to Apalachicola with his father and two brothers. In five years on the water, Jeff ate a ton of oysters, but never found a pearl. Now, the closest he gets to his namesake is when he orders a dozen at the Half Shell restaurant.

Oct 23, 2019

RED DUST - NaNoWriMo Idea # 2

RED DUST

Katherine Ouellette and her brother David are part of a US Space Agency team prospecting for rare minerals and metals on Mars. Mars is in its first phase of exploration and colonization by the US, Chinese, Russians, and Koreans. Ore samples taken by the US team have significant quantities of iron, aluminum, magnesium, chromium, and Titanium. Rarer elements such as nickel, copper, cobalt, lithium, tungsten, europium, molybdenum zinc, niobium, lanthanum also have been found in remote sites near the Chinese colony. When Kate and David discover traces of gold, the "rush" is on, except on Mars, pack-bots and sonic diggers have replaced mules and shovels. Kate soon learns claim jumping, robbery, and murderous outlaws are still a part of prospecting, even on Mars.

Oct 21, 2019

DEADMAN’S HOLE A possible NANOWRIMO novel for 2019 Idea # 1

DEADMAN’S HOLE

A possible NANOWRIMO novel for 2019

Alvin Haden and Quinten Taylor grew up on adjoining homesteads in Burnet Country west of Austin. The two boys weathered droughts, drove cattle, and fought Comanches together. Their friendship even survived courting the same girl. The civil war changed everything. Alvin left Texas to join the Union cause and Quinten became a decorated Confederate officer.

The two warriors tried to reestablish their friendship after the war, but any hope ended when Alvin started working on the ranch of Judge Kendal, a Federal Judge, and Quinten joined a local group of “fire eaters.”

The Burnet Country Fire Eaters were a radical group of Confederates who continued to fight for slavery and Southern rights long after the war ended. For the Fire Eaters, the list of Unionists living in the Hill Country west of Austin, Texas are the worst kind of traitors. Men who deserved Texas justice at the end of a rope. In their acts of violence, the Fire Eaters were said to be worse than Indians.

One night, Judge Kendal is dragged from his home and deep in the hills, near Marble Falls, the judge is tried and hung from an oak tree, after which his body is cut down and dropped directly into a cavernous sink hole.

Alvin learns about the Judges’ end in this unceremonious mass grave that is known by the Fire Eaters as the Deadman’s Hole. Bringing this secret group of killers to trial becomes Alvin’s mission; little knowing that Quentin is one of the leaders. When Alvin’s name is added to the target list of Union men, Quinten must decide whether their one-time friendship is stronger than his oath to the Southern cause and the quick justice dealt out at the Deadman’s Hole.