Mall Shooting

I was going to write a little about video games today, but then one of life's tragedies happened. The shooting at the Westroads Mall in Omaha Nebraska. This mall is about a mile from where my parents live. When I was a young teen I would walk to and from the mall as there was no bus service that far out. We were not even in the city limits at the time.

I have not seen a list of the victims yet, but I have not received any calls from grieving friends, relatives, or co-workers. For some strange reason, I am one of the first ones people call. I cannot do anything for these people but be there, hold their hand, and sometimes cry with them. Somehow this comforts them, so I do it. I had a counselor describe this grieving I do with others as empathic. He liked to have me around in bad situations as well. Perhaps on some level I am empathic and perhaps I do siphon off part of their pain. I know there is no scientific proof of this. I just know what happens. Since I have not been called to someone's house, or hospital room to just be with them, I trust that all those I know are safe. They are safe but feeling the grief and shock that all of us in Omaha are feeling.

Gate of Souls: a Familiar's Tale

I received my copy of Gate of Souls last night. I am quite excited and cannot wait to read it. Probably will sit down Saturday morning with a pot of tea and some scones and really enjoy it. I was a beta reader for this book when my friend Verna was writing it. It was great then, I loved it and was thrilled when she thought she had it published. That promise fell through, and in retrospect it was a very good thing it did. Since I first read the book, my friends Rick and Verna have moved so I haven't seen the changes in this book. Verna published several short stories in e-zines and in this way was 'noticed' by a book publisher. A Familiar's Tale was dusted off and has been through some serious editing. The title of the original, A Familiar's Tale, has become the series title. The story is told through the eyes of the sorcerer's familiars. The first time through Mellypip was the main character along with his sorceress Runa. I expect this hasn't changed any. As sweet and endearing as these two characters are Belwyn the owl -- and Mellypip's tutor -- was a favorite of mine, and everyone in the writers group. To a person, in our imaginations Belwyn had the voice of Edward Woodward. No one tried to give actors or voices to the other characters, but try giving this book a read and see if any voice other than Woodward's comes through for Belwyn.

I hear the 2nd book in the series is almost done. I wonder how much chocolate I'll have to mail out to Verna in order to see a rough draft of this book ahead of time?