My new wheels

I finally got a new bike this week and it's a Takara Kabuto. I guess the name Kabuto means helmet in Japanese. I'm actually quite impressed with how the bike performs. One thing I will add is that the Vitesse racing saddle is actually quite comfortable which was a nice surprise. It doesn't look like it would be but there's actually a reasonable amount of padding for your butt. The 700 x 25c tires are a good compromise between rolling resistance and shock absorption. 

Earlier today I installed the rear rack. After all, this is a commuter vehicle and if I go to the store this is my only transportation other than walking. In the next week or so I should be creating a new set of grocery panniers, they're far too expensive to buy having looked for some. I went and hunted up my extra canvas today. To admit, I wanted to make some new bags anyway, maybe slightly more aerodynamic that the rectangular ones. For some reason there's only one left of pair I had made before. The Axiom is specially designed to center any weight that's attached to it but when you have a heavier amount of stuff you need both bags to help maintain your balance.

Tomorrow the front and rear lights should be in so that I will be able to ride safely at night. I've even dusted off my helmet and made sure it fits right. I didn't install the trailer hitch yet though I probably will pretty soon.

Here is the review I posted on the Fingerhut site where I bought it at and I gave it five stars. The same model is on Amazon also and it averages 4.1 stars there with 318 reviews that have been posted. It's a really good bike.

The weight and balance are excellent on this bicycle which makes for great handling characteristics. I think a person who really knows what they're doing is who designed it. It felt like one of the road bikes I used to race on many years ago. There really isn't a need for multiple gears if you're in the city and this bike is proof of that. It will take a little oomph getting started though, since I'm close to 50 I'm noticing that.

Even going up 6% grades like one near where I live hasn't been an issue. I just zip right on up it. My daily commute is about 3/4 mile each way and it's now quite a dream compared that heavy mountain bike I was last riding. I timed it tonight and it took me 6 minutes, normally it's been taking about 12 minutes.

Assembly once I got it out of the carton went like a breeze, I think it took me about 15 minutes and I was taking it out for its first spin. It started getting noticed immediately so get yourself a really good lock or you may end up missing the bike rather quickly. I had a couple of people came to congratulate me on how good it looks.

Cover reveal

I was able to finally put together the final cover for Ascendancy Rising today and I think it's a really good one. It definitely calls attention to the good versus evil aspects of the storyline. This particular painting was created in 1895 by Carlos Schwabe and is called "Death and the Gravedigger." It's filled with lots of occult symbolism which also fits the storyline perfectly like the grave markers in the background. From what I was able to research the woman that modeled as the angel was the painters wife. I thought that was cool. I've been hunting a long time for the image that would be displayed on the cover.

Etheusela

What I've decided to do is put the entirety of what I have of Etheusela up on Wattpad one chapter per week and I think there's 22 chapters ready to flesh out. Note, these are rough drafts. Many of the basic concepts in Etheusela did become part of Beyond Realms but they are very different stories. Here's the first chapter. http://www.wattpad.com/35346601-etheusela

And if you really like what's there please leave a comment. I'm also trying to decide when I want to finish this novel up. I think there's 16k all together.

Flowers in the Attic

I'm watching the movie for the first time today. Quite good and it largely followed what's in the novel which I read back in high school. I really loved it. When you think about the story there are some really horrifying and twisted things in it. I've probably read Flowers at least a dozen times and it's one of the things that I'm sure has contributed to what I write.

The grandmother locks the kids away in a bedroom and an attic. They can't get out unless they die which the grandmother feeds them arsenic to help achieve it. Every morning she would take pure arsenic, mix it with powered sugar and sprinkle it on the morning donuts. The kids mother only wants what she wants. She ignores the kids also. Certain passages from the Bible are used to justify everything which helped change some of my viewpoints at an early age.

TURN OF A FRIENDLY CARD?

(This is a bit of flash fiction that came to me the other day. I've also posted it on Wattpad. Yes, it does need a little clean up.)

Balthazar sat there quietly. He was wearing a hooded robe and you could barely see his eyes in the soft light. The sign outside stated he was the seer of all things. Shuffling the deck of cards, the movement of the man’s hands mesmerized. Slowly and deliberately he slid the cards together. The full deck he sat down in front of me. "Pick a card."

Something in the back of my mind told me; I shouldn't, I didn't really want to know the future. I didn't listen though. Picking up part of the stack I let the bottommost card fall into my free hand. It was the ace of spades.

He frowned as he considered the card. "This is not good, not good at all."

I'm confused by his reaction, "what do you mean?"

"Death," he gazed down at the card in my hand.

"So this means I'm going to die?"

He tried to sound hopeful, "it could just mean a change in life also. Remember, the cards only show possibilities. Change your course and it might not happen."

"I kind of do wish I could change my course," I mused as I considered the envelope that came earlier that day. Suddenly the plane flight and the funeral weren't all that important. Yes, I could change my course, I could always visit the marker later.

"No, you can always change your course," he assured me.

"Well, thank you for your time." I walked out of the place. All the while I tried to put it out of my mind. My next stop was at a tavern. Yeah, I can just catch a later flight. I picked out a stool at the far end of the bar and began drinking.

Not paying attention to the time I watched the ebb and flow of the customers. Soon, two hours had passed and I finally looked at the clock on the wall. I was five minutes late for my flight now. That's when the breaking alert came on the TV. A crawl on the bottom of the screen scrolled across. "Flight 119 to Denver crashed."

"Hey barkeep, turn that up!"

He just stared at me.

"That was the flight I was supposed to be on." To add emphasis I pulled the ticket out of my pocket.

He nodded and turned the TV up. My emotions swirled as I watched the horrifying event playing out on the TV. I now needed something stronger to drink.

The Three Kitties That Saved My Life

AN UPLIFTING TRUE STORY OF LOVE - from love and loss to love renewed - a feel-good read

Losing loved ones is an awful fact of life; losing one's loving spouse, one's day-to-day partner through life, especially in the prime of life, is one of the most unbearable tolls that we humans are forced to endure. This is the true story of my journey from grieving widower, not caring if I lived or died, to the once-again happily married man I am today, a man who both loves and cherishes life. My three kitties have given me a new zest for living.

Equally inspiring and entertaining, my story begins with loss and tears, but it ends with lots of love and laughter. I think that you will find yourself moved by my journey.


EXCERPT

It is amazing how time helps. In time, I have learned to overcome my own albatross. I have learned to live again, to love again. Life is a gift reads a plaque on our dining room wall, and that sums up what I have gained from the three kitties that saved my life. From Coco, I learned to care again. From Kitty, I learned to love again. From Pom Pom, I have learned how to cope with my own demons, the effects of aging being one of these. Pom Pom has taught me to accept what is and then to move onward. Yes, I have learned plenty from my three kitties.

My journey has been a long one, a difficult one at times, but it has a happy ending. The three kitties in my life have made it so. They have all helped me to become the happy-to-be-alive man that I am today. I now accept rather than cope. I live each day to the fullest, knowing full well that life is a gift, and a very precious one at that. I look back on my life and I often think that I must be the luckiest man in the world. I have so much to be thankful for. The wonderment and beauty of life are both so dear to me.

And, to add a delicious icing to the lovely taste of my life, I can say with total honesty to the whole world, my voice booming into the sky, my dancing feet not caring in the least who might see me, that I have been very fortunate to have done something that brings more sheer delight and wonderful pride to me than anything else that I have accomplished in my life: I have fallen madly, heads-over-heels in love not once, but twice, and how many others can say that?

Thank you, Kitty!

The reviews are really good. These bits are gleaned from the actual reviews.

"The Three Kitties That Saved My Life" by Mike Meyer is a moving memoir about loss and recovery.~ ChristophFischerBooks

We all suffer loss in our lives, yet few of us would bare our soul for all the world to see. Michael Meyer has done just that in this uplifting and cathartic book.~ T. R. Harris

“The Three Kitties That Saved My Life” is a beautifully written memoir of love and loss and love again. ~ R. Lee Holz

Stop by and get your copy today. http://www.amazon.com/Three-Kitties-That-Saved-Life-ebook/dp/B00CGND93E

Happy New Year

It's the end of one year
Beginning of another
Time to reassess
Light that inner fire
Step into the new dawn
All tomorrows are yours
And the past is gone
Beyond the distant shores
The sky is the limit
Your journey awaits
Take the first step forward
To your eventual fate

31 Dec 13


It's been a rough year for many, including myself. The finances have been really tight for me the last couple of months. I'm not the only one that's been happening too either and I'm positive it will get better in the coming year. We're seeing some of the last gasps of that horridly deep recession we were in. Enough of the bad stuff, we don't need to focus on that. 

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." Walt Disney
On that note I have some goals for 2014. I'm going to try to finish Ascendency Rising and release it this year. I have several other ideas that are just bits and pieces at this point, I'm going to see if I can't put them all together in this new year. One of the bits and pieces I actually got a smidgen of the idea while listening to the song "Two Black Cadillacs." I even bought a copy of the MP3. You do realize the two women get together and kill this man. One of the women is his wife, the other is his lover. Well, one day they get talking and they do something about his two timing ass. 

I also had a great idea last night that I really would like to see where it goes. How did my ghosts in "An Ill Wind Cometh" come to be? I might not get it out this year but it will definitely be happening at some point. I'm actually beginning to look at having out two novels and short story in a whole series. I've also kind of wondered what happens to the young couple later. I've had some tiny bits and pieces here and there, could be interesting.