Huskies Win

There's a tradition in college football, at least the the top FBS Divsion I level. That is, early in your season, usually the first game you play an FCS Division I team. These are teams from smaller schools who can't get into the FBS series.

Either that, or play Idaho.

The point is to give your team a game to work out the kinks, get some practice playing in a game (there's no pre-season in college football), and, it is hoped, get an early win.

That doesn't always work out for example, this year Portland State beat Washington State University in WSU's home opener. Oops.

The University of Washington Huskies for years never did this. They only played upper-level FBS teams.  But about five years ago they decided to start playing FCS teams.

Last week my beloved Huskies lost in a heart breaker to Boise State University.  BSU is not only an FBS team, but was ranked at #23 on the top 25 AP poll.  (They moved up to #20 after that game but since they lost this week to BYU, they may be dropping a bit.)

This week the Huskies played Sacramento State, an FCS team. I was wishing the whole time we could have played this game, first, then faced BSU. That's because our team looked much better and much more confident, especially as the second quarter started. True freshmen quarterback Jake Browning did much better, showed much better skill and confidence. A new star emerged, a kid called Gaskin who made three touchdowns.  By the middle of the third quarter, Husky coach Chris Petersen was putting in second-stringers.  The final score was 0-49.

If the Huskies had played this game first, then went to play BSU, they may have won instead of losing by 3 points when they were 13 point underdogs.

So this was a great confidence booster and a good way for Browning and this young team to get some much-needed practice. And while I'm glad to see the Huskies win, the fact it was an FCS team tempers the happiness.

Next week the Huskies take on Utah State at home.  While Utah State (USU?) is an FBS team, it's not considered a very good one. Looking for another win, but not one with an asterisk.

The Speculative Fiction Cantina with Steven Spellman and Ben Willoughby

Today the Speculative Fiction Cantina is proud to welcome Steven Spellman and Ben Willoughby

Steven Spellman

Steven Spellman

You should never judge a book by its cover. As well, you should never judge a writer by his bio. With that being said, Steven Spellman is writer for readers who enjoy simply told stories, stories of lust, of deception, stories of redemption, of love. Stories of horrors beneath the waning moon, of joys beneath the rising sun. Stories of everything in between, to give the reader a fiction of adventure fit to distract from the facts of life if only for a moment. Born in East Orange, New Jersey, raised in North Carolina since infancy, Steven Spellman has been a drug dealer, a prisoner, an armed felon, a college student, a father, a husband, a sinner, a saint. Like everyone else Steven Spellman has worn many hats, but never any so well fitted as a writer. His ongoing struggle with life is a personification of the fact that You Should Never Judge a Book by its Cover; you may miss the whole story.

Steven's Books

Murder Beneath the Midnight Sun

The Virus

The Vanished

Steven's Links:

Website
Facebook
Twtter

Ben Willoughby

Ben Willoughby

Ben Willoughby was born in the United States and, being a military brat, ended up seeing a lot of it (along with a foreign country or two). At a very young age, he found a love for reading. At the age of 12, he found a passion for writing. In his late 20's, he decided to pursue publishing many of the ideas and concepts he had developed over the years. He currently lives in the southeastern United States, with his loving wife and young daughter. When not writing or reading, he spends his spare time sketching and smoking his pipe.

Ben's Books

Gods on the Mountain (Paperback, Kindle)

"Raw Head" (Novelette)

Ben's Links

Website/Blog
Twitter

From Today's Show: Space Elevator

Listen to today's show at 6:00 PM ET / 3:00 PM PT or in archive here.

The Activity "NO" List

Last week I talked about my "Movie 'NO' List." Today I'm going to tell you about my activity NO list. That is, things I refuse to do.

1) Camping. First of all, it's being outside and outside is sunburn (viz: Going to the Beach) and allergies (which are better after seven years of allergy shots, but why risk it). Not to mention bugs and other critters (spiders, snakes). I saw a meme on Facebook that was something to the affect of "Camping: paying a lot to live like a homeless person." We've had 50,000 years of human progress to get away from sleeping in dirt, why would I want to return to that? Sure you can see some pretty things, but can't I just watch them from inside my (climate-controlled) car?

2) Hunting. I have nothing against hunting or guns. In fact, I enjoy target shooting. But hunting is definitely out. First of all, it's outside (viz: Camping). Second of all, it's traipsing through the countryside looking for elusive animals. I don't know what it is, but I think my family was born with the "no-hunting-ability" gene. I can't remember a time when anyone in my family had a successful hunt. The few times I've gone hunting I've spent a day outside in the cold (hunting always seems to take place on cold days), a day I could have been indoors enjoying amenities such as central heat.

3) Fishing. Again, nothing against fishing if that's your thing. But, first of all, it's outside (see above). Second, it's boring. I went on a fishing trip once where we were fishing for sturgeon at the mouth of the Columbia River near Astoria, Oregon. (This was a business thing.) We were out there for 9 hours and caught four fish. Now you sort of have to wrestle sturgeon in (they're big) but if you figure 15 minutes of wrestling per fish, that's one hour of something interesting happening in 9 hours of fishing. So that's 8 hours of . . . nothing. And one of the people on the trip is an avid fisherperson and she said "That was one of the best days fishing I've ever had." Puleeze.

4) Going to the Beach. Again, outside. But since I sunburn in about 10 minutes (I'm not joking) I have to A) cover up a lot and be hot and/or B) wear greasy, smelly sunscreen and reapply about once an hour. And sand sticks to sunscreen. I hate it.

5) Yard Work/Gardening. Yes, it's outside. It's also the most boring, unrewarding work there is. Mow the lawn: it'll need it again in a week. Pull weeds, they'll grow back. Plant flowers, they'll die. Plant a garden, have tons of zucchini that you can't give away (why do people plant that stuff?). It's not that I don't like vegetables. I just prefer buying them than spending hours failing to grow them. Yes, if the zombie apocalypse comes, I'll starve to death because I don't hunt or garden. But I need to lose weight, anyway.

So there you have, the "no" activities list. What do you hate to do?

Huge, Colossal, Thirty-eight Author Halloween Giveaway!

A huge, colossal multi-author giveaway, the Dark Dreams Halloween Giveaway, via Rafflecopter:

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Lots and lots of prizes and a grand prize of $175. Check it out! You can even win a signed copy of my novel Book of Death.

Huskies Lose . . . Barely

Yes, the game was Friday night, and, yes, this is Sunday morning. But this is the first chance I've had to write about it.

Going into Friday night's season opener game against the #23 ranked Boise State Broncos, the University of Washington Huskies were an unknown. They were, however 13 point underdogs. The biggest unknown for the Dawgs was who was going to be starting quarterback. It turned out to be true freshman Jake Browning who showed flashes of brilliance but also showed he needs some experience at the big show that is collegiate Division I football. Here's a kid, probably 18 years old, playing his first NCAA game in front of a huge hostile crowd, on blue turf, the a Husky front line decimated by players headed for the NFL.

There was added drama because the Washington coach, Chris Petersen, was a very successful coach at Boise State. One fan held up a sign that said "Beat Pete."

By the end of the first half, it looked pretty hopeless. The Husky defense was porous and the Husky offense couldn't move the ball. But the score was only 16 - 0.

The second half was much better for the Dawgs. The defense came alive and made sure the Broncos scored zero second-half points. The offence connected better but the team's only touchdown was a punt return. At the end of the fourth quarter, it was 16-13 and the Huskies had the ball close to the end zone.

Then the mistakes happened. A penalty pushed them back. Then two sacks in a row (the only Boise sacks of the game). Suddenly what looked like a possible game-winning touchdown turned into a hail-Mary, extra-long, game-tying field goal.

It barely missed, giving the Broncos the ball back with a few seconds left on the clock. They took a knee and ended the game.

As I posed on Facebook that evening, we were 13-point underdogs, we lost by three points. Not a horrible start, but not great.

The Huskies have a week to tighten up that defense and get it so Browning can connect and has some protection before they play Sacramento State at home.

The announcers for the game said Las Vegas has the Huskies winning 4.5 games this year. And do have a very tough road through the very competitive Pac-12. All of us fans are hoping Petersen can do for Washington what he did for Boise State. So far, it's not looking good. But, the upside is, this is a very young Husky team. Next year they will be better. They'd better be or Petersen might be looking for a job.

The Speculative Fiction Cantina with Rebecca Jaycox and Claudette Melanson

Today on the Speculative Fiction Cantina we are proud to welcome writers Rebecca Jaycox and Claudette Melanson

Rebecca Jaycox

Rebecca Jaycox

Rebecca Jaycox grew up in the tiny town of Berryman, which borders the Mark Twain National Forest and the Courtois River about 70 miles south of St. Louis. The beautiful landscape fed her imagination, and she began writing stories at age 10 and never stopped. Always seeking adventure, Rebecca moved to France after she graduated college with a journalism degree to teach English at a French high school. Bitten by the travel bug, she has recently visited Italy, Greece, Austria, Spain, and finally made it to her bucket-list destination of Istanbul last summer. Rebecca now lives in New York City with her husband, Gregory. She is the curator and program director of the YA Lit Series at the 92nd Street Y--one of New York's premier cultural centers. She enjoys reading and writing fantasy, urban fantasy, steampunk, and science fiction. The Other Inheritance is her first novel.

Rebecca's Book:

The Other Inheritance (Amazon, BN)

Rebecca's Links:

Website/Blog
Facebook
Twitter

Claudette Meanson

Claudette Melanson

Claudette Melanson writes & edits in Kitchener, Ontario, with her husband Ron and four bun babies: Tegan, Pepper, Butters & Beckett. She graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a BA in English and an MA in Literature. She's wished to be a Vampire since age five. She hopes to one day work full time as an author, since there are many, many books living inside her head.

In her spare time she enjoys watching Japanese Anime and reading vampire stories....along with other great fiction. She is also very interested in good health and is an advocate of Ketogenic eating, using whole and natural foods. Her favorite foods are bulletproof coffee, cashew flour crust pizza and treats made with xylitol and almond, coconut or cashew flours.

Future dreams include writing many more books and spending more time with her son Jacob. Her biggest dream is to make Universal Halloween Horror Nights a yearly event with hubby and son. A Rabbit Rescue fanatic, she also hopes to help rescues all over the world save many innocent lives.

Claudette's Books:

Rising Tide: Dark Innocence

Undertow: Death’s Twilight


Minion

Claudette's Links:

Website
Blog
Facebook
Twitter
Pintrest
LinkedIn
Tumbr
Wordpress
Tsu
Goodreads
Instagram
Book Likes
Book Gorilla Author Page

From today's show: Most Distant Galaxy Found

Listen to today's show at 6:00 PM ET / 3:00 PM PT or in archive here.

The Movie "NO" List

I like movies and I watch a lot of them on DVD/Blu-Ray through Netflix. I watch 3 every 2 weeks. This justifies the cost of Netflix but doesn't get me throttled . . . much.

Lately I've had the problem of keeping movies in my queue. They suck out as Netflix mails them to me, but very few new releases are being added. At one point I had 6 movies in my queue and  22 new releases in my "Saved Titles." I'm sure what's going to happen is in November and December a bunch of those movies will move up into the queue as they are released for Christmas sales.

So I've been adding a lot of old movies and classics and things just to keep that queue full (I recently added the four discs of the first season of Community).  The last movie I watched on a Netflix disc was How Green was My Valley from 1941. It's a classic, John Ford-directed film that won multiple Oscars. And I'm glad I saw it but it's not the kind of movie I'd want to see more than once.

Another problem I have is there are whole categories of films I refuse to watch. That's the movie "no" list. One, is horror, especially slasher films. I hate them. Two is chick flicks. I tell my wife "No movies were someone dies of natural causes." Another category is any movie with Meryl Streep.

These aren't hard and fast rules. I like the original Poltergeist. I've see The Cabin in the Woods but that was more a satire of slasher films. I've seen Still Alice and The Help (I don't think anyone dies in either of those). And I've seen Stuck on You where Ms. Streep had a cameo (so I didn't realize she was in it) and Adaptation because it was a movie about writing and Streep played against type, so I made an exception.

With those rules in mind, it's sometimes a challenge to keep my queue full. I watch a lot of classics. Ignoring Community, the movies in my queue were made 1959, 1942, 1958, 1939, 1967, 1943, 1949, 1966, and 1967. Oh, and 2015 (Mad Max: Fury Road just popped into my queue this morning for a 9/29 release date).