Here’s my inked doggie for the Jane Gang Unleashed!

The Jane Gang Unleashed sounds like just another of the multitude of vicious gangs that roam all parts of #Florida looking to destroy us all.
In this case the Jane Gang Unleashed is a trio of musicians who play folk music. The leader of the Gang is a pup named Jane.
Thus the illustration of a strumming canine above.
You can hear and learn more about the Jane Gang Unleashed here:
https://www.reverbnation.com/JaneGangUnleashed

Alias the Saint by Leslie Charteris
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The edition I have has only two stories mentioned.

‘The National Debt’: A bit over done and confusing at times as The Saint character, using an alias is suspected and accepted at the same time by a gang of bad guys. That makes little sense. Also the coercion of a scientist seems also far fetched. it all ends as such stories do, but I felt very unsatisfactory in the end.

‘The Man Who could Not Die’: This is a nifty short tale that is also confusing as the story has various flashbacks and the editing makes where those start and stop not clear. It all seemed obvious to me. As did the conclusion.

Bottom line: i don’t recommend the book. 4 out of ten points.

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The Flight of the Falcon by Daphne du Maurier
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I do like du Maurier’s writing a lot. This book is very well written. It’s the plot and layout of the story that is not well thought out.

This book starts out with someone coming across someone they that looks familiar and some thing more occurs. Lo and behold, that familiar one turns up dead. The someone who saw the familiar now seems to remember who the dead one was and goes off to find out what happened. The someone is a tour guide, not a detective, but du Maurier wants to show off her knowledge of the scenes of Italy again. The device is a bit much. Moreover, it all tipped me off who did what and why and who was wh’s mother. It was all obvious to me. That really kills a book for me.

Her writing makes up for some of that. But this could have been more tightly written and cut away a lot of trivial stuff that helped me know along the way my conclusion had to be correct.

A weak mystery in a heavily written book.

Bottom line I recommend the book: 6 out of 10 points.

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Sped-up video of me drawing the last of the 2018 #MerMay #cartoons: A Mermaid at sunset. No pencils involved. Drawn entirely freehand.

It’s MerMay with cartoonists drawing mermaid every day during May.
I did this for Thursday.

Judy Dickerson contributed squirrels! So squirrels pester a mermaid reading Moby Dick.

Feel free to contribute what else you’d like me to combine mermaids with. One day left!

Quest of the Mountain Man by William W. Johnstone
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

* Just to note: Due to illness and a hafty workload, I’ve fallen behind my goal of 100 books in 2018. So, I’m reading through a series of Mountain Man books to catch up.*

I figure if I keep reading through the series a gem will appear. It’s not a Grade A gem, but far, far superior to the last 7 books or so.

The tale is a curious one. Why would a mountain man, who is always bemoaning the onslaught of the easterners and financially set for life, wander off to Canada to help a railroad scout it’s right-of-way for a rail line? A flimsy answer is given that is more of a devise to justify the reason for the book. Especially since there is very little scouting recorded in the book itself.

What sets this book apart from others in the series are a set of layers that makes the book more interesting and depth. No real surprises, but a good story nonetheless.

Bottom line: I recommend this book: 6 out of 10 points.

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My live drawing at the 2018 #floridahomeschoolconvention. Thank you to Andrew Knight for filming this! #FPEA2018 #homeschoolconvention #wildandfree2018 #greathomeschoolconvention #floridahomeschoolconvention