Gave another Florida History Heroes talk at the Fort McCoy Library in Marion County this time. I spoke about Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and her writings that help depict and preserve the area around Fort McCoy. There’s Henry Plant whose steamboats traveled the nearby Ocklawaha River. There’s also President Richard Nixon who acted on the efforts of others to stop something that would have transformed the entire area….but you’ll have to come to a talk to find out what that was. smile emoticon

Here’s the color version of the drawing I posted last night!

Trilby is strolling through the woods to a picnic and is bothered by an intruding alien & his transportation device. The lone extraterrestrial inquires as to the nearest burger joint. Trilby points the way to the The Burger Inn, though, in truth, he’s not quite sure where he is at the moment.

I’m grounded for a bit and getting as much artwork out as I can. Amongst the cartooning done tonight included the next few days of my daily Swampy’s Florida daily celebration cartoons. This one was fun! The fun of aliens is that you can make it up as you go along! grin emoticon

I’ll leave a shroud of mystery as to what this creature might be celebrating Thursday. Tomorrow you can see the color version over at Swampy’s Florida or I’ll later share it here.

I’ve been having fun creating a continuous story linking the celebratory daily cartoons into a story. The fun is trying to figure out how to link each day together!

Bloodland by William W. Johnstone

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Of the few dozen Johnstone Clan novels I’ve read, few were published during William Johnstone’s lifetime. This one was. Considering the few books written at the time by him, I figure this one may have been written by Johnstone himself and not one of the herd of ghost writers to come.

Unfortunately, this is the worst of the books I’ve read possibly actually written by Johnstone. I can read a formula cast in the structure of the book. At the time he was also producing the Smoke Jensen series and this book too much reflects those. You could swap out the hero for Jensen. Not that it ruins the novel, just that it indicates Johnstone’s later actions of employing ghost writers considering how much he was able to produce, apparently, plot-wise.

The entire premise is hard to believe, which means the writer failed to connect his plot with the reader. Basically involves bad guys taking over a town with a vision of taking over the world in their way. The idea of the seduction of the townspeople seems more real today than possible in 1985. Still more than far fetched.

One of the most important things to take from this book is Johnstone’s writing of the farming industry and what was and would be happening. Younger people will have a great deal of trouble understanding what he is writing in that what he wrote has not only happened but is so buried in the commercial maelstrom, that the idea of the independent family farms that produce for the U.S. to such a high level will be hard to perceive.

The writing in the book is less than standard. The setting is described at points, but I never got the feel of the place as I have in so many other Johnstone Clan novels. That character construction is also far less than the usual stellar efforts of a Johnstone novel. The most interesting characters, to me, is the father and one named ‘Lila’, but little is done with them.

I figure this book is a sign of the stress of producing too many books at the same time by Johnstone.

Bottom line: I don’t recommend this book. 6 out of 10 points.

View all my reviews

Drew a wonderful group of older folks today. Including Joan Kelly who, along with her dancing partner, were entertainers for the USO and performed for troops waiting to go overseas during WWII. She tap danced and sung at bases in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Hard to imagine all of the joy she brought to our brave soldiers. She’s one of my heroes!

Trilby and a bunny! You can see the color version over at Swampy’s Florida later this morning.

My rugged schedule of the past week and a half has finally caught up with me. Was in a meeting Monday night where I just kept feeling sicker and sicker and couldn’t slip out. Made my way home and crashed. This proves that I’m not in perpetual motion, despite what people say.

‘Richard Deacon‘s Microwave Oven Cookbook’!
Don’t know about you, but I only listen to what character actors recommend when I operate a microwave!

Learned it would have been Deacon’s 94th birthday today, so let’s celebrate! grin emoticon Here’s the cover and the back cover below. I found it during my travels this past week. I’m always finding fun oddities like this and will try to post them occasionally.

With my Swampy’s Florida at Dunnellon’s Boomtown yesterday. With me is City Commissioner Penny Fleeger, Jeff Smith and Tessa Noell helping out. Big crowds and lot’s of folks wanting to know about our great state of Florida!

Been at a meeting for a few hours tonight and got a ton of time consuming artwork done! Yay!

Here are a few photos from an event I performed this past Saturday in St. Augustine!