Scarlet Letters

This blog is in danger of becoming all about food, but a) the writing stuff is in motion but still hush-hush, and b) the family sees each other so rarely right now that we don't even get much in the way of Snippets. That is, unless you could yesterday's endless snark of poor Jim on his 51st birthday, which I kept misremembering as 61 with a big ol' grin. And yet he married me. If you're curious what's going on, you can catch up with the Literary Underworld crew at its site ; with my professional photography and newstuff at Donald Media ; and of course my Facebook and Twitter . I promise there's going to be very big changes soon. In the meantime, our observance of Memorial Day means the family gets to spend a few days actually in each other's company. Not Friday, as Boy had rehearsal for Beauty and the Beast  and I had the night shift. And not tonight (Sunday night), because Jim has a night shift and Boy is seeing one of his friends in a play. (In case...

A Return to the Roots: A Hero for Today’s Readers and Times By Stephen Zimmer In general, there has been a turn toward anti-heroes within the stories told in today’s speculative fiction, a time where there has been a proliferation of subgenres in the realms of fantasy, science fiction, horror and other primary genres.    Cross-genre fiction has also seen a sharp rise during this time, blending elements of many various genres into unique blends that open some fresh new territory for readers. All of these developments in genres and kinds of characters are welcome and needed.   They expand the possibilities in storytelling and character development, in addition to encouraging writers to take chances with their fiction.   Nevertheless, I also see a rising need in today’s fiction for characters like Ragnar Stormbringer or Rayden Valkyrie in an increasingly complex and troubled world.   They are bonafide heroes who dwell within stories that fall in...

I love big food holidays. I really love to cook, and my crazy-ass life does not often give me the opportunity to experiment. This year I had coffee hour responsibility at church on Easter Sunday, which meant twice the desserts and snacks as usual, plus our family feast. That meant a lot of baking! As promised, here are some of the recipes, and how well they turned out for us. KEY LIME PIE Source: Patrice Nelson This one couldn't be simpler. I use Pillsbury pie crusts because life is too short for making crust, and I know this is religious debate that cannot be easily resolved, but hey, I work. So you bake up the crust first of all, and I am going to have to get myself some pie weights on a string to make my life easier. While the crust is cooling, mix 8 egg yolks with two cans of sweetened condensed milk, the lime zest of two limes, and 6 ounces of key lime juice. I generally don't have lime zest and substitute lemon powder from Penzey's, with no complaints registe...