It’s hard to write about something I’ve never tried. The Unexpected Traveler, my new fantasy, uses archery and swordplay as primary weapons of war. Not having fired a bow before, I borrowed this one and got 30 minutes of instruction. Randy Cassingham, of This is True fame, handled the camera.
Yes, this is the one shot that hit the target! We managed to break the nocks off three arrows, and given this is borrowed equipment, we thought we ought to stop while we were ahead!
As part of an ongoing “look and feel” consolidation, the web pages for www.americanflyingbroomstick.com have been placed onto the Mt. Sneffels Press server. All the information is intact, including the videos. You can go to the AFB pages directly or you can navigate by using the menu bar at the top of the page. Hover the mouse over “Projects” and you can click on “Flying Broomstick,” which has all the links. As usual, you can order any of the three books in the series via our catalog page.
The “Technology” page has been bumped up a notch to be its own “Project” page. I get questions all the time about doing this and that. You’ll find the answers on the Technology page.
And the “Weather Station” is also its own project. It took several hours of work Continue reading
Cool utility called Wordle. You feed it text, it makes the map.
Well, of course, there’s more. I couldn’t help myself, in fact. Next comes a Wordle word cloud from a section of the first Broom book, The Story of the Great American Flying Broomstick Book 1: Genesis. Here it is: Continue reading
This is an experiment. Randy Cassingham made a very nice video introduction for me to put on the www.americanflyingbroomstick.com home page. And he did a great job! But I did it on a day that my bipolar illness had taken me way, way down. So, I thought I’d try something a little different:
The production values stink, but I would like some feedback on the concept. The video is much shorter and hopefully more entertaining. So, compare it with the old one here: Continue reading
Both our Catalog and our Extended Catalog now feature a shopping cart. That means weight is used to compute postage, saving you money!
No more! I thrust my way through the tangled thicket on PayPal’s website and figured out how to use the shopping cart feature. So, you can add an item to the cart, continue to peruse the site and add more items, and when you’re done you just click on any “View Cart” button and you’re whisked to your shopping cart, where you can finalize your order. Of course, you can remove items or change quantities at any time, simply via the “View Cart” button. All “View Cart” buttons take you to the same place: your shopping cart.
The cool thing is that the shipping is calculated on the weight of the total order. That can represent significant savings. The starting point for shipping is $2.75, but if you order, say, the Railroad book plus Mary Ann Dismant’s memoirs, the total shipping is just $3.00. What a cool way to save money!
I’ve got the cart up for the Mt. Sneffels Press catalog and will update the extended catalog soon so that it has this feature also.
UPDATE Jan 22, 2010: The Extended Catalog has been upgraded to add the shopping cart feature.
This is a picture from Wikipedia of the SS John W. Brown, one of the two surviving out of over 2000 Liberty Ships built during WWII. One of the Liberty Ships was named after Otto Mears, a key railroading figure in Colorado
Reader Norm Delucchi sent this comment:
“Reading my copy of Narrow Gauge Railroading in the San Juan Triangle – I questioned an item – going to my reference library I found that the SS Otto Mears (Hull # 2157) was built by Permanente Metals Corporation, Richmond #2 Yard, Richmond, CA, not Matson Navigation of San Francisco as stated on page 90.”
Norm is correct. I might also note that in researching this, Wikipedia states that 2710 of these handy, easy-to-build cargo ships were built during the war years, not quite measuring up to the “over 3000″ on page 90. That still a lot of ships! Out of all these ships, only two are still seaworthy, the SS John W. Brown (pictured) and the SS Jeremiah O’Brien, the latter being preserved as a memorial in San Francisco with occasional trips at sea. The SS Otto Mears itself was launched in 1943, sold private in 1947, and wrecked and scrapped in 1967.
How’s that for information in a book about railroads! Check out Narrow Gauge Railroading in the San Juan Triangle: The Rio Grande Southern, the Ouray Branch of the D&RG and Otto Mears’ Silverton RR, in our catalog for $19.95 + shipping. You can be assured that Otto Mears was a railroad guy; it’s interesting to learn of the ship built twelve years after his death that was finally scrapped when Mears would have been 128 years old.
The cover art for Broom 1
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Diehard Fan Loves Flying Broomstick Series
Reader Chelsey, shown here in a Facebook photo, loves the American Flying Broomstick series
“Bravo again! I just finished book 2 and can’t wait to snag book 3! I just can’t put them down once I start reading! The books not only make me wish I could fly a broomstick, but as a life-long resident of Ridgway that has since moved away, it is like taking a trip home. It is especially enjoyable to personally know the characters; it often makes all the laughs that much more enjoyable! I spent a large amount of my reading time laughing or chuckling. I think my girlfriend thought I was a little nuts at first because I would just randomly break the silence of the room in tear-jerking laughter! Thanks for all the hard work Dave! Great books! Now its on to book 3! Any plans for a book 4? Best Regards, and Safe Brooming, Chelsey”
I remember Chelsey when he was in high school several years back. He led the team from our tiny little high school that entered a solar-powered car in a national race. He’s a ham radio operator, too. Sharp guy!
Well, regarding Book 4, I have the idea—see the chapters in Book 3 that take place in Manchester, England and you’ll see what it’ll involve. But right now I’ve decided to try my hand at a full-blown fantasy with the working title of The Unexpected Traveler, so Book 4 will be put off a bit.
Find out what Chelsey’s enjoying so much—buy your copy of The Story of the Great American Flying Broomstick today!