Monthly Archives: April 2013

A-Z Challenge: B is for Books

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Raymond Alexander Kukkee
©2013  Raymond Alexander Kukkee pictures first copy 004                                     A box of books!   The Fires of Waterland  

"The light of knowledge shines upon civilization from the opened book. "

 
B  is for Books.   Not as old as scrolls, an old-world source of information, but more easily stacked.   Books. Beautiful, incredible in their simplicity. Reams of pure, virgin  paper marked purposefully with delights both erratic and erotic. Pages with strange phonetic letters, pictures,  ideas, and dreams forever glued, stitched and bound together in common purpose. For civilization, few things have been more important than books.The world has been formed by words offered in books. In the world of the writer, there are few things more important than books.For a writer, books are close to the heart; a goal to be achieved, a project to be realized, perhaps a collection, a repository for a lifetime of work. The light of knowledge shines upon civilization from the opened book.   I am fond of books, and always have been. From dictionaries and worn sets of Encyclopedia Britannica  offering expansion of the mind and the world itself, to simple schoolbooks, dog-eared Superman comic books, and works of fiction like The Grapes of Wrath,  I  like them all.  Books are an invitation into the storied world of fantasy, ageless wisdom, wit and wonder alike. I like books so much I write my own.  Just got a whole box of them.  Aren't they beautiful?  That's why B is for Books.   Is that Incoming I hear? Photo credit:  wlk photography
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A-Z Challenge: A is for Author

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Raymond Alexander Kukkee
pictures first copy 030 ©2013 Raymond Alexander Kukkee It's April 1st, time for the A-Z Challenge. Once again, I contemplated a specialized theme but instead chose a completely random theme. Why? Because I like random. I'm a random kind of guy. "Know thyself" comes to mind. I know I like variety.   Variety is the spice of life. That may be an 'old saw' --but being interested in everything does that. Because it is 2013, The Year of the Author, you may have correctly guessed that A is for Author. This year is special--good things are happening. There is hope out there. Hope for better things. Books to be published, books to be promoted. The Fires of Waterland, my new novel, is just one example. Now published. Being promoted. I have a book signing set up. First one. A milestone. To be held at the local Eco Centre on April 12th. See the sidebar. You're invited! Being an author is interesting. We write books mostly because we are creative types. Stories percolate in the mind. Ideas flow. We harvest our imaginations. We observe, remember, deduce, interpolate, extrapolate, challenge, analyze, and above all,-- think-- about the world around us. Something drives us. Are we born writers, or do we become writers? Perhaps every author will offer you a different answer to that question. One thing is for sure. It is our duty as authors and writers to write our best, to think, to write responsibly and initiate change for the better.We must do our utmost to tell our stories, entertain, inform, and above all, create visions and dreams that challenge and improve the status quo. Sometimes we even raise hell. That's why A is for 'Author'. By the way, we seldom have 'nothing to write about'. We'll see. There are 25 more days to go!     Is that Incoming I hear?
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