Peaches Beltempo’s summer job- assisting with LARP quests for children, in the sunny outdoors- takes a lot of imagination, love of life, humor, games, and always, water. The element of surprise has led to laughter and curiosity, ideas from the young co-creators of the adventure. Bad surprises, you can watch for. The mobile dungeon master learns all the rules of safe fun, dealing with scuffle of guiding kids of various personalities, their safety versus the freedom of the outdoors. But no matter how much you believe in the pretend play...it’s never too dark, and never too real… Or...it wasn’t. Yet, here they are. The darling group of children carry illusions of dazzling credibility about their person, a malicious air and uncanny power. Their forms break into distorted smiles, like hungry things, bent on satiation. The occult force that brings these six, fragile beings closer, with energy-consuming, inhuman aspects around Beltempo, grasping for a coherent response here ...

Here’s a story inspired by seeing a vintage pinball machine, during an annual camping trip with my family .- Cecil A man with a certain maniacal glee in his eyes leads another man into People’s Crossing, pictured here: The other fellow’s dressed in a Hawaiian shirt. He’s putting out a cigar as they travel over the bridge. He coughs, then says: Blamed walk to the top of this mountain best be worth it. Mr. Anthony, you are considering turning back? Not on your life, Sandu! We’ve got five grand riding on your proof that you can demonstrate what I will agree is Extra Sensory Perception. If you hadn’t walked up from nowhwere, told me my name, that I go by ‘R.A.’- that I’m a gambling addict, that I’ve seen it all but you can go one better, money guaranteed- and my blamed social security number! Why aren’t you selling lottery numbers? Sandu: Power made of belief- beyond every day levels, in this cynical world- can move that entire mountain top, RA. My sense of a tremendous ...

So, Mad Scientist. After attending a couple of local karate classes at the end of 2018, I’d pictured a nebbish incel fellow- a stand-in for my own position, but someone more locked in his own little world- to characterize the Mad Scientist idea in my novel, Chrysalis of the Butterfly. Yet, when it came time this week to try out characters as Sims, he became a She. She, however, did not gain a name, other than, perhaps, Regina, in passing. Her Sim is named first name Mad, last name, Scientist. I’ve been developing Chrysalis of the Butterfly over five years, now. I thought I could put off working on it until I had reviewed and created an epilogue for I’d Go Anywhere With You, completed a short story called “Faded Einstein,” and written an epilogue, if not further chapters, on the book I’d called Great Job! You Get A Star! I’m thinking a bit of calling it The Five Star Kid. I thought, get music ready to play for people this summer and fall. Get those two previous books prep...