Interview with Nicholas Crumb12/31/2011 _ So, tell me a little bit about yourself Mr. Crumb.
Oh, you can call me Nicholas. I enjoy a good read. Do you read? Yes, I do. What have you read lately which piques your interest? Um, actually “Sense and Sensibility”. Ah yes, Ms. Austen speaks with a mellifluous voice, the truth of which channels straight through one's soul when reading her books aloud. Do you not agree? Though, I do prefer Henry James, “Portrait of a Lady”. And what may I call you? Melinda is fine. Several of your teammates have hinted around this “Breaking” event. Can you tell me what it is? When it occurs? I’m sorry dear, may I ask where you live? On the coast, why? Hmm, where does your original family live, Melinda? Do you mean my parents? They live in Montana. That’s in the middle of your continent, right? Yes, but what does that have to-- You should move there. What? I don’t think so, I-- —no, you should really re-locate there. It would be of a cornucopias benefit to your health. Do you have children? Yes, but-- —for their sake, the fresh air will do them good. Are you trying to tell me, my family and I aren’t safe here? This has something to do with this “breaking”? I didn’t say that, but it would be an insightful deduction. You can’t tell me anything else about it? None of us can interfere with the past; there could be unseen consequences that could affect the future in a disagreeable way for us. You seem very easy to talk to, easier than some of your teammates. Some of them just shut down when I asked that question. They seemed a little...uncooperative. Ah, you mean obstinate Ray. He may speak with a vitriolic deportment, but he’s usually harmless. “Usually”? He has his moments. May I ask how many children you have Melinda? 4 Heavens! Four children, what a blessing. Tell me; is there one that needs a little more attention than the rest? Sure, Zach has his moments. Exactly. So, you are the designated liaison with aliens for your team, what is that like? Always intriguing. Although, if I may point out, a majority of the outside agencies in the Universe speak telepathically, and do not utilize an actual addendum, organic language. Not like us. They converse in complex transmissions, which requires we humans to become immersed in highly specialized training to interpret correctly. As a race, we mentally process through random thoughts most of the time, which can be interpreted as grossly erratic to an alien's mind. As a liaison, I am more than a translator - I act as a linguistic, mental buffer to avoid misinterpretation which can lead to misunderstanding and mistrust. Interesting, and thank you for your time Mr. Crumb. Of course, and Melinda, promise me you’ll take Zach and your family on an extended trip to your Montana, very, very soon. I ah—ok. I’ll try. Try very hard Melinda.
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Open for business12/29/2011 Well, I opened the website. I think I fixed everything. If you see any mistakes, or any "half-thoughts" let me know.
I hope you find it interesting and fun. I just have Nicholas' interview left. (the hardest) It's hard to write for a man smarter than yourself. Try it. It's hard. But the funny thing about his interview is, you learn more about her than him... that's Nicholas. And for all who have bought the book, thanks! Now go tell your friends! Interview with Cornac Butherson12/27/2011 _ You are the Man at Arms for the Peregrine Falcons. So I take it, you are strong and well versed in the form of physical combat?
Well versed. How about you? Are you versed in the physical as well? Huh?-I ah, well sure I work out. Anyway, I was told you take care of the team’s physical protection, what does that entail? Making sure no one overpowers any of my teammates. Their safety and a means to protect themselves, is my top priority. Would you say you’re an expert in strategy? I’m an expert with all forms of strategic maneuvers. Would you like to see some of my maneuvers? I don’t see how...we’re not in the same room, not to mention time… You sound sexy. Tell me what you look like. I--ahh...how do you prepare your team to protect themselves? By physical combat sessions, are you a red head? You sound like a red head. What does that have to--never mind. Mr. Butherson, are you hitting on me? Do you want to be hit on? I’m still interviewing you. I know. Tell me what you like and-- —please, I’m married. I won’t tell if you won’t. Are you always this incorrigible? I always get what I want. Especially when it comes to the ladies. So, do you have a girlfriend? Many. Really, why so many? Hey, when you have honed bod like mine, everyone wants a piece. And don’t get me wrong, I love everything there is about the finer sex. They just love me more. Wow, you sound conceited. In all the right places. Ok, this interview is over. 3rd grade reading 2nd grade writing12/25/2011 _ First and foremost, I will be the first and last person to say I am NOT a writer, I am a storyteller.
Consider in first grade, in the seventies, I had Dyslexia. They didn’t have a clue how to teach me anything. They actually gave me glasses for it. Nothing is wrong with my eyesight; I have never had glasses since. It’s funny because I remember in the first grade, the teacher taking groups of kids into the back of the class room to teach them how to read. Yet when it came to me, she would just let me go to the crafts section of the room and let me build things out of paper. (I was really good at it) Reading was painful and worthless to me. I tried it the way my grade school teachers taught it, but it took too long to get through a sentence to understand its’ meaning. And then to read a whole paragraph, chapter, or book- it was just a useless exercise. So technically, I have no idea how I learned to read. I just know I do not look at words the same way as everyone else. They are outlines of pictures, not letters. So “sounding it out” was the complete opposite of what I needed to do. I ignore the letters and focus on the shape of the word. Ever notice the word bed, looks like a bed if you make an outline out of it? I look at words like Chinese characters. Again, I have no idea, how at a young age I learned to do this, because certainly no one showed me. It did take me a long time to learn enough words so I wouldn’t stumble too badly when I read. Granted, when I was little I knew I was a little too smart for my own good. (I know I sounds arrogant, where do you think Na'tan came from) Once I found out what the CAT tests were (in the first grade) I was pissed to find out they were going to judge my IQ, so I “Christmas-treed” my scan-tron for 8 years. I felt, even at a young age “that” was my own personal information and they had no right to it. They caught on that I was just filling in the blanks, so then they started giving me verbal test-so I had to fake those, too. (It was a bonus, because it got me out of normal classes) But dyslexia can really screw a kids’-head-up. I used to put my shoes on backwards too, now that I think about it, it’s very funny. I remember watching other kids in the first grade hold their pencil, and I would emulate what they did-holding it in my right hand. It never felt right though. Years later, when I was a gymnast, I learned I was left legged, meaning I lead with my left leg. This is important to know when you’re a gymnast, lets the instructor know which leg you’re going to take-off from so they won’t get kicked. Anyway, I learned that usually if a person is right handed, then they are right legged. So because of me emulating the students around me, I think I was actually supposed to be left handed. Then there was my fourth grade teacher, she told my parents during a parent teacher meeting, I would never write past 2nd grade level or read past a 3rd grade level. I remember they were furious. I didn’t care. As long as they left me alone, they could say whatever they wanted. I knew I was smarter than they thought-and I proved it in the last month of my eighth grade year, just before I left the public school system. It was very funny! I again took the CAT test, verbally, but I took it for real this time. To this day, I still laugh at the expression on the examiners face; I knew I was hitting it out of the park. And for eight years, I had been sitting in the back of the class with the “slow kids”, too funny. And don’t get me wrong, there were absolute moments of insecurities and frustrations of not being able to understand something everyone else seemed to have no problem grasping. Not to mention the fear of fitting in with my classmates, the dyslexia didn’t help there. Oh and the first book I read was my Senior year in High school. I suppose I should have been one of the “kids left behind” (so glad I graduated before that came into effect). It was Fellowship of the Ring. Imagine the first book someone reads is this-how screwed up am I? And I nearly memorized it on the first time through. 3rd Grade level my butt! *snort* So the point of this blog is NEVER let anyone tell you what you can and cannot do, their full of it. They’re afraid you’ll succeed. Oh, and again, I am not a writer, I am a storyteller. Well I did it. It's all over the web.12/24/2011 Well,
It is in several places on the web now. I am now going to have a quiet Christmas and sleep. Hope everyone has a peaceful fulfilling holiday. Hohoho and all that jazz. Wendy Ann Paper Format12/24/2011 _ Unless I get a large turnout I will keep it in electronic format. No reason to spend money if it doesn’t sell.
I originally wrote it up to 153,000 words-which is huge. But I knew literary agents only read things under 100,000 words. And teen books were even less, so I started chopping it down, which also meant I had to rearrange the story line. This really bothered me because it still happened in my head, the way I originally had it. But I got it down to 100,000. I didn’t like it any more. It didn’t resemble anything I still had in my head. And the more query letters I sent off to agents, the more I realized I would not be happy if the book was picked up. I knew if an agent decided to represent me, they’ll want me to cut it down even more-and I already hated where it was. It might have been better, but it wouldn’t have been my story, and I wouldn’t be happy with it. So I got a book from the library about self-editing fiction, and I put it back together. Deleted scenes I thought should be cut and began the process of self-editing. (this was an eye opener) I learned what I needed to do to self-publish on the web and wa-la! This is where I am today. If this sells then I’ll make a limited amount of paper books and see how those sell. If an agent or publisher tries to pick me up, (I say “tries” because it would have to be a sweet deal) then I’ll have paperback books. Only time will tell, but I am exploring options. Amazon has a partner company that makes paper books, I'll check it out. Here it is on Amazon12/23/2011 And here it is on Amazon, Fathis: Birth of a Falcon.
Again, you can download a free software version of Kindle onto your digital device by clicking the link. Or you can wait for me to finish transferring the data to smashwords, or Barnes and Noble. Whether you like it or hate it, please leave a review at Amazon. The book is designed with teens in mind, but of course, adults can read it, too. And there is light swearing :) damn! Interview with Ray Ortiz12/22/2011 _ You are the Science Officer for the Peregrine Falcons?
I am. What is it you do? Excuse me? With the Chief Engineer is in charge of technical gear and the Healer takes care of peoples physical needs, where do you fit into the Fathis team? Are you seriously asking me this? For your information, we don’t touch a planet until I give the ok. You think an engineer can grasp theoretical physics? Or the composition of a toxic atmosphere? I don’t know why Na’tan asked me to do this, are we done here? Because I have more important things to do then talk to some asinine woman from before the Breaking. I’m sorry, I’m almost done. I’m sorry I didn’t mean to insult you. What is “The Breaking”? When humanity broke. What made humanity break? Everything. Are we through? Sure. Interview with Thatcher Griffin12/22/2011 _ Thank you for your time. Tell me Thatcher Griffin, a little bit about the technology you deal with in the future.
I deal mainly with Nanites. And what are Nanites? Microscopic robots whose components are … nanometer (10−9 meters). The devices ranges from 0.1-10 micrometers and constructed to…molecular components. I believe you have them in your time. I think we have a problem with the connection, you’re coming in and out. And I don’t think we have Nanites. It sounds interesting. I was told you are the second youngest on the team. Yes. I am. As the Chief Engineer of the Peregrine Falcons, do you deal with space ships? Sure, but they are bio-form, not mechanical in nature. What does bio-form mean? They are an organic propulsion system, plant life. An alien ship…your time with one…back engineered them. Nicholas is really the one you need to talk to about it. Sorry, the connection still seems to be bad. Nicholas Crumb? Your team’s Intelligence Officer? Nick’s specialty is communicating with non-human life forms. Is that better? Sometimes I forget. Forget what? To talk out loud. Ok…what about weaponry? Engineers mainly deal with shielding. Weapons would be Cornac or Kealin. What kind of shielding? One use would be using the Nanites as a suit. All Fathis teams wear Nano Suits when on assignment. The suit creates an all-encompassing body-forming shield around the wearer, protecting them from the elements of an inhospitable world, or weapons fire. Well, tell me something that has changed technologically from my time, to yours. I’m not sure if you had developed molecular memory storage yet… I don’t believe so, what is it? A technology that use molecular atoms as the data storage element. In a molecular memory device, each individual molecule contains a bit of data, each atom leading to massive data capacity. For example you could take a sugar cube and on each individual atom, store information. It would then be possible that your continent’s internet could be stored onto one sugar cube. Wow! This all sounds so amazing. It seems everything is technologically smaller but more powerful there. Of course, why would someone want bigger? Again, thank you for your time. No problem. Now waiting for Amazon...12/22/2011 The book is in "review" on Amazon!!! They say in 24 hours, if it passes the review, it will be available for sale!!!
It's a big book, so you are getting your money's worth. This book is my "The Hobbit", to my "Fellowship of the Rings". So it is a set up-to the rest of the books. "Fathis: Birth of a Falcon" is mainly an introduction to all the characters, and how they came together. The rest of the books; they go on missions, fight in wars, go under cover, and so on. I will, of course, link the Amazon page to the home page of this website, and anyone who reads it, please leave a review. And if you see any mistakes, please let me know, and will "try" and fix it. It was a little tedious getting it into the editor so I may have missed things. But otherwise-Enjoy! Now, I have to tackle smashwords and Barnes and Noble... hopefully before the holidays. It's in the editor!12/20/2011 Holy Cow was that a pain in the butt!
It's funny, the woman who was in a video showing me how to put my book into the html editor was like, "oh, so this should only take you 4 hours" Ha! HA! HA! HA! Try 3 DAYS!!!!! Granted I have a butt load of italics, which meant instead of putting it in paragraph by paragraph. I was doing line by line, even word by word, and on top of that it is a larger than normal book. I am officially cross eyed. I am now reading it to make sure I got the italics right. So easy to screw that part up. But once that is done I am handing it over to Amazon to review. Once they accept it-it'll be on SALE!!! Yeah! So keep your eyes peeled. And anyone who does read it, write a review for me. Please. Even if it's just one line. YEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!! Interview with Henry Minor12/19/2011 _ Henry, you are a Healer. That sounds amazing. To be able to go into a person’s body and fix them with your mind…
It is truly. It amazes me every day. But, there are times when even I can’t manipulate cells with my mind the way they need to be. It takes a great deal of energy and concentration, so many struggle with this form of our abilities. And you can cure anything, even cancer? Why yes. Many live as long as they please now. Really! How old is the oldest? I’m not certain, but I know there are quite a few that are 250 or more. Wow! That old? Wouldn’t that make them born in during my time period? Why yes, many were born before the Breaking occurred. What is this “Breaking”? I’m so sorry dear, I cannot divulge that information to you. That’s alright. So I was told you have a family? Yes. I have a little girl Megan and a boy on the way. Congratulations! I was told children a rare in the future. Yes, yes. Sad but true. Many were sterilized when the X flares burned through here. Too much radiation. But Annie and I are blessed. So can you tell me a little bit about your society? Schools, Healthcare, military? Sure. Well, the population is much smaller now and with the Ethereal, it much easier to sustain us. Any and all are schooled, and well healthcare, is available to all because many can heal themselves. A great many are involved in healing planet Earth. It’s mainly the oceans that are being cleaned up now. And government is very small and unobtrusive. As for the military, ummm I suppose the Fathis teams are the military, or police. We don’t really look at it that way. Wow! It sounds like a Utopia. Yes, I am glad to be alive here. And religion? We are all spiritual people, but organized religion collapsed under the Breaking. Interesting, well thank you for your time. Anytime dear. Almost there....12/18/2011 I am sooooo close to being done putting it into the Kindle editor. And then after that, I have to reformat the entire thing again, for smashwords and Barnes and Noble. Yikes! I think I'm cross-eyed.
I freed up a few pages on the website, so have fun searching through some of them. Hopefully they are complete thoughts. Hopefully-I'll look later-when I'm not cross eyed. I sooo need a massage. Interview with Kealin Divol12/17/2011 _ Ms. Kealin Divol, tell me, what does a Tor on a Fathis team do, exactly?
I attack with the Ethereal. Oh, I was told to say, “protects with the Ethereal”. Attack how? I don’t know. With my head. And the Ethereal? What is that? It’s a power on the other side of our dimension...Geesh! I was told to say, “It is a non-physical energy beyond the veil of our reality that we can access with our subconscious mind”. What do you think of the previous Tor before you, being killed by an Annunaki? I try not to think about it. You’re 14. How does it feel to be the youngest Tor in history? The same as I felt yesterday. Wait! I want to change my answer, Sure, go ahead. Annoying. No, I will not change my answer! But…I’m sorry? …I’m confused, are you speaking to me? Na’tan, he’s always trying to control everything. I’m sorry, I still don’t understand. The entire team is bonded to each other. I’m sorry, I still… I’m not good at it yet, I can’t block anyone, but all Fathis teams are bonded to each other. We can hear each other’s thoughts; feel each other’s emotions-it’s REALLY aggravating! So this “bonding” is some form of telepathic communication? Yeah, and it bites. That’s incredible! So you’re speaking with Na’tan, while I’m speaking with you? I would think it would be amazing. You try being a teenage girl bonded to six grown men-it’s embarrassing! I see your point. So you have an ability to use this “Ethereal”, is it hard to use? What can you do with it? Get out of my head! Sorry… he just doesn’t shut up. Oh, all sorts of stuff. And it’s harder to walk than it is to use it. What kind of “stuff”? You know, pick up stuff, tear things up, or crush them, freeze things, heat things, move electricity, the list goes on... Each of my teammates are good at using it in different ways, but I have more power than the rest. And better control. So the Ethereal is a form of kinesis? Yeah. Well, it might be a little broader than that, but yeah. And you’re the strongest on your team? At such a young age-- Not you too! Geesh--I know! I’m fourteen. You don’t have to rub it in. Sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you. It sounds like a sore spot. Every one harps on my age. Well, at such a young age, does being on a Fathis team scare you? Sometimes. I mean, to deal with the aliens that tried to take over the planet during the Breaking is scary—Oh! I wasn’t supposed to tell you that…god, now they’re all yelling at me. Your teammates? Yeah, I gotta go, I’m gonna get a splitting headache any minute now. Nice to speak with you Kealin, and good luck with your new position on the team. Thanks. Interview with Captain Na’tan Drake12/16/2011 _ So you are the Captain of the Peregrine Falcons, is it a demanding job? If so what would you say is your most difficult task?
It is upon occasion, demanding. I’d say a daunting task of late, is keeping the team cohesive. There are seven personalities that need to mesh well together. What is it you do as a Captain of a Fathis team? I’m in charge of the team and the success of the mission the Command Center assigns to us. When on assignment I determine the best way to achieve our goal. For example, if I am dealing with a matriarchy on another planet, it might be wiser to let Kealin, the female on our team to speak for us, instead of our normal liaison, which would be Nicholas. We interact with outside agencies as a liaison for the Galactic Assemblage. But I make all the decisions for the Peregrine Falcons. The team’s safety ultimately falls to me. Sounds stressful. I’m used to it. Tell me about this contract with the…Galactic Assemblage? Ha! That’s usually the first question I’m asked. It’s simple; teams from Earth patrol the Milky Way Galaxy for the Assemblage. Why is it “teams from Earth” doing this? Are there other planets patrolling, as well? From what I understand, we are the only planet working for the Assemblage. As to why us, well, we’re that scary guard dog behind the fence no one wants to face. They use it to their advantage. Though, so do we. So, it’s true that alien races are afraid of us in the future? Let’s just say, they have a healthy fear that we, as Earthlings, have no interest in rectifying this characterization. So your saying, this fear they have of us, doesn’t interfere with your missions? Oh no, I didn’t say that. I’m just saying, it benefits us more than interferes with our interactions with outside agencies. Outside agencies? Aliens? Yes. And why do they fear Earthlings? I’m sorry, I cannot disclose that information. Why not? For fear it may alter the future. Ok, then…who would you say you are closest to on the team? Hmm, that’s a hard one. I relate to each on a certain level. As a captain I must know each of my teammates as intimately as possible. This is so I can understand my team’s strengths and weaknesses, so I can use these strengths and weaknesses to benefit my team’s success on our missions. For example Thatcher may be one of the weakest physically and mentally, yet no one can match him with his mechanical expertise, and no one can Remote View like him. It has been interesting. Thank you for your time Captain. No problem whatsoever. And I will schedule appointments for each of my teammates to interview with you. Thank you. Favorite food:
Mint Chip Ice cream, Krispy Kreme donuts, homemade pizza, pralines, Chinese chicken salad...mmmmm! Categories
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