With blessings from the scrubby desert and snowy mountains of Arizona. I’d like to welcome the stampede of new subscribers from BookSweeps, where Chip Rock and the Fat Old Fart was featured as a new Inspirational Novel, and Zin Mignon was selected as a great new “Mystery with Humor.”
Connectedness
I hope this email finds everyone turning towards optimism and hope for the unfolding year. To me, the last year underscored how inextricably linked together we are as a society: not merely with our families and close friends, but with neighbors, fellow workers, and even perfect strangers! Last year served to separate us from each other, and the resulting isolation reminds us how much we value human togetherness. Everyone I know missed in-person interaction. While some have been agile and adapted, others find these adjustments continually difficult, and justifiably so. There’s a new dependence on technology which – at least to me – is awkward. In any case, we now point forward to increasing socialization, fresh resolve, and new tales of triumph. My wife, a nurse at Mayo, now brings such tales home with her more and more often. Onward.
I’d like to send this letter once a month. We all get too much sales stuff and these letters will not be designed to sell anything; I simply want to post items of interest about things I like: reading, writing, travel, food, the Wild West.
In the West
My daughter Alexis and I took a (daring and perilous) rim-to-rim Grand Canyon hike on December 13. My second time. Obviously, one of the greatest trips in the hiking world. As an Arizonan, it amazes me that one of the true 7 Wonders of the World is less than 4 hours from Phoenix! And so few locals take advantage.
Statistics
- Temp at start — on top of the rim: 16°
- Total miles w/ side-trips: 25.6
- Fitbit steps: 46,767
- Mule trains passed: 3 going down, 3 back up
- Temp at Phantom Ranch: 49°
- Detours from main trail: 15-20
- Elevation loss/gain: 10,356 ft (gravity is on your side only half the time; the trek back up is not to be taken lightly)
- Black toe-nails: just one
Wild West 2
My wife is from a cowboy family so we try to stay in touch with horses. Last month an old wrangler took us on horseback through the largest Saguaro forest on earth to track Chiricahua’s hide-out. We never found it, got lost, and ran into this remote ranch. I suggested we ride over to it and ask directions home, but the wrangler told us, flat out: “Ain’t goin’.” “Why not?” “That’s Paul McCartney’s place. Total isolation. We’ll keep our distance.” So we did. And we couldn’t find it again if we tried.
Reading
Consider. If you were a reader in the 1860’s, you were lucky. Here’s who was writing during that decade: Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo, Mark Twain, George Eliot (he was actually a she whose real name was Mary Ann Evans), Fyodor Dostoevsky, Charles Darwin, Ivan Turgenev, Jules Verne, Lewis Carroll, Gustave Flaubert, Henrik Ibsen, Karl Marx, Herman Melville, Henry David Thoreau, Frederick Nietzsche, Walt Whitman, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Louisa May Alcott. Lastly, Leo Tolstoy released War and Peace in its entirety in 1869. That’s a heavyweight list.
Food
Best meal I had last year? The Turquoise Room, in Winslow, Arizona. So far out of the way, but IMHO it’s our state’s best restaurant. In the historic La Posada railroad hotel, with a cowboy bar and western dining room. Fare is a James Beard/Michelin-caliber blend of Southwestern and Native American. Dine here, then go to the Canyon!
New Writing
Last year was actually a good one to be a writer in the sense that staying home translated into high productivity. Playa Chica Press published my third Zin novel, which has all the Series cornerstones: Humor, food, pop-mystery, inspiration, suspense, and a stunning (cliff-hanging?) ending. I also completed Chip Rock and the Catalina Kid, the sequel to CR and the Fat Old Fart. I’ve carried the Catalina Kid story around in my head for 40+ years and finally got it on paper. I love the book. It’s with my editor now.
Need a great gift for a kid who loves cooking? (Or their parents?) Try Zin Mignon, the 13 year-old mastermind chef who lives at the intersection of food-mystery and pop-fiction. Anything but childish, it’s fun and sophisticated for all ages. The Series is up to 3 books, with Z4 on its way. Best gift for a cooking kid or their parent.
Or, before Catalina Kid comes out, start with Chip Rock and the Fat Old Fart. Proud that across all the platforms, to my knowledge it has received nothing but Five-Star reviews. About a young man from a crappy orphanage in a pathetic SoCal beach town, who’s searching for a meaningful place in the world. The last place you’d look is through a crusty old butcher, but that’s where it starts. The original story for this book earned me Columbia’s flashy fiction prizes years ago.
Thank you for reading.
If you’re feeling it, share with others, and/or leave a review! They’re the lifeblood of us authors!
MD in AZ
