Christmas Favorites

Do you have a favorite Christmas movie? How about a favorite song, TV special, or food? Below is a list of my yuletide favorites.

Christmas movie: A Christmas Story (1984) – There have been a lot of great Christmas movies, but the story of Ralphie and his quest for a Red Ryder BB gun is at the top of my list. I never tire of seeing the triple-dog-dare at the frozen flagpole, the battle with Black Bart, the pink bunny suit, the leg lamp, the pummeling of Farkus, and dozens of other classic scenes. Funny, heartwarming, nostalgic.

Animated Christmas special: Do I have to choose just one? If so, then it’s A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965). A humorous and poignant reminder of the true meaning of Christmas, capped off by Linus’s memorable recitation at the end. Honorable mention to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (remember the Abominable Snow Monster and the Island of Misfit Toys?) and The Year Without a Santa Claus. “They call me Heat Miser, whatever I touch, starts to melt in my clutch.”

Christmas song: “Reason for the Season” by Stryper (1986) – Red and green may be the traditional colors of Christmas, but for me it’s yellow and black. Yes, I know a song by an ’80s hair metal band is an unusual choice for a holiday favorite. But how can you beat a tune with razor-sharp guitar riffs, a catchy chorus, and lyrics that celebrate Jesus as the reason for the season?

Christmas episode on a television series: “It’s a Bundyful Life” on Married With Children (1987) – An homage/parody of the Jimmy Stewart classic, It’s a Wonderful Life. After an accident hanging Christmas lights, Al Bundy is paid a visit by his guardian angel (Sam Kinison). The angel shows Al how happy his family would be if he were never born. Hilarious.

Christmas food: peanut clusters – As tasty today as they were three decades ago when I was a kid. It’s almost impossible to eat just one, or two, or three …

Christmas book: The book of Matthew and the book of Luke in the New Testament cover the story pretty well!

Barnes & Noble Sale

Need Christmas present ideas?

Barnes & Noble is currently offering the Member Price for all book purchases made through its Web site. That means you can order The All-American King online at a 20% discount for hardcover or a 10% discount for paperback. Web links for both are below:

Hardcover

Paperback

Book Sale

My publisher, iUniverse, just launched a holiday book sale. From now through Sunday, November 29, you can order any of their books, including The All-American King, for half price! Below is the email I just received with the sale details:
__________________________________________________________

The best deals of the holiday season are not all found at the last minute. In fact, this festive deal from iUniverse lets you save 50% off the Web site price of any paperback or hardcover book you purchase from the iUniverse Bookstore.

With thousands of titles available, from nonfiction business guides and memiors to historical and humorous novels, you can choose the perfect holiday gifts for yourself and all the booklovers on your shopping lists.

This weekend-only bookstore discount comes to an end at midnight Nov. 29, so use the code 50OFF1109 in the checkout process when you purchase your books. The iUniverse Holiday Sale ends Sunday! Order your books today.

It's Just a Fantasy

Do you have a favorite football team? When I was a kid I rooted for the St. Louis Cardinals. That was back in the days of Jim Hart, Dan Dierdorf, and Terry Metcalf. The Cards were my team until 1987, when they moved from St. Louis to Arizona. My allegiance then shifted to the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs had some great teams in the ’90s with Christian Okoye, Joe Montana, and Derrick Thomas.

Today my favorite team is the Kardinals, a team that doesn’t actually exist. You see, the Kardinals are my fantasy football team. This is my second year of playing in a fantasy league. It’s a lot of fun, but beware, fantasy football can change the way you watch the NFL. Rather than caring about which teams win and which team lose, you tend to focus more on the performance of your players. A fantasy league can thus wreak havoc on former allegiances. Earlier this year, for example, I found myself rooting for Cowboys running back Tashard Choice to score a touchdown against Kansas City. That I’ve been a Chiefs fan for more than two decades did not matter. That I have rooted against the Cowboys since childhood did not matter. I started Tashard Choice that week and I wanted the fantasy points.

This past Monday night the Baltimore Ravens defense carried my team to victory. That brought the Kardinals record to 5-5. I am happy to be at .500, given the obstacles thrown at me this season by injuries to my star players, huge scores from my opponents, and my own boneheaded draft decisions (I’ve already cut my 4th and 5th round picks).

With my team still in the playoff hunt, I must now scan the waiver wire and check the injury reports. Then I’ll set my lineup for another battle on the fantasy gridiron. Go Kardinals!

National Best Books 2009 Awards

Winners and finalists for the National Best Books 2009 Awards have been announced. The All-American King was selected as a finalist in the "Fiction & Literature: Religious Fiction" category.

The complete list of winners and finalists is available at the USA Book News website:

http://www.usabooknews.com/2009bestbooksawards.html

Book Signing

My first book signing for The All-American King is today!

Barnes & Noble at SouthPointe Pavilions
2910 Pine Lake Road
Lincoln, Nebraska

2:00 pm to 4:00 pm

Book Tour

On Saturday, October 3, I will be signing The All-American King from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm at Barnes & Noble at 2910 Pine Lake Road (SouthPointe Pavillions) in Lincoln, Nebraska.

On Tuesday, October 6, I will be signing my book from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm at Barnes & Noble at 4550 University Avenue (The Shoppes at Three Fountains) in West Des Moines, Iowa.

The Web links for these events are:

Lincoln http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/event/3004738

Des Moines http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/event/3006149

Hope to see you there!

The Road

I just read The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It's actually been about two weeks since I finished. The story is still with me. It probably will be for some time. Maybe the best novel I've ever read.

Because we're the good guys.
Yes.
And we're carrying the fire.
And we're carrying the fire. Yes.
Okay.

Comparing Hall of Fame Quarterbacks

The table above shows how Dave King's career NFL statistics compare with those of several other Hall of Fame quarterbacks in the modern era. Quarterbacks are listed in order of career passing completion percentage.

Western Iowa Football - 1979 Season

One of the chapters in The All-American King opens with quarterback Dave King being interviewed about an upcoming game between his Western Iowa Falcons and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Heading into this contest at Falcons Stadium in Council Bluffs, Iowa, the Falcons were ranked #12 in the nation, while the Irish were ranked #9. Below is the 1979 Western Iowa football schedule, including the results of games played prior to the contest against Notre Dame.

September 8: Western Iowa 56 - Drake 0
September 15: Western Iowa 41 - Iowa State 13
September 22: Western Iowa 28 - Iowa 20
September 29: Western Iowa 23 - Penn State 17
October 6: Western Iowa 42 - Miami (Florida) 6
October 13: Notre Dame
October 20: at Army
October 27: at Louisville
November 3: Memphis
November 10: North Texas
November 17: at South Carolina

Two-A-Days

Football season is less than a month away. Across the nation, high school, college, and professional teams have started their training camps. Thousand of players are now drilling and scrimmaging to prepare for the upcoming season. The field pictured is at Williams Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa. That is the where the East High Scarlets play their home games. In The All-American King, Williams Stadium is where Dave King played his home games as quarterback for the Eastridge High Braves.

Blue 32, Blue 32, hut-hut-HUT

An Expanding Problem

I’ve been eating too much lately. And not exercising as much. You know what that means. I could mope around lamenting this situation, or I could celebrate my added girth with a song:

I’m bringing flabby back (yeah)
Them other boys don’t know how to snack (yeah)
Is that a pie cooling on the rack? (yeah)
I want a burger gotta get it fast (yeah)

Take me to the fridge

Hungry babe (uh-huh)
You see the Snickers
Candy I’m your slave (uh-huh)
I’ll add some whip cream cause that’s what I crave (uh-huh)
Just don’t tell me yet how much I weigh (uh-huh)

Take me to the buffet

Come here fries
Go ahead, bring more of it
A pancake stack
Go ahead, bring more of it
P-I-E
Go ahead, bring more of it
Pink ice cream
Go ahead, bring more of it
Let me see what you’re cooking with
Go ahead, bring more of it
Look at those chips
Go ahead, bring more of it
Soup makes me smile
Go ahead, bring more of it
Julia Child
Go ahead, bring more of it
And get your flabby on
Go ahead, bring more of it

Get your flabby on

A Farewell to Kings

It is Saturday. For the past several weeks the arrival of Saturday has brought a new episode of Kings on NBC. Last week, however, was the season finale. And since the network did not renew the show, that episode was also the series finale.

Premiering in April, Kings was an alternate reality drama based on the biblical story of King Saul and King David. I confess I had mixed feelings about it at first. It intrigued me, though I wondered if it tried to do too much with too many different elements. But the show held my interest enough to keep watching. Each week it drew me deeper and deeper into the story. By the middle of its 12-episode run, I counted Kings as one of the year’s best television shows. The writing, production quality, and acting were superb. More than once I had to rewind a scene to absorb the full power and beauty of Ian McShane’s Shakespearean dialogue.

Despite garnering much critical acclaim, Kings did not draw high ratings. So NBC pulled the plug. We will thus never know the fate of Silas, Rose, Jack, Michelle, William, and of course David Shepherd, who at season’s end, had to flee his homeland to seek refuge among his nation’s enemies.

Goodbye Kings. You were an innovative show that deserved a much longer run.

Maybe I should check out Deadwood on DVD.

Movies For Writers

People are often inspired by movies that feature characters in their own profession. For example, firefighters have Backdraft, boxers have Rocky, teachers have Dangerous Minds, stockbrokers have Wall Street, and cyborg assassins have The Terminator. The list goes on. As for me, I love to watch movies about writers. Here are some of my favorites:

Capote: This movie’s portrayal of Truman Capote as he researched In Cold Blood is nothing less than riveting. Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Oscar is well deserved. Infamous with Toby Jones is another fine film showing the legendary Capote at work.

Secret Window: Johnny Depp plays a mystery writer working on a new book at a secluded lakeside cabin. Trouble ensues when a mysterious stranger shows up accusing him of plagiarism. What follows is a barrel of eerie fun.

Stranger Than Fiction: Have you ever wondered if fictional characters actually exist, living out their lives in some alternate universe? This is sort of what happens when a famous novelist (Emma Thompson) finds that one of her main characters (Will Ferrell) is a living, breathing person. There are some hilarious scenes as Ferrell’s character hears Thompson’s voice narrating the events of his life. The movie also offers insights into how authors develop, write, and learn from their characters.

Misery: Bestselling author Paul Sheldon (James Caan) is rescued from a car crash in a blizzard by his “number one fan” (Kathy Bates). She takes him back to her house in the mountains and they drink cocoa and spend a delightful evening discussing his books. Well, as the title suggests, that’s not exactly what happens.

The Shining: “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” What writer hasn’t typed that line over and over for hours on end?

Adaptation: A bizarre look at a screenwriter who struggles to adapt a novel for the big screen. Though a strange ride, there is plenty for writers to identify with in this movie.

Finding Neverland: Tells the story of J.M. Barrie as he worked on Peter Pan. This film reveals the magic of storytelling and the power of imagination. And, amazingly, Johnny Depp is not at all creepy as a grown man who neglects his wife to play with four boys he meets at a park.

Factotum: Shows the unglamorous life of an aspiring writer. Sometimes depressing and sometimes funny, the story of Hank Chinaski (Matt Dillon) provides a reality lesson for those who would seek to make a living with the pen. Despite the long odds he faces, Hank offers several motivating reflections on writing and its rewards.

Sal Kishman at the All-Star Game

Tonight the 80th All-Star Game will be played at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The first time St. Louis hosted an All-Star Game was on July 10, 1940. Played at Sportsman’s Park, it was Major League Baseball’s eighth midsummer classic. Sal Kishman, one of the characters in The All-American King, homered in the seventh inning of that contest to help the National League claim its third ever All-Star victory.

Born on September 9, 1917, in Des Moines, Iowa, Sal Kishman led his American Legion baseball team to the 1934 state title. After graduating from Eastridge High, Kishman starred for the minor league Des Moines Demons in 1936 and 1937. The following year, he broke into the majors with the Philadelphia Phillies. Kishman, who batted left and threw right, became a fan favorite in the City of Brotherly Love. The right fielder was one of the top sluggers in the National League until the Marines drafted him before the 1943 season.

Fourth of July

Have a happy and safe weekend as you celebrate the All-American holiday.

Eastridge High Football – 1975 Season

One of the chapters in The All-American King opens with quarterback Dave King leading the Eastridge High Braves against the Dowling Maroons. At stake for Dave and his teammates is the Des Moines Metro Conference championship and a berth in the Iowa Class 4A playoffs. Below are the results of the 1975 football season for Eastridge prior to the game against Dowling.

September 5: Central Waterloo 22 – Eastridge 6
September 12: Eastridge 14 – Tech 13
September 19: Eastridge 29 – Newton 21
September 26: Eastridge 17 – Valley 7
October 3: Eastridge 30 – Lincoln 23
October 10: Eastridge 48 – Hoover 12
October 17: Eastridge 42 – North 10
October 24: Eastridge 28 – Roosevelt 3
October 31: Eastridge (7-1) vs. Dowling (8-0) at Williams Stadium

King David Meets Mr. Spock

I am of course interested in dramatic portrayals of King David and fictional works based on his life. While writing The All-American King, I read Abigail by Lois Henderson, God Knows by Joseph Heller, and The Bathsheba Deadline by Jack Engelhard. Since the publication of my book, I’ve read Unspoken by Francine Rivers and William Faulkner's classic, Absalom, Absalom! And if NBC ever brings it back, I will continue watching Kings on television.

Yesterday I rented the DVD David, a TNT television production from 1997. The scope of the movie is impressive. It covers events in 1 & 2 Samuel from Saul’s anointing to Absalom’s rebellion against King David—a runtime of three hours. The plot for the most part followed the biblical narrative. Most exceptions were likely the result of budgetary limitations. For example:

• there were no opposing armies lined up against each other during the Goliath scene
• Goliath did not look like a giant, but was instead an angry guy, somewhat taller than average, with muscles
• major battles looked like small skirmishes
• several characters from the Bible story did not appear in the movie, e.g. Abishai, Asahel, Ish-Bosheth, and Abiathar

And some of the action scenes came off as cheesy. The same can be said for the dialogue at times, like when David was boldly reciting Psalms while stabbing enemy soldiers who seemed to be doing little else on the battlefield than waiting for David to kill them.

I was familiar with only two of the cast members in David: Leonard Nimoy who played Samuel and Sheryl Lee (Laura Palmer in Twin Peaks) who played Bathsheba. The actor who portrayed Joab did a fine job, though he was much older than David—a bit distracting given that Joab was David’s nephew. The guy who played Nabal the Calebite was a hoot.

Nimoy as Samuel was great, though it was a little strange when he approached Saul after a battle and said, “Captain, I find it highly illogical that you spared the life of King Agag. The Romulans . . . I mean the Philistines will see this as a sign of weakness.” Then later, Samuel told David to bring the Ark to Jerusalem so the Israelites would “live long and prosper.” Okay, that didn’t happen. But Samuel did tell Saul at his anointing that his kingdom would prosper. Just hearing Nimoy say the word prosper was worth the price of the DVD rental.

Richard Gere portrayed King David in a movie back in the 1980s. I’ve yet to see that one, though I’m thinking I’ll rent it sometime.

Jack Bauer Visits the Dentist

Today I went to the dentist for my six month exam. While at the dental office, my mind for some reason decided to pretend that I was Jack Bauer from 24 being interrogated by enemy agents . . .

The following events take place between 9:00 am and 10:00 am.

Upon getting captured [summoned from the waiting room] I find myself strapped into a chair. My interrogator, a tall blond woman, lowers the back of my chair so that I am staring up at the ceiling. The woman wears a blue mask over her nose and mouth to conceal her identity. I know that all operatives from her home country, Oralhygienia, are highly skilled at extracting information.

On the ceiling above me are posters with propaganda slogans. One of them shows a dog hugging another dog. The caption: “Hold a true friend with both hands.” Another poster features trees and a lush green hillside. Its caption: “Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.” I hum the Star-Spangled Banner to avoid being corrupted by these subversive attempts at mind control. The masked operative shines a bright light in my face and forces me to open my mouth. She then assaults my gums with a sharp metal poker thingy. After about ten minutes of jabbing and scraping, the interrogation begins:

“Ready to talk, Mr. Bauer? Tell us the passwords for the White House security system.”
“Never!”
“How about now?” She drives the metal poker into the gum line below a molar.
I cry out in agony and shout, “Why do you hate freedom?”
“We do not hate your country's freedoms, Mr. Bauer. It is America's greed, materialism, and inconsisent flossing habits that we seek to destroy. Oh, could you tilt your head a little more towards me?”
“Sure.”
“Thank you. Now where were we? Oh yes, the White House. Perhaps you might talk if you knew that we have your daughter Kim locked in a room with a cougar.”
“That didn’t work in Season 2 and it won’t work now!”
“Very well, Mr. Bauer. You have forced me to use a little something I call the Cleaner.”

The masked woman puts a paste-like substance on the tip of a small cylindrical device, which she uses to start buffing my teeth. The device sounds like a small drill, but this process doesn’t hurt at all. I consider telling her that, but decide against it. When I still refuse to talk, the woman says that I must now face their master interrogator—a man known as “The Dentist.” The woman exits, leaving me alone in the room. Deciding that it’s time to escape, I shift my body to turn on the cell phone in my pocket. I shift again to activate the speaker function and dial Chloe at CTU.

“Jack, where are you?”
“I’ve been captured. They've taken me to a torture facility, a place they call the Dentist’s Office. I’m trapped in Exam Room A and need an escape route. Can you get me the schematics for this building?”
“Sure. I’ve got ’em right here on my desktop.”
“I’m thinking if I can get out of this chair I’ll jump on the counter, punch through a ceiling tile and then shimmy out through an air vent.”
“Well Jack, you could do that. Or you could walk out the door behind you. That leads to a hallway, which leads to the waiting room and the front exit. Oh wait, Jack! My screen shows that someone is moving towards you.”
“Damn it!”

I hear Chloe taking a drink. The door to my room opens and The Dentist enters. “Hello, Mr. Bauer,” he says, while examining X-rays on the wall. “Good news. No cavities. But Yvonne tells me you still won’t give us the passwords. Perhaps this will loosen your tongue.” He pokes around in my mouth with a metal wire thingy similar to the one that his assistant used earlier. A while later he turns to write something on a sheet of paper. While he’s distracted, I’m able to wriggle free of the straps holding me in the chair. I grab a cup of Listerine and throw it in his face. I then snatch some of his torture implements [a toothbrush, a small tube of toothpaste, and a roll of floss] and burst out of the room. Following Chloe’s escape route, I race down the hallway and into the waiting room. But someone is blocking the door. So I leap through the window, landing on the sidewalk amid a shower of broken glass.

In the parking lot, I toss an old lady out of her car and prepare to drive away. From the building behind me I hear The Dentist call out, “You may have escaped this time, Mr. Bauer. But we will meet again . . . in about six months!”

09:59:58 . . . 09:59:59 . . . 10:00:00

My First Car

There I was looking through some old photo albums, and what do I find? Pictures of the first car I owned. It was a 1975 Datsun B210. I bought the vehicle from my parents in 1986, when it was already 11 years old. I drove it for another decade. So the Datsun was there for my first date, my first job, my high school graduation, my college graduation, the day I received my master's degree, and the day I got married.

Here are some of the notable characteristics of my Datsun B210, the pinnacle of mid-70s Japanese automotive craftsmanship:

• Color: Blue - except for the rust spots that covered about 40% of the body.


• Acceleration: Zero to 60 in uh . . . well it eventually hit 60 mph, if traveling downhill.


• Sound System: AM radio with one small dashboard speaker. Great for listening to Paul Harvey talk about the rest of the story.


• Heater: Worked well in the summer.


• Air Conditioner: Roll down all four windows and hope for a breeze.


• Seats: Ripped vinyl. Able to reach temperatures in excess of 212 Fahrenheit when parked in the sun. Great flesh-searing summertime fun.


• Floormats: Effective at hiding the holes in the floorboard. Kept me from being distracted by the street whizzing by below.


• Engine: Well, I know it had an engine. I saw it many times when opening the hood to refill the radiator. Never did get that head gasket leak fixed, but dozens of bottles of Bar's Stop Leak kept me on the road.


• Starting: Gotta give it up here for the Datsun. Though it sat outside all year long, the car was a consistent starter. Even on bitterly cold winter mornings, the Datsun coughed to life more often than not.


• Endearing Quality: The engine would sometimes die while I sat in a busy intersection waiting to make a left turn. Good times.

I have mostly fond memories of my first car. It may not have been "a sweet ride," but for ten years it took me where I needed to go. My old blue Datsun was a good car . . . the same way that Marley was a good dog.

North Platte

It has been a while since my last post. The reason: I took a trip to North Platte, Nebraska. Some of you may be wondering why North Platte. To that I reply, why not North Platte. For in that town is the Union Pacific Bailey Yard—the largest railroad yard in the world. Bailey Yard includes 315 miles of tracks (covering 2,850 acres), which can be viewed from the observation deck of the eight-story Golden Spike Tower.

North Platte is also where you will find the Buffalo Bill Ranch. There you can visit the elegant Victorian house where Buffalo Bill Cody once lived. (No, that is NOT the guy in The Silence of the Lambs)

There are many other attractions in North Platte. One of my favorite spots was Cody Park, where I took this picture. Cody Park is a magical place where the donkey and the peacock put aside their ancient hatred for each other and live side by side in peace. If only the world would follow the example set by these noble creatures.

Finally, it was in North Platte last week that I completed a one-page outline for my next novel.

It’s a start.

The Best Comedy on Television

Last time, I shared with you my choice for best drama on television. Now it is time to reveal the best comedy (among the ones I watch) on TV. The candidates: King of the Hill, The Simpsons, Scrubs, My Name is Earl, The Office, 30 Rock, Best Week Ever, Entourage, and Everybody Hates Chris.

The winner is The Office. But the competition is tight. So much so, that I’ve decided to say a few words about each of the shows:

The Office: Boss Michael Scott, both buffoonish and brilliant, keeps me cracking up and cringing (often at the same time). Indeed everyone at Dunder Mifflin has their eccentricities and personality quirks. Yet the goals they pursue and the problems they face are relatable. The workplace interactions among these office colleagues (and often rivals) are consistently hilarious. Strong writing has kept the storylines interesting through five seasons now. My Dwight Schrute bobblehead is nodding in agreement.

30 Rock: I didn’t like this show at first, but now it is among my favorites. The humor is quick and sharp. Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin are comedy geniuses. Kenneth the Page is one of the funniest characters on TV.

Everybody Hates Chris: Easy to overlook because of its Friday night time slot, this show is one of the best comedies going today. I love Chris Rock’s narration and the contrasting yet complimentary personalities of the parents (Terry Crews and Tichina Arnold). There have been some great episodes this season as Chris faces “older” teenage issues.

The Simpsons: Debuting in the Bush administration (the first Bush administration), this is one of the greatest comedies of all time. The show is not as strong today as it was in the early 1990s, but Springfield remains a very funny place.

King of the Hill: Another animated legend. Now in its final season, Hank and company show that there is still much humor to be found in propane, drinking beer, and a boy who just “ain’t right.”

Scrubs: Perhaps the best comedy on TV in its early years. Fell into a couple of so-so seasons, before regaining its punch this year. Janitor rules. Wonder if we will ever learn his name.

My Name is Earl: Another show that started strong (it too was once my favorite), then lost momentum, and now is back on track.

Entourage: Comedy, thy name is drama. Johnny Drama.

Best Week Ever: I like the new format with Paul F. Tompkins as host, though the show is hit or miss with its pop culture commentaries. And why is it so rare for an actual person to have the best week ever?

The Best Show on Television

What is the best show on television? Since I don’t watch all the shows on TV, I can’t definitively answer that question. But I can tell you the best (drama) program among the shows I watch. The candidates include: Lost, 24, Battlestar Galactica, Breaking Bad, Friday Night Lights, Reaper, Monk, Psych, and Kings. (I’ll save comedies for a separate post)

And the winner is . . . Breaking Bad. I must admit, I almost did not give this show a chance. All I knew about it before the first episode aired was this: The guy from Malcolm in the Middle is a high school chemistry teacher who finds out he has cancer, so he starts cooking meth to pay for his treatments and provide for his family. Cancer, chemistry, and cooking meth. I’m not a fan of any of those three subjects. But the pre-pilot critical buzz for this show was unusually high, so I tuned in. I’m glad I did.

What is so great about Breaking Bad, you ask? The acting and writing, of course. Beyond that, what stands out to me is the exquisite use of imagery. Unique angles and memorable shots of the seemingly innocuous convey a sense of foreboding—a consequence of the precarious path the two protagonists have dared to walk. And then there is the “shock and awe” factor. In the last episode, for example, there was a severed head crossing the desert on the back of a tortoise. Now that’s something you won't see on American Idol.

Watch Breaking Bad on AMC Sunday nights at 10:00 Eastern / 9:00 Central.

Eastridge High School

The All-American King opens in 1973 with the central character, Dave King, a sophomore at Eastridge High School in Des Moines, Iowa. I had originally planned to start the book with Dave as a freshman at Eastridge. After I had written nearly four chapters, however, I remembered that high schools in Des Moines did not include a ninth grade until 1979. Because I wanted my settings to be historically accurate, I could not let this detail slide. So I adjusted my outline and rewrote parts of the first four chapters, and Dave became a 10th grader. This change was well worth making since it yielded benefits beyond conforming to historical reality. Specifically, condensing the high school material from four years to three improved the pacing of the first part of the book.

Now, about Eastridge High. It is a fictional school that does not actually exist. Given that I attended East High (a real school in Des Moines pictured above), you might be tempted to think that Eastridge is a thinly disguised version of my alma mater. My response to such thinking is: What?! No! How can you entertain such a ludicrous idea? The two schools are as different as night and day. For starters, Eastridge is spelled E-A-S-T-R-I-D-G-E. East, on the other hand, is spelled E-A-S-T. See? Two completely different words, with different spellings and everything.

The difference between the fictional school and the real school is further underscored by their sports teams. The Eastridge High teams are the Braves, and thus are named after Native American warriors. The East High teams are the Scarlets, and thus are named after, uh, well there is an Indian chief on the cover of my yearbook. But that could mean anything. For all we know, the East High teams take their name from that Pimpernel guy who rescued people from the guillotine during the French Revolution. So again, as you can clearly see, no similarity between East and Eastridge.

I think I've proved my point. Next time I will explain why the mild-mannered reporter for our newspaper is NOT the caped superhero who flies around the city fighting crime.

Book Review of The All-American King

Yesterday, Easter Sunday, a review of The All-American King appeared in the Lincoln Journal Star (Lincoln, Nebraska). The review, written by Cindy Conger, is available at the newspaper's Web site.

Nintendo DS of the 1980s

Hand-held games are everywhere. But what today's gamers probably don't know is that it all began with Microvision. Yes, Microvision, the Nintendo DS of the early 1980s. I received my Microvision game system sometime around 1982, when I was in middle school. Requiring only one 9-volt battery, the console supported a variety of interchangeable game cartridges. My collection inlcuded: Sea Duel, Star Trek Phaser Strike, Cosmic Hunter, Baseball, and Bowling. My favorite game was the one that came with the unit: Blockbuster. You know, the game in which you use your paddle to hit a ball into the wall above. Each hit knocked a block out of the wall. Hitting a block in the top row caused the ball to move faster.

Okay, so the graphics were primitive. The liquid crystal display screen was actually just a grid of squares that darkened to represent submarines, Klingon warships, alien monsters, etc. But with a little imagination, the games could be sort of fun.

Alas, Milton Bradley pulled the plug on Microvision not long after I received my console. I recently decided to retrieve my old game unit from its dusty, beat-up box. Amazingly, though nearly three decades old, it still works! Remember that when you discover your long-forgotten Nintendo DS in the attic in the year 2035.

You may be wondering what happens in Blockbuster when you clear all of the blocks out of the wall. Another wall appears, of course.

Cows

Many readers of The All-American King have expressed curiousity about the location of the restaurant owned by Jesse King, the father of the main character. Actually nobody asks me about that, but it's fun to pretend. Anyway, the restaurant is called The Royal Court and it's located on the east side of Des Moines, Iowa. Though The Royal Court is fictional, I placed it at an actual location on Hubbell Avenue, just south of the intersection with University Avenue. When I started writing my novel in the summer of 2006, this site was a vacant lot. In 2008, a Taco John's opened there. Des Moines residents may remember that there was once a Sambo's restaurant at that spot decades ago. I have faded memories of eating pancakes there when I was a kid.

A stone's throw north of the site of the fictional restaurant is the Anderson Erickson Dairy, and the famous AE cows. Annie, the larger of the two bovines, took up her post in front of the dairy in 1966. Eleven years later a calf named Eric joined Annie. The two cows are still there today watching the traffic pass by on Hubbell and University. Visit the Anderson Erickson website to learn more about Annie and Eric.

Moo.

Pilot

Hello. Welcome to my first blog post. I am Kent Krause, author of a new novel titled The All-American King. The book is a modern retelling of the King David story, with a quarterback as the central character. More information about the book (including a free preview of Chapter 1) is available at my Web site: http://www.kentkrause.com/

You may be wondering if my novel is anything like the television show, Kings. The answer is no--not really. Aside from drawing from the same Old Testament source material (1 & 2 Samuel) and addressing a few of the same themes, the two works are quite different. The All-American King is a work of contemporary Christian realism (assuming such a genre exists) set primarily in the Midwest. Kings, on the other hand, is a political/science-fiction/religious/Shakespearean soap opera set in an alternate universe. The show might be what you get if you threw Dynasty, Rome, and Battlestar Galactica into a blender. Plus, there are butterflies. Lots and lots of butterflies. If you want to check it out, the show is on Saturday nights on NBC at 8:00 Eastern / 7:00 Central.

So, what will my blog be about? Um . . . well, I have a few ideas:

• behind the scenes stuff from The All-American King (kinda like the special features on a DVD)
• writing fiction (On Writing is a good place to start)
• reading fiction (yes, I count Mick Foley as one of my influences)
• trying to get your work published (visualize driving a camel through the eye of a needle)
• why self-publishing might be right for you (because a camel doesn't easily fit through the eye of a needle)
• my current/future writing projects (I'm thinking that a modern-day novel about Balaam's donkey might be too much like Knight Rider)
• miscellaneous ramblings about the flotsam and jetsam of life (just like at the end of 60 Minutes)

Thanks for stopping by. Hurry back.

KK