AUTHOR - 4 - AUTHOR FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE

This is the brand new video composed by Savannah Morgan the heart and soul of Facebook's Author-4-Author group. Although I am not in the video, yet, I am proud and honored to be in the company of such prestigious and talented writers. Hopefully something really wonderful will rub off.

AUTHOR 4 AUTHOR BLOG HOP

This is the very first blog hop hosted by Authors 4 Authors.  It goes live July 21, 2015, come join us.

In Memoriam

I could not begin the Thoughts For The Weekend post without saying a few words about Omar Sharif, the Franco-Egyptian actor who took his final bow on July 10th 2015, to join his colleagues in Thespian Heaven.   In fact, he may take up the entire post.  It's my personal tribute to an actor I've admired since my childhood days.

From the quintessential, drool worthy Arab, the charming Mr. Arnstein in Funny Girl, to the broody and conflicted Dr. Zhivago, Mr. Sharif broke the mold and left a wonderful acting legacy behind.  I say he broke the mold, because from the moment he appeared in Lawrence of Arabia, this dark, handsome, masculine pheromones-oozing actor made just about every female in the cinema room swoon -- yes, there are a lot of repeated o's but it's no accident, he deserves them all.  And the minute he spoke, with that soft, caressing accent of his, we were all goners.

I hope I don't sound like women from the silent cinema era who used to fawn over Valentino and his legendary role "The Sheik". But with all due respect to his fans and Mr. Valentino, Mr. Sharif shattered that image to tiny ribbons.  I'll challenge the ladies in the room who are too young to remember Lawrence of Arabia to rent the DVD, if you can find it, then check out YouTube for a snipet of The Sheik by Valentino.  Hmm...right.  Now you understand.  

Perhaps we can attribute the charm -- which he had in spades -- to his mixed heritage.  Does it really matter?  Not to this girl, when I saw him last in Hidalgo, I would have gladly shared his tent.  And that is a lot to say, especially when Viggo Mortensen had the leading role.

I don't have images of Omar Sharif to illustrate my point without breaking  any copyright rules.  In this link to The Telegraph, you will find some wonderful photographs.  However, I did find a few quotes indicative of the man.  Here he is, Omar Sharif:

On his prowess as a lover.
"See these hands?  They are old. But they are soft. Only good for caressing."

On Sex.
"Making Love? It's a communion with a woman.  The bed is our holy table.  There I find passion and purification."

On being cast by David Lean in Lawrence of Arabia.
"They chose me for Lawrence of Arabia because I spoke English, had black hair, black eyes, and a mustache.  It was all luck.
"I was taken in a plane to the desert to meet David, and as we came in to land we could see him sitting all by himself.  We landed right next to him, but he didn't move one step.  When I got off the place, he didn't say 'hello'.  He simply walked round me to see my profile.  Finally, he said 'That's very good, Omar. Let's go to the make-up tent.' I tried on a mustache, and it was decided I would grow one.  I've shaved it off for a couple of films, but otherwise I've had it ever since."

On women.
"I can't say I gave up totally my passion for women, but almost."

One more.
"I don't know what sex appeal is.  I don't think you can have sex appeal knowingly.  The people who seduce me personally are the people who seem not to know they're seductive, and not to know they have sex appeal."

It strikes me that the last quote could personify him to the hilt.  Did he truly understand his charisma? That is an interesting question and one I'll never have the opportunity to ask.

Adieu, Mr. Sharif.  Rest In Peace.

Author-4-Author Blog: Welcome! :-) Would You Like To Join The First #Au...

Author-4-Author Blog: Welcome! :-) Would You Like To Join The First #Au...: Monthly Blog Hop Rules July’s Theme is Opening Lines. The rules are simple. 1.) If you’re a member of the Author-4-Author Group and have...

Hi, everybody.  If you want to join in the Bloghop check the link.  It should be lots of fun.

Quotes for the Weekend

It's  Friday and that means Quotes for the Weekend.  Jefferson and Kafka's quotes are worthy of careful reflection and thought. I see both as visionary advice reaching out to us from the past, to help us craft a better future.  It is the guidance we all wish we had when making tough decisions, it is comforting to know they exist.  Jefferson should never be rushed.  His words should be savored delicately like fine wine or gourmet food. Kafka as always shoots straight to the heart of the matter, it is a sledgehammer of possibilities pounding on hard set cement.  Nevertheless, just because it is a short line, it still carries a ton of wisdom. Here we go:

Some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and deem them like the arc of the covenant, too sacred to be touched.  They ascribe to the men of the preceding age a wisdom more than human, and suppose what they did to be beyond amendment.  I knew that age well; I belonged to it, and labored with it.  It deserved of its country.  It was like the present, but without the experience of the present; and forty years of experience in government is worth a century of book-reading; and this they would say themselves, were they to rise from the dead.  I am certainly not an advocate for frequent and untried changes in laws and constitutions.  I think moderate imperfections had better be borne with; because, when once known, we accommodate ourselves to them, and find practical means of correcting their ill effects.  But I know also, that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind.  As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.
~ Thomas Jefferson

A book must be an axe for the frozen sea inside of us.
~  Franz  Kafka 

It is almost impossible to carry the torch of truth through a crowd without singeing somebody's beard.
~ Georg Christoph Lichtenberg 

Life is a jest, and all things show it, / I thought so once, and now I know it.
~ John Gay 

A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.
~Antoine de Saint-Exupery.  

All our words are but crumbs that fall down from the feast of the mind.
~ Kahlil Gibran 

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.
~Blaise Pascal

Pascal's quote is troublesome because it speaks a mighty truth.  I have often wondered why Men do such terrible acts in the name of religion.  And yet, most religions I know, preach love, kindness, forgiveness, and understanding.  If so, is religion the impetus for evil, or is religion the flag flourished by some men to justify their need for evil deeds?

With that thought in mind, I will add another in counterpoint:

 The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
~ Edmund Burke

Phase Four

Here we are, phase four.  After three months -- at least -- of reading, researching, studying and comparing, of jotting down notes and dates, I finally reached the goal line, the one with the huge FINISH banner above and the rope across. Once I stepped through and broke that damned, taunting string I could resume my writing.  I was scant feet away, I could almost smell the sweet scent of accomplishment when I realized something was definitely still missing, and everything came to a screeching halt.

At this point, some of my characters were half crazed.  The voices accumulated and grew louder, demanding action and release.  Xavi and Emilio jumped in the fray with Matthew, and as we all know, men's voices, especially deep voices can drown just about any other noise, and I thought I would lose my mind.

This went back and forth for several days until we all agreed to a compromise.  A truce of sorts. I could advance in parts of the story that took place in the US while I completed what I believed was the key component of the war aspect.  The final touch, the icing on the cake, the last decoration on the Christmas tree: personal experiences.  A writer can research a past era, maybe speak with experts who studied the field diligently, but nothing beats interviewing folks who lived, breathed, and ate in it.  

As it turned out, I have the unbelievable fortune of living two houses away from Mr. José Meléndez-Pérez.  For those who don't know, Mr. Meléndez-Pérez is a true national hero.  Instinct, written by Michael Smerconish accounts how on August 04, 2001 Mr. Meléndez-Pérez -- a US immigration officer stationed at Orlando International Airport -- refused Mohammed Al-Qahtani entry into the US.  Despite incredible pressure, Mr. Melendez-Perez remained steadfast in his certainty.  Al-Qahtani was coming to the US to do harm.  Some folks may now remember, the aircraft that went down in Pennsylvania had four hijackers.  One short thanks to Meléndez-Pérez.  If they'd had a full complement of terrorists on board, who knows which other horrors they might have perpetrated.  Members of the 9/11 commission, such as Richard Ben-Veniste speculate the Capitol might've been their target. 

 For those who'd like to learn more about Mr. Meléndez-Pérez, heroic resistance to political and diplomatic pressure, Instinct can be purchased through your regular book retailers.  This is a fantastic article as well: The Pulse: Hero again. 

Of course I wanted Mr. Meléndez-Pérez' perspective, and he was kind enough to grant me an interview about a period, which he called, "one of the most difficult times in my life, Vietnam."   He served two tour duties, one in1965-1966 and in 1969-1970.  

How lucky can a girl get?!!  Even though Destiny's Plan's scenes take place in 1967-1968 and Mr. Mélendez-Pérez did not serve in Special Forces, his personal experiences are extremely relevant and right on point.  I can watch Platoon, a remarkable movie based on Oliver Stone's recollection a million times, but it's not the same as when the man you are interviewing tells you, 

"The nights in the jungle were so dark, I couldn't see my hand." And then, he'd go on to explain how.  

"When the monsoons came, we thought we would drown.  We were wet, always wet, foot rot the most common ailment, mosquitoes our most unrelenting pests."  

I have several other comments in my "book-bible" from the conversation, but there is no point in repeating the misery.  It's enough to say there is no such thing as a little inferno.  Hell is hell.  And he lived it, breathed it, and suffered it.  Matthew and Brian were bound for Gehenna.  

Destiny's Plan is not a book about war, I've said that before. But when war is your background music, the constant noise of an era, and you wish to call yourself a passable writer, you just can't ignore it like our nation did to these men when they came home.  When they returned PTSD'd to the max, suffering of untold diseases, exposed to life-altering chemicals and seeking a comfort that was nowhere to be found.  

That's why the book is dedicated to them, maybe a little late in coming, but better late than never.   On that note, may I express my sincerest gratitude for the unmeasurable sacrifice. 

Outstanding Quotes.

I believe the greatest gift I can conceive of having from anyone is to be seen, heard, understood, and touched by them.  The greatest gift I can give is to see, hear, understand, and touch another person.
~Virginia Satir

The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, he has the remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.
~George Orwell

It's like, at the end, there's this surprise quiz:  Am I proud of me? I gave my life to become the person I am right now.  Was it worth what I paid?
~Richard Bach

Him that I love, I wish to be free -- even from me.
~Anne Morrow Lindbergh

So difficult it is to show the various meanings and imperfections of words when we have nothing else but words to do it with.
~ John Locke

Content thyself to be obscurely good.  When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway, the post of honor is a private station.
~ Joseph Addison

Spend the afternoon. You can't take it with you.
~ Annie Dillard

A bookstore is one of the only pieces of evidence we have that people are still thinking.
~Jerry Seinfeld.