Southern Vacation Trip

I live in New York State. One year my wife and I visited Florida and other Dixie locations. Here are some pictures of the trip.
The first one is of a swimming pool in a hotel we stayed in at Tampa while attending a wedding.

On that same trip we visited a zoo where the animals roam free.

One year we visited the Kennedy Space Center. This is a place every American should visit at least once in their lifetime.

One of my favorite places to visit is Key West. I loved the pool at our hotel. You could see the ocean while swimming in fresh water. Next to it was a bar with drinks and snacks.

At Key West we visited the most southernmost point of the U.S. On clear days, they say you can see Cuba from here.

We also toured Ernest Hemingway's home. Here is the view from his porch. Hemingway loved cats. He had a special breed which still roam the house and are cared for by the caretakers. One of Hemingway's favorite hangouts was Sloppy Joe's bar.

On the return trip, we visited Stone Mountain in Georgia. This is the south's Mount Rushmore. The hero's of the Confederacy are carved on an enormous granite rock. In addition, there are exhibits of life before the Civil War. At night, a marvelous laser light show is put on.

We also visited a mansion in North Carolina

and Mammoth Cave in Kentucky

Future Cities

According to an article from World Culture Report, at the beginning of the twentieth century, ten per cent of the world's population lived in an urban environment. Currently, half of the world's population live in cities. Also, there are 59 cities with populations over 5 million, 37 over 7 million, and 24 over 10 million. Six cities have populations over 20 million people: Tokyo 34 million, Cuidad de Mexico 22.3 million, Seoul, South Korea 22 million, New York 21.8 million, and Sao Paulo, Brazil 20 million. If the trend continues, soon most people will live in cities. With so much of the world's population in urban areas, it is interesting to speculate what the cities of the future may be like.

One of the trends in the United States is for cities to spread so that in certain areas there is almost one continuous urban area for long distances. For example, on the East Coast from Boston through northern New Jersey is practically one long city. Again according to World Culture Report, four problems beset cities at this time: high unemployment, inadequately maintained infrastructure, environmental problems and social conflicts such as crime and homelessness. These trends are reflected in my novel of the future, Star Tower. Here is an excerpt. The protagonist, John Huck, has just returned from the space war as a dishonorably discharged veteran.

His weight increased slightly as the pilot fired braking thrusters. There was the fiery descent through the upper atmosphere and finally an increase in cabin pressure that hurt his ears as the ship passed through the cloud layer. He glanced out of his window. From horizon to horizon was Federation City, a million twinkling rainbow lights, some moving, some still. Glowing towers split the sky like a macrogiant's fairy castle. It was so enormous and beautiful, he choked up. The thought came to him that the teeming multitude who lived in this sea of jeweled splendor would never see it like this -- rubies, diamonds, emeralds and topazes for hundreds of miles along the Atlantic shore.

A few hours later he emerged from a filthy subway station and thought how false was that vision from a mile up. If the megalopolis was a jeweled fairyland from the air, at ground level it was a garbage-strewn, dark and dingy, troll cavern. From an ugly gray sky a heavy sulfur-laden rain swept discarded scraps of paper, cigarette butts, orange peelings, wilted lettuce leaves, condoms and other garbage in torrential streams along the gutter. Like canyon walls dark chipped concrete buildings, lower floors covered with graffiti, rose for fifteen or more stories. Huck shifted his bag to his other shoulder. With his head down against the icy downpour, he hurried down the dingy puddle-strewn sidewalk past doorways where shabby women and men huddled from the rain to stare sullenly at each passerby. They stood with arms wrapped around themselves and watched with hopeless eyes the dirty rain that fell into the gutter like their dreams. Others lay curled up or rested their heads on their knees with drug induced visions.

Some ragged children, a lone housewife and one elderly man with an umbrella braved the driving rain. Huck's eyes smarted and his nose twitched from the street's ugly odors, an unnatural fog of smoke, urine, bad cooking and other stomach churning fumes. He wondered how he had survived this awful place before he went to the space academy.

When he reached the more crowded commercial section, he was jostled by filthy, worn men and women some who had with open sores and dark diseased blotches on their faces, stumbled into by those who swayed with vacant drug-narrowed eyes and shoved aside by belligerent bands of youths who laughed at his grimace. He was well aware that these latter would like nothing better than for him to exhibit his annoyance. It would provide the excuse they needed to wield the iron pipes and bars they carried in clenched fists. He also knew that they concealed more potent weapons in their clothing.

But not everyone's vision of the cities in the future is so bleak. During National Engineer's Week, many cities hold a Future City competition. In a national competition, seventh and eight graders compete. Here are some of their ideas: A floating city complete with entertainment, recreation and medical center. A city powered by hydrogen. A domed city on Mars. Cities with environmentally friendly magnetically levitated trains. The things that these participants had to consider were water supply, public and private transportation local and long distance, entertainment and sport arenas, technology center, communications center, waste disposal and permanent open spaces such as parks and recreational facilities.

In my wandering around the web, I ran across two interesting sites. One was called The Venus Project where there was an article about Cities That Think. I have written short stories about a place called Automatia. In Automatia, everything was automated, and robots performed all the menial tasks. Of course, in my stories, when things went wrong, they went spectacularly wrong. In one, a man is trapped in his apartment when the machines stop working. In another, a misunderstood command causes robots to accidentally kill hundreds of people.

The most interesting web site I visited while researching this article was Future Past. It showed how futurists, visionaries, architects and science fiction writers in the twentieth century envisioned the city of the twenty-first. It's a hoot. Visit this site. You'll enjoy it.

Visit to Chicago

One of my favorite places to visit is my original home town, Chicago. This is a city that has a thousand things to do and is beautiful besides. Here we are entering the city over the Chicago Skyway.

During this particular visit our motel was only a short walk to Lake Michigan. Here is a view from that location, looking south towards the loop.

A must thing to do while in Chicago is to go to the observatory of one of the skyscrapers. Here we are at the top of the Hancock Building.

Another must thing is to take the river and lake cruise which you can catch at Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive.

Navy Pier is fun with its amusement places, street musicians, restaurants, boat tours and a fifteen story tall Ferris wheel.

A great place to bring your kids is the Museum of Science and Industry. The exhibits are hands-on and very educational. It also features a mock trip to a coal mine.

Another great place is the museum complex on Roosevelt Road. It includes the Field Museum of Natural History, a planetarium and the Shedd Aquarium. Here is a scene from the dolphin show at the aquarium.

Another great place to spend the day with your family is LincolnPark. In addition to spacious grassy areas, it has the Lincoln Park Zoo, Lincoln Park Conservatory, an outdoor theatre, a rowing canal, the Chicago History Museum, the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, ponds, North Avenue Beach, playing fields, and a very prominent statue of General Grant (and many other statues). Here is a photo taken in Lincoln Park Zoo.

Fad Words, Bad Words

As a writer I make it my business to be aware of the way words are used. For example, certain words and phrases come in and out of fashion. Last year it was "awesome." You don't hear that much anymore. It's been replaced by "amazing." When I was a young man and a pretty girl walked by, we might say "hubba, hubba." Weird and silly, no? In modern times, it seems that the expletive "f—king" has become an all-purpose adjective with no meaning. I'm kind of sorry that it has become so prevalent. It has lost the impact that it used to have. Not many people are shocked by its use anymore.

This brings me to my second topic, bad words. I have to wonder what makes a particular word considered naughty. For example, in the paragraph above, I did not spell out the word "f—king" completely so as to not shock the sensibilities of anyone reading this. What is strange about this is that most of its synonyms such as fornicating, making love, having sexual intercourse, screwing, copulate and so forth are not bleeped on TV. The same is true to references to a part of the female anatomy. Vagina is okay, but c—t is a no-no. I don't know of any bleeped words for the equivalent organ on a man, although there are many slang words for penis, such as dick, prick, dong, wang and willie. S—t is a not allowed, but excrement, manure, poop and so forth are not. Why?

The way all this is handled on TV is ridiculous. Bleeping the word out or replacing it with an innocuous similar sounding word is silly. Everyone knows what is meant; so why not come right out and say it. Most children by the time they are seven or eight have heard the words if not from their parents, from other adult and older children. Many are confused when they are chastised for saying what is commonly bandied about.

Do I use these words in my writing? Sparsely. Only when a character's personality is such that he or she would use such words. In a satire I wrote, I had a character that uses expletives quite frequently, but would not use the actual world but its synonym. He would say things like, "You fornicating so and so." Also, he would chastize other people when they would use the "bad" words.

Drowning in Advertisement

If you take a ride in the country in Europe, to an American it seems like something is missing. Finally you realize what it is. There are no billboards to spoil the scenery. Nowhere except in America are people inundated with propaganda night and day. What is worse, because we've become so used to being overwhelmed with the stuff, Madison Avenue and others keeps thinking up more ways to get our attention to buy their products.

Take the Sunday newspaper, for example. My paper delivery person struggles under the heavy load of thick bundles of newsprint. After I take out all the ads, about five thin sheets are left and even those have advertisements on them. Every day, when I go to my mailbox, I pull out tons of junk mail, most of which goes directly into the recycling bin. Out of every hour of television being broadcast, twenty minutes is devoted to advertising. And even when no commercials are on, shows like the morning network news are mostly devoted to demonstrating various products or are come-ons for new movies or TV shows. Even theaters that show movies now put on ads before the feature. Video tapes and DVDs contain advertisements.

And the Internet is almost all advertising. When I go to get my E-mail, besides the usual tons of Spam, there are pop-up ads that cover the ads already on the web site. Does that make sense? Now, with everyone having a cell phone glued to their ears, I'm sure someone will find a way to broadcast commercials during lulls in the conversation.

Don't get me started on telemarketers. They invariably call in the middle of a meal. When you tell them that you're not interested, they keep on talking. Then they wonder why you hang up.

Yes, we Americans are drowning in advertising, which inspired me to write a short story called Psychic Pop-Up. Read it. If advertisers could do what the marketeers in my story do, they certainly would.

Psychic Pop-Up

by Joe Vadalma

(First appeared in Planet Magazine, Sept. 2003)

George Slimey was somewhat daunted by Pricella Lucretia, vice-president of sales of the Pharmaceutical Institute Laboratories Ltd., his largest client. She had jet black hair twisted into a complicated bun, a pinstriped power business suit over her overabundant curves, thick red lipstick in a mouth twisted into an expression of contempt and mascara laid on so thick her eyes seemed sunken in her pale skin. There was something almost demon-like about her. She lit up one of her skinny evil-smelling cigars with a gold lighter. She pointed it at Slimey. "What we want are results. Not bee ess. Despite all the money we've tossed down the drain, your ad campaign, flashy as it is, has not done anything for sales on Perkup. In fact, last months sales dropped to their lowest point. This is your last chance, Slimey. Next month we move to another agency."

The product she alluded to was a dietary supplement which was touted as a pill that energized a person, gave them feelings of well-being, ensured rapid weight-loss without dieting or exercise, lowered cholesterol, rid the person of wrinkles, improved sexual performance and slowed aging. Actually, no valid scientific tests except PILL's own lab reports had ever shown that it did any of those things. On the other hand, the side effects were horrendous, dry mouth, palpitations, itchy rashes, stomach cramps, diarrhea, possible blood clots leading to heart attack or stroke. Although it had been hushed up by handing large sums of money to their relatives, two healthy test subjects had died twenty-four hours after taking it. Originally it had been developed as a chemotherapy agent to fight colon cancer. Not only was it ineffective in fighting the disease, the cancer cells actually seemed to spread faster with its use. Also its effect on the patients was devastating; some autopsy results seemed to show that the people who had been taking it, might've died, not from the cancer, but from the product. Since PILL had produced an over abundance of the substance, upper management decided to market it as a supplement.

Slimey rolled his eyes and smiled sickly. "You must give us time, Pricella ..."

"I don't like familiarities from business associates. Ms. Lucretia, if you please." She puffed out black smoke into Slimey's face.

"Yes, of course. I'm sorry. But, as I was saying, we need to get the campaign rolling."

"So you say." Her face became as red and ugly as a lobster with outrage. Smoke from her cigar curled around her head to form horns. When she opened her mouth, her pointed bicuspids seemed extra long, and her tongue flicked in and out like a snake's. "As I said, because you've done well in the past, we're allowing you an extra month. If sales don't improve by a week from today, it's ..." She slid her forefinger with its long sharp nail across her windpipe.

Slimey wiped perspiration from his brow. "Don't worry, Pri... Ms. Lucretia, Slimey Enterprises has never let a client down."

***

After Lucretia left, Slimey called Robert Kissheiny, the account executive, into his office. "Bob, how's everything going with the PILL account?"

Kissheiny smiled pleasantly. "Splendidly, George. Things couldn't be better."

Slimey pounded his fist on the desk. "Crap. That evil female, Pricella Lucretia, was just here." He shook a finger at Kissheiny. "She complained that sales have been awful on Perkup."

Kissheiny's face drooped until he resembled an aging bloodhound. "Oh, Perkup. Sorry George, I thought you meant their other products."

"Look Bob, PILL is our largest client, and Perkup is the product they want results on. I placed you in charge because I thought you were our most competent ad exec. If we lose this client, not only will you be out on the street, but I'll personally see that you never work in advertising again. What exactly is the problem?"

Kissheiny looked about to burst into tears. "It's the product itself, Mister Slimey. Word has sort of leaked out about its ... uh ... less desirable characteristics. We've tried everything to laud its marvelous curative powers. We've run humorous ads on TV day and night -- including, mind you -- during the Super Bowl, put full size spreads in newspapers and magazine, had telemarketers call people at all hours of the day and night, put pop-up ads that are impossible to suppress on all the most popular web sites, and constructed huge billboards on all the most scenic highways. Our salesman have lavished huge gifts on physicians in every major city to recommend Perkup to their patients. We even tried sky writing. Nothing seems to work."

Slimey rubbed his chin. "The trouble is that none of those things actually make the consumer buy the product. Some of our surveys seem to show that people resent saturation advertising for some reason. I don't know what this country is coming to. Anyway, the onus is on you, Kissheiny. You've got to come up with some new ideas. Or else ..." He slid a finger across his Adam's apple.

***

Kissheiny spent the rest of the afternoon at his desk staring out the window, hardly moving except to chain smoke several packs of cigarettes. He knew his career was in the toilet. He'd tried every approach he could think of to sell that poison, Perkup. By next month, there would be no more six digit salary, no more luxury limo complete with driver, no more wood paneled office with its own bathroom and shower, no more thousand dollar tailored suits, no more dates with beautiful models. He'd be back on the streets selling cheap watches out of a suitcase. He racked his brain for some new method to get the public to buy Perkup, but came up empty.

He unlocked the bottom left hand drawer of his desk and slid it open. He stared into it at the items lying there; a revolver, a package of shells for it, and a bottle of Jack Daniels. He took out the whiskey, took a big pull and replaced it. He removed the pistol and shells, slowly loaded the pistol and raised it to his head. Before he could squeeze the trigger, his secretary buzzed him. "Yes, Doris," he said in a quaking voice.

"There's a woman here to see you. A Madam Zolarago. She says she has an appointment, but I can't find her listed on your calendar."

Madam Zolarago, he thought. He'd forgotten that he'd made an appointment with a new psychic. He was a great believer in astrology and the occult and often visited psychics. Quickly, he put the gun away and locked the drawer. "Send her in."

Madam Zolarago was a middle-aged woman on the plump side with enormous breasts, wearing too much jewelry, too much makeup and unfashionable garments. Thick black unruly hair hung to her waist. Dark eyes gazed intensely at Kissheiny in a way that made him uncomfortable so that he had to turn away.

Nonetheless, he rose and put out his hand. "Good afternoon, Madam Zolargo. I'm sorry, but I almost forgotten our appointment. I've had a lot of things on my mind lately."

As she shook his hand with pointed carmine nails like stilettos, she said, "I see that Mister Kissheiny. You seem to be a troubled man. Your aura is very dark."

"You're quite right. Some business problems ..."

She plumped down in a guest chair without being asked. "Perhaps I can help. Although I sense a troubled soul, I see a great light in your future. Sometimes things seem darkest just before the dawn -- as the adage goes."

Her saying that seemed to take some of horror of his situation off his shoulders. Perhaps she was right. What was it that Slimey was always saying? Oh yes. There are no problems, only opportunities. If he could come up with a unique method for getting people to purchase Perkup, he'd be a hero, probably get a huge bonus of stock options. If Madam Zolarago could predict the future, maybe she saw the solution.

After swearing her to secrecy, he told her his dilemma with Perkup.

She placed her fingers to her temple and went into a trance. After a few moments, she opened her eyes. "Yes, that's it. You must see Professor Belial at the university."

"Professor Belial?"

"Yes. He's a friend of mine. You may mention my name. He has something. I'm not sure what it is exactly. But I have a vision. In my vision, I see a look of delight on both your faces when he tells you of his discovery."

Kissheiny became excited. He hoped she was right ... but of course, she was right. After all, she was a medium with an excellent reputation among true believers like himself. "Really? Thank you, Madam Zolarago. By the way, how much is your fee?"

She waved her hand. "I never charge a fee. I simply enjoy helping people. Of course, if you would like to give a donation to my nonprofit organization."

"Of course, of course. How shall I make out the check?"

"Madam Zolargo's Psychic Institute."

He was feeling expansive and wrote the check out for a substantial amount. He felt as though Madam Zolargo had saved his life.

***

Professor Belial's office was in an obscure corner of the university, in a basement actually, after Kissheiny made his way through a labyrinth of corridors, laboratories and stairwells. The room itself was gloomy and a mess. Hundreds of ancient books lined the walls and spilled over onto the floor. Belial's desk was covered with them along with charts, strange talismans, broken pencils and a large magnifying glass. Belial himself, as he stood to greet Kissheiny, was tall with shoulder-length brown hair, a VanDyck style beard and mustache, elf-like ears and the most penetrating eyes Kissheiny had ever seen under bushy eyebrows.

"Madam Zolargo recommended you to me," Kissheiny said after their initial greetings.

"Yes, she told me." Belial's voice was a deep baritone that somehow seemed to fit his sharp features and cruel mouth. "Are you interested in the supernatural, Mister Kissheiny? That is what I do, y'know. Psychic research."

"I am, but she told me that you've made a recent discovery that may help me in my business."

"May I ask what business you're in?"

"Advertising. I'm an account executive at an agency."

Belial stroked his beard. "Yes, I suppose that my discovery could be an aid in your business. I never thought of it in practical terms before. I was simply doing pure research."

Kissheiny brightened up considerably. Perhaps Madam Zolargo had been right. He had been having doubts. "What's this discovery?"

"Are you familiar with the term, human aura?"

"Yes, it's like emanations given off by the soul."

"Actually the aura and the soul are the same thing. But, as you say, it gives off emanations. In people with strong ESP potential, these emanations can be intercepted by them. I have found that these emanations can be amplified to the point that thought transfer or telepathy can be done by anyone through my Psychic Enhancer. Would you like to experience a demonstration?"

"Yes. Of course." Kissheiny felt that this all very interesting, but he wondered how it could help him sell Perkup.

Belial went to a cabinet and brought a metallic box that contained several dials and meters. He plugged it in a wall socket and attached an aluminum band which he placed on his head. Suddenly, a voice in Kissheiny's mind said, "Are you receiving my thoughts?"

"Oh my! That's something. It's as though you were speaking directly to my brain."

"Not you brain, your aura," the voice in his head said.

Belial removed the band and turned off the machine. "Well, what do you think?"

An idea began to form in Kissheiny's mind. "Suppose this enhancer of yours was increased in power, could it direct your thoughts to several people -- at say a great distance?"

Belial twisted his mustache. "I imagine so. I've never tried. It would be an interesting experiment though."

"How would you like to become a millionaire?"

"A millionaire? Surely, you're joking."

"No. If it can do what I think it can do, you and I will be rolling in dough."

Kissheiny put Belial on the company payroll as a consultant. He hired an engineering firm to build a duplicate of Belial's machine only with a thousand times more power. It was ready in a week.

***

Robert Drudge was at his desk shuffling papers from his in-box to his out-box, when a sudden thought came to him out of the blue, almost like a voice in his head. It said, "Want to improve yourself. Get a better job. Take Perkup." Right after work, he went to the pharmacy around the corner.

Oliver Crude and his mistress were going at it hot and heavy in a hotel room. It was taking him a while to get to the point of the whole thing, when suddenly he rolled off of her and cried, "I know what I need. Some Perkup. I'll be back in a little while, baby. There's something I have to get at the drugstore."

Hundreds of similar scenes were happening all over the city. Pharmacies and other stores that sold Perkup were getting more customers than they could handle and soon ran out of the supplement. Orders came into PILL faster than they could be filled. The manufacturing division went to three shifts to keep up. Doctors' offices were jammed with patients with symptoms described in the small print on the Perkup labels. Several seemingly healthy people died suddenly from a mysterious malady that had health officials scratching their heads.

***

Pricella Lucretia flicked ashes somewhere near the tray on Slimey's desk. "Well Slimey, I have to congratulate you. Your ad campaign is finally doing some good. Bring out your contract, I'm ready to sign for another year. In fact, we've got a new product in the works called Zoom which we'll have ready to market as soon as we have the bugs to worked out. We had to fire the head of the research staff. He kept putting out reports that said that Zoom was dangerous even to handle. Can you beat that? What a fool."

"Yes. Good help is hard to get. Some people choose integrity above company loyalty. Not my employees though. I weed out the bad apples quickly. As far as our ad campaign, far be from me to crow, but it was simply a matter of a new approach that I came up with the account exec."

Actually Slimey had no idea how Kissheiny had turned things around. He made a note to ask him soon. He slid the new contract over to Lucretia. She read it over carefully and placed it on the desk to sign. As Slimey handed her a pen, she suddenly put her hand to her head and looked pained.

"What's the matter, Pricella? Aren't you feeling well?"

She grimaced at him. "I've got to see my psychiatrist. Lately I've been hearing voices in my head telling me to take Perkup. I must be having a breakdown." She quickly signed the contract and left the office in such a hurry that Slimey didn't have time to tell her that he had also been hearing voices. I wonder who her shrink is, he thought. Maybe I should see one too. It's the stress of this job. It gets to you after a while.

***

After the success of Perkup, Kissheiny realized what a gold mine he really had with Belial's invention. Any product could be sold that way. People could ignore TV, radio and newspaper ads, hang up on telemarketers and buy antipopup software for their computers, but they could not ignore what was in their heads. He resigned Slimey Marketing and opened a new ad agency in partnership with Belial called Psychic Advertising Industries Network (PAIN for short). When word got around about his success with PILL's premier product, clients by the hundreds waited outside his door to sign up.

At first he kept the Psychic Enhancer a secret, but soon industrial spies obtained the plans. Their employers made incremental improvements to get around patent infringements and began their own mental ad campaigns. Before long, everything was advertised in this manner. This had a disastrous effect on civilization. People's head became filled with slogans and jingles and nothing else. No one could think of anything else but the crazy ads in their brain, which became more numerous, louder and more insane every day.

And that's the true story of how twenty-first century civilization ended -- not with the holocaust of an atomic war, not with a mile long meteor slamming into New York City, not with coastal cities being inundated by the rising of the oceans, not with people gasping for breaths due to pollution from automobiles and industrial plants, but by walking around like zombies unable to think about anything except soda pop, hamburgers, stomach remedies, sexy cars and other products that filled their otherwise empty heads.

Actually, not much had changed from before the Psychic Enhancer came into general use.

The End

How My Morgaine Series Grew

I thought maybe some of you might be interested in how my Morgaine Series of novels became a series. It started with a song, Dancing in the Moonlight. When I heard that song, I pictured Wiccans or some other new age group in a meadow in the forest having some sort of ritual. I thought, Suppose an ordinary person became somehow involved with such a group by fate, not by choice. So I created Melody Trent, a young widow, who falls in love with a psychic, Michael Ellul. But, who is this Michael? I decided to make him a thousand year old sorcerer who had been granted this extended life by a demon. I figured that Melody should have a rival for Michael's affection, so I created Morgaine Fabiano, a witch. I threw in some other complications such as Isaac the robot and soon I had a novel, which I titled Dancing in the Moonlight.

When I found a publisher for it, it was an E-book publisher, Renaissance E-Books. The publisher thought it was too long for an E-book. She wanted me to split it into two novels, which I did. They became the first two novels in the series, Morgaine and Michael, and Morgaine and Melody.

I was not quite satisfied with the ending. I thought to myself, What is going to happen when Melody ages and Michael remains youthful? It seems like he would disappear from her life after a while. Perhaps he would seek a means to restore her youth so that she would remain his lover and companion through the long centuries. And what would Melody do when he disappears? Hunt for him, of course. Well, she couldn't do this herself, so she hires Raven Lenore, a tough PI and Wiccan (a witch to catch a wizard). And of course, Morgaine has to fit into the story somehow. She returns as demon in order to somehow regain the love of Michael. Mix in a meglomaniac out to steal Michael's robot, and viola, you have Morgaine and Raven, a suspense thriller.

In the next novel, I told the story of how Morgaine became a witch in the first place, and how she met Michael for the first and second times, and from her point of view, why she did the things she did. Alas, this also turned out to be too long and had to be split into two books, Morgaine and Gretchen, and Morgaine and Asmodeus.

As a writer of science-fiction and fantasy, one of the things that's great fun to write about is the end of the world. I used the Book of Revelations of the Bible as a sort of outline plus some stuff from the internet about Armageddon, included the possibility of earth being struck by a gigantic meteorite, threw in Frankenstein, Dracula and various demons, bad guys, aliens and other strange characters. And of course the schemes of Morgaine played a big part. This weird mix became Morgaine and Armageddon.

At that point, I thought I was done with Morgaine and company. But then I thought, With all the strange things that had happened at Moonwood (Michael's mansion in the country), it would make a great background for a haunted house story. So I invented two new characters, a young engaged couple, Tom and Bridget, who were hired as contractors to repair the mansion. Of course, Morgaine and various demons and ghosts make life at Moonwood hell for the couple. I called this book Morgaine and Moonwood. My sequal to this is what happens after Bridget has the baby that she conceived when she was raped by the demon Asmodeus. This was to be the final book of the series and was called Morgaine and Nicholas. Nonetheless, I followed it up with Morgaine and the Necromancer.

Driverless Cars

Technology is moving so rapidly now-a-days that it's hard to keep up. Here are some of newest gadgets either in the test phase or already on the market. First off, Google (of all companies) have been testing a car that drives itself. Six specially equipped Toyota Priuses and one Audi TT have logged more than 140,000 miles from San Francisco's crooked Lombard Street to Hollywood Boulevard. They use Google's map technology as well as "video cameras, radar sensors and a laser range finder to 'see' other traffic." (All the vehicles have an engineer in the driver's seat who can take over control at any time).

Even criminal activity using technology has picked up. Now it is easier for counterfeiters to generate fake bills. For this reason, the US Government has decided to improve the latest $100 bill yet again and make it nearly impossible to duplicate (at least for the time being). The most unique part about the future currency is that when the bill is moved from side to side, the new images on the bill will appear to move up and down. When the bill is moved up and down, the image will appear to move from side to side. The expected release date for this new $100 bill will be sometime during the year of 2011.

One of the Air Force’s latest futuristic inventions, the Pain Ray (also known as the Active Denial System), has been designed for effective crowd control measures, similar to tear gas. The “Pain Ray” emits a powerful radiation beam that causes victims to feel a burning sensation and will send people running for cover. The potent beam is strong enough to penetrate clothes and lighter defenses, but it is not quite strong enough to pierce through walls.

A new military rifle called the XM25 is equipped with smart bullets including high explosive burst, armor-piercing, door breaching, anti-personnel and non-lethal. It allows a more options in tactical situations. For example, if prisoners are to be taken, the soldier can switch to a non-lethal round. Or if they need to take out an enemy sniper protected by a building or behind a hillside, an explosive smart bullet can be fired near the location of the enemy.

Most people would not expect a car that can go from 0-60 in under 3.2 seconds to be eco-friendly in the least, but the Porsche automakers beg to differ. This future car concept, the 918 Spyder, is supposed to be one of the fastest (if not the fastest) hybrid electric car on the market. It can teach tops speeds of 200 mph and gets 78 miles per gallon – double the amount most compact cars achieve on a good day.

Microsoft has recently announced an impressive addition to their popular X-Box video game system which will replace the standard controllers. Project Natal, has built in motion sensors that allows users to act out their moves instead of having to press buttons. If you are playing a fighting game (such as Street Fighter) you will actually have to do some physical kicks and punches to defeat your opponent. This new technology is also supposed to be equipped with voice and facial recognition software.

For the past couple of years the world’s top space program NASA has been working on a future design for the very first personal flying suit. The puffin, as they call it, measures to be 12 feet in length with a 15 foot wingspan. The aircraft module would land vertically, allowing for a person to step directly into it and has blades similar to that of helicopters. The puffin concept would relatively light weight and would use electric motors, allowing for high altitudes as well as being ecology-friendly.

I wonder what's next.