tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67943133986844868362024-03-12T22:17:13.365-07:00Michael J. FitzgeraldJOURNALIST AND AUTHORMichael J. Fitzgeraldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09840859418177870381noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6794313398684486836.post-82482751599880834212023-03-08T13:22:00.086-08:002023-03-11T18:50:42.754-08:00The writing gridlock close to clearing away<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>SCAPPOOSE, Oregon</b> - <i>Sons of COVID</i>, the planned fourth Jack Stafford novel got stalled on the fiction-writing railroad tracks in early 2021. In January specifically. You might remember what happened January 6.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Events of that day, followed by a move from the San Francisco Bay Area to a riverside home in rural Oregon kept that novel idling. I was in search of a way to angle the plot believably in a real-world gone mad. The way out of the woods has proven as treacherous as the evil that led to the insurrection that could have toppled democracy as we know it in the United States.</span></span></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Such is the life of fiction writing when you use real-world events as the backdrop for fictional story. Not a novel technique I would advise, though in my first three novels it certainly worked well.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">But in the last six months, a combination of column-writing success, helping launch a new magazine (<i>Dynamic Aging 4 Life</i>) and discovering the likely root cause of some crippling fatigue all added up to reviving my fiction writing projects. Plus, while the last section of <i>Sons</i> is in process a new project based on the life and writing of Jack London is shaping up. More on that in coming weeks.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">In mid-March I will be heading to the Southern California desert with a group in a tour/workshop led by the <a href="http://wanderlandwriters.com/">Wanderland Writers</a> organization. We will hit the Salton Sea, Borrego Springs, Joshua Tree and other spots in search of, well, that's the fun of it. We don't know exactly what we will find and/or what we might want to write about.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">For me, it might be the final chapter of <i>Sons of Covid</i> might shift from Northern California to a barren desert showdown. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p>Michael J. Fitzgeraldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09840859418177870381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6794313398684486836.post-1301451480371151022020-08-20T15:15:00.000-07:002020-08-30T08:46:29.046-07:00Jack Stafford returns this fall in 'Sons of Covid'<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> M</span>ODOC COUNTY, Calif</b>. - Jack Stafford and his three crusading newspapers - the <i>Horseheads (NY) Clarion</i>, <i>Rockwell Valley (PA) Tribune</i>, and <i>Vashon (WA) View</i> will return for readers this fall chasing the news - and bad guys - in a new novel, <i>Sons of Covid.</i><br />
The novel follows in the wake of three previous Jack Stafford novels: <i>The Fracking War </i>(2014)<i>, Fracking Justice </i>(2015)<i> </i>and<i> The Devil's Pipeline </i>(2018).<br />
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<i> Sons of Covid</i> takes place as the nation struggles to contain a raging pandemic, control corporations running amok and attempts to reinstitute social justice and equity across a badly divided country.<br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> S</span>tafford and the staff of his newspapers</b>, websites and<i> Clarion Newspaper Syndicate</i> find themselves investigating a swirling morass of government corruption, corporate greed, right-wing extremists and environmental degradation.<br />
As they publish news stories and columns, they run into a wall of malefactors intent on stopping them by any means possible.<br />
As with earlier novels, <i>Sons of Covid </i>will be<i> </i>divided into five sections<i>.</i><br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> T</span>he <i>tentative</i> titles are</b>:<br />
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<i>• The Armies of the Night</i></div>
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<i>• Captain Jack</i></div>
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<i>• The Tynn man</i></div>
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<i>• You say you want a revolution?</i></div>
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<i>• Butch and Sundance</i></div>
Michael J. Fitzgeraldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09840859418177870381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6794313398684486836.post-34922611338281403662019-03-05T13:40:00.000-08:002019-03-05T13:41:05.589-08:00Millport Landing in NY to sell The Devil's Pipeline<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> M</span>ILLPORT, NY</b> - <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MillportLanding/">Millport Landing</a>, an art gallery, coffee shop and artisan display area will have copies of <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1730975070/">The Devil's Pipeline</a></i> available for purchase in the next week.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiixmTafxxgOYrUQuIrpQCRYQZQsTAGE4DuO61s5CFA7nj927v8rEUcWFVgS0te-RNo1nhLi_8sTORXJbIgdsoH2y6pmjpGxncNsv8C5ZZM7sG7DuPKC8efiWUQJKqPHyto54AseAsVw0V/s1600/devil2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="718" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiixmTafxxgOYrUQuIrpQCRYQZQsTAGE4DuO61s5CFA7nj927v8rEUcWFVgS0te-RNo1nhLi_8sTORXJbIgdsoH2y6pmjpGxncNsv8C5ZZM7sG7DuPKC8efiWUQJKqPHyto54AseAsVw0V/s200/devil2.jpg" width="132" /></a> The Landing is adjacent to the famous Catherine Creek and joins <a href="https://hectorwinecompany.com/">The Hector Wine Company</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/RastaRanchVineyards/">Rasta Ranch Vineyards</a>, <a href="https://foxrunvineyards.com/">Fox Run Vineyards</a> and the <a href="https://www.fltimes.com/">Finger Lakes Times</a> as outlets for the book.<br />
"There is some irony - good irony - in having a Millport sales point for the book," author Michael J. Fitzgerald said.<br />
"In the first book in the Jack Stafford series, <i>The Fracking War</i>, Jack gets a speeding ticket driving through Millport," Fitzgerald said. "Lots of Finger Lakes readers told me they have had the same thing happen."<br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">C</span>redit for finding</b> Millport Landing as a place to sell the third book in series goes to Yvonne Taylor of the <a href="https://senecalakeguardian.org/">Seneca Lake Guardian</a> & <a href="https://gasfreeseneca.com/">Gas Free Seneca</a>.<br />
The fourth book in the series, tentatively titled <i>The Wolverine Rebellion</i> is being drafted.<br />
"The reviews have started coming in to me - via email," Fitzgerald said. "I encourage everyone who has read <i>The Devil's Pipeline</i> to also put their remarks up on Amazon.com."<br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">T</span>he review link</b> can be found here: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/review/create-review/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_wr_but_top?ie=UTF8&channel=glance-detail&asin=1730975070">REVIEW</a>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Millport Landing - overlooking Catherine Creek</i></b></td></tr>
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<br />Michael J. Fitzgeraldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09840859418177870381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6794313398684486836.post-20976119813482821342019-02-22T10:15:00.000-08:002019-02-22T10:17:46.583-08:00Thumbs-up review published of 'The Devil's Pipeline'<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpkv8FUPjwkBMBREVqSxPlLdbyJdexrBBLZ_yBgZDNntAJ5u3zmNbP-z2RzIjOcjTlLkHi9B-T3-rVtUTHI4L7w22nR1bKqu3xn8qEIMuPZgMoRoVVFwRJF-lO4a5B6uuooP546_gT6fnh/s1600/devil2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="718" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpkv8FUPjwkBMBREVqSxPlLdbyJdexrBBLZ_yBgZDNntAJ5u3zmNbP-z2RzIjOcjTlLkHi9B-T3-rVtUTHI4L7w22nR1bKqu3xn8qEIMuPZgMoRoVVFwRJF-lO4a5B6uuooP546_gT6fnh/s200/devil2.jpg" width="132" /></a><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> G</span>ENEVA, New York</b> - <i>The Devil's Pipeline</i> got a solid thumbs-up review today in the A section of the Geneva, NY <i>Finger Lakes Times</i> newspaper.<br />
On <i>page 2</i> - not buried in the classified section.<br />
In a review headlined,<i>"Fitzgerald's 3rd book a 'devil' of a good read,"</i> staff writer David Shaw said ..."This book is a page turner. Fitzgerald uses humor in the right places to make what could be a very dark story a fun read."<br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">T</span>he review includes</b> a sidebar story in which Fitzgerald talks about what led him to write <i>The Devil's Pipeline</i> and hints at what the next book in the Jack Stafford series of novels will bring.<br />
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<br />Michael J. Fitzgeraldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09840859418177870381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6794313398684486836.post-27390179531699502642019-02-14T13:47:00.000-08:002019-02-14T14:03:30.887-08:00'The Devil's Pipeline' SF book launch a success<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> S</span></b>AN FRANCISCO - A book launch party at Book Passage in the city - organized by<a href="https://www.bookpassage.com/left-coast-writers"> Left Coast Writers</a> - went off without a hitch Monday evening.<br />
About 20 people came to the Ferry Building bookstore to hear Michael J. Fitzgerald talk about his three eco-thriller novels, with the main focus on the newest, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Devils-Pipeline-Michael-J-Fitzgerald/dp/1730975070/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1550179736&sr=8-2&keywords=the+devil%27s+pipeline">The Devil's Pipeline</a></i>.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc5D6YlucRpvS-7Eu4t8btXWbH7_Xt9N1pW8h8qBHnnu_UrzQgHkJUiyzwg0ip7jhPwQRz17iZpLhcTYNYuFcTio25pStihVBhDbm8DobRdN2niS_1SMPOyEbvl3J0_6IIYVIsYKcbOXUD/s1600/IMG_3564+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc5D6YlucRpvS-7Eu4t8btXWbH7_Xt9N1pW8h8qBHnnu_UrzQgHkJUiyzwg0ip7jhPwQRz17iZpLhcTYNYuFcTio25pStihVBhDbm8DobRdN2niS_1SMPOyEbvl3J0_6IIYVIsYKcbOXUD/s400/IMG_3564+2.jpg" width="400" /></a> "It was a pretty lively group all asking good questions," Fitzgerald said.<br />
As part of his comments, Fitzgerald explained the link among <i>The Devil's Pipeline</i> and its two predecessor novels, <i>The Fracking War </i>(2014) and <i>Fracking Justice </i>(2015). All three focus on threats to the environment posed by misdeeds and ruthless policies of corporate energy conglomerates.<br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">T</span>hey also all chronicle</b> the crusading journalism of a newspaper and citizen activists trying to defend their communities.<br />
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"The next book is going to have a corporate energy connection," Fitzgerald said. "But it will also be looking at the increasing threats to civil liberties faced in the U.S. There are plenty."<br />
The tentative title of the next novel is <i>The Wolverine Rebellion</i>.<br />
The Book Passage event was the second book launch since <i>The Devil's Pipeline </i>was published at the end of November 2018. The first was a local <a href="https://michaeljfitzgerald.blogspot.com/2018/12/launch-party-for-devils-pipeline-was.html">Point Richmond gathering</a> in December at Kaleidoscope Coffee.<br />
"I'm hoping to do a couple of book events in upstate NY - or even Pennsylvania - where the first two novels are set," Fitzgerald said. 'We won't call them book launches. They will be plain old book parties."<br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Devils-Pipeline-Michael-J-Fitzgerald/dp/1730975070/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1550179736&sr=8-2&keywords=the+devil%27s+pipeline"><span style="font-size: x-large;">T</span>he Devil's Pipeline</a></i></b> is available through Amazon.com, at Book Passage bookstores, in select locations in the Finger Lakes, NY region - and directly from the author here: <a href="mailto:frackingjustice@gmail.com">MICHAEL J FITZGERALD</a>.<br />
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<br />Michael J. Fitzgeraldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09840859418177870381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6794313398684486836.post-3618837010362902792019-02-08T10:10:00.002-08:002019-02-14T14:03:13.132-08:00Author interview posted - book launch Monday in SF<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> P</span>OINT RICHMOND</b> - A New York radio interview with the author of <i>The Devil's Pipeline</i> done in late January is now available to listen to <a href="http://www.savorlife.com/soundfiles/travel/19T/1901T/t190119MichaelFitzgerald.mp3">online</a>.<br />
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The half-hour conversation with radio talk show host Michael Warren Thomas of station <a href="http://www.savorlife.com/">WYSL (1040 AM)</a> in Rochester, New York covered Fitzgerald's latest novel but also touched on the novelist's two earlier works, <i>The Fracking War</i> and <i>Fracking Justice</i>.</div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Devils-Pipeline-Michael-J-Fitzgerald/dp/1730975070/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1549648625&sr=8-2&keywords=the+devil%27s+pipeline" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="718" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLmiU3BctRkh1ySR5GYCJ4h2CTFmbTD1KN6lDHP1O7w5vXMZMm9zAuE8vi7IPNkkX9hp64mDCpf__G7jLV0a7adT0pHH5NFv4Neha3hDSFrS-eGPId9EF1ufbqtfa7-tARHSV1_lRf0f7c/s400/devil2.jpg" width="265" /></a> Michael Warren Thomas hosts four programs each Saturday. Fitzgerald's interview was on <i><a href="http://www.savorlife.com/main_travel.htm">Discover The Finger Lakes </a></i>which focuses on events and people the Finger Lakes region. This was Fitzgerald's fourth appearance on the program.<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">I</span>n the interview</b> Thomas noted how Fitzgerald's fictional works reflect real-world, real-time events interspersed with the actions of the journalist characters, as well as cast of villains.<br />
Thomas also asked about the current anti-press climate being pushed by President Donald Trump in which he labels the press "the enemy of the people."<br />
Fitzgerald noted that Trump's barrage has been damaging. But Fitzgerald said he is equally concerned about how much the decline of newspapers and journalism - particularly in small towns - continues to be devastating to civic life.<br />
"People need a source of information that they trust," he said.<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">T</span>he full interview</b> can be heard here: <a href="http://www.savorlife.com/soundfiles/travel/19T/1901T/t190119MichaelFitzgerald.mp3">MWT interview with Michael Fitzgerald.</a><br />
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<h3 style="text-align: center;">
Book Launch Monday at Book Passage in SF</h3>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b>Michael J. Fitzgerald</b></i></td></tr>
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<b> <span style="font-size: x-large;"> S</span>an Francisco</b> - <i>The Devil's Pipeline</i> and its two predecessor novels, <i>The Fracking War</i> and <i>Fracking Justice</i> will be featured Monday at 6 p.m. at Book Passage in San Francisco's Ferry Building on the Embarcadero.<br />
The event is an official book launch party of Left Coast Writers and is open to the public.<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">T</span>he Book Passage event </b>will include a talk by Fitzgerald, a question-and-answer session with the audience and a book signing.<br />
Copies of<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Devils-Pipeline-Michael-J-Fitzgerald/dp/1730975070/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1549648625&sr=8-2&keywords=the+devil%27s+pipeline"> </a><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Devils-Pipeline-Michael-J-Fitzgerald/dp/1730975070/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1549648625&sr=8-2&keywords=the+devil%27s+pipeline">The Devil's Pipeline</a> </i>will be available for purchase at the bookstore.<br />
The latest novel has drawn praise from three Bay Area writers, Rita Gardner (author of <i>The Coconut Latitudes</i>), Steve Early (<i>Refinery Town</i> and <i>The Remaking of an American City</i>) and Elizabeth Claman (<i>The Prodigal Wife </i>and other novels).<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">"F</span>itzgerald's third novel </b>might be his best," Claman said.<br />
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<br />Michael J. Fitzgeraldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09840859418177870381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6794313398684486836.post-72443955655360759302019-01-25T10:26:00.001-08:002019-01-25T13:35:50.533-08:00The Devil's Pipeline distributed in the Finger Lakes<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYmtUY_CwGxK6k1Gi_E8NgzToZVhIeY_vWiBZwUAnw3HZwUF_fbGrxnVboluYYFMHy0petW7-JPyYFtT3i8eqqIeEQv32XwTD_0x5reJeMRIXGdLK70ohjGXU4UOP2jx_AwxMOe4l1noLv/s1600/devil2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="718" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYmtUY_CwGxK6k1Gi_E8NgzToZVhIeY_vWiBZwUAnw3HZwUF_fbGrxnVboluYYFMHy0petW7-JPyYFtT3i8eqqIeEQv32XwTD_0x5reJeMRIXGdLK70ohjGXU4UOP2jx_AwxMOe4l1noLv/s200/devil2.jpg" width="132" /></a><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> H</span>ECTOR, NY</b> - Three locations in the Finger Lakes now have copies of <i>The Devil's Pipeline</i> for sale: the <i><a href="https://www.fltimes.com/">Finger Lakes Times</a></i> (in Geneva), the <a href="https://www.hectorwinecompany.com/index.html">Hector Wine Company</a> (in Hector, of course!) and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/RastaRanchVineyards/">Rasta Ranch Vineyards</a> (also a fine Hector wine stop and cultural experience).<br />
The three received their first shipments of the novel this week.<br />
Several other area wineries currently selling <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fracking-War-Michael-J-Fitzgerald/dp/1626527067/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1548439780&sr=8-1&keywords=the+fracking+war">The Fracking War</a></i> and <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fracking-Justice-author-War/dp/1634135555/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1548439832&sr=8-1">Fracking Justice</a></i> will likely have copies in coming weeks, too, including <a href="https://foxrunvineyards.com/">Fox Run Vineyards</a> in Penn Yan.<br />
I'm looking for vendors in Watkins Glen, Rochester and Syracuse. If you know anyone who <i>happens</i> to own a bookstore or shop that might want to carry a few copies of the new novel, please let me know.<br />
The book is also available via online sources - or directly from me if you want an inscribed copy or to send a gift copy.<br />
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
Time to write a review of <i>The Devil's Pipeline</i>?</h3>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">T</span>he early reviews</b> for the novel have been very good and I hope that in the next week or so the compliments I've been getting via email will make their way to be posted on Amazon.com.<br />
Three local readers in California told me they think this novel is the best of the three and asked if there is a movie in the works.<br />
Be still my heart! I hope some screenwriter/producer/film mogul picks up a copy of the book and thinks the same thing.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgypb4J5T056SAJhdW4-OaVFVlsVtVuNzgaVttWCtlPc2yShe1S3fAIdTJdz35Ew8uk8WvS7yDbORXIzzrBUS71s1X2jnXNLWkuKR3BbMJbyenLlSwSKIS6ky_9jqB0ElCOPVDxsZ9EuYgr/s1600/parrot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="479" data-original-width="600" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgypb4J5T056SAJhdW4-OaVFVlsVtVuNzgaVttWCtlPc2yShe1S3fAIdTJdz35Ew8uk8WvS7yDbORXIzzrBUS71s1X2jnXNLWkuKR3BbMJbyenLlSwSKIS6ky_9jqB0ElCOPVDxsZ9EuYgr/s200/parrot.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b>A parrot is always helpful to writers</b></i></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">I</span>f you have finished</b> reading <i>The Devil's Pipeline </i>- and are willing to post a review on Amazon - here is the direct link: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/review/create-review/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_wr_but_top?ie=UTF8&channel=glance-detail&asin=1730975070">AMAZON REVIEW</a>.<br />
Thank you in advance for taking the time to scribble a few lines.<br />
And now it's time to get back to the draft of <i>The Wolverine Rebellion</i>.<br />
<br />
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<br />Michael J. Fitzgeraldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09840859418177870381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6794313398684486836.post-17459547919026301902019-01-23T10:03:00.001-08:002019-01-23T12:48:52.401-08:00'The Devil's Pipeline' book launch Feb. 11 in SF<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> S</span>AN FRANCISCO</b> - <i>The Devil's Pipeline</i> (2018) and its two predecessor novels, <i>The Fracking Wa</i>r (2014) and <i>Fracking Justice</i> (2015) will be featured Monday, Feb. 11 starting at 6 p.m. at Book Passage in San Francisco's Ferry Building.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitlXgeH-dr2hvjT6GYlEmZUhIIiGKucUe1ZHMu9zz435etHSsH7aRG0Cpt65sY_Fb3zKUmnkztWo4DO8reL10bOu2BxEmt-StUiJfhpfjkHxa5jkG79fBZRkIAZwFM6UpaZOCtxiCERaff/s1600/1Michael+Fitzgerald+mug+shot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="602" data-original-width="480" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitlXgeH-dr2hvjT6GYlEmZUhIIiGKucUe1ZHMu9zz435etHSsH7aRG0Cpt65sY_Fb3zKUmnkztWo4DO8reL10bOu2BxEmt-StUiJfhpfjkHxa5jkG79fBZRkIAZwFM6UpaZOCtxiCERaff/s200/1Michael+Fitzgerald+mug+shot.jpg" width="160" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Michael J. Fitzgerald</i></b></td></tr>
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"The event is officially a book launch for <i>The Devil's Pipeline</i>," author Michael J. Fitzgerald said. "But as it completes the trilogy, I'll be talking about how the other two novels uncovered environmental and social horrors, too."<br />
The event is an official book party of Left Coast Writers and is open to the public.<br />
All three eco-thriller novels chronicle the work of crusading journalists who battle against powerful energy corporations.<br />
In <i>The Devil's Pipeline</i> a mega-energy conglomerate collides with a pacifist Iowa farm community housing a family that witnessed the Kent State University massacre in 1970. The company wants to push a pipeline directly through the farm. The community stands firm against it.<br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">T</span>he first set of reviews</b> have given the novel high marks.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkBx8OdbroJN4WsxrdGdKzsx2bKxhzopRcn5FuifTlgAf7YZ_epBKcq_CJRG31GwUB6Lqjqmc7drgQXNtzPhG-ff8IE6LCsytIh-wem9f8vDAtNEkS87NPqO1xKjUDfNMVEgN-g-_SY8Cy/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-01-23+at+9.42.03+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="584" data-original-width="436" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkBx8OdbroJN4WsxrdGdKzsx2bKxhzopRcn5FuifTlgAf7YZ_epBKcq_CJRG31GwUB6Lqjqmc7drgQXNtzPhG-ff8IE6LCsytIh-wem9f8vDAtNEkS87NPqO1xKjUDfNMVEgN-g-_SY8Cy/s200/Screen+Shot+2019-01-23+at+9.42.03+AM.png" width="148" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Rita Gardner</i></b></td></tr>
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"<i>The Devil''s Pipeline</i> is a page-turning eco-thriller," Rita Gardner, author of <i>The Coconut Latitudes</i> said. "It is a cautionary tale about unbridled corporate greed and those who battle against our earth's devastation."<br />
Labor activist and author Steve Early (<i>Refinery Town</i> and the <i>Remaking of an American City</i>) said the book takes readers to the front lines of environmental action. "Fitzgerald's novel may be fiction, but the conflict between big energy companies and grassroots defenders of land, water and a livable planet is very real," Early said.<br />
"Fitzgerald's third novel might be his best," writes Elizabeth Claman, author of <i>The</i> <i>Prodigal Wife</i> and other novels.<br />
The Book Passage event will include a talk by Fitzgerald, a question-and-answer session with the audience and a book signing.<br />
Copies of <i>The Devil's Pipeline</i> will be available for purchase at the bookstore.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbww_fybCQZfGh3GB2gFMpNPnGxRUASR-mOcwbfWnax7NeoM198xJ6yAJYi_vAWbIUiQNKOAZ0Hrb7YMxSlAmpqwjxzT1v3DJThb0KsjVz1gDhs94lngFCXEmwi2xklAzGj171Alofa3y_/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-01-23+at+9.45.13+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="904" data-original-width="620" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbww_fybCQZfGh3GB2gFMpNPnGxRUASR-mOcwbfWnax7NeoM198xJ6yAJYi_vAWbIUiQNKOAZ0Hrb7YMxSlAmpqwjxzT1v3DJThb0KsjVz1gDhs94lngFCXEmwi2xklAzGj171Alofa3y_/s200/Screen+Shot+2019-01-23+at+9.45.13+AM.png" width="137" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Bill McKibben</i></b></td></tr>
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<b> <span style="font-size: x-large;">F</span>itzgerald's first novel, </b><i>The Fracking Wa</i>r, drew praise from noted environmentalists Bill McKibben and Sandra Steingraber.<br />
"If you've thought the debate over energy policy was a tad dry, this novel might change your mind," McKibben said. "God hopes it never comes to this!"<br />
In comments about the novel, Steingraber compared the novel to other novels that influenced public opinion.<br />
"It was <i>Uncle Tom's Cabin</i>, not economic date, that turned the page on slavery," she said. It was <i>The Grapes of Wrath</i>, not demographic reports that opened the nation's eyes to Dust Bowl dislocation. Out of that tradition comes Michael J. Fitzgerald's <i>The Fracking War</i>. Here within a smoldering crucible of social crisis, is a tale of power, money, fateful choice and conscience aroused."<br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">F</span>ilmmaker Josh Fox (<i>Gasland</i> & <i>Gasland</i> <i>II</i>) </b>thought <i>Fracking Justice </i>captured the swirling political and social morass created by hydrofracking and its proponents.<br />
"It may be fiction but it shows how the fossil fuel industry is fracturing not only our land but our communities," Fox said.<br />
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<br />Michael J. Fitzgeraldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09840859418177870381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6794313398684486836.post-78688862407839518532018-12-19T13:44:00.001-08:002018-12-19T13:46:08.789-08:00Launch party for 'The Devil's Pipeline' was a success<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> P</span>OINT RICHMOND</b> - Saturday's launch party to celebrate the publishing of<i> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Devils-Pipeline-Michael-J-Fitzgerald/dp/1730975070/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1545255775&sr=8-1&keywords=the+devil%27s+pipeline">The Devil's Pipeline</a> </i>was a success all around.<br />
About 60 people attended, filling Kaleidoscope Coffee nicely.<br />
The author managed to mangle only a few sentences in his speech.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPSSVZY6t5SYgnU21OvABE3SAO60ABuqA0xU-TZCeY6KoqnTo1gx9YiqJI3pFGdCaHaQIAZ9f6V8gU_FRd7tZbXhvHOxsNpOU-hyWAX0wts4qmsua9NZbzvuZh_Af5jk2pNimKOanWtQXy/s1600/IMG_3290+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="958" data-original-width="1600" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPSSVZY6t5SYgnU21OvABE3SAO60ABuqA0xU-TZCeY6KoqnTo1gx9YiqJI3pFGdCaHaQIAZ9f6V8gU_FRd7tZbXhvHOxsNpOU-hyWAX0wts4qmsua9NZbzvuZh_Af5jk2pNimKOanWtQXy/s320/IMG_3290+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>With Beverly and Don Gerth</i></b></td></tr>
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And the audience asked some <i>great</i> questions, the answers to which will be incorporated into the next launch party, Feb. 11, 2019 at 6 p.m. at Book Passage in San Francisco at the Ferry Terminal.<br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">A</span>long with an amazing turnout </b>of local friends and supporters was the former president of California State University, Sacramento Donald Gerth and his wife Bev. Two former students of the author came also - Jennifer Noble and Jennifer Maldonado.<br />
Both women were student editors with the campus-based<i> State Hornet</i> newspaper while the author was faculty adviser to the publication and a professor in the Journalism Department at Sacramento State.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAX6aWBNiyWxClLgHONwnG0tHKRUiebMD4UuXAbc1wBr2DC2ovlaclQ3GsfzK-K_0HhJrknHB6wSEUc_pZNQD3LLkPsLyOSDctdbCvv5vA9DpQ_w5koSWgcM9bdlpusVYWnFPbRPDT-cXL/s1600/IMG_3302+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="919" data-original-width="1600" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAX6aWBNiyWxClLgHONwnG0tHKRUiebMD4UuXAbc1wBr2DC2ovlaclQ3GsfzK-K_0HhJrknHB6wSEUc_pZNQD3LLkPsLyOSDctdbCvv5vA9DpQ_w5koSWgcM9bdlpusVYWnFPbRPDT-cXL/s320/IMG_3302+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b>With Jennifer Noble (left) and Jennifer Maldonado</b></i></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> I</span>n the author's presentation</b> some details about the next novel in Jack Stafford series (<u>tentatively</u> titled <i>The Wolverine Rebellion</i>) trickled out.<br />
<i> • The next book will continue the tradition of </i>The Fracking War, Fracking Justice <i>and</i> The Devil's Pipeline<i> by having a strong environmental emphasis.</i><br />
<i> • The ongoing assault on civil liberties in the U.S. (and potential ones) will be a major part of the plotline.</i><br />
<i> • The first section in the book is tentatively titled "Assembly," a nod to freedom of assembly, one of the pivotal elements in the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Devils-Pipeline-Michael-J-Fitzgerald/dp/1730975070/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1545255775&sr=8-1&keywords=the+devil%27s+pipeline">T</a></span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Devils-Pipeline-Michael-J-Fitzgerald/dp/1730975070/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1545255775&sr=8-1&keywords=the+devil%27s+pipeline">he Devil's Pipeline</a></b> is currently available for purchase in paperback and e-book formats via Amazon.com and other online retailers. A signed copy can also be ordered directly by sending an email to the author at <a href="mailto:frackingjustice@gmail.com">frackingjustice@gmail.com</a>.<br />
In the spring the book will become available for purchase at select bookstores and other locations.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY0QyGk_ImqiEL6i1rfWog2iHl61oEbGqqgQT3ClYqzLTlSDgShqovAflQWgf7EqIOtXUupBDx_fod3qDgOhOEQCHaUBlp3RrEB7K9CucxKyPeL77rmlgRh0YWlRxVCzXWF3Apk8iBf_Be/s1600/IMG_3272.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="935" data-original-width="1600" height="372" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY0QyGk_ImqiEL6i1rfWog2iHl61oEbGqqgQT3ClYqzLTlSDgShqovAflQWgf7EqIOtXUupBDx_fod3qDgOhOEQCHaUBlp3RrEB7K9CucxKyPeL77rmlgRh0YWlRxVCzXWF3Apk8iBf_Be/s640/IMG_3272.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b>On stage Saturday afternoon at Kaleidoscope Coffee in Point Richmond</b></i></td></tr>
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<br />Michael J. Fitzgeraldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09840859418177870381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6794313398684486836.post-70133783908355708572018-11-30T10:21:00.001-08:002018-11-30T11:11:40.038-08:00E-book version of 'The Devil's Pipeline' uploaded<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizJEafUIaBxz3X5IrPZGeMCja2MMr-7UbCbJ9GJcZ9rmCL9IdA6Jezh8OxtTIWzgMSEMQBEdohBFlw4hEDWG7dzx826QR-n6-sguF5OZjYA8nyzSOPGX0SfAhYuhHwhasJ-uSWPvW6ItHr/s1600/titan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="389" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizJEafUIaBxz3X5IrPZGeMCja2MMr-7UbCbJ9GJcZ9rmCL9IdA6Jezh8OxtTIWzgMSEMQBEdohBFlw4hEDWG7dzx826QR-n6-sguF5OZjYA8nyzSOPGX0SfAhYuhHwhasJ-uSWPvW6ItHr/s200/titan.jpg" width="132" /></a><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> P</span>OINT RICHMOND, Calif.</b> - The electronic version of <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07L18FLXT/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1543604423&sr=8-2&keywords=the+devil%27s+pipeline">The Devil's Pipeline</a></i> was uploaded into the chronosynclastic infundibulum this morning.<br />
If <i>chronosynclastic infundibulum </i>is wildly obscure, a re-reading of the late Kurt Vonnegut's 1959 novel <i>The Sirens of Titan </i>might clear it up. It's one of Vonnegut's best novels.<br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">T</span>he shorthand definition</b> is to say that the novel was uploaded to Amazon, Apple Books, Kobo, Nook and a dozen electronic reader formats through a company called Draft2Digital as well as Kindle Direct, the Amazon e-book publishing system.<br />
Same book, same characters, just available now on your iPad, iPhone, iGuess, Kindle reader or, I suppose, your Apple watch.<br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">E</span>ven though <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07L18FLXT/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1543604423&sr=8-2&keywords=the+devil%27s+pipeline">the book</a></b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07L18FLXT/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1543604423&sr=8-2&keywords=the+devil%27s+pipeline"> </a>was sent to into the ether, it may take a day or two - because of the holidays - for it to show up in all the e-formats.<br />
In the meantime, the book launch party is on for Kaleidoscope Coffee in Point Richmond for Saturday, Dec. 15 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Everyone's invited...<br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">K</span>aleidoscope has excellent</b> coffee, tea, snacks - and wine. What kind of book launch would it be without wine?<br />
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<br />Michael J. Fitzgeraldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09840859418177870381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6794313398684486836.post-14228438639840336422018-11-25T11:43:00.002-08:002018-11-26T08:56:24.710-08:00'The Devil's Pipeline' published and ready to read<div style="text-align: right;">
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<b style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"> P</span>OINT RICHMOND, Calif.</b><b> -</b> <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Devils-Pipeline-Michael-J-Fitzgerald/dp/1730975070/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543172752&sr=8-1&keywords=the+devil%27s+pipeline">The Devil's Pipeline </a></i>made its print-version debut Saturday and is available via <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Devils-Pipeline-Michael-J-Fitzgerald/dp/1730975070/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543174088&sr=8-1&keywords=the+devil%27s+pipeline">Amazon</a>.com.</div>
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The E-Book (in Kindle, Apple Books and all those <i>other</i> electronic book formats) should be available in a few days.</div>
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The final sprint to publication came during several weeks of amazing feats of computer magic performed by Adm. Sylvia Fox. That magic was punctuated occasionally by muttered incantations directed at her computer screen.</div>
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But in the end, the final book product looks (and I hope <i>reads</i>) great. You can read a sample on the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Devils-Pipeline-Michael-J-Fitzgerald/dp/1730975070/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543174088&sr=8-1&keywords=the+devil%27s+pipeline">Amazon page</a>.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">T</span>he official "launch party"</b> will be Saturday, Dec. 15 from 2-4 p.m. at <a href="http://kaleidoscopecoffee.com/">Kaleidoscope Coffee</a> in Point Richmond, Calif.</div>
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Everyone is invited to this <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/1986393418108952/">celebration/soiree</a>.</div>
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The publication of the novel ends more than two years of on-again, off-again writing, editing, beta reader reviews, proofreading and manuscript back and forth with two different commercial publishers.</div>
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In the end, Adm, Fox and I used an Amazon publishing platform (for the print version) and a separate electronic system for the E-book (the same one we used for the E-book of <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fracking-Justice-author-War/dp/1634135555">Fracking Justice</a></i>). I'm pleased with both.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">P</span>lease come</b> to the Kaleidoscope event if you possibly can. It's going to be a great party. You can ask me <i>there</i> when the audiobook is coming out...</div>
<br />Michael J. Fitzgeraldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09840859418177870381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6794313398684486836.post-47380126693742575382018-10-09T15:09:00.001-07:002018-10-09T15:19:43.531-07:00'The Devil's Pipeline' on track for fall publication<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> P</span>OINT RICHMOND, Calif.</b> - How many times have I written this headline before?<br />
Don't go back and look. It would be too embarrassing. This novel has been a see-saw battle both internally for the author and externally.<br />
But this time I can say with certainty publication is imminent. The book only needs a few pieces to fall into place before - Voila! - <i>The Devil's Pipeline</i> should become available in e-book and print.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>There's a Devil in there somewhere</i></b></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> S</span>ome of those pieces</b> rest on my shoulders - the writing of acknowledgements, a preface and dedications, along with a number of other similar details.<br />
Getting the book into <i>actual</i> production is being handled ably by Adm. Sylvia Fox, whose patience is far greater than mine.<br />
One big piece remaining is the cover design. It was to be done by the same artist who did <i>Fracking Justice</i>.<br />
But her schedule became overloaded just as I needed the cover to complete the project.<br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> B</span>ut in a week</b> or so I hope to meet with a Northern California artist of considerable fame to see if she is willing to take it on.<br />
Thanks for your patience. There's a <i>Pipeline</i> headed your way.Michael J. Fitzgeraldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09840859418177870381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6794313398684486836.post-65620710795381637932018-03-28T13:47:00.002-07:002018-03-28T16:07:02.944-07:00'The Devil's Pipeline' edging towards completion<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> P</span>OINT RICHMOND</b> - Pipelines take time to build. So do novels involving pipelines, energy companies, thuggish crime, environmental disasters and the haunting history of the Kent State massacre.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO3aSuoYLh-OJjfEfPwlB5rXC8ruVxQIw6dM3eYao94Ojudc9CN_Akpp2oGQGaUlSRjHDobEArNLBlxCP7r-HHnIj0Oc0BSNECRrN9EBvAxxJhdkz3zJZvJQeS8NIROXVq93TDb5OHmpJ4/s1600/fire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="960" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO3aSuoYLh-OJjfEfPwlB5rXC8ruVxQIw6dM3eYao94Ojudc9CN_Akpp2oGQGaUlSRjHDobEArNLBlxCP7r-HHnIj0Oc0BSNECRrN9EBvAxxJhdkz3zJZvJQeS8NIROXVq93TDb5OHmpJ4/s400/fire.jpg" width="400" /></a> But today, Draft Vers. 2.0 of <i>The Devil's Pipeline</i> is in the capable custody of one more beta reader in California - accomplished novelist, poet and non-fiction book author, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Elizabeth-Claman/e/B003XFJSJ8">Elizabeth Claman</a> of Atchison Village, who lives just a few miles from where this is being written.<br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> T</span>his draft 2.0 version has already</b> had a thorough sifting and suggestions for changes by my good friend and editor <i>extraordinaire</i> Wrexie Bardaglio.<br />
Wrexie caught several plot flaws, an embarrassing number of typos and schooled me on some Native American references and facts, all of which makes 2.0 much stronger.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDoAKtA1a8FXcHNVbwIa-iZSE3GbMruaKQIIHsXrgIIjR-sKD6VDOFbYtyI5U8YGyQ6QtVbwWmQH0IkB3xom7LQlFZhqbtW9ZIW71wmtojZG7l1kF2YKsB1zCUPbHZhRZG1X_BSGoJ5OSm/s1600/Wolverine.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="443" data-original-width="515" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDoAKtA1a8FXcHNVbwIa-iZSE3GbMruaKQIIHsXrgIIjR-sKD6VDOFbYtyI5U8YGyQ6QtVbwWmQH0IkB3xom7LQlFZhqbtW9ZIW71wmtojZG7l1kF2YKsB1zCUPbHZhRZG1X_BSGoJ5OSm/s200/Wolverine.jpeg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Wolverines!</i></b></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">A</span>t some point </b>in the next few weeks - depending on the verdict from Elizabeth (and needed editing is completed) - a Vers. 3.0 will go to the Los Angeles publishing house that asked for a second look at the draft.<br />
And when that happens, the in-process draft of <i>The Wolverine Rebellion</i> will move back onto the front writing burner, just in time for spring, when wolverines tend to get <i>really</i> active.<br />
<br />Michael J. Fitzgeraldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09840859418177870381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6794313398684486836.post-54111024456664292682018-01-12T11:40:00.001-08:002018-01-12T12:02:04.938-08:00'Fracking War' presentations - and video - in Nov.<b> <span style="font-size: x-large;">S</span>ACRAMENTO</b> - November was a busy month with presentations in Sacramento and San Francisco. December was busy, too - for different reasons, which is why it's <u><i>already</i></u> 2018 before this report made it out.<br />
In Sacramento, I gave a talk at the Friends of the Library at California State University, Sacramento, the university where I spent several decades teaching journalism.<br />
In San Francisco, it was a <i>lively</i> panel discussion with three other writers at the Howard Zinn Book Faire.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS65qHAgsGQsZ9k2CcZd7MNbSquOpq4RE8trdAr40Z7VRIQsIGpK-4frZ_-tTO3hGpf59R9mYrdnnRKExADLfD6qu3t2gAizYJav7jlYLyFLhs3ZxvCVv4oNxt4hGxPb5IWf-AFEtnBQL7/s1600/IMG_6994.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS65qHAgsGQsZ9k2CcZd7MNbSquOpq4RE8trdAr40Z7VRIQsIGpK-4frZ_-tTO3hGpf59R9mYrdnnRKExADLfD6qu3t2gAizYJav7jlYLyFLhs3ZxvCVv4oNxt4hGxPb5IWf-AFEtnBQL7/s400/IMG_6994.jpg" width="300" /></a> <b><span style="font-size: x-large;">T</span>he Sacramento event</b> was a real homecoming for me.<br />
The library gallery speaking venue was full. The audience included students, former colleagues and even retired CSUS President Donald R. Gerth and his wife Beverly.<br />
My introduction was given by longtime amigo, retired Journalism Professor Bill Dorman. Bill helped engineer my appearance and shepherded me through the day - a luncheon, the talk and a cocktail/reception at the home of retired Government Professor Jean Torcom.<br />
In the talk I took a different tack than previous presentations. I stayed away from reciting the horrors of hydrofracking and focused on the novel-writing process. The feedback at the talk and the reception after let me know it was the right move for the university audience.<br />
A video of the talk is at the bottom of this column.<br />
Included were references to <i>The Devil's Pipeline </i>(set to go to an LA publisher this week for a second look) and <i>The Wolverine Rebellion</i>, the characters of which are getting <b><i>extremely</i></b> restless for my attention to get that plot moving again.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>(L-R: Liz Carlisle, Steve Masover, Michael Fitzgerald)</i></b></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">
T</span>he San Francisco event</b> was a panel discussion titled "Narrating the Anthropocene: Storytelling to Rouse Communities Grappling with Planetary Crisis," organized and chaired by San Francisco novelist Steve Masover, author of <a href="http://www.stevemasover.net/consequence/">Consequence</a>.<br />
The other panel members were Liz Carlisle, author of <a href="http://lentilunderground.com/thebook/">The Lentil Underground: Renegade Farmers and the Future of Food in America</a> and Jean Tepperman, author of <a href="http://www.sunflower-alliance.org/warning-from-my-future-self/">Warning from My Future Self</a>.<br />
It was a lively panel discussion, with all of us talking about using fiction to effect social change.<br />
The panel was less than an hour - the panel-presentation equivalent of speed dating.<br />
But it was a lot of fun.<br />
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<br />Michael J. Fitzgeraldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09840859418177870381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6794313398684486836.post-57092005383461604092017-10-06T13:43:00.000-07:002017-10-06T14:13:56.762-07:00'The Wolverine Rebellion' draft crawls ahead<b> <span style="font-size: x-large;"> P</span>OINT RICHMOND, Calif. </b>- The draft of <i>The Wolverine Rebellion</i> is moving ahead slowly, kind of like a camo-clad guerrilla working his (or her!) way forward across a field to sneak up on an enemy.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5xCHXppch6_XyrDqclVM5SEqaB7MqdrUnxce_TQ-Tyh43u33vpuU0R4ilKHoSvT8v3qm1t0cWfKVD0gDsWXw_T7z5sa2rtvKn-z-liV2gcph64PcP24a-a9JSguZkiBQE0GhVWrnRR3RR/s1600/red+dawn+wolverine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="409" data-original-width="728" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5xCHXppch6_XyrDqclVM5SEqaB7MqdrUnxce_TQ-Tyh43u33vpuU0R4ilKHoSvT8v3qm1t0cWfKVD0gDsWXw_T7z5sa2rtvKn-z-liV2gcph64PcP24a-a9JSguZkiBQE0GhVWrnRR3RR/s320/red+dawn+wolverine.jpg" width="320" /></a> In this case, the draft is moving from concept to characterization and notion to narrative.<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">A</span>s in the case</b> of <i>The Fracking War, Fracking Justice, </i>and<i> The Devil's Pipeline</i> (<i>Pipeline</i> is currently at a publisher's office in Los Angeles awaiting word), <i>The Wolverine Rebellion</i> has many familiar characters from those books, plus new ones.<br />
And just as in those earlier novels, the characters are asserting themselves as their story - and it really is <i><u>their</u></i> story - moves along.<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">T</span>he one piece of the draft</b> that firmed up today (along with the already completed half-dozen chapters of <i>Assembly</i>) are the five section titles. All are <i>subject to change</i>, of course, depending on how the characters handle things.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Assembly</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">The Tynn Man</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Sins of the father</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">The Empire Strikes Back</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Tsunami Warning</span></b></div>
<br />Michael J. Fitzgeraldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09840859418177870381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6794313398684486836.post-17636949949897370612017-07-21T09:30:00.001-07:002017-07-21T09:30:17.802-07:00The next novel begins - 'The Wolverine Rebellion'<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> V</span>ALOIS, New York</b></span> - At what point does simple <i>resistance</i> - a very popular word right now in the Trump era - move to <i>rebellion</i>?<br />
That's one of many notions rattling around as the draft of a new novel (working title, <i>The Wolverine Rebellion</i>) takes shape.<br />
Readers of <i>The Fracking War</i> and <i>Fracking Justice</i> are familiar with who the Wolverines were in those novels.<br />
In <i>The Wolverine Rebellion</i> it appears they have risen again.<br />
Or have they?<br />
It's going to be some time before even <i><b>I</b></i> can answer that question.<br />
Watch here for updates...<br />
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<br />Michael J. Fitzgeraldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09840859418177870381noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6794313398684486836.post-1272011258383205622017-05-24T10:32:00.000-07:002017-05-24T10:42:25.892-07:00'The Devil's Pipeline' draft is in the editor's hands<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb8Ik21XoF_q2eBRuEmXk56gEh2Qu6OCqfdfpOx2tFrkdT7pfC1lNxdr0I4VRq4WZTG1l1rmSYUqfc017Lk-isyaIHx9VBJKqb_GTmQgtcxScG4H2Ow0inwTVVQBVUGqTfpX7ydT85e1Sy/s1600/draft+pix+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="516" data-original-width="710" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb8Ik21XoF_q2eBRuEmXk56gEh2Qu6OCqfdfpOx2tFrkdT7pfC1lNxdr0I4VRq4WZTG1l1rmSYUqfc017Lk-isyaIHx9VBJKqb_GTmQgtcxScG4H2Ow0inwTVVQBVUGqTfpX7ydT85e1Sy/s320/draft+pix+2.jpg" width="320" /></a><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">P</span>OINT RICHMOND, Calif. </b>- The first complete draft of the novel <i>The Devil's Pipeline</i> is in the capable hands of Admiral Fox, first reader and frontline editor extraordinaire.<br />
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The draft was completed in a flurry of writing Saturday, May 20. I was sick with an allergy/flu attack for nearly a week before that. But in a fevered state, the final chapters & twists became <i>sooooo</i> obvious, I couldn't believe I hadn't seen them before. Damn characters didn't want to reveal the secret until the very end.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"> T</span>he draft of the novel</b> came in a few thousand words heavier than planned. The goal was about 70,000 but ended up close to 73,000. Describing a catastrophic fire, a wild parking lot melee, sheriff's deputies firing weapons into a crowd, an Iowa courtroom in chaos - well, the final chapters took a few more phrases and verbs (Verbs!) than expected.<br />
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The chapter/section headings in the final draft are changed slightly from earlier drafts and published information here. And, of course, they might change again before<i> The Devil's Pipeline</i> actually flows into print and e-reader form.<br />
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But for <i>now</i> the section headers are:<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Iowa</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Welcome to Mars</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Drums along the Ogallala</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Wrongful deaths</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>The fire this time</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Epilog</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
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Michael J. Fitzgeraldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09840859418177870381noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6794313398684486836.post-44742357298102377912017-05-04T11:26:00.001-07:002017-05-04T11:26:20.088-07:00'Pipeline' draft thought lost - has been recovered<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> P</span>OINT RICHMOND, Calif.</b> - One of the most sickening moments <i>any</i> author can have - and I speak from recent experience - is losing a manuscript, or even a part of a work-in-progress.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlRO8pTGl72jpctBJnyyqEhvRKW0cMgAYoIbIEThmG2pDYbl6SP7SzSIPgUcs4MoxBS0ITRk2UsXLTqRnQBc70pUkwOlI8OcQVnA_Ik2E5VzEjYOUC30XQnDn3t-0IXBBUK5w1WPRS4eZy/s1600/jekyll-hyde4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlRO8pTGl72jpctBJnyyqEhvRKW0cMgAYoIbIEThmG2pDYbl6SP7SzSIPgUcs4MoxBS0ITRk2UsXLTqRnQBc70pUkwOlI8OcQVnA_Ik2E5VzEjYOUC30XQnDn3t-0IXBBUK5w1WPRS4eZy/s320/jekyll-hyde4.jpg" width="190" /></a> The annals of authorship are full of horror stories of such accidental - or purposeful - losses.<br />
One of my favorites is a particularly horrific tale, about an author's work of horror - Robert Louis Stevenson and his famous <i>Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde</i>.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><b><span style="font-size: large;">I</span>t seems the first draft</b> of the 30,000-word story was tossed in the fire (on purpose) by Stevenson's wife who deemed it <i>less-than memorable </i>and not worthy of publication. Ironically, a redraft, written feverishly by a very-ill Stevenson, went on to become one of his most famous works.<br />
And so it was early May 4 that the last 10,000 words of <i>The Devil's Pipeline</i> draft went missing. Not because Admiral Fox had taken a dislike to the draft - she hasn't seen anything except the first few chapters. It was thought lost due to a Microsoft Word glitch combined with author sloppiness in saving two-days work.<br />
Luckily, the latches on the windows of our four-story condo were firmly stuck this morning when the words went <i>walkabout</i> for an hour or so.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><b><span style="font-size: large;">A</span>fter searching backup copies</b>, the most recent draft surfaced. It seems in this author's haste to finish, the <i>most</i> recent backup copy was mislabelled <b><i><u>and</u></i></b> misfiled. It has since been backed up in two offline spots, with an entirely new naming system to avoid any more high-blood pressure episodes.<br />
Now the explosions, arrests, and courtroom dramas in the formerly missing 10,000 words back in play, all leading up to one last gasping surge of writing this week and into next.<br />
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<br />Michael J. Fitzgeraldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09840859418177870381noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6794313398684486836.post-84431979519289887472017-03-09T12:53:00.000-08:002017-03-09T12:54:51.560-08:00 'The Devil's Pipeline' resumes post election<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> P</span>OINT RICHMOND, Calif.</b> - The idea that characters <i>control</i> novels - and least my novels - has been written about before on this page. Several times, I think.<br />
So it's not that surprising that every time in recent weeks when I sat down to see what they were up to, they remained as elusive as copies of Donald Trump's income taxes.<br />
But today when I opened the draft of the novel <i>The Devil's Pipeline</i>, I had to referee a <i>near brawl</i> in progress<i> </i>among three characters (all newspaper editors).<br />
Tempers were flaring as the editors - one month <i><u>before</u></i> the November 2016 election that catapulted Trump into the White House - debated his chances of winning.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b>Photo of the May 4, 1970 Kent State shooting</b></i></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"> I</span>t all seems like such old news now</b>, of course.<br />
Sad.<br />
The characters' debate this morning got at the heart of how he slipped into office. The theory they came across (and were debating) doesn't bode well for future elections of presidents or anyone else in the nation for that matter.<br />
And it's a theory most people haven't heard yet. (No Russians involved, by the way.)<br />
That bit of skullduggery aside, the characters are still racing towards the novel's finish line tying up the loose ends of pipeline construction, corporate corruption, government malfeasance, law enforcement overreach (and brutality), a wrongful death lawsuit, and even the cause a <i>ghastly</i> fire.<br />
And, of course, then there is the Devil's Pipeline corporate connection to the 1970 shooting of students at Kent State.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"> I</span>f Jack Stafford, et al, continue to be cooperative</b>, <i>The Devil's Pipeline</i> will continue construction until the first draft is ready for editing sometime before I head east late this spring.<br />
Another piece of <i>in-process</i> writing, <i>The Pre-Trump, Interstate 80, Cross-Country Boogie</i>, is officially on the back burner - as of today - but ready for quick revival if the characters decide they need to slow down again.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZpJxgArjTri0KVRy4s8TTbf1zhAz26njaMsg_3kJv8YVidC5B7pyVsODh6uAgARGjrtEXfJwChALcggEgYdAmcvnbO95a6SK3PRCdjfS7IE7_0pxx65p3V5SQG-yplJZY8U3dDv0GNLEo/s1600/2015_03_16_House_Fire4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="363" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZpJxgArjTri0KVRy4s8TTbf1zhAz26njaMsg_3kJv8YVidC5B7pyVsODh6uAgARGjrtEXfJwChALcggEgYdAmcvnbO95a6SK3PRCdjfS7IE7_0pxx65p3V5SQG-yplJZY8U3dDv0GNLEo/s640/2015_03_16_House_Fire4.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Who died in this </i>Devil's Pipeline<i>-related blaze - and who lit it?</i></b></td></tr>
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<br />Michael J. Fitzgeraldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09840859418177870381noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6794313398684486836.post-7952415241038178822016-12-07T15:33:00.000-08:002016-12-07T15:34:46.223-08:00The flow starts up again in 'The Devil's Pipeline'<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">P</span>OINT RICHMOND, Calif.</b> - After several fits and starts (more fits than starts) today I banged out a chapter in <i>The Devil's Pipeline</i>, chapter 3 in the final segment of the book.<br />
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The title of the last segment has been changed from <i>The Big Short</i> to <i>Standing Rock</i> - quite appropriate, all things considered. And tomorrow another chapter should follow as a wrongful death lawsuit unfolds in the book, under the steady eye of an Iowa judge named Roy Bean. (Who can makes this stuff up? Oh, yeah. OK...)<br />
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As the late Norman Mailer once opined, writing fiction can be heavy lifting given the incredible weirdness of real life. If any novelist had fictionalized a novel containing details like those we witnessed in the last year of presidential politics, he or she would have been summarily <i>thrown out</i> of their publisher's office with strict instructions to never, <i>ever</i> return.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">A</span>nd so it was</b> that when it was time to complete the balance of <i>The Devil's Pipeline </i>in mid to late September,<i> </i>I had just returned from my cross-county driving sojourn, from New York City to San Francisco.<br />
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Writing (at least novel writing) was <i>out of the question</i>.<br />
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My trip was rife with evidence that Trump might win the presidential election. I didn't meet a Democratic voter - or anyone who would admit to being a Democratic voter - anywhere west of the Hudson River until I came into California. I barely whispered to anyone what I had seen and heard from Bloomsburg, PA, and all across the country. I stopped often and talked with local folks in restaurants, stores, gas stations and a few bars. Maybe not enough bars.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR_zEaGbtXzLXD6Ye2LImoHnUd5PQNbEubNIUQyRY-giQABu8TfHD2w-lcjEKTqj05fG4UizFqhh83e8lJqs-ZEjFc516LhggTvA7V2W0K1i5Bu1BtKHy6u3KguuXeZ_n6VqbAd3iFTGJc/s1600/button+2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR_zEaGbtXzLXD6Ye2LImoHnUd5PQNbEubNIUQyRY-giQABu8TfHD2w-lcjEKTqj05fG4UizFqhh83e8lJqs-ZEjFc516LhggTvA7V2W0K1i5Bu1BtKHy6u3KguuXeZ_n6VqbAd3iFTGJc/s320/button+2.jpeg" width="320" /></a><b><span style="font-size: large;">A</span>nd Standing Rock?</b> My God! Sworn law enforcement officers spraying water cannons, firing tear gas and percussion grenades - and dousing defenseless water protectors with pepper spray, all so a vast array of energy companies and banks could push a pipeline under a lake.<br />
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What in the name-of-God has the country come to?<br />
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But out of all that - Trump, the brave Native American water protectors, Standing Rock - the fictional characters in <i>The Devil's Pipeline</i> were all waiting for me when I picked up their storyline this morning with a smoking' hot column by Jack Stafford.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">T</span>omorrow,</b> (<i>I'm told</i>) the head of the energy conglomerate building <i>The Devil's Pipeline </i>will put his extremely tiny foot in a pile of shit up right up to his ankle. Yes, he has <i>tiny</i> feet. You will have to wait until the book comes out next year to find out about how big his hands might be.<br />
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You already guessed, I bet.<br />
<br />Michael J. Fitzgeraldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09840859418177870381noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6794313398684486836.post-82466588810629972672016-10-05T19:34:00.001-07:002016-12-03T09:22:52.292-08:00'Fracking War' - energy company required reading<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">P</span>OINT RICHMOND, Calif</b>. - <i>The Fracking War</i> might not have made the <i>NY Times</i> best seller list yet. (<i>Yet! Yet!</i>)<br />
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But this week a note from a friend - who was purchasing a signed copy of <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fracking-Justice-author-War/dp/1634135555/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1434978364&sr=1-1&keywords=fracking+justice">Fracking Justice</a></i> - indicates <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/The-Fracking-War-Michael-Fitzgerald/dp/1626527067/ref=pd_sim_14_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=14NCQJ56D23E68MC9Q9W">The Fracking War</a></i> is clearly hitting some of its target audience.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF8koyA4c_l6auH1gcPsGuUTtBg4lS_WI_QKc-1xqdFca_qrLfnuOz7y-WVaUEfgTytJBAR2Z_Tk7_MGIcmRu0WD2v_abViy-n62pifGvVVQ6e5D9YqQoEH6k7QUn2m_UvLScCZbvh7Se8/s1600/conoco.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF8koyA4c_l6auH1gcPsGuUTtBg4lS_WI_QKc-1xqdFca_qrLfnuOz7y-WVaUEfgTytJBAR2Z_Tk7_MGIcmRu0WD2v_abViy-n62pifGvVVQ6e5D9YqQoEH6k7QUn2m_UvLScCZbvh7Se8/s400/conoco.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>How many copies of <i>The Fracking War</i> are inside?</b></td></tr>
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She mentioned that her son said <i>The Fracking War</i> is considered to be "required reading" at the east coast energy company where he works.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">P</span></b>erhaps that bears repeating: <i>"required reading" at the east coast energy company where he works. </i><br />
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That's high praise, whether the book is reviled <i>or</i> revered. Oh, and by the way, he doesn't work at the energy company in the photo to the right. But I wonder how many copies of <i>The Fracking War </i> might be lurking in the hundreds of offices of that energy company office, too?<br />
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When <i>The Fracking War</i> was first published, one hope was that it would help educate (and inflame) people about the ills of hydrofracking, using the fictional tale about the work of investigative/columnist Jack Stafford and <i>The Horseheads Clarion</i> newspaper staff.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">I</span></b>t worked to a large degree, at least based on reactions from people in the Northeast including many who were protesting (and <i>continue</i> to protest) the proposed loony liquid propane gas storage project at Seneca Lake proposed by Crestwood Midstream of Houston, Texas.<br />
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As part of the marketing of the book, copies were sent to energy company executives and some of the more prominent public relations <i>hacks</i> in the employ of the industry.<br />
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Apparently not <i><u>all</u></i> of them pitched their copies of <i>The Fracking War</i> into their desk-side round files.<br />
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The news that this energy company is paying attention came at just the right moment. In the coming weeks I hope to tackle the final section of the next novel, <i>The Devil's Pipeline</i>. Good God but there's <i>so</i> much material going on in real time, in the real world, it's hard to predict what will happen in the final chapters of this third book.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">B</span></b>ut you can be pretty sure it will end with a <i>bang</i>, like <i>The Fracking War</i> and <i>Fracking Justice</i>. And maybe even on a Native American reservation, somewhere on the Northern Plains of the U.S.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCjzWmC0KANJDAzxb6hfsugo_Z2U2Xx5Cs7k3zeVUFCMKBbYsGZFTB6vAzGie-sgeRE-dm_0ukLbhOdAu5q-IeUlaTxhaqqceayrOFi7womP82GiD_eIWI_vfwS8XpgJSQfTLcx3TuV8fe/s1600/explosion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCjzWmC0KANJDAzxb6hfsugo_Z2U2Xx5Cs7k3zeVUFCMKBbYsGZFTB6vAzGie-sgeRE-dm_0ukLbhOdAu5q-IeUlaTxhaqqceayrOFi7womP82GiD_eIWI_vfwS8XpgJSQfTLcx3TuV8fe/s640/explosion.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b>Results of a natural gas pipeline explosion</b></i></td></tr>
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<br />Michael J. Fitzgeraldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09840859418177870381noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6794313398684486836.post-64555548141193199422016-08-19T10:48:00.000-07:002016-08-21T17:55:07.105-07:00'Travels with Charley' in the 21st Century<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">P</span>OINT RICHMOND, Calif</b>. - My apologies for the long delay in updating. Until today, about the <i>only</i> regular writing for me since April has been my weekly column for the <i><a href="http://www.fltimes.com/">Finger Lakes Times</a></i> in Geneva, NY. If you want to scan those columns, here is the link: <b><a href="http://www.fltimes.com/opinion/michael_fitzgerald/">WRITE ON</a></b>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjENzf4j5ObGrTI_Eu3nhfSHpfILPGT-lFYMpBD9ZdyYnWA13Enct2HXpPH0lfYgIyhhD_pfXkTW3Pz-AjsZWwadghTVs5mkwnD4wu4og_HA5dOR1oP42j8sC3kp1Jt0RGe9TKHE-NTPkFR/s1600/IMG_4530.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjENzf4j5ObGrTI_Eu3nhfSHpfILPGT-lFYMpBD9ZdyYnWA13Enct2HXpPH0lfYgIyhhD_pfXkTW3Pz-AjsZWwadghTVs5mkwnD4wu4og_HA5dOR1oP42j8sC3kp1Jt0RGe9TKHE-NTPkFR/s320/IMG_4530.jpg" width="263" /></a>This <i>non-vacation/vacation</i> from the keyboard was prompted by my moving my base of operations from upstate NY to California. This coast-to-coast shift was about as taxing as anything I have ever done.<br />
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But it's completed. <i>Done. Over. Finished.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Y</i> <i>gracias Dios</i>.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">A</span>nd the draft of</b><i> The Devil's Pipeline? </i>Pardon the pun but it is still <i>in</i> the pipeline. The plan is to get the completed manuscript off to a New York publisher this fall for an agreed-upon look-see. But in the meantime, I have another <i>potential</i> writing project in mind, <i>a la</i> a well-known, well-loved John Steinbeck book, <i>Travels with Charley</i>.<br />
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If you haven't read this short tome, pick it up. I read snippets years ago. Now I am rereading it in its entirety as I plan a cross-country trip of my own beginning in early September.<br />
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I don't have dog named Charley, or <i>any</i> dog actually. But I do have a pickup truck and time. Lots of time.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">M</span>y <i>Travels</i> will start in New York City</b>, from the same spot I left in 1970 driving a blue, 1964 VW van. That two-month cross-country tour ended in Napa, Calif.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6WxzN4N8OYXemN02nHS339PfbPLZyOyInBR9eW1B-CgOdH3nI6C5yk3PAkmVZ2jBYS0DbzCidJYg7L9H6xYjhc0CJicH-Cx-oBPfHJHVMh1I8Y3kBoNZuTVXfarhWumvpUh8hWohu9VQS/s1600/IMG_4219.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6WxzN4N8OYXemN02nHS339PfbPLZyOyInBR9eW1B-CgOdH3nI6C5yk3PAkmVZ2jBYS0DbzCidJYg7L9H6xYjhc0CJicH-Cx-oBPfHJHVMh1I8Y3kBoNZuTVXfarhWumvpUh8hWohu9VQS/s320/IMG_4219.jpg" width="320" /></a>I will retrace many of the steps I took along that route. But this time I will be solo piloting a 1990 Nissan pickup truck with a camper shell. And my journey will be viewed through the eyes of novelist & journalist, not a brand-new dad with his wife, three-month-old son and a coal black cat named Mr. Kitter aboard.<br />
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I have <i>no</i> idea what will come out of this trip: A handful of daily blogs (Posted on <a href="http://stardatejune07.blogspot.com/">The Captain's Blog</a>), a magazine article or two - or even a book about the America <i>I</i> find. I won't know until I head out and return.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">S</span>teinbeck explains</b> <b>this far</b> better on the first page of <i>Travels with Charley</i>.<br />
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<i><b>"We all find after years of struggle, that we do not take a trip, a trip takes us."</b></i></div>
Michael J. Fitzgeraldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09840859418177870381noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6794313398684486836.post-59439385540039861482016-04-07T11:43:00.001-07:002016-04-07T11:44:11.903-07:00'The Devil's Pipeline' - four of five sections done!<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">P</span>OINT RICHMOND, Calif.</b> - The draft of <i>The Devil's Pipeline</i> hit a milestone today. Four of the five sections in the novel are done. In <i>draft</i> form at least. Whew...<br />
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And that bit of news comes just in time for me to head back to my Watkins Glen, NY office in two weeks where I have plans to lock myself in to finish the novel. I have a box of extra strength Irish breakfast tea on the way to keep my caffeine level up.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSzgw5TB_zYgj6vcO1YOXQZT3xe36a_OgHNfYKNE3mH-EfPg4156KM8fFslqyonff0eVabVWsxXyGiqc9ARN-RSaryAhzkhZXw3FoGeOgoHwlNGkOf6-CZrZE-QbrqRZrFUJDoT72ysSeN/s1600/n-PIPELINES-large570.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSzgw5TB_zYgj6vcO1YOXQZT3xe36a_OgHNfYKNE3mH-EfPg4156KM8fFslqyonff0eVabVWsxXyGiqc9ARN-RSaryAhzkhZXw3FoGeOgoHwlNGkOf6-CZrZE-QbrqRZrFUJDoT72ysSeN/s400/n-PIPELINES-large570.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
The drafting of <i>this</i> book has been as challenging as building a pipeline. It started out as a five-chapter book sample, destined to send to an agent. It morphed into the need for a full manuscript when a New York city publisher agreed to take a peek - but only at the final <i>completed</i> draft product. Then in between, two bouts of illness slowed things way down.<br />
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Plus, the characters themselves have taken me on a few detours.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">O</span></b>ne menacing, unpredictable and <i>all-around</i> despicable character (<i>who for the record is <u>NOT</u> based on any NY politicians</i>) forced himself into the book in the second section. I <i>tried</i> to keep him out, honest. But he's been wreaking havoc for 10,000 words. I hate bullies. He's got trouble ahead.<br />
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<i>The Devil's Pipeline</i> will consist of five sections - similar to formats of <i>The Fracking War</i> and <i>Fracking Justice</i>. Here are the <i>draft</i> titles for each:<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Iowa</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Welcome to Mars</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Drums Along the Ogallala</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Wrongful Deaths</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>The Big Short</b></span></div>
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And just like the other two books, this draft novel has been battered in various directions by real-news events that impact the public, the energy industry and proposed pipelines. Like the impact of the Dimock, PA water pollution case - $4.2 million awarded to two families. The Dimock decision has the characters in <i>The Devil's Pipeline</i> chattering like magpies.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcDWGCqMMeYK3IoAtAbYqjKzvI1YoBnwxyQ3H-hwhD_jScXroW1WfBsn17MWuqYpk50dFX4AaNfdJeNCYHlmQ4PsRz-O_KSjwf4vxpuERemVIj1s4LqmJTahSxmGdpMteSTSYQp91RO9n4/s1600/JoyOfSmallBoatSailing-07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcDWGCqMMeYK3IoAtAbYqjKzvI1YoBnwxyQ3H-hwhD_jScXroW1WfBsn17MWuqYpk50dFX4AaNfdJeNCYHlmQ4PsRz-O_KSjwf4vxpuERemVIj1s4LqmJTahSxmGdpMteSTSYQp91RO9n4/s400/JoyOfSmallBoatSailing-07.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">F</span></b>or readers who wonder whatever happened to <i>Jack's Boat</i> - the novel I worked on last summer -, well it did not sink out of sight.<br />
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It's next in line for a rewrite when <i>The Devil's Pipeline</i> is off to the publisher. <br />
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<b>Thanks for your patience!</b></div>
Michael J. Fitzgeraldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09840859418177870381noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6794313398684486836.post-71150575048675511692016-01-06T15:14:00.002-08:002016-01-06T15:21:11.472-08:00Finally climbing back on the novel-writing 'horse'<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">P</span>OINT RICHMOND, Calif.</b> - When I left New York in November, my plan was to give a pulpit-pounding speech at the Green Festival and Expo at the San Francisco Cow Palace. After that, the plan was to settle in here in California and continue work on the draft of my next novel, <i>The Devil's Pipeline. </i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIltI9Rm4mGSYjjYXPWBgRBrEPlA57nPMmVDSOiOjBiBrPk-Sbr-1MknklOOjZD1tslD2ETNcB10zP0sbmROXFlsFHAW5rzCAPQEr8204_aLsiMLOiUf4eYuCQf8dAYPqBJ9b-1o1SmZC1/s1600/8384900_f260.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIltI9Rm4mGSYjjYXPWBgRBrEPlA57nPMmVDSOiOjBiBrPk-Sbr-1MknklOOjZD1tslD2ETNcB10zP0sbmROXFlsFHAW5rzCAPQEr8204_aLsiMLOiUf4eYuCQf8dAYPqBJ9b-1o1SmZC1/s400/8384900_f260.jpg" width="273" /></a></div>
As some of you know I <i>never</i> gave that speech. And it was just <b>today</b> that the characters in <i>The Devil's Pipeline</i> - Jack Stafford, his son Noah, sisters-in-law Cass and Anne and a long cast of others introduced in <i>The Fracking War</i> and/or <i>Fracking Justice</i> - came out of a two-month, author-induced slumber.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>I</b></span>n November, a head cold & severe laryngitis turned quickly into pneumonia and eventually transmogrified into just a nasty, <i>nasty</i> bronchitis, hacking cough and aching bones.<br />
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And so it was that novel writing went by the boards. I was able to keep up with my <i>Finger Lakes Times</i> column. And I read a lot of fiction and non-fiction - about pipelines among other things. But work on the novel? Not a chance.<br />
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My usual mode of fiction writing is to start a story and run with it - just as <i><b>fast</b></i> as I can think and type. There are no long hiatuses or thumb sucking. I just keep the story moving.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>I</b></span>t's like real life. You get up, do your day, repeat. So taking two months off created a panic over lost momentum.<br />
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<i>Panic</i>? Yup.<br />
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Suppose I couldn't pick up the thread and get the plot moving again? <i>Suppose, suppose, suppose?</i><br />
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Excuse the overused phrase but, "No worries, mate."<br />
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What helped was actually sending a note to an aspiring writer just a few days ago who wants to get started on a book. She was worried by the daunting prospect of pounding out 70,000-100,000 words.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>M</b></span>y advice was to think of writing as stacking paragraphs. Build a paragraph, then stack it. Build another one, stack. And another.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjacu7X5ms-CWpuNBSR18kKetGlg7iqnohyphenhyphens7lS7JsJvCwQ3VDY2Ekdds1je-BDeowyunGSNAajGEl9az0Dl0mm0vvfnilqZi7oyj72XvPjmOtgSJAsjBVr7rL8kUibiFqjXpei10K6RbKJ/s1600/Kirkus+magazine+cover+Dec+15+2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjacu7X5ms-CWpuNBSR18kKetGlg7iqnohyphenhyphens7lS7JsJvCwQ3VDY2Ekdds1je-BDeowyunGSNAajGEl9az0Dl0mm0vvfnilqZi7oyj72XvPjmOtgSJAsjBVr7rL8kUibiFqjXpei10K6RbKJ/s320/Kirkus+magazine+cover+Dec+15+2015.jpg" width="248" /></a>So after re-reading the roughly 20,000 words I had penned months before being gripped by the <i>grippe</i>, this morning I stacked for a couple of hours. When I was done, Jack and Cass were arguing on a bucking airplane, Calvin Boviné had reappeared from <i>Fracking Justice</i> and <i>Horseheads Clarion</i> Editor Eli Gupta discovered. ... Well, I don't really want to say more about that. Eli and I are still trying to figure out what he found really means.<br />
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The incentive to get writing again got a huge boost several weeks ago from <a href="http://www.stargazette.com/story/news/local/2015/12/31/fracking-novel-named-list-years-best/78126408/"><i>Kirkus Reviews</i> when the magazine named <i>Fracking Justice</i></a> as one of the top 100 indie books of 2015. It's drawing more attention to <i>The Fracking War</i> also.<br />
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I'm honored and very thankful for the notice.<br />
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No matter though, it's just good to be back at this keyboard.<br />
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<br />Michael J. Fitzgeraldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09840859418177870381noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6794313398684486836.post-57618499761640273682015-10-18T13:48:00.000-07:002018-11-07T16:28:21.496-08:00A 'Kirkus Reviews' thumbs up, a book stop in Pennsylvania - and where is 'Jack's Boat'?<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">B</span>URLINGTON, Pennsylvania</b> - After a swing through the western U.S., with speaking stops in Flagstaff, AZ and Los Angeles, I flew back to New York to start the draft of the next Jack Stafford book tentatively titled <i>The Devil's Pipeline.</i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Speaking at the Green Festival Expo in Los Angeles</i></b></td></tr>
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Sandwiched among hours of research on oil and gas pipelines, the droughts in western states and actually <i>writing</i> (13 chapters in the draft so far), I traveled to Burlington, Pennsylvania, which by last count had fewer than 200 people living in the community.<br />
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No <i>exactly</i> the kind of place to draw a big crowd.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">E</span></b>ven so, my presentation at the Bradford County Public Library was well received by a group of people who have been <i>fracked</i> by the fracking companies - up, down and sideways.<br />
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Their tales were as fascinating as they were depressing. They validated nearly everything I've written already in <i>The Fracking War </i>and <i>Fracking Justice</i>. They also passed along some interesting new slants on the problems hydrofracking is causing in their community.<br />
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My God it's ugly.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b>Grrrr... says Dick Cheney</b></i></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">N</span></b>ext up in the speaking gig category for me is another Green Festival Expo appearance. This time in early November in San Francisco.<br />
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The slide show that accompanies my talk has been refined and elicits laughs, tears and gasps.<br />
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The gasps come from showing photos of Dick Cheney, the evil prince upon whom you can really heap a lot of blame for the spreading of hydrofracking (and its problems) across the U.S.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i>KIRKUS REVIEWS</i> GIVES <i>FRACKING JUSTICE</i> A THUMBS UP</b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">B</span></b>oth <i>The Fracking War </i>and <i>Fracking Justice</i> had received nothing but excellent reviews when <i>Kirkus Reviews</i> was set to publish its take on <i><a href="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/michael-j-fitzgerald/fracking-justice/">Fracking Justice</a></i>.<br />
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I was holding my breathe - really! - when I first started to read what the publication said. <i>Kirkus Reviews</i> is a major player in the publishing industry and noted for taking <i>no</i> prisoners in reviews of books.<br />
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So if you heard a loud, <i>whooping</i> sound last month, that was likely me, when <i>Kirkus</i> published its lengthy glowing review. It was <i>sooooooooo</i> favorable, I doubt I could have written one more favorable myself.<br />
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Here's a line from the <i><a href="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/michael-j-fitzgerald/fracking-justice/">Review</a></i> that kind of sums it up:<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "crimson text" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px;"><b>"Reads like an emergency manual for activists battling environmental despoliation."</b></span></div>
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<b><i>JACK'S BOAT</i> - AN UPDATE</b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b>Jack London</b></i></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">T</span></b>he beta readers for the draft of my novel <i>Jack's Boat</i> did yeoman service, getting their criticisms and suggestions back to me<i> muy rapido</i>. I have been pondering changes in the draft, even as I labor daily on the draft of <i>The Devil's Pipeline</i>.<br />
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The best news is all three said, <i>yes</i>! - publish this book.<br />
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<i>Jack's Boat </i>is on my writing docket, scheduled for a revamp and final tuneup before it gets another readthru.<br />
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Even at that, I think <i>Jack's Boat</i> and <i>The Devil's Pipeline</i> will both make their debuts in spring/summer 2016.<br />
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Which means I better get back to tapping <i><b>those</b></i> keys if I want to meet that timeframe...<br />
<br />Michael J. Fitzgeraldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09840859418177870381noreply@blogger.com3