Catching Up

I haven't really done anything the past few days except sit around and write. When I mentioned that I hadn't posted anything on Rough Edges lately, my daughter commented in that sarcastic way that all daughters have, "But there are probably people out there waiting anxiously to see how many pages you did today!"

So in answer to that . . . 17. Now on to more interesting things.

"Forgotten author" is a term that gets thrown around a lot. Usually it's not completely true. Even the most obscure authors have a few fans left here and there. But some are almost forgotten, and sometimes undeservedly so. Lately I've been reading stories by Leland Jamieson, who was published frequently in BLUE BOOK and THE SATURDAY EVENING POST during the Thirties and Forties. My friend Peter Ruber recommended Jamieson to me, and I'm glad he did. Jamieson, who was also a pilot, wrote aviation stories, naturally enough. Some are fast-moving adventure yarns, some are more serious character studies, but so far, all of them I've read have been excellent. A search on ABE ( www.abebooks.com ) turns up three novels by Jamieson: ATTACK!, HIGH FRONTIER, and G-MEN ON MURDER ISLAND (a pulp title if ever there was one!). I haven't ordered any of them yet, but I'm thinking about it, especially ATTACK!, which according to the listings is about an aircraft carrier. I've been very interested in carriers since visiting the U.S.S. Lexington twice in Corpus Christi, where it's permanently docked and now serves as a museum, and since writing quite a bit about them in a couple of my World War II novels. I think Jamieson would qualify as a mostly forgotten author, but from what I've seen so far his work is worth searching out, especially for anyone with an interest in aviation during the Thirties and Forties.

We watched the DVD of 13 GOING ON 30 tonight. It's a sweet little movie (we watch a lot of sweet little movies in our house) with a couple of fairly large plot holes. Of course, any movie with Jennifer Garner in it is worth watching, at least where I'm concerned. Heck, I even liked the almost universally reviled DAREDEVIL.

My dad's improvement continues to surprise the rest of the family. Having a professional caregiver around has made a lot of difference. Of course, he's still 88, but we'll take all the good news we can get.