Slightly Off the Mark

 First a commercial, because coming up in a few days is the Albion Fire Department block party, and I'd hate anyone to miss it. I wrote all about it here:

https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/2026/08/a-fire-department-block-party-and-block.html

(Although I just learned there's not going to be a "touch the truck" opportunity for the kids there, after all.) 

Now on to the show, and in this case the show features mostly photos not by me, but by my wife Emily. She was working at the Pokagon State Park Saddle Barn, on a morning when storms were predicted--in Michigan. Pokagon is close to, but not in, Michigan.

From further south, I was pointing my camera north and taking photos like this:

Emily, from her position at a place where no rain was forecast, got a slightly more interesting photo:

Michigan had been having severe storms all week, including some tornado touchdowns. Indiana recently had the same activity, and we wouldn't wish it on anyone. As for Emily, I did an extra load of laundry last week because she came home soaked all the way through. Anyone who works outdoors has probably had that experience.

You don’t have to look to the sky to find us and our books:

·        Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

·        Barnes & Noble:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/search?attributes.contributorId=13727646

·        Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

·        Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

·        Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

·        Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

·        Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

·        Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

·        Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

·        Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

·        Substack:  https://substack.com/@markrhunter

·        Tumblr:  https://www.tumblr.com/ozma914

·        Smashwords:  https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

·        Audible:  https://www.audible.com/search?searchAuthor=Mark+R.+Hunter&ref_pageloadid=4C1TS2KZGoOjloaJ&pf

Remember: Unless you’re on a boat and get motion sickness, reading is weather resistant.

This contains interesting “facts” e-mailed to me. The truth is, I stole -- ahem -- wrote about this stuff so long ago that my readers back then have all died of old age, so think of it as an "I Love Lucy" rerun.

Now, these may or may not be true -- that’s the problem with the internet -- but they’re still interesting:

“A duck’s quack doesn’t echo, and no one knows why.”

Surely a federally funded study is in progress?

“In ten minutes, a hurricane releases more energy than all the world’s nuclear weapons combined.”

But there are practical difficulties to loading a hurricane into a B-52’s bomb bay.

“On average, 100 people choke to death on ball-point pens every year.”

No, NO--pens. P.E.N.S. There's no "I". Get your mind out of the gutter.

“On average, people fear spiders more than they do death.”

Well, death, doesn’t jump off the ceiling and wrap its creepy-crawly little poison legs around you in the middle of the night, does it? Um ... does it?

SPIDER--Oh, wait.

“Ninety percent of New York City cabbies are recently arrived immigrants.”

As a result, the average New Yorker fears cabs more than spiders, death, or hurricanes.

“Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married.”

Any of you ladies want to tell me something?

“Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.”

Do we really want to? I mean, it’s hard enough to adjust to changing technology year to year -- someone who lived over a century had to adjust to the idea of flying, let alone space travel, cell phones, and Michael Jackson turning white.

(I should point out that when I wrote this, Michael Jackson was alive. And white.)

“Women blink nearly twice as much as men.”

This one’s easy to explain. I blink when I hear something ridiculous, and so whenever a woman listens to a man ...

“It’s physically impossible for you to lick your elbow.”

And this is a concern why --? Seriously, what drunk college student first thought, “Gee, I wonder if I can lick my elbow?”

“The main library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the weight of all the books.”

Imagine that -- books in a library. At least they’ll have plenty of storage room in the basements.

(By the way, I’m told this is a common urban legend at libraries around the country. Possibly started by college students who got bored with trying to lick their elbows.)

“A snail can sleep for three years.”

Never thought I’d envy a snail.

“Average life span of a major league baseball: 7 pitches.”

It was made by government contract.

SPIDER--never mind.

“The electric chair was invented by a dentist.”

Well, of course it was.

“In ancient Egypt, priests plucked every hair from their bodies, including their eyebrows and eyelashes.”

A concept that was invented by a dentist, before electricity.

“Typewriter is the longest word that can be made using the letters on only one row of the keyboard.”

I wonder how long the inventor of the typewriter had to work to fit in that little inside joke?

“’Go’ is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.”

Followed directly by “stop”, of course.

“A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.”

How do we know this? Maybe they’re just very polite.

“American on average eat 18 acres of pizza every day.”

Not the same Americans every day. I hope.

“If Barbie was life-size, her measurements would be 39-23-33.”

How’d you like to be HER chiropractor?

“Barbie would then stand seven feet, two inches tall.”

I mean, she could put eyes out with those things. Sorry, we moved on.

“No word in the English language rhymes with ‘month’”

And don’t think I haven’t tried. 

Putting all these together, I’ve learned that no one knows why a duck’s quack doesn’t echo while standing under a 7 foot tall Barbie in a hurricane, but if a snail that’s been sleeping for three years doesn’t get hit by a baseball, it’s often used to pluck all the hair from an Egyptian priest who invented the electric chair while on a dental appointment to fix teeth he knocked out while trying to lick his elbow in the Indiana University library 116 years ago. Luckily, he had a typewriter and so didn’t choke on a pen, but instead was running from his personal ad date’s husband when a New York cabbie swatting at a spider didn’t see the ‘go’ sign and ran over him and his pet crocodile in front of a pizza place. During a hurricane.

I tried to fit “month” in there somewhere, but couldn’t get the rhythm right, no matter how much I blinked.

SPIDER--Oh, for heaven's sake.

Sometimes you just gotta be silly.

Well, I do. People like my humor, but up until now my books have been halves: half humor, half romance; half humor, half history; half humor, half adventure. Although The Notorious Ian Grant looks and feels like a romantic comedy, I felt like ramping it up to the level of my humor blogs, just to see if it would work as well for fiction as it did in the newspaper, back in the day. I think it does. I could be wrong.

The blurb:

When infamous party boy and b-list celebrity Ian Grant learns his sister is marrying a cop, he abandons Hollywood and drives to Indiana. His plan: to make up for all those times he embarrassed his family, by taking charge of the wedding planning. So, Ian’s never planned a wedding … how hard could it be?

But Ian's past has followed along--and may be trying to kill him.


Ian Grant isn’t exactly a type A personality, although he has the looks for it. He’s Cary Grant with a Groucho Marx brain, and he’s not ashamed of it … even if he is ashamed of a "few" youthful indiscretions. Like dancing on Charlie Sheen’s car, drag racing Justin Bieber, and of course peeing on a bouncer’s shoes. (Ian still insists Bieber cheated.) These days Ian’s on a path to redeeming himself—he hopes—but his past keeps coming back to haunt him. Here's a snippet from early in The Notorious Ian Grant, in which he meets two residents of Hurricane, Indiana for the first time:

They stopped by the intersection, where the cop now stared daggers at Ian. “Here, me first.” Beth hopped down from the horse with ease and grace, and once she’d cleared Ian managed a dismount with none of either. As he stumbled away, the animal turned toward him and made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a laugh.

“Good horsey.”

“His name is Honey,” the cop said, as she stepped around her patrol car.

“Really?” Ian looked back at the horse. “You hear that? All the other guy horses make fun of you.”

Honey turned his head away.

“Hey, I was kidding —“

Beth patted the horse’s flank. “It’s okay, Honey—he’s a scumbag.”

“Beth, sweetie …” Fran (the cop) hooked a thumb toward Ian. “What have I told you about picking up strays?”

“He says he needs to get into Hurricane.” Beth leaned in toward the woman. “His name is Ian Grant.”

“I don’t care if his name’s—oh.” Fran gave Ian an even closer look, if that was possible. “I’ve seen your jail book-in photos.”

“Was I smiling? Could you see my dimples?” Fran had long hair, secured in a tight ponytail, along with big brown eyes and high cheekbones that pointed toward a full Hispanic heritage. She probably had a nice smile. He almost regretted letting his agent talk him out of joining the cast of Lady Cop 3: Hollywood Vice, especially since his agent dumped him weeks later.

“You smiled, but the bloody nose and the missing tooth spoiled the effect.”

“They put the tooth back. See?” Ian gave her his most ingratiating smile, to no effect.

“Very nice. However, around here those trimmed stubbles are not in fashion.”

“I’ve driven for three days —“

“May I ask your reason for being here, Mr. Grant?”

Uh-oh. Official voice.

I love a good sequel.

Ian had better watch himself, because the girl he got a ride from is his future sister-in-law, and the cop is his future brother-in-law’s best friend. Too bad he doesn’t know that yet. That’s one of the fun things about Ian Grant: He really does want to do the right thing—but he just can’t seem to keep his mouth shut.

I wonder if Ian’s trickster spirit might have something to do with why my original publisher released the book a month before I was told they would? In any case, the updated The Notorious Ian Grant is available as print or e-book. It can be found in various formats at:

 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F3KWHWK8

https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Notorious-Ian-Grant-Audiobook/B0F27KVWMF

https://markrhunter.com/fiction

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25393144-the-notorious-ian-grant

Music. Beer. Buff firemen. Well, some are buff, and we'd prefer to be called firefighters, 'cause it's the 21st Century.

Yes, the Albion Volunteer Fire Department is hosting its first block party, an event which, typically, involves having a party on a block. In this case it's the Noble County Courthouse Square, which is indeed a block. If you want to be specific, it's around the area of Main and York Streets, which--come to think of it--I can see from my part time job.

But I can't have beer on my part time job. Still, I'm betting there will be other beverages there, and besides, most of the people reading this don' t have my job. This is on a Saturday (September 12th), so there'll be plenty of parking in the courthouse square area, too. But if you plan to visit the beer tent, bring a designated parker.

This is where I usually post a link to the Facebook event page, but I can't get it to work properly because FB is dumb. Okay, I probably pushed the wrong button, but the AFD's page is here:

https://www.facebook.com/albionfd 

 The money raised goes toward, among other things, tools, fitness equipment, and training props. The fitness equipment part is pretty self-explanatory. Let me explain: When we started out in 1888, most members of the department had physical work that kept them in shape. There were butchers, bakers, candlestick makers ...

Well, our first fire chief was among other things a baker, and butchers would make sense--I don't know if we had any candlestick makers. Here is what I eventually determined is the first known photo of the Albion Volunteer Fire Department:

I had this photo for a few years before I realized the little frame building under construction on the right is, in fact, Albion's first firehouse. It took me awhile after that to figure out that the men marching in the white belts are some of the town's first volunteer firefighters, which dates this photo to late 1887. The women behind them? Probably the Ladies Auxiliary, or whatever it was called back then. Their job was to follow along and, if one of the men chickened out and tried to run from the fire, shame them into going on.

It's possible I'm making that last part up.

Back then I would probably have been a candlestick maker, working on my feet all day, walking from place to place, drilling with the fire guys to hand pump the engine, and having earwax problems. I don't know. Wouldn't candlestick makers have wax issues?

Now we need fitness equipment. These are the days of typing on keyboards, riding trucks instead of pulling engines, and drinking beer instead of well water. (We can't actually go to a fire if we've been drinking, which is the main reason why I never took up drinking.)
 

But when those fires break out, we still have to put on a zillion pounds of equipment and go running toward the flames.

Speaking of beer, there are also those training props we need to pay for. We used to find buildings due to be demolished, and train there on every aspect of firefighting, until it was time to let the place burn down completely. These days it's a lot harder to find a building we can legally beat up for training. The State of Indiana does help out on training resources, but there's the need for us to build our own doors and windows to force, roofs to ventilate, and 150 pound mannequins to haul around.

 Should various government entities pay for our training needs? Sure, but in some cases they can't, and in others they won't. Besides, now we can have a block party.

So come over, have a beer, listen to music by Sweetwater All Stars Band, and bring the kids! Not for the beer. For them there'll be a "touch a truck", the fire prevention trailer, and no beer. Enjoy the local cuisine, which is a Greece word that originated in Turkey, meaning food. Oh, and if you wander over to the AFD's booth (let's fill that boot! With money. Duh.), you can buy a beverage Koozie to remember us buy. That might not seem like a big deal to you, but my dispatcher Koozies are getting ragged.

You can find our books, and my alleged humor, all over the interwebs:

·        Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

·        Barnes & Noble:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/search?attributes.contributorId=13727646

·        Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

·        Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

·        Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

·        Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

·        Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

·        Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

·        Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

·        Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

·        Substack:  https://substack.com/@markrhunter

·        Smashwords:  https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

·        Audible:  https://www.audible.com/search?searchAuthor=Mark+R.+Hunter&ref_pageloadid=4C1TS2KZGoOjloaJ&pf

Remember: The one thing we’ll never let burn is books.

 It's a Brand New Day for Spider-Man, thus the name. And for Peter Parker, a new day always means new problems. Seriously, I'd just give it up and go to work as a dishwasher ... but then he'd get attacked by some kind of soap-sud monster.

Thanks to an ill-advised spell in the last movie, Peter is literally forgotten, by pretty much everybody. Now he's living alone, trying to be a superhero full time (which never works), and his only friend is a police detective who tells him it won't work.

The film opens with a slam-bang chase scene that really doesn't fit with the new Big Bad's methods, but it's oh, so much fun--especially when Spider-Man runs into (literally) Frank Castle, a.k.a. The Punisher. They have a fundamental difference in how hijacked armored cars should be dealt with, as anyone who's seen The Punisher TV show will know.

 All that emotional stress causes the spider part of Peter's body to get more, um, spiderish. After injuring a cop, he seeks help to control the transformation from a famous scientist: Bruce Banner, who's using tech he invented to keep from turning into the Hulk. 

Then, in keeping with any good Spider-Man story, things get worse.

And who does newcomer Sadie Sink play? 

The movie's filled with remarkable performances, from the regulars and newcomers. Tom Holland is, as always, a treat as the hapless Peter Parker. Stories with this many moving pieces are hard to put together, but they managed it here. They also keep the humor while pouring on the drama, a difficult balance.

So. This is a great movie. Not just a great superhero movie: a great movie, period, with flaws few are far between. We even feel a bit of sympathy for the main villain, once motives are revealed. If the same movie could somehow be made without the costumes and superpowers, we'd be looking at an Oscar nominee. Any buzz you hear is justified.
 

 My ratings:

Entertainment value: 5 out of 4 M&Ms, the good brown ones. My scoring system, my rules.

 Oscar potential: 3 1/2 out of 4 M&Ms. Mind you, it probably won't get a lot of nominations (because, hey, superhero movie) ... but it should.

When you’re done with the movie, you can find ours books online:

·        Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

·        Barnes & Noble:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/search?attributes.contributorId=13727646

·        Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

·        Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

·        Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

·        Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

·        Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

·        Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

·        Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

·        Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

·        Substack:  https://substack.com/@markrhunter

·        Smashwords:  https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

·        Audible:  https://www.audible.com/search?searchAuthor=Mark+R.+Hunter&ref_pageloadid=4C1TS2KZGoOjloaJ&pf

Remember: Reading is its own kind of superpower.

 I'm not going to be posting this weekend, due to circumstances ... well, not beyond my control. Suffice it to say I'll be busy with the real world, and will give you a full report later.

So, since this is my mid-week photo blog, I decided to go with:

 That's right, the 250th anniversary of patriotic horses. No, actually horses in general, and the ones who work up at the Pokagon State Park Saddle Barn in particular. That's where Emily works, in addition to all the time she spends keeping me under control.

I went through all my photos of horses, and narrowed it down to about sixty for a blog that usually has no more than 6-7 pictures. So, I think you can count on seeing more horses in the future.

This photo is over ten years old now, but it's one of my favorite ones of her leading a trail ride. I try not to be obtrusive, and she'll say something to the other riders along the lines of, "He's not creepy, he's my husband". Which doesn't guarantee I'm not creepy, of course.

 I just realized, she's not wearing her hat. She almost always has one on, for sun and spider web protection.

"I'm ... BatHorse."

Actually it's a screen to keep bugs out of their faces, although I don't have a working knowledge on when they're used, and on whom. I have, however, noticed this horse being shadowed by a robin.

And yes, visitors have been known to ask if the horse is blind. He is not. Or she is not. One of those.

Here's what the actual saddle barn looks like, as the last horse goes in to end the day. They're closed on Tuesdays and Thursdays (except for the occasional special event). The rest of the days the first trail goes out at 10 a.m., and the last one at 5 p.m., barring bad weather or excessive heat.

If various places get too sore for riding, you can always look up our books:

·        Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

·        Barnes & Noble:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/search?attributes.contributorId=13727646

·        Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

·        Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

·        Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

·        Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

·        Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

·        Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

·        Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

·        Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

·        Substack:  https://substack.com/@markrhunter

·        Smashwords:  https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

·        Audible:  https://www.audible.com/search?searchAuthor=Mark+R.+Hunter&ref_pageloadid=4C1TS2KZGoOjloaJ&pf

Remember: You can’t get saddled by too many books.

 Another video, for my midweek photo blog. Because I'm a rebel.

Most of you are aware Canada is burning, either because you follow the news, or you breath. Forest fires are common in the wilderness areas of Canada, and if they're not near any homes or infrastructure, firefighters usually can't fight them--it being the circle of nature, and all that. They're mostly inaccessible, and the resources to battle that many fires at once just aren't there.

YouTube version here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-aHVUO5a70
 

If the weather is right, the smoke drifts south and you get what we got across the Midwest last week: smoke. It's not even a fun campfire-like scent, because the nature of smoke exposed to sunlight cause changes that give it a nasty, almost factory-like smell.

I'm something of a smoke expert, if I do say so myself (not really, but let's just say I've experienced a lot of smoke). I've been in way worse than this, but it's still not a lot of fun--and it's very unhealthy, of course. 

I took this photo during a training fire. Notice everyone has breathing protection.

On the way home, as you'll see in the video, it felt like one of those foggy mornings even though it was early afternoon. That might be why the deer were active: Maybe they thought it was near dusk. We saw two fawn, then a grown up deer ran in front of us on a county road.

The deer responsible for accidents often isn't the first one; it's the second one. So I slowed way down and sure enough, the second ran across the road right in front of us. Have some corn, fellas. 

And that's why you get another video on picture day. Between that and the moron in the pickup truck that I posted over the weekend, one has to wonder why Emily and I go out at all. Easy: Otherwise we'd starve. But maybe that whole DoorDash thing isn't such a bad idea, after all.

You can find safer adventures in our books:

·        Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

·        Barnes & Noble:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/search?attributes.contributorId=13727646

·        Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

·        Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

·        Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

·        Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

·        Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

·        Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

·        Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

·        Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

·        Substack:  https://substack.com/@markrhunter

·        Smashwords:  https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

·        Audible:  https://www.audible.com/search?searchAuthor=Mark+R.+Hunter&ref_pageloadid=4C1TS2KZGoOjloaJ&pf

 I decided at the last minute to do a blog for my birthday, which means you'll have to wait until this weekend to get the extended story of the dumbest driver in Indiana.

Steak, broccoli and potatoes for lunch. For supper? Half an ice cream cake divided by two. No regrets.

There were two reasons (for this post, not dumb drivers). First, I wanted to thank everyone who wished me a happy birthday, because odds are I won't be able to thank everyone individually, because the internet's dumb. 

Second, I forgot that I wish for the same thing every year, in what some people would call shameless self-promotion, which it is: For people to buy our books and leave reviews ... or at least get a free copy of Coming Attractions on Smashwords.

On my birthday came either the apocalypse or smoke from Canadian wildfires. So my camera caught a bird, or the persona of Death.

I mean, it's my birthday, right? Or, more likely the day after, depending on when you see this. But I did have a pretty good birthday, and the only thing that would make this week better would be a jump in book sales and/or an Amazon or Goodreads review. Or a big, solid block of milk chocolate. Or for the Canadian wildfires to go out.

In any case, thanks again to everyone, and now I'll go back to work editing our 13th book ... which, now that I think of it, should have been reserved for Haunted Noble County, Indiana.

I'm still impressed that I was able to insert the book cover. With technology, I'm not a young man.

 The Smashwords link is here:

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914 

But as always, you can track down our books and/or leave a review at one of our various internets world wide web places:

·        Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

·        Barnes & Noble:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/search?attributes.contributorId=13727646

·        Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

·        Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

·        Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

·        Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

·        Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

·        Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

·        Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

·        Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

·        Substack:  https://substack.com/@markrhunter

·        Smashwords:  https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

·        Audible:  https://www.audible.com/search?searchAuthor=Mark+R.+Hunter&ref_pageloadid=4C1TS2KZGoOjloaJ&pf

Remember: Readers make the birthday boy smile.

 I'm interrupting my normal mid-week photo post to give you my normal mid-year free book giveaway from Smashwords:

While we have plans to add more of our books to that platform (we have twelve now, which in my opinion is also cool), it's been kind of an insane year and we're way behind. But for now it's a great chance to get the Coming Attractions ebook for free, right here:

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

Which is cool. I think I mentioned that. (I'm sitting in the air conditioning right now nursing an allergic reaction, so it literally is cool.)

The sale is over soon, so get your copy now! Okay, it goes on until July 31st, but if you wait you might forget, and that would make me sad. What's Coming Attractions about, you say? Well, it's a romantic comedy:

At a dark drive-in movie theater, Maddie McKinley returns from the concession stand, gets into the wrong van, and is tackled by the father of the kids inside. Logan Chandler’s embarrassed about roughing her up, while also intrigued by the beautiful woman from Boston, who came to the movies alone in an expensive dress. But he’s the local businessman leading a battle to save the drive-in from developers—and she’s the attorney sent to make sure it’s torn down.

This young lady demonstrates that it's perfect summer reading.

Maybe you also want to read other sale books. After Coming Attractions, mind you. No problem, because the Smashword summer sale has more free and reduced price books than there are stars in the sky, and I counted, just to be sure:

https://www.smashwords.com/shelves/promos

Compare that with 9,096 stars. Boy, were my eyes tired.

Naturally, you can still find our various books in other places:

·        Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

·        Barnes & Noble:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/search?attributes.contributorId=13727646

·        Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

·        Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

·        Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

·        Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

·        Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

·        Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

·        Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

·        Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

·        Substack:  https://substack.com/@markrhunter

·        Smashwords:  https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

·        Audible:  https://www.audible.com/search?searchAuthor=Mark+R.+Hunter&ref_pageloadid=4C1TS2KZGoOjloaJ&pf

Remember: Free books cost less than a cup of coffee, although coffee table books can be very expensive.

 The American flag means a lot to me. Of course, it's just a symbol--but what a symbol.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, individuals have the right to not listen to you, which is exactly what I will do. Um, won't do? But if we have an ounce of reason, we can still live together.

That's what makes us great. 

You can find our books, which never mock the flag, here:

·        Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

·        Barnes & Noble:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/search?attributes.contributorId=13727646

·        Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

·        Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

·        Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

·        Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

·        Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

·        Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

·        Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

·        Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

·        Substack:  https://substack.com/@markrhunter

·        Smashwords:  https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

·        Audible:  https://www.audible.com/search?searchAuthor=Mark+R.+Hunter&ref_pageloadid=4C1TS2KZGoOjloaJ&pf

Remember: Wave your books proudly!