Slightly Off the Mark

 I was really shocked when Emily told me I hadn't officially posted the link to the interview we did with Channel 21 (21Alive) News, which is out of Fort Wayne. What kind of self-promotion is that? None, so here's the link:

https://www.21alivenews.com/2025/09/11/albion-couple-releases-book-about-haunted-noble-county-locations/
 

 I guess that makes this a bonus blog, because I've only been doing one a week. The good news is, I've been working on the sequel to Hoosier Hysterical, and I'm up to 7,673 words and some 600 photos. The number of photos that end up in the book will be way less than that.

Of course, more books depend on current sales, reviews, and general attention, I'm just sayin'.

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

·        Barnes & Noble:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

·        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: TV, it turns out, IS good for something.

 My interview with Eric Olson of 21Alive's "21 Country" segment went pretty well, other than that TV cameras are really good at picking up bald spots. Here's the link:
 

https://www.21alivenews.com/2023/10/26/21country-haunted-noble-county/

Thanks to Eric, who's interviewed me three times now since I first got published in 2011. (I believe the last time was 2017.) I didn't think about it when he contacted me, but interviewing someone writing a book called "Haunted Noble County" pretty well fits in with the season, doesn't it?

Now I have to write the darned thing.

I'm actually progressing well on the research, and I've written some of the text. I'm running behind on going out to actually talk to people due to some ongoing time and health issues, but catching up is my middle name. (My middle name is actually Ketchup. Long story.)

• Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
• Barnes & Noble:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"
• 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

Remember, not reading can lead to your being haunted by a dead author. They smell like ink and desperation.

Here's the interview!

(So you won't be confused like I was, Arts in Focus is a half hour long show with two fifteen minute segments, and I was in the second segment. Not that the first one wasn't interesting, but I forgot--and panicked when the show started with someone else.)

https://vimeo.com/340742147?fbclid=IwAR1SldahLEq1E73IzOYvGM5T5Nce-9gvFuAGDoZ5qfIQhgu4jRpsMWQRc0Q

 Tell all your friends! And enemies. Heck, tell everybody.

Overall, I think it went pretty well ... could have smiled more, but I was too busy trying to think. Naturally, we really hope this interests people in checking out our books.

Find all of our books at:

http://markrhunter.com/

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

Hey, guess what? Actually, the headline kind of spoiled it: My interview with the Fort Wayne TV station, WFWA PBS39, will air Thursday, June 6th. Their Arts In Focus webpage is here:

 https://video.wfwa.org/show/wfwa-arts-focus/

Their schedule is also up on that page: Looks like it's going to air at 7:30 p.m. Indiana time, on channel 39.1 ... but TV Guide has it at 6:30 p.m. on Mediacom's PBS channel 713. Um ... check your local listings?

Well, if you miss it or don't live nearby, I'll put up the link when the interview is posted on their website. I hope many people will be able to watch it when it airs, though.

We're very excited. Of course, "excited" can be both good and bad because, after all, I haven't seen the actual interview, myself. How will it be edited? Will they use any of the photos I sent them? Did I have a nervous tic nobody caught that can't be edited out?

I've never considered myself a good public speaker--heck, that's one reason why I took up writing, to begin with. But if it is a disaster, I can comfort myself with the knowledge that watching disasters unford is exactly what attracts many people to their favorite shows, anyway.

Find all of our books at:
http://markrhunter.com/
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

A South Bend radio station has done a profile of Pokagon State Park in northeast Indiana:

In this photo (which I took while trying not to fall of a horse myself) Horse Lady is in front, looking around for the coyote that just crossed the trail.

“If I were to insult people and mean it, that wouldn't be funny.” – Don Rickles

And there you have it, the secret to his success. These days everybody wants to be an insult comic—just go to the comments of any web article and watch everyone sharpening their verbal knives, hurling insults, name-calling with glee. They all think they’re original, and they all think they’re funny.

“Who picked your clothes—Stevie Wonder?” – Don Rickles

Don Rickles was way ahead of them, plus he was funnier. He got away with it, too. He didn’t care about your race, sex, religion—he just wanted to know what they were so he could make fun of you.

“My mother was a Jewish General Patton” – Don Rickles

That's Don on the left, insulting the Japanese during WW II.

How did he get away with it? Easy: He didn’t mean it. Jokes today just seem mean-spirited, like you’re not trying to be funny so much as getting a dig in. 

“Compared to what some of the young comics use for material today, I’m a priest.” – Don Rickles

But with Rickles you got the impression it was all an act—that he never meant a thing that he said. That he was—although he’d deny it—secretly a nice guy. And by all accounts of those who knew him, it was true. That, as he admitted himself, was the trick—to be likeable and liked before you start with the insults.

“Oh my God, look at you. Anyone else hurt in the accident?” – Don Rickles

R.I.P. Don Rickles, 90 years old, World War II veteran and, as Johnny Carson put it, “Mr. Warmth”.

(To Johnny Carson) “That’s it, laugh it up. You’re making $50 million a year and your poor parents are back in Nebraska eating locusts for dinner.”

So, the TV interview happened. We (Emily, the dog, and I) spent about an hour with Eric Olson of ABC21, which used to be 21Alive, which in my mind was a way better name. Bae was a little taken aback by the camera setup, and by the fact that Eric smelled like cats (according to Eric--I didn't notice it). But once the dog got used to him, Bae wanted nothing more than to be underfoot as much as possible.

Eric interviewed me after my first book was published, all the way back in 2011, so I had a pretty good idea what to expect. I don't consider myself a good interview--one of the reasons I write is to avoid talking--but I have confidence in his editing ability, so I'm sure he'll cut out of the worst of my verbal pratfalls.

The interview will be one of the 21 Country segments, which air during the 5:30 p.m. news segment on ABC21 Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. That's as close as I can come to telling you when it'll be on--but it should be online the next day, at which point I'll post a link to it.

I'm coming close to being one of the most famous living authors presently writing in southwest Albion.

"Say, I haven't read this book since proofreading six month ago ... it isn't half bad!" If you look carefully, you can see Bae investigating down at the bottom right.

My wife and I budget our television, since we have so many demands on our time such as writing, doctor appointments, playing with the dog and, oh yeah, working for a living.

As a result, we don’t take on too many new TV shows, even if they sound interesting, Generally we only start a new one if one we already watched gets canceled, as happens all too often. So far this year we’ve only checked out two new shows:

The Good Place. I will watch anything with Kristen Bell in it, even if she’s a singing cartoon character (which she was—wonderfully). I’m also a big fan of Ted Danson, so a show joining the two was worth checking out. Turns out it was worth checking out the worth checking out.

Bell is Eleanor, who finds herself in a—well, good place—after dying. The only problem is, something is horribly wrong—and it’s her. Eleanor is just a nasty person, who’s well aware she doesn’t deserve to be in paradise. She soon realizes that mistake is throwing her surroundings into chaos, so she sets out to improve herself, aided by her mistakenly assigned soul mate, Chidi (William Jackson Harper).

Danson plays Michael, who’s an angel, or something, assigned as architect of this little heaven of three hundred or so perfect people. It’s Michael’s first creation, and when things start going wrong he’s puzzled, then panicked. Turns out nobody can play panicked like Ted Danson, just as nobody can play nasty like Kirsten Bell.

I wasn’t sure how they’d manage to continue this concept, but after several episodes it’s getting better and better as we look into the past of all these perfect inhabitants, and realize none is so perfect, after all. In fact, I’m enjoying it so much I’m convinced it will soon be canceled. That’s been the fat of every star-centered show we’ve liked in recent years (for instance, Michael J. Fox and Robin Williams/Sarah Michelle Geller.)

Timeless. I’ve said before that I love a good time travel story. We’ve only seen a few episodes of this one, but they put a great twist in as the characters seek to prevent history from being irrevocably changed—and fail.

Temporarily, I assume. The story concerns a terrorist—or is he?—who steals a time machine and sets off to change the past. Naturally Homeland Security gets involved, assigning an historian, a soldier, and a scientist to go back and stop the bad guy. Abigail Spencer is great as the driven historian, who has exactly the same reaction I would to looking up and seeing the Hindenburg fly overhead.

The story’s fun, if heavy on the plot holes. I think when you’re talking time travel you have to dedicate yourself to the suspension of belief, or you’re stuck with the “why don’t they just send a different team back an hour earlier?” problem. It’s also just a bit too much on the serious side, but this show has Supernatural pedigree, so maybe that will change.

Overall I like the cast and setup, and the effects are good enough for a TV show, so we’ll see. After all, shows don’t get canceled before they have a chance to find their footing. Do they?