Off Topic - New fiction release: DIE 6, a 6-short story collection

Sorry to interrupt your busy sports news with this tidbit, but I've released a 36,400 word collection of short fiction titled DIE 6, available in the Amazon Kindle Store for $2.99.  It contains 2 science fiction stories, three horror/ghost stories, and one that I suppose is fantasy.  Here are the titles:

• An Artificial Yearning
• Blood Ties
• The Fun House
• The Tooth Fairy
• Time Heals All Wounds
• The Ghost Train

Please feel free to check it out on Amazon at this link.  Please download a sample and see if it's the sort of thing you might like. 

Thank you! 

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QUANTUM ZOO is live on Amazon!

The SF/Fantasy anthology QUANTUM ZOO is available for purchase at the Amazon Kindle Store for the low low price of $0.99.  It's currently on sale to celebrate its release, but it will go up to regular price soon, so if you're a fan of those genres and enjoy short-form fiction, give it a try! 

My own story in there is called "Playing Man", and it envisions a future where Earth is a wildlife reserve and botanical garden, as well as a source of natural resources for a space-faring human civilization.  But strange things happen when you take humans out of the picture on Earth while leaving the other life forms to their own devices. 

It's one of 12 stories themed around the word "Zoo".  Other excellent authors in the collection include Bridgette McKenna, J.M. Ney-Grimm, D.J. Gelner, John Hindmarsh, and seven more (besides me). 

Please take a look!  Here's the link:  QUANTUM ZOO for Kindle

Thanks!

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Cover Art for QUANTUM ZOO!!

Here's the cover art for the anthology where my story "Playing Man" (by Scott Dyson) will be appearing with 11 other stories:

More details will be forthcoming!

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In the meantime, feel free to check out my title , Doing Disney: How To Spend A Week At Disney's Florida Resort   It's available on Amazon for $2.99.

Thanks!


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Bulls' Post-season Over...

So another first round exit for our Chicago Bulls, going down 4-1 vs the Washington Wizards.  Yeah, those guys who were laughingstocks of the league not long ago, and for a while, too.  To be fair, the Wizards have talented players like Wall, Ariza, Biel (Beal?), and Nene, and the Bulls couldn't keep up with their scoring ability and their aggressiveness.

But the Bulls looked, well, tired.  They couldn't start well, and they didn't look like they had enough energy to mount the comebacks that they needed in almost every game. 

Why is that?  This team had the best record in the NBA in the second half of the season.  Could it be that Thibs is pushing them too hard?  I think that's a reasonable question.  His rotations are too short by at least two players in the regular season, sometimes only playing 6 or 7 players (maybe 8) when perhaps he should be spreading out minutes between 9 or 10 players.  Not only would it give more rest to the go-to guys, but it would also give those other guys meaningful minutes in game situations and allow the team to find out if they have something (or nothing).  Jimmer Fredette?  Could barely get on the floor.  Ronnie Brewer?  Why even bother? 

He played Hinrich, Dunleavy, Butler, Boozer, Noah, Gibson, and Augustine too much, I think.

They are certainly his best seven players.  But even Boozer was left out in crunch time, those minutes going the Gibson. 

Thibs' biggest problem seems to be his inflexibility.  That may also be his biggest strength.  But if winning every game in the regular season (or playing to win every game, which is virtually the same thing) costs them their legs come playoff time, something's gotta be done.  I'm sure no one wants to tell him how to coach, but someone better make him see that you can't sacrifice offense all the time in order to keep your best defensive unit on the floor for most of the game. 

It will be interesting to see how this off-season plays out.  With Rose coming back and the ability to amnesty Boozer, is there anyone out there who can make the difference between a first round exit and competing for the title?  Besides Carmelo, that is, who apparently would have to take significantly less money to come to Chicago without a sign-and-trade, and I'd guess that New York doesn't want Boozer in such a deal (even though his contract is up after this year). 

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Take a look at my short stories, available on Amazon for $0.99 each...price will go up a bit soon...

Rick's Rules
Night Family
Dead Or Alive

Thank you!

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Off topic - More Short Story Releases...

I've been able to release two more short stories on Amazon for Kindle.

The latest is NIGHT FAMILY, a 8400 word short story about spoiled rich girl, Lisa Warwick, who goes looking for "something different" with her friends and finds it in a "goth" club called Skid Row.  It is the first piece of new fiction I've published (the others were all written over ten years ago).  It's a prequel to another piece I've recently published, called DEAD OR ALIVE.  You can buy it here at Amazon for $0.99:  NIGHT FAMILY

The other is DEAD OR ALIVE, a 7800 word short story about detective Rick Striker, who takes on the missing persons case of Lisa Warwick for her father.  He finds that the trail leads to a club called Skid Row and that the people involved are even stranger to him than he expected to find in a goth dance club.  DEAD OR ALIVE was originally written in the 1990's but was expanded from its original 2500 word length to its current form.  You can buy it here at Amazon, also for $0.99:  DEAD OR ALIVE

I know it isn't sports, but it's all I got right now.  (Well, that's not really true.  I have plenty of thoughts about the Cubs, the Sox, the Bulls, the Hawks and the Bears' off season, but I haven't really had the time to put something coherent together.  Soon.  That's assuming that anyone even reads this blog...)

Thanks for checking out my short stories.  Please download samples and check them out, see if they are something you might be interested in reading (if you like reading stories in the horror genre...)

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14 DARK WINDOWS is live on Amazon!

I'm happy to announce the publication of my short story collection, 14 DARK WINDOWS, on Amazon for Kindle.  It contains 14 short stories, 10 of which are available as pairs or trios in four different Kindle short books, and 4 more that have not been published before.  It is available for purchase for $2.99.

You can check out the title here:  14 DARK WINDOWS.

Thank you for any interest!

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I've published 2 short stories on Amazon!

Hi, anyone!   I don't know if anyone actually reads this blog but what the heck!  Just a quick note to let it be known that I finally got around to publishing my first two short story pairs. They are currently only available on Amazon. Each is a main story, with a second story paired with it (to add value, hopefully).   They are under the pen name "Scott Dyson". The first is SOLE OCCUPANT and it is $0.99 on Amazon. It contains the 2400 word main story SOLE OCCUPANT and the short flash fiction piece THE ONLY SOLUTION (~700 words). The second is ODD MAN OUT and it is also $0.99 on Amazon. It contains the 1600 word main story ODD MAN OUT and a second horror tale, HOUSE AT THE BEND IN THE ROAD (~1800 words). That's 3100 words (about 14 pages with author note) for the first pair and 3400 words (about 15 pages with short author note) for the second pair. Take a look at them if you're so inclined. Thank you!!!    (Find my website at ScottDyson.com )

Doug Glanville's book

I'm cross posting this from my Journalscape blog.

My friend Mills gave me a copy of Doug Glanville's book THE GAME FROM WHERE I STAND: A BALLPLAYER'S INSIDE VIEW, and I'm currently about halfway through it. It's exactly what it purports to be - an insider's look at the things that baseball players go through from the time they are drafted till they retire, with emphasis on the time spent in the majors.

Glanville was a first round pick of my Chicago Cubs, out of Ivy League Penn, so I was quite familiar with him. He ended up playing left field for the Cubs though he was a natural centerfielder, and was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies where he had his best years in CF, replacing favorite Lenny Dykstra, and eventually being replaced by (current Cubs center fielder) Marlon Byrd. He spent time in Texas with the Rangers, and then returned to the Cubs.

He discusses a lot of things in the book, including preparations for games, unwritten etiquette rules during games, and relationships with friends and family, other players, and that special relationship that one hopes to find with their significant other. I've got a lot to go, but so far I've found this an engrossing read, well written and with a gentle touch to the prose that makes it an easy read also. Glanville was a systems engineering major at Penn, so he has a lot of brains and it shows in the way he treats all of these issue.

Good book for a summer read for a baseball fan.