SPORKETTE GAZETTE
http://www.sporkettegazette.com/
February 21, 2010 – Volume 5, Issue 2
Patricia Spork (aka Sporkette), Publisher
Contact Sporkette!
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IN THIS ISSUE
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Ramblings
T. J. Banks Interview
Valentine Writing Contest Winning Entry
Share! Giveaway! Freely Distribute!
End Ramblings
Notice
Copyright Information
Subscribe/Unsubscribe Information
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Ramblings
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Hello, Good Folks!
Yah, yah, late with my personal deadline for this issue, but by golly, I finally got to it. And I ain’t making excuses. That’s just the way it is! :0)
Changed PS site to have FREE and “Surprise” memberships, meaning less will be offered as free downloads to visitors. Several Valentine specific items were added to the site this month, some for visitors and some for Free and Surprise members.
SporkBinge has had two Texas musician interviews added since the last issue of SG. Read my interview with Rowan Cowan, who does Texas Country “Outlaw” music. Or read my interview with Michael House, who is heavy into the 60’s/70’s Metal/Psychedelic sound with his band DarqSyde.
Sold the child’s saddle (Whoo-hoo!), so removed the blog post about it from Sorrel Sunflower, but still two adult saddles available there, plus other odds and ends. Nothing new added to that site, and nothing done to Sporkette, Digital Frolic, Resell Ebooks Buzz or eBookMouse. Grrrr.
Oh, did get a skin care product blog post published this past week. You may not know I’m an Independent Sales Representative for that well-known company, but I am, and have been so for almost two years. The company made the “Blog” feature available several months ago, but I haven’t been active with posting there, as you can tell. LOL! Love many of their products. Oh, yah!
Here’s some advice I hate to give, but going to, since your computer could get infected with a virus or malware: DO NOT CLICK ON ANY LINKS WITHIN SEARCH ENGINES THAT HAS MY NAME [PATRICIA SPORK] IN DESCRIPTION!
This past week, some freaking a-hole hacker transgressed on at least 16 domains (not mine…yet) and added some rogue page files. The page titles, so far, are Valentine-themed and my name [Patricia Spork] is being used as a keyword for those pages. If you click on the Valentine-related page links within search engines, you may wind up on a malicious attack page that will automatically download the “new” virus “Rogue:W32/SecurityTool.AA”…or who knows what else.
I contacted most of the domains (those I could locate “Contact” information for) and warned them of the malicious attack abuse. Most of the domains are registered in Europe, with some in Asia, South America and the United States. Several of the domain owners have contacted me, thanking me for the notifications. Those that contacted me have removed the rogue pages from their servers. Being most of the sites are in languages other than English, maybe my e-mails weren’t read or discarded or never received, so other page links are still showing in search engines.
I wouldn’t have known about my name abuse, except for being signed up to Google Alerts ™, so I highly recommend if you are not signed up for this service, then consider doing so.
Also, if not for one of the domain owners (whom I fondly call “HackerTracker”), I wouldn’t know about that particular virus. Poor fella had approximately 2000 rogue files on one of his domains, which totally urked the heck out of him. Rightly so! Being he’s very tech savvy, he’s hot on the trail of the culprit. So do me a favor and take a moment to wish HackerTracker much success with his hacker tracking endeavors. Thanks.
And if you are a super-sophisticated, super-savvy, super-techie, Super Geek and want to do some super, super hacker tracking, just do a simple super search for my super simple name [Patricia Spork] and start super-surfing from there. But if you do, be super careful, for super-dupers can be super-duped. :0)
Now tell me…if this type situation happened to your good name, would you warn the Internet community not to click on links having your name affiliated with them?
Hackers can ruin my name in search engines on the Internet, but they can not ruin my personal ethics and morals, nor take from me my name. So, to this particular hacker, I state, “UP YOURS, MF!”
In proud defense and defiance,
Patricia Spork (aka Sporkette)
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T. J. Banks Interview
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T.J. banks, Author of A Time For Shadows (Photo by Zeke)
T. J. Banks is the author of several novels, the most recent being the historical romance A Time For Shadows.
Having read previous works by Ms. Banks, and having enjoyed the reads, I requested a review copy of A Time for Shadows in return for my book review. Thankfully for me, T. J. Banks accepted my request and mailed the review copy my way as soon as she received printed copies.
Being a prestigious “cat writer”, this new direction in writing from T.J. Banks is a pleasant surprise. And if it hadn’t been for my friend, Alina Oswald, I may never have been aware of T. J. Banks or had opportunity to read any of her books. Thanks, Alina, for hooking us up!
T. J. and Alina are good friends. As a matter of fact, T. J. recently interviewed Alina and posted the interview at her “Sketch People” blog site. Read the interview.
Anyhoo, to me, T.J. Banks is now a budding historical romance writer, and I’m thrilled to have interviewed her about her first book in this genre. Thanks, T. J! So in great gratitude to her, I share our interview with you. :0)
SPORKETTE: What prompted you to write the fiction romance novel A Time for Shadows?
T.J. BANKS: I’d always been haunted by my grandmother’s story about Max, the brother she’d lost in WWI. Something about the way she told the story stayed with me; in fact, it doesn’t take much for me to transport myself back in time to the afternoon she told me the story while we were sitting under the big willow tree at the old farm. She had loved that older brother of hers very much – so much so that she didn’t rest easy about him till many years later, when she finally got a chance to visit the cemetery, in France, where he was buried. My aunt, who was with her, says she put her hand on the grave – much as Iris does at one point in the book – and murmured, ‘It’s dry.’ Apparently, my grandmother had nightmares for years about his having been buried in a water-logged grave because it was so close to the coast. Anyway, Max’s story led to the writing of Shadows, although that story obviously plays only a small part in the book.
SPORKETTE: Why did you choose World War I for the novel’s time period?
T.J. BANKS: I’ve always been fascinated by WWI…and not just because of my great-uncle’s tragedy. Some incredibly powerful literature came out of that war: Wilfred Owen’s and Siegfried Sassoon’s poetry; Vera Brittain’s Testament of Youth; and Robert Graves’ Good-bye to All That.
And literature aside…let’s not forget that this was a war unlike a war anyone had ever seen before. None of the old rules of warfare applied anymore. It was the last war that cavalry was used and the first that saw chemical warfare, ambulances and airplanes being made use of. And it changed the psychic landscape of a generation.
I had a history professor who emphasized how all the Victorian ideas of science and progress were obliterated during the trench warfare and men were ‘reduced to living like moles in the earth.’
Last, but not least, the Second World War came out of the badly made peace of the First. Had that peace been more equitable, there might not have been a socio-economic climate for Hitler to flourish in. You cannot understand WWII fully without studying WWI.
SPORKETTE: What is your favorite fact blended into A Time For Shadows, and why?
T.J. BANKS: I’d have to say the use of Francis Derwent Wood, the British sculptor who came up with the electroplated masks for disfigured men. It was really the beginning of plastic surgery as we know it today.
The masks were, as historian Lyn Macdonald points out, ‘temporary affairs that would last a few years at most, but they helped,’ and ‘[f]rom behind one of Captain Derwent Wood’s masterpieces, a disfigured man could look the world in the face knowing that the world could look back at him without shuddering.’
I was fascinated by a mind like Derwent Wood’s…one that could come up with such a creative solution to such a seemingly unsolvable problem. So, he had to go into the book.
SPORKETTE: How do you think your ‘nurse and soldier romance‘ theme differs from others on the market today?
T.J. BANKS: Well, I honestly see the romance as being secondary. It’s really more about the war and Iris’ growth as a person. That was, as I’ve said before, one of the joys of writing the book…watching her grow and take on a life of her own. She gets her heart broken open – once or twice (at least) by the war – and is transformed by the process, becoming the strong, compassionate old soul that journalist Dawn Kailey comes to know and love in the prologue and epilogue. It really is a trial by fire for Iris.
SPORKETTE: Why did you add a supernatural animal character to A Time For Shadows?
T.J. BANKS: I like a good ghost story. I also have an ‘office cat,’ Hawkeye, who kept me company during the writing of the book, so it seemed only natural to give him a part in it. Hawkeye’s asking for royalties now.
Seriously, though, I came across a number of WWI photos and postcards that showed enlisted men fussing with cats and kittens that had strayed into the camps and trenches – drawn by the rats, no doubt – and stayed on as mascots. I even found a postcard showing a tabby [cat], named Togo, ‘on watch’ inside one of the guns of the Dreadnought – an incredibly powerful British battleship. Togo was listed on the card as ‘the pet of the Dreadnought.’ So you might say there’s a historical basis for Hawkeye in the book.
SPORKETTE: Which male character in A Time For Shadows is most fleshed out and what is his main fault?
T.J. BANKS: That’s a tough question. Jerry, Iris’s lover, and Joe, whom she eventually marries, are clearly the most flawed. Jerry’s badly shell-shocked and frequently lashes out at Iris as a result. And Joe isn’t exactly the most honorable soul in the world. But are they the most fleshed out? Somehow I don’t think so. After all, both of them are ‘off-screen’ at the Front during much of the book.
SPORKETTE: How were you effected while writing about the tragedies of war?
T.J. BANKS: You can’t read about any war and not be moved and/or sickened by its horrors. And WWI had more horrors than most…men being gassed, blown to bits or crucified on barbed wire. Plus, so many men were killed by what we now call ‘friendly fire,’ thanks to the stupidity of many of the generals. So I was – no pun intended – blown away by the terrible waste in human lives.
SPORKETTE: What type friendship do you believe transpired between your characters, Dawn Kailey (unemployed journalist) and Iris MacCurdy (retired school teacher, once a WWI Red Cross nurse)?
T.J. BANKS: I think that it gradually becomes a surrogate mother-daughter relationship, with Dawn standing in for Iris’ absent daughter, Lucy. And, remember, Dawn starts out much as young Iris did, as an introspective outsider without ties to anyone. So, in a very real sense, they parallel each other.
SPORKETTE: Of your characters, whose war-time friendship do you like best in A Time For Shadows, and why?
T.J. BANKS: That’s easy…her friendship with the Australian soldier, Tim Skinner. He’s based on my late husband, Tim Spooner, who died in a car accident in 1995. Tim is always there for Iris; in fact, we last see him as a funny, slightly crotchety, utterly loyal old man, who has hurried down to see his old friend because he knows she needs him. And I love that because my Tim was only 34 when he died, and in my book, he gets to live out his life…he gets to be old. And, for the record, the real Tim could do a pretty mean Australian accent.
SPORKETTE: How do you hope A Time For Shadows affects readers?
T.J. BANKS: I hope that people will be moved by it…that while reading it, they will forget that these characters are just characters…same as I did, while writing about them. I think that’s what any writer hopes for.
And I also hope that the book will inspire people to pay more attention to the First World War, which really has – to borrow a phrase – become ‘this half-buried war.’ And it’s much too important to be written off like that.
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T. J. Banks is the author of A Time for Shadows, Catsong, Souleiado, and Houdini, a novel for young adults which the late writer and activist Cleveland Amory enthusiastically branded ‘a winner.’ Catsong, a collection of her best cat stories, was the winner of the 2007 Merial Human-Animal Bond Award. A Contributing Editor to laJoie, she has received writing awards from the Cat Writers’ Association (CWA), ByLine and The Writing Self. Her writing has been widely anthologized, and she has worked as a columnist, a stringer for the Associated Press and an instructor for the Writer’s Digest School. She is currently writing a blog called ‘Sketch People,’ a series of interviews with interesting folks doing interesting stuff.
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Valentine Writing Contest Winning Entry
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If you recall, the Valentine Writing Contest consisted of writing 100 words about why Sporkette can’t be your Valentine. My grandkids were to vote on what they thought to be the most creative and interesting reason why I couldn’t be the contest entrant’s Valentine. Well, they didn’t get to vote because only one entry was received. LOL! So, instant winning unedited entry is…
Why Sporkette Can’t Be My Valentine
By Levada Pendry
Ahhh alas! Sporkette can’t be my valentine because she is not red like a rose. She is plenty prickly with thorns, but those won’t qualify her. Red, lots of red is required. Preferrably a dozen and long stemmed, and expensive.
Hey, love is not cheap!
My other valentine requirement is yummy deep dark chocolate with surprise centers. Wrapped in a fancy gold box of course.
Sporkette is way too vanilla to qualify for that. She is much more like a crunchy rice krispy gooey treat. You know the kind that sticks to your teeth like superglue!
So sorry Sporkette, for that ONE day a year, you just don’t measure up. But for the other 364, you are the best friend a person could ever have.
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Levada Pendry
Levada Pendry is a freelance writer, web designer, and quilter, living on the Upper West Coast of the United States. ‘Follow‘ her.
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Man, thank gosh for friends!
Luv ya, Levada…and thanks so much!
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Share! Giveaway! Freely Distribute!
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The e-books available as free downloads further below are by other authors. I don’t endorse the authors or their e-books, or any content within the e-books. All of the e-books can be distributed to others. The Rights can be read within the e-book or may include a separate Rights license of some sort. You will need a ZIP utility program and PDF reader to extract files and read the e-books. Click on the titles below to download the zipped e-book folders to your computer:
“How Brain-Friendly Learning Can Release Your Child’s Infinite Potential”
Any inquiries or download problems, contact me.
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End Ramblings
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Obsolete Fools
Hackers are but Internet whackers,
Masturbating codes for pleasure and fun;
Stealthy they are, stroking naive sites,
Leaving electronic jism spattering the hordes!
Do they not know that life is short,
That brilliant minds – gifts – not to be wasted;
That bodily circuits shut down with age,
Like any old computer does as time fades?
What then of perverted, deviant, obsessions,
When sneaky, demonic, passion decreases?
Will they replay triumphs, once thought existed…
Or realize…they’re obsolete fools like tools once used?
~Sporkette
(aka Patricia Spork)
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NOTICE:
Sporkette Gazette is published by Patricia Spork (aka Sporkette) at www.sporkettegazette.com.
READ: Terms, Policy and Disclaimer on this site (www.sporkettegazette.com).
I hope to heck all content in this Online Newsletter is legal and not too defamatory or libelous and that I’m not infringing on anyone’s rights. I’m willing to be held accountable for any wrongdoing, but please know, everything published in this newsletter is done so in good faith and with as much integrity as is possible for a southern hick that doesn’t have much knowledge about law.
January 2009 – Patricia Spork
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Copyright Information
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Sporkette Gazette is Copyright 2003-2010 Patricia Spork. Some content may be copyright of other respective authors. Copying any portion and publishing any of the content elsewhere is not permitted without express written permission from Patricia Spork or any respective authors.
If you would like to share any portion of Sporkette Gazette with a friend or family member, please do so by sending someone the URL for this issue. Thank you.
Sporkette Gazette Copyright 2003-2010 Patricia Spork,
All Rights Reserved Worldwide
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SPORKETTE: Why did you choose Backbone as the title for your first photography book?