My Other Blogs

I've had many other blogs over the years that come and go as they fall out of favor until I revive them.

Currently, the other two blogs that I update are:

Walkin' in Brooklyn - my walking blog

https://walkininbrooklyn.blogspot.com/

Mr. Burke's Reading List - my book blog, more of a log of books read than actual reviews

https://mrburkereads.blogspot.com/

2024: The Year in Review, Part 1

Happy New Year!

Part 1 of my look back reflects on my writing career. Part 2 will cover the blog, the comic and teaching in general.

A Look Back at Writing and Publishing

Portions of the following text appeared in Burke's Lore Bites my newsletter.

Although my self-publishing career started in the final days of 2023, I didn’t receive my Author Copies of Burke’s Lore Briefs: A Heavenly Date / My Damned Best Friend until early January. I learned a few lessons about what to do and what not to do with future books. That first batch batch of books sold well.

Two more Burke’s Lore Briefs were published in 2024: “Portrait of a Lady Vampire & Other Vampiric Cravings” and “I See What You’ll Do There” (containing one reprint story, see below).

With these books launched, I created a mailing list (thank you for joining it) and a Substack account for posting updates. I’m still figuring out what works best for me.

In February, “A Sliver of Pi” from In A Flash 2020 was reprinted in Free Flash Fiction.

In March, a new story, “On My Shoulders” was published in Short Beasts Literary Magazine.

In April, my editor Danielle Ackley-McPhail surprised me with the cover for A Bucket Full of Moonlight, which is the biggest collection of “Burke’s Lore” to date, with 30+ stories, although it doesn’t bear that brand. The Kickstarter would launch in the summer, and the book appeared on Library Thing in October, garnering five reviews.

In May, the humorous RPG-Lit story “I See What You’ll Do There” appeared in the Spring 2024 edition of Sci-Fi Lampoon.

In July, AHOY Comics purchased “Death’s Last Man” which appeared as text in the comic Deadweights #5. My name was even on the cover!

And finally, October brought a two-fer with “What You Needed” appearing in the anthology A Little Fantasy Everywhere (Jersey Pines Ink) and two 42-word stories (one under the pen name Ben Carter) were included in 42 Stories Anthology Presents: Book of 42².

It was an amazing year, and I hope it continues into 2025!

For more news on my writing, and for links to books which mostly appear on Amazon, check out my Author Page at mrburkemath.net.

The Kickstarter for "A Bucket Full of Moonlight" has begun!

I'm really late in this announcement. But you can see that I've been off my blogs for sometime now.

There are seven books in this Tenth Anniversary of eSpec Books Kickstarter event:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/e-specbooks/something-for-everyone

The books being launched are Aeros & Heroes by Ef Deal, A Curse of Time and Vengeance by Christine Norris, Checkmate by Ty Drago, A Bucket Full of Moonlight by Christopher J. Burke, Feat of Clay by Keith R.A. DeCandido, Aleyara’s Descent by Christopher L. Bennett, and The Pharaoh's Cat by Lisanne Norman.

A Bucket Full of Moonlight has 30+ stories, most of which started as ideas or paragraphs on reddit in r/WritingPrompts, which were later imported into my own subreddit r/xwhy. (That’s my username on reddit.)

Several stretch goals have already been unlocked, including an additional short story, previously published, but with an additional, never-before-seen ending to it.

Final note: YOU CAN BE IN MY BOOK! One of the Pledge Levels is a "Tuckerization" of my book. That means that one of the side characters will be renamed for the person who pledges this amount. There are up to THREE characters available to be renamed in the book.

Check it out!

New Book: COVER REVEAL Burke's Lore Briefs #2 Portrait of a Lady Vampire & Other Vampiric Cravings

A new book in the Burke's Lore Briefs series is coming next week. In the meantime, here is the cover.

What do you think?

New Book: Burke's Lore, Briefs: A Heavenly Date / My Damned Best Friend

Long-time readers know that I like to write. Short-term readers might realize this as well considering that I end almost every point with an ad for a collection of my stories and for an anthology that I appear in.

The new book is self-published, which is something that people have been telling me that I should do. It is not the book that I've been working on for a couple years now. That book is going to be called Burke's Lore, with a subtitle to be revealed at a later time.

This book is the first in a series of short stories, about 6000 - 8000 words, and will sell as an ebook for 99 cents. Amazon let me add a paperback for no set-up cost, so I did. If you want a physical book, it'll cost $4.00 plus shipping, unless you find me at a convention and save the shipping.

Here are the images of the covers:

First lesson learned: an ebook only needs a front cover, but a paperback needs a wraparound cover. When I uploaded the same image, Amazon's program zoomed in on it. It didn't look bad, but the text was mostly missing. So I uploaded the image without the text and used their programming to add the title and back cover text. Next time, I'll double the size of the image so I have a back and a front cover, even if the back is just grey or light blue or something.

More lessons to be learned in coming days, like, don't screw up the author name. It didn't include my middle initial on one version, which isn't a big deal, except that Good Reads now thinks that the two versions were written by two different people. Something to keep an eye on in the future.

Finally, these books are live, and you can buy them. It's 99 cents for the ebook (FREE in Kindle Unlimited) and $4.00 plus shipping for the paperback. If you enjoy them, please leave a rating, review or feedback on Amazon, Good Reads or anywhere on social media. Thank you in advance.

I have to run now, but I'll update the after text in a little while.

I also write Fiction! You can now order my newest book Burke's Lore, Briefs: A Heavenly Date / My Damned Best Friend, written by Christopher J. Burke, which contains the aforementioned story and a bonus story. Order the softcover or ebook at Amazon.
Also, check out In A Flash 2020, by Christopher J. Burke for 20 great flash fiction stories, perfectly sized for your train rides. Available in softcover or ebook at Amazon. If you enjoy it, please consider leaving a rating or review on Amazon or on Good Reads.

Come back often for more funny math and geeky comics.

RIP Stephen P. Burke (1951-2023)

Many things have pulled me in different directions in Real Life this year, and you may have noticed that my output has been greatly diminished. I may have hinted at things without coming right out and saying much, except to a handful of people offline. And now I can say something.

My older brother Stephen has had health issues for most of this year. Actually, they date back through the pandemic, but he checked into a hospital back in May. He'd been in the hospital and a nursing home since then, with health problems interfering with physical therapy. I've been visiting every week (multiple times per week during the summer), and dropping by his apartment to get his mail and keep tabs on things. And it wasn't always easy figuring things out.

But that's all past and no longer worth mentioning.

What is worth mentioning is that Stephen was went to college with I was a little, so I got his bed five nights a week. On Friday nights I'd be spirited out of one bed and placed in a different one alongside my other brother who was much closer to my age. (Large Irish family, don't you know.)

Stephen had a love of chess which I never picked up, probably because he could trounce me, given his age, and the fact that I never learned to think more than 2 moves ahead. Somewhere in his apartment, he has some collectible chess pieces. I know this because he seemed very concerned about them any time we talked about the "stuff" at his place. For all the Disney memorabilia that he and his late wife (passed during Covid lockdown) accumulated, it's what he seemed proudest of.

Jumping back to those early years, Stephen liked to write. He also used to act in shows at Iona College, where he starred in several productions that I recall. He appeared with the Everyman Company, doing street theater, and at the Irish Arts Center. He did other shows that I can no longer remember. I was young, he was in his 20s.

Stephen had a love of comics and used to draw illustrations of his own. I thought that they were amazing. My superheroes never made it out of the cartoony stage. I have a sense of shape, but nothing like what he was able to do. That said, to my knowlege, he never wrote his own comics, like I did. Granted, if they had, his probably would've been much better than mine, considering his encyclopedic knowledge of comic lore, while I was writing goofy kid stuff that made sense to a goofy kid who'd seen a movie or two.

And, of course, Stephen was a writer. Would I have ever been interested in writing if Stephen hadn't been there first? I hate to think all the stories that will now be lost forever with his passing. The only ones I'm currently aware of are the two I commissioned from him to appear in Driving Tigers Magazine back in 1991. I thought he could've gone further with his writing, but life didn't work out that way.

And now I have to say good-bye to the older brother who planted creative seeds into an otherwise analytic math-oriented mind. I don't have a pithy comic book line or any other fandom that I can grab.

All I can say is, Good bye, Steve. You will be missed.

School Started, and It's Been Exhausting

I've had thoughts for the blog all week, both for a comic and for continuing Regents responses, but life gets in the way

Home life hasn't been rough, just a little tiring, but the new school year brought new challenges, and I don't think I'll have idle time in the evening any time soon. This is definitely a change from the past few years when I could (mostly) leave work at work. Except for when work was actually at home, but I was able to get things done during what would be my commute time.

Maybe there will be something here today. I hope there will be something here tomorrow. And then again, maybe not.

I haven't given up. Not yet. But I need to get back into the swing of things while learning new things on the fly.

Greetings, HeliosphereNY Con Attendees!

This past weekend, Friday, March 25 - Sunday, March 27, 2022, I attended the scifi/fantasy convention HeliosphereNY, temporarily relocated in Piscataway, NJ. It was their first live con in three years.

While I was there, I left a small pile of (x, why?) bookmarks by the freebies table, which were gone except for one by the con's end. Also, I donated 40 bookmarks, 10 of each of the four kinds that I had made over the years, to the eSpec Books Launch Party. Being that it was their first launch party in three years, they had many books to launch, but the most recent was Even in the Grave edited by James Chambers and Carol Gyzander. There were several authors in attendance to read from their stories. Additionally, Danielle Ackley-McPhail read from her latest book, Daire's Devils, an epic military sci-fi story full, and Keith R. A. DeCandido read from All-the-Way House, part of the Systema Paradoxa series of novellas about cryptids.

Bringing the readings portion to a close was yours truly, Christopher J. Burke. As you can see from the self-promotion at the end of almost every post, I have a collection of flash fiction, In A Flash 2020 available, and I have three flash stories in the anthology Devilish & Divine. I read one of the latter, "Bringer of Doom", about an ancient demon accidentally summoned by a preschooler. It got laughs and was found to be touching and heart-warming. Also, I know one young lady who asked me to personalize the copy of the book she'd just bought so she could read the ending.

I read a couple of stories from In A Flash 2020 earlier in the day, along with a couple of stories that I hope will be in another collection in the near, or at least not-too-distant, future. I managed to sell a copy of the anthology to an editor based on the two words "Kindergarten Noir". I warned her it was one of the shortest stories in the book, but she was not to be detered.

I had a good time, and the audiences seem to enjoy the stories.

If you came to this blog for that comics, welcome. I'm aware that the Comic Genesis mirror site is, at the moment, out of date. It's just a matter of time-allotment.

If you came to this blog because you heard me read, please, feel free to leave a comment. And check out my Writer's Page, which was created after those bookmarks were printed. It's at http://www.mrburkemath.net.

Thank you for stopping by.

Writing: What Was the Inspiration for "Familiar Feeling"?

The following appeared on my blog on my Good Reads Author page.

A common question from readers and writing articles is: where do you get your ideas, and what inspired you to write that?

I've been thinking about those questions as I try to approach my next Big Idea. When you're writing for yourself, you can scribble a few paragraphs whenever an idea hits you and revisit it whenever you want. But if I want to sell something that I write, I have to be a little more focused with the ideas I develop.

And so I thought I could revisit some of my prior stories. Where did they come from?

The lead-off story in my book In A Flash 2020 is "Familiar Feeling", which takes place at the Carrowmore School for Magic and Wizardry. Honestly, I wasn't trying to recreate Harry Potter or Hogwarts. On the other hand, I did want enough details that you could imagine walking up to the front steps or strolling down to the lake.

The story came from the title as much as the other way around. Many years ago, playing Dungeons & Dragons, a group of us started a new campaign. Just about everyone was a multi-class character, so there were several magic-users. Probably in the first session, one character said he was summoning a familiar, and before you knew it, every mage had a bird or brownie or something tagging along.

And then there wasn't much more to it, and they didn't get mentioned a lot after.

I wanted to write a story about a wizard and his or her familiar, but then I thought about the experience of summoning one, and how there could be more to it. It should be a big deal. And it would be a bigger deal if a group of mages were to have a special summoning ceremony.

From this came the idea of having it of having it at a school, the details of which were still to come. I thought about a shy boy named Thomas who summons something really special and shades of Rudoph when all of the others like him now (maybe nothing that extreme). And in creating this, I mentioned some of the other animals, including one girl's fawn (with a "w", baby dear).

Suddenly, I was more interested in her, and rewrote the story of Diana, and her uncle who had been a forest ranger with a bear cub familiar, and the pieces were falling into place.

If you haven't read the story, don't worry. The above isn't a spoiler. In the end, after all the rewriting, the fawn was changed in favor of something a little more, let's say, "magical".

But now I have this school named after a group of monoliths in County Sligo, Ireland, along with a bunch of professors who are more than just pieces of cardboard with names. This is definitely a place I want to revisit, telling more stories about the students who pass through its doors, or one great novel about some major event that happens there one year.

And whenever that happens, you'll know what inspired that!

Doing Some Writing: Writing Prompts

Occasionally, I troll reddit's subgroup for "Writing Prompts", which I've mentioned in the past. I've even blogged about it before. I'm writing more of them now, but the same issue remains. By the time I respond, the prompts have slipped from view, so my efforts don't (to my knowledge) get read a lot, which means that they don't get a lot of votes.

If you're interested in some of my creative writing, here are some of my more recent attempts. Feel free to comment here or there. If you're not a "redditor", you'll need to join before voting or commenting. (It's free.) Comments on my blog are always welcome -- unless they're spam, of course.

Recent Writing Prompts on reddit

The Boss of Me
[WP] You find yourself in a room of "you"s at every age from 1 to now. On the wall it says "Who's in Charge? To end the game, all must agree, by either force or diplomacy." You all turn to face each other. 5 year old you pulls at your shirt, "So what happens now?" https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/nyv6ua/wp_you_find_yourself_in_a_room_of_yous_at_every/h1nh04l/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

Cartoon Physics ... featuring a very generic mighty nimrod of a hunter
[SP] "That isn't how physics work" https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/nwi880/sp_that_isnt_how_physics_work/h19uyue/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

What the Key Unlocks -- I extended it because I was asked to, but going beyond that would require a complete overhaul
[WP] There's a door with a single key hole - it will open regardless of what key is used. All keys open this door, but what's on the other side, however, entirely depends on the key. https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/nwk8t4/wp_theres_a_door_with_a_single_key_hole_it_will/h1a66oh/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

Unable to Find Myself. Oddly enough, I've had ideas about finding parallel worlds which were alike, but all the others had this one different that ours doesn't have.
[WP] Scientist have created a machine that allow people a window into alternate realities. It becomes mainstream and people talk about alternate versions of themselves. Finally you decide to take a look only to discover that there are no alternate versions of you. You're the only you in existence. https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/nqhyz7/wp_scientist_have_created_a_machine_that_allow/h0c2p0a/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

Making the Most of a Small Sacrifice. This one got some legs because I deliberately included a phrase that people could latch onto or mock. It got their attention.
[WP] The ritual calls for 100 sacrifices, but reading carefully you realize it never specified they had to be human. Deciding to be a smartass, you got a petri dish full of bacteria and sacrificed that instead. https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/nv3y8v/wp_the_ritual_calls_for_100_sacrifices_but/h11xdfa/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

The Four-Color Peacock. I like my superhero stories
[WP] In a world of super villians who never monologue about their plans and heroes that never wait until the last moment to save the day, you are the only one to have any sense of theatrics. https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/nld7sw/wp_in_a_world_of_super_villians_who_never/gzixoyg/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

If you want to see more, LET ME KNOW! My tagline for this blog years ago was "I THRIVE ON FEEDBACK". Maybe I should resurrect that.

Unplanned Absence

I wasn't planning on taking a break from posting this week. It just turned out that way.

This past Sunday evening, I received the first round of edits on my anthology from my editor. That has required my attention. For one thing, my natural inclination would have been to join the previous two sentences using the conjunction "and". However, it seems that I overdo that a bit. Not my fault (Narrator: totally his fault), it's just the way I tend to talk, so I write that way.

Now, that's just one thing to look out for. There's other work that needs to be done. Writing is rewriting. And one of the stories definitely needs some rewriting.

I'm not editing the entire day. On the other hand, pretty much all the time in front of my PC is spent with these files. When I've reached a limit for the day, I'm too tired to start thinking about comics or any of my blogs.

So everything is in a little bit of a holding pattern for the moment.

By the way, did I mention that I have a flash fiction anthology coming out?

Guest Comic: Irregular Webcomic

A couple of weeks ago, David Morgan-Mar of Irregular Webcomic suffered a hand injury which make creating comics that required the manipulation of LEGO minifigures and photographing of same a little difficult to say the least. Rather than go into reprints, it was suggested that he should run guest comics.

The call went out on Twitter, and luckily, I saw the tweet.

I still have some LEGO blocks and figures in the basement which come out when my nephew comes over. (Mostly, just then. That's the ticket.) I went through them, looking for ideas, and taking pictures.

As that Friday evening played out, I wound up occupied with other things and didn't get back downstairs to clean up. The following morning, my darling wife approached me, and rather than being angry or disgusted that I left a mess downstairs, she was practically giggling wondering what I was doing, setting up the blocks when my nephew wasn't here.

After telling her about the comics, she suggested, which I had thought about as well, that I should involve my nephew, Mikey, as he might get a kick out of it. And, let's face it, he has a much more extensive LEGO collection than I do!

Later that Saturday, we were in his backyard with his LEGO table and figures (with some of mine as well), and we set up a couple more comics. And then I took more pictures as he "flew" around with some of my pieces. Let's face it, at seven years old, he's not composing four-panel stories, with or without punchlines.

Anyway, the first strip posted yesterday, at https://www.irregularwebcomic.net/4275.html".

Did I say "first"? Why, yes I did. I submitted a few of them. I don't know how many he'll use, or how many other comic creators stepped forward to submit guest strips, which run Monday through Friday. I'll keep you up to date.

Historical note: when DMM previously decided to stop making comics, he asked some of the webcomic people of the day to create guest strips. I had one back then, too: https://www.irregularwebcomic.net/3195.html.

Mr. Burke Walks ... aka Walkin' in Brooklyn

With the weather getting warmer, I've started to get more walking time in (even if I have to wear a mask to do it). And a little over a year ago, I started tracking my routes around Brooklyn on a map -- using MS Paint, of course, because what else would I use, right?

In the past six months or so, these walks have gotten longer, pushing past the usual mile or two, as I ventured farther from home or job sites. I discovered how (relatively) short a trip it is from Williamsburg to Barclays Center, for example.

And when I remember, I take pictures of interesting things I saw.

So, with time on my hands, I started Yet Another Blog. We'll see how long this lasts, but I have enough photos to keep it up through the summer.

Rather than call it "Mr. Burke Walks", keeping with a theme of mine, I gave it the title "Walkin' In Brooklyn". I left off the final g to make it sound more Brooklyn ... and because the name wasn't available. Stop by.

And, by the way, I lied. I don't really have time on my hands. I just don't allocate it the way that I should.

HeliosphereNY: Beyond the Corona, Con Report, Part II

Note: Part I of this report appeared Monday, and can be found here.

One of the panels on Friday started off slowly for a few reasons: first, two of the panelists hadn't shown; second, no moderator had been chosen in advance and it didn't appear that either panelist was particularly interested in leading the discussion; and, third, it didn't seem like they had much to say. Basically, they seemed unprepared. Now I know this con was put together quickly, but people were only put on panels that they had shown interest in a month earlier when preparing for the full-scale, on-site convention.

However, this post isn't meant to gripe about any particular panel. What happened, happened, and it told me one thing. Specifically, I needed to be prepared for my panel.

To this end, on Saturday, I sat down with a notebook and mind dumped whatever came into my head about the topic of Serial Vs. Episodic.

I managed to fill an entire page. As luck would have it, I barely had reason to look at it. A few points were fresh in my mind, and the rest didn't matter because of the directions the hour moved.

On the other hand, I still had some thoughts and opinions on the matter. So I'm going to jot them down here. If it's not a topic of interest to you, you might want to back out now. There is no seconfary topics afterward.

Okay, then.

First and foremost, I miss episodic TV. Everything is going serial, and that's not necessarily a good thing. Don't get me wrong: there are good serials out there, and I even enjoy a few of them. But there are so many on cable. And if you don't know about them early enough, you're likely going to just skip it and wait for it on a streaming service.

Episodic TV will never go away, as long as we have sitcoms, and independent stations have schedules that need filling with syndicated programming. If it's evening and you want to relax, but you don't want to start something, what are you going to do? Scroll through the programming guide until you hit Friends or Frasier or Big Bang Theory or Golden Girls. Maybe your tastes from more toward drama and some variation of Law & Order or C.S.I.. You have a story with a start and a finish, and you can switch it off. (Or watch another if you're up for it!)

With serials, it's all or nothing. You're not going to tune into whichever episode is on tonight -- not even if it's a rerun of an episode you've already seen. Out of context, the show loses something. Generally speaking, for me, most of these shows lose something in the retelling. For me, it's one and done. I rarely rewatch them.

In fact, when some of these 10-12 episode series come back after 9 months off the air, my viewing schedule is probably to busy to binge the previous season, to refresh my memory of the characters and the plotlines. Especially if it's going to remind me that nothing of substance happened for nine episodes, so that everything could come to a head in the final episode -- AND THEN there was a cliffhanger anyway! And the "entire season is one story" went right out the window.

This happens in longer, network series as well, when they hire one villain for the season. You know that they will fail to catch them, week after week, until the finale. Some of the show needs to be about something else.

This isn't to say that a show can't have seasonal themes, multi-episode arcs, and character growth. It's not the 60s anymore, so the reset button doesn't need to be hit at the end of every single episode. But have some part of the story start on one show and finish on the same show. And don't undo it the following week.

I had a note in the margin about Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, which had a good season where they went through three story arcs, even doing a callback to the first (Ghost Rider) in the third. There was some good storytelling that year.

By contrast, you have shows like Marvel's Jessica Jones and The Runaways. I thought Jessica Jones was a great show, but the first season got a little formulaic in the middle episodes. Jessica wants to catch Kilgrave, but she won't kill him. Because of this, he continually manipulates her, putting her into situations where she has to let him go so she can save someone else. (Now, okay, a hero won't let the innocent person die in order to catch the villain, but she seems to put herself into that kind of situation, repeatedly.) This problem was compoundd by the person she saved being killed anyway in a later episode, so nothing she did actually mattered. (Then again, that might've been the point that they were trying to hit home. In which case, message received.)

The Runaways is a show I only recently encountered. I'd heard about it, and knew it was somehow comic-related, which knowing anything about the comic. Had it been on the CW or Fox, running for 20 episodes, the first season would've been better. For one thing, so much of the first season could have (and should have) been dealt with in THREE episodes, not ten. And without trying to spoil things, everything again builds up all-eggs-in-one-basket for the finale ... and it ends on a cliffhanger anyways, with the story unresolved.

(Side note: cf Arrow, season 1.)

One of the "probelms" people sight about 22-24 episode shows is that they run out of material, and there's always *that one* episode, every year. Funny thing is, "THAT" episode will be the one that everyone remembers, either because they love it, or they love to hate it. That said, I'll acknowledge that stretching The Prisoner from six to 17 episodes caused a clunker or two.

I'm rambling now, but I covered most of the points I was ready to make, should they come up.

But here's a final note: I grew up watching cartoons, rerun endlessly, and we had no problem watching them again and again. Speed Racer could be repeated viewing forever. On the other hand, when Star Blazers came out, it was something totally new. And then, the second season came on with the the Comet Empire. And then ... it started showing the first season again, and my friends were like, "we already saw this." Not that the handful of us affect the ratings much, but the show was taken off the air withing weeks of starting reruns. Fans didn't need to watch the entire serial again. But maybe another episode of Gilligan's Island ...

HeliosphereNY: Beyond the Corona, Con Report, Part I

Long-time readers and followers may know that I enjoy going to science fiction conventions, and they may also know that I tend to go to one of them per year as my weekend away. I'm not talking about Comic-Con, which is a bit "too much" for me -- all hype and promotion. No, I mean a smaller con, located a little (but not much) farther away, where I spend the weekend.

In the past, that was Lunacon, which has fallen into the annals (or "annuals"?) of sci-fi history. Now, there is it's pseudo-replacement, HeliosphereNY, held in the spring in Tarrytown, NY (a stone's throw from Sleepy Hollow). This past weekend was supposed to be my weekend away, but, like everything else in the country right now, it was cancelled.

However, you can't keep sci-fi fans down for long. They were like, Let's Go! It was On with the Con!

HeliosphereNY held a virtual convention online. I was impressed that it came together so quickly, and that it ran as smoothly as it did considering they didn't even know if they would have panelists.

A couple of things led to its success: first, much of the programming work had already been done. It was just a matter of finding panelists who were available and scheduling some of talks which they had expressed interest in.

Second, and this is the biggie, I have to send kudos to the Filk community. I'm not a filker, and I don't spend much time in the filk room, listening to their concerts or open singing. But they are a very organized group, a close-knit one, a society unto their own. And they had an entire slate of performers ready to fill one track of programming. I don't think there was a point during the weekend where there wasn't some concert or other going on, even when there were no discussion panels.

Side note, here: A number of years ago, at one of the last Lunacons, the filkers wanted to invite Leslie Fish, a well-known filker on the West Coast, to the con. However, they needed to raise money to bring her to NY. So they started an indiegogo campaign. I donated to that fundraiser, without asking for any reward, for the simple reason that I wanted it to succeed. Not because I wanted to hear the concert, but because if it did succeed (which it did), that meant it could be used as a viable route for other guests (or events) in the future. (Which didn't happen, alas.)

Back to the weekend: Friday night was a little touch and go. The participants had to accustom themselves to using zoom, and the moderators and administrators had to deal with "zoom boomers" who came in to disrupt. The convention was free, and word was put out online in places where people ho might attend generally congregate. This also brought out the wackos. Despite the waiting room feature, people slipped in and had their little fun. As a results, for many of the panels, the microphones had to be turned off for all participates but the panelists. There was a chat window for questions. Thankfully, I didn't encounter anything rude or lewd on video.

For me, Friday was a mixed bag. One panel had no moderator and it seemed to lack direction, like the panelists weren't sure what they would talk about even after it started. The Horror panel, which featured readings, was going well, but was getting "bombed". Unfortunately, I was a casualty of that, as the incorrect person who removed from the room. (I got sincere apologies from the admin and the panelist after that one. No hard feelings.)

The "big" panel for me on Saturday was "I Wrote a Thing, Now What?", with advice from writers/editors on what to do, and what not to do. And a reminder that I need to write another story for another shot at another anthology, even though it may not get funded. Sadly, given this downturn, people are watching more TV, but reading less. Book sales are down. Even audio books, but they mostly sold to people driving to work. Notable about this (for me) was that Alex Shvartsman and Ian Randal Strock were both panelists. I was on two panels at HeliosphereNY 2019, and I sat next to both of them, one at each panel.

I was on two panels this year as well, both on Sunday. The first was Episodic or Serial, and I seemed to be the lone voice of dissent. It was the opinion of the panel that serial is the way TV is going now. Actually, I didn't disagree with that, but I wasn't enthused that this is where we're heading. I miss episodic TV, and many people at home in the evening, will flip on a half-hour sitcom and just enjoy. I think the other panelists agreed with me here. I'll have more to say about this panel in Part II of this report.

The second panel was "Privacy in the Information Age". I volunteered for this one because I thought it an interesting topic. I used to work programming computers, and now I use them in education. I signed up before the teaching world was turned upside down. This panel came along at the right time. Speaking of time, it was probably the best-attended Sunday 3pm panel that I've ever been to. Shoutout to Joseph R. Kennedy for stepping up and leading the discussion with lots of information and stories at his disposal. Most of my contributions were anecdotal, but the three panelists had a good hour.

Not much to gripe about during the Gripe session, and I even stopped in for a while during the Dead Dog filk.

Overwhelming approval by the organizers, presenters, and participants. We thought it great, and would love to do it again. However ... we'd all rather just be there in person next year. So here's hoping for 2021!

Putting the Science (& History!) in Science Fiction Convention: Heliosphere NY

As longtime readers of this blog may know, I generally go away for one science fiction convention weekend per year. For the past two years (last one in this one), that convention is Heliosphere, a new convention held in Tarrytown, NY, right off the Hudson River and the Tappan Zee Bridge, and just a stone's throw from Sleepy Hallow.

Heliosphere is a small con, but growing. It's not one of the big flashy events with all the media guests. It has writers and editors in attendance, and they'll happily offer advice along with telling you of their latest projects.

Unlike the inaugural outing last year, I was not a panelist or program participant this time around. I was a plain old fan, with no commitments, free to go where I wanted. (That also make this review a tad more independent, I guess.) And there was pretty to do.

For the science fan, there were panels devoted to the mechanics of sci-fi, including a Sunday morning discussion on Quantum Mechanics, and their applications in real life.

But the big draw would be for the History buffs (and the Alternate History buffs), because the con hosted a 1632 Mini-con, based on the works of, and the world created, by Guest of Honor. In this alternate timeline, a piece of land that included the fictional town of Grantville, West Virginia, was transported in time and space to Germany in 1632, in the middle of the Thirty Years War. The residents had to adapt to their new home and survive hostile encounters. Their "future" tech is helpful to a point, but they have to start an industrial revolution of their own even as they form their own United States over a century early.

A fun panel on Friday consisted of the "Weird Tech" that they could create based on the knowledge they brought with them and the raw materials on hand.

The Gaming room was a good place to pass some time, although I didn't play too much. Personally, I don't want to start a game that'll pull me in for a couple of hours when there are other things going on. Card games and word games usually work best for me -- but those can fool you, too, so be wary!

Another highlight is the popular Books & Brews panels, where the "brew" is coffee. I had signed up in advance to sit in with a group with another Guest of Honor, Dr. Charles E. Gannon, author of the Caine Riordan series of novels, as well as some entries in the 1632 series. Rather than took about his own work, Gannon quite eagerly chose to speak to the attendees about their writing, as nearly everyone at the table had done some kind of writing, or was at least trying. He sympathized with my comment that most of my writing credits happened in a different century.

What made this a highlight was running into Dr. Gannon again, later in the evening, at one of the parties. He came up to me, and asked me about my writing, and where I wanted it to go. If he hadn't had a fan before, well, he sealed the deal here. The guy's for real. (And now I have to make sure I have something written and submitted -- and accepted?? -- if I encounter him again next year.)

I've already registered for next year, April 5-7, 2019. Guests to be announced. More information can be found on their website: http://www.heliosphereny.org/

Doing Some Writing: Writing Prompts

Occasionally, I troll reddit's subgroup for "Writing Prompts". Even less occasionally, I sit down and write some. Usually, I think about them for a while and may -- or may not -- get back to them. By the time I do, they've usually slipped from the front page, if they ever made it there in the first place, so they don't (to my knowledge) get read a lot, and they don't get a lot of votes.

If you're interested in some of my creative writing, here are some of my more recent attempts. Feel free to comment here or there. If you're not a "redditor", you'll need to join before voting or commenting. (It's free.) Comments on my blog are always welcome -- unless they're spam, of course.

Recent Writing Prompts on reddit

Super powers. I like this one. I thought about a kid suddenly getting them without knowing or understanding. They turned on one day in middle school.
[WP] You are gifted with super powers. Instead of embracing it, you believe that you've gone crazy. https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/6upisu/wp_you_are_gifted_with_super_powers_instead_of/dlv52hg/

I have a few ideas about "familiars" now. This isn't even the one I started with. A detail I added for "color" struck me as more interesting than the story I was telling.
[WP] As a sophomore in a school of magic, you've reached the point in your life where it's time to summon your lifelong familiar. The other students managed to get some pretty cool creatures as their familiars, but yours is... different. https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/6unst9/wp_as_a_sophomore_in_a_school_of_magic_youve/dlv36ew/

This one I had to be careful with because I've seen this in a couple of places in the past few years -- I didn't want to copy anything, and I can't mention one of them because it would be a spoiler.
[WP] Werewolves aren’t men who turn into beasts during the full moon. They’re wolves, beasts cursed to be human. https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/6ul9vb/wp_werewolves_arent_men_who_turn_into_beasts/dlutdkb/

This one has problems. First, I was interrupted in writing it, so it switched from third person to first in the middle. Then I fixed it. Then I added an extra detail for the ending, which was too clunky and obvious. Also, it was supposed to be topical (hint: something in the news that people are talking about)
It was downvoted to 0. I wouldn't argue that. But it realized NO other stories except mine. Then the thread was downvoted to 0, so I don't think anyone else will see it.
[WP] You were once a mighty wizard, but alas, now your wand only shoots blanks. https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/6tw9cc/wp_you_were_once_a_mighty_wizard_but_alas_now/dlo6n0z/

This one is a little self-referential. If you're not a "redditor", you won't get the joke. Sorry.
[WP]"...and with that, through the pains and struggles, the last user signed off, and Reddit was dead. https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/6tvsai/wpand_with_that_through_the_pains_and_struggles/

Here's where I started my run, and it has scored the best -- which is still only about 12-15 votes.
[WP] Finally it's your lunch break, but alas you have forgot a spoon for your pudding. Existential crisis begins. https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/6tw197/wp_finally_its_your_lunch_break_but_alas_you_have/dlo2g5x/

If you want to see more, LET ME KNOW! My tagline for this blog years ago was "I THRIVE ON FEEDBACK". Maybe I should resurrect that.

Algebra/Geometry Tutoring and Regents Prep in Brooklyn

Final exams will be here before you know it, and soon after will be the Regents exams.

I have been teaching in NYC high schools and grading these exams for 15 years. If anyone in Brooklyn needs a tutor for the Regents, whether Common Core or the older version, you can contact me via email, mrburkemath@gmail.com.

I'm available most weekday afternoons at this point. Reasonable rates.

My Panel Schedule at Lunacon 2016

It's that time of year again, when I usually go to Lunacon, New York's longest-running science fiction convention, and then blog about my trip!

I say "Usually" because: a) I don't always blog about it, and b) last year, there was no Lunacon because of reorganization (to put it kindly). Part of that reorganization saw me getting involved with the con that I've enjoyed for a quarter-century now. And that meant eventually volunteering for something, some committee or other. Well, they also needed people to appear on the panels. I've had others (not committee members) suggest to me that I should, and I've been reluctant to. Who, me?

Well, this year, I volunteered. I have to remind myself sometimes that I am, in fact, a published author, even if I'm not as prolific as those I usually go to see. Hey, at least my bio won't be boring.

In case anyone can make it to Rye Brook this weekend, here is my schedule (barring the unforeseen):

• Fan Interest Welcome! Is this your first Lunacon? Bartell, Fri 5:00 PM
• Literary Travelling in time Westchester Ballroom D4, Sat 10:00 AM Edit: Maybe not
• Comics Happy Anniversary Captain Marvel Bartell, Sat 1:00 PM
• Literary Natural History of Barsoom? Westchester Ballroom A2, Sat 2:00 PM
• Media TV Shows you love even after cancellation. Birch, Sat 5:00 PM Edit: Maybe not

No "web comics" panel, but there is always the option to "make your own panel". Maybe on Sunday morning, since Saturday is so crazy. We could call it Webcomics for Fun and ... Well, Just Fun, Really.

If I'm not mistaken "Westchester Ballroom D4" has been part of the Dealers Room for the past bunch of years. I don't remember that designation for any panels. That would mean that they've shaken things up a bit, or at least rearranged things.

But Change is Good! (Like volunteering after all these years!)

EDIT: It turns out that I misunderstood my email because of the way it was formatted. It listed a couple that I was interested in, but was not included in. I didn't realize this until I viewed the program. I doubt I'm needed as an alternate -- both of those panels have 4 or 5 panels on them already.

(blog): Sporadic Posting for the Next Few Weeks

Once again, Real Life manifests itself in odd ways. Sometimes I work around it. Sometimes L post late or take a day or two off. Not this time.

A family trip (not a vacation) was going to take me off the grid (mostly) next week and the week after. However, other separate issues have come up that make the rest of this week unlikely as well. Where does that leave me?

Posting comics is out. I might be able to doodle on my iPad, but I won't be able to edit the pictures nor compose the text. Text posts are possible, but I don't know how much time I'll have to compose one that isn't rambling (like this post is). And with nothing on the blog, there will be little to post on Google+ or Facebook. (Maybe my personal Facebook page, but not the comic page.)

Basically, that leaves me with occasional tweets on Twitter.

If I don't post another comic before Friday, I'll see you in a few weeks.