W. C. BAUERS
  • Landing
  • Promise Paen

The Tiny Bible Tales Team Up in One Epic Volume!

9/14/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture

Look what's coming soon. Four Tiny Tales in one epic volume! What could be better than that? 

Grab a copy for your shelf, and a second to give away to that little person in your life. 


​

0 Comments

Rapid-Fire Review of OCTAVIA GONE by Jack McDevitt - A Welcome Homecoming

9/2/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
About OCTAVIA GONE: 

Each Alex Benedict novel by Jack McDevitt is for me a long-anticipated homecoming. OCTAVIA GONE was no exception. Jack’s a grand-master of Science Fiction. Blue-Sky Science, intrigue, characters I’d love to share a meal with, mysteries that must be solved, and thoughtful explorations of what it means to be human...all that and more in each volume. Having finished Octavia, now I want to go back to the beginning, to A TALENT FOR WAR, which tells you all you need to know. Few novels are worth a second round. Jack’s are. 

About Jack: 

Jack is an American science fiction author. He has won multiple awards including the International UPC Science Fiction award for Ships in the Night, a Nebula for Seeker, a Campbell Award for Omega, and the Robert Heinlein Lifetime Achievement Award. He has over 20 novels available in print, ebook and audio.  He resides in Georgia with his lovely wife, Maureen.
Picture
0 Comments

Techfasting Summer Break (At Least Part of It): The Battle Against Excessive Screen Time

6/7/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
Heather and I have about had it with screens. iPads, tablets, TV, you name it. It's not that we're anti-technology. I move knowledge for a living, on a 19 inch wired to a Dell laptop and a docking station. The BlueJeans video conferencing software is my new best tech-friend. Heather prefers her Apple. Don't get us started on "are you a PC or a Mac." We've made peace. She chose Jobs over Gates. Meh. But the boys are another matter. Andrew, Nate, and Caleb have developed an unhealthy relationship with the screen. If you're a mom or boy-dad, perhaps you can relate.

"After your chores you can have thirty more minutes, okay?"

"Finish your homework, and then you can play Pokemon Go." 

"Okay, just one more show, but make it a short one. Thirty minutes. Thirty. Minutes. Got that? Repeat what daddy said." (picture eye rolls and grumpy-little-men expressions)  

I'm embarrassed as I write this. 

Me, the conscientiousness dad who reads the parenting books, and does his best to put the advice into practice, the dad who's there at the games and concerts, who loves to detox with his guys after school with a ball in the backyard, or over dinner conversation. "How'd the day go? And don't tell me it was simply good. Tell me why?"

Me, slave to a programs and pixels. 

My boys are evidencing early signs of what might be termed an addition. The root cause of the addiction? Excessive Screen Time. In some ways, EST may be as bad for the brain as doing drugs. No, I don't think that's putting things too strongly. Research on the effects of excessive screen time upon children should scare us all. It's frightening. Rushing chores to so they can "tech out" seems innocuous enough because, after all, they are only children. The results say otherwise. I've seen it with my own eyes, in my own children. Shoddy work, dissatisfaction, inability to be bored, lack of imaginative play, laziness, even depression. After play, when I cut the power for the night, bad attitudes often follow. Tell me what that sounds like? 

The disrespect has gotten out of hand. 

So here's a troubling question. If they have the beginnings of an addiction, what does that make me? The guy who purchased the platforms and games, and now hands out "tech time" in trade for grudging obedience. Have I become their dealer? 

"Do this and you can have thirty minutes. Come back tomorrow and we'll do it again." 

Time to stop dealing. Time to stop being the pusher. 

So, we're taking a fast from technology, a Techfast. Addictions die by starvation. You don't manage addictions. You kill them. There's no easy way and no other way.

Every device my boys own is in a box, put away. Being transparent, my phone is still in my pocket. But, I'm putting it in the cupboard when I get home, and working to ignore it more often than not. I shut down all of my alerts. I'm not even sure why they were on to begin with? Why should my phone tell me when to pay attention to it? It's my digital servant, not the other way around.

Two weeks of fasting is the current thought. Maybe more. How we reintroduce screen time to the boys after that remains to be seen. I guess we'll figure it out as we go along. I want my boys to be tech savvy, and tech smart, and tech aware. For that to happen, I have to learn how to mentor them in the wise use of technology, both for pleasure and more often for gainful pursuit. Less of the former, please. A bit of pleasure if fine. An overabundance of it is the danger. Ephesians 5:16 comes to mind.  Time to redeem the time. 

Right now, we're four days into the fast. The most noteworthy thing is the marked decrease in disrespect toward Heather. I asked her to describe the change she's seen so far, in just 96 hours of screen-free life. "Sobering, eye-opening, revolutionary," were the first words out of her mouth. "The boys are more relaxed, not as volatile, and now they have calm, peaceful spirits." 

I believe we're on to something. 

Can you relate to any of this? I'd love to hear your story. Leave me a comment. Let me know. If you embark on your on #techfast, jot down your observations and be sure to share.  

Blessings, 


​W. C. 



0 Comments

The Death of Humility. The Rise of Pride and Prejudice

4/23/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture

“The true way to be humble is not to stoop until you are smaller than yourself but to stand at your real height against some higher nature that will show you what the real smallness of your greatest greatness is.”

- Phillip Brooks


Sunday's sermon gave me a lot to think about. Am I a humble person? That was the question Gary Barkalow posed, and it stopped me in my tracks. 

I wanted to say, "Yes, and there's a lot of people who need a healthy does of it." Perhaps you see the problem. 

I'll let Gary's words stand on their own. Perhaps they will speak to you as they did to me. 

Thoughts on humility: 

1. The truly humble are slow to judge. (humble people still judge, or evaluate, or discern...but they don't rush to judgement).
2. Humility enables us to see another person's failure, and still loves that person.
3. Humble people are self-aware, not self-centered.
4. Humility is heart-focused. The opposite of humility is pride, which is behavior focused. 
5. Humility is gentle and patient, but NOT passive. Pride is harsh and demanding. The humble have the courage and conviction to have the hard conversations, but they operate from a place of love, not condemnation.  
6. Humble people are honest about their accomplishments, abilities, and self-worth.  Pride-full people exaggerate who they are and what they do.  
7. Humble people receive love and praise. Pride-full people demand it. 
8. Humility is about understanding yourself, and then giving yourself to others. 

I'll add one more, and I believe Gary would concur. Humility is about finding clarity in every situation. Clarity is the product of considering the opinions of others, and of living in the tension of disagreement. Clarity should always trump agreement. 

The Twitterverse (all of social media, really) is ablaze with hubris. Gary's correct. What the human race desperately needs, right now, myself included, is a massive dose of humility.  



0 Comments

In Which We Greet Death With a Kiss While Wearing Break-Bad Mechsuits

2/24/2018

3 Comments

 
Picture
Author's note: I wrote this piece in 2016 for Tor.com, and revisited it this morning. Loss, death, and tragedy have been on my mind. Considering the news from Florida, how could it be otherwise? So, I decided it was time to pull this over to my blog, and share with you today.  
​
 
From 
Indomitable:

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right? At best that was a hollowed-out truth. What failed to kill you still exacted its own pound of flesh, and not even sleep offered an escape. The nightmares were definitely getting worse.
​

Surely there was a gaping hole in her heart that must have turned black by now. Perhaps all that remained of it was a deathly hollow, carved out by the worst kind of flesh eater. Survivor’s guilt."



Death and Mechsuited Marines. Nothing wreaks havoc like them. Indomitable is as much about the one as it is the other. My protagonist, a young Marine named Promise, has a habit of storming into trouble. With the help of a plucky AI assist, she cuts a wide swath. Death’s her second shadow. But the fallout haunts her. And the pain slowly fades.   

Charles Dickens christened death “Our Mutual Friend.” It has certainly been for me. I’ve buried a sister and a daughter, all the grands, and a cousin of mine named Jack. Death reaped each of them at inconvenient times. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye. Absence has made a poor bedfellow.

Promise is no stranger to loss either. Her full name suggests as much and, for good or bad, it’s a bit on-the-nose. Promise. Paen. I’ve caught flak for her name. Flak flak (like the shells thrown by the German Flugabwehrkanone, or anti-aircraft cannon). When I named her I was playing with words, sure. But I also meant to convey something deeper…that life is dualistic…both tragic and hope-filled, like yin and yang. We will all be wounded by something and probably by many somethings in this life. Many someones too. Loss is unavoidable. Death has a habit of being on the nose. But life is always ahead. Hope is out front, out there. It has to be.  

Promise first came to me at age seventeen. Orphaned. Jaded. Congenial like a rusty bayonet. She was mad at the universe. She enlisted to start over, to slake the pain, and to maybe dish out some cold-served retribution as a mechsuited Marine. But war had other plans. It kept taking the people she loved from her. The pain only grew worse and to continue she had to turn and face it. What Promise didn’t anticipate was that she’d learn, while pivoting toward mortality, to care again and to let the women and men she served with scale her walls. Turns out death’s sting is not something to be shouldered like a rucksack, on a solitary march through life’s tempest. Death is our mutual friend. We’re meant to greet the reaper together.  
 

Sometimes we write for our lives. For me that’s involved marring my love (truth be told my guilty pleasure) for military fiction and mil-speced battle scenes with a need to draw out the deep waters of my soul. I had to crank the well-wheel to find out what was down there. Up came a traumatized character who talked with her deceased mother on a regular basis, a centuries-old, semi-automatic GLOCK named Janie, a suit of interlocking armor that begs for a 3D printed cosplay, and a veritable band of sisters and brothers as real as any family.

Up came the reaper too. He likes to howl and gnash his teeth. But I’ve seen the fear in his hollow point eyes. He has a spot at the table, over there, where he sulks while I share a meal with friends. The food is good. The company, better. Reap sulks because death doesn’t frighten me so much anymore.

(article originally posted at Tor.com, July 25th 2016)  
3 Comments

Publication Day! Tiny Bible Tales are out!!

1/23/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
Yeah!! It's publication Day for "David & the Lost Lamb" and "Jonah & the Whale"!! Written by yours truly, illustrated by Marta Costa. Marta did a fantastic job. Please check them out and tell your friends.  #TinyBibleTales #DavidandtheLostLamb #JonahandtheWhale 
0 Comments

Hate is not righteous indignation. Righteousness indignation should not lead to hate.

8/22/2017

0 Comments

 
I try not to be political on this blog. That said, a few thoughts on the matter of the KKK, #Charlottesville, #Nazis, #monuments, and #racism. 

1. The United States of America has a storied history with race and equality. These 50 states have not always been on the same page about the matter, or the history of the matter, and I daresay, they aren't now. It should come as no surprise, to anyone, that some US monuments are controversial in nature. Let's be honest about the past while advancing liberty and justice for all. We should defend freedom of speech while condemning the doctrine of #whitesupremacy in the strongest, clearest terms. I pray that one day and soon, the vile notion that one skin color is better than another will at last be buried in history's grave of forgotten lies.   

2. The offending monuments in question are older than I am. Why are they so controversial now, and not two years ago? Or twelve years ago? I suppose we could say that things change, culture changes, causes mature. A car-turned-weapon, a deplorable rally, and a tragic death raised a national outcry and rightly so. But is that the whole story? Maybe. I wonder. It's a question worth serious consideration. This issue is far more important than anything Trump did or didn't say. Trump needs to be clear about his position. The "both sides" comment is repugnant and beneath the office of the Presidency. Trump needs to remove all ambiguity about where he stands. Trump needs to get his act together. Trump, let's face it, is way in over his head. Most importantly, we should not trivialize the issue of race and equality by making it about one man. This issue deserves better than Donald Trump.  

3. #Nazis are bad. Evil. Wicked. (And virtually all of them, except for a few very old men in hiding, are now dead) Nazis butchered seven million Jews. Nazis should be called Nazis. What we see today are pathetic imitators of bygone fascist mass murderers. Today's white supremacists have said and done vile things, evil things, and a young woman lost her life. I hope justice is served, hard and cold. But Nazis? Today's culture has too little regard for that word. By the way, the father of the woman that died has chosen to forgive her killers. We should follow his example. 

A bit of context about this...a fraction of a friend's family escaped Nazi Germany. Most of his ancestors were killed by the Third Reich. His family lost generations to the Nazis. Decades later they saw some small measure of compensation from the German government for the horrors inflicted by the Nazis. His family's wealth was confiscated, dozens were killed, and for that some recompense was given. This story is by  no means unique. Money for shed blood is an insult, part of the murderous legacy of the Nazis. The term "Nazi" should be applied only with great fear and trembling. To label today's white supremacists as Nazis is to do the real Nazis of the 1930s and 1940s a favor. I will not diminish the evil perpetrated by the Nazis by equating them to today's white-first thugs.  

4. Part of me would like to break a few jaws. I'd enjoy it. A lot. My family is multi-cultural: all manner of European ancestry, and Korean and Latino heritages swirled together. My nephew is half Korean, half white, with a Latino last name. My nephew's daddy, my BIL, was adopted by a beautiful man named Jesus (hay-zoos). Solomon Garcia is my nephew, my guy. (Jewish first name, Hispanic last name, half Korean - I love that) He's MINE. So, yes, I'd like to break some jaws. But my Christian faith dictates otherwise. So, I'll break bread instead and say this: I will pray for the racist/KKK/angry-white-men to become overwhelmed by the enormity of their sins, repent, and find Jesus. After all, the Bible is clear on the matter of human fallibility. "All have sinned." It also says that God is not a respecter of persons...in other words, all are created equal in the eyes of the creator. So says the good book and that's good enough for me. I won't start a fist fight with a racist. But I'll finish it if necessary. Remember, soft targets and open palms: groin; nose, throat; ears; eyes; joints. Smile. 

5. Hate is not righteous indignation. Righteousness indignation should not lead to hate. I fear the two are being confused and that doesn't bode well for the future of this country. This country needs to think a second time.
0 Comments

Let the Wookiee Win! Coming July 1st to Denver Comic Con 2017

6/27/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Hey, folks. 

I'm at Denver Comic Con 2017 this coming Saturday, July 1st.  

My friend and fellow science fiction author, Jason Kent, put together a fabulous DCC17 panel about happy endings in Science Fiction. Frankly, I'm tired of the dystopian mire the genre has fallen into. Why can't our favorite characters win in the end? (without killing them off in the process...well, at least not all of them). 

Let the Wookiee Win should be a blazing good time, and a healthy dose of literary optimism. Stop by and sell hello.  

- W. C. 

More about the panel: 

Location: DCC17 Panel, Keystone City Room, Saturday July 1st  
​
Panel: Let the Wookiee Win

Summary: Save our favorite characters! No one else needs to die! Have we seen the end of the happy ending?

In a world where every other author and screen-writer feels the need to kill off our favorite characters, is there still a place for the happy ending? Explore this and other plot choices in your favorite science fiction stories. Can you still have a good story if the main character survives? Does culture require a tragic story and ending to be considered a success? Show of hands, who wants to see a happy ending and who wants to watch an unavoidable plunge into dystopian chaos? Writers will share the driving forces behind their stories. See what influences tales across the spectrum as authors explore their own nightmares or seek to inspire their readers to a brighter future. Even when facing the demons conjured up late at night, just remember, sometimes it's okay to have a positive, uplifting ending. Sometimes, you need to let the Wookiee live...er, win!
0 Comments

RELEASE DAY, RESETS, AND THE RESURRECTION.  

4/11/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
NEW IN PAPERBACK - 4/12/2017
BUY NOW!

INDOMITABLE is finally out in paperback! It's a new book for new readers. 

The ebook is under $10. It's a new price point for budget-conscious buyers. 

Easter is this Sunday. Its a new beginning for weary souls.

My lawn is green. The eggs are coming. It's a new season. 

It's a new day folks. I'm excited. 

When you order your copy of INDOMITABLE (or UNBREAKABLE if you need to catch up), or if you already have, please tell your friends. When you do, whether it's a purchase or a post, email me at write(dot)wcbauers@gmail(dot)com with the subject line "RELEASE DAY!" and I'll throw your name in the hat for one of five Starbucks gift cards...so you can drink hot caf while you join Promise in her next adventure.
0 Comments

An INDOMITABLE Giveaway! Would You Like To Know More? 

4/4/2017

0 Comments

 

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Indomitable by W.C. Bauers

Indomitable

by W.C. Bauers

Giveaway ends April 24, 2017.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway
0 Comments
<<Previous


    Archives

    September 2019
    June 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    August 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013


    Categories

    All
    2016 Best Of Lists
    2nd Amendment
    Addiction
    Alex Benedict
    American History
    Amusing Ourselves To Death
    And Caleb
    Andi Arndt
    Andrew
    Andy Weir
    Anne Leckie
    AR-15
    A Talent For War
    Audio
    Audio Books
    Author Interviews
    Ayn Rand
    Becoming
    Ben Carson
    Best Of Lists
    Bible Stories
    Bolt-Action Rifle
    Book Reviews
    Bored Kids
    Boston Massacre
    Brad Torgerson
    Brain Science
    Brian Sanderson
    Bruce Lee
    Cadences
    Campbell Award
    Camping
    Carpool
    Carrie Fisher
    Character
    Charles Dickens
    Charles Schultz
    Charlottesville
    Chase Colpath
    Chief Petty Officer
    Children's Stories
    Christmas
    Chronicles Of Promise Paen
    Clarity Verses Agreement
    Coffee
    Commuting
    Creativity
    Cross Cult
    Daddy Dates
    Dancing
    David And Goliath
    David Weber
    Dealing With Tragedy
    Dealing With Trauma
    Declaration Of Independence
    Depression
    Donald Trump
    Editing
    Election 2016
    Election Fatigue
    Escapism
    Excessive Screen Time
    Favorite Things
    First Person Shooters
    Functional Nerds
    Gary Barkalow
    George R. R. Martin
    German Edition
    Giants
    Giveaway
    G. K. Chesterton
    GLOCK
    Good And Evil
    Grandpa
    Grief
    Gun Control
    Gun Defense
    Gun Laws
    Gunny Hartman
    Hashtag
    Hermione
    How To Get Published
    Hubris
    Hugo Awards
    Humility
    Imaginative Play
    Imperial AT-AT Walker
    Indomitable
    Io9
    Iron Man
    Jackie Chan
    Jack McDevitt
    Jesus
    Jody Calls
    Joe Biden
    John Adams
    John Ringo
    John Scalzi
    Jonah And The Whale
    Katniss
    Kindness
    King George
    Korean War
    Legalized Marijuana
    Literary Agent
    Little C
    Loncon3
    Loss
    Marco Palmieri
    Marijuana
    Marine
    Marta Costa
    Martial Arts
    Mass Shootings
    Mechsuit
    Memorial Day
    MileHiCon
    Miley Cyrus
    Military
    Military Draft
    Military Science Fiction
    Millennium Falcon
    Monuments
    Movies
    MS Word
    NaNoWriMo
    Nate
    Navy
    Nazis
    Nebula Award
    NES Classic Edition
    New Year's Resolution
    No Pants
    Octavia Gone
    Oregon's Umpqua Community College
    Oscars
    Our Mutual Friend
    Paradox Series
    Parenting
    Peanuts
    Pearl Harbor
    Phillip Brooks
    Picture Books
    Podcasts
    Pokemon Go
    Politics
    Poor Off
    Post Traumatic Stress
    Poverty
    Practicing Empathy
    Preschool
    Pride And Prejudice
    Promise Paen
    Property Rights
    Rachel Bach
    Racism
    Raising Boys
    RAW MC
    RAW-MC
    Ready Player One
    Rebellion
    Red And Blue
    Revolutionary War
    Robert Heinlein
    Rogue One
    Sad Puppies
    Science Fiction
    Second Amendment
    Sermon
    Setting Goals
    Shannara Chronicles
    Singing
    Slate Gate
    Space Marine
    Space Opera
    Spock
    Stamp Act
    Star Trek
    Star Wars
    Stephan Martiniere
    Streaming Services
    Suffering
    Summer Break
    Sun And Moon
    Swearing
    Taekwondo
    Tag Your Book
    Techfast
    Technology Fast
    The Force Awakens
    The Martian
    The Peanuts Movie
    Tiny Bible Tales
    Tor
    Track Changes
    Tree Of Liberty
    Triss
    Unbreakable
    Urban Meyer
    Victor Company
    W. C. Bauers
    Wealth
    White Christmas
    White Supremacy
    Wookiee
    World War II
    Writing Believable Characters
    Writing Realistic Combat Scenes

    RSS Feed


  • Landing
  • Promise Paen