I guess I'm a better reader than I am a writer. After a few hours of staring at the screen I find that I can no longer concentrate on the task at hand and need to allow my mind time to unwind a bit. Lately I find that leads me to Kindle at Amazon.

     No I don't think that that electronic reader is better or worse than any other, it's just that often I find myself wanting something new to read and not wanting to wait the several days it takes to get the paper and ink version of the work. I find a lot of very interesting things that way. One of my recent finds was Nathan Lowell.

     Most of my writing is of a highly technical nature. In the last year or so I have started to write other types of work simply as a relief to the grind of producing systems manuals. I work on manuals for a while then try to work on some of my other books but still I find that the little critters inside my head crave the sustenance of other peoples work. When I was a child I found Heinlein and Orwell. Later I found other authors and other types of books.

     I think that just as our belly needs food, our mind needs the food found in the words and stories of other people. The mind craves being led down the decks of a whaling ship with Ishmael while Ahab's obsession with the white whale drives the ship and crew onwards. Interestingly enough however, it is almost never the book with a good story and shallow characters you remember. Think about it. When I say Robinson Crusoe don't you see the raggedy old man walking alone down the beach with his foot prints in the sand behind him. For those of you who have read Nathan Lowell's Quarter Share don't you just see Ish being watched by three very sexy ladies, or perhaps I should say four, as he is fitted for his new wardrobe.

     Fiction is indeed the food of our minds. As long as there continue to be new chefs such as Mr. Lowell the future is a less scary place.