Mark Hunter > Recent Status Updates

Olympic Sized Thoughts:

https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/2026...

Just watching the Olympics exhausts me, so instead of competing, I wrote about it ... just like everyone else who has no balance, stamina, or talent.

My Farewell Letter to Dispatch:

https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/2026...

I didn't expect to have mixed feelings, but, after all--34 years! I almost deleted this after reading my daughter Charis Koehl's Facebook post--when did she become a better writer than me?

So, I set fire to my snowblower:

https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/2026...

A puff of smoke, a scream of pain, refusal to work--that was just me. The snowblower did that, too.

Have a laugh for Valentine's Day:

https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/2026...

In addition to being great Valentine's Day gifts (well, some books are), reading is a great excuse for not being outside during winter. And if you've seen the forecast, you know what I mean.

Nostradamus, I wasn't:

https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/2026...

Will my predictions for 2007 come true? No, that wasn't a typo--I meant, did they?

Celebrating Word Counts:

https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/2026...

We all chase that great white whale of perfect writing. Sometimes the writing goes off on a tangent; sometimes the writer has to cut out a lot of their hard work; sometimes aforesaid writer curls into a little ball and cries. Or eats chocolate. Do you have any?

Finally, something AI is good for:

https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/2026...

"What if I kept the good stuff from AI spam--and used it for promotion?" What are they going to do, spam my spam of their spam?

Finally, something AI is good for:

https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/2026...

"What if I kept the good stuff from AI spam--and used it for promotion?" What are they going to do, spam my spam of their spam?

I stumbled across a website that lets you compare book prices among various sellers. They have some of our books (ignore Radio Red, that's the older version that we're replacing). I thought people might be interested in it:

https://bookscouter.com/author/hunter...

In the last two days I got emails from John Grisham, Oprah Winfrey, and Reese Witherspoon, all about how much they're looking forward to discussing book/writing stuff with me.

I'm skeptical.

Mixed Feelings at Retirement Time:

https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/2026...

I'm not really retiring so much as changing jobs: from dispatcher to full time writer.

This Decade Sucks:

https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/2025...

Oh, you think the 20s are going to improve? How cute. The 1920s were much better: They actually roared. Until 1929, anyway.

Stunned by a Songwriter's Note:

https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/2025...

In which I hear from, if not a famous songwriter, someone who wrote a very famous song. Also, everyone gets sick. Again.

About the next best thing to brains is good humor.

--Kin Hubbard

How the Scrinch Loved Christmas ... Songs:

https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/2025...

Don't tell. And Merry Christmas!

Happy birthday, Emily!

https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/2025...

I couldn't live without her, although there are times she'd like to kill me.

An Ode To Odious Winter:

https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/2025...

Winter makes me wax poetic, and also gives my fingers a waxy coating of ice. The prose is purple, just like my skin.

Coming Attractions, and the anthologies I'm in, are free on Smashwords this month:

https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/2025...

Okay so--"again". But it's still a free book, so Merry Christmas! Leave cookies and milk for Santa, and reviews for authors.

Years ago I had a tape of classical music with one piece that was my absolute favorite--then I lost the tape, and couldn't remember the name.

This morning I was editing my novel Radio Red for reissue--it was originally published eight years ago--and guess what classical piece a character plays? Yep. Dvorak's Slavonic Dance No. 4 in F Major, Op. 46, you guessed right!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0-2j...

Radio Red Is On the Front Burner:

https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/2025...

It won't be re-released in time for Christmas, but we've got plenty of other books that make great holiday presents. Not to mention winter reading, and it looks like this will be a good winter for that.

We'll find a way to let you know about those!

Our Twelve Books of Christmas:

https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/2025...

Okay, the books aren't OF Christmas, but they make great Christmas gifts, and that'll ring an author's bell.

For those of you who have Substack, I'm also posting the blog there:

https://markrhunter.substack.com/p/th...

I can't guarantee the accuracy: For instance, I’m not sure if the Pilgrims watched football on a black and white TV, or listened to it on the radio.

The Real First Thanksgiving, More or Less:

https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/2025...

"What was actually served at that original celebration? And did they really all sit down at long tables outside, in New England, in November? That’s a recipe for a nice heaping helping of frostbite."

Googling yourself Is Strange:

https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/2025...

Sometimes our books show up in the strangest places ... on a related note, does anyone speak Dutch?

Ok, so I've mostly finished winterizing the house--a month later than normal, which is par for the course this year. Now I'm clocking in to my part time job: Time to write. I'm taking a deep dive into notable Hoosiers, for our Hoosier Hysterical sequel.

We Need a Little Christmas ... Again:

https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/2025...

"There was a time when seeing anything Christmas related before November would send me into a murderous rage. That's how I got banned from Wal-Mart one August."

Renovations Make a White House Blue:

https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/2025...

A history of planned and unplanned changes at the Executive Mansion. Change is what history is all about, of course.

"George Washington picked out its location, about an equal distance between the local Starbucks and a CVS Pharmacy."

When Indiana cop Chance Hamlin tries to rescue photographer Allie Craine from a tornado, she instead rescues him, from driving into the storm's path.

https://markrhunter.com/storm-chaser

Chance doesn't like being rescued. He doesn't like photographers, or being stuck with one. But someone is causing disasters just in time for her to photograph them--and Allie may be involved.

An Active Author's Autumn:

https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/2025...

Two live presentations, a book signing, a radio station interview, a TV interview, and a podcast, and we're exhausted. Coming up next: Actual writing.

Has anyone else has experienced this long term but minor cold Emily and I have had for the last few weeks? The usual: Cough, sore throat, sinus issues, an occasional sneeze, general exhaustion, so on. Not that bad, although a few times it flared up and put us flat out for a day or two. The sinus and joint pain is, I think, more of a seasonal/weather thing, or maybe it's all connected.