The following is just a tapas plate from my Mark McNease On Topic Substack. Every Monday musings you can subscribe to HERE. It’s free!

First, a big hello to new subscriber Steve! We encountered each other on Bluesky. Steve is a very nice addition to the Tree House. At this rate I’ll have to get a contractor in soon and expand the place. Anyone know a good elf?

From the Editor’s Desk

I wonder if this should be called ‘From the Trenches,’ considering what’s happening to the country.

When is a friend not a friend?

Something I struggle with is the sense of betrayal and mistrust I now feel toward anyone I know who voted for Trump. There are people in my life who made that choice, and yet I know them as ‘good’ people who don’t display any malice. And yet … and yet … I feel like a Jew may have felt in 1933 wondering who among my neighbors and friends would protect me, and who among them would direct the Gestapo to my door.

I won’t ask them, but I can’t shake the feeling that I already know. It’s one of the many reasons I left Facebook: my life, our life, is precious and I won’t put it on display for anyone who isn’t appalled that Black history and experience is being erased from our federal government. Spanish-speaking Americans, and their language, are now of no consequence to the regime. Women’s reproductive freedom is something we once imagined. And LGBTQ lives no longer matter in any way.

CHAPTERS 1-10

CHAPTERS 11 – 20

CHAPTERS 21 – 32

NOTE: This audiobook was made using a synthetic male voice (AI). If you don’t like that or it troubles you, skip it! No professional audiobook narrators were harmed in the production of this audiobook, since I can’t afford to hire them anymore. This is for people who enjoy the story regardless, and for me because … writing is hard work.

Narration provided by Wondervox.

I am so excited to bring one of my favorite stories to life for your listening pleasure… a novella, actually, that had an incredibly long gestation in the recesses of my imagination. I’d put it off as an audio option because the voice technology I use wasn’t quite good enough. Now I think it sounds terrific. Yes, it’s AI/synthetic voice. I would never pretend otherwise. So fasten your headphones, and let’s get this dark, dark party started.

About Fatal Mistake: A Harry Hell Novella
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The year is closer than you think. The world has collapsed under the weight of its own insatiable needs, leaving shattered cities where those who still have anything fight to keep it that way, and those who don’t are a constant threat. It’s a danger that must be contained through a tightly controlled society where everyone is observed and everything is kept in its place. Harry Hellerman and his twin brother, Elliot, enter this world three minutes apart. By the time they’re teenagers, they’ve been surrendered to Control to be molded into the perfect assassins. A boy named Harry Hellerman enters, and a man named Harry Hell emerges: a killing machine of the highest order.

Actually, we can

(Photo: Clinton, NJ, library writers’ group)

Among the many talismans spread around my work (sacred) space is a simple wooden block with the words, ‘Actually I Can’ on it. It’s been a reminder every day that life isn’t over till they put a small hand mirror under your nose to make sure you’re dead. Until then, as Saul Bellow said (and Anne Sexton quoted in her Pulitzer Prize winning book of poetry ‘Live or Die’), “Live or die, but don’t poison everything.”

I’m living as fully as I can. The photo is the Clinton New Jersey Library adult writers group I just started facilitating last night. I don’t call them students. I prefer ‘participants’ for everything I’m doing. I even said last night, “I’m not a teacher. I’m a facilitator.” I want to facilitate other people’s creativity and desire to express themselves. That’s what I hope to be and do. This past year (2024) the universe showed me a different road to take if I was willing to let go of some of the baked-in ideas I had about who I am and what I can do.

I love to teach (I’ll allow myself to use the word in this context). I love sharing my 50+ years of experience and skill. And I love being good at it! My favorite part of book readings was the conversation with the audience afterward. People kept telling me I had a talent for talking to people, that I become animated and enthused speaking about writing, and they were right.

It invigorates me. It challenges me. It humbles me (as much as I’m willing to be humbled), and it reminds me that I have something to offer even now.

Let go, let goodness, and don’t be afraid of being someone new … that person, with those talents and gifts, was there all along.

Rec Room: Jazz Maestro Kurt Elling and the Sounds of Perfection

One of the takeaways from our latest cruise to the Caribbean was my introduction to virtuoso jazz singer Kurt Elling His music was on the lounge playlist, and the first time I heard it I stopped whatever I was doing and asked myself, “Who is that?” I immediately Shazam-ed it (the popular app that let’s you identify any song you hear playing) and was introduced to Elling’s very seductive, masterful jazz vocalizations. While I can’t say I’m a jazz aficionado—I’ve never spent much time listening to the genre—I can say this singer had be obsessed. There’s something about his voice and his delivery that keeps me going back for more.

Elling has long been considered one of the premiere male vocalists in modern jazz. His ability to blend traditional jazz forms with contemporary influences has earned him the kind of respect reserved for the greats. Let’s take a look and a listen …