Manic Monday!

Hola once again, from the Casa del Pino Blanco!

Here in White Pine, the house is all a beehive of activity, with job searches, prayers for friends hoping to hear good news about jobs, and name-deciding research for the next novel.

Here's a little tease about it, to whet your appetite:

The next novel is going to feature a boy named Carter who unwittingly becomes the number four Gunslinger in the world, forced to compete in a Championship Dueling Series against murderers, convicts, and all sorts of malfeasance while attempting to avenge his father's needless death during a Series duel.

To be completely honest about the process, I always outline my books chapter by chapter, but at some point, the story takes on a life of its own, and the outline goes out the window. In writing the next story, I finally got to a point where I was ready for characters helping the main character, Carter, to give him important information about the 'contestants' he would be facing.

Enter the problem: the Series has a Top 10 of contestants, the 'Superstars,' of the Dueling Series. I didn't have any names for them, just generic notes on what I wanted each character to end up like. So, to the Internet I went, furiously searching Lucha libre names, FBI agent names, British SAS ranks, and so on, until finally, I'm just one name away from having the "Top 10" fleshed out and ready to be written into life!

The final name still alludes me: a techno-geek amateur who has been following the Series since its beginnings, thrust into the Top 10 after the unceremonious killings of number four and number five. I'm sure here in a few moments a happy idea will strike, and all will be well once more in the Casa del Pino Blanco.

In tech news, in honor of the aforementioned nameless techno-geek, at the E3 Expo, which I spoke about last week a bit, Nintendo revealed the Wii U, a new Wii-type system with a large handheld touchscreen/controller. Looks cool, Nintendo said the controller will be wireless, and there may be the possibility to play games off of the controller exclusively, without having to view it on a television. Could be very, very cool, especially considering the households with only one TV, where an entire family is forced to watch as one or two participants play the game. Added to Sony's Vita announcement, it leaves lots of video game dorks (like myself) wondering: where and when will Microsoft announce an Xbox 360 handheld?

Finally, our puppy, Dixie, just received her new ID tag in the mail. This doesn't sound like a big deal (LIKE, AT ALL!), but when you consider that the dog has a microchip that allows any pound/shelter/vet to scan her for her information (with the number also listed on the new tag), it feels like a massive jump in technology to me. If my puppy runs off and gets lost, which she very well could do, knowing my Dixie, she could be picked up by Animal Control and taken to be scanned and returned home safely.

It's a big deal considering when I grew up, animals sort of roamed free, no one cared and everyone knew which animal belonged where, and putting a microchip inside an animal sounded like something from a sci-fi comic book.  Welcome to 2011.

Last thought: when the time comes, where will they put OUR microchips?

Enjoy the ride!