.Dear Readers, This issue catches up on all
the news of this busy year. I've finally had some time to finish some of my
main art projects that I've been working on for years. Take a look.
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DOWNTOWN WITH THE BOOK OF RENOWN.
The last issue of Musea was a complete
short novel, a children's mystery, called Downtown With The Book of Renown, or
"?". I rushed to get that
version out, though I've been thinking about the story for many years! Once it was released, I took some time to
proof read it a little more, and publish it as a streaming novel.
It is now available for sale on the
internet, on all the main streaming book sites with my other 4 books. Yes it's on that book site too. My books are priced to sell at $1.99 each.
Since it was published I've gotten some
reviews. Here are two, 5 out of 5 star
reviews.
Title:
Downtown with the Book of Renown
Subtitle: ?
Author:
Tom Hendricks
Genre:
Young Adult - Mystery
------------------------------------
Rating Overall 5 of 5 Stars
Reviewed by Jack Magnus for Readers'
Favorite
Downtown
With the Book of Renown: Question Mark is a young adult short mystery story
written by Tom Hendricks. Tom and Brad love mystery stories, and the two boys
found themselves right in the middle of their own mystery/adventure after
Brad’s strange accident outside the basement cafe where he and his parents were
eating. Brad had finished early and decided to look around outside the cafe
while his parents finished their meals. A large man rushed out from behind them
and raced to the door, knocking into Brad and causing him to fall down. Brad was
trying to get back onto his feet when he heard loud voices and gunshots from
the street level. He could see the fat man's body half hanging over the wall
over his head, and he noticed the man's hand opening. A small black book fell
from his fingers and landed right near Brad's shoe. He couldn't help but grab
it and put it in his pocket. What he found inside was quite irresistible
indeed.
Who
can resist the lure of a treasure map? I certainly couldn't, nor would I have
expected mystery buffs, Tom and Brad, to do anything more than follow the
clues. Tom Hendricks' short mystery story for young adults, Downtown With the
Book of Renown: Question Mark, sparkles with excitement and energy as the two
adventurers travel downtown in search of treasure. The reader is privy to the
enhanced effects their enthusiasm lends to even the most prosaic everyday
scenes witnessed from the windows of a public bus, and one can't help but get
more and more involved as they near the spot marked X on the map.
I
had a marvelous time reading Downtown With the Book of Renown. Tom and Brad’s
adventure was reminiscent of those classic Hardy Boys adventures I grew up
reading, and I'm sincerely hoping to read more of their further adventures.
While geared toward a young adult audience, preteen readers and adults who are
still young-at-heart will most likely enjoy Downtown With the Book of Renown as
much as I did. It's most highly recommended.
------------------------------------
Rating Overall 5 of 5 Stars
Reviewed by Lex Allen for Readers' Favorite
The
synopsis for Downtown with the Book of Renown by Tom Hendricks goes like this:
“Two boys have one big adventure, when Bradley finds a treasure map and two
keys in a memo book from the hand of a dead gangster. He names it the ‘Book of
Renown.’ The map in the Book of Renown leads him and his friend Tom downtown to
the Clarks Hotel. But how will they get inside, and what treasure will they
find if they do?” Though I thought this blurb intriguing, I also felt it a
little meager. As it turned out, it was perfect and the answer to the question
was not close to anything I imagined.
I
would not have known what to write as a review of this little story had I not
done some investigation into the author and his other published works. With
that information came enlightenment, so to speak. That Downtown with the Book
of Renown is a well written, delightful read is, for me, a positive sign of Mr.
Hendricks' imagination and writing skills. That it is also far off the current
standard for fiction storytelling regarding plot, characterizations, dialogue,
narrative detail and backstory is both intriguing and refreshing. It reads more
like a script or screenplay, with little location description or narrator
detail. Dialogue is written with the name of the speaker, followed by a
semi-colon and then the words. There are no adverbs or adjectives to show the
speaker’s emotional state; the author leaves that to me (and you) the reader.
Excellent! Conversely, it misses the mark of purebred script/screenplay by
quite a lot, as well. I discovered that
all of Mr. Hendricks’ written work follows this style to some degree and that
it is intentional. The author’s stated goal is to “give an alternative to
generic corporate arts.” He has accomplished this objective with resounding
success. I am a new fan and I will read more by this author.
---------------------------------------------------------------
My Response to the Reviews.
This
being my zine, I decided to write my review of the reviewers. That's the fun of being an editor /
publisher. It also gives me a chance to add more details about this book.
Jack
Magnus, thanks for your review. Downtown
will most likely be the first and last adventure for the boys. I have many projects going on at the same
time, and this book project was one of them.
I had taken notes for it for over a decade. It had a number of plots that were
interwoven, etc. I don't think that I
can match that again, though I do have a film script where two boys find a
rocket in a cave.... Perhaps, in the
future, I can tie Tom and Brad into another novel as minor characters that my
readers might remember from this story.
Some
info just for fun; I grew up with a friend named Brad Baker, and my name is Tom
Hendricks. This was something we
probably would have gotten into as junior high kids if the circumstances had
happened to us. The novel was partly a tribute to our friendship and the fun we
had.
Lex
Allen, thanks for your review. I've
written in this style so long I forget it's not the normal style. I appreciate that you went outside the novel
to see that. My reason for writing in this part novel and part play style; is
to get the story going and never stop it or interrupt it for excess explanation
or descriptions. A lot happens, and we
learn most of the character's personality in the dialogue and events. Compare
how the parents tell the story at the front, with how Bradley tells the story.
Or did you notice how many times poor Bradley got cut throughout the story? I
think there is enough layers of fun to read it a couple of times and see more
each visit. In big events there is a lot
that happens quickly and I wanted to express that atmosphere. The writing is sort of a hybrid of novel and
play. Hopefully I mixed the best of both to get a quick moving read.
Note
too there were lots of characterizations in such a short novel, from a young
starlet, to all kinds of bad guys, to rational parents doing the best they can,
to emergency workers, to a bus driver and the people riding the bus, to hotel
workers from the laundry room to the desk clerks and the house detective, etc. I purposely packed a whole lot in these few
pages.
============================
TEXAS VIDEO SHOWDOWN.
What is it? A YouTube video that brings the music
revolution to a boil. It supports all
musicians, with a spotlight on Texas musicians, and does so in an innovative
way. Here is the link to the YouTube
video, or one can search these three words in quotes, “Texas Video
Showdown."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZvMa2f33Wc
Who is doing it? Hunkasaurus and HIs Pet Dog Guitar
representing thousands of musicians. He says his video is the worst music video
ever made, and it's made that way on purpose. It is not pretty, or trendy, or
well produced, or filled with famous people like those of the big pop stars,
but it IS better music, because it’s just music – one take of one voice, one
guitar, and one revolution. He didn't even comb his hair. Here the music is a
simple and fun challenge to the over produced generic corporate music of the
sound alike pop stars.
Why limit music to only millionaire musicians
with million dollar video budgets when the music is what's important.
What should musicians and music lovers do? Vote!
Help all musicians by voting THUMBS UP on the video. That means lifting
a finger and then bringing it down.
Time for all musicians and music lovers to
take a stand. The choice is crystal clear.
Do you want music to be only about 5 multi
millionaire pop stars, and stay as it is, or do you want to open the music
business to thousands of musicians?
Will
you support the musicians you know and love or are you for 5 pop stars making
all the money and marginalizing all other musicians into part time careers?
Let's open music to all based on quality and talent again. Let's make the best music also the most
celebrated music. The great musicians you know and love cannot make a living on
playing an almost empty club, or selling a few CD's and a t-shirt. They need a fair chance. Support them and give them a real music
career.
Music has jumped the shark, been reduced to
5 sound alike pop stars, shows no originality, and sounds like karaoke. Time
for the vitality that change can bring.
Who are the pop stars? The 5 main ones, though the list may add or
take away one here and there, are usually Swift, Perry, Beyonce,
Bieber, and 1D.
What will happen if I do vote? The music industry may be in for a big
shakeup if enough people vote. Stand up for those who try to stand out, not fit
in.
Sadly
it's clear to me that before any musician can make a living, and music can
become great again, we will have to work together to end the corporate music
that has reduced all music down to so few, over produced, sound alike pop stars
and their 3 mega music corporations (Warners, Universal, Sony.) That's why I started the Texas Video
Showdown, a video that brings the conflict to one point, one video, one
challenge, one vote. So VOTE already, and be a part of music history. Thank
you!
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WRITINGS IN SCIENCE, (A History of the
Future.)
A Novel of Poems, Essays, Plays, and
Stories.
This
is the novel I'm working on now - type, type, type, type! It's big!
I mean big-Big-BIG! I've taken notes for 15 years, and been writing and
assembling parts for the last 2! I've
even hired a typist to help me on parts.
It's the biggest sci-fi novel I've seen by anyone anywhere, and I think
it just might be one of the best. Here's
the premise:
Writings
in Science is a sci-fi anthology novel, of poems, essays, plays, and stories.
This is the premise: Millions of years
from now the Earth is dying and in the rush to flee, 1 man collects his
favorite 'writings in science' to preserve Earth's legacy. This book is that
collection of “Writings in Science!"
The book covers a
lot of ground from Sex Halls, to Alien Visits.
The excerpt here is a good example of that. In the future people love to
play sports of all kinds, and games are a favorite. The novel tells about 5 or so favorite games
played in the future. Here is one:
Go Fish:
The 3D Aquarium Game
First
let's describe the playing board. It's a
giant rectangular clear fish tank.
Imaginary lines divide it into hundreds of zones of different sizes that
only show up on the player's index or playing card. Each zone or quadrant is a cube of water in the
tank.
In
the aquarium are numerous sets of fish.
One set is assigned to each player.
The player may have more fish if they are small, less if they are
large; more if they are mostly prey,
less if they are mostly predators.
Each
fish is an automaton that acts and moves in a way that mimics that specific
species of marine life.
A
sample of fish might include not only all kinds of fish, but sea horses,
snakes, jellyfish, turtles, clams, rays, octopi, lobsters, starfish, and more.
The
tank itself is filled with a clear liquid solution that is slightly more thick
than sea water.
The
moderator, after assigning sets of fishes to each player, or team, presets a
random sequence of where each fish will start the game.
Each
player in the game has a playing card with a listing of the fish in his set. It
contains their attributes, pluses and minuses, where each begins the game, and
the quadrant or home base they must end in to win the game.
The
quadrants are assigned numbers by hook, line, or sinker; or up, down, and
across. Each cube of water lights up on
his card when a fish enters it, and turns off when it leaves.
The
object of the game is to get all or as many of your fish into their assigned
houses, at the same time. A perfect
score is when all fish survive and travel to, and land in, their assigned
quadrants at the same time, and that player is the first player to do it.
But
nothing is easy. Your fish may have to
fight off or flee from its natural enemies, while moving in its natural way and
at its normal speed. And sometimes it's
mating season and the fish wants to mate above all else, or they need to take
care of their young, etc. Each fish has
both an offensive advantage and an Achilles heel type disadvantage.
In
each round every player has a specific number of moves he can use for his
pieces. For example 10 moves a
round. Players know that a fast fish can
swim through 3 quadrants or cubes in one move, a jelly fish takes 5 moves to
float across a quadrant, and a turtle takes one move to hide in his shell right
where he is. The players also must use
extra moves in a battle with other fish, or in fleeing other fish that threaten
to eat them. And finally each creature
must take moves to feed or to sleep.
Also
some fish are natural predators and some others prey. Each has certain enemies to watch out for,
and certain friends that help in a symbiotic way. They also have certain other species that
they like to eat, and certain plants that can be food or used for hiding.
It's
all an extremely complicated, chess-like, game of multi dimension strategy and
skill. This has produced a few celebrity
masters and champions of single or team competitions. But it also has produced some extraordinary
craftsmen who have created great art in their design and building of fish tank
sets.
There
is also a virtual version that is popular all over the world. But the virtual is not as much fun as the in
house Fish Fries, or game get-togethers around a huge fish tank.
Later
some invented a fantasy sea version that takes place on an alien ocean planet
in a far far away solar system, called Kyptu.
All these alien creatures are a mix of real and mythical, with both
ordinary and fantastical powers. It's
popular too.
============================
PENNIES FROM HEAVEN, a sampling.
Hunkasaurus and HIs Pet Dog Guitar, (me and
my Silvertone), have 9 CD's with 150 songs out there on all the main streaming
sites, and money is pouring in every month. Sounds great right? Unfortunately it’s
mostly parts of a penny per play! Here
is a sampling of some of the cash that mounted up in the last few months.
[Songs can be found on all streaming sites,
including the hunkasaurus.com website, and the 150 YouTube videos. Search “CD Baby + Hunkasaurus”]
Groove Sale $0.04
Tidal Sale $0.02
Spotify Sale $0.01
Deezer Sale $0.01
iTunes - US Sale $0.00
(actually 0.0024 - not zero)
iTunes – Apple Music -
South Africa Sale $0.00
iTunes – Apple Music -
Rest of World Sale $0.00
iTunes -- Apple Music -
United Kingdom Sale $0.00
iTunes – Apple Music -
Canada Sale $0.00
iTunes – Apple Music -
Japan Sale $0.00
iTunes – Apple Music -
Mexico Sale $0.00
iTunes – Apple Music -
Norway Sale $0.00
iTunes – Apple Music -
Australia Sale $0.00
iTunes – Apple Music -
Switzerland Sale $0.00
iTunes – Apple Music -
Europe Sale $0.01
iTunes – Apple Music –
Russia Sale $0.00
YouTube Music Sale $0.01
Google Music Store Sale $0.02
Google Locker Sale $0.0003
Spotify Sale $0.05
Deezer Sale $0.01
Amazon MP3 Sale $0.64
Rhapsody Sale $0.01
MediaNet Sale $0.04
Track Download $0.90
============================
MY FIVE BOOKS have been published this year on all
the streaming sites. Here are some
review blurbs. (Read excerpts on the Amazon, Tom Hendricks, author
page.)
1.
LIBRARY PLANET. Tom Hendricks’
Library Planet is an explosion of imagination and wonderful cultures from all
the diverse planets... This is a story for those who want to get lost in a
planet sized library without spending too much time away from real life. -
Maria Stoica
2.
CENDRILLON, the True Story of Cinderella. Tom Hendricks uses a unique historical
perspective to bring new life to the tale of Cinderella.... Hidden within the
story are lessons about love, loss and acceptable behavior, not to mention the
definition of true beauty ... Cendrillon: The True
Story of Cinderella is a delightful version of a favorite fairy tale. - Melinda Hills
3.
PORTRAITS, a novel of Art, Artists, and the Art Revolution. Tom Hendricks’ contemporary fiction novel,
Portraits: A Novel about Art, Artists, and the Art Revolution, is an art
lover’s delight. The author’s story captures the essence of the lifestyle and
struggles of artists, especially those who’ve not been discovered or found by
the gatekeepers of the art world. - Jack Magnus
4.
TEN SHORT AND SHORT-SHORT PLAYS. Hendricks
obviously is a good writer and also knows the theater well, since his plays can
easily be produced by small theater companies without the aid of elaborate
scenery, large casts, etc. He also knows how to make things concise and easily
understood. - Raanan Geberer.
5.
DOWNTOWN WITH THE BOOK OF RENOWN.
[See reviews above.]
============================
Musea #199: The Catch Up Issue: Feb/Mar/Apr
(c) Tom Hendricks 2016 - Art work too.
Coming next month: THE BIG # 200 MUSEA
ISSUE !
Musea is: Tom Hendricks 4000 Hawthorne #5
Dallas Texas 75219
email:
tom-hendricks@att.net / or search my
name in wikipedia
Websites: Musea.us (zine)// hunkasaurus.com
(music)// musea.wordpress.com (blog).
Cover Photo: Tools of the Trade. Photographer unknown.