From now until school starts back I'm a writer again. I think I've worked out a good way to begin a new short story called The Fermi Diet. I've had a general premise for the story and a couple of characters for some time now. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but this short story may come across as a far more cerebral read than a typical action-adventure romp might be. I want the reader to think, think about Humanity's place in the food chain. In the last century, atomic scientist Enrico Fermi suggested a cosmic dilemma which persists to this day: If the Universe is full of intelligent life, then why haven't we be contacted? Where is everybody? This story will put forth one possible explanation. At left is possible cover art, one of my decades-old acrylic paintings digitally modified. I thought going into this project art-first might give me some much needed inspiration. When I publish, I'll go through Kindle Direct again, as I did for Third Contact. Also, depending on the story's final length, I'll try to get them to price it right. $0.99 for a short, thought-provoking (and perhaps a little creepy) read sounds fair. I've got a publicity/advertizing campaign about to start with Amazon, and I'd love to have a third piece of writing out there to help attract readership. I'll keep you posted. |
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Well, some days I'm a writer and some days I'm an artist. (Every day I'm a teacher.)
Just now, though, the art bug is biting me hard. I've got a box of acrylic paints my family gave me last Christmas that still hasn't been opened. Once semester exams are done and we're out of school for Christmas break, I'll have to see about rectifying that situation. Since I'm in "artist mode" this weekend, I decided to update the Gallery portion of the website by adding a new page which features images of much of my work, both science fiction and down-to-Earth traditional landscapes. I paint space art for my own amusement and gratification, but I'll occasionally do a piece "for the family" such as southwestern landscapes inspired by my summers in graduate school at St. John's College in Santa Fe, or something motivated by happy memories of vacations spent in the Smoky Mountains near Gatlinburg. As I create new pieces, I'll add fresh jpeg images to the Gallery. Hopefully, I'll have some new paintings to share in the new year. In addition, I attached a comment box to the bottom of the Gallery page so that viewers could contact me with suggestions, ideas, and feedback. As for writing, lately I've had one of the worst cases of writer's block I've had in a long time. I'm reading a lot, trying to feed the imagination and trigger a fresh idea, but so far all I do is stare at a blank document page every time I open the word processor. Frankly, I'm surprised I'm able to add this blog update. I appreciate so much your continued interest in me through this website and blog. Thanks for being patient with me. When I finally come out with something new, hopefully your wait will have been worth it. |
AuthorJoe T. Coxwell is a retired Chemistry and Physics teacher, most recently having taught at Northeast High School in Meridian, MS. He is also the author of several science fiction stories, including a SF novel entitled The Epsilon Wish. A short story called Third Contact was released as an e-book by Kindle Direct Publishing in the summer of 2015. Kindle Direct also released a new short story called The Fermi Diet in July of 2017. Coxwell also enjoys creating astronomical artwork and SF/Spacescape images. Archives
August 2017
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