Our "Wildernest" Camper

For some time we have remembered the old days when we had a Volkswagen camper bus and used it to travel widely, stopping to sleep whenever we felt the need.
But what we needed now was something compatible with our pickup truck. After some research, we discovered the Wildernest campers, built and sold between 1987 and 1996(?). Low-production items, they are almost collector's items today and finding one that is in decent condition and in the eastern United States almost impossible. After several months of searching, we located on in eastern Massachusetts. The price and condition sounded reasonable and it was a model that would fit our truck's bed.

We drove to Weymouth and picked the Wildernest canopy up in early April. It has required a lot of restoration, but the shell and canvas are in decent shape. Here are two images from its first outing with its new (sixth) owners.
It poured rain, but the tent worked. We love the roominess and ease of setup. Gets hot inside without the sides open. It leaks around the bed seat in front. Bed is a bit narrow for two, but adequate. We plan to get a lot of use out of it.

A short piece for free.

Several years ago I received a review copy of a YA novel set on the Navajo Indian Reservation (Now just Navajo Nation, I understand). The lead character was a teenage Navajo girl learning to weave. The author claimed to be knowledgeable of Navajo culture and weavings, but the cultural details were dubious and the weaving details totally absurd. I wrote and told the editor that. She checked with the author and dismissed my charges. The book got published to luke-warm reviews and disappeared. But in the mean time, I said, "I can write something more accurate than this guy." So I wrote a little short story set in Ganado, Arizona, where I lived for two years. You can now download that story for free via Smashwords. https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/135327
Formatting is flexible, so take your pick, and if you like it, check out some of my other work. Thanks.

Beetle has a Sequel

Virtual girl Lanie Whitehead, e.k. “Beetle,” is back—restarted and now living in University Salvage’s store. She still is programmed to take care of her creator, Jeff, and his girlfriend, Annie. Only everyone is saying they’re dead, killed twelve years ago in a fix of jealousy by a former boyfriend. So what is she to do? Lanie gets Shadow, her "sister" and look-alike, going again, moves in with a family and soon has many new human friends searching for answers. Problem is: the university’s president is determined to keep the truth buried. But Lanie can’t live with any lie—not if it means giving up her whole reason for existence. She still needs Jeff and Annie, and she won’t stop searching for answers until everyone knows what really happened.

Romantic, virtual-person mystery that draws the threads from the first Beetle story back together.

So first check out Beetle: The Autobiography of a Virtual Girl, then read the sequel: Beetle II: Restoration and Retribution. Both are part of the "Adventures of the Whitehead Virtual Sisters."
Both are available as Kindle ebooks via Amazon.
And remember: you DO NOT need a Kindle to read a Kindle ebook. The software to download and read a Kindle ebook is free and downloadable to any Mac, ipad, iphone or PC computer. Check these two stories out and let me know what you think. They're cheap and they're fun.