Beetle now available in print

After some thought, I have withdrawn my ebook versions of the Beetle stories and republished them as a single, stand-alone novel with the Hemlock Lodge Press logo. It is now available from your local book store via Ingram, or through Amazon. Take an look.

Synopsis: Lanie Whitehead, a smartass, interfering but compassionate virtual girl, attempts to insure a future for her nerdy creator and his girlfriend during their last year on a university campus. How do paranoid administrators and a possessive former boyfriend deal with a person who does not really exist, can walk through any wall, listen to any conversation, but cannot ever leave campus or actually touch anything inanimate? And what is she to do if her computer shuts off, and when someone turns it back on, it's a dozen years later, and every person she knows is gone? Being a super-smart virtual girl, Lanie investigates, discovers the truth and kicks butt. A bitter-sweet, often funny story of courage, growth, love and finding understanding.

Crossover fiction set in the near future.

My postings around the web.

For those of you who are my Blog followers, and others as well: you may have noticed that I have not posted here as frequently as in the past.

I am still posting.
For reports on my writings and book marketing efforts, I recommend checking my facebook page for the Hemlock Lodge Press: https://www.facebook.com/WesLoderBooksFromTheLodge/
 For postings on family and photography, you might want to check my personal facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/michael.w.loder
For postings on my camera research, you might want to check my camera blog: http://wesloderandnikon.blogspot.com/

Still intend to do more posting here as the opportunity arises. Thank you for your interest and support.

First Castle

For those of you who have been following the construction of the castle for my grandchildren on this blog, here is a picture of the first "Fort-cum-castle" I had my hand in. I built it all by myself, using old lumber from the former mill and pighouse on our farm. I finished it in November 1960, and would have been fifteen at the time. It was two stories plus the tower.

Children's historical novel soon available.

In May 2018, my new historical novel, Taken beyond the Ohio: the Indian Captivity of Marie LeRoy and Barbara Leininger, should be available for purchase via Ingram and Amazon Books.

Synopsis:
At the outbreak of the French and Indian War in Pennsylvania, Indian raiders took two neighboring, twelve-year-old girls prisoner. Marie LeRoy and Barbara Leininger both witnessed the killing of their fathers and the destruction of their homes, then lived together with their captors for over three years. They learned Indian ways and moved five times, finally ending up in central Ohio. But neither fully accepted their adoption. In March 1759, along with two other young captives, they escaped, walking almost 200 miles through near-winter wilderness to Fort Pitt and freedom. The first-person voice of Marie LeRoy gives this fictional recreation of an actual experience immediacy and provides understanding of what both girls experienced. It follows the girls’ own narrative, but fills in many details of a challenging, sometimes brutal ordeal from which both girls still emerged strong and whole. It is a story of friendship, courage and resourcefulness driven by a constant need to regain family and home.

This is a true story of survival that should interest both girls or boys, but it should also appeal to teachers searching for fiction to use in history curricula. The 282 page story includes end notes and an extensive bibliography.


 Published under the Hemlock Lodge Press imprint.
Kutztown, Pennsylvania

With numerous illustrations.
Printed and distributed by Blurb publications. Available from Amazon and through Ingram. Also available at the Firefly Bookstore in Kutztown, PA .
ISBN: 9781388685737 (softcover) list: $12.75
ISBN: 9781388685249 (hardcover) list: $27.50

This book was a labor of love. The story of Barbara Leininger's younger sister, Regina, who was kidnapped at the same time, usually gets all the attention. LeRoy is all too often the forgotten part of the story. But I spent a long time doing the research, and Linda and I traveled across Pennsylvania and out to the middle of Ohio retracing the girls' route and visiting the places they lived. I wanted to get the girls' story as accurate and faithful to what happened as possible. Their courage still impresses me today.

Various pictures shot on film

Scott & Charlotte coming off Mt. Kearsarge, NH

Our humble home

Battlements of the Loder castle

Moses and Lego box

Brandon, LisaandLinda picking wineberries

In the Whites

The Castle's Climbing Wall

Climbing wall for Moses

The castle is still not quite complete, but we were able to add the climbing wall and pipe slide on the back in the last week or so—despite miserable, hot weather.
Moses loves it.
The grips came from Rocky Mountain Climbing Gear. Excellent quality and good price. I mounted them on treated 2X12s. The pipe slide uses standard one-inch pipe.

Moses' new climbing wall

Get to the top, grab the pipe.

Slide down the pipe. He also can climb the pipe to the roof.

The Castle: Almost Complete

Claire and Brandon enjoy the castle

The castle for the grandchildren is almost done and my other grandchildren, Claire and Brandon, got to see it for the first time today. Claire and Moses promptly settled in for a good time. Note the Loder arms and the date added above the drawbridge.

Moses and Claire on the battlements. No, the castle is not crooked. I just couldn't hold the camera level.

Brandon is not so sure and enjoys his Mommy's help on the drawbridge.