Reading

File Permissions?

When I replaced my Windows box earlier this year I kept the hard drive from the old Windows 10 computer on the assumption that I might at some stage need to access some file or use some software that isn't on the new machine. Documents should have been OK because I did copy everything across. But yesterday this actually came up - I needed a document that I couldn't find, put the drive into an external holder, then discovered that I couldn't get into the documents on the hard drive because it's looking for permissions which are long gone. I'm guessing that if I booted from that drive on a suitable machine I'd be able to read it, but that's not likely to happen.

Fortunately I did eventually find the file on my current PC, I'd been looking in the wrong directory with a slightly wrong file name, but I'm now wondering if there is some way to fix this if it happens again and I really do need to open documents. Any suggestions?

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The Twelve Books of Christmas

Okay, on the surface of it maybe there are better Christmas presents than books: A new car, a private island, a lifetime supply of chocolate. But I don't produce those things, so here, still in time for Christmas shopping, is an eclectic list of what I do produce.

First of all, of course, are the romantic comedies. I write fiction in many different genres, but for the most part all we've published so far are romances, which I'll admit was not on my to-do list when I first started writing. Still, I think we've got some pretty good ones.

Fiction to the right, non-fiction to the left.

I realized while preparing to write this that all my romantic comedies take place during summer. So curl up on the couch under a blanket, with a hot chocolate and a fireplace on the TV, and take yourself to a better time.

My short story collection, also (mostly) set during summer, is part of the Storm Chaser series that includes The Notorious Ian Grant and The No-Campfire Girls. We should have a Storm Chaser prequel out before the end of winter: That one's set during winter, so maybe we should publish it during summer.

If you get it for Christmas and read outside, I'm not responsible for the frostbite.

I like to make the books in my series (and other planned series) standalone, although it helps to read Storm Chaser first. The short stories in Storm Squalls generally take place around the time of the original Storm Chaser. The No-Campfire Girls is more of a spinoff, featuring a character from Storm Chaser and another from a YA mystery--which you won't notice, because that hasn't been published yet.

Have I told you lately that I have a lot of writing work to do?

My last published fiction, and the only one that doesn't take place in Indiana, is Radio Red. We have print copies for sale through the website (or through a private message, or stopping by), but at the moment it isn't available as an e-book, or through various websites; Emily is working on it.

The bird in this photo was a happy accident.

My teenage grand writing plan was to write fiction. Just fiction. Then my first paid writing job was for a newspaper, and now, with the publication of Haunted Noble County, Indiana, exactly half of our published books are non-fiction. (I had also planned to have a winter home in Hawaii.)

Not only that, but my best selling book so far is a humor/history combo called Hoosier Hysterical: How the West Became the Midwest Without Moving At All.

Okay, so it's a lot easier to tell what non-fiction is by the title. For instance, anything with the word "haunted" in it probably has to do with hauntings.

Smoky Days and Sleepless Nights: A Century Or So With the Albion Fire Department, just about has to be about the Albion Fire Department, and the only question is which of the two dozen Albions in America it's talking about.

Images of America: Albion and Noble County has to involve (historical) photos having to do with Albion and Noble County, and to my knowledge the only combo of that town and county are in Indiana.

You'll notice that the books traditionally published have short, reasonable titles, while the ones self-published have subtitles so long that they take up the first three pages. Sorry about that.

The books I knew would sell the best were the ones that collected my newspaper columns. They were pretty popular, and a lot of people were upset with the way I lost that job, so I knew they'd support me when the books came out.

They're my worst selling books.

Everyone wants more humor, but when it comes to books they want their humor from names they're already familiar with. Comedians, actors, talk show hosts, and so on. Still, I hope people will eventually buy enough for me to write a third. Well, rewrite.

Do I have any books specifically about Christmas? Yes, but it's not published yet. Did I mention I have a lot of work to do?

But you can still buy books for Christmas, so here you are: Our twelve books, with something for almost everyone except non-readers. I'll never understand those people enough to figure out a present for them, anyway.

There’s still time to order for Christmas, from many of these places:

· Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

· Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

· Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

· Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

· Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

· Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

· Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

· Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

· Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

· Substack: https://substack.com/@markrhunter

· Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/ozma914

· Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

· Audible: https://www.audible.com/search?searchAuthor=Mark+R.+Hunter&ref_pageloadid=4C1TS2KZGoOjloaJ&pf

Remember: Every time a book is sold, an author gets a cup of hot chocolate.

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Another RPG Bundle - Worlds Without Number

This is a bundle of the RPG Worlds Without Number by Kevin Crawford from Sine Nomine publishing, a far-future sword-and-sorcery RPG:

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/WorldsWithoutNumber

While this is the first bundle devoted exclusively to this game, the full rules were previously in the Sine Nomine rulebooks bundle from 2023, and a free version with some parts omitted is available on line. This bundle does add the atlas and a campaign setting, and seems to be pretty good value - it isn't really my sort of thing but if you like far future fantasy it's probably worth a look.

Another Repeat Shadowrun Bundle - SR5 Missions Megabundle

This is the third offer for Shadowrun 5th Edition, containing 15 adventures and sourcebooks. This was previously offered last year, I think they're repeating it so soon so that it's available to anyone who buys this release of the game in last week's offer.

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/2025SR5Missions

Last time I said "Shadowrun has never been one of my favourite games, I'm not convinced the genres mesh wonderfully, but it's an OK system with a big user base.... ...The source material in the Missions Megabundle looks useful, but like a lot of this stuff it's only useful if you actually use it - I own a ton of stuff for this system in dead tree format and I've barely used it, so I won't be downloading more." I should probably add that the stuff I have in dead tree format is for earlier editions, but I think the principle is the same - I'm just not a big fan of the concept or setting, and updating the rules doesn't really change that. But if you're a fan and don't already own this stuff it's definitely worth a look.

Look! I remembered to post before December started this year!

Hello, friends! It's about to be December again, and you know what that means: the fact I am posting this actually before December 1 means

karzilla reminded me about the existence of linear time again. Wait, no -- well, yes, but also -- okay, look, let me back up and start again: it's almost December, and that means it's time for our annual December holiday points bonus.

The standard explanation: For the entire month of December, all orders made in the Shop of points and paid time, either for you or as a gift for a friend, will have 10% of your completed cart total sent to you in points when you finish the transaction. For instance, if you buy an order of 12 months of paid time for $35 (350 points), you'll get 35 points when the order is complete, to use on a future purchase.

( The fine print and much more behind this cut! )

Thank you, in short, for being the best possible users any social media site could possibly ever hope for. I'm probably in danger of crossing the Sappiness Line if I haven't already, but you all make everything worth it.

On behalf of Mark, Jen, Robby, and our team of awesome volunteers, and to each and every one of you, whether you've been with us on this wild ride since the beginning or just signed up last week, I'm wishing you all a very happy set of end-of-year holidays, whichever ones you celebrate, and hoping for all of you that your 2026 is full of kindness, determination, empathy, and a hell of a lot more luck than we've all had lately. Let's go.

Current Mood: thankful

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The Real Thanksgiving, More Or Less

Thanksgiving in America continues to be one of the most traditional holidays. It still features the original four hundred year old activities of overeating, football, and complaining about Black Friday.

In the Hunter household, as in all of Indiana and much of the world that’s not outside this country, we battle the overeating. How?

By serving food that, the rest of the year, we hate.

Stuffing stuff. Cranberry things. Pumpkin anything. It was good enough for the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians, who the Pilgrims politely invited to share a meal in the new home they’d just stolen from the Wampanoag. The Indians brought a housewarming gift of deer, mostly because they didn’t want to eat cranberries or pumpkin.

But what was actually served at that original celebration? And did they really all sit down at long tables outside, in New England, in November? That’s a recipe for a nice heaping helping of frostbite.

The first Thanksgiving was a three day event, leaving one day each for the meal, football, and shopping. The Pilgrims were naturally dismayed to discover no mall or Wal-Mart in sight. Rumor had it there was a Target down the road, but both the trip and the name were a bit more dangerous at the time. They compensated by throwing another feast that third day, during which they discussed the football.

Governor William Bradford sent four men on a fowling mission beforehand. We don’t know for sure what they brought back, but it might have been turkey. It also might have been ducks, geese, or swans, which explains the song they invented about the meal and the entertainment. If it hadn’t taken so much time to memorize it, the song would have been “The Twelve Days of Thanksgiving”. That would have turned our holiday world upside down.

Why are game birds called “fowl”? Because they had no refrigeration. It was a warning: “Eat it fast, before it’s fowl!”

On a related note, this has carried over into football, which during the first Thanksgiving was so primitive it was watched on a black and white TV, with no remote control, or blimp. Whenever a player gets caught doing something that stinks, it’s called a foul. The spelling was changed during the Great Depression, when a letter shortage caused double U’s to be singled.

There was indeed an abundance of cranberries at the First Thanksgiving, mostly because the Natives used them as dye. (Good dye, although it tended to run in the washing machine.) By then the Pilgrims had run out of sugar, so there was no cranberry sauce or relish, or anything cranberry. That’s one of the things they were thankful for.

Potatoes were … absent. The Spanish had discovered them in South America, but they weren’t popular with the English yet. Instead they probably had seafood—lobster, clams, oysters, all that stuff you find on the Thanksgiving menu today. Actually, these days the closest we get to that is either oyster dressing, or “see? Food!”

Pumpkin? Absolutely: in their pie, their coffee, donuts, milkshakes … kidding—Starbucks didn’t deliver. They did have pumpkins, but no butter or flour for any kind of crust. They may have hollowed out the pumpkins, filled the shell with milk, honey, and spices, and roasted them in hot ashes.

I’m not making this up. I get paid to do this research.

A Fall photo taken from the office of my chiropractor, who I probably wouldn't need as much if I stopped overeating over the holidays.

I’m sure you’re all wondering what kind of beer they washed all this down with. I mean, Sam Adams, right? That’s the state beverage of Massachusetts. But no, it turns out they hadn’t had time to make beer, and didn’t yet have apples for cider, so they drank water. This helps explain all those Pilgrim paintings with dour expressions.

Add this to native foods like plums, grapes, leeks, and squash, and you get … *gasp* … a meal that’s good for you! It turns out health food nuts aren’t a new thing; it’s just that back then it was involuntary.

Interestingly, I found no reference in historical records about stuffing being served at the first Thanksgiving. I suspect the Pilgrims planned it, until the Wampanoag heard about the idea:

“So, once we get the birds ready, we’ll mix old bread crumbs and tasteless vegetables together, throw a bunch of spices on them, and stuff them up the fowl butt. Instant side dish!”

“Um … we’ll just take our smallpox blankets and go.”

Imaging how they reacted to fruitcake.

I would be personally grateful if you made my black Friday green.

The best thing to do on good Friday is stay home and check out our books:

· Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

· Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

· Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

· Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

· Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

· Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

· Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

· Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

· Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

· Substack: https://substack.com/@markrhunter

· Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/ozma914

· Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

· Audible: https://www.audible.com/search?searchAuthor=Mark+R.+Hunter&ref_pageloadid=4C1TS2KZGoOjloaJ&pf

Remember to be thankful for good books.

Two Shadowrun 5E Bundles - One Repeat, One All-New

These are two bundles for the Shadowrun RPG, which mixes cyberpunk and magic. One is a repeat of the core material for the game, the other is all new:

SHADOWRUN 5E ESSENTIALS (from Feb 2019)

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/2025SR5Essentials

SR5 UNIVERSE MEGA (new)

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/SR5EUniverseMega

When the essentials bundle was first on offer I said "Shadowrun has never been one of my favourite games, I'm not convinced the genres mesh wonderfully, but it's an OK system with a big user base. I think that there have been previous offers for earlier releases, but this is the first for 5th edition, which updates things a lot. I think it's a pretty good deal if you want to give the system a try, or are only familiar with the earlier releases." If I'm reading things correctly this re-release adds more material - but if you bought the bundle previously you will get them added to your account without having to buy the bundle again.

The new bundle looks interesting, but I'm frantically trying to get ready for a lot of things happening at the weekend, most notably Dragonmeet on Saturday, and don't have time to look at them right now.

There's going to be another repeat bundle for this system soon, but I'm not allowed to give details.

Current Mood: pleased
Current Location: new brighton, mn

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wherein Liz buys stuff (at a con and then at IKEA)

This weekend (Friday through Sunday) I helped staff a table at Fables and Flames, a romantasy fiction con in its first year. Vicky has an ongoing m/m romantasy series (branching out in new directions from her contemporary m/m romance) and got an author invite, but it's hard to staff a vendor table alone so I helped set up/take down the displays, provided some company, and held down the fort when she wanted to go do some other con activities. I handed out a lot of cards and flyers, and even sold a few books!

(I also picked up cards for every other author present and bought more things -- scented candles, weighted plushies, scrunchies, a 3D-printed fidget toy -- than was probably wise, but that is only to be expected at a con. Also I love my new plushies with fierce devotion, so there.)

Word is that the con either broke even or came very close, which is excellent for a first-year event. Hopefully that means they will run it again next year. :)

Anyway the con was a lot of fun but also very tiring -- and I didn't even have to be "on" most of the time. Also once we packed up early on Sunday afternoon, we drove across the street to IKEA and spent a couple hours looking at sofa beds and other assorted things. As is typical for a trip to IKEA, I came away with more than I meant to buy. I am now the proud (?) owner of a slightly dinged-up "as-is" desk, a coat stand, two wooden storage crates, a bath mat (that was probably intended as a hand towel but pssht like I care), and a $5 print of a botanical illustration of a fig. And also a pack of cinnamon rolls, because reasons.

So that was my weekend.

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Another Mixed Bundle - Cornucopia 2025

This is the annual Bundle of Holding mixed bag of games from an assortment of companies to celebrate the USA's Thanksgiving Day.

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/Cornucopia2025

For some reason a lot of this year's choices deal with apocalypses, giant sea monsters, and various sorts of prejudice.

I'm never quite sure what to say about these mixed bundles since they don't fit into neat categories. Basically, you've got seven different RPGs ranging from horror to extreme silliness - I'm looking at you, Sentai and Sensibility - and if only one or two appeal to you, or you already have some of them, it may be a good idea to look at cherrypicking the ones you want. If you want more buying the bundle will probably be cheaper.

Current Mood: silly

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doctor who

🥳

Happy Birthday Doctor Who! (And Clara Oswald.)

I wasn't sure what to post, so you get a random collection of... stuff. (Ie things I have downloaded from Tumblr 💙) Just a couple outside the cut. ^_^

( Read more... )

Current Mood: angry

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:(

Petition from Avaaz for people in the UK.

The Home Secretary proposed shocking asylum reforms that could seize the possessions and jewellery of people seeking safety, cut off their support and tear apart families who have built their lives here. Sign and share this urgent letter to stop the UK to punish innocent families fleeing war.

Click here to sign.

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'Tis a trip about pirates, me hearties!

On Thursday, we went to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich to see their Pirates exhibition.

The exhibition covered the myths, legends and reality of pirates from the 'golden age' of piracy in the late 17th and early 18th century, right up to piracy in the present day. It looked at the images and the modern interpretations of pirates as well as how they have been portrayed on stage, screen, in novels and have even influenced fashion.

It was a large exhibition, and I took a LOT of photos, but I've tried to pare it down to the most interesting things that caught my eye under the cut (FYI - it was all very interesting!).

( Read more... )
We learned a lot of pirate language on our way through the exhibition
Maroon - abandon a victim on a deserted island
The black spot - A piece of paper with a black mark used as a death threat
Jolly Roger - a pirate flag
Fire in the hole - a warning that a shot is going to be fired
Barking Iron - a large pistol
Give no quarter - show no mercy in a fight
A spyglass - a telescope
Sail ho! - a ship has been spotted
Prize - a captured ship
Freebooter - Dutch word for a pirate
Filibuster - Spanish word for a pirate
Corsair - French word for a pirate, especially one from North Africa

There is a lot of extra information on the website for the exhibition, including the pirate myths here.

It was a really in-depth exhibition and we learned a lot. Well worth a visit - it's on until 4th January next year.

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Fanfic - Harry Potter / Buffy / Bedazzled - Harry Potter: Undazzled - VI

This is a crossover between the Harry Potter books, the Buffy The Vampire Slayer TV series, and the film Bedazzled (1967, not the 2000 remake), with some other crossovers and Easter eggs, so far including Dogma (1999) and Time Bandits (1981). All characters belong to their respective creators / owners / megacorporations of doom and not to me, please don't sue...

( VI - Summer of '99 )

Now posted with a few edits to archives:

On Twisting the Hellmouth - https://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-34251/MarcusRowland+Harry+Potter+Undazzled.htm
On Fanfiction.net - https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14336114/1/Harry-Potter-Undazzled
On Archive of Our Own - https://archiveofourown.org/works/54407350

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Googling Yourself Is Strange

Yeah, I Google myself ... what's your point? And I found out things I, the Googled, um, Google-ee, never knew.

Okay, so, Haunted Noble County is available in the Netherlands. No, seriously:

https://www.bruna.nl/engelse-boeken/haunted-noble-county-indiana-9781467156066

You can read it to yourself, if you can read it. Which I can't.

If one of you can't afford the book, go Dutch.

I haven't gotten around to contacting local libraries about getting copies of our newer books (I know, my fault), but somebody has. Somebody, specifically, in the Plainfield-Guilford Twp Public Library in Plainfield, where Haunted Noble County, Indiana, Images of America: Albion and Noble County, and Smoky Days and Sleepless Nights are shelved in new local history & genealogy. Or so I'm told. It turns out all of our books are evergreens, or more specifically available through the Evergreen library system:

https://catalog.evergreenindiana.org/Union/Search?view=list&lookfor=Mark+R.+Hunter&searchIndex=Author&searchSource=local

I found our 21Alive TV interview on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdh8YfU6JiU

Which makes us a YouTube sensation? No? But we're there, anyway.

"Missed it by THAT much."

Our publisher posted about us on Twitter ... I mean X ... nah, it's Twitter:

https://x.com/HistoryBoooks/status/1957025429329514775

Which, I guess there's really no reason for me to know.

This is also how I discovered I'm now a top 10 Amazon author. Well, sort of: I did make it to number 8, but it was in a subcategory. But the good news is, I can just leave out that small detail.

None of this really bothers me--they're just fun surprises. It reminds me of when I did an interview at the WAWK studio in Kendallville, and right after we stopped at the nearby Walgreens to discover Images of America: Albion and Noble County on a book display. I knew the publisher was going to try to get the word out: I just didn't know when or where.

The Netherlands thing was a shock, though.

It’s really not hard to find us, even without Google:

· Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

· Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

· Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

· Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

· Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

· Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

· Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

· Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

· Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter