The Fezziwig News by Stu Jenks

Step Zero, the softcover first edition, is here!!!

A very good day at Fezziwig Press. The softcover, first edition of Step Zero: A Sober Love Story In 2076 is now for sale, ahead of schedule.

The digital editions of Step Zero will hopefully be available on your iPad, Nook and Kindle and other digital platforms by November 1st. The files have been uploaded and we are just waiting to hear back when they will available for download. We'll let you know.

But you can buy Step Zero, the analog first edition book, right now. Just click on this link to Fezziwig Press's Step Zero webpage and follow the instructions to buy the book. Easy Peasy.

And if you live in Tucson area, you can buy the book at Tucson Tucson Therapies at Alvernon and Pima, starting Friday, October 26th, 2012, and you can purchase the novel, right now, at Betty Blue's Junk Shop at 262 S. Plumer. All books at Betty Blue's and T3 are signed and I'll be happy to sign and personalize any book purchased through The Fezziwig Press Store.

Again, the ebooks version will be up very soon. I love ebooks. I truly do. But there is nothing like holding a book book in your hands. And you can hold the first edition of Step Zero in your hands right now.

Love, light, and luck,

Stu

...The first draft of the novel is done!!!...

The first draft of the novel is done!!! It came in at 149,000 words, 552 pages in my document. Yeaaaa! I can't tell you how good it feels. The ending made me cry, as I hope it does you. (Last word in the novel, which won't change in revision: Sighs.) I want to jump right back to the beginning and start revisions, but Mary Ann suggests I take more than just a couple days off. OK. I'll take off three or four days. LOL. But then it's fixing this and revising that, then off to the editors. And I have ideas for the next novel in this series, too. I have some pretty great characters, I think, and I want to see what they will do next. But first things first. Get this novel to print.

One serious note: It took about a year to write this novel, but it almost didn't get done. With Mary and Pamela dying and all, I didn't work on it for about six weeks and it was so hard to get my momentum back. But I did. But it was difficult. If you are working on a novel or a large work, I recommend you plow through, even if the field is frozen. I've been told I'm very lucky to have gotten back on track.

Speaking of track, good luck to Danica Patrick tomorrow in the Daytona 500 and in the rest of Sprint Cup and Nationwide races this season. I might just have to go up to PHX next Saturday to watch her race.

By the way, did I mention I finished the freaking first draft of the novel?

Yeaaaaaaaaa!

Now available, on the Apple IPad: The Transpersonal Papers (1861-2010) and Bozo In Love

Been a long time coming for The Transpersonal Papers (1861-2010).

Three editors, two proofreaders, two designers, four printers, and hours, days, weeks, months, years, lifetimes, (I know I'm overstating), of writing, traveling, shooting, editing, remembering, hiking, and more writing, shooting, and editing, but I'm not complaining. No, no, no.

And apologies for not having the dough right now, to print The Transpersonal Papers as a coffee-table book as I had originally planned. ($10,000, it would have cost. Maybe someday.) But you now can buy it, for $14.95, as an Ebook on the Apple IPad, and I expect it to be available within a couple days on the Nook and the Kindle as well.

I just looked at it on my new IPad. The photos, text and design look grand.

And as an extra surprise, Bozo In Love is now up on IBooks too, ($9.95), as well as the rest of my catalog: Flame Spirals, Hoop Dancing, and Dementia Blues, on IBooks, Nook and Kindle.

Just in time for Christmas.

And don't worry. All but The Transpersonal Papers can still be bought as a book book through Fezziwig Press. I have plenty. Just go to www.fezziwigpressonline.com, for the hardbounds and paperbacks, but go to ITunes, today, (and Kindle and Nook, soon) for the ebooks.

Heavy sigh from my third story apartment balcony. I look out onto the Tucson city lights in the valley below. Cold, dry air embraces me. I inhale deeply. Exhale.

A very good night in the desert.

Think I'll make a cup of coffee with egg nog and play some Angry Birds on my new IPad.

Time to celebrate.

 

Happy Halloween & Happy Birthday

"Wrightston Fog, Arizona" (c) 2011 Stu Jenks

Happy Halloween and Happy Birthday to Mary Jenks. She would have been 85 years old today, but she died on July 7th.

Rest in peace, Mom. Maybe I'll see you floating above the streets tonight, or maybe I'll feel your spirit in the days and nights to come.

Know that you were loved, Mary.

"To The East, God & Humanness..."

Coming to the top of a graveyard bench, in a cemetery probably not near you. (except for y'all, Glenn & Brad.)

P.S. We caught the typo in 'Courage', so don't worry.

P.P.S. In Jackson, Tenn. right now. Plan on taking some blue highways to Memphis today.

The Pier Spiral: 2011

"The Pier Spiral, Rappahannock River, Virginia" (c) Stu Jenks, 2000, 2011 [A new cropped and modified version for Pamela and Mary Jenks]

Just a reminder. Funeral for Mary Jenks is tomorrow, Saturday, July 30th, at Grace St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Tucson, Arizona, at 2:00 p.m.

Enjoy the pier image. Everything changes. A hurricane took it out eight years ago. And Death has taken Pamela and Mary, but I'm still here as are all of you. Until we're not. Live for today.

Blessing to you all.

Stu

P.S. My website www.stujenks.com is down temporarily. Should be up by next week. Fezziwig Press and Fezziwig News are still up and running but www.stujenks.com is down, because I didn't see that the domain renewal was up. Been a little busy and a little scattered, don't you know. Thanks, y'all.

 

New Creed from an anonymous El Salvadoran peasant woman. (For Mary Elton Saum Jenks)

 

The below creedal statment was written by an anonymous peasant woman in El Salvador. It's from the book Prayers Encircling The World.

This creed will be the statement of faith at my mother Mary Jenks' funeral this Saturday, July 30th, 2011, at Grace St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 2331 E. Adams, Tucson, Arizona at 2 p.m. There will be a reception afterwards. Please come.

Rev. Steve Keplinger suggested this creed instead of the Nicene Creed. (Honestly, the Nicene Creed isn't even close to my own personal statement of faith. Thanks, Steve for this creed.) This prayer is so beautiful I think. I just had to put in on the StuBlog for those of you who can not attend the service. And I look forward to seeing all of you who can be there this Saturday.

Love and light,

Stu

Creedal Statement 

I believe, God, that everything good in the world comes from you.
I believe in your great love for all people.
I believe that, because you preached love, freedom and justice, you were humiliated, tortured and killed.
I believe that you continue to suffer in our people.
I believe that you call me to defend your cause,
But I also believe that you accompany me in the task of transforming this world into a different one, where there is no suffering or weeping:
A world where there is a gigantic table set with free food where everyone is welcome.
I believe that you accompany us in waiting for the dawning of a new day.
I believe that you will give us strength so that death does not find us, without having done enough, and that you will rise in those who have died seeking a different world.
Amen.

"Holding Mary's Hand"

"Holding Mary's Hand, Crossroads Adult Care Home, Tucson, Arizona" (c) 2011 Stu Jenks

"Laura Milkins at Roosevelt Dam Bridge"

 

"Laura Milkins at Rossevelt Dam Bridge, Arizona" (c) 2011 Stu Jenks

I show up around the 10-minute mark in this section of the Laura Milkins' Walking Home project video. (You can see all the the vids Laura's shot from her head-cam at the above site too.) Laura and I talked about physical and metaphysical connectedness, about the beauty and history of Roosevelt Dam & Bridge, about the sadness of those who suicide, and about the wonderful/horrible creatures we called human beings. But mostly we were just walked and chatted and enjoyed the cool, sunny day. And the side trip to the cliff dwellings at Tonto National Monument was fun too. And to Laura's Mom. She's fine. She's happy. She has her wits about her. And she's enjoying the walk to come see you in Michigan.

So Godspeed, Laura Milkins. And happy that I was yesterday's support vehicle for you.

And I hope the cotton socks work better than the wool ones.

Cherokee Girl by Charles de Lint: The Music Video

 

[First things first: click on the little square-four-arrow-cluster at the lower right hand corner of the video to make it full screen]

Cherokee Girl by Charles de Lint
Produced & directed by Brock Zeman

Original song by author Charles de Lint about the mix of cultures, myth and how all of us are connected to each other and this world in which we find ourselves. Features a brief cameo by Terri Windling, the Cherokee Girl for whom the song was written. Scenes from Tucson filmed by de Lint and his wife, MaryAnn Harris. Horseshoe Canyon footage by Stu Jenks. For more info: www.charlesdelint.com

[From Stu: I have great friends. Glad the video I shot at Horseshoe Canyon came to such good use. Wonderful place, Horseshoe Canyon; wonderful people, Charles, Terri and MaryAnn; wonderful song, Cherokee Girl.]