Every Day is Halloween for the Alligator Gar

It's Halloween every 

day for the Alligator 

Gar! This scary 

Croc-head fish wears 

its gruesome mug 24-7,  year 

in and year out. Efforts are underway to breed and 

stock thousands more of the big uglies in hopes they will 

feast on the smaller Asian Carps invading U.S. Freshwaters.

Some people think that these Gator look-alikes can be Carp Killers

and stop the spread of the unwanted fish into the Great Lakes. 

What then?

I just want to know what kind of a monster we are going to have to find to eat up eight million  Alligator Gars after they wipe out the Carps!

A Large Regular Coke and a "Diet Hamburger"

While at the A&W recently to have a root beer float, I was stuck behind a couple of buffet twins and I began to wonder why nobody ever orders a large regular coke and a diet hamburger. The avoirdupois allies in front of me ordered Deluxe Burgers, large fries, large onion rings, bag of chips, and the obligatory "DIet Coke"! As one who has lost more than 30 pounds (and is not gaining it back) I can say for sure, that the "DIet Coke" is not going to help! 

Portion Control

It's  all about portion control.  Until a person cuts down on the size of their servings - all the diet cokes in the world aren't going to save them from not being able to use the last hole on their belt!

Along the Starway of Infinity....

"Along the Starway of Infinity

There are Millions of Planets Just like Earth.

We need not be concerned with them.

There are however, many billions more than are not like 

Earth - These represent the biggest threat to humankind."

A slow moving, fragile rudimentary craft from the United States pierced the murky atmosphere of Jupiter on July 4, 2016. Strange cries, shouts and howls were captured by the ship‟s aural detectors. The voices, if indeed they were voices, were not made by carbon based lifeforms. The Space Agency quickly issued reports that derided the cries as nothing more than some sort of interference or radio static. The collective mind of Earthlings however, is beginning to grasp the concept of intelligent life that is not carbon based. Such lifeforms may not even appear to be lifeforms to the primitive brains of the homo-sapiens. Many of the beings are so different from humans, that they could not survive on an H-con planet (one based on Hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen). Conversely, the humans could not exist on planets like the Gas Giants – Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune and Saturn: known as the Juns. . Superior intelligence is likely among the creatures of the Juns federation. They doubtless recognize humans as sentient beings – but most certainly regard earth creatures as cosmic infants. What if the Gasmen of the icy giants decide to inhabit Planet Earth? How would they be able to adapt to an H-con orb? Perhaps the invasion would start with a single icy Gasman. He might land his frosty ship on top of a frozen mountain. The story might unfold in a manner similar to „.The Invasion of Ragged Mountain‟

." 4 days, 200 downlaods on Smashwords. 2 days 128 downloads on Free E-Book Get it Free here - 
www.smashwords.com/books/view/649048

(Some people tell me they can see 'The Gasman' in the cover photo.  Do you see him?)

Ice Cream from Mars

The best ice cream in America comes from Mars! Really. I get mine at Stop and Shop. - a store with a Martian connection. P.S. Mars is in Iowa. You could look it up!

I have no connection with this ice cream, though I do have a love affair with it.  It has been a costly affair this summer though I have gained something from it: two pounds!  So much for the diet.  

Digging in the Mind for Buried Horrors

There is a dark chamber in the mind of every person where their deepest secrets are hidden away from friends, neighbors, and even themselves.

For some individuals the door to this secluded room is slammed shut and locked tight by the conscious mind – never to be revisited.

For others the gateway never fully closes and the horrors revisit them with increasing frequency until they take a rope, a knife, a gun, or perhaps too many pills in a fatal attempt to seal the portal.

The Observer tells of a person of the first category - a man who buried his transgressions so deeply that he had no idea that he was a monster.  Read the 5-star ranked short story for Free on Smashwords:  www.smashwords.com/books/view/644918

Book Signing at Bridgewater State University

Book Signing Monday at Bridgewater State University as part of the town's huge July 4th celebration. At the Author's Table, Selling & Signing: 
Bill Russo, Author
Nora Tarr, Writer
Ed Beaulieau, Author
Rick Bentsen, Author
Louise Dery-Wells, Author

How Wild Was the West?

by Bill Russo

Get your Free copy of the novella at Smashwords:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/646224

Dusty Main Street in any Wild West town was dampened not by rain, but by blood spilling from the losers of daily gun battles.  Ladies and cowpokes alike had their nostrils seared by the lingering smell of gunsmoke hanging in the air like cobwebs in a forgotten attic.

That’s the image most people have of the American West of the 1800s.  Losers in poker games, feeling cheated, would ‘plug’ the card sharp rather than leave town broke.

“Hoss Thieves” were escorted to hell at the end of a rope dangling from a Cottonwood Tree. If the beer wasn’t cold enough, even a sod buster would backhand the bartender and slap him silly unless he got a colder one.

There was no law.  The sheriff would be ‘gone fishing’ every time a gunhand turned up, with a face that matched a wanted poster tacked up on the wall at the General Store. 

Take this quick quiz. 

How many people were gunned down in a typical year in the Wild West towns of Abilene, Dodge, Laredo et al?

A: 100

B: 1000

C: 2000

D: 5

If you answered “C” you are off by 1995.  If you said “B” you missed it by 995.  If your reply is “A” you’re off the mark by 95. 

Yes M’am or Sir.  The answer is five!  That’s it.  The average murder rate in the years around 1875 was 1.5 per year. 

How about the most famous gun battle in the history of the cowboy days?  The Gunfight at the OK Corral.  It was the most bloody shootout in the history of Tombstone, Arizona and in fact all of the West.  A total of three ‘hombres’ were killed. 

The fame, or should we say ‘infamy’ of the Wild West is due in large part to the novels of Ned Buntline.  Writing in the 1870s he made “Buffalo Bill” a national hero and glamorized the seedier side of the frontier.  Boston and New York newspaper men ran reams of copy sensationalizing the life West of the Mississippi.

That being said, the Old West did have its moments as illustrated in my new novella. Churning facts with fiction, I’ve concocted a story of Dodge City, its first sheriff, and an itinerant boy named Chalky Jones, who narrates the tale, “I Grew Up in Dodge City in 1875”

 The Who's Who of Sheriffs in Dodge City: Charlie Bassett was first, then along came Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp, and others nearly as famous. Read about them all for FREE in "I Grew Up in Dodge City" 

Read it for Free - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/646224