mark@marktreble.com
My health has collapsed. I'm trying to finish a new novel and maintain my online column, One Foot in the Gravy. It is written under another of my psuedonyms, BillHeath.substack.com.
The novel is taking shape. I have two holes to fill, and am turning next to my technical expert and developmental editor for help. I'll write again when there's been progress on the novel.
mark@marktreble.com
I have had to slow down my writing significantly. I'm focused on my online column One Foot in the Gravy, at BillHeath.Substack.com, and commenting on other authors' columns, and work on Sea Monsters. My health has slowed its decline, not the same thing as getting better.
Hopefully the Blog can survive this temporary setback. Right now I am using my column to spread awareness of censorship, which is incredibly dangerous to our survival as a Republic because it is the first and most important step toward authoritarian government.
mark@marktreble.com
This is the cover for the new novel, Sea Monsters, a mystery story and the first book in the Frankenbuzz Detective Agency series.
Current plan is to release the new book in September. Followers will receive an advance peek at the first chapter later.
mark@marktreble.com
This is a preview of the Novella being published in episodes on Kindle Vella.
My Very Own Autobiography
Volume One
© 2016 by Mark Treble All Rights Reserved
Mommy-smell is warm and licks me and Mommy-food is so good. Dogs-who-smell-like-me want Mommy-smell
and Mommy-food too.
I can't find Mommy-smell, and there are so many other-dogs.
They aren't many dogs-who-smell-like-me.[1] It's cold here and other-dogs don't lick me or play with me.
Soap-smell woman[2] plays with me sometimes, but only for a few minutes. There are not-dogs[3] here.
I think they are invaders from another universe. They have sharp claws and a very unpleasant odor.
Other-dogs do not try to take my food. I like Mommy-food better. When can I go home?
Nasty-smell men and women come in, and sometimes they look at me. Yesterday they took me into a room by
myself with them and with Dirty-smell boy. Dirty-smell boy pulled my ears, and I pulled his paw. He hit me,
and I don't like that. I went back to my cage. I don't like being in a cage.
Today was the strangest day of my life. Suit-smell man[4] and Paint-smell man[5] came in with Soap-smell woman.
I wanted to sniff and lick them, but all the other-dogs were doing it and I couldn't get close. Then Suit-smell
man stepped on my paw, and I cried. He picked me up and held me, and I licked him. He didn't lick me, but he held
me and his scent was happy. I used to have that happy smell when I was with Mommy. I like Suit-smell man.
I wanted Suit-smell man to play with me, but all he wanted to do was hold me and pet me and let me lick his face.
He's peculiar, he licks me, but without his tongue. People-persons are stupid. It was warm and nice
being held by Suit-smell man. Soap-smell woman took away all the other-dogs, and it was just me and Suit-smell man.
And Paint-smell man.
Paint-smell man had a trace of crying but happy, but he never even whimpered. He touched me and
talked to me in that strange people talk. And he tried to play with me. I caught a whiff of something from
Suit-smell man, kind of like how the dogs-who-smell-like-me used to be when they wanted to eat Mommy-food
but other dogs-who-smell-like-me had her occupied. It wasn't angry. I don't know what to call it. I guess it's "I want
that but somebody else is trying to get it but I'm not angry I just want it for myself."[6] Whew. That's too much thinking.
I had to pee. Everybody has to pee. I peed on Suit-smell man's rear paw because that's where I was when I did it.
Most people yell when I pee, especially if I pee on their paws or their legs. Suit-smell man just laughed.
His laugh brought out more happy scent and then a super happy scent and he was finally overcome with
happy scent and did a happy cry. Does he want me to pee on him again? If it makes him happy, I'll try to do it.
I jumped up to run away so they would chase me. Soap-smell woman didn't chase me, she just picked me up and
brought me back to them. She was giving off a tiny trace of contented. I wasn't contented, I wanted to play
chase. But, it was better to be held and petted and licked by Suit-smell man than to go back into the cage
where there was nobody and I could smell all the afraid and the angry from some of the other-dogs. And the
not-dogs had a scent of anxiety and even panic. I don't like the cage.
Soap-smell woman brought out a treat and gave it to Suit-smell man. I hadn't seen people eat treats,
and this was really alarming. Is Soap-smell woman going to give my treats to people now? Treats aren't as
good as Mommy-food, but they're good. I can't have any more Mommy-food I think. Won't I get any more treats either?
Then Suit-smell man held me and gave me the treat. I ate it quick before he could change his mind and eat it himself.
Or give it to Paint-smell man. I noticed that Suit-smell man and Paint-smell man had a together aroma.
I had smelled it before when people persons came in together. They gave off contented and happy.
It was like there was another person there that was a combination of the man and the woman. This was
almost the same.
The together-smell was contented and happy and curious and afraid and anxious and a whole lot of other things
I'm still trying to identify. This wasn't something that came from the two of them and got combined, it was like it
came from a single people person that wasn't there but was there. Too much thinking.
[1] Siblings
[2] Shelter volunteer
[3] Cats
[4] Mike, the straight half of the bromance.
[5] Luke, the gay half of the bromance.
[6] Jealousy
mark@marktreble.com
For the past eleven days I have slept near-continuously. I believe I'm in the midst of a worsening of three separate illnesses, all of which cause exhaustion, plus the side effects of six or seven separate medications that each causes need for sleep to increase. Until this is past I need to back off on posting here, on my online column One Foot in the Gravy, and on trying to write the next book, Sea Monsters, first book in the Frankenbuzz Detective Agency series. Keeping up with e-mail is about all I'm able to do for now. I intend to try and continue posting new segments of Emgee Adopts a Pet on Kindle Vella.
I'll write again as soon as possible.
Amazon has added a new category to its Kindle Books, called Vella. Authors are encouraged to publish series of short stories. New episodes should be published twice a week. The first three episodes in a story are free. After that readers pay about ten cents per thousand words. The first chapter of my first book should be published on Friday Saturday, and is entitled Emgee Adopts a Pet. We follow Emgee on his path from puppyhood to becoming a full-grown dog. Check out "Emgee Adopts a Pet" at Amazon Kindle Vella.
