Douglas Arvidson is a past winner of the WICE/Paris Transcontinental International Short Story competition. His short fiction has been published in Paris, Prague, and in literary magazines in the United States and he was recently invited to be a staff writer for the Prague Revue, a cutting-edge, online literary journal (http://bit.ly/1mMT6ZC). The novels in his fantasy series, The Eye of the Eye of Stallion, include The Face in Amber, The Mirrors of Castaway Time, and A Drop of Wizard's Blood. His new novel, Brothers of the Fire Star, was selected as a finalist in the ForeWord Reviews 2012 Book of the Year national awards and as a finalist in three categories in the 2013 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards: Action Adventure Fiction, Historical Fiction, and Young Adult Fiction. It has become part of the pantheon of Pacific literature and is now included in school literature programs. Brothers of the Fire Star is an adventure story set in the Pacific during World War II and concerns two boys of different races and cultures who escape the island of Guam in a small sailboat when the Japanese army invades. They must then struggle to survive as they master the secrets of the ancient Pacific navigators. Appropriate for young adults as well as adult readers, Brothers of the Fire Star is available on Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com (http://amzn.to/1j3axVk) and Crossquarter.com. Visit the author's website: douglasarvidson.com



Saturday, July 7, 2012

4th of July with Family In the Perfect American Town



The Arvidson-Scarborough Family, July 4, 2012

Torrid, sweltering, overwhelming heat here in our little town, temps climbing up into the mid- to upper-90s bolstered by plenty of humidity. With a houseful of family, we found it too hot to go outside except for short intervals to the store for beer/wine/hot dogs/hamburgers/corn on the cob/tomatoes/chips/ potato salad/baked beans. All good for a 4th of July weekend with the family together for the first time in years.

Front row, above, left to right: My son, Eli, his long-time partner, Bailey who is holding our daughter Jenny's infant son, Kiernan. Then there is Terry and next to her, our older grandson, Konrad, Jenny's first child, who will be four in September. Back row: Jenny and her husband Rob and then me, leaning, as usual, on Terry for some sort of support.

But the crowded house was happy and things bubbled along wonderfully. One day we drove up to Chincoteague and spent the day on the beach followed by ice cream. We bought a small splash pool for the kids and set it up in the back yard. We had a hammock set up in the shade, we marched in a mad little parade down through town to the harbor, and we had good attitudes and nothing to be cranky about. We loved it all. It was all very perfect.

We're ready for the Do-Dah Parade, a mad hatter event for sure.




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