These are just a few pictures from my home. In 2003, Jackson was struck at midnight by two tornados, one F2 and an F4. They converged approximately a quarter mile north of my home. Because I work with the local utility in Jackson, I had to make my way out and get to the office ASAP. This is the sight I found in daylight when I returned about 16 hours later. The metal is from the barn across the road. I lost three 80’ oaks and a lovely ash. Needless to say, the place doesn’t look the same.

BOOKS: Ok, I read...a lot! I’ve read all my life. Well, not really all of my life. I was so traumatized from the birth experience that I refused to read for years. But, eventually I got over it and, since I started, I probably haven’t gone more than a week total that I did not have a book on my night stand that I was reading.

My passion is Science Fiction but I am also hooked on Fantasy. On the Sci Fi side, I’ve read all of the classics - Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy, Arthur C. Clark, Roger Zelazney, Orson Scott Card, Poul Anderson just to name some of my favorites. One day in high school study hall back in ‘67, my table mate passed me a book by one J.R.R. Tolkein. Now, this guy was a real dweeb. He was a theater usher in high school and he was still working at the theater 30 years later (of course, he might have owned it by then for all I know). But I labored through the opening pages of “Fellowship of the Ring” with all of its minutia regarding Hobbits and their habits and was rewarded with what has probably become one of the defining works of my life. I have read the Lord of the Rings Trilogy five or six times and “The Hobbit” at least three. I’ve read “The Silmarillion” three times along with “Unfinished Tales” and just recently finished “Children of Hurin”. Now, these last three are not easy to read having been written in a very high style. But I find them quite fascinating and, in the end, uplifting.

Along with “Children” I have recently discovered three new (to me) authors. George R.R. Martin has written a serial he has labeled “A Song of Ice and Fire”. If you like a mixture of chivalry, knighthood, clans, blood and guts, then you will love this one. Unfortunately, the total length of this series is seven books, each 900+ pages, and he has only written four since 1996. The fifth has been promised since the end of last year and yet to be released. Along a very similar line, Gregory Keyes has written a series he calls “The Kingdom of Thorn and Bones”. Alas, he has released only three of the five books, but the fourth is, uh, forthcoming. (This does get very frustrating!)

On the bright side, if you want some hard core space opera, check out Walter John Williams “Dread Empire’s Fall” trilogy. All three are in print and readily available from Amazon.

I almost forgot, for you Scotiaphiles, try “The Loch” by Steven Alten. It combines the Lochness Monster with the Knights Templar set in modern Scotland. For those who have journeyed to Scotland with Alex (or without him), many of the sites in the book are familiar such as Ft. Augustus and Urquhart Castle. Amy gave me this for Christmas and I found it very fascinating reading.