A Tough Chapter to Write

 

I'm finally getting my groove juggling three separate writing gigs - my two or three articles per week for TravelAwaits, the 5th Edition of "Hiking Alabama", and my latest book, "Space Oddities".

For the latter, I'm working on a chapter titled, "In Memory of Laika", and finding myself having a tough time getting through it. Not only because of the tragic details of the first orbiting animal, but also the many other animals that were loaded into a rocket, many of whom met a terrible death.

Most people don't know it but the first animal to fly into space was a rhesus monkey named Albert II in 1949. He reached an altitude of 83-miles. There were four monkeys in all named Albert that were launched during Project Blossom in 1948 and 1949. All four met with untimely deaths - three died on impact when their parachutes failed while one rocket exploded.

And that's only the beginning of the story of animals in space. Ugh! Somehow, I will get through this chapter.

A True State of Surprises

 

A while back, the Alabama Department of Tourism came up with a clever slogan - "The State of Surprises". Many people, residents included, thought that was an odd moniker but it is the truth, especially when it comes to outdoor recreation and nature.

Don't believe me? Then check this out - my latest article on TravelAwaits.Com.

Bon Appetit

 

Another one of my articles posted today on TravelAwaits.Com. This one will cause a stir (pun intended).

Founded in 1702, Mobile, Alabama is the state's port city, and it only figures that dining in the city is centered around seafood. Click here to read more and take a short gastronomic tour of Mobile.

Bon Appetit.

The Titles are Backing Up

What a week it has been. I never thought I'd be offer the chance to re-write Hiking Alabama. No pun intended but recreational guides like that have a limited shelf life. So I was quite surprised to have a call from Falcon asking me if I wanted to revise it. Needless to say, I said YES!

And here we are, 20 years after the first edition, Hiking Alabama 5th Edition is officially in the works. But as they say, WAIT! There's more!

Prometheus Books, an imprint of Rowman and Littlefield (another of their imprints is Falcon Guides), has made an offer on my book proposal, Space Oddities - Forgotten Stories of Mankind's Exploration of Space, and I have accepted.

I can't tell you how excited I am. This is the book that I've always wanted to write but never had the time because of other projects I had already contracted to do. It will be a Spring 2022 release.

I'll have plenty more to say on both books in the coming days. Time to get writing and hiking.