The Critics Have Spoken

Visit Science Ficion for Thinkers.com Today

My official website has a cool new feature for 2010. My little "cyber home away from home" now has one-click links on the Home page that instantly translate Science Fiction for Thinkers.com from English into Spanish, Vietnamese, Russian, French and German. I had to delete the link to Chinese because some browsers wouldn't display the Simplified Chinese characters. But there is another link to an online Google Site Translator that can translate my website into many other languages, including Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean and Japanese.

So, go ahead. Visit Science Fiction for Thinkers.com today.

Your world may never look the same.

Author's Update, 03-01-14: No good deed ever goes unpunished. In December 2013 I had to remove all the language translation links from my website except the main Google Translator with the drop-down box that lets you choose what Google is offering. The other tools either didn't work anymore or became hidden redirects to other Google content. I tried to make my content available to as many people on the planet as I could. But, I 'm a fool no more.

Author's Update, 12-26-10: I had to remove the one-click links that translate my website into Chinese, Korean and Japanese because I found out that these links would not display properly with the Internet Explorer browser. Firefox worked fine but not IE. However, you can still translate my website into Chinese, Korean and Japanese by clicking on either one of the two links that allow you to choose your desired language. Thanks.

Hopping Through Hoops

Hmmm. Hopping or Diving?

Last month Amazon.com tossed out one of my favorite hoops, the Amazon Connect hoop. I'd hopped through that hoop way back in February because it gave me a place to blog on Amazon and I never saw a hoop that didn't make me want to taking a flying leap right through it.

Last month Amazon.com replaced that Amazon Connect hoop with the Author Central hoop and, hesitating at first, I hopped through that one, too. I and Jonco Bugos, my alter ego and literary pen name, held hands like two starry-eyed youths and hopped right through, expecting Wonderland on the other side or something to that affect. What we'll probably find are more hoops to hop through as we explore that realm. We certainly hope so.

Oh, well. At least Jonco and I haven't run across a big white rabbit yet, all frantic and late for a very important date. But, if we do, we'll help him out, too. And if he holds out a great big hoop for us, we'll hop right through it without hesitation.

By the way, this is the first time Jonco and I have posted anything on a blog together. We're just determined to be ourselves and to make sure everyone knows that this author "hoop hopping" is all they'll ever get from us in the way of a dog and pony show. Nobody owns us because we're independent authors.

And, besides, we really like hopping through hoops. So we do.

Amazon's Michael Casher Page

Amazon's Jonco Bugos Page

Back to Basics

This month I begin my eighth book, now that my seventh book is finally completed and published. Book #7 is a novella called Blind Fool Running that I wrote under the pen name Jonco Bugos. As usual, Lulu.com will be publishing this novella. This book is literary fiction but it's still part of my "Science Fiction for Thinkers" collection because of the metaphysical themes involved.

Now, back to the writing desk.

Author's Note: No, "Blind Fool Running" by Jonco Bugos has nothing to do with the Jonco Bugos blog. Jonco Bugos (my alter ego) is the pen name I use for writing literary fiction and for writing the Jonco Bugos blog and the Think-A-Holic Lounge blog.

According to the Crystal Ball

After I complete Blind Fool Running, my first literary novel under the pen name Jonco Bugos, I'll be returning to science fiction under my real name for another novel in the Science Fiction for Thinkers series. And then it will be back to literary fiction as Jonco Bugos again.

Incidentally, Jonco Bugos is the Slovak version of the name of my mother's deceased father, John Bugosh. It's pronounced YONK-oh BOO-gosh. The Slovak language, like the Russian language, has more than one "S" in its alphabet and the "S" on Bugos has an "sh" sound). My mother was pleased that I wanted to use her father's Slovak name for my pen name whenever I write literary fiction. Just to clear the air on this matter. It's also an homage to him and an honor for me to write literary fiction under a pen name that matches his.

I plan to alternate back and forth that way, writing one science fiction novel every two years and one literary novel every two years. My current literary work-in-progress is experimental because I'm writing in the first person, present tense, and that's not an easy thing to do. My literary fiction will also have a slight autobiographical slant as well as a hidden sci-fi theme that will not be clearly evident to readers who don't already know me. And that will be an even harder thing to accomplish.

So, why am I doing it? To test my writing skills, for one thing, and to have a little fun in the process. Also, to accept that particular literary challenge. And to keep boredom at bay and my imagination fresh for both genres.

At least that's the plan for now.

The Self-Publisher Hat Rack

One of the things I've learned is that a self-published author without much a budget has to wear many hats.

The editor hat is a hat that no author should ever wear but it gets donned when there is no one else to wear it.

A poor author also has to be his or her own proofreader (an impossible job), publicist, agent, advertising copy writer, publisher and worst critic, whether or not any of those hats actually fit.