Karl’s Korner

Good evening, my friends,

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I had my own dog, Chow-Chow for 14 years before a large tumor took him from me and my family.  We all cried for days afterward.  That’s how owning an animal can affect you when you lose one.

But, what chaps my hide is the people who go out to eat at a restaruant and take their dog along to sit outside in the heat or cold of the day.  The dog barks at everyone who ventures close to his master’s car in an effort to protect his owner’s property.  Either that or they whine constantly, while running from back  seat to front seat searching for their master. 

I have to ask, why do these people take their dog along?  Why not leave it at home in the comfort of a heated or air condiationed house?  Do they actually think the dog enjoys this?  Do they think they are doing it a favor? 

Then, there are those who love to have their little toy dog, (or larger), sit on their laps and put their paws on the steering wheel while their master is driving.  How crazy is that?  Who is to blame if there’s an accident and the dog is killed or kills someone else?  Does the dog get a ticket?  It is rather ridiculous, isn’t it?

What brought this all to a head was following a woman driver home from church today.  She had a huge dog in the back seat that kept jumping between the two front seats to lick her face or otherwise distract her driving.  She was all over the road, from one side to another and put her brakes on at least a dozen times when it wasn’t necessary. 

I pitied the drivers coming from the other direction and thanked the good Lord that we were behind her instead of in front.  She didn’t’ have a clue!

I know I’ll catch flack from the “loving” owners who just can’t have their pets stay at home, lonely and afraid.  (I only knew one scardy-cat dog in my life.  The others would fight to the death to protect their master’s property).

But, enough.  They will never stop, but I can hope they might get the message.

On other news - a good friend and one of my fans was in Church today, visiting from Cabot Arkansas.  Good to see you, Andy. 

He is looking for another book - don’t worry, Andy, it’s on the way. 

I haven’t left you with a joke in a while, and since I’m speaking of animals, I thought this one might cheer you up:

There were these two cows, chatting over the fence between their fields.

The first cow said, “I tell you, this mad-cow-disease is really pretty scary. They say it is spreading fast; I heard it hit some cows down on the Johnson Farm.”

The other cow replies, “I ain’t worried, it don’t affect us ducks.”

Until the next time, thanks for stopping by, my friends,

Vaya con Dias,

Karl

Good evening, my friends,

Welcome to our friends in India. Good to see you on the website.

Yes, I finally broke down and ordered 24 copies of my first novel to have available for those who said they’d like to have a signed first edition.

As many of you know, I had issues with the publisher, who priced the book way too high - $27.95 - although I sold it for $19.75 tax included. No, I didn’t make money, but wanted to get the book out in circulation in the hopes it might be read by someone who wanted to make a great movie. (All my readers say it would).

We sold the 700 copies we ordered and told everyone else to order it from the publisher. But, I didn’t like them making money from my work, so I’ve ordered a few to see how they sell here.

So, get your orders in now. Send a check for $19.00 - $16.00 for the novel and $3.00 for shipping, to:
Karl Boyd Productions, P. O. Box 2096, Rockport, TX 78381-2096

Thanks in advance. I know you’ll enjoy the original. It was a fun book to write and I learned a lot from it. Check out the plot on my home page.

I finished proofing my latest, “Palmyra, Isle of Death”, and it is on the way to the publisher again. We found about 30 small things I thought should be changed and added the correct back cover, so it’s ready to go.

I only hope we’ll be able to have the book signings I hoped for this year. Carol is having health problems on top of her eye sight trouble, and she comes first in my book - has for 52 years plus and always will!

We will hold a book signing at Curves in Rockport, Monday and Tuesday of this week. Look for us there. We’ll have three of my novels for you to purchase. Hope to see you there.

I finally heard from Princess Cruise line, and they confirmed we were without our luggage from Nov 27 - 4 Dec, so hopefully the insurance company won’t jack us around anymore, but will reimburse us for our unnecessary expenses. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

A new friend, Kellie wrote, (she’s one of the passengers who assisted me by reading the first draft pages of “The Don’s Stimulus Package”, and giving me some input), to say they were going on a cruise from Singapore thru many of the Far East countries such as Hong Kong, Japan, Viet Nam, Cambodia, India and others before transiting the Suez Canal - which is just the cruise we want to take, since those are the few countries we haven’t been to yet. It isn’t until 2011, but we hope she will send us the info so we can plan on it, providing Carol’s eyesight and health is better by then.

So, if that happens, we’ll be giving you more tips on travel as I did on the last two cruises, plus letting you know what we think of the places we visit.

It’s turned colder, just as they said it would, so we stayed in most of the day, except to take what seems to be a daily trip to Walmart to walk and pick up a few items. The sales people know us by name now.

I think that’s about it for tonight. Carol is asleep and I’m still pounding the keys.

Hope you will leave a few comments below to let me know how you like my blog.

Don’t be a stranger - come back often and tell your friends - AND, order those novels now!

Until next time,
Vaya con Dias, my friends,
Karl

Good afternoon, my friends,

Sorry, but I didn’t get to the blog yesterday - just too much work to do.

One thing I forgot to mention the other night about my talk with Bob Calvert is it is available to be heard 24/7 on his website:
www.talkshoe.com/tc/19487 Scroll down a little and you’ll find a green square in the right center that says, “Talking with authors from the Military Writers’ Association of America”. Click on that.

I listened two nights ago and enjoyed hearing the other authors talk about their novels as well. Check it out - I come on about 25 minutes into the program.

Check out my home page for info on the plots and storylines of my novels, plus ordering instructions. We also offer PayPal.

We see more visitors from England joining my website and we wish you all a Happy New Year. Become fans of my writing - you won’t be sorry. Ask any of my customers.

I’m finished editing my latest novel, “Palmyra, Isle of Death”. Now to take it to my computer expert, make the changes, correct the back cover and send it back to LuLu to print again. Then I can look at it ONE more time in another proof, approve it and offer it to you to purchase.

I am also re-editing my next novel, the third in the Trilogy of lighthearted crime tales, “The Texas Two Card Hole ‘em Heist”. In this one, Roger, Carl and some of their gang steal the twenty million dollar final prize right off the table of the World Poker Tour in Las Vegas.

It’s a fun tale, one which will keep you guessing and has a great ending.

After five books, you’d think I had my stuff together, but I’ve noticed my past efforts contained many sentences I call “reversed”, so I am attempting to make sure the remaining ones are perfect.

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about:

“What’s going on?” Richie asked when he awoke to hear someone pounding on his door.

It should read: When Richie awoke to hear someone pounding on his door, he asked, “What’s going on?”

It says the same thing, but puts the action in the proper order. First, Richie heard someone pounding on his door. Then he asked his question.

Do you see what I’m getting at?

Anyway, although I doubt most readers will mind, I know it’s a bad habit of mine, and one I’m attempting to stop.

Our weather, which has been fairly mild for the past few days, is supposed to turn colder this weekend - it figures!

I keep looking for more orders in the mail, but perhaps it’s the economy that’s preventing you for ordering my novels. That’s why I lowered the price to $16.00 including tax.

If you haven’t purchased at least one, please give me a try. I know you won’t be disappointed. Everyone enjoys my stories. Join the crowd.

Until next time,
Vaya con Dias, my friends,
Karl

Good evening, my friends,

Hey, that was fun. I will admit at first I was a little dry-mouthed; thinking of the many people listening, but I hope I loosened up as the time went on. Let me know what you thought in the comments area below.

Bob’s a great guy and does a lot to promote our military. Keep tuning in to support him. I truly hope he will consider doing a show from the Intrepid Center at BAMC in San Antonio.

That is where our true heroes are. If you have military connections and can get on base, go there and talk to the wonderful men and women who lost limbs and are recovering. You won’t find any crybabies there; they are the finest individuals in the world.

When you stop to think we are asking these brave young people to go through the remainder of their lives missing limbs or badly burned with scars which never heal, it is a miracle they keep enlisting and going back to Iraq or Afghanistan. But, ask and most will say they want to go back again - that’s where their buddies are - true family if you will.

I’ve spoken before about how when we meet old friends from our military life; it’s like coming home and picking up where you left off perhaps years ago. It’s hard to explain, but the brotherhood of war and warriors is one you’ll treasure for life.

I only hope we can sell enough books this year to really make a difference to the Wounded Warrior Project and those we want to assist.
You can be part of our quest and receive a great read when you order any or all of my novels. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed by the plots and storylines.

Check how easy it is to order my novels by going to my “home” page. I’ll love you and so with the troops we’re working for.

Again, thanks to Bob Calvert for having me as a guest. I hope I can be on his program with another award in the near future.
Carol and I are working on that.

So, until next time,

Vaya con Dias, my friends,
Karl

Good evening, my friends,

Yes, it was a beautiful day; although it started off sort of “icky” with deep fog until about 9 am, just when the services began for a 34 year old vet we stood the flag line for this morning. Then the sun came out in all its glory and burned off the fog in a few short minutes. The sun seemed to shine down to tell us God was ready to receive another of our brothers-in-arms.

There were 20 members of the Patriot Guard Riders there, plus eight of us from Carla Reed’s group from Bahia Bay who send out the packages to our troops.

We stood the line as the mourners arrived and took a short break while the service was conducted. Most of the PRG left for the cemetery, but five stayed behind, one with a huge American flag attached to his bike to lead the procession to Lamar and final internment.

We took up our positions at the side of the driveway leading out of the First Baptist Church, held our hands over our hearts and saluted the man in the hearse. It seemed the least we could do for a fellow veteran.

I won’t give his name. He was a medic and probably saved a few lives during his service. I don’t know how he died; his mother found him at home.

We hope our small token of respect helped the family deal with their loss.

We thank all those who took part.

Enough said; rest in peace.

Until the next time,
Via con Dias,
Karl & Carol