Christmas Greetings

As I write this it's Christmas Day. The house is quiet. The wife is in the middle of a two day shift, my son is exchanging gifts at his girlfriend's house, my daughter is in Atlanta, and I'm here alone. Just me and my grand-dog, who is asleep in my daughter's old room on the bed.

Exciting, huh?

First of all, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, however you celebrate.

I've been binge-watching House of Cards to pass the time, but unlike many of you, I can only take so many episodes of something at one time. I'll watch them all eventually, but not at a 12-hour marathon. Can't do that. My daughter can do it for seemingly days on end but I can't unfortunately.

THE EASTLANDER CHRONICLES is due out soon. We're waiting on the cover and I have to proof the final galley before it hits the printer. I'm planning a sequel, if the response is good.

Being alone this weekend has given me a chance to reflect on the many blessings I have encountered the past year. I have so much to be thankful for and part of that is you, dear readers. Thank you for all of your support. It is truly appreciated.

May your 2017 be prosperous and overflowing with happiness. All my best.

R

"My wife made a crucial difference during those two years I spent teaching at Hampden (and washing sheets at New Franklin Laundry during the summer vacation). If she had suggested that the time I spent writing stories...was wasted time, I think a lot of the heart would have gone out of me. Tabby never voiced a single doubt, however. Her support was a constant, one of the few good things I could take as a given. And whenever I see a first novel dedicated to a wife (or husband), I smile and think there's someone who knows. Writing is a lonely job. Having someone who believes in you makes a lot of difference. They don't have to make speeches. Just believing is usually enough."--Stephen King, On Writing

Amen, Mr. King.

My wife, Lisa, is a CNA specializing in home health care. She deals with sick people, dying people, paralyzed people. During the years that I was trying to put a sentence together she never discouraged me, never said that maybe I needed to take up underwater basket weaving. She, like Tabitha King, just believed. And John Logan was born after a lot of work.

Whatever success I have, I owe partially to her because I would have probably given up a long time ago otherwise.

Post Matthew

Hey everyone. Just wanted to let you know that I am alive and well following Hurricane Matthew. For some that's a good thing, others...well....

Anyway, my house is fine and family is safe but there are a lot who did not fare as well here where I live. Lots of damage to  A1A and beaches and many of the beachfront homes here. Shops and restaurants were flooded and destroyed and some won't be back.

Not only my area, but the Carolinas and Georgia have been hit as well. Lots of repairs and healing to be done. I hope we can put the petty stuff behind us and come together to begin to rebuild stronger than ever.

As far as Coral Bay, I'm told they got spared most of it, although the Bay was choppy enough for Logan to secure the houseboat and stay with Teri overnight where they spent the evening watching it rain and making love.

As for Killian, I'm sure he's fine. I heard he was in Bosnia on "business" but don't know any more details than that.

Stay safe, be kind to each other. Thanks for your support.

Peace.

R

Question

WHERE DID MASON KILLIAN COME FROM?

Someone asked me that the other day. Killian is one of the most interesting characters that I've ever dreamed up in my head. If only it were that simple.

A few years before Survivor's Affair began to take shape, I was toying with a story about a former CID guy, divorced with one kid in college, working as a PI. I don't remember the PI's name--probably Nick Diamond or some crap like that. Anyway, I was working on an introductory scene (call it a test scene, if you'd like) that took place in my PI's fav watering hole and all of a sudden my PI had a friend sit down beside him. I had a vision of this guy in sunglasses and an expensive jacket. Very low-key and mysterious.

But what to name him?

On I-95 heading north from Florida there is a sign for a small town called Killian. I'd always thought that would be a good name for a character. his first name Mason didn't come along until he appeared with Logan. It took me a long walk one day to decide what his first name would me.

The story went nowhere but Killian stayed with me and when I realized that Logan needed a buddy, Killian was there. And the chemistry clicked and the rest, as they say, is history.

I know that many of you were expecting THE EASTLANDER CHRONICLES to be available soon. In truth, my publisher is experiencing some bad health problems and his work load has slowed considerably. I decided to let it ride and let him focus on getting better. It will happen, gang, I promise, and will let you know as soon as possible.

Peace.

R

Labor Day wishes

Hey everyone. Happy Labor Day to you and I hope it was a relaxing time. It was for me...I had to deal with living in Florida and a Hurricane that came through. Although the brunt of it missed my city, we had to deal with rain and some wind and it made for a rainy wet holiday.

Where do you get your ideas?

I get that question a lot and my answer is always the same: I have no idea. It just happens. Sometimes I play a what if...what if Logan did this or what if he had a client who did this and then see if there is a story in there to be mined.

That's what writing is. It's taking that idea and digging into it, mining the details and nuances out of it; fleshing the characters out until they come alive to you and live in that world and on the page.

It's a great feeling when you do that.

As I write this the house is quiet. My wife has been quite busy with work lately and has another long day tomorrow so she is in bed early. My son's dog is spending the night with us and she is curled up beside my wife taking up my spot in the bed. Amazing how a dog can kick 2 adults out of a queen size bed.

Stay well, be good to one another, and thanks for your support. I sincerely appreciate you all.

Peace.
R

What's new?

Hey, gang.

What am I working on?

I get this question a lot so here is some things you can look forward to in the future.

The Eastlander Chronicles, a series of 3 short stories I did as an ebook a few years ago has been picked up by ProSe Publishing to be made into one book. My publisher in charge, however, is battling some serious health issues right now so I'm not sure about the release date yet.

John Logan will return in THE JUDAS MAN.
     Hint: What would happen if Logan came home and found a dead man on his boat?

I've also got another Logan story called FALLEN IDOL in the third draft phase and am working on another story called THE SORENSON AFFAIR. Readers of the Logan series will recognize this as a case spoken of in the books but no other details have been given. THE SORENSON AFFAIR will reveal a case that put Logan in the spotlight and will team him up with the infamous Luther Voss whom readers will remember from THE AFFAIRS OF MEN.

On a personal note, I'm still working on my chess game and am pondering entering another tournament in a week or so. Haven't decided.

Thanks for your support. Don't forget you can email me at logan1348@yahoo.com if you want to opine or just say hi. I look forward to hearing from you.

Peace

R

COLD DISH news!

Good News! COLD DISH is now available on audiobook!

A John Logan Thriller - Cold Dish - A John Logan Thriller by Rick Nichols and read by Daniel Coker is now available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Cold-Dish-John-Logan-Thriller/dp/B01HU5F1PG/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1467738634&sr=8-1-fkmr0

Some Observations

As I write this, I've just finished a game of chess online with a guy from Spain. That in itself is amazing to me. We have probably little in common; we don't speak the same language, our cultures are different, and yet that is not a barrier when it comes to our common interest: chess. And in case you wondered, I won one and he won one.

It's the same with music. You don't have to speak the same language as the person sitting next to you to enjoy good music, whether it's Mozart or Bon Jovi.

I'm seeing some improvement in my chess game but it has come through study and hard work.

Okay, now to the writing.

I have two John Logan novels done. THE JUDAS MAN and another one called FALLEN IDOL which is still in editing stages. So there are plenty of Logan adventures to keep you guys and gals reading for awhile.

In the meantime, I'm working on the plotting phase of a new novel...something totally different from the Logan series. It's an ambitious project and will take some time to get it to the writing phase, but it's coming along.

Next, I would appreciate your prayers, good thoughts, positive vibes, etc. for all the people affected by the flooding in my home state of West Virginia. Thankfully, my family up there is fine and my home town got some flooding but nothing to the scale of Nicholas and Greenbriar counties. If you've seen the news, you've seen how bad it is. California also needs those vibes as the wildfires are horrible right now.

By the way, if you ever want to write me I can be reached through all social media. Just check the CONTACT ME tab. email is logan1348@yahoo.com

Thanks for your support. Peace.

R

Excuses?

I heard something this week that I've heard dozens of times:

"You know, I want to write a book, but..."

Do you? Do you really want to write a book, short story, poem, etc.?

Good! So why don't you?

Well, I have a job and kids and...

So do I. I have a full time job and at the time my first book, Survivor's Affair was being written, I was working a part time job as well. Plus being a dad and husband and doing school events and church and keeping the yard mowed....

You get the picture.

So how did you manage to write seven books?

Seven so far....well it's simple: I made the time. I wrote instead of watching TV. I wrote when I felt like it and when I didn't. I wrote when the ideas were floating in my head and at times I sat down and wrote when there was nothing but a blank screen in front of me.

If I had a nice place to write....

Stephen King's first two novels were written on a typewriter perched on his lap in the laundry room of his single-wide trailer. That was his writing space. Mine was done at a computer sitting in the living room of our home.

Friends, it's not the time issue or the place issue. I know that's a good excuse but that's not it...really.

For my friend, it's a matter of deep seating feelings she's not good enough to do it, that the first draft is going to suck (of course it is, everyone's does) and so she makes other excuses.

If you want to write, friends, you have to get the excuses out of the way. You have to write. Whether it's sucky or great, you must write. Because the more you do, the better you become.

And read. Good writers are voracious readers, too.

Stop with the excuses and go write, even if it's on a legal pad. Go write. Now.

Peace

R.

Update

Hey, Gang...
Just wanted to update you on the latest news. I am out of the splint, the sling, and actually played golf last weekend. My arm is about 95% so there are a few things I can't do. No lifting heavy weights and no tight gripping.

In a couple of weeks the family gets to go watch my daughter graduate with her doctorate in pharmacy. It has been a long road--eight years of school to get her to this moment. I remember the day I dropped her off at college. I remember that I told her how special this time of her life would be and of the special friendships she would make. With my eyes watering, I left and drove the long ninety minute ride back home.

She has succeeded but it has not been easy. I remember her working at Chik-Fil-A and trying to go to school at the same time. I remember her getting the tech position at the hospital and was elated that it gave her time to study during the down times. I remember the calls at the office--the tears of frustration over this professor or this class, or at the usual bureaucracy of a large university. I remember her fears that no pharmacy school would EVER want to accept her and ending up with 3 fighting over her. I remember her white coat ceremony and how proud we all were. I remember our dear friend Kathy who took her under her wing and mentored her, helped her, and was her Gainesville mom. I remember her coming home for the holidays and not speaking to us because she had tons of lectures to watch and papers to write.

She will never know the hours of prayer that has been poured over her. How often her father has started his day by praying for his children. And those prayers will continue as she begins the next phase of her life--residency in Atlanta. Once again I will watch her go and fill the burning behind my eyes, all the while beaming with pride at her for she followed her dreams and let nothing stand in her way.

We are so proud of her, not only for what she has accomplished, but for the wonderful woman she has become.

Update

Hey, gang.

Just an update to fill you in on the latest news. HINDSIGHT continues to get great reviews from you all and I appreciate it so much. I've just completed the first draft of a new Logan novel tentatively entitled FALLEN IDOL. The JUDAS MAN, the next one in the series, is still in editing and final drafts.

THE EASTLANDER CHRONICLES should be released by ProSe Publishing sometime this year. All three of the stories will be together in one book. I'm also thinking about writing a sequel.

As for me, I had to have surgery on my right elbow (and I'm right handed) so I've had to take a break from excess typing at the computer for awhile. I'm off work until I heal up so that's where I've been. If I didn't have other hobbies to do during the day, and all I had was daytime TV, I'd probably throw my flat screen over the hill. I should be back to my crusty self by mid March.

Still working on chess and did another tournament prior to my surgery. Went 1-3 so it's not bad.

Remember to leave your reviews, email me at logan1348@yahoo.com, and I'll see you soon. Thanks for reading!

R

Why I have a job

From the Wall Street Journal:

Last week publishers, copyright experts and other supporters filed amicus briefs petitioning the Supreme Court to hear the copyright-infringement case against Google brought by the Authors Guild. The court’s decision will determine how and whether the rights and livelihood of writers are protected in the future.
If you type, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” into Google’s search box, the text and author will be identified for you in a matter of seconds. This is not because Google has ranks of English majors waiting at the ready, but because, over a decade ago, Google made an agreement with a number of great libraries to make digital copies of every book they owned.
In 2004 Google sent its moving vans to the libraries and carted off some 20 million books. It copied them all, including books in copyright and books not covered by copyright. It asked no authors or publishers for permission, and it offered no compensation for their use—although in compensation to the libraries Google gave them digital copies of the scanned books.
The Authors Guild challenged what Google was doing in Authors Guild v. Google, the copyright-infringement case first brought in 2005 and recently decided on appeal to the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. In October the court ruled that Google was protected by the doctrine of fair use when it copied the books—partly because it only made limited samples from copyright material available to the public, and partly because the court found that making the books available to an electronic search was “transformative.”
But the definition of transformative has always meant a new expressive use of material, as for creative purposes like satire—and digital copying is useful only if it changes nothing about the original. So this was an altered definition of fair use, a doctrine with four defining principles that have always also included the questions of whether the act will result in harm to the authors and whether or not the user’s intention is commercial.
Google is nothing if not commercial. This huge trove of published content is one reason Google’s search engine is so extraordinarily good and has helped Google become so profitable. Google has used these texts, without permission or compensation, for its own purposes. These include hidden internal processes, such as the deep enrichment of its own language database, for translation, search, reference, data mining, the development of algorithms, and other unidentified uses—as well as the highly visible ones, such as telling us that it’s Shakespeare who wrote that sonnet.
Google makes very commercial use of the material, but it claims that its book-search service is so beneficial to the public that the company shouldn’t have to pay their providers for the content.
It’s useful here to consider that Google reported revenue of nearly $75 billion in 2015. Last year, an Authors Guild survey on writers’ annual incomes since 2009 showed a 67% decline for authors with 15 or more years of experience. Most respondents, if they were to live only on their writing income, would be below the poverty line.
Accomplished writers are important to us. They provide the intellectual core of our culture, and as a society we need their work, their thoughts and their voices. We can’t allow their work to be taken without compensation by technology giants merely because these giants have the capability to do so.
It was to protect authors against exactly these risks that the Founders wrote copyright law into the Constitution—because a democracy needs authors who can support themselves in a free economy, without patronage or reliance on payment from special interests. If Google is allowed to take huge swaths of copyright material for its own commercial purposes, it will establish a precedent and open the gates to future property grabs.
Google claims that it would be “prohibitive” to pay the authors for using their work, but that’s not an acceptable response. Paying suppliers is simply a cost of doing business. It isn’t acceptable for one of the world’s richest companies to claim that it needn’t pay for content that plays such a crucial part in its financial success. Google depends on these texts to make its search engine one of the best in the world, and that superiority is what drives its ad revenues. Content draws traffic, and traffic drives ad revenues.
The Supreme Court has not taken up a case involving copyright’s fair use doctrine since 1994. The lower courts—applying old concepts to new facts—have created a tide that shifts compensation from the increasingly struggling creative sector to the affluent tech sector.
Beyond the law, this is an issue of morality. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Civilization depends upon morality.” At least that’s what a Google search says he says.
Ms. Robinson is a novelist and the president of the Authors Guild in New York.

INTO THE MAGIC NIGHT is now on audiobook!

http://www.amazon.com/Into-Magic-Night-Logan-Thriller/dp/B019D5QWPE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1450338440&sr=8-2&keywords=Into+the+Magic+Night+-+A+John+Logan+Thriller+by+Rick+Nichols

John Logan can't refuse a cry for help, and when the desperate woman asking for his assistance dies under mysterious circumstances, walking away isn't an option. Who was Danni Peral? Why was she so afraid? Why is she dead? Logan's search for answers will take him beyond the familiar, into a world of desire, addiction, and human exploitation...a world where no one, not even Logan's oldest friends, can be trusted, and no one is what they seem.