I hear clocks ticking. I hear air handlers, fans and appliances cycling. I hear the wind pushing my house around, and I hear my house creaking and popping in response.

I truly felt I was sitting there with my young son again, as if I’d traveled time…

Mark Landon Jarvis, portrait of an enthusiastic author. Don’t you want to read this guy’s stuff? Don’t you?

I am commonly struggling for the words or associations to communicate what I'm wanting to share. I've seen this a good deal in my kids, too, as they are searching for words or ways to express.

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Wrestling with my characters’ demons helps me defeat my own. The Warrior, a character who’s fighting programming, shadows and guilt—struggles and clings to life so that he might live to see another day and be drawn closer to someone he’s just sure was in his life.

I actually like this new medium’s “not-quite-rights” now and then. Hats off to generative AI video production and story-telling.

I’m finding this really fuels my curiosity and creativity. Reflecting on learning, revisiting epiphanies, observing all that in others…worth a blog post now and then.

Almost any night, I can take the ephemeral reigns of my dreams and guide the coursers where I wish. Thus, I am my own production studio. I don't need CGI, for I have, again, imagination.

The truly scary thing is, it’s a very credible, very possible future. I don’t drive by a power station or a transformer without thinking about this crippling potential end of (our comfy) days.

When I was a kid, I would get a buzz out of the Jetson's and all those gadgets in the opening credits that got George around for the day ahead.

I’m sharing this to reinforce the idea that—despite what my wife says—there is good reason to keep on reading. Keep the faith. Turn the page. Believe in the author.

“They never fail them—these story-people. They live, and we, the readers, live in completeness with them.”

I could eat exactly the same kibble every day for the rest of my life, for to me, food is just sustenance.

My son watches Tik-Tok’s that are satisfying (playdough being sliced, combing long straight hair, etc.) and I would offer that this novel is ever-more satisfying than that!

• directed traffic

• have applauded at over 50 concerts

• have made beautiful music

• have made armpit farts

• are never idle

This book club guide for Lightning’s Hand might start something!

Face it, life can be pretty mundane. Burdens can stack up until they’re soul-crushingly heavy. Souls can be so lonely, so burdened, so overwrought that sometimes getting away from it all is better therapy than a literary bender.

I was coming to appreciate why my son spends hours digging with the enthusiasm of an archeologist all over our property, unearthing rusty bolts and (nearly) unidentifiable car parts.

When I read it recently, I lost sleep, ignored friends and family, skipped a meal…because I was so into it.