Lettered? Maybe I mean hieroglyphed.

(Had to show it on da lightbox or you wouldn’t see the outlines of the kittehs.)

<3 Loki

… March 6 to March 8, 2015, on Amazon. You don’t need a Kindle to read it, there are free Kindle apps for mobile devices, tablets and desktops in all formats.

Here it is in the US, UK, Australia and Canada. Herein ends the announcement of the free stuff. The rest of this post is me respectfully requesting short, honest reviews.

I detest feeling cheated when I buy a book, and I don’t want anyone who gets one of my books to feel cheated. As such, I ask that you consider taking some time to leave a short review for One Cat. Even one tweet-sized sentence would be fantastic!

Notice I didn’t say, “good review”. I believe in and practice radical honesty. I lead a pretty simple and everything-is-awesome existence, and like everyone else, I’ve been critiqued for decades. If you’re holding off because you don’t want to hurt my feelings over a book that features the death of my cat, you don’t need to worry. This would literally be my reaction:

Five stars= “Whoohoo! I got a review!”
One star= “Whoohoo! I got a review!”

More reviews are better for everyone;

an abundance of reviews provides a balanced, impartial overview and steers people to the book that’s right for them at that time.

I know there are infamous stories of authors who get depressed or take nasty action over bad reviews out there. I am not one of them. I don’t vote on or reply to my own reviews so you need fear no backlash from me. I’m not going to assume you’re a soulless bully and hunt you down, and I don’t think anyone who loves my books will either. Intelligent people can tell the difference between an honest reviewer and a professional flamer, and Loki seems to attract intelligent people (who may or may not like his books, comics or videos.)

SO, if you think One Cat is too serious for a child,

if you suspect I’m pushing some theist or non-theist or Crazy Cat Lady propaganda you don’t care for, if you think another similar book is better, if there should be words, if you think there should be a warning not to read it if you’ve just lost someone — even if you like the book but it drives you crazy that Gen has no eyes and it would be better with a dog or a human– a short honest review will help readers know what they’re getting into.

The same goes for the early-reader chapter book Where No Cat Has Gone Before (free on Saturday): if you hate the main character’s grammar, if you want to know what’s up with the owl, if the illustrations are too simplistic, if you think Dolch is more effective than Whole Language, even if it was blah and odd and didn’t grab you whatsoever, please be honest for the next person looking.

Thank you in advance,
Pet, Loki and Sagan

It’s not you, it’s me. And I still like you!

Here’s an essay about it if you’re bored:

I expect some of you already know I spent October and November doing Alternate Reality Immersion Fitness, and others of you have no idea. Some people walk to Mordor while eating protein bars, others do WWII Boot Camp and play paintball, still more immerse themselves in Klingon Culture and (I imagine) drink a lot of prune juice. I already did Roman and Zombie immersion fitness so I designed my own program after getting some professional help with the current science of dynamic warmups and interval training.

I would have gone Minbari but I wasn’t sure which caste I am and I don’t like spicy food, so I chose Jedi Training, a combination of (generally) daily workouts/sparring tests (sometimes for hours), meditation, mindfulness, simple foods, the appreciation of clean water– and virtual sequestration wherein I was only allowed a half hour of web access per week. No attachments, you know.

That includes news and email.

So, yeah, I’ve been ignoring my email.

You know what I missed? One email from a friend and an announcement from an author I love, both just before Halloween when my 3YO had 4 Halloween parties to attend as Iron Man (because I wouldn’t let him be Deadpool– not that it wouldn’t be cute but we had already made the Iron Man armor). I also missed a few newsletters that weren’t time-sensitive or that I wouldn’t have been able to help with, anyway. The rest was junk or useless.

Oh, and OMG! DEADPOOL TEST FOOTAGE and WHOO-HOO! DOCTOR STRANGE! But I was just as excited seeing all that news late as I would have been to see it first. So no damage.

I expected to come back to all of my online haunts this month, but I’ve found the real world, (or the alternate reality world?), so rewarding I’ve decided instead to keep my access to under an hour a week. I’m back to a normal weight, I’m getting tons of special projects done (like butterscotch daleks), and I have the energy to play with a three-year-old who hasn’t napped for almost, well, three years.

Leaving the web is the next logical step in my long-term devotion to happiness, minimalism and simplicity. Why else would I stay on a dumbphone– besides that it’s about as attractive to thieves as an orange Volvo?

My leaving is not a reflection on the worth of the posts of the people I follow, and it’s no fway a condemnation of anyone who chooses to stay connected.

It’s more like I’ve decided to go straight home instead of visiting a neighborhood pub I have a fondness for. I’ve been going to said pub for over twenty years and it’s time (for me) to do something else and come back only for special occasions.

(Also, Jedi trials are in January. If I want to graduate to Knight I have to keep training, heh.)

How can I arrange ARIF for a New Year’s Resolution?

I expect someone may stumble onto this and realize immersion may be more fun and work better for them than walking on a human hamster wheel. I know it does for me.

If you want to try Alternate Reality Immersion Fitness, or whatever your friends may be calling it in your area, and you have some experience with exercise and safety and the go-ahead from your doctor, you can get some good ideas at Nerd Fitness. The rest you’ll have to adapt from whatever culture you’re immersing yourself in.

Write up your plans for 8-10 weeks so you have goals, with the understanding that old injuries and over- or under-estimating yourself may require editing. By goals, I mean “I want to be this good”, not, “I want to weigh this much.”

If you don’t have any experience with exercise and safety, save up some credits and find a like-minded and bored personal trainer to help you. (Hint: Almost all of them are bored.) Or get a group of friends and research together.

Aaaaaaannnnd… FADE OUT.

Happiness is before you, not behind you.

<3 Loki

Reach for the High Apples first.

You can get the low ones anytime.

<3 Loki