Cosmostales

09/10/2023

Watermelon planted in mid June.

08/12/2023

Reflections of early August, Seattle 8/2019.

08/04/2023

I've received 1,900 reactions to my posts in the past 30 days. Thanks for your support. 🙏🤗🎉

08/04/2023

Military miniatures.

07/06/2023

Shout out to my newest followers! Excited to have you onboard!

Samuel Pridey, Rosendo Gomez, Mike Joslin, Manuel Garcia, Joe Allen, Elvin Maldonado, Paul James, Shawn Jarvis, Sandy Thomas, Janet Kilcoyne, Mike Delossantos, James Robb, Bob Thompson

07/06/2023

Shout out to my newest followers! Excited to have you onboard!

Samuel Pridey, Rosendo Gomez, Mike Joslin, Manuel Garcia, Joe Allen, Elvin Maldonado, Paul James, Shawn Jarvis, Sandy Thomas, Janet Kilcoyne, Mike Delossantos, James Robb, Bob Thompson

07/03/2023

This page is being revised and updated. Be back soon.

08/23/2019

Reflections of early August.

08/08/2019

Travelling in the Pacific northwest. Vancouver BC, Olympic National Park, Washington State.

07/19/2019

Cosmostales is about science fiction, but it is more importantly about writing. Without writing, there would be no science fiction, no movies, no Star Wars, no Galaxy Gurus. Without writing, entertainment would revert to the stone age and stories by the fire. Think about that, and be thankful for writers.

07/14/2019

Chesapeake writing workshop today was today . . .🤔?
Yesterday it was tomorrow.🤩

05/17/2019

Discovered today that a hack saw fits perfectly into the spaces of a barbecue grille. Good for a quick removal of crud you haven't gotten around to cleaning off. Performed best without coals.

04/29/2019

The George Washington Monument in Baltimore. Driven past it for years, and never took the time to find out what it was. Decided to explore it last week, and its surroundings.

03/30/2019

Recently visited the Flight 93 memorial, a solemn tribute to the truest of US heroes, Shanksville, PA.

12/31/2018

Season's Greetings from Cosmostales, and Happy New Year! Pick up a copy of "Empire Breakers." http://www.lulu.com/shop/john-koutze/empire-breakers/paperback/product-5953606.html. Like fishing and the Outer Banks? Like a good family story that makes you laugh? OBX Men, our latest novel, soon to come.

07/05/2018

These Guys Have It Easier - Airport Commute Too Much

A relative had an 8 p.m. flight at Ronald Reagan National Airport, Washington D.C., a few weeks back on a Friday. We left Northern Virginia about 6 p.m. figuring to drop my relative off about 6:30 p.m. Granted, it was a Friday, but traffic from DC usually flows out of town at that time of day. We were proceeding along fine, another relative navigating in the back seat with phone and GPS, unaware of the travel nightmare we were about to enter. We were able to access the GW parkway but soon found a significant back up on it. We waited, not too concerned yet; probably an accident not too far ahead. But then we crawled for a good twenty minutes to find that ALL traffic was being diverted off the parkway onto 95 south. The GW Parkway was apparently closed heading toward the airport! We had no idea why.

The GPS took us off at Boundary Channel only to try and have us access the parkway again – where it was also blocked. So, we went the only way that we could, on 95 North. As we approached the 14th Street Bridge my knowledge of DC, since I am a DC native, reminded me of the “back way,” into the airport off Route One in Crystal City. With the parkway inaccessible, it would be the only way to get there. I would have gone over the bridge, made a left on Independence to 15th street, and then headed south to 95 south to Route One. The GPS, however, took us through Southwest Washington, through L’Enfant plaza and onto 95 south there. We got to Route One, but due to its many lights, and the fact that everyone else was trying to get to the airport that way, this too was a crawl. We began to wonder if getting out and walking might be a more effective option, but once we got on the airport ramp we were home free. The flight was caught with ten minutes to spare. Once the passenger was away, I only wanted to get as far away from that airport as possible.

Found nothing that night or the next day on the internet, or on any news channel, as to why the parkway was blocked. I have to admit at the time we thought there had been some kind of incident. Someone expressed the opinion, however, that this is routine practice whenever a “dignitary” has to go to the airport. I was stunned. This couldn't be true. As it turns out, we later found out from someone else who also went to the airport for the same flight, that there indeed was a very bad wreck on the GW Parkway. Apparently when I finally was driving away, it had all been cleared off. Maybe an accident investigation was being performed so they still had the road blocked? Since then news report has appeared on the internet that relates that the parkway did not reopen until 1 a.m.

06/26/2018

Bucket List Item Number 5, and we are going there in about 7 weeks - Nova Scotia or bust.

01/15/2018

A January walk in the woods; the marshy carpet frozen like glass. 5 companions, out for a hike to Block House Point, near Potomac, Maryland. T'was a chilly day, but our hearts were warm with companionship, and the scenery therapy for the soul.

01/05/2018

"Writing Talent." What Exactly Is It?

OK, here is the secret, or at least one of them. I often hear people say: "I wish I could write like that; I just don't have the talent." I shake my head. I suppose there have been geniuses that write excellent prose as soon as they start typing or pushing their pencil, but that is the exception. Like many things, writing is work; hard work. Writing takes thought, sometimes research, reflection, some knowledge about what you are writing about (although research can substitute for this), and most importantly, reading what you just wrote carefully, and then usually re-writing, perhaps several times. And then when you think you are done, read it again; maybe have someone else look at it, and use spell check. "Good novels are not written, they are re-written." I read that once someplace.

The Process is not that much different from what I do for a living, namely, design buildings as an architect. Read on:

I have often compared it to a process that architects might understand - design. No one designs a building or plans space at the first shot. That's why we have sketch and trace paper, to overlay to keep changing and revising until the design works. The writing process is essentially the same thing, and like design and planning it is hard work. And with architecture even after you think you are done, more changes arise possibly from the client, or your engineering consultants, or the review of code officials. Revision, revision, revision, until it's right.

11/03/2017

Now available internationally.

https://www.fnac.com/livre-numerique/a9299683/John-C-Koutze-Empire-Breakers

09/03/2017

Bucket List Item # 4. Visit the family in Europe one more time (at least).

08/22/2017

Bucket list item # 3: Australia

08/19/2017

Bucket List Item # 2: six states - Hawaii, Michigan, North Dakota, New Mexico, Alabama, and Mississippi. I've been to all the rest of them.

08/18/2017

Bucket List Item # 1. Visited Alaska in 1987: Anchorage, Fairbanks, the Russian River Salmon Fishing, Denali, Talkeetna, Skagway, Alaska Ferry, Bush Planes and Pilots, the Brooks Range, and Bettles, Alaska - lowest recorded temperature 96 below zero, Population of about 100. When I arrived in Bettles they were talking about a bush pilot, at the Bar and Grille Place, who took off drunk in his plane the night before. Nobody knew where he was. Oh, Eskimos too - very nice people. So, returning is now officially on My Bucket List.

07/27/2017

07/12/2017

OK, the eternal question - is the glass half full or half empty? This would be with water. Advice from another Facebook friend's post - Just pour it all in a smaller glass and stop complaining. Good advice. My added advice - throw in a shot or two of scotch or bourbon, and there will be no reason to complain.

03/20/2017

What kind of beer does Luke Skywalker drink? Sabre Lite!

12/12/2016

Season's Greetings from Cosmostales.

10/28/2016

Some spooky artwork from www.cosmostales.com., as Halloween approaches.

02/02/2016

ROBERT SERVICE . . . familiar with this poet/author who wrote a lot about Alaska? Look him up. Here's a little piece from his poem "The Spell of the Yukon," that I thought about while skiing in the woods last week near my home.

The winter the white land that blinds you,
The white land locked tight as a drum.
The cold fear that follows and finds you
The silence that bludgeons you dumb.
The snows that are older than history,
The woods where the weird shadows slant.
The stillness, the moonlight, the mystery,
I've bade'm good bye but I can't.

01/26/2016

WE LEARN FROM OUR CHILDREN. This is not yet another story about getting stuck in the snow or shoveling or such, I think we've had enough of that, but this truck is part of the story. We try to teach our children as best we can, but sometimes they teach us. I was sitting behind a massive tow truck one day towing an almost equally massive vehicle, and I was taking my son to school. The truck was sitting there a long time, could have turned a number of times but waited for vehicles way way down the intersecting street. My son must have thought, uh-oh, here's goes Dad, as I started muttering to myself. Then once the truck did turn, it went about 10 miles an hour. We weren't running late, but the muttering got louder nonetheless. Finally the truck turned off and I exclaimed: "Yay! Glad he's gone. I can't stand big vehicles like that in front of me taking forever, I can't see over and around them which annoys me." And my son replied from the back seat: "Dad, did you ever think people say the same thing about your truck when you're in front of them." Well, I thought, I don't sit there forever if I can help it, but my truck IS bigger than your average vehicle. Thanks son, my lesson learned.

11/30/2015

Know any sci-fi lovers? Want to get them a great book? Prices discounted for Christmas; 40 to 50%. Check it out for FREE as an ebook. www.cosmostales.com.

11/26/2015

I am thankful that I am a writer. Buy a good sci-fi thriller at www.cosmostales.com.

11/03/2015

Pick up a good sci-fi thriller; it's not too late. Now discounted at 10%. Empire Breakers at Lulu.com; Amazon.com; or BarnesandNoble.com

10/22/2015

Join the Dark Side on October 31st. Blast the good guys.

09/11/2015

Words that haunt me in my sleep:

1. Caution, the moving walkway, is ending . . .
2. Your order contains an age restricted item . . .
3. A cashier is on the way to assist you . . .
4. Did you find everything you need?
5. Do you know why I stopped you?

03/28/2015

With Leprechaun inside . . .

11/01/2014

Happy Halloween from all of us at Cosmostales.

04/30/2014

Saw this unique machine on the fishing pier of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. Known as a "Hovercraft" it actually flies just above the water's surface. The "pilot" sits in a cockpit with a flight suit on, and it maneuvers more like an aircraft than a boat.