Rosemary B. Althoff

Normally, I don't hold with lying. However, I can see a scenario when it's truly necessary to save a life in the presence of an enemy. Gracie gets into that situation. Her friend Mark is captured and accused of being a spy. He also really is a spy. What can she say that won't get him killed?  At first, Gracie's throat went dry. All of the Lanthran language she knew ran out of her mind like a dog bounding through an open door. There seemed to be a boulder in her chest, keeping her from breathing. His hand tightening, the colonel demanded in a low, dangerous voice, "Little girl, what do you know about this man?" . . . Gracie thought, How would Lewis have handled this situation?  She knew, smart, complex Lewis would play chess with the colonel. Very well, she would play chess, too. G racie found she had control over her mouth again and could speak. Every word from here on was a lie, her own contribution to this weird game. In a barely audible voice...

Have you ever taken sides with an enemy with (what you think) is a noble purpose? That is, you think you can save somebody if you just go along with the abuser in your life? That's the mistake Lewis made; that's the mistake a lot of us make. Sometimes we don't have any other choice! Lewis knew what was going to happen and what he should do. I'll go to Moorway. I'll join the Horned Edge. I'll excel and earn Charon's favor. And then - I'll take Barth's place at Lord Charon's right hand. And then - I'll rescue Patrick and Gracie and take us back to Earth.  With one last flash of humor before switching sides, he labelled the moment of decision: "The Day I Became Anti-Matter." After that, all humor was gone. He was no longer on the side of the angels, presuming that such entities existed. (p.318) I highly recommend that you do NOT try to protect someone else by letting another person beat up on you. But I know that sometimes tha...

People in the USA are enculturated to believe that slender people are more sexy than fat people. But that is not the culture in some other countries, such as the Philippines. Also, even in the USA, some people prefer their fat cuddly teddy bear partners than the more bony type. One of THE HOT MARBLE's characters and friend of main character Fred, Sir Thomas Forschwynn, the Bard of Bardia, prefers fat cuddly women. His love "was taller than he was and almost as wide as she was tall. She had at least six chins sprouting long black hairs, and Fred saw a mustache under her pert little nose; yet she was somehow very pretty. Her body moved powerfully, yet with a feminine rhythm. Her blouse, with a scandalously low V-neck, complimented her giant bosom. . . . She gave Tom a long look, and Fred could swear that her brown eyes darkened with attraction and there was a slight, sensuous smile playing around her full lips. He glanced at Tom to see if he had noticed, and to his amaz...

   They were spirits, noncorporeal; they'd just heard him calling.     . . . If the bezubs took him, he would be trapped with them in hell. And hell would be like watching Patrick's terrified face, a knife blade cutting into his throat, except the horror would be eternal. He would never get out.    Too late. In his mind he saw razor-teethed gremlins rushing toward his open mouth, his surrendered hands. Bezubs, coinhabitors of his own world, were taking back their own.    "No," he groaned. "It can't be true. That's just religion or folk tales."    But it was true. (p. 389)

One time, on Halloween night while we were trick-or-treating, some bullies threatened to beat up my little sister. I was fierce, all 5 feet and 110 lbs. of me. "If you try to touch her, I'll beat you into a pulp," I promised. When my character Lewis has a chance to defend his little brother, he grabs a big stick, while one of his attackers pulls a knife. He says to himself, I will fight- no rules, no mercy- until Patrick escapes in the forest.  To the men, Jack and Kut, he taunts, baring his teeth, "Aren't you afraid of a desperate man with a big, sharp stick? Let this rip up your skin if you try to touch me!" Kut's knife threatened to slit a nice space between Lewis's ribs. Jack's branch whooshed as it tried to brain him. Well, the bullies left me and my sister alone.

THE HOT MARBLE opens with 11-year-old Patrick. He imagines himself a hero: "He imagined goblins swarming out of the grass to seize Gracie and him. Suddenly, he unveiled his true power: He grew tall and lean and hard, wearing a black cloak, holding a magic sword. With great swipes of its razor sharp blade, he defended little Gracie against the wicked hordes, chopping the slobbering and gibbering things into bloody pieces of green flesh . . ." (p. 7). I want to stay like Patrick, no matter how old I get.

What do you think . . . Would prohibiting electronic technology except in special designated areas promote a better life? (Note: the author does not think so.) The Lanthran magi, after the Great Rebellion did prohibit all electronic technology except in such places as the College of the Magi in Bardia, and they did this to prevent access to the forbidden planet - Earth.

It takes 100% commitment to get hard things done. None of the characters in THE HOT MARBLE were able to follow through with these except one: Gracie. I think I need to access the Gracie in my soul.

Hello, folks. THE HOT MARBLE is available in Kindle version for $2.99. Amazon added some keywords to the "theme" of the book: supernatural and occult. I had to step back, because I thought of it as primarily as sci-fi/fantasy, but I am definitely dealing with the supernatural here. Question: Do you think that the supernatural is separate from science, or part of it?

Different worlds in THE HOT MARBLE are made from templates. The Blue People are from a world misty and marshy and their blue fur is fine instead of clothing, as there are no cold climates there. They have no shame, no crime. The language of the Blue People doesn't have "spoken" word names, but gestures, since those human type people are nonverbal from behavior to brain. (They have no vocal cords. Their tongues are at least a foot long - great for grabbing underwater marsh grubs as well as for participating in their "conversations"or kissing.) They are just as intelligent as homo sapiens except for being profoundly linguistically challenged. In fact, the two species can mate, though their offspring are sterile and definitely strange looking, but mating Blue People with humans is considered by most to be abominable as it must be forced. These were brought to Lanthra to be slaves when the Horned Edge ruled, several centuries B.C. (Earthwise). In Bardia, Eleae...

A soul's warfare goes moment by moment. You have to live in the Now, doing what is good for you, even the simple things like eating on time, going to bed on time, learning how to communicate . . . and learning that you cannot rescue other people. Lewis, the main character in THE HOT MARBLE, wants to rescue his brother and sister so much that he nearly destroys himself.