Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

I haven't published a story about Xavier Xanthum, Space Explorer, since sometime in 2020, and I thought it was about time. Imagine my surprise when I found that I seem to have a story I wrote and never published (I'm not sure why; evidence suggests I eventually used it as a writing sample when applying for an artist residency). I may simply have given up; 2020 was a difficult year. In any case, I clearly wrote the story to highlight the birds of New Zealand, and it was kind of fun revisiting some of them. I've included a couple of photos at the end to match at least one of the birds mentioned. It's just over 1100 words.   It’s for the Birds   “Larry, are there any unexplored planets in this sector?” The Wanderlust ’s AI took a moment to respond. Even a computer needs time to review all the planets in a sector as crowded as their current location, or so Larry would have him believe. “Negative, Captain. There appears to have been at least a preliminary review of ...

I'm posting this morning with the Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays blog hop. The hop is sponsored by  Greg Pattridge of Always in the Middle . Check out Greg's blog for a list of additional middle grade reviews.  I've been on a bit of a roll with audiobooks by Dusti Bowling ( see reviews)    and ended up listening to yet another last week.    Title: 24 Hours in Nowhere Author : Dusti Bowling; read by Aaron Shedlock Publication Info: 2019, Tantor Media. 5 hours. Original hardcover Sterling Children's Books, 2018, 260 pages Source: Library Publisher's Blurb: Welcome to Nowhere, Arizona, the least livable town in the United States. For Gus, a bright 13-year-old with dreams of getting out and going to college, life there is made even worse by Bo Taylor, Nowhere’s biggest, baddest bully. When Bo tries to force Gus to eat a dangerously spiny cactus, Rossi Scott, one of the best racers in Nowhere, comes to his rescue—but in return she has to give Bo her p...

Thanks to Great Escapes for the chance to read and review the latest in the Accidental Detective series!   Something Prowling in Paradise Park: A Kate Tessler Amateur Sleuth Mystery (The Accidental Detective   Book ) by Kris Bock About Something Prowling in Paradise Park Something Prowling in Paradise Park: A Kate Tessler Amateur Sleuth Mystery (The Accidental Detective Book) Humorous Mystery 7th in Series Setting – Arizona Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tule Publishing Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 2, 2026 Print length ‏ : ‎ 192 pages ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1969218965 ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0G32HDV59 Three cases. One body. Zero chance of staying out of trouble. Kate Tessler may have thought her days of chasing danger were over. But the former war correspondent’s “retirement” in sunny Paradise, Arizona, is anything but quiet. With her eccentric circle of friends and colleagues, Kate has built a new life—full of mysteries, mayhem, and the occasional stakeout—as she works ...

I'm checking in again with Crimson's Creative Challenge for the prompt I need to write a bit of flash fiction. Huge thanks for a little spark for a small story, though I've blown way past the 150-word limit--100 words past it, in fact. Two of the photos connected themselves in my mind.           Perfection   It’s so close to being perfect. The house is adorable, the small working farm a rarity in this day and age of corporate farming. Or maybe that’s not so much a thing on this side of the pond. Rowan, being American, doesn’t know. Just that the place is almost perfect.   It’s too bad about the road that runs too close to the front of the house now. It must have been farther off once. Maybe there was no road at all when the house was built. Rowan wonders for a moment when that was. Did they have indoor plumbing then? Insulation? The place predates electricity, but someone will have wired it up by now. They can shoot around the ...

Another selection from my "random historical stuff nabbed from the library" collection.   Title: Maiden Voyages: Magnificent Ocean Liners and the Women who Travelled and Worked Aboard Them Author : Sian Evans Publication Info: Macmillan Audio, 2021, 11 hours. Original publication by Two Roads/Hachett UK, 2020, 355 pages hardback.  Source: Library Publisher's Blurb (via Goodreads): Migrants and millionairesses, refugees and aristocrats all looking for a way to improve their lives. After WW1 a world of opportunity was opening up for women ... Before convenient air travel, transatlantic travel was the province of the great ocean liners and never more so than in the glory days of the interwar years. It was an extraordinary undertaking made by many women. Some travelled for leisure, some for work; others to find a new life, marriage, to reinvent themselves or find new opportunities. Their stories have remained largely untold - until now. Maiden Voyages is a fascinating...

That seems a good title both to describe what I'm posting, and to explain why it's late (though I suppose my distraction came before the weekend). In any case, I lost track of the days of the week and the tasks of the day, so here you get a (random) collection of sunrises, some of which I may have posted before in trip reports.   I'm not sure which peak, but this was taken on the Tongariro Crossing (New Zealand) in April 2019.   My favorite way to wake up: in a tent, next to a gorgeous mountain. Mt. Kenya, Feb. 2024. A series of mornings in the mountains from last August. I tried to pick ones I didn't use in the trip report so recently completed! Sunrise over the desert works for me, too. Hole In The Rock Road, Grand Staircase-Escalante, Utah.   Off the Burr Trail Road, same national monument.  Same state, different trip. Utah Sunrise Kilimanjaro from Mt. Meru, Tanzania  I'll end with one of the many fantastic photos my husband shot one particular decorative mor...