Swope Design

Develop Mulvane.net into a functional portal for south central Kansas region

One of my photos of downtown Mulvane, Kansas, has been used on the cover of The Shepherd, the new thriller by Ethan Cross, due out in February 2010. The photo of downtown Mulvane, Kansas, at night is engulfed in flames on the cover of Ethan Cross' new book, which will be available from Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and other outlets.

From Ethan Cross' web site: "Marcus Williams and Francis Ackerman Jr. both have a talent for hurting people. Marcus, a former New York City homicide detective, uses his abilities to protect others, while Ackerman uses his gifts to inflict pain and suffering. When both men become unwilling pawns in a conspiracy that reaches to the highest levels of our government, Marcus finds himself in a deadly game of cat and mouse trapped between a twisted psychopath and a vigilante with seemingly unlimited resources. Aided by a rogue FBI agent and the vigilante’s beautiful daughter -a woman with whom he’s quickly falling in love- Marcus must expose the deadly political conspiracy and confront his past while hunting down one of the most cunning and ruthless killers in the world."

Find out more about The Shepherd, the new thriller by Ethan Cross >

Moonshot has accepted my poem "Staring Death Back" for publication in the first quarter of 2010 for its inaugural issue. "Staring Death Back" is about the suicide of my brother Earl Swope in 2001. I wrote the first draft of the poem in 2006, and made minor edits in 2009. The poem is about seeing him in my reflection in the mirror one particular morning, and wondering what it must have been like to have been him at the moment he took his own life, what he must have thought about and seen. I am pleased Moonshot has selected this particularly personal poem, as it is one of my favorites about my brother's death.

Moonshot is a fresh, independent literary magazine with man-on-the-moon aspirations. Their inaugural publication will be available in the first quarter of 2010 (both in print and online) and will feature work from writers of all styles and backgrounds. Moonshot's name is taken from a risky strategy in the game of Hearts known as “shooting the moon." They want to eliminate the social challenges involved in writing and give an even platform to all voices based solely on the quality of the work itself. Moonshot is edited by JD Scott (Editor-in-Chief); Samantha Samson and Nyssa Hanger (Poetry Editors); and Alia Tsang and Sterling Brody (Prose Editors).

Go to the Moonshot Magazine web site >

America is, by all accounts, one of the fattest nations on the planet. Our kids are dealing with obesity at earlier and earlier ages due to our hectic pace of life and limited time to prepare good meals at home for our families. I have faced this problem due to a recent divorce, and have been creating simple recipes so my kids eat vegetables, which they never do if the vegetables are side dishes. They just don't get eaten, even after a fight. So the trick is to include their vegetables into their main dishes without their knowledge, masking their texture, color and flavor as necessary. Missy Chase Lapine, aka The Sneaky Chef has become famous for her series of Sneaky Chef recipe books to help us do just that. We all want our kids to eat healthy foods, but we find it hard to make the time to fix healthy meals, never mind find the energy to fight with the kids to eat foods they don't like (i.e. aren't sugar-saturated through and through). I have tried several of her recipes with good results, but some of them take more preparation time and ingredients than I have time, money or effort to apply to them. So I have created some of my own that, while not as rich or varied as Ms. Lapine's recipes, they are work for me and my children. They love the results, and don't mind that I've got vegetables in their meals. I tell them every time what is in the food, after they eat it! Besides sneaking more vegetables into our diet, I also try to sneak more fiber into our diet, too, so we feel more satisfied with less food, to help us reduce our caloric intake but remain healthy, and to prevent diverticulitis, a recent health development in countries, such as the United States, who rely more and more on processed foods, absent of fiber.Some of my healthier recipes include:

• Healthier Mashed Potatoes
• Healthier Sloppy Joes
• Healthier Hamburgers
• Banana-Graham Shakes
• Cheese Pizza Quesadillas
• Shepherd's Pie
• Kid's Punch
• More to come...

I was a pretty darn good story writer once. Then I entered the workforce and lost the time to dream and invent. But that doesn't mean that my early stories are dead. They're not, thanks to AnthologyBuilder.com! Like many short stories, my stories were published once in a magazine or journal or anthology with a limited life span. Stories in these venues are not likely to find a wider audience, no matter how good and memorable they may be. Unless someone noteworthy reads them and nominates them for a prize or the year's best anthologies, these stories will disappear forever. AnthologyBuilder.com seeks to change all that by allowing authors to submit their previously published short stories and, if accepted, posting them on their site to be included in custom anthologies that cost just $14.95 each. Though no one is getting rich off this scheme just yet (authors receive about $0.15 per story each time it is printed in a custom anthology), the idea has some exciting potential. That's why I submitted my stories "Timber Wolf," "Timepieces," "Dreams" and "Blue Glass" to AnthologyBuilder.com. If you like short stories, jump on over to AnthologyBuilder.com and see what they have to offer. There are some very good stories available there, and you're sure to get a collection of stories you like! The following genres are represented: Alternate History, Children, Classics, Dark Fantasy, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Horror, Humor, Mainstream, Mystery/Crime, Romance, Science Fiction, Suspense/Thriller, and Young Adult. Be prepared to spend some time, though. It takes a while to read the previews and select your stories. But oh the pleasure when your custom short story anthology arrives!

I recently completed my own custom short story anthology (pictured at right). Read my review of the site and the final printed product in my Articles & Reviews page.

The Mulvane City Street Map project is finished! The Mulvane City Map is full color both sides, and unfolds from 4" x 9" (the size of many maps, and easily mailed in standard #10 business envelopes) to 20" x 27" (just large enough to be useful in every vehicle but not too large). The Mulvane map features a coded directory for contributing businesses and organizations, and a similar coded directory for useful school, city, emergency and public offices and locations. The directory features phone numbers and map coordinates to more easily find locations in the directories, making the full color Mulvane Street Map a perfect addition to every vehicle. The map also shows features not found on most other typical community maps, including pedestrian crossings, school zones, speed limits into and out of town, railroad crossings, sports fields, and distances to nearby communities and New York City, Washington, D.C., Roswell and Las Vegas! If that is not enough, the brochure portion of the map contains a brief history of Mulvane from its founding to 1918 and features historic photographs provided courtesy of the Mulvane Historical Society. One highlight of the map is that we were able to handle and scan an original July 30, 1903 inaugural edition of The Mulvane News! The brochure also contains information on noteworthy community organizations including the Optimist Club, the American Legion, Friends of the Mulvane Library, The Tree Board, the Garden Club, the Mulvane Recreation Commission, and others. Really, you'll be hard pressed to find a better map of any similar community anywhere! Of that we're certain! The Mulvane City Map is distributed by supporting businesses, mailed out by the Mulvane Chamber of Commerce to requests for more information, handed out by the City of Mulvane at the city offices (the City Administrator reports that they get 3-4 requests for maps every day), and has been distributed to Kansas Visitors Information locations administered by the state Kansas Tourism organization. Get your Mulvane City Street Map from your favorite local Mulvane business!

We must delve into our own despair, said the wise old man, before we can achieve peace. It's hard to part with things, hard to let go, because we care. That may be a fault. Or it may be thin-skinned. Doesn't matter. I'm ready to part with some things I've held onto for 15 years. I've recently found a few dozen copies of OR and Passed through the Hands, two of my chapbooks of poetry and short fiction from 1990 and 1991 (respectively).

OR collects my best poetry and short fiction up to the date of publication (1990). It includes some of my favorite poems: "Trust," "The Rain" (award) "Mind Diving," "Crimson Summer Sunshine," "Trust," "To My Wife," "Sweet Chaste Cherry Buds," "Dog" and "The Day After She Was Married." It also includes my stories "The Rogue Rodent," "2." and "Timber Wolf" (tribute to Sherwood Anderson). OR is titled OR because it contains both poetry and short fiction, and the cover was originally printed in five different colors, so readers could have selected these 5 covers.

Passed through the Hands features work from myself and Jeff McMillian, a fellow student at MWSC, from 1991. It includes my more interesting poetry, and some of my most powerful poems, including "The I That Survives" and "Lifelines." Passed through the Hands is titled after a line in my poem "Lifelines." Of Passed through the Hands John Gilgun (our creative writing instructor) wrote:

"We are born up in communion, by a blaze, by a song." It is good to be reminded of that communion, of that blaze, of that song. I had begun to forget. Thanks, Jeff. "I am the I of I that I survive." I have no idea what I taught you, Mike. I just talk in class because that's what they pay me for. But if you have learned to survive by centering yourself, getting in touch with your unique spirit and expressing that spirit in language, then I feel I've done well. Publish it in Jeff City that I earned my pay. "Wow, I found myself sitting suddenly back in my home town, like a child, and I am holy again." Holy, holistic, whole, integrated -- Yes, Jeff, in the old hometown/jotown of soul, of mind. Here we are and isn't it glorious -- the moments of our lives fixed and frozen forever like the glaze on one of Dooley's pots! Mike, how wonderful to encounter "Lifelines" again and to remember hearing you read it in LRC 102 and feeling that shiver pass over my body -- and then Jeff leaning over and whispering, "That's a GOOD poem!" Yes! -- John Gilgun, Author of Music I Never Dreamed Of

Rather than discard or burn these copies of OR and Passed through the Hands, I am giving them away. I read through both chapbooks before deciding to give them away, and found that much of the writing in them still moves me as it did when I published it, and doesn't embarrass me too much. These free books don't cost you a dime. Just a bit of your time. Limit one set per name/address. Limited to quantity on hand. You may only receive one chapbook or the other when quantity is depleted. Offer good only in the U.S. and its territories. Complete the request form and copies will be on their way to you shortly.

Looking forward to 2007, and to make it as productive as possible, I have created a form on this site so that publishers/manufacturers can request reviews of their books, software, hardware, iPod accessories and web sites. It seems that it is a problem in all industries to get competent reviews of products. So, my goal in 2007 is to ramp up my review output and invite submissions. Samples of my writing and reviews are readily available throughout this site. If you have a book, Macintosh software, Macintosh hardware, Apple iPod accessory or web site that you would like to have reviewed, submit our form and let us know about it >

Once upon a time in the dark ages of the Internet, there was a small Original Martial Arts Clipart collection. It was only available on CD for Macintosh and Windows. It sold a few copies here, a few copies there. Then BigStockPhoto.com was born! Suddenly, the Original Martial Arts Clipart Collection was now conveniently available worldwide, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, to everyone around the world, at the perfect price! For the price of a large cup of coffee, you can now have an Original Martial Arts Clipart image to use royalty free in all your martial arts brochures, web sites, tournament flyers, and more! Find out more about our Original Martial Arts Clipart Collection and download your favorites today from BigStockPhoto.com! >

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