When you think about the path you didn’t take, do you wish you could go back and do it again? — The sci-fi thriller, Dark Matter, by Blake Crouch, plunges us deeper into the question, ‘What if?’ and some of the possibilities are chilling. Speculating on more than a few outcomes of our decisions can be mind-boggling, and this story was no less as we watched the characters come face to…

It’s a This-or-That challenge, and they’re all animal questions! — We can’t pass up a challenge and Cooper is ready to tell us which one of the This-or-That options he’d choose. Thanks, Kerry Purvis for sending us this one! Here are Kerry’s answers to This-or-That Animal All-Stars: Animal All-Star This Or That You otter try this one!medium.com Pat: Are you ready Cooper? Cooper: When am I ever not ready? Pat…

A look into the anxious mind of one man on the run in Nazi Germany — The Passenger, by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz. — The Passenger By Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz First published in January 1939 and republished in September 2021 The hardcover is 266 pages, and the audiobook is 7 hours. Neil Hellegers narrates The Passenger brilliantly, his voice lending to the anxiety and fear in the mind of Otto Silbermann, a man on…

Dogs are sociable but sometimes we need them to ignore strangers. This skill is taught to guide dogs and it’s a handy skill for any dog to have. — Imagine you’re walking to your appointment and your dog is distracted by every person you pass along the way. Or your dog is with you on the commuter train and you’d rather he did not lick the other passengers’ faces. It’s comforting to know that we can get our dogs…

When she insists that we follow her… — One little six-pound furry body, that’s light as a feather during the day, feels like a bowling ball before the alarm when I’m still in dreamland. Once she has traipsed up my back and across my shoulders, sometimes pressing a tiny foot into my ear, she bounces off of me…

In The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, by V. E. Schwab, Addie willingly spars with the Devil … — This book scores five shining stars, maybe even my ‘book of the year’, but it’s only March so I’ll check again in nine months. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue By V. E. Schwab Published October 2020 The story Would you make a deal with the Devil, if your only other option…

Does Cooper even have a favorite pair of shoes? — If we know dogs, we know how opinionated they can be. So, I’ll give this question to Cooper, my guide dog, to tell us what he thinks about shoes… Me: Are you ready Cooper? Cooper: let me get this straight, you want me to talk about shoes? Me: yes I…

Does this even sound remotely like me? — Will AI replace us as writers? Since AI has become the hottest topic in the news and on Medium, it’s impossible to ignore and it’s got me wondering if AI will replace us as writers. Some of the stories I’ve read in recent months I’d swear are written by AI. Why? Because they lack personality. After…

In my imagination, I can go back — across time — Some writers are also poets who weave lines of words together into pieces of art. One such friend, Kallol Mazumdar, tagged me to write a short poem, a twittle, a micro poem, which is four lines, at least 100 words, with some element of rhyme. The original Magical March Prompt…