What do tools and my novel—Guy Going Under—have to do with each other, you might ask

Book trailer for Guy Going Under

From book trailer for Guy Going Under

Our unmatched ability to conceive, make, and use tools is something that sets Homo sapiens apart from all other species. The use of tools is easy enough to picture in factories, repair shops, kitchens, and home workbenches, for the primary definition of the word is usually: an implement, especially one held in the hand, as a hammer, saw, or file, for performing or facilitating mechanical operations (dictionary.reference.com).

But the definition of the word doesn’t stop there. Today the word is just as often used in a broader way: an item or implement used for a specific purpose. A tool can be …a technical object such as a web authoring tool or software program…a concept can also be considered a tool (businessdictionary.com). In other words, tools can also have intellectual components and be applied to intellectual pursuits.

With humans being wired the way they are, progressive or competitive people are driven to devise or seek out the best possible tools. Let me now defer to a definition from a website for this type of person, Cool Tools. Its definition of a cool tool is: …anything useful that is superior to comparable items. The constant search for such tools is a component of, and a major driver of, science and technology. I am no longer a scientist, but the idea remains ingrained in me and I recognize that even selling books requires modern tools. Hence, the book trailer below. I won’t go so far as to claim it is the ultimate cool tool, but have a look! And Cool Tools is well worth a look, too.

Guy Going Under—a hero who “kind of likes just doin’ nothing”

The author just doin’ nothing in Death Valley

I recently spent three weeks camping in Death Valley National Park. There, when not hiking canyons, I basked in the pleasant—well, hot—temperatures and eased into a languid “I kind of like just doin’ nothing, it’s something that I do” sort of existence (description courtesy of a Robert Earl Keen song—Something I Do). Continue reading