Wednesday Word: Feculent

feculent |ˈfekyələnt| adjectiveof or containing dirt, sediment, or waste matter: their feet were forever slipping on feculent bog.DERIVATIVES feculence nounORIGIN late 15th cent.: from French féculent or Latin faeculentus, from faex, faec- ‘dregs.’
I learn so man great words reading Terry Pratchett, I just can't always tell the real ones from those he made up.

Wednesday Word: All

all predet., det., & pronounused to refer to the whole quantity or extent of a particular group or thing: [ as predeterminer ] :  all the people I met | she left all her money to him| [ as determiner ] :  10% of all cars sold | he slept all day | [ as pronoun ] : four bedrooms, all with balconies | carry all ofthe blame | the men are all bearded.• [ determiner ] any whatever: assured beyond all doubt | he denied all knowledge.• [ determiner ] used to emphasize the greatest possible amount of a quality: they were in allprobability completely unaware | with alldue respect.• informal dominated by a particularfeature or characteristic: an eleven-year-old string bean, all elbows and knees.• [ pronoun with clause ] the only thing (used for emphasis): all I want is to be left alone.• [ pronoun ] (used to refer to surroundings or a situation in general) everything: all was well | it was all very strange.• informal used to indicate more than one person or thing: a team of specialists who all know the patient.• dialect consumed; finished; gone: the cake is all.

Half a life time ago I was a cash-strapped college student with a penchant for growing herbs in pots. So when the local gardening supply store ran an ad stating all planters were 50% off I couldn’t resist. After much deliberation I chose two of the fancy flowerpots instead of a dozen of the plain ones—being sensible was never my strong point.

The cashier rang up my pots at full price. I pointed out her mistake. She informed me these planters were not on sale. I drew here attention to the ad, stating all planters were half off. She gave me a professional smile and said, “Yes, but not these ones.” I pointed out to here that all meant all.

I became the dreaded customer who holds up the line. It wasn’t the planters—those I could’ve walked away from—but the principle of things.

The cashier summoned the manager, and I stated my case. He instructed the cashier to charge me half price for the planters. However, I strongly suspected—and still do—that he did it only to get rid of me, not because he saw my point.

Tussock

tussock |ˈtəsək| noun1 a small area of grass that is thicker or longer than the grass growingaround it.2 (also tussock moth)a woodlandmoth whose adults and brightlycolored caterpillars both bear tuftsof irritant hairs. The caterpillarscan be a pest of trees, damagingfruit and stripping leaves.
DERIVATIVES tussocky adjectiveORIGIN mid 16th cent.: perhaps an alteration of dialect tusk‘tuft,’ of unknown origin.
The word came up when I was doing research into fantasy creatures.

Beefcake

The great thing about designing your own cover is that you can go completely nuts.

I made this one years ago when I first spotted the magnificently cheese-tastic stock photo of a handsome man on the beach. The pose reminded me of classic pulp covers.

I couldn’t resist; I added a turgid sky and faux tear and wear, and had my own pulp cover. I finally have enough old summer-themed short stories—some of them out of print—for a small anthology and an excuse to reveal Mr. Beefcake to the world. Short Shorts is now live on Amazon and ARe.

Wednesday Word: Diablerie

diablerie |dēˈäblərē| nounreckless mischief; charismatic wildness:the beauty and diablerie of the great actor.• archaic sorcery supposedly assisted by the devil.
ORIGIN mid 18th cent.: from French, from diable, from ecclesiastical Latin diabolus ‘devil.’

I'm back to writing paranormal, or maybe it's urban fantasy. I just finished a "short" story set in a brand new world, and I’m already planning the sequel(s). 

All my previous paranormal stories took place in contemporary US, with one side-trip to the Old Country, but One Hex Too Many is set in an alternate universe. It’s still contemporary US, but with a twist. Magic is real, and it can be used for nefarious purposes. The protagonist is a cop who investigates such crimes.