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Thursday, September 10, 2020

Buddhist Plutonian Conversion Romance

 Today's post was supposed to be quite different from what you'll read below. It was to deal with the dichotomy of using humour to fight cancer, which at the same time keeps people and God at arms length...


...hey, cheer up! It won't be that!

Because, this morning, God intervened, and had Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency put up a post (well worth reading!) on upcoming trends in fiction, and she used an example which set me a sonnet-challenge (note to readers, this was originally intended for September 3, 2020's Five Minute Friday linkup...which had to be canceled).

"...if I were to sell a novel on Buddhists traveling to Pluto and, as a result, converting to Christianity while finding romance with Plutonians, I might start a trend of “Buddhist Plutonian Conversion Romances.” 

You've got to admit, that's iresistible.

To far Pluto did they travel,
fifteen Buddhists, heads all shaved,
but meditative plans unraveled
when they met fifteen Amish babes
who were there, Rumspringa trip
to that planet (well, it isn’t)
in a barn-raised rocket ship
never dreaming that their visit
would become a kind of mission
(good thing that they never tarried)
and the Buddhists became Christians
and of course, they all got married
and journeyed then right back to Earth
to give new writing genre birth.

If you found the sixth line puzzling, Pluto actually isn’t considered a planet any more; the IAU demoted it some years back.

And what better musical selection than the supergroup Europe, with The Final Countdown? (Click here if the video doesn't appear for you.)


I do try to answer each comment in a timely fashion, but with Internet providers really stretched, I have only about half of the access I once did. Please bear with me!


Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.

Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.

Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.












30 comments:

  1. :) As always, you leave me thinking!

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    1. Anita, thanks so much! I'm always delighted to see you here. (And please pardon, again, the tardy reply...really rough week.)

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  2. I'm always impressed by your poetry skills. I like the last line 'to give new writing genre birth". You may have just done that with this poem! Blessings

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    1. Wemi, I'm honoure! And I sure hope we se a rise in Buddhist Plutonian Conversion Romances. The world could maybe use them now.

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  3. As Dodger fans, we mourn Pluto's loss of planet status, but I won't fight the IAU. =)

    (In case you didn't know: The great uncle of Dodger Pitcher Clayton Kershaw discovered Pluto in 1930.)

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    1. Amie, there are folks fighting the IAU, for what they felt was a capricious decision, and a grave slap against Mickey Mouse's dog. Keep hope alive!

      I idn't know that Clyde Tombaugh was Clayton Kerhaw's late uncle, but I have read Tombaugh's book, "Out Of The Darkness" about Pluto's iscovery, and it's superb.

      I'm a Dodger fan, too. Remember Gibson's home run in the '88 series?

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  4. Andrew! At least the Buddhists became Christians, and not the other way around! And I think this post may be just the perfect one, for it is definitely humorous, and I don't believe all humor puts us at arms length with God. Laughter is medicine!

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    1. Mary, thank you so much...I had a lot of fun writing this, and I agree about the medicinal qualities of laughter.

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  5. He's baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack.

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  6. What a gift! LOVE your subtle reference to Pluto the non-planet. How blessed we are to have you with us. Karen :)

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    1. Karen, thank you so much...and I'm truly blessed in knowing you.

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  7. Love the novel idea! Um ... Pluto was given planet status once again because they found his moon(s) ... I celebrated that day (about 2 years ago?) Love the sonnet! I did a batch of sonnets once. Challenging and satisfying when you get the rhyming at the end just right. Blessings! (FMF#19)

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    1. White Wolf, hooray! I missed thatm the reinstatement of Pluto. Makes me happy!

      I find sonnet-writing kind of fun, which is odd, because people who meet me in person generally think I can't read, let alone write poetry. But looks deceive, ha!

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  8. Love love love this Andrew. Made me smile so much. Love how you think and write your end friend

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    1. Loretta, your words mean the world to me. Thank you so much!

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  9. Great stuff! You always make me think.

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    1. Tara, thank you! And please forgive that I was not over to your blog the last two weeks. Physically kind of on a downturn.

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  10. You certainly rose to the challenge!

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    1. Lesley, the Buddhist Plutonian Conversion Romance thing was a challenge...but it was fun!

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  11. Love your sonnet, Andrew. It made me smile.
    I didn't know Pluto had lost its planet status though.

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    1. Gams, thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

      It seems that Pluto's not a planet again, and I missed it (see a couple o comments above).

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  12. (((((Andrew!)))))

    Annie in Texas

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  13. Your poem reminds me that there are so many fascinating and different people on this earth, Andrew! And what's even more fascinating is that they can be drawn to one another and get married! Lol! I love your humor and how you weave it into your posts when you're probably in too much pain to laugh. Praying for you, my friend! So glad that you found Barbara and aren't alone in this dark journey you're on.

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    1. Beth, there are such differences...and if we but let them, thos differences are blessings (I'll be adressing this in a blog post later today, actually).

      Thank you so much for your prayers...it has been really hard, especially this week, but it hurts worse NOT to laugh.

      And it is good not to be alone.

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  14. LOL - just the other day, I sent one of my sons to the Menonite Store (very similar to Amish but they drive cars and trucks) - to return glass milk bottles hoping he would be bedazzled by one of their daughters! LOL It didn't work - but we hoped!

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    1. Blue Cotton Memory, just remember that bedazzlement sometimes take several doses!

      Interestingly, my workshop was built by local Mennonite carpenters.

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