Summer is over, or... is it?

Summer is over. Just a few more "convulsions", a few sunny, warm days and then memories are all that remain. A few photos, videos and of course souvenirs from the trips you have made.

But some souvenirs you did not choose yourself. Some "souvenirs" chose you! Try to get rid of that.

Let's twist again...

I created a unique, handmade artbox including five books in the Vinyed series. A limited series of 10 boxes will be available through Kickstarter...

The most horrible Twisted Tuesday

The worst Twisted Tuesday that could happen to me started on Friday, July 5th... While I was sitting at the table across from my lovely wife and answering some emails, my life changed forever. In a flash of a second...

Memory Lane

I never knew that "Memory Lane" is just in my memory.

While putting together the new collection Vinyed 4, I found some old meories along this Lane...

Next chapter

When Mia and I had an art gallery, we worked with Dimitri Casters. A Belgian artist who, at that time, called his paintings "Chapters". Do you know why books have chapters?

Labroodoobydoo

Not Scoobydoobydoo but Labrodoodledoo. A few years ago we had to say goodbye to our Golden Retriever. We had our "Queen" with us for fourteen years. Last Friday we got a new dog. An eight-week-old Australian Labradoodle puppy...

Nerve wracking

Yesterday I have been working on some fossil fish at NMR (the Museum of Natural History Rotterdam). Don't be misled by the word fish. It sounds like there was a big tuna on my plate, excuse me, my desk. But the material I got my hands on was far from that...

Words

At a time when the world seems to be on fire, it proves once again that actions are not always better than words. But yeah. Words... No matter how good a politician you are, even talkers are not always well understood.

Non Fiction Horror

Today a new article on Pantanodontidae by Jean Huber and me was published. We describe a new genus with three species endemic to Lake Turkana. The construction of a dam will change the lake forever, probably destroying much of its unique, poorly known fauna...

Shiver along

Book 4 in the Vinyed series will be released at the end of this week. Before a new collection in this series is released, I read the stories myself one more time. Make some adjustments here and there and correct typos that readers have pointed out to me.

Spoiler

In a few weeks "Govnor", book 3 will be published in the LARO-Files (FBSI-Chronicles). The first four books are intended to introduce you to the main characters of future spin-off series. This is how you build a 'universe'. A framework that includes a series of series.

Catproof

We're getting a puppy. A Labradoodle doggy. (That almost makes you stutter, doesn't it?) So, we're making our house catproof... Does that make sense?
Not to you.
But for us...

Bienvenue a Bruxelles

Welcome to Brussels. Had a one day stop at the Africa Museum in Brussels today for research on some fish.  I'll tell you more about this visit in the next VIP-Vibes. After all, I can't tell you what I haven't experienced yet. Can I?

No show

In VIP Vibes I recently shared a memory of a visit to the GDR, the former East Germany, sometime in the late eighties. This weekend, Easter weekend, I was reminded of a German saying I first heard there:

Spring is in the air

Free shivers...
A creepy Flash Fiction story, all about eternal love.

Addictive

I'm not really into pictures on my body. My eldest daughter Femke does. She has had some small texts tattooed. One of them is the text "Forever in my heart", but in Frisian ("Foar iwich yn myn hert") and handwritten. 

We're not alone

Sometimes I watch TV late at night, okay, early in the morning. Those are the moments when I don't watch films, but documentaries. You would expect that the information in a documentary is real. Or at least that the facts have been checked. But...

Doxing

Have you read my Delft Blue Crimes series? Then you know that every book has multiple layers, multiple storylines. Some storylines continue into the next book or even multiple books in the series.

Calm before the storm...

Just a short note to tell you I have a new Flash Fiction story available. Relax and check out "Sea of Tranquility" (exclusively available in my webshop).

Once in a lifetime?

I always wanted to write and finish a story on Leap Day. And so I did. "Quadrennial" was finished February 29, 2016. The subject? What better subject to use than Leap Day itself?

Air vibes

I came across this mysterious photo which seemed to be perfect for a cover. The title immediately came to mind. The story itself only came later, when I first bothered to read the lyrics of the song...

Available, yet not available...?

Wanna be the first? I have joined REAM to make new stories available on a weekly base. This way stories which are not yet available as (e)book are available to readers who join REAM. I offer a range of subscriptions, including a backlist.

Amnesia

Last week I told you that I have so many files that I sometimes have trouble finding my own work. What also happens to me is that I think I have done something but later find out that I didn't do it. Do you recognize that?

Copy that

When you write a lot, you have a lot of documents. With good courage, you save those files systematically on your computer so that you will be able to find everything quickly. Until one day you just don't have enough time and you think... 

Does he or doesn't he...?

In my twenties I often went scuba diving. One of my regular buddies was a train driver by profession. During one of our dives I asked him if anyone had ever jumped in front of his train. His fierce response took me by surprise.

Finding what's not lost

Every year we kept the cork of the champagne bottle. Brings luck, they said. The bottle was neatly uncorked just before New Year's Eve, exactly as it should be. Gently. With a sigh. No bang. Glasses filled. You know, those special, high flutes. It turns out not to be a good choice at all, you should use those wide glasses, but that shouldn't spoil the fun.

Flutes filled. Counted down to New Year's and toasted. Afterwards, the cork was kept in one of the glasses and put in the cupboard. Then forgotten. Of course...

Did it actually bring luck? Doubtful. But after years we had a large collection of corks. Some turned black, others with slight mold formation. Typically one of those things that you find without actually losing them, while you can never find other things that you are looking for.

I'm curious to see what else I will "find" this year.