Quarantine Photo Essay

The Lenten fairground for kids, seen from the castle 3/6. 

The Lenten fairground is still there, just completely shut down, 3/14.

Life has changed drastically over the last few days. We're not supposed to leave the house except for essential food and hygiene reasons. I'm still okay, and in fact, being a writer, if my roommate weren't so antsy, things might seem pretty much normal. Creepy empty streets, shows of support, and the first thing to crop up among the Spanish is humor.

Horrible toilet paper from the 70s becomes an object of desire. 

Crowded fairground, 3/8. 

A famous comic put to timely use in a meme. 

"Recommendations" in the teacher's lavatory, 3/10.

"A meteorite!" "Run! We need toilet paper!" 

Toilet paper mystery solved:
For every one who coughs,
one hundred sh*t themselves. 

New protocols for the people who clean
the hallways in our apartment building, 3/10. 

They asked our grandparents to go to war;
they'e only asking us to stay home.
Solidarity with the voluntary isolation which was
quickly becoming mandatory.  

Holy Week cancelled. Only
Pontius Pilate will go out in procession
because he's the only one
who washes his hands. 

People are allowed to walk their dogs during quarantine.
I can't say this kind of humor amuses me. 

Day 2 of quarantine with the kids at home...
We don't pay teachers enough.
(Truth.) 

Confusion over some of the quarantine
rules: Why are the hair salons
still open? Maybe it was this guy's idea.
(He's one of the Vice Presidents
of Spain and has always had
luxurious hair.) The idea is really to help
people who can't take care of
their own hygiene, and most hair salons
that don't serve anyone like that have closed.
I was the last customer at mine on Friday,
early afternoon. 

"Let's see if I understand: To avoid contagion,
I can go to work, to the bank, then go buy
bread, walk the dog, get some smokes, wait
in line at the butcher's, the fruit store,
fish store, and supermarket.
Then I can go to the optometrist,
pick up my comforter from the dry cleaner,
and get a haircut after I full up the car.
But I can't leave the house. Is that right?"

The President of Spain responds, 

"Well, I have no f*cking idea, but if 

that's what I said, that's what I said."

"In order to have a group of more than 1000 people,
in Zamora we have to bring people in from elsewhere."
I don't love humor that pokes fun at Empty Spain. 

"Man quarantined with his mother-in-law
requests euthanasia."
Hardy har har. 

 A playground cordoned off with police tape.
The first thing that really creeped me out. 3/13.

Another cordoned-off playground, 3/14,
the day I panic-bought chocolate.

 The Plaza Mayor empty on a Saturday night, 3/14.

People practice social distancing, a hard concept in Spain. 3/14. 

The most popular pub-crawl street, totally
deserted on Saturday evening. Gave me chills. 

"Sorry for the trouble," one of the bars on
the pub-crawl street. 

 Younglings, impervious to world crises, hanging
out at the castle as if everything's normal.

Zamora's doughty defenses can't stop a virus. 

The theatre where my roommate and I
were going to have a spectacular choir
concert this coming weekend, eerily quiet. 

"Thank you to Public Health. You are our true heroes and heroines."
Not sure any health professionals will see this,
but their heart is in the right place.

Part of the view from my quarantined apartment.
It kind of reminds me Morocco.
Ah! Remember when we used to be able to travel?

The cat seeks to avoid contamination.
3/16

Zamora with Santiago de los Caballeros, the castle, and the cathedral under
a supermoon, 3/8. It's waiting for us. It will be there, beautiful, when this is over. 

If you are isolating, and are a Kindle Unlimited member, I remind you that unique Rhode Island fantasy Awash in Talent is yours to read for free! And check out the free reading listed here. (Not all, but most of the readings on that page are free.) As this situation goes on, I plan to offer more fun reading material. If people let me concentrate with all their emotional support via text message!

We All Fall Down Debut a "Viral" Success

We All Fall Down has hit a nerve. It's the most successful new release I've ever had, though goodness knows I always work very hard, hoping for such results. This time, my new release has so many factors in its favor. A gorgeous cover! The support of loyal readers of eight other terrific authors!  And that little something extra, a relationship to what everyone is thinking about, anyway.

One of our authors said, feeling quite ooky about it, "I feel like COVID-19 is a co-author."

Coronavirus is incredibly contagious, but has a relatively low death rate. Considering the first round of the Black Death wiped out half the population of Europe, there's really no comparison. The stories in We All Fall Down are really universal because they illustrate the way humans bounce back, even after the worst. They're worth a read any time, truly.

The universal buy link is here. Or go directly to your favorite store:

Goodreads | Amazon.com | Amazon.es | Amazon.com.mx | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.ca | Barnes and Noble | Apple iBooks | Kobo | 24 Symbols | Smashwords | Indigo | Angus & Robertson | Mondadori

It was an honor and a pleasure to work with all the authors. I'm thrilled our efforts are coming to fruition. Thank you so much for making this book a success!