Announcing "Tonda Sky," a 1980s sci-fi novel

Have you ever thought about what would be the ideal society? Ever tried to design that, so to speak, in your head? I did, back when I was in college in the late 1980s. And I knew I always wanted to write -- I had been writing various stuff (a lot of poetry, actually, and some short stories) since I was a little girl. So I decided to write something longer. I decided to write a novel. 

By that time I had been an affirmed fan of science fiction. I think I have been a sci-fi fan all my life, watching shows like the Saturday-morning "Land of the Lost" in the 1970s without even realizing they were science fiction. When I was a teenager I discovered the original "Star Trek" in reruns and absolutely loved it. Couldn't get enough of it. At the same time I discovered classic "Twilight Zone" airing on one of our independent stations in mid-Michigan. Loved that show even more. And the science fiction I consumed was an inspiration for me as I set out to actually write a book for the first time.

The ideal society I pictured had some many facets. What would the people look like? What would they act like? What would be their values? Their beliefs? Even, what would they wear? What would their vehicles be like? Their sources of entertainment? What would they do all day? Remember, when I wrote this sci-fi novel it was still the 1980s -- it was a different world than we have today. For one thing, that thing called the Internet had not hit yet.

I moved to a different town a little over a year ago, and in the midst of sorting through the zillions of boxes of accumulated stuff, I discovered one with that '80s sci-fi novel in it. Back then, I had taken the time to register it with the Library of Congress, but I had not published it. Just finished it, stored it on floppy disks (yes) and stored the printouts and files. Literally did not give it another thought. For years. Seriously. But discovering that box, I just had to dig out the final printout of the book and read it. I would crawl into bed with it at night and get a tad absorbed. When I finished reading it, I felt like it needed a chance. Like it was different. Maybe a bit crazy. But hey, there's all kinds of crazy stuff out there, right?

After quite a bit of effort I was able to retrieve the text. I couldn't read anything off those old floppy disks, even though I had tracked down a floppy drive at a local library. The disks were dead. So I did an OCR on the final printout. And that was a bit tedious, page by page. Then the text had to be carefully checked, due to occasional character substitution. So I edited. And I smoothed over some rough edges. And I tweaked some stuff. But I decided to leave the action set back in the 1980s. It's quaint, that time, right? It has its own value.

The tone of "Tonda Sky" is a bit formal by design. Perhaps over-explanatory. Polite. Like a conversation on the bridge of the USS Enterprise, it's respectful. Intelligent. Complete sentences here (unlike in this blog post, LOL). No contractions. Like a whole society full of Mr. Spocks. It's meant to reflect that "ideal" society it depicts. But you can be the judge as to how ideal it is. And I decided, with this slightly formal and explanatory tone, along with the family-friendly nature of the book, that I could consider this novel geared more toward the age I was when I wrote it -- college age or late teen. Younger readers. Though I really hope it will be enjoyed by all ages.

So without saying any more ... I give you my very first novel, "Tonda Sky," dredged up from the 1980s to see the light of day. I hope you like it. I really do (and you can feel free to email me your thoughts!). This one is dedicated to my friend Jason -- Jason, I'll get you a print copy!

Print edition first, then Kindle edition coming soon ...

.............................

Marcus is heading to the bus stop after a visit to his aunt's house. But as he walks along a remote road and his mind wanders to his life back in Denver, something unthinkable happens: He's whisked away to another world. And just what kind of world is this? A strange fantasy land of exceedingly polite, intelligent, peace-loving, jumpsuited people who all look the same? Marcus has been unwittingly forced through a portal, the victim of an experiment gone wrong by this undiscovered society he does not understand. He realizes these people don’t want him here, despite their many kindnesses, and he's unable to return.
 
In her very first novel — written while she was in college and set in the 1980s — longtime author Billie Rae Bates challenges the idea of the perfect society, inspired by her love for science fiction. "Tonda Sky" is family-friendly and appropriate for younger readers, though it carries a message that resonates with all ages.

217 pages

$9.50 print (5.5" by 8.5" paperback)

$3.50 e-book

ISBN-13: 979-8862209822

 

Terrific non-TV Toys: Quick Curl Francie, 1970s

Care for a quick curl at the BRBTV Salon? How about a Farrah-do, so popular in the 1970s? 

Another beloved doll from this author's childhood is the star of the latest episode of Terrific non-TV Toys, and she joins the ranks of the '70s Barbie-branded dolls. She's Francie, Barbie's cousin. Never heard of her? Not surprising, since the Francie character largely went away for some years. But she was a thing back then, actually introduced in the '60s. This Francie is all decked out in a delightful yellow dotted dress. Let's get her ready for the party, shall we?

"The Facts of Life" are even more glorious with Gloria Vanderbilt jeans

When this author rewatched the "Three's Company" series a few years back (Suzanne Somers, rest in peace), I was tickled pink to see Janet and Chrissy so often arrayed in the Gloria Vanderbilt jeans I have loved all my life. Oh, joy! Not only the standard GV blue jeans with orange stitching that everyone knew so well back then, but an array of other colors, as well. I was so tickled, actually, that I had no choice but to catalog all the GV jeans appearances in "Three's Company," being the highly geeky girl that I am. This resulted in the January 2, 2018 blog post. 

Now, I just started rewatching "The Facts of Life." As with "Three's Company," it's the first time I've seen this series since it originally aired. I loved the show so much when I was a little girl. Just ate it up and never missed an episode. And now in the rewatching, what do I see? An array, once again, of glorious Gloria Vanderbilt jeans! I don't have quite enough hours in the day right now to catalog them in the same granular fashion I did with "Three's," but I'm glad to give an overview!!!! It won't even be considered a labor of love! Because it's totally not a labor -- I love every minute of it. In fact, the appearances are so robust I have to wonder if Murjani was a wardrobe contributor on purpose. You know, kinda like Mercedes-Benz supplying cars to the "Wonder Woman" series and receiving a line in the credits. Who knows? 

I'm going to start with the first season, as of the end of October 2023, then come back to this blog post and add to it as I move through the episodes in the coming months:

Season 1 -- 1979-1980

• Blair:
• Standard blue jeans with orange stitching
• Black with white stitching (could be fine corduroys -- hard to tell)
• Possibly: Tan pants shown in the clip in the show's intro as she's jokingly spanking Mrs. Garrett (although it's hard to tell in that scene if they're GVs)
• Tootie: 
• Pink with white stitching
• Green with white stitching
• Sue Ann:
• Blue jeans that are definitely GVs, as she stands next to Blair with her own standard blue jeans on, but it's hard to tell if Sue Ann's jeans have the standard orange stitching or a lighter color like white or beige
• Molly: 
• Standard blue jeans with orange stitching
• Natalie: 
• Blue sheeting pants with orange-ish stitching

Season 2 -- 1980-1981

• Blair:
• Standard blue jeans with orange stitching
• Tootie:
• Turquoise blue with white stitching

I will note, as well, that the girls were seen in other designer jeans. Blair wore a pair of Sasson jeans in Season 1, and the other girls wore some Jordache a time or two, including Blair's cousin Geri in Season 4.

There's our beautiful Blair Warner, as portrayed by the equally beautiful Lisa Whelchel, admiring herself in the mirror and sporting the standard GV jeans with orange stitching -- the most widely known and popular version of GV jeans back then in the late 1970s. This is a shot from the final episode of Season 1 of "The Facts of Life," when the cast of girl students at Eastland School was larger and even included a very young Molly Ringwald (just 11 years old). In the second season, the show zeroed in on four girls, including Blair, and remained that way through the rest of the seasons.

Tootie, as played by Kim Fields, wears green GV jeans with the white trademark swan over the front right coin pocket (when GVs were in colors like this, they were considered jeans, basically, but they tended to be more like sheeting pants than denim material). Below, she's got her pink pair on -- she wore the pink pair multiple times in the first season, cuffed up to her knees since she was in roller skates through the whole season. Also in the photo below, Blair's got her standard GV jeans on.

And one more note: There are at least four episodes of "The Facts of Life" that reference Gloria Vanderbilt the person, at least through the beginning of Season 4. One such example is an episode in Season 3 that served as a "backdoor pilot" that never materialized, set at a boys' military academy. In the storyline, one of the boys, who has a date with Blair, pretends to have dated "Gloria Vanderbilt's daughter," and Blair remembers (rightly!) later on in the episode that GV did not have a daughter.

#GloriaVanderbilt #designerjeans #1970s #classictelevision

Dropping today: The continuation of the American Enterprise Speech Contest

When this author worked in the publications area of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan quite a few moons ago in the delightful (really!) downtown Detroit, I was a member of the National Management Association. My boss Diane, also a member, asked me to coordinate the BCBSM chapter's American Enterprise Speech Contest, an activity of the NMA that I see from a quick web search still exists today, though under a slightly different name, the Leadership Speech Contest. The event challenges high-schoolers to write and deliver a speech on our country's free enterprise system. 

Back in 2002, when I coordinated the contest and hosted the competition event at BCBSM headquarters near Greektown in Detroit, there was an array of bright young minds who offered their thoughts. These kids are inspiring even a couple decades later. I'm glad to have been a part of the event. The winner of that 2002 contest has gone on to become a successful author. As you watch the three parts of this series on my secondary YouTube channel, can you guess which speaker it is? The second part has just dropped, and the final part is coming next Friday ...

The videos I've been loading onto my secondary channel (please like and subscribe and help a sister out! and as always, the celeb interviews and collectibles series are still over at the BRBTV channel!) are the result of my digging around in the VHS archives, as I mentioned in the August 25 post. Such fun! More to come, I guess, when I am daring enough ...

Check out this new playlist of all of Boss Hogg's speed-trapped celebs

It was quite a collection of talented folks who were snagged in Boss Hogg's celebrity speed trap on our beloved "Dukes of Hazzard." Some are easy to remember -- Loretta Lynn, the Oak Ridge Boys, Roy Orbison. But did you remember that Freddy Fender got snared, as well? (He was one of my mom's absolute faves!) How about Buck Owens? Well, now our fellow author Brian has made it easy for you -- he's compiled all of the artists and their songs in a fun new "Dukes"-themed playlist!

Six Feet Under Hollywood Blog: George Peppard

He's a hometown hero, I guess you would say, for this author here in Metro Detroit. It's Mr. George Peppard, who once was suited up to play Blake Carrington on classic "Dynasty" but eventually relinquished the helm of Denver Carrington to the legendary John Forsythe. But Peppard still made his own mark on shows like "The A-Team" and much more, as profiled by our fellow author Brian Lombard, who traveled here to Michigan to visit the actor's grave ...

Six Feet Under Hollywood: George Peppard: "If you look at my movie list, you'll see some really good movies and then the start of ones that were not so good.  But I was maki...

Hazzard Fest: Another look inside Cooter's Garage!

There was so much cool stuff to see inside Ben ("Cooter Davenport") Jones' scale replica of Cooter's Garage from "The Dukes of Hazzard" at his Cooter's Place in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, that we just had to hit you with some more great photos from our roving reporter Jason.

Photos by Jason; please do  not copy without permission.

Thanks, Byron, for the kind hello!

I love it!!!! Byron ("Coy Duke") Cherry of "The Dukes of Hazzard" sends his sweet greetings from last weekend's Hazzard Fest in Newport, Tennessee. Special thanks to Jason for recording this!

Hazzard Fest: A look inside Cooter's Garage

Ben Jones, who portrayed Cooter Davenport on "The Dukes of Hazzard," has a mind-blowing collection of "Dukes" memorabilia, and he's always willing to share it with fans at his Cooter's Place locations in Virginia and Tennessee. Our roving reporter Jason got to stop by the Cooter's Place at Pigeon Forge to behold the to-scale garage recreation. 

"I was really impressed by the garage set and the amount of detail they did," Jason says. "I recognized some of the posters and testing equipment they had on the show. ...  If you look at the desk you see a pic of Cooter's daughter, and that car pic on the wall I recognize." Fantastic photos! Thanks, Jason!

Photos by Jason; please do not copy without permission.

Hazzard Fest: Jeff Altman, Byron Cherry and more

Jeff Altman, who portrayed Hughie Hogg, Boss Hogg's nephew on "The Dukes of Hazzard," was there at Hazzard Fest this past weekend, complete with a convertible white Volkswagen Bug just like on the series. So cool. He was kind enough to pose with our roving reporter Jason, who offers us these additional photos from the event (see our earlier posts for more!). And there's our friend Byron ("Coy Duke") Cherry! Miss you, Byron!!!!

Photos by Jason; please do not copy without permission.

A little more Hazzard Fest: the "Fall Guy" truck

This author sure wishes she could still take in those "Dukes of Hazzard" events that used to be so prolific in the South, particularly in Georgia but also in Tennessee, where the latest one just occurred this past weekend. Hazzard Fest has wrapped up in Newport, Tennessee, and our roving reporter Jason has supplied us with some great glimpses from the event. We tack on a couple more photos from Jason now, of a "Fall Guy" truck owned by our buddy Kevin in Tennessee. 

There were actually multiple "Fall Guy" trucks at the event, celebrating another popular show from this glorious TV era, this one starring our beloved Lee Majors. "This was a used truck from the show," Jason tells us. "The engine was set back farther so the jumps wouldn't destroy the truck. Meaning the weight of the engine in its stock location would cause the truck to land heavier and destroy it."

Photos by Jason; please do not copy without permission

Uncle Jesse says hey, and we-love-it-we-love-it!!!

This cosplayer is great -- we're thinking we really would love it if he actually was our Uncle Jesse! Thanks so much to Jason for grabbing this clip for us yesterday at Hazzard Fest in Newport, Tennessee.

More shots of Hazzard Fest, which charges onward today!

We love that our buddy Jason is in Tennessee having a great time at Hazzard Fest. We also love that he's giving us a peek at the event with these great photos. There are cast members there (BRBTV has always wanted to meet Jeff Altman, who played Hughie Hogg with such great enthusiasm on the series!) and lots of other "Dukes of Hazzard" fun.

"That Elect Hughie poster is cool, looks period correct," Jason says. Somebody drummed this up for their General in honor of Jeff Altman, meeting and greeting fans at the event.

Who is with our roving reporter Jason? Why, it's ChunkeyMonkey40, aka Derek, avid "Dukes" researcher and YouTuber! He's not chunky or a monkey, but he sure creates some awesome "Dukes"  content on his channel.

This awesome Uncle Jesse cosplayer recording a greeting for us -- see today's other post!

Here, Jason is with the "Gingerbilly."

Photos by Jason; please do not copy without permission.

The view from Hazzard Fest: Thanks, Jason, for this first look!

Our roving reporter Jason is on the scene when this author can't be, at the Hazzard Fest happening this weekend in Newport, Tennessee. And now he's filing his first report, so to speak ... He spotted the first "Dukes of Hazzard"-related car at the Cracker Barrel, of course! These folks are from Canada, Jason learned. More fun to come!

Photos courtesy of Jason; please do not copy without permission.

Terrific TV Toys: Batman Beyond figure by Hasbro, 1999

The "Batman Beyond" animated series of 1999 presented a futuristic view of the Caped Crusader, set 50 years ahead of the events of the original "Batman: The Animated Series" of 1992. Besides the scary fact that we're three-fifths of the way to that "Batman Beyond" timeframe here in real life, the series still holds up as a fun alternate-universe sort of view of the Dark Knight. 

In the second season of the T3 series, you saw a set of fast-food toys celebrating the series, and now we turn our attention to a 9-inch figure released by Hasbro as the show was airing, a rather Mego-esque approach years after Mego's original heyday and years before Mego rebooted and started producing all kinds of great figures again. I guess that makes this figure even more futuristic, right?

See what else is on the Terrific TV Toys playlist.

Terrific non-TV Toys: Superman Red and Superman Blue figures by Hasbro / Kenner, 1998-99

Some of you out there will have no idea what this Superman Red and Superman Blue business is, and some of you will be like, "Oh, yeah, that's right -- I remember when they did that in the comics." And actually, this DC Comics storyline for its flagship character (well, I guess he probably shares that mantle with Batman) actually goes back further than you thought. To the 1960s. This author was surprised by that when doing the research, and you'll get a little history lesson in the latest episode of Terrific non-TV Toys.

See the other episodes in the Terrific non-TV Toys series.

From the VHS vaults: Some early hosting and interviews

This author was digging out the VHS-to-digital video converter a week ago to transfer a video from a rather old crime scene for the latest true-crime book project. And while I was at it, I was thinking, you know, I've got all those old VHS tapes that are deteriorating more by the year that I should probably transfer, too. I didn't necessarily want to spend the time on it, but hey, none of us have as many hours in the day as we would like, right? There's stuff in those tapes that is highly original and preservation-needy.

So on I charged, all this past week, reviewing video after video. And I decided to queue them up in my other YouTube channel, the one I've used for just playlists of other people's videos until now. (The one that nobody knows about -- five subscribers right now, LOL.) It's my author YouTube channel that's more geared to the non-BRBTV stuff. So anyway, the first one has dropped, and others will follow each Friday. 

I cringe a bit. Maybe I'll go hide in a cave next Friday, because that installment will be the very first episode of the very first TV hosting gig I ever had. It's rough in parts. It's 1990s. But it's all in good fun. 

This first clip is a promo interview for a book-signing I was doing for my first novel back in 2005:

Area 52 Diner serves up some saucy, spacey surprises

If you find yourself in mid-Michigan anywhere near Highway M-52 and a place called Owosso, make sure you grab some lunch at the Area 52 Diner. This author has been down this stretch a zillion times, having grown up just a few miles down the road, but imagine my surprise rolling through there on the way to my brother’s place, traveling from Metro Detroit, and seeing that this eatery has reopened under a new name. When did that happen??? (About three months ago, our waitress said.) But this restaurant, which I am pretty sure my parents and I went to after church on Sundays many eons — and no doubt many name changes — ago, not only reopened under a new name but with the coolest theme ever. The photos will say it all!

Saturn’s onion rings, a black-and-white sci-fi movie playing above the counter, flying saucer lighting, and more. Somebody’s got a sense of humor. Love it. New favorite place. (And oh, yeah — the food was good!)

Photos by Billie Rae Bates / BRBTV

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