#SaturdaySpotlight is on William Vietinghoff & Long Conversations, Old Regrets

Good Morning!

Well we're a week past Easter and a full month, more for some, into stay home and social distancing. Many are receiving their stimulus checks and/or increased unemployment benefits. Are you rejoicing in every new day the Lord makes or are you grumbling and complaining? Remember, this is your choice. Scripture tells us as a man thinks, he is and the power of life and death is in the tongue....so be aware of what you're thinking and saying because you're framing your future with your thoughts and words!

Today we welcome an old friend with a new book. William Vetinghoff visited us back in 2015 with his book, The Interceptor Program. Today, he returns with a brand new book so please give him a huge, warm, WELCOME!

As is probably true of many older men, Bill Vietinghoff toyed with the idea of writing a novel based on his life. The joyous, ironic, and often troublesome events he experienced might make interesting reading. But what would be the most engaging way to organize and present his memories? He wondered if there was a genre of that category, books written by men based on memories. The reference desk at the library couldn't help him. So he devised a plot. The main character, Steven Ribman, has the same problem. He is inexperienced in writing and can't conceive of a book structure. He dreams a woman approaches him in a coffee shop. The name she gives him is Bernice. She claims she overheard him talking about his need for a plot idea. She suggests that his main character meet her from time to tome and they share memories that he writes about. He is convinced, tries it, and discovers he is able to put a story together. But he comes across evidence that his dream woman may actually exist. A search begins for the identity of Bernice.

Excerpt: "Four weeks ago, his preoccupation with the front page of the morning newspaper waned and he casually turned to the obituaries—something he usually avoided. There, in small font, were the condensed biographies and praises for men and women he did not know. He looked at the stamp-size portraits of the deceased. He imagined his features there. Which of the few decent photographs taken of him recently, showing him timeworn and weathered, will be chosen? But then it might be more flattering to include, as was often done, a photo of him as a good-looking young serviceman in his sailor suit, the dress blues with the snow-white cap square on his head, per regulations. What will the words be under his photograph? He couldn’t imagine his life’s story being condensed into a couple of paragraphs. It was at that moment, with a vision of, maybe, a fifty-word eulogy that he knew he had to explain to someone what had happened to him growing up and growing old. But how to do that? His deliverance came in the resolution that the explanation of Steven Ribman would reside in a book, a place where people could find him after he was gone."

Sounds interesting Bill!

Long Conversations, Old Regrets can be purchased at Amazon.

William Vietinghoff graduated in 1953 from Northwestern University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering. At the time, the political and technology movements in the world, generated by the missile race, converged and created an opportunity for Vietinghoff, at the dawn of the space age, to join the ranks of dozens of other young engineers, pioneers in a way, learning on the job how to get a rocket engine to start and run. Over the ensuing years,  Vietinghoff participated in many rocket engine, vehicle, and missile programs: Atlas, F-1, Lance,  Peacekeeper, KEW, and X-33. The Interceptor Program grew from a collection of on-the-job incidents, with some imaginary ones thrown n. Vietinghoff, his wife, Gladys, and his two sons and daughter live in California.

Bill wonders if his plot might be the only one of its kind in the world. He leaves a request for any future readers of his novel who are aware of similar plots to contact him or make a comment, with book title, on this Saturday Spotlight, He would like to compare the approaches.

Leave a comment folks, and let Bill know if you've written or read a book similar to Long Conversations, Old Regrets!

Hope you enjoyed today's spotlight and will check back weekly for Wednesday Words with Friends and Saturday Spotlight.

Until next time take care and God bless.
PamT

#SaturdaySpotlight: William Vietinghoff

Good Morning and Welcome to the last Saturday Spotlight of Jan 2015!

Yeah, I'm finding that hard to believe too, but I'm happy to say our spotlights are filled up for quite sometime with new authors, like the one we have today, as well as old friends with new books!

Today our guest, William Vietinghoff graduated in 1953 from Northwestern University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering. At the time, the political and technology movements in the world, generated by the missile race, converged and created an opportunity for Vietinghoff, at the dawn of the space age, to join the ranks of dozens of other young engineers, pioneers in a way, learning on the job how to get a rocket engine to start and run. Over the ensuing years,  Vietinghoff participated in many rocket engine, vehicle, and missile programs: Atlas, F-1, Lance,  Peacekeeper, KEW, and X-33. The Interceptor Program grew from a collection of on-the-job incidents, with some imaginary ones thrown n. Vietinghoff, his wife, Gladys, and his two sons and daughter live in California.

About the book:

This book is written in the format of a movie script to give the readers the feeling that they are watching a dramatic motion picture, along with the corny movie clichés. Orville Pressfit, elderly aircraft mechanic, reports to a television station in Ponca City, Oklahoma where he resides that he has been abducted by space aliens the night before. News reporter Leanne Flambeau interviews him at the airfield. The broadcast terrifies the senior citizens of the community. Even though the abduction cannot be verified and the presence of aliens is denied by the authorities, the report sets off a public outcry and a chain of events that leads to the White House. Thelma Grayfield, the first woman President, is forced to authorize a contract to a major aerospace company to design and build an Interceptor to pursue the alien ships that no one believes exist.

Excerpt: 

CLOSE ON TV SCREEN

 

The screen shows Leanne standing next to Orville. She is looking at the camera with a very sober expression.

 

LEANNE:  I am here with Orville Pressfit, an aircraft mechanic at the Eagle’s Nest airport. Mister Pressfit reported to our station – exclusively – that he had been abducted by space aliens last night. Please describe for our viewers, mister Pressfit, exactly what happened.

 

Leanne turns and faces Orville. She holds the microphone near his mouth.

 

ORVILLE:  I was working here late when the alien ship came over. It was about nine p.m. and the landing strip was officially closed. I was finishing up replacing some spark plugs in that Cessna over there when this huge round dome – I guess you’d call it that – landed. Right there!

 

The TV camera moves away from Orville to show the area on the apron to which he is pointing. There is nothing to see.

 

ORVILLE (off-screen):  A hatch opened, and three aliens came out and walked up to me. They watched what I was doing for a few minutes, looked into some kind of book, and said a couple of words. It sounded like English, but I couldn’t understand. One grabbed my shoulder, pointed at the open hatch in the dome, and pulled me toward it.

 

The TV camera pans back to Leanne and Orville.

 

LEANNE:  Would you describe these creatures as small, with bulbous heads, and large, dark, ovoid eyes? You know – the appearance we’ve heard described by previous abductees.

 

ORVILLE:  Shoot! I wouldn’t call them creatures. And no, they didn’t have bulbs for heads, and they didn’t have dark avoiding eyes. They looked straight at me. They were just guys! They looked like you and me. Well, not like you.

 

BACK TO SCENE

 

Anna, Harold, Ray, and dozens of other shoppers in the department store stare up at the bank of television sets, aghast.

 

ANNA:  Oh, my God, Harold! We’ve got aliens right here in Ponca City.

Well....sounds intriguing and certainly different!  Purchase from Amazon.

Hope you enjoyed this spotlight...Next week (and next month!) we'll be coming to you from Bandera, TX so... See you then!

Take care & God Bless.
PamT