FRIDAY FIRSTS...with SS Hampton, Sr

The first five lines of... THE LADY OF THE EVERGREENS

The below is from a Work In Progress titled, “The Lady of The Evergreens.” Because it is a WIP I have not had the pleasure of an editor helping to make me sound like the next Shakespeare or Hemingway, or Faulkner. You get the idea:

Late fall on the southern shore of Lake Ontario seemed like an odd time to hold a ren faire.

But then, Julie Douglas had been told that the Evergreen Renaissance and Fairy Faire was special, and excitingly different. Upon passing through the entrance of two large wooden gates set within low stone built walls she found herself in another time. Excited crowds wandered the torch-lit dirt pathways that wound among evergreen trees short and broad, and tall Norway Spruce from Europe. Scattered along the paths and partly hidden among the trees were Medieval bell tents, broad trade tents, and wooden performance stages…

* * * * *

Fun First Facts About SS

Who was your first love?

I do not mean to make a mountain out of a molehill, but, first love? I think I’ll ignore my kindergarten teacher and a waitress who worked at the family restaurant. So, when I was in a juvenile detention facility due to dropping out of junior high school, I met this petite black haired woman who worked in administration. In spite of my circumstances, it wasn’t long before I “fell in love” with her. Ruthann was never more than a friend though. And, there was this fleshy girl with long brunette hair who I met at the facility. Barbara was about my age going-on-30 and much more experienced in life than I was. She was a habitual runaway who loved hitch hiking across the country. Not long after we were both out of the facility she found me, and, you might say, taught me a lot about many things. I fell in love with her; but her home was in a nearby city when she wasn't off hitch hiking. I went to work for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, wore a suit and tie, and prepared to forge a middle class life for myself. And then Barbara showed up. She always returned from her latest journey for a visit when I least expected it; she would stay for a few days and then leave again. We finally lost touch when I left for the Army several years later. (No, I am not plagiarizing “Forrest Gump,” but when I saw the movie I immediately thought of Barbara.) The subject of love makes me a little uncomfortable as I have never had a successful relationship. So, from an historical point of view, I doubt if I ever will.

If you had a free afternoon, what’s the first thing you’d do?

If I had money and a car on top of a free afternoon, I’d go to the nearest bookstore (there aren’t that many in Las Vegas), get a large cappuccino, and spend some time browsing books and magazines. My favorite subject is military history, of course, but also photography and art. And I would buy a few.

If you could live your life over again, what’s the first thing you’d do differently or change?

Go to college and get a degree. Go on to a university and get a higher degree. With a good education perhaps I would not have led such a financially-challenged life (I am almost 60 years old now and am registered in a 2-year VA program for homeless veterans). As we all know, there are a lot of sayings about how money is not everything, but guess what—money is 99% of everything. Money pays the bills, money buys medical care, money can keep you from being evicted from your home or being homeless. If you have enough money, you can even afford to go on a real vacation once in awhile. Everything, especially money, flows from an education—or it did until the Great Recession hit. So, if I could live my life over again, I would be sure to get a good education at an earlier age rather than starting at 53 years old.

More about SS: SS Hampton, Sr. is a Choctaw from the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, a divorced grandfather to 13 grandchildren, a published photographer, photojournalist, and fiction writer. He is a serving member of the Army National Guard with the rank of staff sergeant, and is a veteran of Operations Noble Eagle, and Iraqi Freedom. His writings have appeared in Ruthie’s Club, Lucrezia Magazine, Megaera, The Harrow, River Walk Journal, and Dark Fire, among others. Second career goals include becoming a painter and studying for a degree in photography and anthropology—hopefully to someday work in and photograph underwater archaeology. After 12 years of brown desert in the Southwest and overseas, he misses the Rocky Mountains, yellow aspens in the fall, running rivers, and a warm fireplace during snowy winters. As of December 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada, Hampton officially became a homeless Iraq War veteran.

SS's published books are available here:

Melange Books

http://www.melange-books.com/authors/sshampton/index.html

Musa Publishing

http://www.musapublishing.com/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=50

MuseItUp Publishing

http://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=514&category_id=60&manufacturer_id=249&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

FRIDAY FIRSTS with SS Hampton Sr.

The first five sentences of... THE LAPIS LAZULI THRONE 

“The desert was alive. Damp foul smelling sand exploded in a white flash. Smoky red and yellow tentacles snaked out of the sand. He tried to scream, but the tentacles choked him. Other screams tore through the boiling smoke that stung his eyes and fouled his mouth…”

Available now!

Musa Publishing | Amazon

FUN FIRST FACTS ABOUT SS

What’s the first thing you do after you wake up in the morning (other than using the restroom LOL)?

Pour a cup of coffee and light a cigarette. Really! Sometimes I can do two things at once. That is the way I have started my day for decades; except for the dreamed-of possibility of giving up cigarettes, I anticipate that this is the way I will always start my day for years to come. To start it any other way seems a little unthinkable. Besides, it seems like a civilized way to start the day.

What’s the first thing you notice on an attractive member of the opposite sex?

It is a toss up between her eyes and her face. A woman’s face is like an open book whereas her eyes are like a chapter. Regarding the face, I notice the way the hair—if it is long—frames the face as if it were a painting. I notice the eyebrows, the angle of the nose, the cheekbones and the chin. And the smile. The smile is a real clue to a woman’s personality. It can be warm, sensual, joyful, critical, or mystifying. I have heard the old saying that the eyes are a window into someone’s soul, but to me a woman’s eyes are mysterious. Other than the obvious anger, happiness, or sadness, I can never discern any meaning to a woman’s eyes. That is part of the charm and challenge of meeting a woman. “Who is she? What is she really thinking?”

If you won the lottery, what’s the first thing you’d buy?

The very first thing? A car. I helped my youngest son buy an SUV from a used car company based in Arizona. Damned big mistake. The SUV has broken down so many times, and I’m getting ready to sink another $600.00 into it! So anyway, a NEW car with a good music system. I love driving down the highway with the music turned up loud, a French Vanilla Cappuccino, and a cigarette close by. A good running car is freedom to me. Having lived in Las Vegas for many years, sometimes without a vehicle, I am very familiar with public transportation, meaning a city bus. I lived on the south side of Vegas and for awhile I worked on the north side of Vegas. So, every day I was up before dawn, caught a bus to the southern transportation terminal, hopped a Strip bus to the northern transportation terminal, then hopped another bus to the north side, and from the final drop-off point walked three miles to work. This was only four years ago when I was 54 years old. Anyway, I spent about 2.5 hours to get to work in the morning and 1.5 hours to get home at night (I caught a ride after work to the morning’s last drop-off point), for a total of 4 hours per day. So, to work a 40 hour week I spent 20 hours on the bus and walking. When I started riding to and from work with a friend I was so amazed that it took only 20 minutes one-way by car. Only 20 minutes! Yeahhh, a brand new car. A brand new car is freedom. Considering I’m almost 60 years old and living in the era of “the recession ended in 2009,” well, no one will hire me. The only way to get my freedom back is by winning the lottery. Or writing a best selling novel!

More About SS

SS Hampton, Sr. is a Choctaw from the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, a divorced grandfather to 13 grandchildren, a published photographer, photojournalist, and fiction writer. He is a serving member of the Army National Guard with the rank of staff sergeant, and is a veteran of Operations Noble Eagle, and Iraqi Freedom. His writings have appeared in Ruthie’s Club, Lucrezia Magazine, Megaera, The Harrow, River Walk Journal, and Dark Fire, among others. Second career goals include becoming a painter and studying for a degree in photography and anthropology—hopefully to someday work in and photograph underwater archaeology. After 12 years of brown desert in the Southwest and overseas, he misses the Rocky Mountains, yellow aspens in the fall, running rivers, and a warm fireplace during snowy winters. As of December 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada, Hampton officially became a homeless Iraq War veteran.