Thursday, March 31, 2016

Day One Six One. The Tumor Watch (Update)

Here's an update.


March is coming to an end and I am losing my ability to type on a keyboard. I can still talk. My speech is intact and I am always happy to take a phone call at (703) 264-8950. I am suffering no discomfort and am in great spirits. I am enjoying the time connecting with friends and family, and most of all taking advantage of the occasional free lunch or milkshake.

In October, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor known as a Glioblastoma Multiforme.

This type of tumor is always fatal. Life expectancy generally runs from three to fifteen months.

I had brain surgery December 2 and completed radiation and chemo February 25. As of this week, I am on a second round of chemo; one that requires taking pills for one full week each month.

Other than losing the ability to type on a keyboard, I've experienced no discomfort, pain, or side effects.

Books
My most popular book is "AIR POWER ABANDONED," the story of the F-22 Raptor, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, General T. Michael Moseley, and Gates's firing of the Air Force leadership.



My first murder mystery, "CRIME SCENE: FAIRFAX COUNTY" was published January. Both books can be gotten for Kindle, in print from Amazon, or,  preferably directly from me. Price per book when ordered from me is $22. All proceeds are donated to the Capital Wing of the Commemorative Air Force, a 501(c )(3) charity.

I'm still mostly me. The tumor affects my ability to type and my speech. My speech is fully understandable and I'm urging friends to call at (703) 264-8950.

I can still think, read, converse, and be taken out to lunch.

Bob

(703) 264-8950

Robert F. Dorr
3411 Valewood Drive
Oakton VA 22124
robert.f.dorr@cox.net

Sunday, March 20, 2016

Day One Five Eight. Influence: Joan Vasiliadis

Joan Vasiliadis was the strongest person I've ever known.

I know what it's like to have a strong partner. Mine's downstairs at the moment. But Joan, or Joannie, was the model from whom all others were cast.

No unlikelier couple ever existed than Joan and Charles Vasiliadis, known as Vas. Throw out everything you've ever thought about a fighter pilot's wife. Listen to Doug—one of the couple's three sons, along with Mark and Roger:

"My Mom went to Columbia Law School, and in 1953 she was one of only nine women in her graduating class of 135 students," said Doug.

"Mom was an intellectual Jewish, liberal democrat lawyer, and my Dad was a gritty Greek-Orthodox, conservative republican fighter pilot.

"She had spent the first 30 years of her life in New York City and could have continued a very successful professional career. But instead she married a fighter pilot, devoted herself to being a wife and a mother, moved from Air Force base to Air Force base raising 3 kids while much of the time my Dad was flying around the world and fighting in Vietnam."

Flying and fighting
Him? Well, he flew the F-86F and F-86H Sabre, F-100C and F-100D Super Sabre, A-1E Skyraider, F-105 Thunderchief and F-4 Phantom II. He flew 560 missions, was the high-hour A-1E pilot, was shot down and rescued in the F-105 and received two Silver Star medals. He's a big-hearted, outspoken, often humorous man of many accomplishments. But the smartest thing he ever did was to marry Joan Stern on March 23, 1961.

As their kids grew, Joannie was able to do some teaching, which was a natural for her.

But then the same thing that drew her away from the working world the first time happened again: this time not as a wife and mother but as a grandmother. When the three brothers started having kids, Joanie's biological instincts kicked in again and she became a superstar grandmother, or Yia Yia in Greek.

Off course she was ready, willing and able to baby sit whenever any of us wanted her to, but my Mom took being a grandmother to new heights.

As soon as the kids were ready, they started what soon became some of the most special and treasured times in their young lives, Yia Yia days. Once a week, each grandchild would get a Yia Yia day.


"Mom would pick them up either from home or school and spend the day with them doing an activity of their choice. Yia Yia days were spent at museums, libraries, restaurants, bowling alleys, arts and crafts shops, movie theaters, Chucky Cheese, or at Yia Yia's house baking."

Hostess with the mostest
She had special dinners for family every Sunday night for 20 years and hosted other events for an extraordinary circle of friends, including my wife Young Soon and me. Not once did I ever spy anything unhealthy on her table: the cuisine looked good and was good for us.

Vas and Joannie took good care of everyone around them—and of themselves. No one less deserved to be stricken with pancreatic cancer in 2008 than Joannie did. Mark, the physician in the family, found himself using his doctor's skills to aid his own dying mother. On the day of her diagnosis, Joan was shopping for a gift for a grandchild. She continued the task with aplomb.

Young Soon and I had dinner with Vas and Joannie after her diagnosis. Her only concern was for the rest of us.

Today, I'm facing my own cancer diagnosis. For details look elsewhere on this Blog. I can never be as brave as Joannie, but I can draw inspiration from her.

Joan Vasiliadis (January 17, 1930-July 22, 2008) we loved you, and you influenced everyone you touched.

Saturday, March 12, 2016

Day One Five One. The Tumor Watch (Update)

Here's an update.


In October, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor known as a Glioblastoma Multiforme.

This type of tumor is always fatal. As one of my doctors, a sports fan, puts it, "It's undefeated."

Depending on what you read, and how you respond to the three forms of treatment -- surgery, radiation and chemo -- life expectancy runs from three months to fifteen.

I had brain surgery December 2 and completed radiation and chemo February 25.

So far, I've experienced no discomfort, pain, or side effects.

I've enjoyed sixty "straight" years of writing about the Air Force and aviation (interrupted only partially by a 25-year stint as a Foreign Service officer.) No one ever had a greater privilege than to write about Americans who fly and fight. I've donated my archives and some cash to charities that I support, including the Glenn L. Martin Maryland Aviation Museum and the Commemorative Air Force (CAF). These groups honor veterans, educate young Americans and inspire the public.


My most popular book is "AIR POWER ABANDONED," the story of the F-22 Raptor, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, General T. Michael Moseley, and Gates's firing of the Air Force leadership.

My murder mystery, "CRIME SCENE: FAIRFAX COUNTY" was published January. Both books can be gotten for Kindle, in print from Amazon, or,  preferably directly from me. Price per book when ordered from me is $22. All proceeds are donated to the Capital Wing of the Commemorative Air Force, a 501(c )(3) charity.

I'm still mostly me. The tumor affects my ability to type and my speech. My speech is fully understandable and I'm urging friends to call at (703) 264-8950. I can still think, read, converse, and be taken out to lunch.


I'm focusing on three projects -- getting our family's personal photos in order, publishing items on this blog about people who've influenced my life, and, yes, completing yet another crime novel.

I have wonderful support from a terrific family plus the comfort of knowing so many friends out there. Thanks to you all.

Bob

(703) 264-8950

Robert F. Dorr
3411 Valewood Drive
Oakton VA 22124
robert.f.dorr@cox.net


Monday, March 7, 2016

Day One Four Six. Influence: Writers

The authors who influence me are creative and artistic—but more important, they work. They're working authors who place butt in chair and fingers on keyboard.

Heavy volume
One of them produces a million words a year (2,480 words per day) of finished prose ready to go into print. Several work in a variety of media from traditional books to graphic novels.

The key, for me, is that they are always working. That's what sets working authors apart from those who merely enjoy writing. When you can't afford the luxury of waiting to be inspired, when deadlines loom, when you have to work even when you don't feel like it, you're the real thing.

The three authors introduced here are members of Bob Deis's Facebook page devoted to men's adventure magazines. We're veterans of, or fans of, that genre of two-fisted writing and art that shaped us from the 1950s to the 1970s. Visit the site here.

Chuck Dixon, 61, is a longtime script writer for comics and graphic books who also writes fiction and has two book series going, See details here. I'm a big fan of his "Bad Times" series about former Army Rangers who undertake dangerous time-travel missions in search of treasure and adventure. His other series, the Levon Cade books, are dark tales of vigilante justice, Chuck has contributed over a thousand scripts to publishers like DC Comics, Marvel, Dark Horse, Hyperion and others featuring characters from Batman to the Simpsons.

James Reasoner, 62, warns new writers not to wait for inspiration. "My inspiration has always been to not have to go out and hold a real job," he said on an off day when he was completing one chapter of a book rather than his usual two daily. He has been at it for forty years. "There are not many of us who can keep doing this year after year."

Prolific writer
Reasoner writes in other fields but is especially well known as a Western writer with more than 200 books to his credit, under his name and various pen-names. Early in his career he wrote Mike Shayne novellas in Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine.

He is author of a ten volume series of novels about the Civil War plus other volumes about World War II.

One of Reasoner's recent achievements is an anthology of alternate history, "Tales From the Otherverse," located here,

In 2014, after 60 years of writing non-fiction, I made my own attempt at alternate history with my book "Hitler's Time Machine," which is available from me, or here. I was encouraged by the writers you see on this page. "Hitler's Time Machine" was so well received I felt I was on my way as a creator of fiction.

About crime
I wanted my next project to be a crime novel.

A favorite expert on crime is Paul Bishop, 60, another creative and very busy scribe, Learn about Paul here.

Paul is co-creator of the popular Fight Card series of short fiction pieces designed to be read in one or two sittings. His novel Lie Catchers is worth a read. If it appears to present police work realistically—albeit, with a catch—remember that Paul spent 35 years with the Los Angeles Police Department and was twice named Detective of the Year.

In 2015, I was ready to try my second work of fiction, a post-World War II crime novel featuring some of the characters in the "Hitler" book.

The new book "Crime Scene: Fairfax County," was all but finished when, in October, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor. See my January 15 post for details on my health situation. I was able to complete "Crime Scene: Fairfax County" and you can get signed copies from me. I'm also working on the next book in the series.

It doesn't appear that time will permit me to proceed much farther with my series-character crime novels. We'll see. Whatever happens, I'm glad I made the move from traditional publishing to self-publishing and from non-fiction to fiction.

Meanwhile, watch these guys. They're really good.