MyMysteryTime.com
Bridging the River of Time–
Mysteries & More
About the Mysteries
You could say that all the Clay Cantrell mysteries have one foot in the present and one foot in the past. Hero Clay Cantrell, his friend Mac, and the mysteries they must solve all happen in the present day. But each book also has a backstory with other characters that takes place in the past.
It’s really a second plot–built through flashbacks to that earlier time–that develops along with the modern-day mystery. And in each book, that narrative of past events ultimately bridges the river of time, so to speak, to reach forward in some way and affect the contemporary mystery Clay and Mac are trying to unravel.
Click the cover for a brief description, reviews, or to read a selection.
NEW RELEASE !!!
Science fiction with a humorous
intent.
Is Edgar Allan Poe a
murderer or a victim?
Clay is on the case!
Spies & Jihadi terrorists steal
a world-changing energy
device!
About the “More”
I truly do love reading–it’s my window on the world beyond my yard, a constant source of enlightenment, mystery, and these days, yes, more than a little to cause exasperation and disbelief.
That last inspired my latest adventure, a collection of comic tales about life in the Digital Age–science fiction with a humorous intent. The news these days is awash in such wildly preposterous memes and prognostications that I thought, Why not?
What My Refrigerator Said to Me is every bit as preposterous as the news can be, but don’t be fooled. Venture with me on this Digital Age comic odyssey and you’ll also find insights about the people and the devices populating our futuristic world (click on the book cover above for more).
But wait, wait, there’s more to the more! The first issue of my free (and pretty irregular) newsletter, Ramblings from the Den, is here. Once every month or two, you’ll find my thoughts on the writing life, notes about me and my works in progress, news and views, book reviews, short stories, and whatever else comes to mind.
Sign up to subscribe and Ramblings will be delivered directly to your inbox. You can unsubscribe at any time, and on my “irregular” schedule, you can be sure I won’t bomb your inbox. Want to see a post? You can read Ramblings here on my website. Just click the button.
Still more on the more! Below you’ll some more fascinating scribblings of mine, including some nonfiction works and a short story too! Enjoy.
Bruce Wetterau
APA Study Says “Brain Rot” Real
I can still remember my mother’s admonition about watching too much TV, the vast wasteland of old: “Turn off that TV. It’s going to rot your brain!” Well, there’s a new vast wasteland in town now, and no surprise here, the internet can rot your brain too.
No less than the American Psychological Association (APA) has doubled down on Mom’s warning with a recent study showing damaging effects of too much TikTok and Instagram, massively popular short-form video aps. It makes official what everybody has suspected, that heavy exposure to the aps’ short-form videos literally causes brain rot.
The APA study reportedly encompassed almost 100,000 participants who watched short-form video. The verdict: the more people watched, the more their ability to stay focused suffered. Both attention span and “inhibitory control” (sit still and pay attention?)--crucial skills for maintaining focus--were affected by video watching. Surprisingly, age was not a factor. It’s not only kids who are rotting their brains with this stuff.
Researchers said that “repeated exposure to fast-paced, highly stimulating video content stimulates the brain’s reward system,” making it both addictive and destructive. Users actually become “desensitized to slower, more effortful cognitive tasks such as reading, problem solving, or deep learning.” Yikes! Quick, read a book.
As if that weren’t bad enough, the harmful effects of excessive short video consumption run deeper still. The study links it to social isolation, lower life satisfaction, and most mental health “indices.”And that’s not all. It also pointed to sleep problems, as well as anxiety and loneliness, side effects that are also linked to substance addiction. Double yikes!
The study didn’t say it, but the lesson lurking just beneath the surface is as simple as “use it or loose it.” Your brain--and your imagination within--is a muscle that needs the regular exercise of reading. So help out those short video watchers on your Christmas list. Give them a book or two.
--Bruce Wetterau
[Full disclosure. I’m an author, yes a firm believer in the value of reading, who has these books available to prevent brain rot: What My Refrigerator Said to Me--Misadventures in the Digital Age (a humorous pin to prick the big tech bubble); and three Clay Cantrell Mysteries:
Lost Treasure;
Killer Fog--Treachery, Greed, And Jihadi Fanatics;
The Girl Behind the Wall--Edgar Allan Poe, The Girl, And The Mysterious Raven Murders.]
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"Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body." --Sir Richard Steele 1672-1729
My Mystery Time -- Mysteries and More by Bruce Wetterau 