It's July and things are heating up -- and bullets are falling from the sky
Read on and become the smartest person in the room--or the Zoom!
July is the hottest month of the year on average, and with Global Warming it’s getting evermore toastier.
With that comes more severe weather including tornados, tropical storms and increasingly violent hurricanes that threaten the Eastern Seaboard and states bordering what the civilized world still calls the Gulf of Mexico.
While it’s certainly true that you can’t control the weather, you can take precautions to be safe, including these helpful tips:
Wear a hat outdoors.
Avoid being outside during mid-day.
Wear sunscreen
Stay hydrated
Avoid Fox News.
(That last tip applies year-round, of course.)
And with Fourth of July just around the corner, you may also wish to add body armor to this list in case of falling bullets, which is an increasing hazard on Independence Day with so many yahoos breaking out their arsenals and firing into the night skies.
What goes up must come down and that includes bullets. While it is true that a shot fired vertically into the air loses much of its velocity on its return trip, most bullets can easily impact at speeds approaching 200 mph.
While the federal government doesn’t have a unified stray-shot database, other sources, including the Gun Violence Archive and Ammo.com, report that a third of the people hit by falling bullets die.
The most common areas struck include the head, shoulders and feet. So, yeah, a Kevlar helmet is advised. Or you could just stay indoors.
Mark Your Calendar
July 1. The year 2025 is officially at the mid-way point today. And has been a tradition for many years, that’s a time for tennis fans to rejoice as the Wimbledon tennis championships are underway. They conclude Sunday, July 13. You can catch the matches on ESPN, ESPN+ and ABC.
July 2 is UFO Day. As has been established, the first extraterrestrial visitor to Earth arrived in the 1960s. There’s a full report here.
July 3. It’s Tom Cruise’s birthday. He turns 63 today. While we ordinarily don’t celebrate actors’ birthdays in this space, a man in his 60s who still performs his own stunts including actually wing walking in his latest movie deserves a nod.
Fourth of July. Today we commemorate the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 formally declaring that the original 13 American colonies were separating from British rule. I suppose you could say this was the start of the No Kings movement.
July 5. International Bikini Day celebrating the invention of the skimpy bathing suit in 1946. The swimsuit was named after the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, which was blown to bits in a series of atomic explosions.
July 6. It’s International Kissing Day. A great time to show your affection and to contract mononucleosis.
July 7. Today is World Chocolate Day. Chocolate is, of course, the best idea ever conceived by human beings, better even than the Slinky. Chocolate is good for your heart, your brain, and your mood. Some people, scientists mostly, say it should be consumed in moderation, but what do they know?
July 8. At the risk of making Jeff Bezos even richer (hey, he has to pay for his extravagant wedding) today is the start of Prime Day, which is actually four days lasting through July 11. It’s an exclusive sales event for Amazon Prime members.
July 9. This is National Sugar Cookie Day. The sugar cookie, in its original form, is a so-so confection. It has only three ingredients: sugar, butter and flour. Add chocolate chips and now you’re talking about a cookie worth eating.
July 10 is Pick Blueberries Day. Personally, I have Publix for that, but irrespective of where you get yours, you should make blueberries a regular part of your diet. As has been noted in this space countless times, eat enough blueberries and broccoli, you will live forever. You die, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
July 11. The new Superman movie premieres today. We are all on pins and needles (balanced over a pile of kryptonite) awaiting this and wondering if it will live up to the hype.
July 12. Wimbledon final matches are today.
July 13. International Rock Day. Promoters of this commemoration ask the question that’s never crossed anyone else’s mind: “Where would we be without rocks?” On a different planet, of course, one not made of rock. Maybe Krypton?
July 14. Shark Awareness Day. There are sharks in our oceans. Some sharks actually make it into our bays and lakes. And now there is the land shark, my favorite Marvel Comics character, to wit:
July 15. Major League Baseball’s All Star Game will be played tonight in Atlanta. You can watch it live on FOX beginning at 8 p.m. ET. The starting lineups will be revealed on ESPN on July 6 at 5 p.m. ET. So far in fan polling, the players getting the most votes are Aaron Judge of the Yankees with 4,012,983 and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers with 3,967,688.
July 15 is also National Give Something Away Day. The idea is to be generous, of course. With that in mind, for those of you out there with e-readers such as Kindle, Nook, Kobo, or who read books on your computers, here’s a link to get a free copy of my latest novella, Scribbles From Space. This offer is available only to current and new newsletter subscribers.
July 16. It’s National Hot Dog Day. German-American immigrant Charles Feltman is credited with inventing America’s favorite ballpark snack when in 1867 he put a frankfurter sausage on a bun. He began selling his Coney Island Red Hots from a converted pie cart.
July 17. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds launches its third season tonight on Paramount+. It’s scheduled for two more seasons after this one, completing the timeline leading up to James T. Kirk assuming command of the Starship Enterprise.
July 18. Today is Black Leaders Awareness Day. Why July 18? It’s Nelson Mandela’s birthday. You can read more about the annual commemoration here.
July 19 is the Women’s National Basketball Association All Star Game. It will be played in Indianapolis. Watch it on ABC starting at 8:30 p.m. ET. You can vote for your favorite players here.
July 19 is also International Karaoke Day. Planning on a night of karaoke but can’t decide what to sing? You can’t go wrong with Yellow Submarine, my personal fave, by Ringo Starr, the genius behind the 20th century boy band, The Beatles. There were three other guys in the quartet, too.
July 20. It’s World Jump Day. The idea is that everyone on the planet should jump up in the air at the same time, the goal of which is to knock the Earth out of its orbit. In the interest of national security, the time for this jump is being withheld.
July 21. National Junk Food Day. You may be asking yourself: What is the healthiest junk food? No? Well, let’s pretend you did. Here’s the answer: Dark chocolate.
July 22. On this day in 1942, the U.S. government began rationing gasoline due to wartime demands for fuel. Never take peace for granted. Keeping the peace is hard. Any idiot can start a war.
July 23. National Vanilla Ice Cream Day. People who know about my chocolate cravings are often surprised to learn that when it comes to ice cream, I like mine plain vanilla. Some things are perfect and cannot be improved upon.
July 24. National Tell an Old Joke Day. In honor of this event, here’s one of the oldest jokes in recorded history. It’s from ancient Greece and was told sometime between 300-400 BCE.
Asked by the court barber how he wanted his hair cut, the King replied:
“In silence.”
July 25. Today is both National Hot Fudge Sundae Day and National Wine and Cheese Day. Enjoy one or the other. Or both.
July 26. National Day of the Cowboy. The earliest cowboys weren’t in the American West, but in Mexico. They were called vaqueros, and their skills at riding, roping, and herding cattle were so impressive that Americans adopted their techniques and called themselves “cowboys.”
July 27. National Tree Day. If everyone on Earth (those surviving National Jump Day) would go out and plant a tree today, twenty years from now we’ll have more trees to cut down.
July 28. National Soccer Day. Soccer is the world’s most popular sport. While it tends to be low scoring (like ice hockey) it is non-stop action (unlike football) which helps explain its rising popularity here in the U.S. And unlike at baseball parks, where the hot dog reigns supreme, the favorite fan food at American soccer matches is fried chicken.
July 29. Speaking of chicken, today is National Chicken Wing Day.
July 30 is Paperback Book Day. Need some suggestions on what to read? Check this out:
July 31. National Chili Dog Day. So, do you make your chili with or without beans? In keeping with the hot dog’s status as the preeminent baseball snack, we’ll call it a fielder’s choice.
Letters
Dear J.C.
Your mentioning Paperback Book Day reminds me that you said earlier in the newsletter that your new novella is only available as an eBook, is that right?
T. Tharkus
Thanks for asking. Yes, my new novella Scribbles From Space has now been launched as an eBook. Later this year, a print version will be available, and it will also be included in an anthology of sci-fi stories. Here’s a link so you can get your very own Kindle copy:
Dear J.C.
Okay, I know you like to throw around jawbreakers in this newsletter just to keep us on our toes, but what’s the difference between a novella and a novel? Or, for that matter, a novella and a short story?
S. Short
Yeah, it jargonish, I’ll give you that. Here seems to be what’s generally agreed:
A short story is a tale over 1,000 words in length but usually less than 10,000.
A novelette is between 7,500 and 19,000 words.
A novella is between 10,000 and 40,000 words.
As you can see, there’s some overlap between categories. Scribbles From Space is about 15,000 words.
Over 40,000 words, and you’re in novel territory. All of my novels, for instance, are around 90,000 words, which is pretty standard for mysteries. Thrillers often run longer, in the 120,000-word range.
There’s even a category for short short stories, of which I have written and published several. They are available on Kindle and include:
Dear J.C.
Once again, you seem to be using this valuable newsletter space for blatant commercial messages to pimp your books and, now it appears, novellas and short short stories. Confess! You make up these letters, don’t you?
G. Santos
I am a professional writer of fiction, and you accuse me of making things up? How could a thought like that even enter your mind?
Parting Shot
J.C. Bruce is a journalist and author of The Strange Files series of mysterious novels (available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, other online booksellers, and at selected libraries). He also writes this monthly newsletter. He holds dual citizenship in the United States of America and Florida, and was recently awarded an honorary doctorate from the Lightgate Institute of Extranormal Studies, which he totally made up for his book Strange Timing.
TROPIC PRESS, publisher of The Strange Files series of mysterious adventures, is pleased to also be the official publisher of J.C. Bruce’s new novella, Scribbles From Space.
