It's been one year since I lost contact with Elena Amberova who translated my novel into Russian. Elena lived in Kharkiv, Ukraine with her elderly mother who did not want to flee the country after the Russian invasion last year. Sadly last summer her brother contacted me, "...Lena is no more. It's been almost 3 months now. My name is Ivan, her brother." Ironically Saluki Marooned sold more copies in Russian than any of the other six languages (including English). Every time I think of Elena I feel sad. We Skyped a few times, texted, and emailed each other. And I read some of her writing which she translated into English. What a waste of a human being!

A blinking cursor is what the new novel about SIU looked like several months ago. Tristan Workman of the SIU Small Business Development Center sat down with me recently to talk about what I am doing back at SIU. We talked about writing, coffee, and...Baby Boomers.

THIS JUST IN FROM THE PUBLISHER:

Dear Robert Rickman,
we would like to inform you that Tektime has published the book 'SALUKI MAROONED' narrated in English.
The audiobook will need about 3-4 weeks before becoming available on all online bookstores.
The assigned ISBN to this audiobook is: 9788835428183

I started recording the Saluki Marooned audiobook in the spring and completed it last week...I hope. The technical requirements are very difficult to satisfy as I have mentioned before, but it wasn't a technical problem that led to this latest revision. No, you see I forgot to...forgot to...

It's embarrassing...

I forgot to list the author and narrator at the end of the last chapter.

When I was a student we used to call them "problems" but now they're called "challenges." My challenges are to write a second novel about SIU and record the Saluki Marooned audiobook. Because my background is in broadcast journalism and aviation my talents lean away from advertising. So, I need help with promotions.

And SIU students need practical experience, so Deb suggested I attend the Saluki Job Fair, sit at the Business Incubator table, and help guide students towards part-time jobs and internships. (Deb did most of the guiding while I sat there looking important 🙂 ​Home - Small Business Incubator (siu.edu) And when Deb was mingling with people around the room, Incubator student worker Tristan Workman was in command at the table.

My generation of students was in-your-face brash and independent (and politeness was optional). Millennials are quieter, and some are very shy. This, of course, has something to do with COVID-19 isolation.

My goal is for the audiobook to be finished and available for publication by SIU Homecoming in October. I have no idea when the second novel will be completed, hopefully by early next winter.

My experience talking with these sharp kids has prompted me to alter one of the characters in my new novel. She will be a Millennial who is working on her Masters at SIU, very shy, but engaging.

As of Saturday, June 19, 2012, at 12 Noon, I've lived in Carbondale for seven months, one week, two days, and one hour. I've managed to record nine chapters of the Saluki Marooned Audiobook, plus the introduction!

Yup, I spent a lot of time in here.

 Am I: Communing with Chopin?  Shielding my ears from that noisy refrigerator?  Hiding from the landlady?

No! 

I'm recording the Saluki Marooned audiobook.                                                                                                                            

And why don't I look happy?

Because I'm not! First, no radio or TV studio I've ever worked in (including WSIU and WIDB) would satisfy the demonic requirements for audiobook acceptance (ACX). To give you an idea: The sound of a pin dropping would register 10 decibels, and if something made a sound at 0 decibels, most humans couldn't hear it.

But the audiobook technical criteria requires any noise to register below -60 decibels-that's negative 60db! That means if an ant burps outside three stories below the closet the meter had better register -60db or below.

Accordingly, I bought heavy drapes which I close over the bedroom windows for recording. I shut the bathroom door, and turn off all appliances that make noise or cause a hum. I pack the air conditioner and window fan vents with insulation. (I wouldn't think

of turning them on) And the laptop stays outside because of its' fan.

But the real trouble starts when I'm finished recording.

Robert P. Rickman 

My favorite place to walk is around Campus Lake at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.   I used to run around it when I was a student 50-years ago.

In high school I ate, slept, and breathed broadcasting, and spent as much time working on the campus radio station as I spent in class.   Because of my preoccupation with the microphone, I earned a weak 3.0 GPA   So, SIU was perfect for me for two reasons: it offered one of the top five radio and TV programs in the country, and it allowed mediocre students like me entrance into the university.    

After graduation in 1974, I worked as a news director and anchorman at KIEM-TV and KPWR-TV in California, and a radio news department in Iowa, and anchored morning and afternoon drive radio newscasts in Nashville, TN.  Those were the high points of my broadcasting career.

Ten years ago I wrote Saluki Marooned with the sole purpose of promoting SIU.

SIU has more than its share of problems now.  Enrollment Fall 2021 semester was 11,266.  While improving, this is less than half of what it was in 1970 when I was a freshman.  And COVID-19 isn't helping.
Sadly,  the Carbondale campus resembles Summer break 1971;  there are few students on campus.  (Fifty years ago, 24-thousand students jostled each other at an overcrowded SIUC)

So, I am doing my part to promote the school by recording the Saluki Marooned audiobook and offering it for less than the cost of a pack of cigarettes.  Check it out by clicking Marta on the sidebar.

While attending Southern from 1970 to 1974, I worked at WSIU Radio and TV, WIDB Radio, and as a teaching assistant in the radio and TV department. (Basic Knobs and Dials, "This is a microphone, this is a turntable, this is..."

So please, push...that...button at the top!