John Lounge, Space Shuttle astronaut, born 1946

John "Mike" Lounge, born June 28, 1946 in Denver, Colorado, was a veteran of three space shuttle mission as well as a Vietnam War veteran.  He spent nine months in Southeast Asia aboard the USS Enterprise participating in 99 combat missions after graduating from the U.S. Naval academy in 1969.

His first mission was aboard Discovery (STS-51-I) as mission specialist August-September 1985.  Their objective was to deploy 3 communications satellites.

His second flight was as mission specialist aboard Discovery (STS-26), the first mission after the Challenger disaster in January 1986.  It was the first all-veteran crew mission since Apollo 11.

His third and final mission was on Columbia (STS-35) in December 1990.

Lounge passed away March 1, 2011 from liver cancer.

John Swigert, Apollo 13 astronaut, born 1931

John "Jack" Swigert, born August 30, 1931 in Denver, Colorado, was an astronaut on the bad-luck-ridden Apollo 13 mission, as Command Module Pilot.

The mission was his only flight.  He was slated to be in the rotation for the Apollo-Soyuz project but was removed due to his involvement in the Apollo 15 Postage Stamp Incident.

Swigert passed away in 1982 from cancer.

Happy birthday, Skylab 4 astronaut Gerald Carr!

Gerald Paul Carr, born August 22, 1932 in Denver, Colorado, is one of three rookie astronauts on Skylab 4, the third and last manned mission to the space station.  He was one of the original 19 astronauts chosen by NASA in 1966.  For over 4 years, Carr and his fellow Skylab 4 astronauts held the record for the longest stay in space, 184 days.

During the mission, the Skylab astronauts got worn out from their hectic work schedule and finally ceased radio transmissions to and from Mission Control for a day.  NASA was furious, of course, but it did lead to some revising of work schedules and the astronauts ended up completing more work that originally planned.

Carr was on the rotation for Apollo 19 but the mission was cancelled in 1970.

Book review - Eagle's Blood by A. J. Marcus

While attending the Denver Pride Festival earlier this summer, I came across DSP Publications’ booth.  Looking for local authors and local stories, I found A. J. Marcus and his Mountain Spirit Mysteries, based in Colorado.  His first novel in the series, Eagle’s Blood, introduces readers to Brock Summers, a Colorado Parks and Wildlife Officer and Landon Weir, a wildlife rehabilitator.

They’ve known each other for a while but when Brock is scratched by an orphaned eagle he rescued, Landon offers to dress his wounds.  It is the first time Landon sees Brock without his shirt and first time Brock feels Landon’s fingers on his bare skin.  Sparks start flying between them.

Their romance grows as Brock and his colleagues are trying to find poachers who have been killing endangered eagles and posting videos on line.  Along the way, bears and elk are also killed for bait to lure eagles to their deaths so their valuable feathers can be sold.

Eagle’s Blood reads more like a romance novel as the main story and the action/suspense as the background.  Much of the story is actually educational.  The reader learns how rehabilitators take care of wounded wildlife with plenty of details.  It gives one an appreciation for the work they and the wildlife rangers do to protect animals.

I admit I was a little disappointed in the ending since the perpetrators are never named or described, as if Marcus decided to take the easy way out.  Still, the final climax is exciting and of course, Brock and Landon decide to take their relationship to the next level and live together. 

The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker

The only problem I had with Ted Dekker’s chilling novel The Bride Collector was it’s all about the beautiful people. The victims are beautiful. The serial killer is beautiful. The main character. All the secondary and periphery characters. Yet all that was a minor aspect of a great novel and a scary story.

Unlike the globe-trotting, money-falling-for-the-sky spy novels, The Bride Collector is well-grounded and entrenched in Denver, Colorado. Brad Raines, a special agent for the FBI, is on the trail of a killer who has murdered several beautiful young women and leaves a bridal veil covering their faces.

Dekker reveals the identity of the serial killer in the second chapter so no mystery here. But he takes that opportunity to build the suspense and terror as the reader is allowed into the mind of a murderer. Dekker takes his audience on a thrilling ride into psychosis.

Nearly all the main players have their own demons to deal with, none more so than Brad. He hasn’t gotten over the suicide of his gorgeous fiancée over a decade ago. She took her own life believing she wasn’t beautiful enough. As Brad delves into the case, he is drawn to a young woman who can see ghosts.

Paradise and her friends live in a picturesque manor in the mountains near Denver, a place for those with mental illness and money. The world sees them as crazy but Brad slowly realizes the genius trapped inside their addled minds. Soon he is asking for their help and the results astonish him. Each utilizing their own gifts, the ‘residents’ help him decipher the ramblings of a madman who is just as psychotic and as brilliant as they are.

Meanwhile, the killer continues his murderous rampage and turns his attention to Brad, taunting him and challenging him.

Brad and Paradise form an uncomfortable alliance, not trusting themselves with each other, but gradually their mutual trust grows and so does their love.

The final showdown between Brad, Paradise and the killer who knows them both is the longest section of the book because Dekker milks it for all it’s worth. The pages fly by with unexpected twists and surprising developments. The Bride Collector is a spooky story that will have you looking over your shoulder.