Category Archives: humor

Yet Another Finding Mr. Wrong Review

09 Wednesday May 2018

Posted by in Asperger's, Finding Mr. Wrong, humor, Jersey girl, serial monogamy, women's fiction

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Sheri Hoyte of Reader Views reviewed Finding Mr. Wrong:

“Finding Mr. Wrong” is the fascinating sequel to “Only Tim Sent Flowers” by George Kaplan, featuring Tookie, a girl on a mission. Her goal: to have a child – well, more specifically, a daughter of her very own. With the days of her reproductive opportunities whittling away, there’s no time to be picky with her prospects, any sperm donor will do. Or will they? After several ‘Mr. Wrongs’ Tookie realizes she wants her daughter to have a father figure in her life – an inconvenience to be sure, drastically limiting the number of qualifying candidates, as well as the chance for success.

Wow, this book was such an entertaining read! I fell in love with the author’s voice immediately. With a quick wit, a seemingly limitless imagination, and a sharp tongue, Kaplan brings Tookie to life in full magnificent display. Tookie’s trysts from man-to-man and bed-to-bed in search of the perfect partner are hilarious, and Kaplan uses his gift with dialogue to keep the story flowing almost impulsively, and always enticingly. What I want to know is how does Kaplan capture the very essence of Tookie’s personality? It’s almost like he has lived through her experiences directly! So fun!

Tookie’s character is only matched, in my opinion, by Rose, mother of one of Tookie’s conquests. Rose is on a mission as well – to find a vessel for her son to provide her with grandchildren. When Rose and Tookie go head-to head, it’s hard to imagine who will come out on top. “Finding Mr. Wrong” is character-driven action at its finest.

I have a horrible habit of reading series books out of order, and though “Finding Mr. Wrong” stands solidly on its own, I will definitely be back-pedaling to read “Only Tim Sent Flowers,” so I can learn more about how Tookie came to be the woman she is in this story. I highly recommend “Finding Mr. Wrong” by George Kaplan as an engaging humorous read that will leave readers wanting more.

http://readerviews.com/reviewkaplanfindingmrwrong

Someone Likes Me

06 Sunday May 2018

Posted by in Asperger's, Fiction writing, Finding Mr. Wrong, humor, Jersey girl, Promiscuous, red hair

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Not only did a positive review of Finding Mr. Wrong arrive from Amy’s Bookshelf Reviews. Her announcement included an additional surprise, a very special something extra that is described at the bottom of this post.

4 Stars Absolutely a lot of fun.

Tookie is one of those characters you don’t soon forget. She has Asperger’s but that does not stop her from wanting what she wants, loving life, and doing whatever she wants to do. This time, she wants a child. It’s more than just desiring to have a child, the husband comes first … and a great story, and I am a fan of Kaplan, and of Tookie’s. I read Only Tim Sent Flowers which was a wonderful read, and though it’s not required of this story, that should be read first, if only to set the tone for Tookie, and her interesting life and perception of life. Great story.

Your name is now on my top 20 Authors of 2018 list.

As far as I know, this is the first time I’ve been mentioned as a favorite of anyone! You can imagine my shock to see my name at the top of the list.

Link to Top 20: http://writeramyshannon.wixsite.com/bookshelfreviews/top-twenty-authors

I Read Too Nuch

29 Sunday Apr 2018

Posted by in Asperger's, Finding Mr. Wrong, humor, Jersey girl, red hair, serial monogamy, vibrator, women's fiction

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Beautiful Red Head Woman With Freckle SmilingAnother review just came in for Finding Mr. Wrong. This one is from Patricia Hamill of I Read Too Much fame:

Finding Mr. Wrong is exactly as described. Tookie is back, and in her direct way, she has begun her search for a man who will provide her with a daughter and stick around to help her raise her. This story, while channeling Tookie’s quest in a straightforward manner, still tugs at the heart. All the close, but not quite right fits. Tookie has her standards. And then she’s running out of time. Truly, I found myself fretting at her single-mindedness. Her lowering of standards in favor of getting the one thing she refuses to give up, a daughter of her own. But though it frustrated me, it came across as true to character. And in the end, she really doesn’t mind landing with Mr. Wrong, so long as she gets what she signed up for in the bargain.

The struggle to control her urges and desires in her quest to land a stable father for her future daughter added an interesting edge to this installment in Tookie’s story. There’s a lot of growth for her, and she tackles much of her previously destructive behavior in the process.

On the downside, I found it hard at times to suspend reality and accept her as a realistic portrayal of a woman. She can be jarring in her words and tendencies. I’m not entirely certain whether it was intentional or otherwise. I want to believe it was intentional. Overall, I really liked the story, though I was frustrated for Tookie. Folks who enjoyed Only Tim Sent Flowers will likely enjoy this one, too.

 

Review of Finding Mr. Wrong

26 Thursday Apr 2018

Posted by in adventure, Asperger's, Finding Mr. Wrong, humor, Jersey girl, Only Tim Sent Flowers, red hair, vibrator, women's fiction

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Reader Views masthead

This review of Finding Mr. Wrong just arrived:

Reviewed by Sheri Hoyte for Reader Views (4/18)

“Finding Mr. Wrong” is the fascinating sequel to “Only Tim Sent Flowers” by George Kaplan, featuring Tookie, a girl on a mission. Her goal: to have a child – well, more specifically, a daughter of her very own. With the days of her reproductive opportunities whittling away, there’s no time to be picky with her prospects, any sperm donor will do. Or will they? After several ‘Mr. Wrongs’ Tookie realizes she wants her daughter to have a father figure in her life – an inconvenience to be sure, drastically limiting the number of qualifying candidates, as well as the chance for success.

Wow, this book was such an entertaining read! I fell in love with the author’s voice immediately. With a quick wit, a seemingly limitless imagination, and a sharp tongue, Kaplan brings Tookie to life in full magnificent display. Tookie’s trysts from man-to-man and bed-to-bed in search of the perfect partner are hilarious, and Kaplan uses his gift with dialogue to keep the story flowing almost impulsively, and always enticingly. What I want to know is how does Kaplan capture the very essence of Tookie’s personality? It’s almost like he has lived through her experiences directly! So fun!

Tookie’s character is only matched, in my opinion, by Rose, mother of one of Tookie’s conquests. Rose is on a mission as well – to find a vessel for her son to provide her with grandchildren. When Rose and Tookie go head-to head, it’s hard to imagine who will come out on top. “Finding Mr. Wrong” is character-driven action at its finest.

I have a horrible habit of reading series books out of order, and though “Finding Mr. Wrong” stands solidly on its own, I will definitely be back-pedaling to read “Only Tim Sent Flowers,” so I can learn more about how Tookie came to be the woman she is in this story. I highly recommend “Finding Mr. Wrong” by George Kaplan as an engaging humorous read that will leave readers wanting more.

Image

Second Tookie Book Released

24 Saturday Mar 2018

FMW cover with outline.pngLast Saturday, even though Tookie wasn’t wearing green, her favorite color, probably due to her red hair, her publisher, Black Opal Books, released the second book in the series named after her. Finding Mr. Wrong picks up where Only Tim Sent Flowers left off. After being dumped unceremoniously by Isaac and convalescing with first boyfriend Tim, Tookie unwinds on a windjammer cruise unmolested (her satirical term for making out, an activity she thoroughly enjoyed) with girls from work.

A chance remark by one of her shipmates, who’d had too much wine, piqued her curiosity about mechanical devices as a substitute for a man on dateless nights. After a few tests, she shelved her long-held restriction against props.

Her biological clock ticked deafeningly and no vibrator could get her the daughter she longed to have. Acquiring a husband and getting pregnant, not necessarily in that order, became her highest priority. She broadened her filter and accepted dates from men should would have ignored before. Tookie’s main criteria became an income capable of supporting her daughter in the manner she wished she had lived and an ability to impregnate her. She even started going to church.

She “auditioned” man after man, but none proved adequate until she was set up on a blind date with an engineer her age who still lived at home. That his old-country mother wanted grandchildren was a major point in his favor. But would his mother squelch the deal after her P.I. uncovered some of Tookie’s indiscretions?

If you’re interested in reviewing Finding Mr. Wrong, contact me.

Posted by | Filed under Asperger's, Finding Mr. Wrong, humor, Jersey girl, masturbation, red hair, vibrator

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Finding Mr. Wrong

15 Thursday Feb 2018

Posted by in Asperger's, Fiction writing, humor, Jersey girl, masturbation, red hair, vibrator, women's fiction

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FMQ front coverThis has been a productive week already and it’s far from over. Finding Mr. Wrong, the second book in the Tookie series, is moving rapidly toward release. The editor’s comments weren’t hard to accommodate and I didn’t find too many typos to correct, on this goround at least. So, I was able to submit the revised manuscript for final edits. Soon, PDFs will arrive in my inbox for me to review.

Hardly any time later, a draft cover awaited my comments. Black Opal Books’ artist selected an image that suggested a scene in the book. The only problem was that the sexy woman in the photo was wearing spike heels. Forget about those. Tookie never wears high heels, even short ones. Photoshopping clodhoppers over them didn’t work. Photos that might have worked were in the wrong aspect ratio for a book cover: they had a horizontal orientation instead of vertical as needed. Eventually, I found a photo of a woman in a red dress with great legs—and no shoes.

The artist gave it a try, and it works. I’ll leave to the reader what scene inspired the artist. For a hint, read Only Tim Sent Flowers while you wait for Finding Mr. Wrong to be in print. Fortunately, that won’t be too long. It is scheduled for release in both print and ebook versions in March.

The Wedding Ring Effect

30 Tuesday Jan 2018

Posted by in coming of age, humor, women's fiction

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wedding ringA recently released study by researchers from the Universities of St. Andrews, Durham and Exeter found that women consider men to be more attractive if they are desired by other women. This is particularly true if the men are already in relationships. Whether “This is because he is perceived to be more kind, faithful and a better father” came from the women in the study, the researchers or Sarah J. Young, the author reporting on the study, is unclear.

A previous study conducted by Oklahoma State University found what some call “The Wedding Ring Effect,” that by being in a relationship a man has already proven he has at least some desirable characteristics. In that study, 90 per cent of single women were interested in men they believed were taken, while only 59 per cent thought these same men were attractive if they were thought to be unattached. Hmmmm.

So this is news? I observed this phenomenon in the late 1960s when I was finally in a relationship. Girls had never considered me particularly attractive. But when they saw me with Zelda, some flirted with me and asked me to dance with them. Since this behavior was in stark contrast to how they treated me pre-Zelda, I couldn’t help but notice the difference. Sadly, I didn’t capitalize on this change and continued seeing Zelda. But that is an entirely different story.

The lesson in this for men is to latch onto a girlfriend of some sort, even if you’re not wild about her. Being able to tolerate her long enough to find someone you consider more desirable is enough. Depending on how attractive other women consider your stepping-stone girlfriend, you may need to repeat this process a time or three to find your Miss Right.

 

 

Softcover Release & Trailer Are Out Now

03 Sunday Sep 2017

Posted by in Asperger's, coming of age, erotica, Fiction writing, humor, Jersey girl, Only Tim Sent Flowers, oral sex, Promiscuous, red hair, women's fiction

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OTSF front cover w outlineI had planned on writing about the effects of marijuana on fertility, a topic of some importance to both men and women of child-creating age, but the print version of Only Tim Sent Flowers was received yesterday, pushing the sexier topic off until next time.

A little before 7:00 p.m. yesterday, a Saturday, I saw the familiar brown UPS truck pull up my driveway. Surprised to see him at that time on that day of the week, I trotted out to greet him, thinking someone must have sent some financial papers requiring a signature that I wasn’t aware was coming. It turned out that he had the shipment of books I had ordered from my publisher, Black Opal Books.

Seeing the surprised expression on my face, the driver said, “Saturdays are a regular work day now.” It seems that UPS has contracted to deliver Amazon Prime packages within the shorter timeframe that comes with paying for that service.

But you say that I bought the books from Black Opal Books and not from or through Amazon. That is entirely correct. What has happened is that UPS hates to operate inefficiently. That means if they are running a truck on a route to deliver some Amazon prime shipments, they don’t want to send out a half-full truck. So, they also deliver any packages they have on hand for people on the route instead of waiting till Monday. I was the beneficiary of this policy.

This was good timing because I had been working on a book trailer and had it almost ready to make public. Because of a recent hardware failure that forced me to acquire a new computer that runs Windows 10, something I had been avoiding for years. One of the numerous shortcomings of Windows 10 is that the Moviemaker program has been eliminated. So, I had to acquire and learn a new program.

For reasons too complicated to go through here, I got Pinnacle Studio 21. It is harder and more complicated to learn and use than Moviemaker but has some nice features. The one I like, but don’t understand, is Scorefitter. I’ve only used it once, for a soundtrack in the book trailer for Only Tim Sent Flowers. Check it out and tell me if you like it or not. It can be found at: https://youtu.be/vAHvbJ7MEac

 

 

New Novel Completed

13 Monday Feb 2017

Posted by in adventure, erotica, humor, oral sex, Promiscuous, red hair, women's fiction

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My second (third chronologically) novel in the Tookie series, Tookie Goes Undercover, has been completed and submitted to my publisher. This humorous women’s lit with sex and adventure starts with Tookie leaving her emotional wasteland of a husband of twenty years. Love affairs don’t work out and downsizing from the job she loves, leaves Tookie vulnerable to demands from the company and the government to put her numerous skills to work in an undercover operation.

Comments from beta readers have improved it immensely. One reader who enjoyed it asked me how many euphemisms I used for vagina in this book. Having no idea, I perused the text and recorded them on a spreadsheet. Noticing that I’d used numerous other euphemisms as well, probably because Tookie is such a sexual woman, I also logged all the words used for penis, breasts, intercourse, oral sex and masturbation. The first page of the spreadsheet has a column for each category with euphemisms listed in the order they appear in the book. Each category has its own sheet with its euphemisms sorted in alphabetical order. Open the spreadsheet here:  euphemisms

If you’re interested in reviewing Tookie Goes Undercover email me at GeorgeQKaplan@gmail.com. While I wait for a contract from the publisher to arrive, I must get back to writing the third (second chronologically) Tookie book, working title Finding Mr. Wrong.