Charles Frenzel

Our good friend Susan got back from her trip and joined us for coffee and fresh baked herb bread this morning. Among her many beautiful and interesting pictures (she’s a great photographer) was a shot of a salamander that was larger than any that I have ever imagined. In fact, as she describes it, the […]

People wait on hurricanes in south central Texas. It’s fashionable. They bring rain and cooler weather. When they slide off in some other direction, we often sigh and think of what might have been. I’ve been guilty of this. However, I know what I’m missing by not living in harms way. My wife and I […]

This is the only currently available book of poetry by Charles Frenzel. A new edition of  Atomic Flea, retitled Nuclear Gnat and with added works, is available free from Fat Squirrel 21, LLC at Fat Squirrel Publishing.com. You can download the zipped file, extract it, and upload to a Kindle, MobiReader, or other ebook readers.Only […]

Hi, people. My new book, a thriller called A Matter for Survival, written as a collaboration with my wife, Dr. Lydia Frenzel, under the name of L.C. Frenzel, is out on Amazon in Kindle format. This book draws on characters you meet in shipyards and around the oil patch. Maybe you’ll enjoy a glimpse into the muddy […]

Comet McNaught seems to be living up to its name–at least as far as I’m concerned. I don’t know how ordinary or how spectacular this comet is since I haven’t managed to see it. Every morning I get up it’s cloudy; those mornings when I don’t I’m told the sky was clear. Last night I […]

Garlic is something most of us commonly use. I have garlic growing all over the back of my garden. I’ve always cut the leaf tops and use it like I would an onion top and assumed that if I let the flower finish and dry that I was doing the right thing. Wrong! A horticulturist […]

My wife, Lydia, and I were doing our favorite thing which is sitting on our patio and having coffee with our friends at 7 o’clock in the morning, when I started taking notes on why we started writing fiction. Over the last several years we have written eight unpublished novels. Now, I think we are about ready […]

The climb up to the gate is steep and slippery. On top of the hill, under a threatening mass of black jack oaks, the front of the house with its screened porch looks down upon a  peach tree growing near the fence on the side by the driveway. I can smell the peaches across the grass, their scent […]

My patio has been overrun by swarms of flies. Bug zappers don’t work, and I’ve worn out three fly swatters. I bought a non-chemical trap ( the stinky kind) and hung it up fifty feet away where the smell can only affect my neighbor’s barbecue pit and picnic area. The trap, which is like a baited plastic bag […]

In the latest move to discredit wind generated electric power, opponents claim that the numbers of coal fired backup generation plants have increased, and therefore the move to wind generated power has actually added to the potential for pollution in West Texas. If the wind dies, we have a dirty air crisis. Maybe. If the […]

In this scenario, The “Foreign Organization” substitutes one batch of cell phones (thousands) for another. The new cell phones are exactly like the original except that a small explosive charge has been substituted as a dummy chip in the circuit. When a certain number is dialed by the new owner, the phone explodes killing its user. […]

At the age of 70, I’ve begun to think that it’s time to think about origin myths. At first this seemed like it was going to be an exercise in religious study, but gradually I began to believe that origin myths are for us more secularly oriented persons. I like these three contemporary myths from which […]

In the pre-Katrina world of south Louisiana, a high school girl, her boy friend, and her mother are about to be caught up in a violent act of retribution. Callie lives with her single-parent mom, makes do with a flaky boyfriend, and is a junior at a high school in the small town of Hammond, […]

It’s true. I’m  opinionated, cantankerous, and maybe smarter than you might think if you observed me puzzling over sprinkler fittings in the local Lowes Store. I’ve done my stint at photographing Russian satellites, sailing, making paints and coatings, exploring the wonders of small molecules back in the days when you polished optical plates made of […]

I call Julie who by now is at the office to tell her my immediate schedule. After further adventures at the bank, I have a few extra minutes before Monday’s staff meeting at the office, so I drop by Noel’s office to have a chat about my liability insurance—or soon to be lack of said […]