Interesting link, and a Writin' Rations™ snippet

If you go to www.superheronation.com and look in the left-hand column, you will see links to all sorts of interesting articles on writing a superhero story. A fair bit of the advice is applicable to writing any kind of hero, super or not. As I absolutely love making my heroes genuinely heroic (although that means vastly different things from one story to another, I'm finding), I'm quite happy to be browsing this site, absorbing what is useful.

Now, for the Writin' Rations™ snippet. My readers unfortunate enough to live in climes that are getting colder at the moment must, I implore, forgive me. For I am about to mention fresh mangoes. Moreover, fresh mangoes in such abundance that when a mango-besotted writer, rashly, buys an entire box of quite-ripe ones, she must figure out QUICKLY how use them up as rapidly as possible.

Yes, of course, there's just tucking into one at every meal, but where's the artistry in that? No! Here's something with a little decadance, a little panache. Slice the gooey, fragrant, orange flesh of two mangoes into small, thin slices. Dry them to semi-dried state in your dehydrator (you do have one, don't you?) or oven. (Note: I recommend using baking paper between the slices and the tray, as mango is very adhesive in its semi-dried state.) The pieces should still have a fair bit of moisture in them, but not enough to drip when you squeeze a piece. Okay, now, slice up a generous double-handful of fresh strawberries — small slices. Mix up your favorite pound-cake batter and stir the mango and strawberry bits into it. (You may need a slightly larger cake pan than usual, as the fruit will take up a bit of room.) Bake. Eat. Eat. Eat. Earn big points in heaven for compelling yourself to share the cake with a friend or family member.

Note: for those interested in making their bread machine do tricks, you might try throwing the fruit in with a whole-wheat loaf or an egg-dough loaf to make a nice morning-toast bread. It would probably be a good idea to semi-dehydrate the strawberries, too, so that they hold together in the kneading process. But I have not tried this myself, so all disclaimers apply and your mileage may vary.