These are strange times in the United States. And it's pretty safe to say they're not good times. Let me give you a few reasons why they're not good times. Unemployment is hovering around 10%, after nearly reaching 12%. That's a lot of folks living without a job. Any way you look at it that's tough. More often than not those jobless folks have kids. Economic growth is at the lowest level in recent history. (That, and unemployment go hand in hand.) There's an enormous amount of uncertainty amongst Americans. Uncertainty as to how the implementation of the Affordable Care Act will affect their lives. It's becoming evident as time goes by that all the president said about it is not really the way it's going to be. Such as "If you have insurance now and you want to keep it, then you can." That may not be the case. "Insurance is going to be cheaper. It's not. And the program is going to be administered by the IRS. Which happens to be mired in scandal and the lying managers and officials that are being questioned by Congress are all pleading the 5th Amendment. One who is being questioned now who is pleading the 5th, of course, has a personal friend who owns companies that have been awarded a half a billion dollars in contracts with the IRS. And of course he is on record as spearheading the award of these contracts. Strictly against policy, hell, that's against policy anywhere you might work. The NSA has been outed about it's spying on American citizens who haven't been accused or suspected of doing anything wrong. What happened to protection against illegal search and seizure? Hell for that matter, what happened to most of the protections the amendments of the Bill of Rights gives us? Our illustrious president seems to be running the country and ignoring the constitution. Didn't he take an oath to uphold the Constitution? What about lying to the American people? Hell, we've gotten so used to his lying it doesn't seem to be such a big deal anymore. And today in the news we hear that Obama is upset that the American people are upset with the government. No shit Sherlock. Do you think?...
Obamacare is one of many measures that are trying to model life in America after socialist European countries. Under O'care, the government is going to dictate what care you will and will not be getting. They will decide what the doctors can charge for the care. They will dictate what the insurance companies will pay and what coverage they will provide. Laissez-fare and health care have just been separated by a huge incision. Actually, it was more like a big slash from a meat cleaver. Now, keep in mind this bill barely, BARELY, passed Congress. While trying to sell it to the American people, Nancy Pelosi said, "We have to pass this bill so we can see what's in it." This was a U.S. Congresswoman that said this. No joke. When lawsuits from prescient people tried to overturn and repeal it, John Roberts of the Supreme Court, in the swing vote, voted to uphold it. Please remember that Chief Justice Roberts is a conservative jurist. Hmmm. Just what the hell does conservative mean anymore... O'care is causing uncertainty among small and large business in the country to the extent that they are refraining from hiring until it's effects are better understood. Which of course stifles economic growth and keeps unemployment high. Duh, again. The transparency in government that Obama promised when this bill was being rolled out never happened. Not even close.
Entitlements and welfare recipients have grown almost 50% since The O-man took office. I don't really need to tell you where the money to pay for that will come from, now do I?
The revelation by some poor low level NSA analyst that learned the agency was monitoring phone and Internet records for ordinary Americans has been passed off as necessary for protection against terrorism. So, let me get this straight, an insurance salesman in Detroit, an engineer in Houston, a doctor in Hoboken, a lifeguard in San Diego are potential terrorists? According to Barry, that's our story and we're sticking with it.
There's more. Lots more. Fast and Furious starring Eric Holder. Proposing Susan Rice for Secretary of State. Benghazi. They never said they needed additional security. Those good people took a bullet for America. And for your ineptness, Mr. President. May God Bless their families.
Never before in modern history has America been so polarized. Without fail, when facts are presented that put the president in a negative light, someone is accused of being racist. But in case you haven't noticed, who is usually the ones making the accusations of racism? I don't need to answer that for you either, now do I?
So where is America going to be in January 2016? No one really knows, but a lot of people know that it's not going to be a very good place... Pundits and talking heads can babble till they pass out from lack of oxygen for now. But history will tell it like it is. Or should I say, was. History doesn't belong to a political party, and isn't obligated to placate anyone. How do you think history will deal with the Obama presidency...
Do you like to read the news?
The world is changing. Sure, we all know that. And a lot of that change is good. Maybe even better than just good. We don't have a cure for cancer yet but it's certainly not for a lack of trying. But cancer patients are living longer and with a better quality of life than ever before. Lots of people with lots of terrible diseases are living longer with a better quality of life. Cars last longer and need less maintenance than in the past. There are myriad new 'things' that make our lives more healthy, convenient and fun. Here's a list, they're all not for everbody, but I'll bet there are some on the list that you like. (And spend an awful lot of time with.)
XBox, iPhone, flat-panel LED televisions, Facebook, Galaxy S3/4, Skype, apps for everything that do almost everything, bluetooth earphones for cellphones, 24-hour news that you can get everywhere, on your phone, computer or tablet, 3G/4G phones that are now faster than your computer at home, e-books and e-readers, you can buy and read books without ever going to a bookstore and buying a book, DVR, digital video recording, you can record and watch whatever you like on TV anytime you like, streaming audio and video and to anything in the house, headphones for your cellphone that allow you to listen to music and that also interrupt your music with phone calls and let you talk on the phone without removing them... I could go on and on. Oh, I almost forgot a big one. E-mail. Where the hell would we be without email. Not only can we get email, we can get it instantly 24/7. On our smartphones. You can talk with friends coast-to-coast and learn about the lastest penis enlargement pills, instantly. You gotta love those smartphones.
The phones have gotten smart, but I'm not so sure we are anymore. With all these wonderful conveniences, especially the electronic ones that keep us connected, we can be in touch, informed, accessible, available all the time no matter where we are. Even when we're on the toilet taking care of inevitable chores, we can be 'in-touch'. We can stay on top of what is happening with the Kardashians, the Lohans, the Duck Dynasty's, whatever might float your boat. And all that is great. Wonderful. Amazing. Right?
Maybe. Maybe not. Don't you miss the good old days? If you're under thirty you don't know what the good old days are, so never mind. Put your headphones back on and turn up your ipod. If you're over thirty, think back. There were no cellphones. No Facebook. No email. Were we hampererd back then? Sure didn't feel like it. When you sat out on the porch with a beer or a lemonade and you didn't have an mp3 player, what did you do? You talked with someone you were looking at and enjoyed the company, the conversation. Or you read a book. So it had a cover and paper pages and weighed a pound, what was wrong with that? Or maybe, you watched the sun set and comtemplated or cogitated or daydreamed or maybe, you closed your eyes and fell asleep. But you weren't a slave to a ringtone of any kind. You weren't talking on the phone to whoever called and thus commanded your time for the next several minutes. The phone might ring in the house but you could and often did just ignore it and stay where you were. You figured if it was important they'd call back. And they did. You didn't know who the Kardashians were and didn't care. You could relax. You could control interruptions. Life was simpler, less stressful. I sure miss the good old days.
But the world has changed and that's not the way it is anymore. If you want to relax and de-stress, you have to first want to, then you have to put some effort into it, there's probably several gadgets you'll have to turn off. You may even have to get on a plane and go somewhere and leave all your gadgets at home. But how many of us actually do that? Just what I thought. We get up every day and strap that smartphone to our belt or drop it in our purse and away we go. If we're going on vacation we'll still strap it or drop it. Now e-books are good though. Reading a good novel is as good as it gets. E-readers make that easy to do. As long as they dont accept calls or emails.
XBox, iPhone, flat-panel LED televisions, Facebook, Galaxy S3/4, Skype, apps for everything that do almost everything, bluetooth earphones for cellphones, 24-hour news that you can get everywhere, on your phone, computer or tablet, 3G/4G phones that are now faster than your computer at home, e-books and e-readers, you can buy and read books without ever going to a bookstore and buying a book, DVR, digital video recording, you can record and watch whatever you like on TV anytime you like, streaming audio and video and to anything in the house, headphones for your cellphone that allow you to listen to music and that also interrupt your music with phone calls and let you talk on the phone without removing them... I could go on and on. Oh, I almost forgot a big one. E-mail. Where the hell would we be without email. Not only can we get email, we can get it instantly 24/7. On our smartphones. You can talk with friends coast-to-coast and learn about the lastest penis enlargement pills, instantly. You gotta love those smartphones.
The phones have gotten smart, but I'm not so sure we are anymore. With all these wonderful conveniences, especially the electronic ones that keep us connected, we can be in touch, informed, accessible, available all the time no matter where we are. Even when we're on the toilet taking care of inevitable chores, we can be 'in-touch'. We can stay on top of what is happening with the Kardashians, the Lohans, the Duck Dynasty's, whatever might float your boat. And all that is great. Wonderful. Amazing. Right?
Maybe. Maybe not. Don't you miss the good old days? If you're under thirty you don't know what the good old days are, so never mind. Put your headphones back on and turn up your ipod. If you're over thirty, think back. There were no cellphones. No Facebook. No email. Were we hampererd back then? Sure didn't feel like it. When you sat out on the porch with a beer or a lemonade and you didn't have an mp3 player, what did you do? You talked with someone you were looking at and enjoyed the company, the conversation. Or you read a book. So it had a cover and paper pages and weighed a pound, what was wrong with that? Or maybe, you watched the sun set and comtemplated or cogitated or daydreamed or maybe, you closed your eyes and fell asleep. But you weren't a slave to a ringtone of any kind. You weren't talking on the phone to whoever called and thus commanded your time for the next several minutes. The phone might ring in the house but you could and often did just ignore it and stay where you were. You figured if it was important they'd call back. And they did. You didn't know who the Kardashians were and didn't care. You could relax. You could control interruptions. Life was simpler, less stressful. I sure miss the good old days.
But the world has changed and that's not the way it is anymore. If you want to relax and de-stress, you have to first want to, then you have to put some effort into it, there's probably several gadgets you'll have to turn off. You may even have to get on a plane and go somewhere and leave all your gadgets at home. But how many of us actually do that? Just what I thought. We get up every day and strap that smartphone to our belt or drop it in our purse and away we go. If we're going on vacation we'll still strap it or drop it. Now e-books are good though. Reading a good novel is as good as it gets. E-readers make that easy to do. As long as they dont accept calls or emails.
On writing a novel...
For some reason, I feel compelled to talk about why I'm writing a novel. This isnt my 'job' so to speak, I mean I still have a day job. I get up and go to work every day and do what I've been doing for thirty-seven years. But I'll be honest with you. I'm getting tired of that. Oh, I still like what I do and find satisfaction in doing it. I'm good at it and I'm considered an expert in my field. I work for a great company and I'm paid very well. Even if I never sold another book (heaven forbid...) I could still retire comfortably.
But that's not the way I want my life to go. Something I've come to realize in the past few years is when we retire from a livelihood, something that we've been busy with for many years, we still need something to stay busy with. We simply cannot retire and go into a constant state of idleness. You know, like sleeping late everyday, watching TV and mowing the grass on your new riding lawn mower. You have to engage your mind, your body and your passion with something. The general idea is that it will be something that you really like and enjoy doing. Some people just keep on working at what they have been doing all their lives. In other words, they don't stop working. Well, if that floats your boat, have at it. Personally, I don't want to do that. I like what I do but it doesn't inspire me. Writing does. Being able to craft a story, a very interesting, exciting, thrilling story is inspiring. It's a lifetime culmination of experiences. There are some very gifted and brilliant young people out there doing some unbelievably fantastic things. But if you'll take notice, the authors that are writing great stories are older boys and girls. The been-around-the-block types. Why? Because a prerequisite for writing a great story is life experience. You have to understand people and human nature. You have to understand hardship, problems, violence and the things that really matter in life. Writers are people who pay really close attention to what's going on in life. What's happening to the people around them. And they have a limitless imagination.
Another really important thing about writers is they inspire one another. You will not find a good writer who is not well read. Writers love to read as much as they love to write. We read voraciously and endlessly. As soon as we finish one we pick up another. Writers are inspired by other great writers. When writers read a book we can almost sense what was going on in the authors' head when he wrote it, what he was thinking. We love classics too. Shakespeare, Chaucer, Dickens, Fitzgerald, Salinger, Hemingway... Guys who really, really got what writing was all about.
Most of all we want to entertain. We want to excite and thrill you. Make you laugh, make you cry. Make you feel as though what is happening to the characters in the story is happening to you. It's an exciting movie that you see in your mind instead of your eyes.
So, why am I writing a novel? Because it inspires me. I feel like I'm out on the edge of life, taking risks that I usually dont take. Experiencing dangers that I would avoid at all costs. Meeting people, both good and bad that I would never otherwise meet. Writing is living robustly. To the limits...
I hope you enjoy the stories. My second novel is due out this summer.
But that's not the way I want my life to go. Something I've come to realize in the past few years is when we retire from a livelihood, something that we've been busy with for many years, we still need something to stay busy with. We simply cannot retire and go into a constant state of idleness. You know, like sleeping late everyday, watching TV and mowing the grass on your new riding lawn mower. You have to engage your mind, your body and your passion with something. The general idea is that it will be something that you really like and enjoy doing. Some people just keep on working at what they have been doing all their lives. In other words, they don't stop working. Well, if that floats your boat, have at it. Personally, I don't want to do that. I like what I do but it doesn't inspire me. Writing does. Being able to craft a story, a very interesting, exciting, thrilling story is inspiring. It's a lifetime culmination of experiences. There are some very gifted and brilliant young people out there doing some unbelievably fantastic things. But if you'll take notice, the authors that are writing great stories are older boys and girls. The been-around-the-block types. Why? Because a prerequisite for writing a great story is life experience. You have to understand people and human nature. You have to understand hardship, problems, violence and the things that really matter in life. Writers are people who pay really close attention to what's going on in life. What's happening to the people around them. And they have a limitless imagination.
Another really important thing about writers is they inspire one another. You will not find a good writer who is not well read. Writers love to read as much as they love to write. We read voraciously and endlessly. As soon as we finish one we pick up another. Writers are inspired by other great writers. When writers read a book we can almost sense what was going on in the authors' head when he wrote it, what he was thinking. We love classics too. Shakespeare, Chaucer, Dickens, Fitzgerald, Salinger, Hemingway... Guys who really, really got what writing was all about.
Most of all we want to entertain. We want to excite and thrill you. Make you laugh, make you cry. Make you feel as though what is happening to the characters in the story is happening to you. It's an exciting movie that you see in your mind instead of your eyes.
So, why am I writing a novel? Because it inspires me. I feel like I'm out on the edge of life, taking risks that I usually dont take. Experiencing dangers that I would avoid at all costs. Meeting people, both good and bad that I would never otherwise meet. Writing is living robustly. To the limits...
I hope you enjoy the stories. My second novel is due out this summer.
Gun Control?...
The news is dominated recently with all the talk about gun control. Sparked by the recent mass killings in Newtown, Aurora... First, and certainly most important, let me say my heart is broken. I feel so much pain and sadness that innocent people going about their lives have been gunned down in cold blood. By deranged, psychopathic and diabolically evil killers. And if you consider that in the incident in Newtown twenty of those killed were children, you can't get much more evil than that. There's one mitigating thing we must consider though. I'm not defending anyone, don't get me wrong. But the perps in most of these mass shootings aren't just out and out evil people who aspire to kill for the joy of it, they're mentally deranged or incapacitated, to some extent. Not capable of making rational decisions. Except for a few people in society, literally a few, no one goes out and buys guns and ammo and makes elaborate, fastidious plans to kill innocent people going about their business. But if there is a screw loose, then the possibility for that opens up. Therein lies the problem, the real problem. Mental illness. If you've ever been close to someone with mental illness and been subjected to life with a mentally ill person then you understand. Unexpected, bizarre, irrational, insensitive and lots more adjectives like those can be used to describe their behavior. They can hurt themselves and they can hurt others without remorse. They can even do it without understanding what they have done. We are quick to call them evil and diabolical, and what they have done certainly is. A mentally ill person is not evil and diabolical but they are capable of doing horribly evil things, including killing. Keeping guns away from them obviously makes sense. Just like keeping knives and sharp objects away from them does. For some, even not allowing them to drive might be prudent. Guns need to be banned, FROM THEM. Banning guns or even controlling them from everyone else serves no purpose other than to deny citizens a constitutional right and just generally irritate most people. Fundamentally, guns need to be kept from those who are capable of killing other people. Period. The problem is identifying who that is. It's not easy, far from it. There are mentally ill people who are high functioning, they go about life almost indetectable. You cant tell them from everyone else. Are they capable of killing? Most of them aren't, no. But the line has to be drawn somewhere. Like everything else in our society, and our government, what ever we come up with wont be flawless or foolproof. We're humans after all, we're not capable of flawlees and foolproof. In the case of our government they're not even capable of, sorry I digress... But we need, must do something to control access to guns by the mentally ill. Our definition of mentally ill is going to have to be broadened and expanded. It's going to have to include a lot of people. Maybe we can call call it something else so a lot of people wont be offended. Hell, I might be one of them and I dont want to be called mentally ill. But I really dont want to kill someone unless I really mean it... That didnt come out like I really meant it but you get the message. It's not the guns, that's not the real problem. Why is it so hard to see that?... Maybe if we made lawmakers spend a week in an asylum... Then, they would 'get it'...
Violence for entertainment...
I'm reading a lot lately about removing violence from movies, video games and the like. Of course, a lot of movies are based on books. As a writer, I'd like to give my take on that.
In an ideal world, yes, of course we'd like to protect our kids from growing up in a culture that doesn't unilateraly condemn violence. Seeing violence in movies and video games, and there is a copious amount of it, at some point dulls our senses to the true effect of it. When we experience violence in our lives it is nothing short of traumatic. It can be and often is life-changing. It leaves many with disabling injuries and unfortunately lives are needlessly lost through unexpected and senseless violence.
Let's imagine for a few minutes that we woke up one day and there was no violence in movies, video games, on TV or in books. None. As the world acclimated to that utopia would violence cease to happen? Would all the kids who no longer saw violence as entertainment grow up to be peaceful, nonviolent adults? Some, maybe. All of them, no. Some of the kids who grew up in broken homes or had no family or someone who cared for them at all would still grow up mad at the world. Kids who grew up with parents who were drug addicts or were drug addicts themselves as kids would still kill for a fix. Kids that grow up to be violent more than likely didnt have XBoxes or Playstions or computers when they were kids. They couldnt afford them. They saw violence acted out on the stage of life. Their own life.
The problem isnt really taking violence out of movies and entertainment, it's taking violence out of life itself. It's taking mental illness, broken homes, broken families, drug addiction, desperation in life, out of life. It's like a cancer, you remove it from one place and it's back somewhere else, usually worse than before.
That begs the question, why are we entertained by violence? We dont want to experience it but we want to watch it happen to someone else. Are we all addicted to schadenfreude by nature? It sure looks that way. I mean, if you think about it, we are entertained by watching violence? I see it like this. We are not really entertained by violence per se. We are entertained by watching lives that are lived dangerously, out on the edge so to speak. We dont want to live our own lives dangerously and be caught in life-threatening predicaments, but we like to watch others do it. We like to watch good triumph over evil, we even like the scorn we feel when the good guys lose. We like stories that involve the things that inevitably happe in life, however tragic they may be. Then we like to go back to our own quiet and peaceful lives. We like to witness people living exciting, precarious lives without taking the risk ourselves. There is nothing wrong with being entertained like that. Those that create such stories are no more prone to violence than those who watch them. Tragic stories have been created since the creation of literature. Shakespeare, Chaucer, Dickens, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, F. Scott Fitzgerald, all told classic stories that involved tragedy and death. And have been enjoyed for centuries by many people. By reading, watching, learning through stories that contain tragedy, death and violence we are exposed to these things from a distance. We see others perspectives on them and are influenced by them. It gives us something to use in forming our own view of the world. Violence in a movie or a book doesnt make the world more violent. It doesnt make people in the world more violent. The seed of that particular tragedy is planted somewhere else...
In an ideal world, yes, of course we'd like to protect our kids from growing up in a culture that doesn't unilateraly condemn violence. Seeing violence in movies and video games, and there is a copious amount of it, at some point dulls our senses to the true effect of it. When we experience violence in our lives it is nothing short of traumatic. It can be and often is life-changing. It leaves many with disabling injuries and unfortunately lives are needlessly lost through unexpected and senseless violence.
Let's imagine for a few minutes that we woke up one day and there was no violence in movies, video games, on TV or in books. None. As the world acclimated to that utopia would violence cease to happen? Would all the kids who no longer saw violence as entertainment grow up to be peaceful, nonviolent adults? Some, maybe. All of them, no. Some of the kids who grew up in broken homes or had no family or someone who cared for them at all would still grow up mad at the world. Kids who grew up with parents who were drug addicts or were drug addicts themselves as kids would still kill for a fix. Kids that grow up to be violent more than likely didnt have XBoxes or Playstions or computers when they were kids. They couldnt afford them. They saw violence acted out on the stage of life. Their own life.
The problem isnt really taking violence out of movies and entertainment, it's taking violence out of life itself. It's taking mental illness, broken homes, broken families, drug addiction, desperation in life, out of life. It's like a cancer, you remove it from one place and it's back somewhere else, usually worse than before.
That begs the question, why are we entertained by violence? We dont want to experience it but we want to watch it happen to someone else. Are we all addicted to schadenfreude by nature? It sure looks that way. I mean, if you think about it, we are entertained by watching violence? I see it like this. We are not really entertained by violence per se. We are entertained by watching lives that are lived dangerously, out on the edge so to speak. We dont want to live our own lives dangerously and be caught in life-threatening predicaments, but we like to watch others do it. We like to watch good triumph over evil, we even like the scorn we feel when the good guys lose. We like stories that involve the things that inevitably happe in life, however tragic they may be. Then we like to go back to our own quiet and peaceful lives. We like to witness people living exciting, precarious lives without taking the risk ourselves. There is nothing wrong with being entertained like that. Those that create such stories are no more prone to violence than those who watch them. Tragic stories have been created since the creation of literature. Shakespeare, Chaucer, Dickens, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, F. Scott Fitzgerald, all told classic stories that involved tragedy and death. And have been enjoyed for centuries by many people. By reading, watching, learning through stories that contain tragedy, death and violence we are exposed to these things from a distance. We see others perspectives on them and are influenced by them. It gives us something to use in forming our own view of the world. Violence in a movie or a book doesnt make the world more violent. It doesnt make people in the world more violent. The seed of that particular tragedy is planted somewhere else...
A great place to get new ideas!
I've been on a business trip for the last two weeks in Europe. I started out in London then went on to Aberdeen Scotland. I've been to those two places so many times I can jump on the tube and go anywhere in London, almost like a local. Beautiful city, lots to see and do, not that I ever have time to do anything like that. Traveling around England and Scotland is fun, and ideas seem to flow much better with that kind of stimulation. This trip however, took a little different turn after about a week and a half. I had to divert and make a quick trip to Gibraltar, Spain then on to a not very well known town called Cadiz. Let me tell you, if you've never seen the Rock of Gibraltar, it is impressive. Very impressive. The countryside and terrain in this area is beautiful. To make the connections I needed, I am leaving Spain through Seville. Oh how I wish I had the time (and my wife with me...) to see Seville. A very intriguing place. I could spend a few months here and write a bestseller. The scenery, the people, the mystique, it doesn't get any better than this. Not for me anyway. And that's not to mention that the weather here this time of year is fabulous. A lot like Southern California.
However, I have this job that keeps getting in the way of fun. And writing. So I'm heading back to Houston and meetings. But if you ever have the chance to come to Spain and Seville, do not pass it up.
However, I have this job that keeps getting in the way of fun. And writing. So I'm heading back to Houston and meetings. But if you ever have the chance to come to Spain and Seville, do not pass it up.
I need reviews!
I have created a review page for my novel on Create Space. Click the link below and go and have a look. There's an excerpt to read, it'll only take you about ten to fifteen minutes. Then there are three questions at the end. The results will be seen by everyone who visits my title on Amazon. If you like the excerpt, pick yourself up a copy.
Thanks!
Thanks!
https://www.createspace.com/Preview/1091666
A new story...
Writing a novel is a long and arduous process. Especially when you have a full-time job to take care of, on the side. I've taken a short break from my second novel to write a short story. Short stories are a great American genre in literature. The author must accomplish what he does in a novel but he must get to the point with a lot fewer words. Read a few of Hemingway's short stories and you'll see exactly what I mean. Short stories are capable of poignancy and impact simply because the apex of the story comes around much sooner. They're challenging and fun, I'd thought I'd try my hand at it.
Regrettably, not everyone is into novels. I can only hope that my novels will change that for some of you...;) What I tried to do in my story is create a very interesting character. To take you into some of the deepest and darkest secrets of his life. And how he deals with a life and death situation. I think it might be the best half hour of your day. Go on, read it. I dare you...
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B73jH3UbazfMOTdhNGFlM2ItZmVhMi00MTBlLWFkMDEtMTllNTUyODU0NWM2&hl=en_US
Regrettably, not everyone is into novels. I can only hope that my novels will change that for some of you...;) What I tried to do in my story is create a very interesting character. To take you into some of the deepest and darkest secrets of his life. And how he deals with a life and death situation. I think it might be the best half hour of your day. Go on, read it. I dare you...
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B73jH3UbazfMOTdhNGFlM2ItZmVhMi00MTBlLWFkMDEtMTllNTUyODU0NWM2&hl=en_US
Another Milestone!
I feel like I've hit a few major milestones recently. And now I can add another one to the list, and this is a big one. The El Morro Connection is now available for purchase in several places, mainly on Amazon.com in hardcopy print! Yes, my novel can be purchased in hardbound print. It's really well done, the interior is on good, heavy paper, nice and bright and the cover is absolutely beautiful. The fabulous cover art done by Tere Leger is on heavy stock paper and the color is gorgeous. I'm really happy it's out and quite proud of it. Now if I can just get more people to read it and write some reviews. For those of you who like action/thrillers I know you'll like it. If you like the genre and the stories from Baldacci, Koontz, Patterson, Clive Cussler, Vince Flynn, John Irving then I think you'll like mine. If you read it and like it, write a review, I'll sign your copy of the book and send it back to you.
Thanks for the compliments!
Recently I have been been given some very special compliments about The El Morro Connection. I have been told by a few who have bought and read the book that it is 'a real page turner'. They say they want to keep reading because there is so much action going on that they can't wait to know what happens next. These are the compliments that an action/thriller writer lives for. My goal is to write a story so engrossing,so captivating that you become addicted to it. So, according to some of you, I have done that. Thanks.
Now, what are the rest of you waiting for?...
Now, what are the rest of you waiting for?...
Magazine Feature Article
The company I work for has published in the company magazine a feature article on me and my first novel. I am humbled at the attention and very excited about it. Our company magazine is an impressive publication, full-color, glossy pages, nicer than a lot of magazines sold in bookstores. And the best part is it is distributed world-wide throughout our company to over sixty thousand employees. It is published both electronically over our intranet and in beautiful hard-copy. This is definetely what I would call a break. I don't think I could get my name out in front of so many people on Facebook. This is nothing less than outstanding, about the most a new author could ask for... I am so very fortunate to have this job and to work for Conoco Phillips.
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