Rolling Along with a New Book

Yes, my loyal readers, you saw right. Austin Macauley my publisher from my first two books, A Man’s Passion, and I Albert Peabody, has agreed to republish Edge of Darkness. As you recall I had my good friend Tyson edit and format the first edition back in 2018 and got it published through Amazon in 2019.

It is the beginning of the Four Seasons series that introduces you to Mark Marteau, Dave, Nicole and Dylan Baker, and Hector Gonzales, along with others who will come in later books. I signed the contract Saturday and will probably have to look for ways to start paying on this investment too.

I agreed to format it as eBook, audio, and soft cover print. I have found that hard cover doesn’t sell that well, unless you are buying it as a gift for someone.

If you hadn’t read the first edition, Mark is a retired FBI agent fishing on his private lake near Glacier, Montana, when his partner and friend Hector Gonzales arrives in new Dodge Challenger that’s supposed to replace the Plymouth Barracuda, he wrecked back in 1987.

Hector informs Mark that his godson Dylan Baker might need their help to rescue him from Che Lopez and his drug cartel. The story flashes back to a day back in 1977 when he and his first best friend Dave Baker solve a murder of Old Joe Murphy at a salvage yard in Pasco, Washington. He leaves Montana to help out Dylan, but his wife Charlotte gives him an ultimatum to return in 48 hours or she’ll leave him.

Now, the whole point of this series is how Mark has managed to make the Lopez Cartel and Che Lopez his numero uno antagonist, and how events, not necessarily of Mark’s doing has caused certain incidents in Mark’s life to come about.

I believe I have their interest at Austin Macauley piqued and they will agree to do the entire series that ends in spectacular fashion. I’m certain you will agree when you finish reading the last page of the concluding chapter in Desperado.

But first, getting these books done and, in your hands, to read and enjoy.

The Coffee’s Hot This Morning

I didn’t sleep to well last night. I think it’s because of my age that I either get woke up from forces beyond my control or someone wakes me up. Mostly it’s leg cramps and the three in the morning bathroom run. Last night it was the stepson who staggered into the bathroom we share at my mother in law’s house that woke me.

I stayed awake, I don’t know an hour or so before I drifted back to sleep again. My mind works, which my wife has told me is the problem. I’m not sure what she means by that but at any rate, I laid in bed, my eyes closed but my mind would not shut down and allow sleep and dreams to take over.

I mostly think about plot development in the latest novella I’m roughing out. Right now, it’s too short with the obvious suspect already pinned for the murder of Margarita, Manuel’s wife from 20 years before. Now I need filler to get more into the story from where it is now. So, I decided to revisit that time from 2000 just before it happened. That’s going to be the name of the book: Margarita: A Nick Roberts Thriller.

As you recall, I had to kill off Mark to create a new detective, Nick Roberts, who has the same foibles as Mark, but he’s slightly more ruthless, as you shall see in the book, Luke Warm. While Mark played by the rules, mostly, Nick doesn’t. And there is more tension between the characters from Tequila Sunrise and Nick’s detective agency, “Blue Diamond.”

So, I’ll make the story fatter, then what? Then the cat wanted outside, but I think she also wanted to eat. I get up and walk over to the bathroom and see it’s open, so I let her outside. Darn old cat anyway. I finally drifted off when one of the birds, I think it’s Avatar is having a bad dream or something because she’s making these weird cucking noises. She finally quiets down, and I fell back to sleep.

I heard my wife talking to the cat. She let her back in. They’re conspiring to kick me out of bed. The old cat drools when she gets excited. Stephanie thinks she’s getting abnormally thin. It’s summer, they’re supposed to be skinny! I say to myself. I made the coffee up before going to bed. All I have to do is flip the switch on the coffee maker. I let her get up and do that feat. I go and relieve my bladder. I go and get dressed. I went to the kitchen and the coffee is still pouring through the filter and hopper full of grounds. I wait.

I decided to write my blog though I don’t have any idea exactly what I want to write about this morning. I pour a cup of coffee in my Yeti mug. The coffee’s hot this morning.

A New Job? Maybe

As you all know I’ve been looking for work to help pay the bills and keep my sanity. I received a call—text message telling me they liked what I offered in my resume and cover letter. She invited me to go on another phone App and contact this individual who was going to interview me.

The job for which I applied for was proofreader for a publishing company through the Indeed job board site. It advertised for proofreaders and editors and copy writers. I applied for the proofreader position figuring it was probably the fastest position to get hired.

I’m old school and not used to using cell phones and texting apps in this fashion. I’m also not comfortably familiar with conducting interviews remotely. I know it’s the new normal currently but adjusting my way of thinking around this concept is frustrating at times

At any rate, I got the app up and was getting ready to call this person via video chat, which I thought was the procedure they wanted. I tried connecting with him and saw it going through. Six seconds later, the person on the other end disconnected the call.

I attempted to retry texting him, but I never received a response. Now I’m waiting for Monday morning to try and do this again. Hopefully my interview will go through this time. There is one thing I am realizing from this adventure, it is more complicated doing this job search this way than the old go to a place, fill out an application or turn in a resume, then greet an HR rep who determined by a handshake and eye to eye contact whether I was qualified to go any further.

As I have stated in many of my blog post, working is the only way I can function in society. I can’t understand people who are so lazy that they are comfortable not doing anything to promote themselves. It’s ironic how people rather not work than go out of their way to hunt for work. Like I said, I’m old school.

Writing For Change

I got my latest issue from Writer’s Digest the other day. Back when I lived in Spokane going on three months ago, I picked up the mail from my PO box once a week. Now, the rural mail delivers my bills, advertisements and periodicals at the mailbox with red flag just up the drive from the road I reside from, and I walk 200 yards to that mailbox each morning without fail. Anyway, in this magazine was the gist of the month’s theme, “Writing for Change.”

In her letter Amy Jones, the editor in chief described how excited she was at this topic the staff discussed at this time last year. “It shouldn’t take courage to write about things that are important to you, but often those are the topics that take the most courage.”

Now here is the biggest gambit a writer embarks on in his journey, and sometimes, though quite by accident, the theme that comes to mind isn’t as apparent until later when I read the prose. I didn’t feel courageous at deciding to write A Man’s Passion, yet I felt compelled to write the one portion of this book that was most worthy of what I felt needed to be addressed, the sport of lynching Black Americans because it was a socially acceptable tradition in the South back in the days of Jim Crow in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

This was following a 60 Minutes segment on the Peace and Justice Museum that opened in 2016. I didn’t consider it a topic of controversy in today’s climate, yet we have Black Lives Matter. Why? Because there are certain individuals who carry in their suitcase of hate and fear the desire to surreptitiously shoot and kill young Black men in the name of justice.

Now, according to Amy, it is also looking upon not just controversial themes that a writer must look at with a critical eye, but also the concept of writing that makes the story come alive for the reader; making necessary revisions, condensing the text, the syntax, even the individual words that can make a story either exciting or not. I have a small novella and there is a reason for that. I wanted to get the book in such a place that there was no ambiguity about what this story was about.

A Man’s Passion is small and short because I wanted the readers, you, not to drown in unnecessary and cluttered prose or be awed by purple prose that does nothing to enhance the story. My book is about a journey from point A to point B, with very few detours along the way.

Quoting from one of the novelists whose work that Amy highlighted, Carlos Luis Zafon, who wrote The Shadow in the Wind, “Few things leave a deeper mark on a reader than the first book that finds its way into his heart.” If nothing else ever gets published, I hope that A Man’s Passion finds its way into your heart the same way I felt it affected me.

This Bird Man

You have all heard of the Bird Man from Albatross, where this prison inmate befriends pigeons while serving a life sentence on the Rock known as Albatross. All week I had no idea what to write out as my subject for my blog for you my loyal readers to enjoy.

Then my wife got a voice message detailing about one subject that had been discussed some time ago and then this “Oh by the way,” came from out of the blue, telling us of an incident that occurred Monday about “Bird Man,” and how sad it was and that this person was going to pray for him.

We all knew who Bird Man was, he ran a pet store that specialized in exotic birds, some of which were rescue. I went online and found the article about how Bird Man had basically lost his mind and ranted about killing an employee.

I told my wife that he went off the deep end and was arrested for threatening the life of an employee, was charged and appeared in court the next day.

“That don’t sound like him,” she stated with disbelief. I agreed. He always appeared an extremely sensitive, abet high strung man in his late 60s, who gently raised parrots, cockatoos, and many smaller birds, plus offered boarding services, nutritious dietary foods and seed for sale and trimming services. It was unlikely we were talking about the same person as was reported in the news.

My wife in the meantime texted a friend and former employee. What I am about to state is hearsay and by no means do I even claim any factual basis in this. After all I’m hearing my wife read a text message from someone with a subjective opinion in this.

The person replied to my wife’s query about Bird Man stated that it all started when he got a little too aggressive toward a cockatoo, which I have seen him do. It’s him throwing his arms wildly in the air and getting the bird to react as if it were being attacked. The reaction is usually the bird’s crown rising straight up in its head and raising its wings as a means of appearing bigger.

The owner of the bird asked him to stop, that it had aggression issues. Bird Man apparently laughed it off then scooped the bird about in the air several times until the bird attacked Bird Man’s hand, biting it so hard it drew blood. According to this person, Bird Man released the bird while still in mid somersault and without the benefit of flight landed hard on the floor where it apparently died.

The bird’s owner took the bird to a vet, who determined it died from extreme trauma and shock. It got a little bit fuzzy as to what happened next but apparently the bird’s owner confronted Bird Man and the girl employee immediately quit. She apparently saw the whole thing and was understandably upset.

Again, according to this girl my wife texted, he went ballistic on the employee and this bird owner. Somehow someone called the police, the street the pet store was located, closed and SWAT was called in.

Bird Man is in a world of trouble. My wife thinks he’ll lose his business. I think he took too many of his medications that are prescribed to him to deal with a variety of ailments he has. It goes back to my own experiences with seniors and being so over medicated they suffer adverse, negative reactions that causes them to act contrary to how a normal person might act.

The person my wife texted wrote her that Bird Man had a darker side to him, a side that only the employees knew about but kept to themselves. She didn’t elaborate and neither will I. Suffice to say, it’s a sad and tragic episode. I hope he gets the help he needs and can live out a quiet existence. That’s all anyone deserves.

What a Week

This last week was remarkable and not necessarily in a good way either. My step daughter got married a second time to a second husband in a small church inside a small town just outside Spokane. My wife and I went, taking our dog Zeus and getting a motel that my stepson raved about, so she reserved a room.

It was a horrendous, stinky, carpet-stained room with cigarette burns on the bathroom sink and carpet. She got her money back and we went to another hotel with better accommodations. I don’t know what happened to my Yeti travel mug, but sometime either during the wedding or when we were doing wedding pictures, it disappeared.

I checked my emails and saw I had an editor position available, and they wanted to do some editing quiz and virtual interview. I put that notice in my archive file with the intention of coming back to it on Wednesday just before the deadline. That letter disappeared. POOF! I checked everywhere including my deleted box and it’s nowhere to be found.

Anyway, the wedding was a nice, quiet affair, as I mentioned in a small church inside a small town called Rockford. As I have mentioned in the past my stepdaughter is very religious and wears her faith like a glove for all to see. The vast majority of the groom’s guests, including the husband himself, were former drug addicts and recovering alcoholics who discovered God. He changed his name when he saw the light and accepted Christ into his life. It was Cole, now his name is Nick.

During the reception when everyone present stated their praises to the newly married couple, it was apparent to me that I once knew Cole, though we never met. As I mentioned in my own previous blogs, I too had my demons with regard to substance abuse. So I know Cole. He was a charming man who would do anything it took to get a fix. Cole was smart, he knew how to manipulate people, entrust himself to them while robbing them blind. Cole knew how to work the system to get every possible advantage. And Cole made fast friends whom he took advantage of. We all met Cole at one point in our lives. Now, he is Nick, and he appears happier, more trustworthy and more caring of others in his life.

So I’m home now and have been trying to get hold of someone here in Gooding that can look at and fix my desktop computer. It stopped working before I left to the wedding and have tried without success to get ahold of someone. All I’m getting are voicemail recordings to leave a message and they’ll get back.

Yesterday, out of frustration I called Best Buy and hoped I could talk to a real person at least, but NOOO! I was directed to an automated caller system and then asked if I would like to wait for someone to call me. I finally grew so angry that I unplugged my computer and drove 40 miles to Twin Falls, walked into the store and asked the first person I saw, “Can someone help me?”

He was a Hispanic looking young man in his 30s who asked, “Did you get a reservation?”

“I can’t get hold of anyone,” I screamed back at him. “I am very angry right now and I’m about ready to throw this computer in the trash. Now is there anyone who can help me?”

He directed me to a Geek Squad associate who tested it and happily charged me $200 to enroll in their plan and whatever the cost for repairing my computer will come to once they are finished.

 I’m happy now. Sometime in the foreseeable future I’ll get my other computer back. That week is behind me and am looking forward to next week that I hope goes smoother.

Smelling Like A Rose

I was never this lucky, I reminded myself when I saw the special news alert concerning Bill Cosby’s conviction. It’s most likely why I never even tried because I knew the consequences of ignoring when she said “No.”

Unlike many men who didn’t accept no for an answer, I appreciated and respected women too much to just merely shrug them off or later justify my actions in some way suggesting she “teased me,” or any other number of excuses, or in Bill’s case, just getting her drunk enough or high enough so she wouldn’t or couldn’t say no.

I don’t blame Bill for the outcome that occurred. I blame the district attorney who should have gone after him in the first place and not offer some deal that would negate the matter from going any further. Didn’t he read the Constitution about self incrimination? Didn’t he even care? After all, Cosby is a Black entertainer who could afford to lose a couple million in a civil case. Maybe he just figured Cosby’s lawyers were as ignorant of the fifth amendment as he was.

I don’t have to tell you that I truly believe in Cosby’s guilt. Even he admitted he more than likely crossed a line. He absolutely knows he violated a sacred trust with that woman.

On a lighter note I finished editing a new book that is part of a new series call Nick Roberts Mystery. This one revolves around a Native elder who is part of a sex slavery plot. It started with him abducting Native girls but later he goes after any girl he can get a decent auction price for. At the moment the book is titled Luke Warm: A Nick Roberts Mystery, Book One.

I’m started writing a first draft of book three, book two, is awaiting my blue pencil. Happy Fourth everyone!

Spam?

I’m doing promotions and advertising via Facebook on my last bit of good news that I shared using the page devoted to “A Man’s Passion.”

Well, I got results from various people and four interesting comments which all four implied or downright accused my post of being spam.

I’m of a mind to think that these four people for whatever reason either don’t understand the difference between promoting a product and somehow enticing someone to buy something that isn’t what it appears. In the promotion I put out that the Book, A Man’s Passion, was recently entered into an international book promoting competition through an advertising/marketing company. I commented that I hoped the competition proved fruitful and profitable for me in terms of sales.

I don’t know where in this post was there an implication that I was enticing people to buy a nonexistent product. Are they ignorant of what spam actually means? Or do they believe that promoting any product is spam and should be banned from social media?

If the latter is the case then these same people will probably quit Facebook if they have to pay for the privilege of posting their thoughts on this social network platform, because advertising these pages pays the bills.

Needless to say, I was thunderstruck by their comments, one of which was so foul I won’t repeat it here. It just saddens me to think there are people out there who are so narrow minded in their views that anyone else with a counterview is seen as a threat to their pathetic existence.

Father’s Day

Dad and I bonded by doing stuff together. Neither of us talked very much because, well frankly, we didn’t share philosophical or political opinions like most fathers and sons did. It was a civil war whenever we had an opinion on something. It’s what happens when a conservative Republican lives under the same roof as a liberal Democrat. Anymore, though, my politics has mellowed a bit and I’m thinking maybe he wasn’t as loony as I originally assumed by some of his beliefs.

So by stuff, I’m talking fishing and hunting, and before that we took trips in his Triumph that I helped him rebuild when I was but nine and ten years old. Dad was also a volunteer firefighter and I used to hang out at both the Douglas County District 2 and later, the Benton County District 4 stations and listen to the other volunteers talk of things that guys liked to talk about when not in the company of their wives.

When I was old enough I too joined the fire department, following in his footsteps because in my mind I felt it was expected that a son does things like that to show respect for their father. I realized later that joining the same groups, clubs, and the like, isn’t about that. I thought it was, but I was wrong. Later in life Dad tired of those things that once interested him, such as the fire department, the Elks and Moose Clubs, and finally life itself.

After my stroke I didn’t think I could hunt anymore, so didn’t even bother. I fished still, yet Dad was never very lucky at fishing like I was. It came to me then as now that what he really wanted from me was company; someone to hang around with and talk about things when not in the company of my mom and his wife.

Happy Father’s Day

Missing A Connection

This past week Tom’s kids and grandkids came to the house for a family reunion. Yesterday they all left for the nearby ice caves. I stayed home and did what I generally do these days, write, and job search for remote work.

While I was in the process of doing that I received a call from the local Social Security office. Did I mention the day was socked in with rain, clouds, and wind? It was and apparently that had something to do with the Social Security agent trying to communicate with me. I heard her just fine, but she had a devil of a time hearing or understanding me. She told me it was like listening to a robot voice. After three attempts, she gave up and told me she would call again today.

I then saw I received a text message from my dentist office reminding me of my dentist appointment scheduled for two weeks from the day. Well I figured the last call was a fluke and went ahead and contacted them.

Same problem: the person on the other end could not hear or understand me. It was a metallic sound that resonated like I was inside an echo chamber. After the second try and much frustration on both our ends we gave up.

I’m hoping with the weather cleared up and sunny today, the problems will correct itself, but I’m not holding my breath either. The problem with the newer technology, we are still at the whims and mercy of mother nature.