You won't die if you read a bad book!

A friend of mine is a rather well known thriller writer, but he still gets an occasional bad review. He also has a sense of humor. Here is a review he sent to me:

 

I normally read Regency Romance novels, and had never read a thriller until I picked up (author’s name) newest novel. It stinks! How anyone could write such drivel is beyond me. I have always been a fan of Michael Jackson, and I thought his Thriller Album was about as good as it gets. This awful novel was nothing like that. It told the story of a family that was murdered in their home. The woman’s son was a NYPD detective and he returned home for the funeral and decided to stay and try to solve the crime. (Picture that actually happening!) I don’t like guns, but it seemed that in every chapter he had a gun in someone’s face. In the final scene, he chased the suspect along a public highway and caused him to have a wreck. There were four five-star reviews, which have to be faked. No one in their right mind would enjoy reading a book where so many bad things happen. A one star review from me, and he is lucky to get that. I want my money back!

Well, what can I say . . .

You Know You Are Getting Old When . . .

(1) Elevator music is too loud for you.

(2) You no longer lay face down on the bed when someone hurts your feelings.

(3) You can’t remember your dog’s name but you can remember your first grade teacher’s phone number.

(4) You still use the phrase, “You sound like a broken record.”

(5) You have won lady/man of the year twice.

(6) You reach for the clutch when you speed away from a traffic light.

(7) You have a collection of 8-track tapes in your closet.

(8) You start a lot of sentences with, “I remember when-”

(9)  You pull out a dime when you approach a drink machine.

(10) You leave a quarter tip for the waitress.

(11) Your dancing shoes go all the way up to your ankles.

(12) You have an extra pair of glasses in each vehicle you own.

(13) You think modern music is the work of the devil.

(14) Your medicine cabinet contains medicine instead of grooming products.

(15) When your friends come down with any illness and you have already had it—twice.

(16) You think your doctor is a kid.

(17) You can’t tell a navy blue tie from a black one.

(18) You no longer say ‘excuse me’ when you belch.

(19) Everyone you meet ask if you are feeling alright.

(20)  You can name all of the presidents since Garfield.

(21) When you bend over you ask yourself if there is anything else you need to do before you straighten back up.

Prequel to The Renegade Series Now on Amazon

I have just finished a new novel set in the Civil War era. The name of the book is Redemption, and it is a prequel to The Renegade series. This book came about in a rather strange way. When I put the eBook version on Kindle and sales began to take off, I started receiving emails from readers who had the same complaint. One reader stated the problem rather succinctly, and I usually listen to what readers have to say. This reader said: “After reading the other books in this series, I sensed that I am missing a lot of events in the lives of your characters. Have you thought about writing a prequel about what happened before Wolf Spencer starts?

 

Well, I had, so I followed his advice and wrote Redemption which covers some of the events concerning the war years. This was an easy book to write because I still had the notes that I made when I lived in Washington D.C. and visited all of the places I mention in the book. This book was a labor of love, and I am not sure that I can stop writing about the lives of the many characters in this series. I hope you enjoy reading this just half as much as I enjoyed writing it. Here is a synopsis of the book an a link where you can purchase it on Amazon.

 

Washington, 1865: As the American Civil War drew to a close, military and government leaders realized they were facing grave dangers they had not anticipated. There were many who did not understand that it was easier to start a war than to end one. The Confederacy was crumbling rapidly, and Generals Nathan Bedford Forrest and Robert E. Lee were willing to surrender, provided they could do so with honor. Many government and military leaders did not agree with President Lincoln’s intention to grant a full pardon to anyone who would agree to the terms of surrender. And the most difficult thing of all was the radicals who were not willing to give up a lost cause, and were determined to stop the peace process regardless of the cost.

 

http://www.amazon.com/ebook/dp/B00B35SXL4

Happy New Year!

Whoever decided that the beginning of the year should occur on the first day of January was wiser than most of us realize. The beginning of the year could just as easily have occurred on any calendar date, but someone decided that it should occur just after the beginning of the winter solstice. This is when the sun appears to have reached its lowest altitude in the sky at solar noon. The days are long and dark and we see little of the sun. Winter is just beginning, and for many of us, it is a time when we need a little moral boost from the dreary weather that lies ahead. There are many of us who start counting the days until the fishing season starts, or the golf course is open for use. But even though these events are weeks away, something magical happens. People, who know more about science than the rest of us, say that gamma rays from the sun are responsible for the transformation, but to me I still believe in the magic of my childhood. Tiny flowers began to appear beneath the snow, and onions and potatoes sprout in the pantry. You wouldn’t notice any of this if these small events happened months later, but at the beginning of the year it is magical. We look with wonder at the tiny flowers, and feel a sense of promise of what is to come. Today, I pulled the small golden bloom from a bitterweed, and I have it on my desk as I write this. I am probably the only person in the world who likes this small plant, but to me it holds the promise of what is to be in the coming year. The days are already growing longer, in small increatments, just as life has a way of slipping up on us. I look at this small bloom with its bittersweet smell, and know that there will be pain, sorrow, and grief as we inch toward spring, but there will be good things, too, things that are magical and wonderful. I look forward to these events with great anticipation as I wish each of you a Happy New Year . . .

Merry Christmas Santa

Each year I get emails from people asking where they can find my short story, Merry Christmas Santa. Many of them say they want to read it again, and others tell me that they want to read it out loud to their grandchildren. Whatever the reason I am pleased, so here it is again. Click the link, then read, enjoy, and hold those you love close. After all, it is the Christmas Season.

 

http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewshortstory.asp?AuthorID=80210&id=38159

Nora Roberts Chesapeake Bay Saga

 

My first encounter with Nora Roberts’ novels was when I bought a bag of paperback books at a library book sale. The name of the book was Sacred Sins, and I mentioned it in a critical way on a writer’s forum. My remarks aroused the wrath of some writers who view her as a goddess in the Romance genre. I still hadn’t learned my lesson, so I threw in a few additional remarks about romance novels, and the ones who write them. Several of them replied with the kind of remarks I hadn’t heard since grammar school. They double-dog dared me to read some of Roberts other novels. I couldn’t turn down such a challenge, so I read the suggested books and went back to apologize. Some of them have not forgiven my unkind words, and occasionally make suggestions concerning what I should read next. As I read a few others, I came to realize that Nora Roberts knows her audience in an uncanny way, and this accounts for much of her success.

 

As every writer knows, or should know, writing consists of stringing words together into coherent sentences. It also involves giving your readers the kind of book they have grown to love. Some readers evidently have the barely suppressed urge to do what a woman did in Stephen King’s novel, Misery. In case you aren’t familiar with the book, the plot involves a psychotic woman who held a famous writer captive and forced him to change the plot of his novel to meet her expectations. Nora Robert’s will never be subjected to that kind of fate because she learned early in her career to give the fans what they want.

 

Roberts is also aware that there are other fans that are not interested in ordinary Romance novels. All of her books wisely involve love, and The Chesapeake Bay Saga is no exception. The four novels in this series trace the lives and loves of four men who were adopted by a college professor and his wife. Each of them is tormented by the traumatic events that hold them captive to their past. In all fairness, I must say that these books contain more graphic sex than I like in a book, but that is my opinion. These four novels are the kind of stories you will never forget. Sea Swept is the first book in the series. Once you read it, there is no turning back. You might as well order all four of them while you have the page in front of you. There is a link to the first book in the series below. Thanks for visiting and happy reading.

 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000OIZTO0

Lincoln by Gore Vidal

If you are a fan of novels about American History, I hope you have already discovered Gore Vidal’s American Chronicle Series, which covers the history of the nation from the American Revolution to the post WWII era. It is almost impossible for me to pick a favorite among these books, even after reading each of them more than once over the years. When I read Lincoln for the first time, I was immediately captivated, not just from Vidal’s superb manner of telling the story, but by the historical accuracy. Vidal spent years going through every available manuscript in the national archives that pertained to the story he was telling. He once mentioned that the story of Lincoln was more history than fiction because every statement attributed to Lincoln was gleaned from documents that told of actual events and his reaction to these occurrences.

Many of us remember history as that dull subject in high school we suffered through while fighting those urges to nap. Vidal found a way to grab the reader’s attention from the first paragraph and keep them turning pages to the very end. Government and military figures are presented with vivid reality, warts and all, with each event having the ring of reality. If you are a history buff, Lincoln is a book you don’t want to miss. It is historical fiction at its very best. You can find the book on Amazon at the link below.    

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0375708766/

Important Things I Learned While Watching Horror Movies

 

(1) The bad guys (Jason Voorhees, Freddy Kruegar, Damien, etc.) wear high-topped black shoes.

 (2) The victims accomplish little from running from the bad guy. He can always walk faster than they can run.

 (3) Cell phones never work when you try to call 911. You can hear the dispatcher, but she can’t hear you.

 (4) If a group is being hunted by the bad guy, the ugliest girl will always die first. With each attack, the other girls will lose another article of clothing.

 (5) If someone gets word to the sheriff, he won’t believe that four members of the group are already dead in the woods. He will threaten to arrest them for disturbing the peace if they insist that it really happened.

 (6) Any stranger who is accidentally in the area will refuse to help, and will tell them, “I have hunted in these woods all of my life and there has never been any danger here.”

 (7) The car key never fits the ignition when one of the last survivors tries to escape.

 (8) Guns are useless against the villain. Even if he is standing close, the one firing the gun always misses the target.

 (9) A victim, any victim, has at least five gallons of blood, and he/she can lose half of it without falling down dead.

 (10) “Look behind you,” shouted in a loud, frightened voice never gets any results.

 (11) Leaving the cabin to search for your missing boyfriend/girlfriend is never a good idea.

 (12) Going back to bed after each attack is not the best course of action.

 (13) Hiding places are hard for you to find, but the killer can walk directly to them after scattering a few items of furniture around the cabin.

 (14) Getting killed early in the movie isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If you are going to die, it better to do so before you have to run for hours through the woods.

 (15) Getting your best friend to go outside with you isn’t going to help. They can run faster than you can, so guess who is going to get caught.

 I have scheduled a horror flick for tonight. If anyone wants to watch it with me, I will furnish the popcorn and drinks, but you must bring your own guns and knives. Oh, and another thing. You might want to bring a wooden stake or two in case they are needed.

British Singer Danica Hunter

 

I have always loved music, especially the kind that is wonderfully different, and stirs something deep inside of me. In a recent interview on a writer’s website, one of the questions was, ‘what kind of music do you like?’ I quickly ran through the list of music that lives inside my head, but could not come up with an answer that made sense, even to me. I love classical, rock, new wave, country, but especially music from the Middle East with its driving beats and unfamiliar instrument that soar and wail, as if they are somehow attuned to those things inside of us that cannot be expressed in words. Something that is new on the American music scene is a type of dance music that had its origin in South London. It is called Dubstep. It is a genre of dance music, heavy on acoustical effects, and a rhythm that can get you out of your chair and on to the dance floor.

 

When I am on Twitter, or any other social media, I always take a look at the websites in the member’s bio. Sometimes I am pleasantly surprised. When I visited the site of a young British singer named Danica Hunter I was immediately captivated. While Danica is only 18-years-old, she has performed with such notable performers as Sting, and I predict that she has a great future ahead of her. But don’t take my word for it. Here is a link that will carry you to the BBC site where you can hear her newest hit called Heartbeat. I think it is wonderful. I will be waiting for more from this performer and I don’t think I will be disappointed.

 

http://soundcloud.com/dubrocca/my-heartbeat-bbc-radio-1

The Joe Pickett series by C. J. Box

It is always good to find a great writer, and especially when the author has created an interesting series. C. J. Box is one of those writers. Not only has he done an excellent job of creating believable stories, he has created a central character that seems as real as the people you encounter in everyday life.

I love police procedural novels, as well as the ones that have private detectives as the main character. It is a double bonus when an author comes up with a new type of hero. In Box’s Joe Pickett series, the main character is a game warden in Wyoming. In COLD WIND he is faced with the problem of keeping his wife’s mother from being convicted of murder. The book has the outdoor magic of a traditional Western novel, but in a modern day setting. There is no doubt that Box researched this book carefully. It is a robust story containing all of the elements we expect in a suspense novel. At last count, there were eleven novels in the Joe Pickett series. You are going to love them all. You can find all of his books on his Amazon page at this link:

http://www.amazon.com/C.-J.-Box/e/B001IGSO0I/ref

  

Five Star Books

Five Star Books -- What is it all about?

I seldom watch television and spend my free time reading. Over the years, I have traveled along the roads and byways of thousands of wonderful books. When I started receiving emails from readers asking me about the novels I enjoyed the most, I decided it would be a good idea to blog about them, rather than writing articles about random things as I have done in the past. It also saves me some time in having to respond to individual emails.

My articles will not be book reviews in the traditional sense. Instead, I will tell you about the books I liked best, and the reasons I enjoyed them. There are many great books, and just as many talented writers that are unfamiliar to us. Most of the books I will suggest to you will be from bestseller lists. Some of them will be hot off the press and others published years ago. I hope you will enjoy reading some of them as we travel this road together. I hope to recommend a new book to you each week. Thank you and happy reading.

New Suspense Novel - Gone in a Minute

I read and write a wide variety of fiction, although it is difficult not to include some elements of suspense in everything I write. I have just finished ‘Gone in a Minute,’ a suspense novel, and the second book in the Sheriff Daniel Barrett series. In case you haven’t read the first novel, ‘Innocent,’ Barrett is an ex-special forces soldier who has returned to his hometown after he leaves the military. Barrett is a happily married man who believes in a strict enforcement of the law, but who knows that the law must sometimes be bent in order to achieve the kind of justice we can all live with. Barrett is one of the good guys, the kind of person you would like for a neighbor, and the kind of man you would definitely go to if you were in trouble. If you like suspenseful action, you are going to love this series, and you are going to want to see more of Daniel Barrett. I hope you enjoy reading these books. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009YIZVL2