Category: Audio Dramas

Facts and Fiction

I write fiction.  Often those stories require research to develop background related to the times, or location or some event.  The research today is easy, although still time consuming.  I do remember the day when research involved untold hours in public libraries tracking down that vital piece of information that made the story come alive.  I confess, I loved the library time.  Being in a library was comforting.  I felt surrounded by humanity at its best. 

While I miss the environment of the library, I sure don’t miss the limitations.  The amount of information available at my fingertips sitting in my cluttered, but comfortable, office is just amazing.

I’ve had four projects going at once for years.  This struggle to complete one of them is on-going.  My current efforts are focused on completing the first book of a cozy mystery series Mr. and Mrs. Sims.  This is about a newlywed couple who moved to southeastern Oklahoma, which at one time was the Choctaw Nation, in the 1920s as representatives of Oklahoma A&M college.  The husband has a unique background, not only in agriculture, but in criminology—an entirely new field of study regarding the psychology of criminals as well as the science of solving crimes.

In 2022, I had these same four books as work-in-progress, and for reasons I can’t remember, decided I wanted to make them into audio dramas.  I have no background for this but what the hell, probably nobody would listen to them anyway. 

The two series that ended up with something in this area were the Mr. and Mrs. Sims Mystery and Vegas Dead End, which is an extension of my Pacheco and Chino Mystery Book series.  You can sample Vegas Dead End here.

Note: I have not finished Vegas Dead End (book or audio drama)—so the name is very appropriate.

As part of my research for Mr. and Mrs. Sims, I’ve examined many sources and documents related to the Choctaw Nation.  One that was particularly interesting to me was the Constitution of the Choctaw Nation written in January 1860.  It was interesting because of our bias towards Native Americans.  This constitution follows the model of the United States constitution but is done in a straightforward, no-nonsense style.  I do not know the parties who wrote it, or the circumstances that caused it to be written (need more research), but I was struck by how succinctly the document stated the matters at hand. 

At this point in time (1860) it is clear this document’s intent was something entirely different than what occurred for the Choctaw Nation as a separate, distinct, legal, and independent nation.   The real intent may have been hidden at the time, or something changed. 

Obviously, the big change was the civil war.  The Choctaw Nation had signed an agreement with the Confederate States of American that in essence made them allies.  When the war ended with the Confederacy defeated, so was the Choctaw Nation.  The US government, apparently, then considered all previous agreements null and void. 

The tone and words of the Choctaw Nation constitution in 1860 said one thing, but in only a few years, there was a different reality. 

That different reality is part of my story about this same area, now the state of Oklahoma, in the 1920s.  As a crime, supposedly committed by a Choctaw man, brings my character Ed Sims to Durant, Oklahoma, to talk to the Chief of the now subdued Choctaw Nation. 

As I said, I write fiction.  If any of my research discloses a reality that interferes with my story, I just ignore it—fiction writers can just make stuff up—it’s allowed.  Sometimes the real story is more interesting than the made up one, but the real story takes a lot more work; so, I will stick with fiction.

In case you’re curious, I’ve attached the 1860 Choctaw Nation Constitution.

1860constitutionDownload

Strange Case of Writer’s Block

Just finished the 3rd business book, something about planning and budgeting, that has almost zero interest, unless you are starting a new business, or trying to figure out why you are not successful in your current business.  My guess is that’s not you.  With that understanding, it is my last biz book.

Next, I’m going to finish the mystery books I’ve started.  I have four books in the works, Durango Two Step, Doctor Hightower, Vegas Dead End, and Mr. & Mrs. Sims. 

Durango Two Step has been a strange case of writer’s block.  This book was started years ago.  The first half is done, so why did it stop?  I don’t know how it ends.  Okay, I know you are saying, well just make it up and finish it.  Good advice if I could only just do that. 

Writing books has a certain flow.  I will usually have less than 10 “main” characters and maybe another dozen or so support characters.  When you’re actively writing, all those names get stuck in your head; how they interact, who they are, how they fit in the plot and who did it.  Yes, to write a murder mystery it is best to know who did the deed.  If you don’t know the murderer at the very beginning, you can’t drop the appropriate clues here and there that keep the readers guessing. 

You can’t write 60,000 words and suddenly say Jack Evil is the murderer unless you have laid the groundwork in “hints” throughout the book.  The murderer can be a surprise, but it can’t be someone who just showed up!

Durango Two Step is a Vincent Malone book and it follows an on-going story from the other books about several characters and how they are interconnected.  The main plot line is the worst of the worst bad guy is shot outside a biker bar and our hero’s best buddy is accused of the murder.  Sure, we know he’s innocent, but who did it?  I DON’T KNOW!

That problem had me back off that book some time ago and has caused it to sit dormant for years.  It’s possible I’m going with Jack Evil and just end it—if I do that, please forget that you just read that here and act surprised.

Doctor Hightower is in essence done, except for a few chapters telling a more detailed story about Lani Newcastle.  When this book was flowing it was all falling in place, but once again I had a problem in that a certain sequence of events did not make sense.  I stopped.  Worse thing a writer can do is stop writing,  thinking you can return in a few hours, days or years and just pick it up again—no way! 

I think I need a week or two of thinking about nothing else so Hightower can be done.  This is a unique story line that has great appeal to me—so I should just do that; but for lots of reasons it is hard.

Vegas Dead End, kind of the same problem, started and stopped.  But this was because I turned it into an audio drama, which is still out there somewhere unfinished.  This was due to my last business deal, I got sucked into actually working for many months pushing around numbers and lost the ability to think about anything else.  It is a horrible way to lose your mind.  Creativity went out the window.

Mr. & Mrs. Sims is a cozy mystery taking place in rural Oklahoma in the 1920s.  I started this project when I began reading on-line local newspapers from that time in small rural towns.  This is an incredible resource for historical tales.  There must have been ten or more local newspapers in that area during the 1920s full of stories about all sorts of things—including crime and mystery (also the price of live chickens). 

This story was also turned into an audio drama and was moving along with rapid speed when everything stopped.  This project has lots of promise and I can’t wait to get back to the story of these very interesting and unusual people.

The common theme is that for some reason I have been able to start new stories which I really like but not finish them.  Some of this is because other activities have distracted me, but a lot is that I’m easily distracted to the latest new shinny thing. 

A new story idea will pop into my head and I will want to get some details down on paper; and that interferes with what I had going at the time.  There is so much I want to do; I think it all gets clogged up and somehow, I’ve been busy and productive but have only two-thirds of a finished book.

These four books must be done—so that is what I will do.  Stop trying to do a hundred things and finish those books: one at a time.

Overwhelming Lack of Knowledge

I think what we don’t know is incredibly vast and what we do know is incredibly tiny.  Why are we so arrogant to think we have answers to the big questions?  There does seem to be a pattern in humans, based on my limited experience, the least knowledgeable are the most assured they know everything.

You should be very wary of people who seemed to know everything, it more than likely is based on a lack of knowledge more than knowing.

Beliefs are always more stable than facts.  Most facts will be proven wrong at some level if they are examined closely enough (or long enough), beliefs stay solidly impenetrable because they are “beliefs”. 

The biggest question of all is why are we here and how did it happen?  The scientific, fact-based answer is by accident.  Accidental evolution over millions of years.  From crawly things in the swamp and here we are today flying around in airplanes.  The religious answer is far more pleasing.  We were created in the image of God and as such have complete entitlement to do anything we please, except offend God.  We can even destroy other “humans” if they are godless (or at least godless to our God.)

My guess– yes, I do not know— is that both of those are wrong.  The truth is something we cannot imagine.

Power is a word we understand in politics, business and almost all forms of human interaction.  People with power are at the top of the food chain in most human groups.  All humans seek power.  Having power means you can control your life, live like a king, or conquer lessor beings at your will.  Power is the human goal built into our genetic code.

When I think about human behavior, I usually come to two distinct conclusions.  One is that humans are good and one that they are bad.  That’s not moralistic good or bad but just based on behaviors.  Some behaviors that today we think are bad might have been good at a different time in the evolutionary cycle.  Some of those good behaviors would have been weak and not good.  If those good and bad characteristics are changing, how could we have been created in a single image?

The tiny part we know about our own existence and the universe we exist in, does not allow us to understand the why’s about are beginning.  We can only guess.  So, your guess is as good as mine.

My useless guess is that there is no beginning.  As humans we relate to everything in our own context.  We are born, we die.  Therefore, everything must fit that same existence.  Maybe infinity is more than a theory, but a fact.  The universe (or call it something else) has always existed.  Scientists talk about the big bang, or some other beginning, because they have developed theories that make that conclusion a mathematical fact, but is it true?

Okay, no beginning, just on-going always.  Maybe human existence, as we understand it, comes, and goes on cycles of every 100,000 years.  This has been happening forever, not for billions of years, but forever.  How many versions of “humans” are there if there has been constant change forever.

Our own insignificant planet is estimated (by humans) to be 4.5 billion years old.  If “modern” humans have been around 100,000 years that would be .002%–which is more like the blink of an eye.  Let’s say you have $5,000 in the bank, and they were paying that percentage in interest, what would be your annual interest payment?  It would be eleven cents!

We know so little because that is all we can comprehend.  The vastness of our lack of knowledge is overwhelming, so let’s just ignore the obvious conclusion that we don’t know anything and pretend we know everything.

Knowing everything gives us the human need of power.  And if we believe it, it will be true.

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Over the last several months I have been involved in a project in my other life as a financial advisor.  This has taken a great deal of time, more than I had expected, and distracted me from my more enjoyable writing activities.  Also, all progress on the audio dramas has stopped.  My current estimate is that I have about another month on this all-consuming project and then it will be back to writing.

Due to a lack of time (and a mind full of numbers, rather than murder mysteries), I decided to shut down my Patreon activities.  If you had become a contributor, you have been notified of this decision.

My next projects in order of progress:

How to Plan and Budget for Small Business Success.  This is the third business book.  Substantial progress had been made on this book but was stopped with everything else.  Hopefully looking at a March or April publish date.

Vegas Dead End.  This of course is the almost completed audio drama series.  Hope to have this available on several podcast sources by the end of January.  There are currently 23 episodes available here.  Total episodes will be about 30.

Vegas Dead End Plus.  This will be the audio drama turned into a book with a Part Two: RV Adventures.  Expected completion mid-2023.

Durango Two Step.  This book is mostly finished but abandoned so many times I’m not sure I can find the file. 

Tumbleweed Mystery Book 2.  Another kid’s book for all the youth minded adults.

All the above were at some stage of work-in-progress, which was stopped.  After that group is finished, I’m not sure what might be next.

Loosey-Goosey Philosophy

Generally, I’m not a full-time writer.  Not sure this has any real impact, but I do run into times when something else in my world takes precedence.  This is not good for a writer.  Writing is story telling with all sorts of things to keep up with as you write.  Not sure what most writers do to plan a book, but my approach is pretty loosey-goosey.  Yes, that is a technical term. 

I will do an outline, with big picture stuff.  Seldom do I know the ending of the book or even who did what.  This is of course a murder mystery and when I start, I only have an idea who will be the victim and who’s the killer.  This causes me all sorts of problems.

A mystery book shares things with the readers as the story develops, such as clues.  Obviously to do that you have to know who is going to be killed and by whom.  Due to my loosey-goosey philosophy, I often must do re-writes to correct something I said in Chapter two that is total BS in Chapter 28.

Well, the other problem with this jump-in and see what happens approach, is that it is all in my head.  I have this rough out-line that guides me some, but most is being developed as I write.  Now, keep in mind, this is not my choice.  I’ve tried to develop extensive drafts and detail before I begin, but inevitably, I will change all of that as I write. 

Without interruptions I can write a full-length book in a few months.  With interruptions, it could take years.  I’ve been in one of those difficult patterns for the last year or so.

My interruptions are often due to my continued activity related to being an advisor on M&A transactions.  Some of you are aware, others maybe not, that I’m a retired CPA who for many years has provided consulting advice on the selling and buying of businesses.  This is where the business books come from, How to Sell Your Business Without a Broker and How to Start and Run a Successful Small Business.  (Have a small beginning on a new biz book about planning and budgeting.  I know I just said I’m a terrible planner of my books, but I’m a strong advocate for the benefit of extensive planning in business.  Do as I say not as I do.)

I really enjoy the business activity, even if it does interfere with my writing.  Analyzing, running, selling, or buying a business is in its own way much like a mystery book.  There is always an abundance of clues with many twists and turns before you reach the conclusion.  Sometimes the good guys win, sometimes they don’t.  Now in most of my business activity, there are very few bodies (for which I am most grateful), but even without the over-the-top drama, it distracts.  The mind can only hold so much (please keep any personal comments to yourself).

Targeting this latest all consuming business activity to be over in a month or so.  Once that is done, I will concentrate on writing.  Seldom do my plans work out perfectly, but the hope is that next year will be 100% book writing.  That could mean 4 to 5 books available next year and 3 more the next.  All those projects are in some stage of completion, with a couple almost finished. 

Now how about those audio books.  Not sure how many have listened to Chino & Tonto—but you should.  I like this story telling vehicle, but it does have a problem; it involves a lot more people than the writing.  There have been multiple people helping with the voices, so progress is dependent on more than just me.  All the players are doing this for fun (not money) so almost anything becomes more important than my erratic schedule.  When we started, I was staying focused and we made good progress, as I have drifted, they also have drifted.  The final episodes have been written for Vegas Dead End so I’m sure in the next few weeks we will get them recorded and make all available.  After that the audio dramas will be rethought.  Could be it is best for me to concentrate on the books and get some of that promised titles published before I dig too deep into the audio book world—we’ll see.

It’s Important!

Mistakes, Successes, the Future

My first book was published about 14 years ago.  It was not great, maybe not even good, but I liked the story.  It was a complete failure.  At the time, I debated about ever writing again.  My goal had been to write a book because of some stupid idea that I could be a success.  That success was going to happen by magic.  I would be found and hailed as the greatest thing since “something or another”.  So having experienced failure, the most sensible thing to do was quit.

I did for a while.  During that time, I also thought about what had gone wrong.  Eventually I convinced myself that my failure was due to me not understanding how to create my own success.  I had to invest time (and money) into becoming a better writer, a better book manager, a better marketer, a better –well you get the idea.  I was the problem.

Five years passed before I released my next book.  I experienced success.  Yes, success!  That was because I was now measuring success in a whole new light.  Compared to my first absolute failure this book was a huge success.  I was elated.  I immediately started the second book (which is really the third, but I don’t count the first one—little history rewrite).

As of today, I have written fourteen books.  Don’t be shocked, but I liked them all.  I hope to publish a few more before I give up, but the fourteen are an accomplishment that I am proud of, even if the success money truck has never arrived.  My books have been read by thousands of people and received great reviews.  In many, many ways I’m a successful author.

And yet.  Yes, and yet I’m still not pleased.  This may have something to do with the first book, the very first book.  I abruptly ended that book as I became discouraged with the amount of time it was taking to finish.  When I was writing that book, I was also involved in very stressful and time-consuming business activities.  Everything started piling on, so I ended the book suddenly.  Here we are going along on this story and bam—THE END. 

Giving thought to going back and redoing the ending in a more thoughtful way.  But why do that?  I know it makes no sense, why not write something new, more interesting, and fresher.  Why dwell on the past mistakes.  It feels like something I did not do well, and that there is value in correcting that little misstep at the beginning of my writing venture.

On the other hand, I’ve got four great books almost ready to be born. 

Doctor Hightower.  This is a few weeks away from being completed.  Some of you have read parts of this book as an Amazon Vella serialized story.  Also, about half of the first part is about ready to release as an audio drama.  Those few weeks are being held up due to a decision I must make.  Is this a one and done book—if so, it will have a certain kind of ending—or is this an on-going series, with an entirely different ending.  I’m leaning towards a one and done.

Mr. & Mrs. Sims.  This is a cozy mystery that I’m having a ton of fun writing.  This story takes place in rural Oklahoma in the 1920’s.  Mr. Sims is a frustrated criminologist working as an ag agent out of Hugo, Oklahoma.  Mrs. Sims is the Home Demonstration Agent in the three counties around Hugo.  As her husband becomes more and more involved in solving crimes and becoming Sherlock Holmes, Mrs. Sims, always supportive of her husband, starts to act like Dr. Watson.  This is also soon to be an audio drama and very soon a book.  Writing this book with my wife, Marilyn.

Tumbleweed Mystery #2.  Marilyn and I are putting together ideas on the second Tumbleweed story.  This story will feature more adventures in Cactus City with kids.  This is a middle grade book and will involve all sorts of intrigue from the 1950s.  The Skytrain movie theatre becomes a central part of an adventure involving the Air Police, the atomic bomb, scary Generals, and kids not sure what they have found.

Chino & Tonto, Vegas Dead End/RV Adventures.  A continuation of the Pacheco and Chino series which will feature Tyee Chino and his new dog Tonto.  Still a gritty PI/murder mystery type book but with Tyee and Tonto traveling around the US helping Apache Tribe members who are accused of various crimes.  These books will begin as an audio series which is fast approaching completion.

The more I’ve thought about it, I’ve decided I should let the past be.  Going back and trying to fix mistakes is a waste of time—move on and make new ones.

Thanks for being a reader!
It’s Important!

Price of Live Chickens

No matter what you believe is true, no matter how much evidence you possess to support your belief; someone else can believe it is a lie.  I never thought the world was that way.  I thought there were truths we could all agree on. 

At one time many people thought the earth was flat.  Probably a somewhat reasonable belief if all your evidence seemed to suggest a flat world.  Then came far distance sailing, eventually photos from space; all proving without a doubt the earth was round.  Except there are people today who still believe the earth is flat.  How can that be? 

The answer is, of course, they do not believe the evidence right before their eyes because it interferes with some other beliefs.  No matter how self-evident something is, someone can believe the opposite. 

I’ve been writing the first book in a new series that takes place in rural Oklahoma in the 1920s.  As part of my research, I’ve read many old newspapers from that time and place.  Some of those papers were The Hugo Daily News, The Norman Transcript, The Antlers American, The Oklahoma Farmer, just to name a few.

Now my interest was mostly in the local “crime” news.  The story, which will first be an audio drama and later a series of books, is about a newlywed couple who, through various circumstances, find themselves as an Ag Agent and a Home Demonstration Agent to rural farmers through the US Department of Agriculture.  The Ag Agent person studied to be a criminologist, but there were not that many of those jobs available, so he is the county Ag Agent but really wants to be Sherlock Holmes.

My search through the papers was to find “real” crime stories from the time that I could incorporate into my story—with lots of changes, which is my right, according to my creative license.

What struck me is that there was almost zero news about anything other than local news.  The news stories might be as far afield as the county, with a tad of state news; but almost all was very local.  At that time there did not seem to be any interest in what was going on in the rest of the country and very specifically nothing to do with Washington D.C.

Calvin Coolidge was president; he had won with 15 million votes.  Now I’m sure, if I was reading the papers from the big cities in the east, they would be filled with the sensational stories about politics of the day; but small towns were apparently, not interested.

For many people in 1924 truth was shared and believed in a very small circle of influence.  Most people spent their lives trying to survive as best they could, with very little concern about the matters of government—until it directly impacted them.

While we are almost 100 years in the future from that time, those attitudes are inbred into the American mind.  Nobody wants to be told what they should or shouldn’t do, and for sure, not what to believe.  Independence of body and mind are quintessential American qualities.

With independence comes the right to believe whatever nonsense you want; and to be proud that you believe such silliness. 

Some of the latest strange stories do seem to be over the top and beyond anything we have experienced before.  But that may not be true.  There has always been a very large portion of the population that held certain beliefs that stretched credibility. (a)  I think the biggest difference between now and then is that most of those unusual beliefs were not newsworthy.  The local crazy quilt society meetings were not covered as news events.  The writings of Looney Larry would not be published on the web for all to see.  Miss Jane’s less than appropriate skirt lifting photo was not available to every student in her fifth-grade class and their parents.

Our sense of privacy has changed.  If you believe nutty things, you must publish them on Facebook.  If you have an inappropriate photo, you must send it to someone.  All those things beg the question, why?

Not sure.  But being private is not in vogue.  Being polite is not a good trait.  Being angry is the new normal.  Maybe we have too much information, and we can’t handle it!

The price of live chickens in Antlers may not be big news, but it is also not very upsetting.

  • (a) The John Birch Society held some controversial beliefs in the 1950s and 1960s but was mostly rejected by the dominate political parties.  JBS was basically very opposed to a democracy and insisted that the US was a republic and state rights should always have priority over federal rights.  Those concepts which are increasingly popular today felt un-American at the time.  State rights were almost always code words for certain groups not participating fully in the governing process, including voting.  The JBS also had a bogey man fear of communists and they saw them everywhere.  The JBS was featured in my book Murder So Final about elections in the 1960s for governor with the JBS being very active in the election process which led to violence.

It’s My Art—It’s My Words

Who is the artist if the work is created by a computer program with only a few words entered by the “artist”? 

Most likely you have heard of the AI assisted software that can create dynamic renderings with only a description to guide the program.  (New York Times article about an artist winning first at the Colorado State Fair with an entry produced by the computer program.)

For much of our history art has been a process of imagination, but also skilled crafts people who could turn the imagination into a finished work of art.  Often those skills were very precise and took years to hone to the point your work was considered “good”.  These were generally realistic artists creating images that all could recognize.  Before photography this was an amazing craft and many of our most famous artists are from this school of art.  Later there were impressionist and modern artists.  These were emotions created in different ways and in different shapes and colors.  While all of that was called art, many saw value in one form, but not the other.

Now we have art being created with a minimum amount of human involvement—but in my mind, still art.

This new AI assisted art can be discovered at Midjourney—although it is not completely user friendly, expect a few hiccups.  What you can see there is amazing “pictures” (art) by thousands of people, being created instantly.  Some of this is wonderfully complicated and bold, some is satisfyingly simple but beautiful.  All of it, in its own way, can be called art.

So, as an artist what do I “really” think?

It feels more like a game than the act of producing art, but there is no question that the result is art.  It takes a different kind of skill set, but it takes the same imagination and eye for what is “right” to you.  And, just like most things, it takes practice.

Now, I don’t have much patience for practice, so I just jumped in and gave it a try.  I entered “southwest landscape, bold colors, tall cactus with flowers, highly detailed, bright sun, puffy clouds, art deco” and got.

(You may say, hey, that’s not so hot—keep in mind I spent literally about a minute “creating” the above work of art.)

I still have lots of questions about some of the steps and the function of the web site.  Without a doubt, at the very least, this sort of stuff is fun.  Does it detract from “artists”—probably.  Why buy anything if I can just add a few words and create my own art?  Of course, that means you like your own stuff created with the help of AI computer program, which may or may not be true.  But this type of art can be very impressive.  If you have not seen the piece created for the state fair entry, you will be impressed.

Okay, it’s goodbye artists, hello AI computer art done by you (sort of).

I think we’ve been on this path for a while.  Goodbye humans, hello cyborgs (or whatever they would be called).  As a person who observes and comments on the less than stellar activities of humans, maybe this is not a bad trend.  Now, having computers decide what is right and wrong could go very wrong, but, hey; were not doing such a hot job ourselves. 

Hey, mom, I would like you to meet my new friend—ZX2008MOD-5.  He, She, It, They just wrote a book for me! So long authors!

Santa Fe Redemption

By Vincent Malone

I’m one of Clifton’s characters.  He’s asked me to contribute to some of his stuff before, I’ve always said no.  That’s his thing, not mine.  Then he begged, what the hell am I going to do.

Many of you may know my story, some will not.  I was an up-and-coming attorney in Dallas, married to the prom queen, living in a big house, driving a big car, and basically screwing up everything.  The why would take a team of physiatrists and a few witch doctors to figure out but suffice it to say, I had a big ego, was a very large man, and I bullied people.  I know now, many years later, that I didn’t like myself.

I also had a drinking problem.  My friends were my drinking buddies.  One of those not so bright buddies got me involved in a shady investment deal and before you could say, dumb shit, I was disbarred and broke.  My lovely, now ex, wife took the house, the car and most regrettably, the dog.  I headed out of town with my tail between my legs.

I ended up in Denver and became a legal investigator for attorneys.  I discovered I was fine being a low-life and managed to make a decent living.  Made few friends, if any, and no lasting relationships, just drifted along.  Soon, health problems started preventing me from doing my less than savory work and my clients dropped me like a hot potato.  Now what?

Decided I would take off again.  This time my destination was unknown but for no reason I headed south.  I figured in some town I would take a do-nothing job as anything until I could collect social security and then would drink myself to death.  This was not a happy plan.

I stumbled into a job in Santa Fe, New Mexico, as a shuttle driver for a new B&B being opened by two nice, but not experienced, business owners.  Those people ignored all the signs that said you should have nothing to do with this guy and treated me like I was someone.  I had found a home.

Clifton’s Vincent Malone books are about what happens after I arrived in Santa Fe.  It’s about those two people who own the B&B, their friends and how good people sometimes win.  It’s about an old man, tired and broken who finds a new life and new love.  It’s a murder mystery, a romance novel, a thriller and even has some humor.  But mostly it is about redemption.  I found a new me at an old age. 

When I was the hotshot young lawyer in Dallas I would have said once you reached a certain age, much younger than I am now, you were basically done.  Life was over.  That’s what I thought as a crawled out of Denver, but then something wonderful happened.  I was given another chance, by stupid luck and some very nice people.

I took that chance and became a better person.  Does that mean all my past sins are forgiven, no way.  I know I still have a lot of baggage that will pop up just when I don’t expect it, but the care of other people, and my newfound ability to care for others has changed me.  It’s people that make life worth living.  While I was wallowing in my sorrow, I forgot that.

Thanks for being a reader!

Chino & Tonto –Audio Drama —Vegas Dead End

Cochise Chino sometimes called “Big Chief” by the worst gangster in the 1860s wild west, Hoodoo Brown, had stolen Hoodoo’s gold and hidden it in an old Victorian house in Las Vegas, New Mexico.  What happened to Hoodoo, and Big Chief was not good, but the gold remained hidden.

Tyee Chino has inherited that old house and a dog named Tonto from his cousin Jefferson Chino.  Tyee must now deal with a difficult, and possible corrupt sheriff, a Russian who is engaged in something very illegal, long-lost relatives, current ancestors of Hoodoo Brown, the FBI, and other assorted characters, all while trying to solve who killed his cousin Jefferson.  Helping Tyee is his old partner, Ray Pacheco. 

Giddy-up, let the adventure begin.

There are currently 21 episodes available on several podcast sites including Spotify.  These are generally about five minutes long and the total for season one will be 31 episodes. (Did I mention they’re free!)

Another option, if interested, is to contribute to the cause through Patreon. With a membership you will receive stuff and have access to audios not available yet in other places and early access to a variety of happenings. Thanks for thinking about it.

Education is Life

I cannot teach anybody anything; I can only make them think.

– Socrates

My wife and I have had more discussions about public education over the years than probably anything else, except maybe our children and grandchildren.  Often, we have been united in our belief that education is being ruined by demanding parents who don’t have a clue.  Parents want to protect their children from harm, physically and mentally.  This goal gets in the way of logical thinking, especially around education.

We’ve reached a point where public education may not survive.  Now for all those people who experienced absolute hell in Middle School or High School that would seem like a good thing, but is it?  Education, public or not, is always hard to evaluate.  We don’t have controlled groups of kids who went thought public education or other options, to compare how they turned out.  Most people in hindsight give public schools a thumbs up, but also have a lot of reservations about some of the methods employed to achieve certain results. 

A solution many parents are approaching today is a more controlled environment that agrees with their beliefs, such as a religious school.  It is in our nature to want to congregate within our identified groups, but does that make us a better society?  Religion often has a whole set of beliefs that run counter to the overall educational goal of achieving a level of critical thinking.  And of course, there are a lot of different religions. 

The consensus seems to be that public education is broken, and there is no way to fix it.  I think the reality is that society is broken, and each camp wants its own way to “educate” the children.  This may be a result of parents feeling they have lost control of their children, not just at school but also at home.  The massive, invasive nature of communication has created an independent world for even young children to explore without much control.  Parents feel threatened.

Yelling at the internet is probably not very satisfying but yelling at a school board or a principal can make you feel you have regained control. 

This issue is really what do you do to fix this unhappiness.  The answer is usually worse than the current problem.  Parents are mostly bad at educating their own children, even if they think they are good at it.  Education is not limiting what you know, it is expanding it.  Parents too often just want to limit what they see as destructive information.

Another problem with public education is bad teachers.  Everyone has a story about some horrible teacher.  We, probably, know how to fix that problem.  However, often the “bad” teacher is one that is not popular for one reason or another; and the good teacher is a pushover who everyone thinks is “cool”.  Those qualities are not based on being a good or bad teacher. 

As I said at the beginning, many problems with schools start with parents who want to put their thumbs on the scale.  The parents who resent any criticism of their children and will use all the influence they may have to make sure their kids have the “right” teacher and that the teacher understands the parents have huge influence.  Those same parents want to demonize school boards for not being in the right political column.  Politics and education are opposing forces that will not comfortably co-exist.

My solution?  Yeah, I don’t know what’s right either.

How about?

  • Public Education exists as is up to the fifth grade.  This will provide an educational basis for the basics, reading, writing and arithmetic.  The three R’s?  So, government sponsored education to give each citizen the skills to be a minimal participating citizen.
  • Beyond that basic there is financial support at some level for private schools—all optional.  The government does not force anyone to attend any formal educational process after the 5th grade.  I know that sounds backwards, but there are amazing resources to educate yourself, if you so choose.  Maybe ignorance is a constitutional right?
  • Establish apprenticeship programs for almost every job opportunity.  Structured educational programs that are focused more on job skills.
  • Rethink public service jobs so that every teenager is given the opportunity to participate in their community with decent paying jobs.
  • Establish educational systems that use existing facilities to promote continued education from the 6th grade until the 10th.
  • Overall goal is to stop making education, after a minimal level, mandatory.

Book Updates

Started work on the next Tumbleweed mystery book.  This one will feature a girl, from the same town as Johnny, who is going to West Side Elementary.  During one of the Saturday double features at the Sky Train Theatre, she discovers something that totally changes her world.  Not going to tell you anymore right now, but I think you will enjoy this story from the 1950s that will feature a silent film star, the A-bomb, several odd friends and, of course, Tumbleweed and Ratty—and a surprise appearance from the Air Police.

Still anticipate that book versions of Chino & Tonto, Dr. Hightower, and Mr. and Mrs. Sims will be published later this year, or early next.

Audio Updates

Recording every day.  Would expect to get onto a regular schedule soon with new episodes of one of the three audio series posted almost every day.