Uncategorized – Page 7 – Ted Clifton's Grain of Salt Commentary

Those $%#!#1 Reviews

Most of my bad reviews for my books are because of foul, vile, filthy profanity. These reviews are few and offer a service to the people who are offended by certain language choices, so they are useful. Being useful to other readers who click on them locks them in at the top of the reviews, which annoys me, but it is what it is.

Some examples.

Could not read this book due to vile, filthy language.

When you have to open your story with profanity, you aren’t a good writer. I deleted this free book after reading the first line.

I’m not a prude, but the swearing was so over-the-top, it kept jarring me out of the story. I had to give up on this one.

I couldn’t get through the first page because of all the profanity. It might be a good story, but I will never know because of the crude language used by the author. He Should be able to write a book without stooping to profanity.

Those comments are typical. Most often the reviewer says that they read very little of the book. “Deleted this free book after reading the first line.” Wow, that first line must have had a punch. Deleting a free book has a strange ring to it—I’m writing you to demand a full refund of $0.00 due to your use of awful words! Another bad first impression, “couldn’t get through the first page.” These reviewers have every right (based on Amazon’s loose review requirements) to make their comments. But these are people who given the opportunity would censor everything. Not one little bad word, or vile image, or deceptive thought would escape these watchdogs for decency. I would also guess these people have strong opinions on how others dress, wear their hair or, heaven forbid, decorate their bodies. Being self-righteous seems to lead to the desire to control others. Being morally superior requires constant vigilance and diligence.

Many of these reviews are for the first two books published in 2015. At the time I wondered if I should have “toned-down” the choice of language (as suggested by one reviewer) to improve book sales. After only a little thought I decided that I had written the stories the way I thought they should be written and would live with the consequences of those choices.

The first book, The Bootlegger’s Legacy, opens with a prologue of a scene in a bar with gangsters talking about murdering the person they are waiting for, who is one of the main characters in the book. Gangsters talking about murder in a bar would be a very likely set of circumstances where there might be some profanity, duh?

Those first books were six years ago, and in that short time much of what is available on TV has more fucks in it than my books. Now you can say, well it’s cable, or streaming or whatever, but there it is in the living room for all to see and hear; one vile word after another. I have no way of measuring that, but my impression is that in those six years we went from a few choice words being said in some movies to a whole new level of “bad” word usage in almost all media.

Is that good or bad? The question is silly, of course, it’s not really either one. It just reflects our society as it exists for many if not most people.

Now the question could be was the change in the real world caused by the overuse of profanity in the entertainment world (including books), and now the justification for those language choices in the TV world is because that is the reality of the real world. Yep, I think there is some truth in that circle logic.

My parents were offended by certain language, me less so, my children even less so and my grandchildren wouldn’t be able to communicate without these offensive words, at least with their peers. Change is constant.

What offends me more than language is lying. Past generations have been lying about almost everything for hundreds if not thousands of years. In today’s world truth telling seems more akin to foul language. People are shunned for telling the truth. Famous people caught in lies blame someone else; I only lied because I was abused as a child, I only lied because I have a slight drinking problem caused by my medical condition, I only lied because it will all be forgotten and go away if I do not admit anything. Or the new classic, “I did not lie, you cannot believe what you saw me say on that video!”

All humans create myths to hide the truth. We have become so good at myth building that we’ve lost touch with the value of truth. “Tell it like it is” has been replaced with “say it until they believe it.”

The goal of my books is to tell an entertaining story, but also to tell a story that is believable. Truth (in a fictional way) is the goal and language, even vile language, is a part of that truth.

The new Grain-of-Salt Commentary Newsletter will publish Wednesday the 15th. The first edition will feature my article above and the premier article written by Ray Pacheco. Also includes a brief discussion on the value of changing book covers.

This free newsletter is distributed by email. You can sign up here. Thanks.

Ted Clifton’s Blog and Newsletter–A Different Approach

This blog has existed for several years. I think there are something like 200 posts—most of which were done on an irregular schedule. Over the last year or so the posts have generally been every week—with exceptions.

During that same time, I have produced a monthly newsletter. The newsletter goes out as an email.

The blog has mostly been relatively short (average about 800 words) opinion pieces focusing on writing, books, marketing books and the overall process of producing independent books. Some of the posts have been off subject and amounted to my opinion on a variety of subjects (Rambling). The rambling opinion blogs have become more common over the last six months or so. I like to ramble.

The newsletter has incorporated some of the blog posts along with articles related directly to my books, such as stories about locations in the books, restaurants/bars featured in the books, regional food tied to New Mexico, favorite authors/artists tied to the southwest—all generally very book focused.

People who read the blog are not the same as people who have signed up for the newsletter, although there is a little overlap.

I’ve decided it is time to take on a little different approach. The blog and the newsletter will share content, and each will go out on a semi-monthly basis. Each will be distributed on/or about the 1^st and the 15^th of the month. The blog will feature one opinion piece while the newsletter will feature more. The more will be opinion pieces written by guest contributors.

Now I hope this will be the fun part—the contributors will be characters from my books along with some “real” people. If you have not read my books the names of the “real” people and the fictional people might blend. The first contributors will be Ray Pacheco and Tommy Jacks. Ray Pacheco has been featured in four books: The Bootlegger’s Legacy and the Pacheco & Chino series. Tommy Jacks is the protagonist in the Muckraker series. Believe it or not those characters have distinct voices in my head and it’s not just my opinion—yes, I am signing up for therapy.

These changes are coming about so that I can consolidate some of the time spent producing these publications. Plus, I wanted to get away from the totally book focused newsletter. It had started to feel very repetitious to me; and possibly boring.

You and others may hate this—if so let me know. But I think it could be fun and even (ugh!) informative. The fun part for me is writing in other peoples’ voices. I know this is just strange, but these characters have real meaning for me, and it will be a blast stating their unique opinions in areas that fit those characters. Well at least that is the plan.

As a blog reader you might want to consider signing up for the email distributed newsletter. The newsletter (and now this blog) will be under the heading Grain-of-Salt Commentary. Even if you have not read my books the point-of-view of these guest contributors could be interesting and amusing.

Preview of First Guest Commentary

Them Verses Us

By Ray Pacheco (ex-Sheriff Dona Ana County, New Mexico)

It’s been a while since I was active in law enforcement. That’s allowed me some time to think about the whole mess and what needs to be done.

When I started my career there was a real sense of community involvement. That ‘protect and serve’ BS was real to me. It was my community, and my desire was to help people. Somehow things have gotten kind of messed up. Even some of the cops who worked for me in New Mexico were different. Their attitude was not as a protector but as an aggressor. They were going to find the bad guys and make them pay. I found that very disturbing and it contributed to my retirement. I couldn’t deal with the macho bullshit and the obvious hatred of any other authority except law enforcement.

People in law enforcement specifically and the criminal justice system in general are a lot like everyone else, they tend to associate with people who think like they do. It may be a silly saying but “birds of a feather flock together” is reality. If you’re a plumber you hang around with plumbers; if you’re a lawyer you associate with other lawyers—it’s natural, it’s the way it is. Cops hang out with cops. This creates a small circle of thought. There is not a lot of negative feedback being tossed into that pool. I was the sheriff in a county where the largest town was maybe a hundred thousand, the smallest was maybe fifty people. In those size communities you get to know a lot of people, but mostly you get to know the bad guys and the civic leaders. In Dona Ana County, New Mexico, I knew the families that were going to cause problems and I knew the families that thought they ran everything and craved power. The top and the bottom folks were the people I dealt with. The other people, the majority, I had very little to do with, and this can distort your viewpoint.

more on the 15th

Sign up today for the Newsletter’s first new edition on the 15th

Lasciate ogne paura, voi ch’intrate

My friend (and brother-in-law) Stanley Nelson has written a guest post discussing fear as a writer. I am trying to live by his words.

GUEST POST: Stanley Nelson

Don’t fear the elephant: Dante Alighieri, in his Inferno, imagined an injunction, “Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate,” etched over the dread gates of hell. It translates as, “All hope abandon, all ye who enter here.”

We writers should exchange “speranza,” Italian for “hope,” for “paura,” meaning “fear.”

Lasciate ogne paura, voi ch’intrate

A writer, whether to begin, to continue, or to finish, must live on hope and abandon fear. If you can’t leave fear behind, don’t write.

A writer must never write, an editor must never edit, and a publisher must never publish—or hesitate to do any of those—out of fear. Never be afraid to challenge the reader, especially to dare them to expand their thoughts or to take them where they might otherwise not go.

Never fear a challenge to yourself. Always reach for that next level, and the next, especially if that means breaking a barrier, whether real or conceptual. You may never be your best editor, but you always will be your best writing coach—if you abandon fear.

And most of all, never fear the reader, the literary culture or the market purported to represent either. There is far more than that at stake. And so, we arrive at the fear common to every writer. It is the ever-present elephant in the room. To begin our discussion of it, we offer another true story.

My brother-in-law writes mystery novels. Like so many writers trying to make their way in the mass market, Ted Clifton also writes a blog. In his installment for July 12, 2021, he wrote:

“I was at a gathering the other day in which there were a group of middle-age and older men. The conversation turned to my writing, and I discussed my latest projects and got nods of understanding accompanied by blank faces. Just for the hell of it, I directly asked this group if they had read any of my books—it was unanimous—NO! Not one person admitted to reading any of my books. There wasn’t even one who would lie about it. Then I asked them, what they had read? NOTHING. It went from ‘haven’t read anything lately,’ to ‘haven’t read a book since high school’ (from someone who probably couldn’t remember high school). …

“I asked… why they had not read a book in so long. They all answered it took too much effort.”

Of course, our elephant is worse, and far bigger, than a handful of upper-middle-class wage and salary earners and retirees. Because no one really examines the matter, every description offered for it has thus far been wrong, and sometimes disingenuous. For one example, it is not electronic media in all their collective, if illusory, ascendance, and certainly not the patent supposition that they have replaced or will replace any other media, i.e., print. Human culture may create media, but never replaces or eliminates them. And let’s hear no blather about market “friction,” being the unprovable notion that real or imagined difficulty affects consumer choice toward options of least trouble. Convenience, as Amazon has proven, is quite beside the point.

Neither does the elephant have anything to do with competition for consumers’ time, one of so-called market capitalism’s plethora of half-baked urban legends. People have time to spend, and if the internet has proven anything, it is that time is also money.

The point, ironically, is “effort,” as the men Ted spoke with put it. The irony is they’re lying, even if they don’t realize it.

It isn’t that there’s no “effort” involved in reading a book. There is, however, minimal. It’s that they’re telling Ted, and us, a lie both implicit and obvious. They’re winking, and expecting us to wink back, and thereby perpetuate the popular conflation of the “effort” of reading any book with plowing through the turgid texts we dreaded in school. In this case, “effort” is a hollow talisman with a tissue-thin veneer of presumed commonality. We all know what a drudgery it is to read a book, because we all were once coerced to do so. Of course, that’s nonsense.

Further, the “effort”—our elephant—has little to nothing to do with books. The creature is far more vast. To rightly describe it, let’s consider another true story about another person close to me.

Some years ago, I attended the memorial service for my brother. One of my lasting memories of it is a table spread with mementoes of his favorite things, among them a great hardback copy of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. I knew my brother had read books, if only the tawdry paperback spy thrillers he kept hidden about the house when we were much younger. I believe he’d also read a self-improvement title or two, and perhaps at least one instructive in real estate, which was his vocation. I felt a twang of regret for discussions I could have had with him about Tolkien’s trilogy, which I had read four times, besides his other “Middle Earth” titles.

I asked his wife about it. She only shrugged, and explained he never read the books, although he certainly was a big fan of the movies.

Of course, one closes the conversation there, ignoring the elephant, which is neither the books or the movies. It is the culture in which both are made, and in which they, and we writers and readers and watchers, are made to suffer.

I’ve never been sure whether books should be adapted into movies, or vice versa, even if I agree the basic idea seems intuitive. My problem with it centers on more fundamental ideas about originality and honesty in the creative process. I might put it like this: let a book be a book, and a movie be a movie. As things are, all damage done by differences between literary text and “adaptation” on screen is not cosmetic, but fundamental, and it affects readers and watchers.

That damage compels watchers and readers to what seems a logical conclusion—although not a truth—that the gatekeepers and arbiters of creativity have cast aside originality as a necessary catalyst. It seems no longer worth striving for, having been exiled from its place as a driving cultural force. Although I claim no authoritative depth concerning cultural observation, I seem even to intuit a turning point wherein originality, and especially any claim to it, is held in suspicion.

While public sensibilities are generally burnished to numbness by that creeping cultural presumption, we are awash in products like the bafflingly popular series of interrelated and spectacular movies adapted from the comic books we discarded decades ago. Character origins and backgrounds were redone, but only as the gainsaying of people with ideas in the present against stories created by others in the past. It’s not to say that isn’t creativity. It is. But it’s only the creativity of difference, not originality. Different is only different, not better.

Nevertheless, in our present culture, readers, and watchers, including Ted’s group, are thereby given a pass when they assume, however wrongly, that they have seen or heard or read it all before. To them, all stories are old and familiar, even, and often especially if they have been tweaked for any reason. They are therefore not worth the “effort” to read—or even watch, particularly with any level of critical attention.

Too, the literary industry has done itself, and even its most doggedly loyal customers, no favors, to put it mildly—really, sarcastically, considering the scale and effect of its many failures. The list thereof only begins with doing essentially nothing to valorize reading, let alone reading and thinking critically at the same time. As one of its most deleterious failures, it offers no significant resistance to the disastrous and pedestrian cultural error of conflating even basic literary acumen—e.g., the level of fundamental textual criticism available to anyone with a brain—and mere primal literacy. Thereby the ranks of non-readers and ineffective readers are multiplied and deepened, to become an insolent majority, deftly reshaping the culture, ever for the worse.

As for writers, the industry offers no meaningful help, either. It offers only an impertinently garish carnival of cynical, hold-your-nose-and-click-“buy” endorsements for how-to books, online courses and webinars, much of them absolute snake oil. Even its promotion of the core business presents a bewildering failure. Its prevailing marketing philosophy is remindful of a past witticism about the cable-television business, which went something like, “if they sold fried chicken, they’d market it as ‘hot, dead chickens.’” It’s unlikely the men in Ted’s group are aware of the literary industry’s historic idiocy. If any were made so, it’s fair to believe at least a few would quickly identify its vast business shortcomings, and shake their heads, comforted by what seems a reinforcement of a conviction that books are not worth the “effort” to read.

Free Opinions are Worth Every Cent Paid

Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school. – Albert Einstein

It’s time to face the truth, education is a rip off. Sure, we all need to be able to read, write and do basic math; but beyond that lies folly. We thought at one time that a “good” education would mean success and happiness, and at one time, it probably did: not now. Higher education is even worse. Not only is it a scam, but most of the people involved in the scheme know it.

How did we get to the point where the highest paid employee of most colleges is the football coach? We promise kids a better life if they (or their parents) spend a ton of money to teach them stuff that is readily available with a few clicks. At one time Universities taught people to think, to analyze, to ponder and dream; today it teaches basic skills of questionable value. Higher education was mostly the playground of the rich and should return to its roots and stop stealing money from people who cannot afford it for a sham education of nothing. I honestly believe without the hype of college sports enrollment would drop in half overnight.

And for-profit so-called college education should be outlawed as fraud. Of course, most for-profit higher education goes away once the federal government stops loaning money to the poor saps who think it will improve their lives.

So, if education is all bad, what is the solution? There is not one solution, which is why it is not being fixed. Public education K through 12 is more babysitting and teen monitoring than education. Higher education is more about politics and power than knowledge. All have lost their way. The correction for that mess would be painful if it could be accomplished at all.

Some suggestions.

Public schools are supported by taxes, a substantial portion through property taxes. Almost everyone, who is not homeless, in one way or another pays property taxes. Therefore, almost everyone would benefit if those taxes were cut. Public education costs billions or on average about $13K per pupil. Maybe that is a good value, but I kind of doubt it. So, there is probably an opportunity to cut taxes if that was a priority and have parents make up the difference. Sure, I know its in everyone’s best interest to have educated citizens, but the added benefit for parents needs to end. Maybe taxes are cut in half and the parents pay school fees. That should make the parents more engaged in what they are getting in terms of value.

Another good approach might be to only have “public schools” K-5^th grade. Yep, most kids can learn all those core basics by 5^th grade. You would have a focused educational system design to provide those basic levels of education that each citizen needs to be a productive member. Anything beyond that would be provided by private schools or parents or whoever with the parents picking up the tab. Sure, there might need to be some financial support for certain income levels, but that can be done—it’s only paperwork.

Next step, state universities go away. Goodbye to all those college football teams we love so much. (Don’t worry the NFL will step in and form a minor league which will be made up of the self-supported big school teams—after they have been sold to the next set of billionaires.)

Okay, how would that work with no one going to college. Not sure. Maybe it wouldn’t work but what we have isn’t working, so where is the harm. There might be entirely different schools that take different approaches, or maybe no schools at all. Most of what people know they learned by doing, not through schooling. Unless you wanted to be a college professor, you will not know much about you career of choice until you have worked at it for some years. Apprenticeship programs make more sense for many careers. Colleges would become highly specialized vehicles to offer specific programs, medical doctors, electrical engineers, and others—but abandon the concept of education in general having any real benefit. Now maybe there would special places that just taught thinking, but I kind of doubt it; that was always just a myth spread by expensive colleges telling prospects that if you learned to think, you could accomplish anything. I wish that had been true, but it wasn’t.

Giving up all that history and tradition would be difficult, and I fully understand that some would say foolish, but if something is broken you don’t just keep patching small parts, you really fix it. That is painful and difficult. Getting anyone to agree to such a plan might be impossible, but soon students will wise up and realize that having an expensive college degree and driving an Uber was not such a good deal. Especially with all that student debt hanging over your head.

Author Update

There is such a thing as the top 100 authors on Amazon. These are the people who sell the most books and make Amazon the most money—I’m not on the list, so I’m bitter. Once you look at the list it is obvious what matters is quantity. Many of these authors have more than 100 books for sale. Most have over 25. Are these great works of literature, kind of doubt it; but maybe?

Another common trait is the majority are women authors. As I have mentioned before, most books are purchased by women and apparently those women prefer women authors. Of course, someone without my bias might say they are better authors writing for more discriminating book readers; okay I guess that’s possible.

When I started writing, my goal was to write twenty books, as of today, I have written twelve. Could I write a hundred books, no way, I was old when I started and now—well I’m not younger. I’m starting to question whether twenty is achievable, each new book takes longer than the last. Another approach might be shorter. Does it count if the book is only twenty pages? No, it does not count.

My twelfth book is Doctor Hightower. This is the Amazon Vella stories available an episode at a time. This has not worked for me. I’m not in the top 100 on amazon, but I do sell books every day; the Vella approach has netted me almost no readers. I may know the few readers by name—it’s a short list. Looks like I will give this approach a few more months, and if things have not improved, will pull it from Vella and turn it into an E-book. The Hightower story is a good read, it just invisible in Vella.

Plus, I really like the Dr. Hightower image—it will make a great cover.

Breaking Up is Hard to Do

Wednesday is trash day in my neighborhood. There is something very comforting about having trash removed on a regular and reliable schedule—it is civilized. Our sense of well being is impacted by ordinary things, such as mail service, internet connection, TV, lawn mowing, sports; you know, important stuff. There seems to be something in the air that has many people feeling unsettled. Maybe it’s just the people I meet, but it seems everyone is on edge, waiting for something bad to happen. Why is that?

America has had many bad times, the revolution, civil war, WWI and II, many other wars, race riots, war protest riots, assassinations of presidents and leaders, the great depression, political turmoil, bad leaders, many periods of economic unrest; but those have generally been offset by good times. The current situation seems deeper more unsettled. Now, maybe, these bad feelings just vanish in the blink of an eye, and everyone is happy and planning for a great future, maybe?

There are no easy solutions for a country that has lost unity. We have division on most everything, political, religious, non-religious, civil, legal, urban, rural, race, guns and on and on; almost all things that really matter, we are divided as a country. I, more or less ‘tongue in cheek’, once proposed we start a discussion about breaking up the country; but once you start that discussion the first thing that will be obvious is that it is almost impossible to split up such an intertwined society. Like it or not, we are probably stuck with one another.

How about new younger leaders? Maybe a revised constitution? The old one was written by old men who had more hang-ups than Paris Hilton and had no idea what the world would be like in several hundred years after they penned their masterpiece. Change it, make it fit our world. But how?

We could ban all old white men (and attorneys) from politics for the next fifty years to get a restart. Would it be better? Probably. Can we do that, I doubt it. The people who would have to approve such a departure from the norm would be old white guys, who have fallen in love with money, power, and airtime.

How about a national contest for only teenagers to write a new constitution? The finalists could meet in Philadelphia and pound out the final version. I think we all would be shocked with what a wonderful document they would come up with. Now the old white guy coalition would join hands with the strangely backward Supreme Court and call the whole thing an evil plot and maybe have US Marshals arrest all teenagers, who knows, but they would not allow any such imaginative thinking to interfere with their pursuit of power, money, and big black cars.

So, the solution is elections? Hasn’t worked all that well so far. Our elections are dominated by money and some of the most absurd lies ever put to paper, or on TV. Politicians and their hired hands have perfected the art of deception. Well, take money out of politics—sure that is going to happen. Where does the money go—the media. Are they bias by the fact that every political race lines their pockets—of course they are, why else do the huge media companies continue to support such a corrupt system.

We could turn to our civic leaders, such as businesspeople, religious leaders, and beloved statesmen. Okay, good idea. I personally think all the beloved statesmen died some years ago, religious leaders seem to be busy rewriting the bible to support wealth building as virtue and businesspeople have become robber barons living in the huge house atop the hill. Yes, all of them! It could be all we’re left with is Jimmy Carter.

Without leadership the only answer is us. People who don’t want to lead, must. How? I’m not sure. Everyone must become more independent and stop listening to the crazy voices that are only acting crazy to make money. Ignore the fools and listen to yourself. List the things that are important, we must have a government to have an orderly society (trash pick-up), we need taxes to pay for the government, we should compromise because we do not all agree, but we know we want to stay together because breaking up is (too) hard to do (Bobby Darrin?). Stop arguing and agree on something. Your enemy is not everyone who does not live next door, it’s a big country with a tremendous amount of diversity, celebrate it, find the good, find the love, and stop the hate.

Happenstances

One of the unusual aspects of the serialized books in Amazon Vella is the author’s comments at the end of each episode. As an example, one of mine in Doctor Hightower: Lost Soul:

“Coincidences happen in real life daily but are not believable in fiction. But without these happenstances, life would be extraordinarily dull.”

And, I might add, fiction, especially murder mysteries, would be almost impossible to write.

This author note was related to some “small world” coincidences I had incorporated into the story. Sure, some people can say shit like that will never happen in the real world; but it does. How often in your life have you said, “can you believe that happen, what are the odds?” We all have things that seemed too good to be true or were horrible bad luck, all because they were unexpected. Coincidence means, “a remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances without apparent causal connection.”

In Lost Soul, the coincidences are the story. A murder 20 years ago is still driving events in the present. It’s a classic story line, one thing happens, and it builds into hundreds of other things happening; none of which might have happened if not for the first thing. None of them obviously connected. I think I understood that?

In this second Hightower story, the Doctor is going through complications due to his brain being over 125 years old, but his body is still middle aged, the way it was back in 1938 when he first took the miracle youth drug. He is now questioning the whole enterprise; is this a good drug or a curse. Of course, everyone wants to live forever; but do they really. What if everyone did. The world would be incredibly overcrowded, and deaths by accidents would be so consequential. The biggest problem Hightower is trying to deal with is being alone. No compatriots, no one to confide in because of his secret.

Ugh!

Lots of anguish being felt over the end of the Afghanistan war, or whatever it was. Deflecting blame from your side to the other side seems to be more like a game than any well thought out discussion. The core problem of the middle east after WWII has been analyzed by many great minds and the only logical conclusion is that if it wasn’t for oil none of this would have happened. But the need for oil created the rationalization that supported one wrong decision after another by counties that had little understanding of the dynamics of these countries and felt the answer was to make them all look like western countries. All complete nonsense and doomed to failure.

Today, the pressing need for negotiations and peace building may be at its greatest in our own country between warring parties that cannot stand one another. That internal need for some sort of civil discourse to resolve problems will take precedence over any foreign misadventures, and maybe that is good.

We should have learned something from our misplaced military intervention into other countries. Mainly that if the country is already screwed up with too many people hating their neighbors there is not much anyone else can do to fix the mess. Without national unity there isn’t a country only an inevitable civil war. Not sure how we can regain national unity in this country, but we better.

Author Update

I have three mystery series: Pacheco & Chino (including The Bootlegger’s Legacy), Vincent Malone and the Muckraker series. This excludes Dr. Hightower which is just getting started. Also, I have a business book about selling a business, but that is also excluded here because it is not related.

My books sales on average are 63% Pacheco & Chino, 25% Malone and 12% Muckraker. All three series have been out for some time, and they continue this pattern. I have no idea why.

I could say P&C are super sellers because they are terrific books or the subject matter is more popular; but those books are no different in quality, or subject matter than the other two series. I had thought that the Malone books would be the best sellers by now. I really liked the Malone character and had thought he would be more broadly appealing than Ray Pacheco. Most of my plans for writing more books were either Malone or Dr. Hightower.

I also was optimistic for the Muckraker series. I thought Tommy Jacks was an interesting protagonist who would appeal to many readers. Thousands of Muckrakers have sold, but it’s nothing like Pacheco & Chino.

Well, I’m not stupid. So, I’m changing direction and will spend most of my time writing the fourth Pacheco & Chino book, Vegas Dead End. This means Durango Two Step will be put on hold for the hundredth time—but I will return to it after VDE, I hope.

Prolog-Vegas Dead End (Pacheco & Chino #4)

“Big Chief” Chino knew he had fucked up. Hoodoo Brown was the meanest son-of-a-bitchin’ white man he had ever met. He had known a couple of loco Apache warriors who could have matched his violence, but few could have matched his lack of humanity. If Brown discovered the gold Chino had hidden; “Big Chief” would suffer the vilest death possible; nobody fucked Hoodoo Brown.

It was the late 1800’s and much of the uncivilized portions of the United States were a dog-eat-dog existence. That existence was dramatically demonstrated in Las Vegas, New Mexico. The town had come into being as part of the Santa Fe trail; but once the railroad reach this ‘at the edge of the world’ location, a whole new level of prosperity arrived. This great fortune was accompanied by some of the worst elements in all of humankind. Each one looking for a fast buck or at least a moment of guilt free pleasure.

Some of the most notorious characters of their time found their way to Vegas. The lure was money and sex. Often it was also a place to hide. No lawman entered Vegas without the permission of Hoodoo Brown, who was the Justice of the Peace and County Coroner. He ran everything with the help of his gang. He was the law and the law breaker, all wrapped up in one neat package.

The railroad executives eventually brought a certain form of law and order but for a time this was a wide-open town, with Brown in charge. It attracted the famous and worst the country had to offer; Doc Holliday, Big-Nose Kate, Jesse James, Billy the Kid, Bob Ford, Wyatt Earp, Rattlesnake Sam, Cock-Eyed Frank, Web-Fingered Billy, Hook Nose Jim, Stuttering Tom, Durango Kid, and Handsome Harry the Dancehall Rustler.

Thanks for being a reader!

Cozy Mystery with a Potty-Mouth

Dogs Can’t Read? Must be the Audio Book.

One of the topics I keep coming back to is reviews, specifically book reviews. Now, of course, I’m talking about reviews of my books so there may be some bias.

I’ve always considered the on-line reviews helpful but with a bit of caution regarding who might go to the trouble to write a lengthy negative review. There is no question I’ve had the urge to write a blistering review of some product that came with instructions that were 100% useless. Thinking I should give them an earful is different than spending time pounding out a nasty review regarding the manufacturer’s (or writer’s) moral standing in the universe. The leap from you having an inferior product to being an evil force is a little hard to understand.

All my books have good reviews. The most reviews are for Dog Gone Lies 394 with an average 4.3 out of 5 stars rating. The next is The Bootlegger’s Legacy, 384 with an average of 4.4. I have little to complain about regarding reviews, even though I do it anyway. Most, if not all, of my bad reviews are due to “vulgar” language.

One common thread in the language reviews is the reviewers concern for the next reader and their desire to warn the prospective reader of these offensive words. I would think in today’s world warning others of content with offensive words would almost be a full-time job.

Like most of us, I’ve watched more TV in the last year or so than was my normal habit. I know there are channels that cater to people who are offended by language, or maybe life, so it’s possible I was watching programs that these word sensitive people never watched, but my goodness, how can you live in this world and be offended by language?

There was a time when vulgar words had some meaning; not now. What is vulgar? If words are used in common language, communication of all sorts including broadcasting, are they still vulgar?

Without question people can be offended by whatever offends them. There is plenty of offense to go around. Entertainment programing almost seems to be in a contest to see what can be the most offensive and still be shown in “family” rooms. Based on my parents’ standards there is very little of current entertainment that would have been allowed in their homes. Much of what is readily available on our TV’s today might have been classified as pornographic at one time.

Obviously, our standards have changed. I have always kept my choice of words connected with the circumstances of the story. Most of the bad words some reviewers find offensive are in scenes where great trauma or tragedy are unfolding. People react in a certain way under threat of murder and the language should reflect that fact.

One reviewer described one of my books as “cozy mystery with a potty-mouth.” I liked that review and think it is very close to an accurate description. If I had left out the potty-mouth words the books could be classified as cozy mysteries and probably would have sold more, so maybe those descriptive words were a mistake. I don’t think so.

Yes, might have sold more books with a cozy mystery category, but it would not have been how I thought my characters would react in the stressful circumstances. I’ve read cozy mysteries, and they always felt edited. Nobody screams “drat” when someone is shooting at you.

The characters were saying what was appropriate for them. That meant some of the characters spoke a lot of profane words—it was who they were. Word choices identify characters so the reader understands and can relate. Even the “good” guys have a few choice words when the stress is the greatest, and that is what makes the story seem real.

One of my favorite characters was in the Muckraker books (Murder So Wrong, Murder So Strange and Murder So Final); his name was Joe Louongo. The most common word in Joe’s vocabulary was fuck. In the Epilogue at the end of Murder So Final it states:

“Joe returned to New Jersey and flourished. He realized in a flash that he had been a fish out of water in fuckin’ Okie land, but he was just another ‘guy’ in Jersey.”

Language was an important part of not only the character, but how he contrasted with other characters. Joe Louongo would not have been happy in a cozy mystery.

Good Times and Bad

“The pandemic, coupled with record sales of firearms, has fueled a shortage of ammunition in the United States that’s impacting law enforcement agencies, people seeking personal protection, recreational shooters and hunters — and could deny new gun owners the practice they need to handle their weapons safely.” Sunday, August 1^st, 2021 The Associated Press

How about a book ad????? It’s easy to ignore.

Without the nonsensical speculation on the harmed parties, what does that really mean? The country is arming itself, guns and ammo, to do exactly what? Sure, it could be fear, but increased hunting, not very likely. This is a strong indicator that this country is about to confront its worst nightmare, a shooting war. Is that even possible?

I must admit that for most of my life I’ve been an observer of the political back and forth but only loosely engaged. Now with a threat of an armed insurgence, I must take sides. Now for some of you I will be on the wrong side, and do not understand the deep threat that exists to this country that requires YOU to stop the assholes who want to ruin YOUR country. You are right, I do not understand the threat to your make-believe world that existed in the past where everything was perfect, and you were in charge. Of course, that world never existed except in reflection.

My ancestors were a mixed breed; American Indian, German immigrants, Dutch traders, a few English aristocrats (or at least my father believed they were) and some less than acceptable criminals, scoundrels, drunkards, along with an actor or two. Never crossed my mind too much because I just thought of the whole group as Americans. Even the actors.

My parents both came from humble, farming families. These were people who never had much in terms of wealth but felt blessed to have what they had. They gave no thought to what might have been but lived a full life in harmony with nature. My parents were the first in their families to leave the farms and move to the city. They wanted more and built a successful life for themselves and their children, generally based on hard work.

That simple story is repeated over and over in this country. Families growing and thriving after the Great Depression and WWII. But it wasn’t the same for everyone.

In my teen years it dawned on me that my father was a racist. This was not a profound announcement but rather subtle. Small things that would pop up in conversations that had nothing to do with race; but there it was. He had talked about his childhood on a small farm outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and had mentioned that there were many black families who lived in this area, and he played with their kids. As he described it, or at least the way I heard it, it was a good time, and he was good friends with those kids. The last thing I would have called my dad was racist.

Maybe he was more candid with me as I grew older, but the image changed. My father was a kind man, who was always ready to help anyone who needed assistance. He became religious later in life and he and my mother spent much of their time outside of work in church and church activities. They were universally described as “good people.”

Like all kids I mostly ignored the conversations that went on around me as I accompanied my dad. He was a talker and had many friends. Those conversations were nothing to me other than a delay in doing what I wanted to do as I waited for him to end the meaningless talk with one of his friends. Later I started to listen.

It became clear to me that my father believed in a social order where white men were at the top. I’m sure my father would have never deliberately harmed anyone no matter their color or any other characteristics. But there it was, he saw the world in a perspective that had a social order based on race.

If anyone needed a hand, my father would have been one of the first to help, no matter their color. Even though I knew something darker about him, I never saw it in action. I believe he was ashamed he was a racist. How quaint in our current world with loud-mouthed, boorish bigots on TV shouting their stupidity for all to see. It is why they are on TV. There was a time when some of our darker feelings brought shame, not riches.

Now, possibly because of the threat to white dominance, many people feel justified in committing atrocities. They will rationalize these actions based on stories that are not true. Events will be used as a justification for mayhem, even though the events never happened. Lies will build anger into revenge and hatred. Action will be taken that can not be undone. All because we seem to have lost the ability to feel shame. The people leading these actions need to be shamed.

If you live in a deep hole and never see sunlight, all you know is what goes on in your darkness. That darkness can make you imagine things that are not there, and you will lash out in fear of that unknown. My father was a great, kind man who had flaws. Aren’t we all flawed in some way? We need to step into the sunshine to find kindness and love.

I believe Facebook has locked me out my account because I violated copyrights with photos/images taken from the web to use in some of my blog posts. Okay, I’m sorry; and yes, I feel shame.

The disappointment is that some of those images I used in the blog were of Einstein and Leo Tolstoy—I really liked those photos representing great joy and madness. I know, I will just buy them—Shutterstock here I come. (Of course, the blog will have less images, or maybe none at all.)

Discussions, Political and Otherwise

This blog is usually about writing books, a little bit of art discussion, and on occasion, my ramblings about whatever. But not politics or religion! So, excuse me for this breach. I know in the past this country has had worse times, such as a real civil war where thousands died, but have we reached a point that there can be no agreement on anything? Much of the public discussion involves words generally associated with war. “We will fight to the end!” “Let’s kick some ass!“ “If X is elected, the country will be destroyed!” Who is fighting who? If the democrats and republicans are at war, it is a war without any real meaning. What outcome would satisfy the warring parties—everybody dead? A country in chaos?

Since we hate each other so much maybe a divorce would make sense. Okay, you go live in Nebraska, and I’ll live in Texas; we’ll never see each other again! Might work, might not. There is that small problem with the kids and the dog. But how would you divide a country that is totally intertwined. Split it down the middle? Have four countries? How about national defense? Okay lots of messy problems with a split. But can you live with people who hate you, your whole existence, and believe stuff you think is insane? Not easily.

My solution may sound silly to some, but I think we should start talking, seriously talking, about breaking the country up. Into what exactly, I’m not sure; but if the only option now is a “real” war, maybe other options need to be considered. Right now, it seems to be, one side wins the political war and the other side lives in a country they hate. That is not a comfortable solution. I might disagree with your view on the role of government, but I do not want you dead. I really don’t even want to be enemies. But if you control things, you will want to control me through either not doing the things I think should be done or doing things I think should not be done, I don’t like that.

So, if we start a serious discussion of breaking up the country what does that do? For one, it makes it clear something must change. If nothing else, when we start a sober look at what it takes to divide the country physically, we may start to think some compromise on certain matters might not be such a bad idea. So back to the divorce analogy, you keep one kid, I get one, but how about the dog? If the divorce becomes too painful, maybe a reconciliation would be better, or at least worth a try.

A little-known quote from Lincoln:

“I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts, and beer.”

― Abraham Lincoln

My thoughts and opinions are free, and worth every bit of that.

Had a few new conversations about the decline in book reading, especially the decrease in male readers. It occurred to me, as I was discussing this with a friend, that maybe reading has not declined, just book sales. There was a time, at least in my world, when reading (or saying you were reading) the latest hot book was normal. This was also a social convention that might have been created by peer pressure. “You’ve got to read the latest book by X.” A sort of snobbery was built into this exchange.

I suppose, due to this social structure, people (men?) bought books but never read them. “Oh sure, I’m reading that now. So far, it’s great!” Now, that peer pressure may not exist, so the response to comments about the latest hot book, often are “nah, I don’t read much anymore, too busy.” Being busy, even when you are not, is the new deflection that protects you from being known as lazy and maybe stupid.

“Oh, we have three parties to go to this weekend, I’m just frazzled.” “Yep, got two trips planned next month, feels like I’m going in circles trying to get everything done.”

This creates status without offering any evidence that you are clueless. Busy is the perfect replacement for discussions of ideas or opinions. How can anyone be offended by my busy activities? On the other hand, almost any opinion seems to start an argument.

Maybe there could be an app. You put in the dates you want, and it plans a trip and provides you with details. After the trip it gives you all the highlights you can mention to your friends about the great trip you were just on; all the time, you were at home laying on the couch watching mindless, but enjoyable, TV.

Maybe to prove the point about buying but not reading books, I give you “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand. There was a time I started that book and quickly realized it was horrible. Didn’t think about it again for many, many years. In recent times, due to on-going hype regarding the book’s “importance”, I read it—yes, the whole damn thing. Worst book I have ever read. The poor woman needed a team of editors, not even sure that would have helped.

If someone told me they read the massive, almost incoherent book and loved it; I would have to question their honesty but would without a doubt admire their perseverance.

Thanks for being a reader!

Books and Art

I wrote three books with a good friend Stanley Nelson called Murder So Wrong, Murder So Strange, and Murder So Final–the Muckraker series. These were books based on our collective experiences during a newspaper war in Oklahoma City promoted by the defeated candidate for the governorship feeling his opponent had an unfair advantage because of the bias of the towns largest (and only) newspaper. The loser was also extraordinarily rich, so he started his own newspaper. It was a fun time in OKC; but the whole mess ended up being something of a disaster. For different reasons Stan and I were both interested in newspapers. Stan was a journalist, and I was, well actually I was just a reader, but I loved newspapers. I had, though, gotten to know the most beloved and hated columnist writing for the new newspaper. He and I became friends and at one time I helped back his venture into rag journalism, for reasons that are best left unsaid.

There are three books in this series, and (I know I’m biased) I think they are great reads. We took a bit of personal experience during that time and turned it into complete fiction. Murder, mayhem, corruption, romance, family drama, political pranks, dirty politicians, legal tricks, and corrupt lawyers—these books have it all. While all the good stuff is pure fiction much of the story was based on things that did happened; at this point in my life, I can’t remember which is which.

Stan, my co-author, has recently written a great book about a unique happening in Oklahoma during the Great Depression.

“Woodsie Pound didn’t have it easy. Youngest of four sisters, a Chickasaw living in the Great Depression, and driven to be the best guard in the nation, her biggest opponent was a world that fought against her and everything she was.

Based on the true account of a small, but record-setting Oklahoma women’s college team, 88 Straight follows Woodsie from her instant passion for basketball through the confusions and anxieties of a young and dedicated life, family tensions and tragedies, and the discovery of her Chickasaw heritage.”

I read a draft of this book some time ago and thoroughly enjoyed this engaging story about some amazing people accomplishing something that no one thought possible, including them. I highly recommend 88 Straight. It is available now as a pre-order from the publisher. Congratulations Stan!

Since the fourth grade I have described myself as an artist. The fourth-grade realization was related to Mrs. Smith choosing me to design the Thanksgiving Day play program. I trusted Mrs. Smith and if she thought I was an artist I must be an artist; she wouldn’t lie. I drew a pilgrim and turkey for the cover and most everyone who mattered (mom and dad) thought it was great. Mrs. Smith made a few minor corrections and cleaned up some smudges, but it was mostly only done by me, mostly.

As the years rolled along, I still thought of myself as an artist, however, I never created any art. Could I call myself an artist but never do any art? Sure, I was a kid. That was working fine until High School. I sure wasn’t a little kid anymore and calling myself an artist and never painting, drawing or anything related to art seemed odd. So, in high school I took an art class. Wow, those other kids sure could create some awesome art. I had no idea how to do that. I stunk in the class. The teacher, a man who seemed to only care about a baseball newspaper he read every day, said I should think about becoming a teacher and I could teach kids all about art. There didn’t seem to be any logic in that but what the hell, rather than an artist I could be an art teacher. Worked for me.

When I began college, I was asked to name a major. Not having any idea what I wanted to do or be or even study, I selected art. Now I was not only an artist who never did any art I was an art major who didn’t know jack shit about art, artists, art history, art appreciation or anything to do with art. A clean slate. Art teachers in college hate a clean slate. My first art professor suggested that I might want to change my major to general business. He seemed smart enough, so I took his advice.

After I decided I was no longer an artist, going against the wishes of Mrs. Smith, I felt hollow. Something was wrong. It was okay to be an artist and never do art, but it was not okay to not be an artist. I started painting. I started drawing. I started doing art. All kinds of art. I had no idea if it was good, but it didn’t matter, I loved doing art.

The oldest painting, I still have, or can find is from 1974 (see below). I think if I dig deeper into the basement there will be some from the 1960s. Not sure I want to find them.