Wartooth Writer

 Hello America, Hello World. Let’s all take a moment on what was once Armistice Day, the end of the great war to reflect and relax. Millions, maybe billions died over our global bankers demands and ideologues conflicts. The two are tightly interwoven in a net of lies that isn’t that hard to define. It can be a challenge to see through it but minimal thought is required. Let’s get back to today. Everyone seems agitated and angry. Those whom God would destroy, he first makes angry. Let’s go back to this basic wisdom. It’s not alien to any religion. Now, societal anger. On Veterans Day, the best way to thank are Vets is to say, we wont make more. No more Vets. Please. We have enough. We keep killing each other for what? Has it made anyone’s lives better? Not yours, not mine. Billionaire bankers maybe, but you and me? I gave my whole life to the system, the machine. It paid the bills, but took my sanity. Cognitive dissonance and abdication of personal will to a people I trusted… Ruin...

 Greetings Readers, Daddy’s Invisible Ouchy (DIO), my first kid book (of a planned series of 12), has taken over my life. I didn’t expect it to be anything more than a little sidebar. It was to be something to do when it was too difficult to write the darker horror pieces I’m already known for. When I first launched DIO, it received immediate attention, and everyone seems to love it! It started to sell, and a local web magazine wrote a piece about me after conducting an interview. The work is unique and powerful in a way that I understood, but didn’t know if anyone else would see it. It hasn’t all been fun and games, however. Issues with the new publisher for this project and distribution channels have been problematic. Marketing and advertising are incredibly expensive. Self and hybrid publishing is a real job I really didn’t want. On the upside, the American Legion has published a piece on it in their web magazine Legiontown, and Military.com is also considering a piece ...

Hello everyone. You may not have expected me back so soon. Yet here I am with another post for this decade. A lot has happened since the last post here, there is so much, that I’ll have to skip explaining and sum up. Salem’s Sequel, Harvester of Tomorrow, is in its final revision, I’ve been bogged down in various projects besides. Research for Tripwire (sci-fi/aliens + prison thriller), The Assassin’s Box , a fantasy epic for Dungeons and Dragons enthusiasts, its companion pieces (the Sunkissed Thieves, Fall of the Day Star, and more), and what might be my most important work since Salem’s and continuing along that path Daddy’s Invisible Ouchy . Yes, it sounds like a kid’s book, and it is. Really? How do I tie Salem’s Son to a kid's book? Well, for one thing, I’m using a Nom de Plume , so no juvenile readers or parents accidentally link my Rated R (or worse) fantasy and horror works to DIO. God forbid they find this place. Salem’s Son sets out to give a modern look at PTSD,...

 As a social scientist, an expert in strategic global human affairs with decades of experience accurately predicting things like the Iraq War, its outcome, etc. and working to stop a widening GWOT that may have repeated the Iraq debacle in Syria, I feel compelled to talk about today's news. Easy piece, China warning our birds out of their space. Who cares? We would do and have done, the same.  Behind the headlines, there is massive over reaction to our "quadrupling" of our forces in Taiwan. We have 30 guys there (on paper) x4 that's 120 guys. Barely an infantry company. Nobody actual thinks that matters. Our real numbers in Taipei? Meh. What about Ukraine? Were spending (laundering) more than 46 billion per year, more than we did in Afghanistan annually. I wonder about how much comes back to our political class ILLEGALLY sending these funds I to a war zone? Yes. Illegal. Believe it or not, it's illegal, under the constitution, reinforced by recent statues, to supp...

 As many of you know, I celebrate Chinese New Year, not this one. Still, it's important enough to comment on.  I'm wondering about your resolutions and how successful those have been.  For me, this year, I'm doing the dry January thing and giving up smoking again. I restarted smoking when a friend, Justin, got me back into it after I survived a near-deadly hornet sting in June. Yes, I was almost killed by a bee sting. Didn't know I was allergic. EMTs took 45 minutes to get to me, took 2 epipens to save me. Docs at the ER said I was 5 minutes from death. Since then, I've had a ton of medical issues. A week after the sting my primary care follow-up sent me back to the er for more testing and monitoring, it was that bad.   Dr. Manning (UPMC) said an allergic reaction like that can kick-start latent medical issues. He thinks I have MS. He's seen it before with my symptom cluster.  Thankfully a few of my symptoms have lessened in severity, even as others have be...

It's been a while since I wrote. I've been tied up a bit. There is this war, my kids, lawyers, and a ton of stuff that would bore you to death.  Right now, let's talk about my SOCOM pals who have had enough. 8 years ago, it was 5-800 of them in Jordan, and 2-300 in Iran, mostly on the Kurdish/Iraq border.  They all knew what they were getting into.  That's what they'd all say about me if our positions were reversed. Sole Survivor in some encounters.  Their wives and families might feel different but it's of no consequence. How many grieving widows did you see on the news or MTV during the big popular wars?  Not many. Definitely not our widows. Our wars, the small, silent, and angry ones were very personal. There were no fleets of fighter jets or any kind of cover.  Most of our missions required preparation for suicide. No US marked anything. No ID, no Hanes socks, no whatever might make you American.  But enough of that. How does this link to the title...

 A modest proposal for the prevention of mass shootings, protection and expansion of responsible gun owner rights, strengthening local civil defense, and fostering good citizenship. How can we do all of these things at once? 1)       A simple licensing scheme, similar to that system used for fishing or hunting licenses, arguably also constitutionally protected rightful activities (fishing & hunting in the pursuit of life). 2)       Establishment of an all-volunteer militia at the community/county or other small municipal entity level. Membership is required to obtain a license to keep arms. 3)       Simple requirements to ensure those purchasing & keeping guns are responsible, safe, and proficient in their arms, with the ability to (verifiably) keep their weapons secure. The license would have a training period beginning at 18 years of age (though informal training can start earlier). The p...

 Hello, everyone! It's almost Halloween, my favorite holiday, so here is an appropriate tale for 'round the campfire. Actually, it's my contribution to the Gettysburg Writers Brigade annual anthology project for charity. The book will feature a number of our authors including some of our stars with multiple titles to their names besides Jim R. The book, to be called 'For the Love of Gettysburg' will also feature works by artists from last year, Jim R and I included. There will also be a handful of others to go along with new voices and some first-time short story writers. I do hope you can find it on amazon after our launch, we can't set up a pre-order but I'll let everyone know when it's available by updating this post with a link. For now, enjoy my contribution (one of two submissions), 'The Restless Dead of Gettysburg'!    The Restless Dead of Gettysburg  Another Gettysburg battle reunion. I’ve lost count of how many, but I’ve been to most of ...

 https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCZdgmKhiWTan6o_qP40fS0w We're doing videos because they're fun, kinda interactive, and my friends and family can easily access the content even if they aren't readers. I want to document our adventure so everyone can see it. If I just wrote about it, nobody would care. 

I've manage to book a trip to Ocean City Maryland in he next few weeks. This trip falls on the most expensive week you can book a hotel there. Why would I do this? Sometimes these things are beyond your control.  I'm traveling with my significant other and we've timed our trip to have a slight overlap with her family's plan. Their travel plans are tied to when they could get a booking between other events; summer day camps and workload surges. The trip involves the extended family, a gramma, kids (x2, 10 and under) plus other relatives. So, my SO was invited but the craziness of that many people crammed into a 2 bedroom timeshare was too much (understandably, I have three kids of my own).   So what to do when you have an obligation to travel, to a place not your own (I've never seen the appeal of OC), with people you barely know? Smile, accept you're going to pay a premium and do your best to enjoy it. There are smart things you can do. For example, my SO choose...

 Hi all, just real quick - some recent media coverage feature the GWB and myself as we continue to do our educational outreach and charity works: Writerly Things, a local media piece about our mission, first launch, coming sequel and showcasing some of my best pals from the GWB: http://celebrategettysburg.com/gburg-writers/  A quick media blurb and photo (see if you can find me!) of the GWB presenting our proceeds to charity: https://www.gettysburgtimes.com/news/local/image_e7d50765-3e58-5a0c-90a8-d14a3f33e073.html and  Our first press piece about the GWB I can remember where I was mad I looked fat https://www.gettysburgtimes.com/news/local/article_6acd2ac0-c1a7-5915-99fd-ef8d5aeba6dd.html Have a great day everyone, keep reading! 

 Sometimes we get away from our core focus and skills. This blog is about the craft, but I'm not the expert or master, I'm still learning. I enjoy my work with the Gettysburg Writers Brigade (hereafter GWB) and I am an active contributor. My primary focus needs to be on my voice and my writing and my fans. Today at GWB we focused on branding. I think I write from a place of great hurt. My brand is dark, suspicious, subversive, angry, but it's also hopeful, healing, and even loving. My heroes overcome with great sacrifice, they succeed because of their hurt, they're limitations. Certain important ideals I hold dear shine through.  One of my compatriots in the GWB, lets call him Tumbleweed, said after reading Salem that the best part was the afterword (he enjoyed the story too). The message about my own hurt and experience with healing, the resources listed and my offer to help anyone who asks, anyone that finds them in those haunted places near death where that story cam...

Hello fans, friends and family! Guess what has happened? I just had my BEST sales month, for a month without a new book launch - thanks to all of YOU!!! Yes, word of mouth is driving sales. I have spent $0 on advertising these last three months, focusing on schooling and work. I've found suitable work for a writer who is slow in producing new tomes. Teaching. At least substitute teaching at the moment, but I'm back to work pursuing a second masters. This time, it's a teaching certification program in Pennsylvania,  The sales bump is all you, my readers sharing your kind words about my works, driving new and growing sales. So, THANK YOU ALL!!! I love my readers, I'm coming up with a promotional thank you give away to thank my kindest reviewers on goodreads and amazon, stay tuned for updates.  I do apologize for the delay in my postings, I am very sorry, I beg your pardon as I struggle with my disorders, the divorce, my growing kids (my oldest just had his worst year ever...

 I don't know if I mentioned Time Flies was to be a novel originally. It still may explode into one. I doubt it though the end is known... ...what isn't known however is our end. Or is it? Read this: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-9113999/Earth-spinning-faster-time-past-50-years.html snap shot here:  There - to those who may have scoffed at Dr. Morgan and Wong's efforts to save us from the cosmic horrors forcing our world to flee.

Hello internet people, the book the Gettysburg Writers Brigade assembled is a best seller and making money for our charity fund. We had a successful book signing this past weekend at the Gettysburg Heritage Center - thanks to their team led by Tammy!  It's only my second book signing but it was the most fun I've had since I've started writing. The Guild (or Cult as my co-workers call it) is an amazing bunch of talented men and women. We celebrated our successful launch with champagne and cake last night and began planning the next anthology.  I'm having so much fun with the Guild that I have begun furiously spinning a series of short stories of my own. I submitted one to a contest today, fingers crossed, and that tale plus a score of others will be combined into my own first anthology of short stories. Look for it in February.  I'm in love with the format now, I was afraid to attempt work in a short form but if you note my sparse style everywhere else, it seems a go...

 I love Thanksgiving, in case you didn't know from prior posts on the old blog. Over the years I've been a vocal defender of my second favorite holiday. While Halloween is my absolute favorite, I'll go all out for some costumed mischief and pranks, I will go completely crazy to make thanksgiving right.  Case in point - I make thanksgiving dinner three times a year just for practice. Thanksgiving day is my Super Bowl now. I make the turkey that makes people who traditionally shun and dislike turkey, love turkey. So now on to this holiday's story!  Due to my complex life situation I had some last minute plan changes. At the last minute I was added into an invite list at a friends house where I would be able to run the kitchen! The family didn't cook much - their patriarch who does bailed last minute. To continue the Super Bowl analogy, it was as if the star QB went down and I got the nod from coach, I was going in. I put my helmet on and got into the kitchen! Wait it ...

 Hello Everyone,  First - the bad news, my favorite uncle, Richard Aloiau has passed away. He was a beautiful spirit, a gentleman and one of my favorite people and memories. He spent countless hours trying to give me a childhood and to teach me things like how to fish.  He smoked relentlessly and chugged cheap scotch but he was a king among mortal men. He was handsome and generous, kind and affable. He made jokes and laughed freely, he was never rude or inappropriate in an age when such behaviors could easily be ignored.  My father had many brothers, cousins and relatives. I disliked most of them. Except Uncle Richard, and of course Rebecca "Popo" and well...that is the list. Richard was a favorite and a hero who will be revisited in the 2nd edition of TO&S.  Now to the new release!  Here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08N9JBRW6 Isn't that great? There are 11 of us, originally 12, but 1 got scared. Our Guild is some 70 strong but mostly amateur...

The July 4th Holiday saw Joey Chestnut and Miki Sudo competing in plastic boxes with no audience but a camera. It was odd, to say the least, but the announcer did his best with play-by-play. More importantly, here is what we did at our place, inspired by the event (and lousy ESPN coverage of it). I posted this to YouTube and I don't know if I did it correctly, I'm a writer without an IT department. Oh, and apologies for going back to the roots of the blog with family-oriented content, I'll bring the cosmic horrors murder and mayhem back later.

The Set-Up one of the myriad companies catering to self-published indie authors sponsored a contest. They solicited short stories where ten top entrants would be put in an anthology together. It was this particular company's first annual event of this kind. I never thought about writing short stories for an anthology, or a short story anthology of my own. I had this idea Why Time Flies (shortened to Time Flies) on a back burner as a novel/novella idea for some time. I had a basic concept but had written nothing. When this contest was announced I had been given the inspiration I needed; a brutal deadline. Two weeks to write and edit a short story. I quickly hammered out 2 versions and edited the second as it seemed to score higher in the sponsoring company's software. To be honest I preferred the first version. The editing software (I have used several noting they all disagree) was designed to rate all manner of fiction and non-fiction except horror. So, of course, I wrote a ...