The daily news is pregnant with inspiration for stories. The photo below that appeared recently proved especially inspirational, at least to me.

Obviously, it is an excellent example of a "Straw Man Argument", a form of propaganda wherein these people are arguing against those who contend that all Mexicans are "illegals". We must surmise that "they" are those who oppose amnesty for all Mexican immigrants. Personally, I don't know of any such people, do you?

Ever since ReadWave began tracking the geographical locations of readers, I have received a notice whenever 50 people located in the United States have viewed one of my stories. Of course, many more than that have read these stories before ReadWave began this service.

The most recent story to earn this distinction is "Failure", the tale of people who don't learn from their mistakes. "Failure is, of course, included in the collection of my short stories that appears on this website.

The thing that I find most interesting is that I have a popular following in other places. A large number of readers in all cases are located in London, England. I even have a modest following in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Although I have not yet been discovered as an author, certainly not a best-selling author, it is satisfying to learn that my stories are being read and appreciated. I hope that every reader knows how much I appreciate them.

The electoral tide in America seems to be changing in 2014 and may have repercussions well into the future that I have chosen to explore in this, my latest short story.

Ambushing the President appears together with the complete collection of my short stories at this website. 

History is our story written from a distance in time. The writers of history depend upon official records and, in modern times, film and photographs, as well as letters and diaries to study historical eras. Christian Hill's record of his service in Afghanistan, Combat Camera, should help them as well as it helps us in understanding what is happening there.

Christian served four months of 2011 as a Combat Camera Team leader with the British Army's Media Operations Group in Afghanistan. He shares with us a unique vantage point from which to view that conflict. Every soldier has a different perspective. Infantrymen see little beyond a fifteen degree swath a few to a couple hundred meters in depth depending upon the terrain. At the other extreme, pilots see the war from the vantage point of altitude, but miss many details. Christian's view of the war was far more comprehensive than first-hand experience. He gathered it second hand, collating soldiers' stories, as well as intelligence reports. 

The problem with The Gathering Storm by Winston Churchill is that it mirrors events in the news today and may mirror events yet to come. Continue with this review at your own peril...

Martha Jette keeps good company. Ernest Hemingway. Jack London. George Orwell. Walt Whitman. Tom Wolfe. Martha Gellhorn. Mark Twain. All journalists who became novelists. Will she ascend among their ranks? Who knows? However, she's going about it the right way, or should I say the write way. 

"I am a former newspaper and magazine reporter, editor, photographer and layout artist who has written countless articles and stories over the years. After a forced retirement from newspapers in 1996 due to health problems, I continued to write and published seven books with Saga Books of Calgary, Alberta. Due to the many recent changes in the book publishing industry, my publisher is changing course away from representing author’s books. Hence, I am now in the process of turning all of my works – which now total 10 – into ebooks, all of which will eventually be available on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and other on-line sites."

What is the one book you want us to read (title, genre, and availability)?

The one book that everyone should read is Playing With The Devil, which is available at Amazon.

Give us a one-sentence synopsis.

Playing With The Devil is a novel based on a true story of child abuse - dirty deeds in a secluded Newfoundland town by many of its most prominent citizens – that have never been addressed in a court of law. 

Who are the main characters and who would you like to see portray them in a movie?

1) Timmy, the oldest of 12 children, is the primary character. I see this boy being portrayed by 

Preston Bailey known for his roles in Children of the Corn, Dexter and Nothing But The Truth.

2) Helen is the self-serving and heartless mother. I see this horrible woman portrayed by Kristin Scott Thomas, known for her roles in Bitter Moon, The English Patient and Gosford Park.

Tell us about the story, but please don't reveal too much.

Playing With The Devil is rated ‘R’ because it is a novel based on a horrid case of child abuse - dirty deeds in a secluded Newfoundland town by many of its most prominent citizens. The oldest of 12 children shares how his own mother sold him and his siblings into sexual liaisons for as little as a loaf of bread. It is a wrenching account of what these kids suffered but now, over 50 years later, no one has ever been brought to justice. The courts have refused to act and the children, now adults, continue to suffer from horrible memories they will never forget. 

What inspired you to write this book and how long did it take?

I was inspired to write this book due to the fact that these children, now adults, are still suffering due to what happened to them as children. Aside from that, child abuse is an issue that has touched so many lives, including my own.

What other books have you written?

1. “Glimpses” True Stories of the Paranormal 
   
   
2. “Glimpses 2” (it could happen to you!)
   
   
3. Talking To My Angel (children)
   
   
4. The Man With The Magic Spectacles (young adult)
   
   
5. Blood Vengeance: (Cold Case #4-183) Not of this World 
   
   
6. Totally Scared: The Complete Book On Haunted Houses  
   
   
7. Phenomenal Paul: An Incredible True Tale of Insect-like Creatures & UFOS 
   
   
8. Terror In The Night I – Alien Abduction Exposed! 
   
   
9. The Borg Files – A Case of UFOs & Alien Abduction
   
   

Which authors inspired you, your style?

Since I was first a journalist, my influences were people like Mavis Gallant and Kathleen Kenna, who excelled in this field.

Where can we learn more about you and your books?

My author website, which I am still working on and will continue to periodically update

How can we follow you? 

Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc.

Is there anything else you would like us to know?

I also write a regular column on paranormal topics for the Examiner, and I provide professional services on a freelance basis, including book reviews and full manuscript editing.

How will we learn the lessons that history has to teach us if our teachers lie to us? School has a profound effect on children, even those like me who rebelled against authority. This lesson was drilled into me during the early days of the personal computing revolution. Apple invested heavily to influence children. They donated equipment to schools and children were weened on their products. As a result, they entered workplaces with a strong prejudice in favor of Apple and complained bitterly if forced to work on IBM or IBM-compatible computers. The battle took on religious overtones, much like the ideological battles that permeate politics these days. I was constantly amazed at the zealotry of the younger workers.

Combining the influence of educators with adolescents' natural inclination to rebel against their parents, it is easy to see how the political ideology of young adults has been molded by their teachers and professors. This result has the potential to do great harm when the scholastic curriculum is controlled by a state, especially one that is tyrannical. With every passing day, I find new evidence of the insidious nature of Common Core and thank God that I and my children escaped it. Now I worry about the influence it will have on my grandchildren.

Then I discover that the progressives were influencing education in the time that attended school in the late 1940s and early 1950s, even before. I should have known better, but I too was a victim of the propaganda that they infused into my studies.

This point was driven home with a vengeance when I picked up a copy of The Myth of the Robber Barons by Burton W. Fulsom, Jr. Although I am painfully aware of the unconstitutional growth of government in recent times and that it was largely facilitated on the back of the Interstate Commerce Act and a misinterpretation of the commerce clause of the Constitution, I was completely unaware of the manner in which the financial and industrial titans who helped build this great nation were unjustly vilified to help foist progressivism onto the American people. There is little hope of undoing the damage until these lessons are corrected in our history books and our children are taught the true nature of liberty and free markets.

Although Fulsom's book is a scholarly work, it is written in a conversational tone. The characters are three dimensional. Fulsom makes no effort to whitewash the Robber Barons. He merely puts them into perspective. The first step in this process is to divide them into two logical classes: The market entrepreneurs and the political entrepreneurs. 

Anyone who keeps up with current events will recognize the political entrepreneurs. They dominate today's headlines. Solindra. Sachs-Goldman. The crony capitalists that we love to hate. The ones who have sucked our national treasures dry. Unfortunately, the market entrepreneurs aren't readily visible today. We must read The Myth of the Robber Barons to find the last vestiges of them being driven from polite society in the modern equivalent of the Salem Witch Hunts. 

I feel sorry for any Millennial who reads this book and dreams of inventing, producing and marketing an innovative product or service. Venture capital is only available to the political entrepreneurs who curry favor in Washington. Market entrepreneurs are left with their dreams, languishing in their parents' basements, wondering how they will ever pay their scholastic loans.

I would love to see a film made of the Mandrake Hotel and Resort, but we would have to summon Eric Idle and the other members of Monty Python's Flying Circus from whatever alternate dimension they have escaped to, to make it. It's that kind of story.

Obviously, Monty Python isn't everyone's cup of tea and, logically, neither will the Mandrake Hotel and Resort to violence if necessary by Jared Ora Kintz. They're both very silly. However, if you are the type of person who enjoyed Monty Python, you must get this book. You're in for a treat.

John Cleese should be cast as Rot Kugelschreiber, the hotel's owner. After all, Cleese has experience in the hotel business as proprietor of Fawlty Towers. I would love to see him presiding over a resort featuring “hidden passageways, secret hallways, doors that lead to nowhere, windows to the soul, stairs that wind like windmills, rotating walls, beds disguised as couches, sink handles that open doors, elevators that double as community showers, a dungeon, a torture chamber, and even a screening room that plays an endless loop of the movie Battlefield Earth.” That should give Cleese ample room to spread his birdlike wings and silly walk to his heart's content.

Now before you dismiss all this as too absurd, let me point out that there is an extremely popular restaurant in San Clemente, California, just down the road from where I live, that offers a private dining room in a converted jail cell, an establishment that would fit right into the Mandrake Hotel. Also, a couple of hundred miles to the north, you may visit the Madonna Inn, that also offers theme rooms, everyone different, similar to the Mandrake Hotel. Thus, the author hasn't wandered too far afield from reality, just enough to invoke a sense of wonder.

Allow me to digress to the silliness of the Mandrake Hotel. Americans usually don't do silly very well. The British excel at it in venues such as Monty Python because it's so unexpected. They are simply too stiff and proper to be silly, however, to me, that's what makes them funny.

Fortunately, Kintz has been more restrained in his application of silly than most other Americans. He paints broad outlines of the characters as well as the Hotel and allows the reader to fill in the blanks to their own satisfaction. In fact, he has succeeded as only one other American author has in this genre, Max Shulman whom you may recognize as the author of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis which became a popular sitcom on American television during from 1959 to 1963. By the way, Shulman's story featured a quirky beatnik named Maynard G. Krebbs, played by Bob Denver who became popular as Gilligan on Gilligan's Island.

Monty Python. Max Shulman. Krintz is playing in the major leagues here. The Mandrake Hotel and Resort to violence only if necessary is a home run of their special brand of humor. 

Born in Salt Lake City on March 5th, 1982, Jarod grew up in Jacksonville, Florida and graduated with an English degree from the University of Florida. He has written many “books” but likes to use the term loosely; describing them as mostly just compilations of his random thoughts and one-liners. (Editor’s Note: Don’t believe a word of it, he’s brilliant!) A master of modesty, he probably won’t mention that (among his many writing achievements) he once sold a line of pithy t-shirts to Urban Outfitters. With characteristic humility, Jarod says, “But my story is just beginning. I plan on failing my way to success. I have been rejected by literary agents, publishers, MFA programs, and all sorts of women. But still I keep writing. Share yourself with the world. If there is one thing I like to impress upon people, it’s that you can do it, even if you can’t. Just keep can’ting until eventually you can. And you can quote me on that.”

For more info and a great selection of his funny quotes, visit Jarod’s website or follow him on Facebook, Goodreads & Twitter.

Honestly, we're all finding a lot of poorly written, poorly edited books these days. Typos are the least of their problems. Misplaced modifiers, run on sentences, misused homonyms, and erratic punctuation is just a short list of some others. Most are simply poor stories, poorly told. Sad, isn't it? Sure, the ebooks are cheaper, but it's annoying to waste time plowing through a chapter or two even when they're free.

Traditionally published books aren't much better. These usually have a decent plot and three-dimensional characters, but even those written by popular authors are fraught with errors that jar the reader's attention like speed bumps in a parking lot. They're not just poorly edited, many simply aren't edited at all. Publishers depend upon writers and spell check to deliver clean manuscripts because they laid off editors to cut costs.

Thus, we have to give an edge, a slight edge, to published authors over Indie or self-published authors. That's why I'm proud to say that my first novel, Rebels on the Mountain, was published by Gallivant Press, an imprint of Venture Galleries. Gallivant is the enterprise of two men, Caleb Pirtle and Stephen Woodfin, respected authors themselves. I was honored to be among the first writers that they chose to publish.

Should Amazon provide separate categories for published and Indie-authored books? Well, readers can at least depend upon the fact that published books passed some kind of test. They're at least good enough for someone other than the author to invest in publication and promotion. But, until publishers begin hiring editors again to clean up manuscripts and challenge authors to make them better, that's a scant advantage.

Although you can find two collections of my blog postings on Smashwords, Infantry School and Vietnam – A Soldier's Journals, I'm still not an Indie author. My first novel, Rebels on the Mountain, as well as two earlier books were published. The earlier books were traditionally published. Not only were they printed, but also they were edited because they were published in a time when the book market was thriving and the economy hadn't sunk so low. (You may choose your favorite scapegoat to kick down the road for this problem.)

Ultimately, I wish that my publisher would display their badge on the cover to let readers know they found my story compelling. That might just help me as well as other newly published authors become discovered. Also, you can bet that our publishers wouldn't mind seeing a healthier return on their investments. However, most importantly, it might just help readers make better choices from the myriad of books that are being published every day.

Visit FaceBook for a chance to win a free copy.