Greatest Athlete Ever

We can argue about the greatest athlete ever, but unless you said Jim Thorpe, you’d be wrong.

Jim Thorpe was simply the best. Whatever he saw you do, he could do better. And he did. In 1912 he went to the Olympics in Sweden and won. The King of Sweden handed him his gold medals and told him that he was the greatest athlete ever. Humble Jim Thorpe said, “Thanks, King.”

Before one day of racing he reached into his bag and his shoes were missing. Depending on the source, it may have been just one, maybe both. Someone found one (or two) shoes in the trash can. The shoes he wore didn’t match. One was too big so he wore an extra sock. He won. With mismatched, incorrectly sized shoes. Jim Thorpe didn’t just beat the competition (no one ran faster than him until 1948—we had to fight 2 world wars before anyone could do it faster), he beat the competition in someone else’s shoes.

Then, in 1913, it came out that Jim had played semi-professional baseball. Semi. Not full on, semi. In a sport that was not an Olympic sport at the time. Jim had played for the sake of playing not the money, but the Olympic committee striped his medals because he was not an amateur but a semi-professional.

This error was not corrected until nearly 30 years after Jim’s death.

Thirty years. Semi-pro baseball. Greatest Athlete Ever.

Fast forward. US Olympic basketball team in 2024 has made $4.7 Billion. And “won” a gold medal in the sport that pays them so well.

I hope every one of them chipped a tooth when they posed for the picture on the medal stand.

Just One More

Well I beat my previous record today. It wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought it might be. The first novel I finished took me 33 years from start to end. There were (obviously) a lot of hiccups along the way but Seafood Capital of the World, a historical fiction novel set in the Prohibition Era in Biloxi is finished. No success yet in querying it for a publisher, but it’s out there.

Novel number two was blisteringly faster at a mere 25 years. The Island War is a military thriller for the common soldier. One beta reader called it Blackhawk Down meets Jack Reacher. Their words, not mine, because my hero is a lowly Specialist just trying to make it through the deployment that turns into a war with absolutely zero plans to re-enlist. I finished it in November of 2023 and it felt good. It also has yet to have any takers in the querying process, but again, it is out there.

Now, number three is the bombdiggity bomb. I started the first chapter as a short story for Deceit, the anthology my writing group, Transcendent Authors, put out in Nov. It was sitting around the 8k mark until last December. Then I went to town. This morning (30 Apr 2024) I typed the final scene of the first draft. It needs some polishing, some developmental editing, and I’m still waiting on some research from the National Archives to arrive, but this historical fiction story is one that really, really tickled my fancy.

The story tells the tale of a Wehrmacht Major at the end of World War II who went to find an American tanker and enlist his help in defending some VIP prisoners that had been held in a castle in Austria. It is one of only two times that the Germans and Americans conducted joint operations against the Waffen SS. It happened in May of 1945 after the little Austrian corporal offed himself but before the Germans surrendered. It is a fantastic story worthy of the effort, and I can’t wait for someone to read it.

I’m tossing around titles and have settled on three possibilities: Just One More Man; One More Man; and Just One More. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Been a Long Time

While I haven’t forgotten about my old blog here, I haven’t written much in it either. I can blame being busy with other things, like going to the hardest military school I’ve ever attended or moving back across the Atlantic again, those are reasons and not excuses. The one thing that has maintained is my desire to write.

In just under a month, my anthology group, Transcendent Authors, will be releasing our next tome. This one is Deceit. They all vetoed my idea of printing the cover upside down, changing author’s names on stories, and just having blank pages. More than likely they were spot on. I’ll post more on what we did decide to do soon.

But this post is just something from the last year I haven’t really talked about much. I use Facebook as an online storage tool for my travel pictures and videos. Their recent change to only allow Livestreams to exist for a month notwithstanding. Having an unlimited amount of storage online is awesome, but one of the greatest features is that every day I can check my memories and see what I was doing on this day in past years. Today’s memory featured this gem about reading. It tickled me when I wrote it, It tickled me when I read it. So I thought I’d share it here. For context, last year I watched the Lincoln Lawyer on Netflix which inspired me to read every Michael Connelly book in less than six months. This was how it went:

After watching The Lincoln Lawyer (LL) on Netflix I watched the movie then started reading the books. knowing there was the Bosch series as well indecoded to just them as they came. Sure enough after LL2, it said read Bosch (B) 14.

So I read on. Kept going. Then hit a Bosch book that was Renee Ballard (RB) 3. Couldn’t find RB 1, so I went with RB 2 where she met Bosch, meaning RB 1 was just her.

Whatever. Finished Lincoln Lawyer books, then Ballard books and went for Bosch books.

They started in 92. After B 1, I read B 3, then B 2. Don’t do that but I’m on track. Yesterday I finished B 6 and started B 7 to find out it’s Terry McCaleb (TM) 2. What?

So I found a used bookstore and picked up TM 1, Jack McEvoy 1 (no clue who he is but he’s probably coming in sooner or later), an unrelated Michael Connelly book, and Bosch 8.

Or, in more succinct language, TL, DR: found a used bookstore in Huntsville.

The Most Jeanette Thing to Do

Earlier in the day (3 Feb) I contemplated the news of three years prior when my father passed away. I thought about sharing the eulogy I had written for him and spoke at his service a few days later. It remains one of the most read things I have ever posted on my website. But life gets in the way and I proceeded on to think of him but not write.

Until about 2300, or 11 pm for those not comfortable with the 24-hour clock. Ginger called to tell me that her mother had passed. Three years to the day and at nearly the same time of day. Even though her relationship with us was estranged, emotions roll, thoughts collide, and actions stall. Phone calls, text messages, WhatsApp messages and calls, Facebook Messenger messages and calls, FaceTime calls, the communication methods go on and on. It boils down to calls, texts, and messages galore.

The upcoming autopsy will reveal she died of hate and maliciousness. Meanwhile, Ginger will tell me my filter isn’t on because I said that out loud.

I recall a time back in the mid-80s when several relatives passed away at the same time of year. Mama Kay and Mama Byrd passed on 30 Nov of 83 and 84, respectively. It made my Mom dread National Holiday Month for many years. I do not believe I will have a similar reaction to this event, but only time will tell. As I relayed the news to Lizi that her Grandmother passed on the three-year anniversary of Pawpaw’s passing, she made the quote of the day. It was a very Jeanette thing for her to try to steal his day.

Winter is Coming But Not a GRRM Reference

The season will be here soon, as evidenced by the cooler mornings even down here in sunny Alabama. But the title is more about the release of the next Transcendent Author short story anthology.

Winter: An End and a Promise is available for pre-order on Amazon here.

As we have in the past, there will be a live Meet the Author event. It will be on 29 October at 1100 CDT. If you would like to attend you will need to register. In advance is best, but you can also register while the event is going on. To register, click here. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

I hope to see you there.

The Thermostat

Every time an author finishes a story, they think it is the best one they have written so far. And they’re probably right. This third anthology (Spring—The Unexpected) contains two of my best works ever: The Quilt, and The Thermostat.

As a part of that, I have also recorded a short video of me reading an excerpt. Take a watch and let me know what you think.

If you go to my YouTube channel there are other readings, or you can go to the Transcendent Author webpage for more on the anthologies, the group, or just readings from the other stories.

Meet the Transcendent Authors Event

Tomorrow morning, 2 Apr 2022 at 1100 CDT, we are having a Zoom meeting to celebrate the publishing of our third anthology, Spring—The Unexpected.

After each of the first two books we had similar events and they only grow in size and popularity. There will be prizes for attendees as well as brief interview questions of the authors with a chance for questions from attendees, too.

Registration is required, though if you want you can put it off until right before you log in.

The link to register and to join the Zoom is: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwvdu-sqzMpGNHKskeZ93eQPKS5xN39ziH9

Hope to see you there!

Spring has sprung!

Spring has sprung,

The Grass has ris.

I wonder where the flowers is.

And in other news, Spring—The Unexpected has launched.

My two stories for this one are The Quilt and The Thermostat. I believe that they are two of the best short stories I have ever written.

The Quilt: A handmade quilt made of a patchwork of materials becomes a treasured object full of memories and meaning as a young couple grows into a family. The pieces of life are woven into a blanket of love with a twist.

The Thermostat: Thermometers, thermostats, and Alzheimer’s. In any given setting the temperature can be told by thermometers or changed by the thermostat. One man’s attempt at change burns through the fog of memory loss at the end of life.

Almost Here

Last week we ran into unexpected issues with the cover for our new anthology of short stories. For several days I believed we would have to delay the launch of the new book, but after a hectic round of emails, nasty notes, and confusing discussions on fonts and colors we are back on track for a launch date of Thursday 31 March 2022.

Like any author, I’m proud of the stories I have written. The two I have in this volume are two of the best I’ve ever written. One is called The Quilt, about a trusty bed covering that was more about when and where it was than what it was. The second is The Thermostat about someone close to the end and struggling with Alzheimer’s. There is joy, heartbreak, and warmth all rolled up into the frequently crazy temperature changes.

There will be more news here soon. There will be a launch party (or two) and a Meet the Author session soon. For now though, I’m just happy to know it’s still on track.

Babyn Yar

It’s been a while. A long while. I can tell because the last post I made was promoting the most recent anthology my group and I published and there will be another collection coming out at the end of the month (31 March 2022). This post is not about that.

Between the end of August and those posts promoting Autumn an Anthology I also had a strong desire to post about Afghanistan and what happened—not merely the pullout but about our entire collaboration in the country. It is still very near and dear to my heart but no matter how many times I started it, I was not able to finish it. This post is not about that.

What it is about is what’s going on in Ukraine.

Some of it is information, some of it misinformation. I guess that makes it the same as every other newsworthy event and several of the non-newsworthy events that we still end up seeing ad infinitum on televisions, newspapers, magazines, and for those under a certain age, yes, the internet.

The item that prompted my post was hearing about the bombing of Babyn Yar, the Ukrainian name for the site of a mass execution of Jews by the Nazis in 1941. No mention will be made here of the “other” name being used for the site because that’s the Russian name for it and why would we use that one? It’s disconcerting to me that the entire first page of search results (no matter the engine I use) does not include the actual site’s webpage, so I included it here https://babynyar.org/en/.

I knew nothing about the massacre until Putin decided it was a target. And then I spent an hour learning about the site, the details, and what has been pieced together of what happened. Absolutely fascinating history. A Jewish friend told me that the bombing was misinformation—it wasn’t actually targeted or hit—but I can’t find anything about that because it is too newsworthy an item. It underscores the insanity of the Russian actions against Ukraine.

To me, the bombing is something that had the absolute opposite affect intended. The bombing was intended to wipe out the memory of the event, just as the Soviets tried to do during their time in control of Ukraine. I have learned much about the incident, the history, and now have a desire to go to the site more than any other Holocaust site I’ve been to (for those keeping score they include Dachau, Flossenbürg, and Aushwitz). But ultimately there is an incredible parallel here that no one seems to be talking about.

The Holocaust happened because of misguided racial thinking (an understatement to say the least). The little Austrian Corporal and his associates viewed the Jews, and many others, as non-humans. The treated them like livestock, unwanted livestock. Now I could go into details of their actions that proved they really thought otherwise, but non-humans is the stated reason. They did not consider Jews to be human.

Putin has not now nor has he ever considered Ukraine a country. He has stated as such (if you believe the news articles) and tolerated their “attempts” at democracy and self-government all the while waiting for a chance to come back in and set them straight. He classifies his invasion of a sovereign country as just helping out the rightful rulers, those who are sycophants that would treat Ukranian sovereignity as a vassal state to Mother Russia. In his mind, he is in the right. As did the Nazis. Both were wrong.

Currently, Finland and Sweden—two neutral countries—are considering joining NATO. That’s harsh. But what is more harsh is that Switzerland has imposed sanctions. Making the Swiss pick a side is the most clear indication of all that things in the Ukraine are off.

I will be back posting again soon, about the forthcoming book and hopefully my website changes. Until then peruse the website for the Babyn Yar Memorial and learn more about this fascinating piece of history.