The Bad Student

To say I did poorly in elementary school would be a gross understatement. I was too immature, and should have been held back a year after the first grade. Anyway, I wasn't held back, but was pushed forward. I struggled to keep up with the other students. My mind constantly wandered, and I focused on everything except learning.

A boy named Edward Paul sat next to me in third grade and was an academic clone of myself. We were a deadly combination, and spent most of our time making "fart" jokes. In that day we called them "windies", which sounds much more sophisticated, don't you think? The teacher called both of our mothers. Edward was held back that year, but Bobby (they called me back then), was ushered on.

Who would have ever thought that I would publish a book one day? Well, that day has come.

My First Review: 4-Stars

My first review of my newly released thriller, The Monkey Toy, was just posted on Amazon. It was rated 4-Stars!

Please click here to check it out!

Excerpt from " The Monkey Toy"

     A cool fog set in from the harbor and the air was chilly. A taxi pulled up to the curb. Randy and Joe piled into the back and directed the cab driver to take them to Pier E, where the Royal was docked. The taxi driver looked confused, probably because he didn’t understand much English, but nodded, set the meter, and drove off in the direction of Pier E. As the driver turned his head, Randy was somewhat taken aback by the huge scar that ran down the side of his face, from his eyebrow to the corner of his mouth. Randy wondered to himself if he had received the wound in the war, or if he had been in some sort of accident.
     Randy and Joe sat in the back seat and discussed the night’s events. “Do you have any money left?” Randy asked Joe.

     Joe felt around in his pockets. “No, I thought you had some money left.”

     “I don’t. I left what change I had on the table for the tip,” Randy replied in disbelief.

     With a slight giggle, Joe asked, “How are we going to pay for the taxi?”

     The cab driver became suspicious and leaned over and looked in the rearview mirror at the two in the back seat.

     Randy whispered, “We’re going to have to do the old switcheroo!”

     The old switcheroo was a simple plan that they had put into action on numerous occasions before, when they had found themselves short of cash and needed to get back to the ship. They simply waited until they arrived at the ship, swung open the doors of the taxi, and ran like hell! They usually ran toward another ship and hid behind a trash dumpster to confuse the driver what ship they were from. After driving up and down the pier a few times, the frustrated and pissed off cabby would finally drive off and the sailors would go aboard their ship.

     Unfortunately, this was not the usual cabby, and although rather silent, he understood English very well, and knew exactly what they had planned.

     At that moment, the cab driver demanded payment for the ride in perfect English. Randy assured him he would be paid when they arrived at the pier. The cab driver immediately turned the taxi around in the opposite direction and began to pick up speed.

     “Jump out!” Randy yelled. But the taxi was going too fast and the driver locked the back doors automatically from the front.

     Randy and Joe were yelling obscenities at the driver when he turned off at a high rate of speed down a dark, secluded road. As the taxi skidded to a halt, the driver spun around and put a knife to Randy’s throat, barely piercing the skin. Joe began screaming.

            Click here to Purchase "The Monkey Toy"

The Beginnings of a Writer (Continued)

It has been an exciting week! After I posted the first part of The Beginnings of a Writer, my book, The Monkey Toy, has become available on Amazon.com. I did make time this week to write on my next book, too, and now it is time to continue telling you about my friend, Bob.

Yes, as teenagers, we wrote stories and put them in comic book format. Our stories and drawings were quite amusing. Mine looked like stick figures, and Bob's resembled da Vinci. As the summer ended and the drudgery of another school year began, I guess the stories must have ended up in the trash.

As I look back on that summer, I wish we would have had the foresight to have kept the stories and drawings. Both of us are now in our sixties and are still friends. It would've been such a hoot!

I'm excited to announce my new thriller, The Monkey Toy,

is NOW AVAILABLE on Amazon.com

 Buy Now

Book Description

During the Korean War, a Navy pilot collides with an unknown aircraft. A deadly component from the crash lands on a remote island beach, and remains there until it is discovered decades later. The story rapidly progresses to present day, when U.S. sailor Randy Farren finds the round, rose-colored object on an uninhabited Korean island, and begins experiencing headaches, hallucinations, and nightmares.

This story follows the journey of the mysterious object, and explores the effects it has on everyone who tries to possess it. Insanity, murder, government conspiracies, and hints of humor and romance are included in the race against time, as the fate of civilization hangs in the balance. The Monkey Toy takes the reader around the globe, and will challenge their imagination, keeping them guessing to the end.

The Beginnings of a Writer

I must have been about thirteen years old and I had this friend, Bob. Yes, another Bob. It was a very popular name for boys born in the 1940's. Anyway, that particular summer, we started writing stories about ourselves. In the stories, we were always in dire situations. We inevitably made ourselves out to be the heroes by saving mankind in the end.

Bob was also a very good artist, and is a well-known artist and illustrator to this day. On the other hand, I "could not draw flies." We made our stories into comic book format. Each square, or cell, I believe they call it, had the little cloud with an arrow positioned over each figure in the story as they spoke. Those were certainly good times and I remember those days with fondness. Please visit my blog next time for more of the story.