Gerald Everett Jones's Blog: Gerald Everett Jones - Author, page 5
April 2, 2025
Very Off Topic (VOT)
Recently, an esteemed subscriber to Thinking About Thinking replied to an e-blast with the cryptic:
VOT?
I had to look it up, as I might with many new -isms in the Urban Dictionary.
Off topic?!I want to resist the tempation to get upset here.
But what about self-expression don’t you understand?
To paraphrase Leslie Gore, “It’s my blog and I’ll cry if I wanna.”
That said, my more considered response would be more to the point (or topic, if you prefer). Much of the time, I’m posting book reviews, mainly about literary fiction. It’s prestige by association, you see.
As the Amazon ads might say, If you like Shakespeare, you may also like Gerald.
Fun fact
Gerald is a Welsh name meaning spear-shaker.
Recent posts were not reviews but musings on topics that at least intrigued me.
The Petrodollar Is More Important Than You Think
and
The reasons for my mind straying in these directions were perhaps not obvious to you, but both of these topics speak to anxieties I’ve written about in my novels.
As to the petrodollar, several of my books, including Rubber Babes, Preacher Fakes a Miracle, and Harry Harambee’s Kenyan Sundowner, have subplots that involve international money laundering. If the petrodollar moves to cryptocurrency, it will be awash among funds generated by the likes of cartels, human traffickers, and arms dealers.
As to whether my Preacher Evan Wycliff mystery novels are Christian fiction, that’s a question I’ve fretted about. It should be apparent that I’m not writing for the blindly faithful. If you think that every word of scripture was dictated literally by the divine, both Evan and I would disagree with you, but our explanations based on historical research would have no effect. If, on the other hand, you occasionally catch yourself looking in the mirror and doubting the immortality of your soul - or whether you have a soul at all - you're somewhere between agnostic and fickle, which is understandable, human, and (I’d say) forgivable.
I asked AI to generate a cartoon illustrating VOT without giving the bot any clues about how to render the concept. Here’s the result. Feel free to comment (no restrictions!) or just discuss over a glass shared among friends.
Creating off-topic may stimulate innovation. You might go where no one else would or could. Rock on and fear not!
March 9, 2025
Murder Mystery and Mayhem Laced with Morality
Links to this episode:
The audiobook of Mick & Moira & Brad: A Romantic Comedy is serialized on the Podcast tab of this blog - available at no extra charge to Paid subscribers.
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March 5, 2025
For Survival and Sustainability
The news these days is all about evil tech. Nasty gossip in social media forces us into mental silos and opposing camps. AI will surely turn on us, and we will no longer be the masters of our fate (if we ever were).
I don’t think so. Here’s how I suggest we reframe our thoughts.What’s going on? Is this the beginning of the end?
Until now, the human race has survived mainly because our species is clever and highly adaptable. It seems as though we have invented tools just when we needed them. Many of these inventions were first used as weapons, but so far their peaceful applications have been lasting and beneficial.
Consider, then, that humans invented the Internet at just the point in our evolutionary progress that we need instantaneous global communication to solve problems on a planetary scale.
You may say, “Ridiculous! Look at the abuses!”
To which I respond, “Have you ever lived with an angry teenager?”
The Internet is young and not yet mature. As children enter their teens, they become hyper-aware of their standing in social groups. They may taunt and tease each other. They may bully or cower. They begin to have strong opinions and give full vent to their emotions.
When they are fearful and feeling vulnerable because they know they lack experience, they may ask their parents for advice. They may then rebuke the giver, insisting no one has the right to order them around.
I believe we can and we will use our planetary consciousness to guide our actions as a community.
Please talk among yourselves!
February 23, 2025
Is This "Christian Fiction?"
I’ve been asked the question by interview hosts, and more than one book publicist has warned me, “It’s a third rail.”
To the extent that Christian fiction is a formal genre, I haven’t read a lot of it. I have a passing familiarity with the Left Behind series, and certainly I’ve seen apocalyptic movies based on the End of Times, such as Megiddo.
My presumption is - and perhaps it’s ill-informed - in the strictest sense, Christian fiction assumes an audience of the faithful. Faith is either a given from the first page, or expected on the last.
Admittedly, the reluctant investigator of my Preacher Evan Wycliff mystery novels is a doubter. But he’s also a believer. It’s just that some days are better for him than others.
Here’s the engine of drama: People in his small farm community bring him problems that no one else has any interest in solving. His curse (or blessing) is an obsessively curious mind. He’s not only asking himself on a daily basis, “Who am I? What am I here for?” but he also sucks up seemingly impossible quests like so much storm debris for his churning wood chipper.
He grew up as a farm boy in the outlying fields and pastures of Appleton City, Missouri. His folks were Southern Baptists, and he was a student minister. It was natural to assume he’d been called to the profession. But when he attended Harvard Divinity on scholarship, he became disillusioned when he learned more about the abuses of Christian history. He dropped out and took up astrophysics at MIT, then dropped out again, having hoped for more certain answers than he got.
Now he’s back in farm country. He will admit he’s a doubter, some days. He thought he’d get by working as a guest preacher, but then when the old pastor retired, everyone expected Evan to step into the full-time role. That was during Covid. When he attended a near-death experience and an unexpected recovery from long-term coma, some folks began to think he could work miracles.
So - Christian fiction? Maybe there should be “Christian fiction - for the rest of us.”
There are always more questions than answers.
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February 20, 2025
The Petrodollar Is More Important Than You Think
Since World War II, with roots extending decades back, the United States has primarily exerted its international influence - not by wars - but by manipulating financial markets.
Prussian General Karl Von Clausewitz stated:
War is the continuation of politics by other means.
(and, I’d say, vice versa)
Presumably, waging competition with money rather than bullets and bombs is kinder and gentler. Certainly, the impacts are less immediately visible.
Credit Canva for generating this cartoon. I was going to edit the text in the speech balloons, then I realized that the dialogue makes no sense to anybody.
In the current world order, use of financial influence to avoid hot war is most obvious in the imposition of economic sanctions. If you follow the headlines, you no doubt know sanctions exist against Russia, Iran, and North Korea - to name the ones we hear the most about. The US hasn’t targeted these countries unilaterally but in concert with economic allies. Undoubtedly, the American influence is the greatest because of the size of its economy.
February 16, 2025
My Audiobook Is a Deep Fake!
Recently, Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) advised me that some of my titles were “eligible” for automatic conversion to audio. (Did a robot select them? Some didn’t qualify.) The program was in beta at the time.
I tried the automatic conversion on my short nonfiction essay, “11 Ways to Spot Fake News.” This little book is part of my White Collar Migrant Worker series. These coffee-break-short books offer advice on making a living in the gig economy along with sundry lessons learned from my exceptional career of making mistakes in the business world.
“11 Ways” is excerpted from my cautionary textbook How to Lie with Charts, which is supplementary courseware for some college courses in marketing and financial reporting.
The result sounded surprisingly natural, even friendly. It was somewhat monotone, but sounding less like a mechanical bot than a bored instructor. The process had some bugs, such as when the voice said “dash” instead of taking a brief pause. Such mistakes were rare, though.
It was hardly surprising that rendering illustrations was be problematic. The AI speaker is not programmed to describe the graphics. However, it will read the caption if there is one. A further tip is to tag all images with alternative text, a feature originally intended to aid the visually impaired. The robot will not skip over those.
I also sampled results from converting one of my mystery novels. But dialogue is troublesome, particularly if the author omits attributions, as I often do if the speaker is obvious. Human speakers readily shift their tone of voice or accent to suggest characterization. Our newbie robots don’t.
A few days ago, KDP updated the recording, presumably resolving some of the reported bugs.
For lecture-style presentations, I’d say this process is a quick publishing tool for authors.
As for the audience, those recordings are great if you need the information. But the performance won’t make those lectures any more entertaining.
What do you think? The audiobook is available from Amazon and Audible.
I tried to tell them it’s how NOT to…
February 9, 2025
Meetup on Academia.edu?
I uploaded my research paper Deconstructing the “Scandalous Narrative of the Baptism,” which documents my 20 years of data drilling to uncover the story that inspired my historical novel Bonfire of the Vanderbilts.
That paper and my essay The Death of Hypatia and the End of Fate can be downloaded for free from the site.
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February 2, 2025
Preacher Fakes a Miracle
He's returned to his small-town farm roots in Southern Missouri. He is also disappointed in love. His beautiful fiancé was a brilliant Jewish scientist, a defense contractor who was killed in a rocket attack in Syria. These days Evan gets guest preacher gigs and uses his investigative skills as skip tracer for the local car and tractor dealership.
In this second novel in the series, Evan counsels a boy who is afflicted with schizophrenia and has been accused of rape. Along with related abuses of the child welfare system, he uncovers a teen trafficking ring run out of a luxury casino resort by a Russian oligarch.
Kindle / EPUB reduced to $2.99
This is literature masquerading as a mystery. Carefully yet powerfully, Gerald Jones creates a small, stunning world in a tiny midwestern town, infusing each character with not just life but wit, charm and occasionally menace. This is the kind of writing one expects from John Irving or Jane Smiley. - Marvin J. Wolf, author of the Rabbi Ben Mysteries, including A Scribe Dies in Brooklyn
Some troubled teens are in much more trouble than they realize.The gentrification of Missouri farmland has brought not only casino culture but also investors and influencers from all over the world. Evan Wycliff, a lapsed Baptist minister and unconfessed agnostic, often gets dragged into dealing with problems others have given up solving. There's an orphanage that serves young women, and some get placed in part-time work at the lakeside resorts.
They're supposed to be working in the laundry. But some have been pushed upstairs.
And then one went missing...
From M.J. Richards, Coauthor of Dishonor Thy Father:
A fast-moving mystery with twists and surprises that take you in unexpected directions. Jones is adept at creating unique and fascinating characters. His mystery sleuth is a part-timer with lots of heart who splits his time between religion, skip tracing and sometimes the metaphysical. The hero's search for a missing girl and his interactions with various eccentric individuals in the small town make him both sympathetic and compelling. A bit of a shock to learn what's really going on with the abducted young unwed mother... and amazing how it relates to real stories in the news today.
From Pamela Jaye Smith, Mythworks, Award-Winning Writer-Director-Producer:
As anyone who’s spent time in a small town the American Midwest knows, there’s a lot more going on behind the scenes than you’d expect. Or suspect. And there are plenty of suspects in the latest Evan Wycliff mystery by Gerald Everett Jones. Preacher Fakes a Miracle haunted my dreams as I read it, in the way that a good story about a bad situation should. I’m looking forward to reading the next installment of the Evan Wycliff mystery series.
From Morrie Ruvinsky, Author of Meeting God or Something Like It and The Heart and Other Strangers:
This time the Preacher digs even deeper, faster, and funnier than his prize-winning debut. It’s just what you’d expect, except everything you expect is wrong because the Preacher, in the very talented hands of Gerald Jones, is always at least a step ahead in this very satisfying second time out of the gate.
They bring him problems no one else wants to solve.
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January 30, 2025
Animal Commication in the Afterlife?
Here’s the press release for Rebecca Schaper’s inspiring new memoir. I worked with her as book coach and editor. Our first colloboration was in 2018 on her book The Light in His Soul: Lessons from My Brother’s Schizophrenia.
GreyHawk Media announces the forthcoming release on April 8 of Rebecca Schaper’s second inspirational memoir, Roses to Rainbow: My Dog Gus in the Afterlife. The author’s first book, which appeared in 2018, was The Light in His Soul: Lessons from My Brother’s Schizophrenia. That intensely personal story won acclaim in the mental-health community, as well as from challenged individuals and caregivers in all walks of life.
Thinking About Thinking subscribers can request review copies using this link. Choose PDF, Kindle, or EPUB format for download. You can post your review on the Amazon book page on or after April 8, or sooner on Goodreads.
Available for Kindle preorder now. Trade paperback and ebook release date April 8.
Both books show how Schaper has dealt with profound personal losses. Each is a milestone in her journey toward her mission in the healing arts. The Light in His Soul tells the story of her brother Call, who as a young man left the family home abruptly after their mother’s suicide. He was then missing, at times homeless, for 20 years. When he finally made himself known, he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, where upon his sister took on the struggle to restore him to wholeness. For the next 14 years together, they faced the dark traumas and memories of their past.
Author Rebecca Schaper (Photo by Marion Yarger-Ricketts)
About that book, Jim Hayes, board member of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) said:
This delightful story is a must-read for anyone who loves another soul living with mental health issues. Rebecca shows us that the wonderful parts are still there, such as genuine love, humor, compassion, and deep spirituality, even when hidden by the illness. Recovery really can happen. Read this story and leave with hope!
Rediscovering hope is also the theme of Roses to Rainbow. After the sudden, unexpected passing of Rebecca Schaper’s remarkable dog Gus in late 2023, she consulted animal communicator Sunny Mann, beginning a lengthy and revealing correspondence. Sunny reported her dialogue with Gus in the afterlife at various times throughout the next year. This moving story includes the transcripts of those psychic sessions, along with Rebecca’s notes from her daily journal as she responds to both earthly and spiritual guidance from Gus.
His spirit describes his life in both worlds, and he urges her to embrace fully her life contract as a shamanic practitioner and healer.
On reading the draft manuscript, Sunny wrote Rebecca:
Due to Gus, I have been able to transfer so many skills from my past lives, learned new modalities and am helping so many people. His role has been super significant in my life too because I have a better understanding of afterlife and life itself, of people, of collective consciousness and purpose. You have no idea where it has steered me.
Regardless of readers’ beliefs about death and dying, the dauntless courage she displays in her journal as her heart responds to the voice of her dear companion is sure to inspire and uplift.
Roses to Rainbow: My Dog Gus in the Afterlife will be released in trade paperback and Kindle on April 8. Preorders for the Kindle edition are available now.
Learn more at rebeccaschaper.com.
Her first memoir, published in 2018.
December 29, 2024
Book Review: 'Figure Drawing' by Gabrielle Dahms
I’m more familiar with the writer’s challenge when facing a blank page. But as a kid, I believe I began to sketch in earnest when I was ten. In high school I took up painting in watercolor, then oil. I use some of the digital tools now, but mostly for book illustrations and social-media posts.
It’s a right-brain kinda book!
When I wrote Bonfire of the Vanderbilts about the Belle Epoque painter Julius LeBlanc Stewart, I studied both his training under teachers such as Gerome, as well as the meticulous oil techniques he developed for his figurative event paintings.
Inspired by Picasso and Matisse. What did they teach her?
I’m sharing some of my background in the subject by way of explaining why I admire Gabrielle Dahms’ Figure Drawing series so much. As of now, it’s two volumes. The first is Rhythm and Language of the Human Form, and the second is its companion workbook.
A sheet of quick gestural drawings. Rather like automatic writing? You could get those impressions on paper almost before you know you have them.
There are myriad how-to books on all kinds of art instruction. As you will appreciate if you’ve consulted any such training manuals, they can be variously difficult to follow, tedious, or downright boring. Stepwise instruction might be appropriate for computer programmers, but the artist’s mindset literally uses the other side of the brain!
Volume 2 is a workbook. Apply the approaches she describes in Volume 1.
Gabrielle is a colleague and friend. And until now she’s authored a series of practical guides on real estate and financial investing. No question - the left side of her brain is working perfectly fine.
But what Figure Drawing achieves is a description of her artistic process - from the viewpoint of her personal journey. I’m reminded of The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. Although broadly addressed to creative people generally, that book has become a favorite of writers for its insights on purpose and process.
The artist who wants to draw must first learn how to observe, then how to see. The how-to approaches in other books might talk about evolving form from the basic Euclidian shapes, and that’s all appropriate for the mechanics of deconstructing a form.
Yes, the two volumes of Figure Drawing are sufficiently practical and technical to rival any how-to manual. But the experience Gabrielle shares is not just as if she were looking over your shoulder in the studio - you’re getting inside her head.
Gabrielle Dahms is a renaissance woman: artist, author, presenter, and entrepreneur. She holds a master’s in history and loves to research and write. Her Figure Drawing books impart technical and artistic considerations and knowledge when drawing the human figure.The books cull teachings from over four decades of drawing the figure. ─ Her other nonfiction publications include the titles in The Real Estate Investor Manuals series, and hundreds of articles and blog posts about real estate. When away from the keyboard, she enjoys nature, travel, and other cultures. She also volunteers for local food banks and animal welfare causes.
Gerald Everett Jones - Author
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