Julius JE Thompson's Blog, page 3
July 2, 2021
Jumpstarting Your Inner Novelist!
Jump Starting Your Inner Novelist is a concise manual that provides inspiration, motivation and practical tools for crafting award-winning novels.
Musings, Thoughts and Goals for the Budding Author from
Jumpstarting Your Inner Novelist!
After teaching Creative Writing and Publishing at Evening at Emory University Writer’s Studio for nine years and writing four published novels, including a national gold medal winner in the fiction genre, I decided to record my thoughts and ideas about creating successful novels and weave them into a practical guide for writers.
During my years at Evening at Emory, I helped students fine-tune their skills concerning all stages of the writing process: from first draft to the day of publication. This guide, co-authored by my friend and editor, Dennis De Rose, will provide you with a set of tools to help you address issues such as developing captivating scenes, creating vivid descriptive specific details, living in the setting, editing and grammar and other crucial elements to help you write a potentially successful novel.
Best of Luck and God Bless
Julius Thompson
Dwayne Morris: A Former Evening at Emory Student’s Perspective
"When I sat in a big, chilly classroom and heard this powerfully-built, swift talking man say that in four months, I will have written a novel, I thought, he’s crazy. I'd been nibbling around, working with disjointed stories, random scenes, and one-dimensional characters for years and was lucky to cobble together a 4,000-word short story. I'd have to see it to believe it, a complete novel in four months.
Four months later, another student and I were laying out dozens of finished chapters on tables in that same refrigerated classroom. While doing this, that same swift-talking man, Julius Thompson, chuckled as he snapped photos of his graduates, each one beaming over their first completed novels. Seeing is believing."
—D.A. Morris
Purchase Jumpstarting Your Inner Novelist:
https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/juliu...
Musings, Thoughts and Goals for the Budding Author from
Jumpstarting Your Inner Novelist!
After teaching Creative Writing and Publishing at Evening at Emory University Writer’s Studio for nine years and writing four published novels, including a national gold medal winner in the fiction genre, I decided to record my thoughts and ideas about creating successful novels and weave them into a practical guide for writers.
During my years at Evening at Emory, I helped students fine-tune their skills concerning all stages of the writing process: from first draft to the day of publication. This guide, co-authored by my friend and editor, Dennis De Rose, will provide you with a set of tools to help you address issues such as developing captivating scenes, creating vivid descriptive specific details, living in the setting, editing and grammar and other crucial elements to help you write a potentially successful novel.
Best of Luck and God Bless
Julius Thompson
Dwayne Morris: A Former Evening at Emory Student’s Perspective
"When I sat in a big, chilly classroom and heard this powerfully-built, swift talking man say that in four months, I will have written a novel, I thought, he’s crazy. I'd been nibbling around, working with disjointed stories, random scenes, and one-dimensional characters for years and was lucky to cobble together a 4,000-word short story. I'd have to see it to believe it, a complete novel in four months.
Four months later, another student and I were laying out dozens of finished chapters on tables in that same refrigerated classroom. While doing this, that same swift-talking man, Julius Thompson, chuckled as he snapped photos of his graduates, each one beaming over their first completed novels. Seeing is believing."
—D.A. Morris
Purchase Jumpstarting Your Inner Novelist:
https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/juliu...
June 25, 2021
Thompson On...Setting In a Novel!
Where am I?
This is a question you DON’T want your readers to dwell on as they turn the pages of your novel.
Picking the setting of a novel is obviously a critical step.
You must craft a vivid and realistic setting to act as a canvass for your characters to perform. This setting/sense of place must be credible.
When you read great works of fiction, you know immediately where and what time period you are in. For example, Walter Mosley puts you in early fifties’ Los Angeles in Devil in a Blue Dress, Harper Lee sets you in the early twentieth century south in To Kill A Mockingbird and F. Scott Fitzgerald sets you in the roaring twenties in The Great Gatsby.
You must give your reader a sense of place and this will make it easier for your readers to exist in the “Fictive Dream” of your novel’s world.
A great author once said: “Characters interact with setting/sense of place as if its’ another character. The setting/place of place will change the character. In a different sense of place the characters will be different. The setting/sense of place will change the characters.”
In crafting your novel, ask yourself a couple of questions. What is the relationship of a particular setting to your novel’s main characters? Can you imagine him/her in a different setting?
What happens in novels, when the protagonists appear in a new setting—what does that appearance in a new setting have to do with “what the book is about”?
For example, my point of view character, Andy Michael Pilgrim, lived, interacted and changed in the three novels of the Julius Thompson Trilogy: A Brooklyn in Brooklyn, Philly Style and Philly Profile and Ghost of Atlanta.
In the progression of the trilogy, Andy’s early adult life was shaped by growing up in Brooklyn, New York and in the move to Philadelphia he was shocked in his young adult life watching the influence of drugs and gangs destroy young people’s lives. Finally, in returning to his beginnings in Atlanta, Georgia, as an adult, he was shaped by the negative memories of his past.
The three cities were major characters and forced Andy Michael Pilgrim to react as if he was confronting another living person in each novel.
As you craft your novel, ask yourself, “Where does the action take place?”
In reading your novel, the must reader learn pretty quickly in what place and time the story unfolds—in other words, where in time and space the story “is set.”
The setting is the backbone of your novel, upon which you will build a cast of dynamic characters. Research your setting so you can add very, very specific details to make your setting as realistic as possible. You must be very descriptive in your setting to pull and keep people reading your book.
In choosing the setting for your novel, ask yourself these questions:
1. What year is it?
2. What City and town do your characters live in?
3. What is the weather like?
4. What season is it?
5. What type of architecture is found in your setting?
6. What is the setting of your Novel?
7. How do you paint a picture of the setting in the reader’s head?
I hope these hints help you create realistic settings for your novels or short stories.
Happy Writing!!!!!!
This is a question you DON’T want your readers to dwell on as they turn the pages of your novel.
Picking the setting of a novel is obviously a critical step.
You must craft a vivid and realistic setting to act as a canvass for your characters to perform. This setting/sense of place must be credible.
When you read great works of fiction, you know immediately where and what time period you are in. For example, Walter Mosley puts you in early fifties’ Los Angeles in Devil in a Blue Dress, Harper Lee sets you in the early twentieth century south in To Kill A Mockingbird and F. Scott Fitzgerald sets you in the roaring twenties in The Great Gatsby.
You must give your reader a sense of place and this will make it easier for your readers to exist in the “Fictive Dream” of your novel’s world.
A great author once said: “Characters interact with setting/sense of place as if its’ another character. The setting/place of place will change the character. In a different sense of place the characters will be different. The setting/sense of place will change the characters.”
In crafting your novel, ask yourself a couple of questions. What is the relationship of a particular setting to your novel’s main characters? Can you imagine him/her in a different setting?
What happens in novels, when the protagonists appear in a new setting—what does that appearance in a new setting have to do with “what the book is about”?
For example, my point of view character, Andy Michael Pilgrim, lived, interacted and changed in the three novels of the Julius Thompson Trilogy: A Brooklyn in Brooklyn, Philly Style and Philly Profile and Ghost of Atlanta.
In the progression of the trilogy, Andy’s early adult life was shaped by growing up in Brooklyn, New York and in the move to Philadelphia he was shocked in his young adult life watching the influence of drugs and gangs destroy young people’s lives. Finally, in returning to his beginnings in Atlanta, Georgia, as an adult, he was shaped by the negative memories of his past.
The three cities were major characters and forced Andy Michael Pilgrim to react as if he was confronting another living person in each novel.
As you craft your novel, ask yourself, “Where does the action take place?”
In reading your novel, the must reader learn pretty quickly in what place and time the story unfolds—in other words, where in time and space the story “is set.”
The setting is the backbone of your novel, upon which you will build a cast of dynamic characters. Research your setting so you can add very, very specific details to make your setting as realistic as possible. You must be very descriptive in your setting to pull and keep people reading your book.
In choosing the setting for your novel, ask yourself these questions:
1. What year is it?
2. What City and town do your characters live in?
3. What is the weather like?
4. What season is it?
5. What type of architecture is found in your setting?
6. What is the setting of your Novel?
7. How do you paint a picture of the setting in the reader’s head?
I hope these hints help you create realistic settings for your novels or short stories.
Happy Writing!!!!!!
Consult with Julius...Scene Construction!
Scene Construction: A Difference Maker!
Novels are driven by incredible scene construction!
How a writer handles scenes will make a difference between a manuscript that sells, and one that ends up in the slush pile or the author receiving a rejection letter via email or in the mail.
A scene is a unit of drama in a novel.
The concept of a scene in fiction comes from theater, where it describes the action that takes place in a single setting.
The scene as we know it in modern genre fiction is heavily influenced by Hollywood. Life in the 21st century genre novel is a series of quick, dramatic flashes.
When you flesh out a scene, you must either create a show scene or a tell scene to advance your storyline. This will affect your pacing. You can speed up with tell scenes and slow down with show scenes.
When I was writing A Brownstone in Brooklyn, there was a big show scene-sequence in the afternoon, with the evening uneventful and nothing happening---a prelude—to the riots in Brooklyn that rocked the borough.
The next day the riots started!
How I handled this sequence was to create tremendous show scenes for the day before the riots, then tell scenes in the evening, but the next day I was creating show scenes with specific sensory details.
Now, the reader was in the moment and experiences the riots as the flames ate away at the buildings on Nostrand Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant. They smelled the acrid smoke and saw the building crumble.
If I had created show scenes for the evening before the riot, then I would be overwriting and slowed the novel down and the pacing would have been off mark.
When you create scenes with great show/don’t tell scenes you want to do six things:
A. Possible Scene Format:
a. Scene One: Show Scene
b. Scene Two: Transition/Tell Scene
c. Scene Three: Show Scene
B. A scene has the following three-part pattern: Goal, Conflict and Disaster.
Goal: Your goal is to convincingly show your POV (Point OF View) Character experiencing the scene. (For Example, in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, you are standing next to Atticus Finch as Tom Ewell spits in his face. You experience the spit dripping down Finch’s face)
As you construct scenes, you must do this so powerfully that your reader experiences the scene as if he/she were the POV Character. Your reader will identify with the character.
Conflict: is the obstacles your POV character faces on the way to reaching his goal.
Disaster: is a failure to let your POV character reach his goal. Don’t give him the goal without any conflict. Do Not Make It Easy!
C. A scene has three other important elements.
External Motivation: The objective can be in this paragraph. It does not need to be complicated.
Internal Motivation: Internal scream: Present it exactly as your POV character experiences it. This is your chance to make your reader be your POV character. (The character must have either an external or internal motivation---the reader must know why a character reacted a certain way.)
Reflex Reaction: It’s instinctive. You will react rationally: to act, to think, to speak. You must present the full complexity of your character’s reactions in this order.
For Example:
EM: The man in black sprinted toward John flashing a switchblade.
IR: John turned and a bolt of raw adrenalin shot through his veins.
RR: John pulled a gun out of his shoulder holster, sighted on the man’s chest, and squeezed the trigger, “You’re dead!”
Key: You can’t afford to write one scene, but you must write another scene, and another and another, etc. You will probably have to create hundreds of scenes before your book is complete.
(As a quick creative writing exercise--continue this scene)
AM (Another Motivation):
IR:
RR:
I’m very interested in reading your continuation of this scene. What is John’s next experience? Be specific---the reader must experience and become part of the John’s reaction as he faces a man lunging at him with a switchblade!
Novels are driven by incredible scene construction!
How a writer handles scenes will make a difference between a manuscript that sells, and one that ends up in the slush pile or the author receiving a rejection letter via email or in the mail.
A scene is a unit of drama in a novel.
The concept of a scene in fiction comes from theater, where it describes the action that takes place in a single setting.
The scene as we know it in modern genre fiction is heavily influenced by Hollywood. Life in the 21st century genre novel is a series of quick, dramatic flashes.
When you flesh out a scene, you must either create a show scene or a tell scene to advance your storyline. This will affect your pacing. You can speed up with tell scenes and slow down with show scenes.
When I was writing A Brownstone in Brooklyn, there was a big show scene-sequence in the afternoon, with the evening uneventful and nothing happening---a prelude—to the riots in Brooklyn that rocked the borough.
The next day the riots started!
How I handled this sequence was to create tremendous show scenes for the day before the riots, then tell scenes in the evening, but the next day I was creating show scenes with specific sensory details.
Now, the reader was in the moment and experiences the riots as the flames ate away at the buildings on Nostrand Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant. They smelled the acrid smoke and saw the building crumble.
If I had created show scenes for the evening before the riot, then I would be overwriting and slowed the novel down and the pacing would have been off mark.
When you create scenes with great show/don’t tell scenes you want to do six things:
A. Possible Scene Format:
a. Scene One: Show Scene
b. Scene Two: Transition/Tell Scene
c. Scene Three: Show Scene
B. A scene has the following three-part pattern: Goal, Conflict and Disaster.
Goal: Your goal is to convincingly show your POV (Point OF View) Character experiencing the scene. (For Example, in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, you are standing next to Atticus Finch as Tom Ewell spits in his face. You experience the spit dripping down Finch’s face)
As you construct scenes, you must do this so powerfully that your reader experiences the scene as if he/she were the POV Character. Your reader will identify with the character.
Conflict: is the obstacles your POV character faces on the way to reaching his goal.
Disaster: is a failure to let your POV character reach his goal. Don’t give him the goal without any conflict. Do Not Make It Easy!
C. A scene has three other important elements.
External Motivation: The objective can be in this paragraph. It does not need to be complicated.
Internal Motivation: Internal scream: Present it exactly as your POV character experiences it. This is your chance to make your reader be your POV character. (The character must have either an external or internal motivation---the reader must know why a character reacted a certain way.)
Reflex Reaction: It’s instinctive. You will react rationally: to act, to think, to speak. You must present the full complexity of your character’s reactions in this order.
For Example:
EM: The man in black sprinted toward John flashing a switchblade.
IR: John turned and a bolt of raw adrenalin shot through his veins.
RR: John pulled a gun out of his shoulder holster, sighted on the man’s chest, and squeezed the trigger, “You’re dead!”
Key: You can’t afford to write one scene, but you must write another scene, and another and another, etc. You will probably have to create hundreds of scenes before your book is complete.
(As a quick creative writing exercise--continue this scene)
AM (Another Motivation):
IR:
RR:
I’m very interested in reading your continuation of this scene. What is John’s next experience? Be specific---the reader must experience and become part of the John’s reaction as he faces a man lunging at him with a switchblade!
May 30, 2020
A BROWNSTONE IN BROOKLYN: A PRISM OF THE SIXTIES AND A REFLECTION OF THE “RIOTOUS 2020”!
I am watching CNN and I am transported back in time to the sixties…1968!
In my minds’ eye, I am walking down Gates Avenue and I am staring at fire eating buildings, smoke bellowing, human bodies sprawled in the streets and the acrid smell of burning buildings permeating. I smell the smoke in my nostrils as I walk down Gates Avenue toward Nostrand Avenue in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn.
Am I dreaming?
Is this real as I listen to commentators Don Lemons, Anderson Cooper, Rachael Meadow, Al Sharpton? I remember a younger Al Sharpton, a little heavier, but with the same voice resonates the call for peace. Sharpton is still calling for peace as he did in the sixties.
Names change and new names are added to the list of Black males and females killed by the police. I still hear in my mind: “Power to The People” with a raised right arm with a clinched fist.
In 2020, “Burn Baby Burn” is replaced by “Black Lives MATTER.”
In 2020 we are living through rhetoric that is nasty, divisive and results in acts of violence. In the sixties we faced similar situations with racially charged language and Intentional acts of violence.
After fifty years we are still battling the same negative circumstances. Time it seems has not healed these festering racial sores. Now, the wounds are bleeding and Black men yelling: “I can’t Breathe.” Racial confrontations still emit a foul stench of ugly and life-threatening behavior.
Twenty years ago, I published my first novel, A Brownstone in Brooklyn, about the “Turbulent Sixties.” I am re-reading the novel and preparing for the upcoming twenty-year anniversary of the books’ publication.
When I reached page fifty-six, I stopped in my tracks! I was reading about what was happening in the middle of the sixties, but coming alive, again in the nightly cable news alerts.
Now, I want you to meet and experience three characters, Hiram Henry Mario and Andy. Hiram Henry and Mario are inside the steel fence, helping shutdown the City College of New York, in an anti-Vietnam War and anti-racial protest. Henry is speaking to the crowd and Mario is a supporter inside with the protesters. Andy is outside barricade talking to his friends.
From A Brownstone in Brooklyn, page 56,
CCNY Campus Shutdown!
While Mario and Andy were talking, one of the leaders, Henry, who helped the radicals take over the CCNY campus, speaks to the crowd.
Andy reached through the fence and gives Mario, a close friend, a black-power handshake. They both turned to listen to Henry.
“Brothers are you with us?”
Andy didn’t respond, but waited a moment, “We’re fighting the battle out here.” Andy spoke up so Henry could hear him.
Mario moved inside the barricade toward Finley Hall. A group of students were listening to Henry’s voice. Mario spoke to Andy.
“You know we made our demands many months ago and there wasn’t a peep heard from the administration. We, we took over the campus. We did it because we were ignored! Guess what, we got their attention.”
“We, Black and Puerto Ricans, were noticed as a result of our taking over the campus in a non-violent way. Dr. King was right, when you demonstrate peacefully your opponent can’t handle it. In my eyes, it was good this happened, maybe not the rioting, burning and looting, but this is the result of frustration of being held down for so long.”
Mario, left the crowd, listening to Henry and came over to the fence closer to Andy. Andy was preparing to leave the campus for Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn.
“Mario, in Bed-Stuy something is brewing, I can feel it,” Andy moved closer to the iron gate, “if something isn’t done soon, my neighborhood will explode.”
“Hey, the south Bronx isn’t far behind. It’s just a sign of these times. People are afraid of change and when it happens there will be violence. Emotions are frozen in anger mode and can’t be changed.”
“Yeah, I hope these changes we’re fighting for today will make Black people, White people and Brown people, in the future, learn from these mistakes so this will never happen again.”
************************
If I could talk to these characters in 2020, I would tell them that people never learn from the past and as the saying goes: History repeats itself!
In the turbulence of 2020, we are facing situations that are eerily similar to events from the sixties. It is frightening and scary at the same time.
Yet, at the end of A Brownstone in Brooklyn we see hope. Maybe, just maybe, that hope can translate to today!
In my minds’ eye, I am walking down Gates Avenue and I am staring at fire eating buildings, smoke bellowing, human bodies sprawled in the streets and the acrid smell of burning buildings permeating. I smell the smoke in my nostrils as I walk down Gates Avenue toward Nostrand Avenue in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn.
Am I dreaming?
Is this real as I listen to commentators Don Lemons, Anderson Cooper, Rachael Meadow, Al Sharpton? I remember a younger Al Sharpton, a little heavier, but with the same voice resonates the call for peace. Sharpton is still calling for peace as he did in the sixties.
Names change and new names are added to the list of Black males and females killed by the police. I still hear in my mind: “Power to The People” with a raised right arm with a clinched fist.
In 2020, “Burn Baby Burn” is replaced by “Black Lives MATTER.”
In 2020 we are living through rhetoric that is nasty, divisive and results in acts of violence. In the sixties we faced similar situations with racially charged language and Intentional acts of violence.
After fifty years we are still battling the same negative circumstances. Time it seems has not healed these festering racial sores. Now, the wounds are bleeding and Black men yelling: “I can’t Breathe.” Racial confrontations still emit a foul stench of ugly and life-threatening behavior.
Twenty years ago, I published my first novel, A Brownstone in Brooklyn, about the “Turbulent Sixties.” I am re-reading the novel and preparing for the upcoming twenty-year anniversary of the books’ publication.
When I reached page fifty-six, I stopped in my tracks! I was reading about what was happening in the middle of the sixties, but coming alive, again in the nightly cable news alerts.
Now, I want you to meet and experience three characters, Hiram Henry Mario and Andy. Hiram Henry and Mario are inside the steel fence, helping shutdown the City College of New York, in an anti-Vietnam War and anti-racial protest. Henry is speaking to the crowd and Mario is a supporter inside with the protesters. Andy is outside barricade talking to his friends.
From A Brownstone in Brooklyn, page 56,
CCNY Campus Shutdown!
While Mario and Andy were talking, one of the leaders, Henry, who helped the radicals take over the CCNY campus, speaks to the crowd.
Andy reached through the fence and gives Mario, a close friend, a black-power handshake. They both turned to listen to Henry.
“Brothers are you with us?”
Andy didn’t respond, but waited a moment, “We’re fighting the battle out here.” Andy spoke up so Henry could hear him.
Mario moved inside the barricade toward Finley Hall. A group of students were listening to Henry’s voice. Mario spoke to Andy.
“You know we made our demands many months ago and there wasn’t a peep heard from the administration. We, we took over the campus. We did it because we were ignored! Guess what, we got their attention.”
“We, Black and Puerto Ricans, were noticed as a result of our taking over the campus in a non-violent way. Dr. King was right, when you demonstrate peacefully your opponent can’t handle it. In my eyes, it was good this happened, maybe not the rioting, burning and looting, but this is the result of frustration of being held down for so long.”
Mario, left the crowd, listening to Henry and came over to the fence closer to Andy. Andy was preparing to leave the campus for Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn.
“Mario, in Bed-Stuy something is brewing, I can feel it,” Andy moved closer to the iron gate, “if something isn’t done soon, my neighborhood will explode.”
“Hey, the south Bronx isn’t far behind. It’s just a sign of these times. People are afraid of change and when it happens there will be violence. Emotions are frozen in anger mode and can’t be changed.”
“Yeah, I hope these changes we’re fighting for today will make Black people, White people and Brown people, in the future, learn from these mistakes so this will never happen again.”
************************
If I could talk to these characters in 2020, I would tell them that people never learn from the past and as the saying goes: History repeats itself!
In the turbulence of 2020, we are facing situations that are eerily similar to events from the sixties. It is frightening and scary at the same time.
Yet, at the end of A Brownstone in Brooklyn we see hope. Maybe, just maybe, that hope can translate to today!
May 4, 2020
Phantoms of Rockwood Earns a Five-Star Amazon.com Book Review!
Phantoms of Rockwood Earns a Five-Star Amazon.Com book review this past weekend!
Lily Spooh
5.0 out of 5 stars A very well-written and original story
Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2020
“You will not be able to put this book down! A captivating and unique story well told.”
Please click to Purchase.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...
Lily Spooh
5.0 out of 5 stars A very well-written and original story
Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2020
“You will not be able to put this book down! A captivating and unique story well told.”
Please click to Purchase.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...
April 30, 2020
The Killer Kudzu: Publish Fall 2020!
The Killer Kudzu, official Book Trailer, is ready. The Science-Fiction novel will be published in the fall of 2020. This is awesome by FRazzak in FIVERR PRODUCTIONS: https://youtu.be/QNK2ktqHKFQ
After you watch the official Book Trailer, then come back and read The Killer Kudzu prologue:
Prologue: The North Georgia Backroad
Four weeks after the Randolph Tornardo
Raymond Camp staggered out of the juke joint totally drunk around eleven that Saturday night.
He was headed home as he walked down Hog Mountain Road, just outside the small North Georgia town of Randolph. It was a late July night and the moon seemed brighter and fuller than normal. He only had a quarter mile to walk to Horton Street where he would take the short path to his boxcar-style house. He’d try not to wake his grandma.
As he left the road, an occasional car passing, he wanted to relieve himself of seven bottles of beer. Something seemed amiss; he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. That darn creeping Kudzu always seemed to be moving eerily.
While standing there, a gentle puff of air, like a baby’s breath, smelling of jasmine, grazed his cheek. Next, something touched his foot, then his leg with a seduction that almost froze his soul.
As he staggered to make his way back to the road, he felt cornered. Its grip was becoming tighter and tighter. He screamed, but nobody could hear his cries for help.
He clawed at the ground, but he was now covered in the Kudzu. The grip was tighter and he was being squeezed and now covered from head to toe and pulled into the underbrush of the Kudzu. He felt his last breath.
Please Click to watch The Killer Kudzu Book Trailer!
After you watch the official Book Trailer, then come back and read The Killer Kudzu prologue:
Prologue: The North Georgia Backroad
Four weeks after the Randolph Tornardo
Raymond Camp staggered out of the juke joint totally drunk around eleven that Saturday night.
He was headed home as he walked down Hog Mountain Road, just outside the small North Georgia town of Randolph. It was a late July night and the moon seemed brighter and fuller than normal. He only had a quarter mile to walk to Horton Street where he would take the short path to his boxcar-style house. He’d try not to wake his grandma.
As he left the road, an occasional car passing, he wanted to relieve himself of seven bottles of beer. Something seemed amiss; he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. That darn creeping Kudzu always seemed to be moving eerily.
While standing there, a gentle puff of air, like a baby’s breath, smelling of jasmine, grazed his cheek. Next, something touched his foot, then his leg with a seduction that almost froze his soul.
As he staggered to make his way back to the road, he felt cornered. Its grip was becoming tighter and tighter. He screamed, but nobody could hear his cries for help.
He clawed at the ground, but he was now covered in the Kudzu. The grip was tighter and he was being squeezed and now covered from head to toe and pulled into the underbrush of the Kudzu. He felt his last breath.
Please Click to watch The Killer Kudzu Book Trailer!
April 10, 2017
Philly Style and Philly Profile Free Audiobook!
The audiobook of Philly Style and Philly Profile is on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes. To help spread the word, I am giving 10 complimentary Audible.com copies of the audiobook to the first ten people who contact me on my web page:
http://www.juliusthompson.com/contact...
I will email the code and the instructions to receive the Philly Style and Philly Profile audiobook. All I ask is that you post a review on Amazon.Com. I will alert when the first ten codes have been given out.
Short Synopsis: Philadelphia streets were never silent. Gangs wars on corners, screeching cars on avenues, and squealing steel trolley tires on tracks kept you alert for the next confrontation. Philadelphia playgrounds were sometimes silent. These were sanctuaries where you confronted your deepest memories. These were places packed with people, but on a summer's midday, they were virtually empty. Streets made habitable again by the actions of a few good men.
http://www.juliusthompson.com/contact...
I will email the code and the instructions to receive the Philly Style and Philly Profile audiobook. All I ask is that you post a review on Amazon.Com. I will alert when the first ten codes have been given out.
Short Synopsis: Philadelphia streets were never silent. Gangs wars on corners, screeching cars on avenues, and squealing steel trolley tires on tracks kept you alert for the next confrontation. Philadelphia playgrounds were sometimes silent. These were sanctuaries where you confronted your deepest memories. These were places packed with people, but on a summer's midday, they were virtually empty. Streets made habitable again by the actions of a few good men.
November 23, 2016
Philly Style and Philly Profile Audible.Com Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars:Good storyline!
ByAmazon Customeron November 23, 2016
Format: Audible Audio Edition
The story follows the life of Carl, a basketball star, whose life is now suddenly under threat, by the gangs who inhabit the city of Philadelphia. His good looks, name and the glory that followed him, only make him a likely target in the eyes of Jake Meyers, a master drug dealer, who is jealous of him. Andy, a sportswriter, gets involved unknowingly, when he is handed over a bag, which has killed all those in possession of it. The unfolding of events, over the course of a few days, surrounding the brown leather bag, unravels many mysteries.
The book showcases how good and evil coexist and a handful of people’s attempts, to change a society involved in drugs and gangs. The author takes you on a journey, through the streets of Philadelphia, keeping you in suspense, along the whole way.
While neither the title, nor the cover does justice to the storyline, the old adage “Don’t judge a book by its cover” stands true in this case. The story is very well written, providing insightful glimpses into the lives of the ordinary citizens in Philadelphia, during the 70’s and their struggles with gangsters and drug peddlers.
5.0 out of 5 stars: BOOK 2 OF THE ANDY PILGRIM TRILOGY…THINGS ARE DONE PHILLY STYLE!
ByDENNIS DE ROSEon April 9, 2013
Format: Paperback
This is the second book of the Andy Pilgrim trilogy.While the title does not try to explain the book,that was the author`s intent.The title refers to something special, specific to the city of Philadelphia only. You have to read the book very carefully to understand what Julius is trying to say. He is being pervasive on purpose. This second book leads into the final book of the trilogy, “Ghost of Atlanta”
“Philly Style, Philly Profile” takes place in the 70’s.Andy, a black man, works for the Philly Bulletin.He is immediately confronted by one of the many problems that black men had to deal with then and now…RACISM.That`s just one central issue. Added, we find out that he is slated to cover high school sports and we are immediately introduced to 2 more very dangerous threats…DRUGS and GANGS.
Andy gets caught up deeply in this mix when he befriends Carl, an up and coming basketball player whose getting ready to go off to college in just a few days. I won`t spoil the story for you but I will say that it`s extremely fast-paced and relevant for the times. Of course all cities big and small sadly still face these same issues.
You will read this and, once you do, you`ll want to continue the saga in “Ghost of Atlanta”.I would be remiss if I did not take a moment and mention the fantastic editing in this super story. I read this, looking for mistakes and I found very few. My hat`s off to Julius’ editor, Moneysaver Editing. Keep writing Julius, great job!
Audible:
http://www.audible.com/search/166-411...
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Philly-Style-a...
Jumpstarting Your Inner Novelist: Jump Starting Your Inner Novelist is a concise manual that provides inspiration, motivation and practical tools for crafting award-winning novels.
Ordering Audio Information:
Audible: http://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_s...
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Jumpstarting-Y...
ByAmazon Customeron November 23, 2016
Format: Audible Audio Edition
The story follows the life of Carl, a basketball star, whose life is now suddenly under threat, by the gangs who inhabit the city of Philadelphia. His good looks, name and the glory that followed him, only make him a likely target in the eyes of Jake Meyers, a master drug dealer, who is jealous of him. Andy, a sportswriter, gets involved unknowingly, when he is handed over a bag, which has killed all those in possession of it. The unfolding of events, over the course of a few days, surrounding the brown leather bag, unravels many mysteries.
The book showcases how good and evil coexist and a handful of people’s attempts, to change a society involved in drugs and gangs. The author takes you on a journey, through the streets of Philadelphia, keeping you in suspense, along the whole way.
While neither the title, nor the cover does justice to the storyline, the old adage “Don’t judge a book by its cover” stands true in this case. The story is very well written, providing insightful glimpses into the lives of the ordinary citizens in Philadelphia, during the 70’s and their struggles with gangsters and drug peddlers.
5.0 out of 5 stars: BOOK 2 OF THE ANDY PILGRIM TRILOGY…THINGS ARE DONE PHILLY STYLE!
ByDENNIS DE ROSEon April 9, 2013
Format: Paperback
This is the second book of the Andy Pilgrim trilogy.While the title does not try to explain the book,that was the author`s intent.The title refers to something special, specific to the city of Philadelphia only. You have to read the book very carefully to understand what Julius is trying to say. He is being pervasive on purpose. This second book leads into the final book of the trilogy, “Ghost of Atlanta”
“Philly Style, Philly Profile” takes place in the 70’s.Andy, a black man, works for the Philly Bulletin.He is immediately confronted by one of the many problems that black men had to deal with then and now…RACISM.That`s just one central issue. Added, we find out that he is slated to cover high school sports and we are immediately introduced to 2 more very dangerous threats…DRUGS and GANGS.
Andy gets caught up deeply in this mix when he befriends Carl, an up and coming basketball player whose getting ready to go off to college in just a few days. I won`t spoil the story for you but I will say that it`s extremely fast-paced and relevant for the times. Of course all cities big and small sadly still face these same issues.
You will read this and, once you do, you`ll want to continue the saga in “Ghost of Atlanta”.I would be remiss if I did not take a moment and mention the fantastic editing in this super story. I read this, looking for mistakes and I found very few. My hat`s off to Julius’ editor, Moneysaver Editing. Keep writing Julius, great job!
Audible:
http://www.audible.com/search/166-411...
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Philly-Style-a...
Jumpstarting Your Inner Novelist: Jump Starting Your Inner Novelist is a concise manual that provides inspiration, motivation and practical tools for crafting award-winning novels.
Ordering Audio Information:
Audible: http://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_s...
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Jumpstarting-Y...
Philly Style and Philly Profile Audible.Com Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars:Good storyline!
ByAmazon Customeron November 23, 2016
Format: Audible Audio Edition
The story follows the life of Carl, a basketball star, whose life is now suddenly under threat, by the gangs who inhabit the city of Philadelphia. His good looks, name and the glory that followed him, only make him a likely target in the eyes of Jake Meyers, a master drug dealer, who is jealous of him. Andy, a sportswriter, gets involved unknowingly, when he is handed over a bag, which has killed all those in possession of it. The unfolding of events, over the course of a few days, surrounding the brown leather bag, unravels many mysteries.
The book showcases how good and evil coexist and a handful of people’s attempts, to change a society involved in drugs and gangs. The author takes you on a journey, through the streets of Philadelphia, keeping you in suspense, along the whole way.
While neither the title, nor the cover does justice to the storyline, the old adage “Don’t judge a book by its cover” stands true in this case. The story is very well written, providing insightful glimpses into the lives of the ordinary citizens in Philadelphia, during the 70’s and their struggles with gangsters and drug peddlers.
5.0 out of 5 stars: BOOK 2 OF THE ANDY PILGRIM TRILOGY…THINGS ARE DONE PHILLY STYLE!
ByDENNIS DE ROSEon April 9, 2013
Format: Paperback
This is the second book of the Andy Pilgrim trilogy.While the title does not try to explain the book,that was the author`s intent.The title refers to something special, specific to the city of Philadelphia only. You have to read the book very carefully to understand what Julius is trying to say. He is being pervasive on purpose. This second book leads into the final book of the trilogy, “Ghost of Atlanta”
“Philly Style, Philly Profile” takes place in the 70’s.Andy, a black man, works for the Philly Bulletin.He is immediately confronted by one of the many problems that black men had to deal with then and now…RACISM.That`s just one central issue. Added, we find out that he is slated to cover high school sports and we are immediately introduced to 2 more very dangerous threats…DRUGS and GANGS.
Andy gets caught up deeply in this mix when he befriends Carl, an up and coming basketball player whose getting ready to go off to college in just a few days. I won`t spoil the story for you but I will say that it`s extremely fast-paced and relevant for the times. Of course all cities big and small sadly still face these same issues.
You will read this and, once you do, you`ll want to continue the saga in “Ghost of Atlanta”.I would be remiss if I did not take a moment and mention the fantastic editing in this super story. I read this, looking for mistakes and I found very few. My hat`s off to Julius’ editor, Moneysaver Editing. Keep writing Julius, great job!
Audible:
http://www.audible.com/search/166-411...
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Philly-Style-a...
Jumpstarting Your Inner Novelist: Jump Starting Your Inner Novelist is a concise manual that provides inspiration, motivation and practical tools for crafting award-winning novels.
Ordering Audio Information:
Audible: http://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_s...
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Jumpstarting-Y...
ByAmazon Customeron November 23, 2016
Format: Audible Audio Edition
The story follows the life of Carl, a basketball star, whose life is now suddenly under threat, by the gangs who inhabit the city of Philadelphia. His good looks, name and the glory that followed him, only make him a likely target in the eyes of Jake Meyers, a master drug dealer, who is jealous of him. Andy, a sportswriter, gets involved unknowingly, when he is handed over a bag, which has killed all those in possession of it. The unfolding of events, over the course of a few days, surrounding the brown leather bag, unravels many mysteries.
The book showcases how good and evil coexist and a handful of people’s attempts, to change a society involved in drugs and gangs. The author takes you on a journey, through the streets of Philadelphia, keeping you in suspense, along the whole way.
While neither the title, nor the cover does justice to the storyline, the old adage “Don’t judge a book by its cover” stands true in this case. The story is very well written, providing insightful glimpses into the lives of the ordinary citizens in Philadelphia, during the 70’s and their struggles with gangsters and drug peddlers.
5.0 out of 5 stars: BOOK 2 OF THE ANDY PILGRIM TRILOGY…THINGS ARE DONE PHILLY STYLE!
ByDENNIS DE ROSEon April 9, 2013
Format: Paperback
This is the second book of the Andy Pilgrim trilogy.While the title does not try to explain the book,that was the author`s intent.The title refers to something special, specific to the city of Philadelphia only. You have to read the book very carefully to understand what Julius is trying to say. He is being pervasive on purpose. This second book leads into the final book of the trilogy, “Ghost of Atlanta”
“Philly Style, Philly Profile” takes place in the 70’s.Andy, a black man, works for the Philly Bulletin.He is immediately confronted by one of the many problems that black men had to deal with then and now…RACISM.That`s just one central issue. Added, we find out that he is slated to cover high school sports and we are immediately introduced to 2 more very dangerous threats…DRUGS and GANGS.
Andy gets caught up deeply in this mix when he befriends Carl, an up and coming basketball player whose getting ready to go off to college in just a few days. I won`t spoil the story for you but I will say that it`s extremely fast-paced and relevant for the times. Of course all cities big and small sadly still face these same issues.
You will read this and, once you do, you`ll want to continue the saga in “Ghost of Atlanta”.I would be remiss if I did not take a moment and mention the fantastic editing in this super story. I read this, looking for mistakes and I found very few. My hat`s off to Julius’ editor, Moneysaver Editing. Keep writing Julius, great job!
Audible:
http://www.audible.com/search/166-411...
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Philly-Style-a...
Jumpstarting Your Inner Novelist: Jump Starting Your Inner Novelist is a concise manual that provides inspiration, motivation and practical tools for crafting award-winning novels.
Ordering Audio Information:
Audible: http://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_s...
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Jumpstarting-Y...
November 11, 2016
Julius Thompson Books are now Audiobooks!
Wow! It feels incredible that I have two of my books on Audio Books..
Laura Jackman did a wonderful job with Jumpstarting Your Inner Novelist that I co-Authored with my editor Dennis DeRose.
Roger Wood did a fantastic narration in bringing my novel, Philly Style and Philly Profile to Life.
Please check out my audio books on Audible, iTunes and Amazon.com.
Philly Style and Philly Profile: Philadelphia streets were never silent. Gang wars on corners, screeching cars on avenues, and squealing steel trolley tires on tracks kept you alert for the next confrontation. The playgrounds were sometimes silent. These were sanctuaries where you confronted your deepest memories; places packed with people, but were virtually empty on late summer mid-days. Streets that were made habitable again by the actions of a few good men.
Ordering Audio Information:
Audible:
http://www.audible.com/search/166-411...
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Philly-Style-a...
Jumpstarting Your Inner Novelist: Jump Starting Your Inner Novelist is a concise manual that provides inspiration, motivation and practical tools for crafting award-winning novels.
Ordering Audio Information:
Audible: http://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_s...
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Jumpstarting-Y...
itunes:
Both Books on itunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/ju...
Laura Jackman did a wonderful job with Jumpstarting Your Inner Novelist that I co-Authored with my editor Dennis DeRose.
Roger Wood did a fantastic narration in bringing my novel, Philly Style and Philly Profile to Life.
Please check out my audio books on Audible, iTunes and Amazon.com.
Philly Style and Philly Profile: Philadelphia streets were never silent. Gang wars on corners, screeching cars on avenues, and squealing steel trolley tires on tracks kept you alert for the next confrontation. The playgrounds were sometimes silent. These were sanctuaries where you confronted your deepest memories; places packed with people, but were virtually empty on late summer mid-days. Streets that were made habitable again by the actions of a few good men.
Ordering Audio Information:
Audible:
http://www.audible.com/search/166-411...
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Philly-Style-a...
Jumpstarting Your Inner Novelist: Jump Starting Your Inner Novelist is a concise manual that provides inspiration, motivation and practical tools for crafting award-winning novels.
Ordering Audio Information:
Audible: http://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_s...
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Jumpstarting-Y...
itunes:
Both Books on itunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/ju...
