M. Matheson's Blog, page 48

How Do You Spell Grammarly?

The Big Prize Contest:Leave a comment at the end and post a link to this blog on your Social Media. In 30 Days I will select one person at random to receive one month of free Premium Grammarly service (a $37.95 Value).Email me a link to your post to increase your chances of winning.
Contest ends January 31, 2016
M. Matheson, that's me, alias Mr. Skeptical but always looking for a deal and a shortcut. I took a chance on a program called Grammarly. It was hard to believe that a free program could do a better job of checking Spelling and Grammar than good old reliable Microsoft Word.
Such is the future. How does Grammarly work? (From the company's FAQ)Grammarly is an online grammar and spelling checker that improves communication by helping users find and correct writing mistakes. It’s easy to use: Copy and paste any English text into Grammarly’s online text editor or install Grammarly’s free browser extension for Chrome and Safari.Grammarly’s algorithms flag potential issues in the text and suggest context-specific corrections for grammar, spelling, and vocabulary. Grammarly explains the reasoning behind each correction, so you can make an informed decision about whether, and how, to correct an issue.In addition to the online text editor, Grammarly also offers a free browser extension for Chrome and Safari, which corrects over 150 types of errors. Grammarly for Chrome and Grammarly for Safari bring Grammarly’s powerful algorithms straight to you wherever you are writing online, including Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Tumblr. You can correct mistakes in your text with a single click.
My description/review. (Mildly more entertaining.) Like your High School English teacher or that smoking hot College Professor, Grammarly follows you wherever you go with a ruler in her cute little hand ready to smack you on the back of the head. Only instead of leaving you shriveled and cowering Grammarly shows you the error or errors of your ways.Anything that you write in your web browser, emails, social media posts, and even this blog, Grammarly runs her fingers through its wordy hair looking for disgusting little nits. Nits that may make you look stupid or more stupid, present company intended.The free version corrects grammar, spelling, and contextual issues. Even the Pro Version won't write for you or create prose out of thin air, but it does recognize the puking passive sentence.
The Pro version works overtime for you and has settings to differentiate between modes of writing from personal, business, or novel writing. You can set it to irritatingly high levels or plain passivity. What it doesn't do is pester you with every missing period or doubled space. After all is said and done, she leaves you with your ego intact.
I drove the free version for several months until I got deep into the third edit of my second novel, Flatline. The offer was good with varied plans from monthly to yearly subscriptions. The yearly is by far the better deal, but you didn't need me to tell you that. If, within seven days, you don't think it is a great value, Grammarly offers your money back no questions asked.That deal is hard to beat, a real win-win.
My Conclusion: If you do any writing online, you can seriously up your game by subscribing to Grammarly. It is a solid FOUR Stars, and I rely on it daily if not hourly. They have a very responsive customer service team.Do not forget to leave your comment for the Big Prize Contest.

We're not Murderers We are Killers. There's a Difference.

The following excerpt is from Flatline my next book, a full tilt running crime novel in which the heroes of the story are not the good guys. It's a wicked twist on the Robin Hood story. Our protagonists, who are not very nice men are preparing for their first sortie into the streets of Recife, Brazil. Their mission is to kill the murderers of street kids. Troy is the retired motorcycle gangster. Enrique is a sixteen-year-old boy who he rescued from a contract hit that he performed. And, Hercules was their bodyguard but is now their deep friend.
I thought I would be finished last October, but things got in the way. I am on the second revision/edit and hope to be published by the end of January. March at the latest.
~~~~0~~~~That information added to intel provided by Commander de Lima helped them develop their first hard target.It was ten o’clock on a Tuesday night. The weather was warm, and the stars were fuzzy points of light thanks to the smog of the city. At their clandestine safe house, room 107 in the Hotel Veraneio, Troy spread the threadbare map and went over their positions and instructions for the fifth time. Inventorying their weaponry, ammo, and surveillance gear for the first strike, they felt like exterminators riding out to rid the city of an unseen plague.Four Remington Compact Sniper Rifles were broken down into small custom-fit rucksacks. The rucksacks went into backpacks similar to what a school kid would carry and then all four packs were stowed into a single duffel until they reached the site. They tested their earwig communications. When Troy had been teaching him how to fight and use guns, Enrique never imagined that one day this would all come to life.“Boy! Get those dreamy thoughts out of your head!” Hercules snapped. “You need all your wits about you, or we'll be dumping your carcass in the water along with those murderers.”“Ain't we murderers Herc?” Enrique rocked on his heels thinking he might have bested the large man.
Hercules fumed and stamped, and the sound reverberated off cheap walls. Even the concrete underfoot rattled as if it might crack from his undecipherable bellowing. “No!” he shouted. “We're not murderers.” He jerked open the threadbare drapes and pointed his finger out the window and into one of the largest cities in South America. “Those baby killers out there, they are the murderers! We're killers. Get that in your head. There's a difference. God doesn’t murder; he kills.”


If you'd like to leave a comment and find the form tedious you can comment on my twitter feed @mikeyznsacto or Facebook M. Matheson

Okay, I'll admit it; this may be a bit of a rant, but if ...

Okay, I'll admit it; this may be a bit of a rant, but if you will take the time to read it, you may get a laugh or two along with some tips on Twitter. Just like the commands in God's book, if you will follow them your Twitter-life will get better. So, whether you are a believer or not, strap your seatbelt tight and let's go.
ONEThou shalt use a profile pic Show some respect for yourself and your own dignity, if you have any.Am I the only person whose nerves chafe at the sight of that pathetic looking egg?Would you take anyone serious if your only image of them was a white two-dimensional egg hemmed in by a colored box?Think – why are you on Twitter in the first place? At the bare minimum, you want to share trashy tweets with your old college pals. In that case, do you really want them seeing you without your yolk? Take five minutes and show them what a badass you are (if you are a guy). Steal some pics off the internet like I did these. If you are a girl make it sweet, sexy or both, just not trashy.You have something to promote or share. Everyone does. Out of the 974 million existing Twitter accounts, there is someone interested in what you are selling or giving away, even if it’s only your opinion.If you want a better than 1:974,000,000 chance of gaining followers that are interested in you or your product, GET A DAMN PROFILE PIC.When I am sorting through the people that have followed me and deciding whether they are interesting enough to follow back,I immediately exclude profiles with no pic.Even if it just has to be a picture of your cat, dog, or giraffe in the newest sweater you knit for them,I will consider following you. But if there is no profile pic, your race is over. You never made it out of the gate.
TWOThou shalt show your BioWrite a Bio.Write a Bio.Oh, did I repeat myself?Make yourself or your product sound interesting even if it’s concrete railroad ties. You only have 160 characters to do it.No profanity. Put it in your posts, seeing it in your bio makes me wince and pass you by. I am not alone.Tell the truth. Stretch the hell out of it all you want to, just don’t break it.Tell us who you are. My Bio says more than it says. I’ve worked a long time on it and am still tweaking it to perfection.I have lived as an Outlaw, but also a missionary. Throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s, I was a motorcycle outlaw living on the fringes of society. From 1990 up until a few years ago, I was a missionary to the inner city and I traveled to other countries as an evangelist.Today, I have published one book and write stories, all fictional tales that draw pictures of truth.I am a social media curator guru. I currently curate twelve accounts. Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.GURU is a stretch, but I have done well.Include relevant well-known hashtags.Use only hashtags that you deserve or have a right to.Include a link or two pointing to your blog, website, Facebook, Smashwords, a link to your product.

THREEThou shalt make a discernable header picMake it sharp, make it fit. Make me sit up and take notice.Don’t cut off people or animal’s heads and other body parts, unless, of course, it is relevant to your genre. I.e. horror or zombie stuff. Use a high-resolution photo or graphic. No pornography or anything close. No profanity. It’s a turn off even for people that use lots of it. Seeing expletives in a header or bio makes us wince and pass you by.This template is 730 x 205, but I’ve found the using a 3:1 ratio on a higher resolution image and respecting the invisible areas will give you better results.
FOURThou shalt Tweet MORE of your own stuff. Leave more than a breadcrumb trail of original posts.Here’s the deal. You have been kind enough to follow or retweet my post, so I go to your timeline looking for something of yours to retweet. In your last 100 posts, all I see is retweets of other posts. I really would like to promote your stuff. Really.Don’t make me work so hard to find your original tweets.
FIVEThou shalt not automate your timelineIf it’s too easy or too cheap…Sure it’s easy to turn over your account to a bot that retweets the tweets of people who interact with you, but it’s phony. It looks phony, and it smells phony.Don’t use automated services such as Round Team. Everyone knows it and if they don’t, every so often there is a tweet that says, “So and so is sitting home watching TV while our computer tweets all the stuff you’re responding to. So and so is a big phony.”What kind of friends do you want? Ones that have no choice because you hired them or people genuinely interested in you?I have a high respect for the people I meet on Twitter.My profile has a high percentage of organic followers that I grew by my own actions. They are appreciated and in turn I am valued by them.SIXThou shalt not buy followersNeed I explain? See Commandment Five.
SEVENThou shalt respond and do it quicklyThis is the surest way to grow your account. As your account grows upwards of 10,000 followers it becomes a lot of work to follow up and reply to them all. Every day I set aside time to get to as many as possible. I also have tricks I use to make the chore easier. I have been rewarded by over 10,000 followers and a Klout score of 61. 63 puts a person in the top 5%. Klout is the measure of how well people interact with your account.EIGHTThou shalt keep your posts freshIf you are selling something, intersperse your promotional tweets with items of interest, quotes, news, photos, and special events. The pros say to use a ratio of 80 interesting posts and 20 promotional posts. The 80 can include retweets.
NINE Thou shalt utilize the ‘Pinned Tweet’ for your own damned goodPromote your best stuff at the top of your timeline. On your tweet, click the three dots to open up a menu and select pin tweet.Change it regularly.Not using this feature is the same as shooting yourself in the foot.



TenThou shalt use images in your posts and format them correctlyAny image as long as it’s sized to the correct ratio of 2:1will show up in its entirety in the timeline. Any other size looks stupid and only shows a partial picture.The best size image is 1024 x 512.I make sure that after my text in the post I have 31 characters remaining; 24 for the image and a seven-character margin so when the post is retweeted the post won’t be truncated.FinallyThese are all things I learned along the way. They are what I consider the big ones. Profiles that violate these commands appear like …

Follow @mikeyznsacto

Ten Commandments of Twitter Usage

ONEThou shalt use a profile pic Show some respect for yourself and your own dignity, if you have any.Am I the only person whose nerves chafe at the sight of that pathetic looking egg?Would you take anyone serious if your only image of them was a white two-dimensional egg hemmed in by a colored box?Think – why are you on Twitter in the first place? At the bare minimum, you want to share trashy tweets with your old college pals. In that case, do you really want them seeing you without your yolk? Take five minutes and show them what a badass you are (if you are a guy). Steal some pics off the internet like I did these. If you are a girl make it sweet, sexy or both, just not trashy.You have something to promote or share. Everyone does. Out of the 974 million existing Twitter accounts, there is someone interested in what you are selling or giving away, even if it’s only your opinion.If you want a better than 1:974,000,000 chance of gaining followers that are interested in you or your product, GET A DAMN PROFILE PIC.When I am sorting through the people that have followed me and deciding whether they are interesting enough to follow back,I immediately exclude profiles with no pic.Even if it just has to be a picture of your cat, dog, or giraffe in the newest sweater you knit for them,I will consider following you. But if there is no profile pic, your race is over. You never made it out of the gate.
TWOThou shalt show your BioWrite a Bio.Write a Bio.Oh, did I repeat myself?Make yourself or your product sound interesting even if it’s concrete railroad ties. You only have 160 characters to do it.No profanity. Put it in your posts, seeing it in your bio makes me wince and pass you by. I am not alone.Tell the truth. Stretch the hell out of it all you want to, just don’t break it.Tell us who you are. My Bio says more than it says. I’ve worked a long time on it and am still tweaking it to perfection.I have lived as an Outlaw, but also a missionary. Throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s, I was a motorcycle outlaw living on the fringes of society. From 1990 up until a few years ago, I was a missionary to the inner city and I traveled to other countries as an evangelist.Today, I have published one book and write stories, all fictional tales that draw pictures of truth.I am a social media curator guru. I currently curate twelve accounts. Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.GURU is a stretch, but I have done well.Include relevant well-known hashtags.Use only hashtags that you deserve or have a right to.Include a link or two pointing to your blog, website, Facebook, Smashwords, a link to your product.

THREEThou shalt make a discernable header picMake it sharp, make it fit. Make me sit up and take notice.Don’t cut off people or animal’s heads and other body parts, unless, of course, it is relevant to your genre. I.e. horror or zombie stuff. Use a high-resolution photo or graphic. No pornography or anything close. No profanity. It’s a turn off even for people that use lots of it. Seeing expletives in a header or bio makes us wince and pass you by.This template is 730 x 205, but I’ve found the using a 3:1 ratio on a higher resolution image and respecting the invisible areas will give you better results.
FOURThou shalt Tweet MORE of your own stuff. Leave more than a breadcrumb trail of original posts.Here’s the deal. You have been kind enough to follow or retweet my post, so I go to your timeline looking for something of yours to retweet. In your last 100 posts, all I see is retweets of other posts. I really would like to promote your stuff. Really.Don’t make me work so hard to find your original tweets.
FIVEThou shalt not automate your timelineIf it’s too easy or too cheap…Sure it’s easy to turn over your account to a bot that retweets the tweets of people who interact with you, but it’s phony. It looks phony, and it smells phony.Don’t use automated services such as Round Team. Everyone knows it and if they don’t, every so often there is a tweet that says, “So and so is sitting home watching TV while our computer tweets all the stuff you’re responding to. So and so is a big phony.”What kind of friends do you want? Ones that have no choice because you hired them or people genuinely interested in you?I have a high respect for the people I meet on Twitter.My profile has a high percentage of organic followers that I grew by my own actions. They are appreciated and in turn I am valued by them.SIXThou shalt not buy followersNeed I explain? See Commandment Five.
SEVENThou shalt respond and do it quicklyThis is the surest way to grow your account. As your account grows upwards of 10,000 followers it becomes a lot of work to follow up and reply to them all. Every day I set aside time to get to as many as possible. I also have tricks I use to make the chore easier. I have been rewarded by over 10,000 followers and a Klout score of 61. 63 puts a person in the top 5%. Klout is the measure of how well people interact with your account.EIGHTThou shalt keep your posts freshIf you are selling something, intersperse your promotional tweets with items of interest, quotes, news, photos, and special events. The pros say to use a ratio of 80 interesting posts and 20 promotional posts. The 80 can include retweets.
NINE Thou shalt utilize the ‘Pinned Tweet’ for your own damned goodPromote your best stuff at the top of your timeline. On your tweet, click the three dots to open up a menu and select pin tweet.Change it regularly.Not using this feature is the same as shooting yourself in the foot.



TenThou shalt use images in your posts and format them correctlyAny image as long as it’s sized to the correct ratio of 2:1will show up in its entirety in the timeline. Any other size looks stupid and only shows a partial picture.The best size image is 1024 x 512.I make sure that after my text in the post I have 31 characters remaining; 24 for the image and a seven-character margin so when the post is retweeted the post won’t be truncated.FinallyThese are all things I learned along the way. They are what I consider the big ones. Profiles that violate these commands appear like …

Follow @mikeyznsacto

Book Review- The Drop by Michael Connelly

The Drop is the 24th novel by American crime author Michael Connelly, and the fifteenth novel featuring Los Angeles Police Department detective Harry Bosch. The book was published on 22 November 2011.Wikipedia 
This is the first book I’ve read/heard by author Michael Connelly. I listened to the audio version and it was performed well. The character of Harry Bosch was well portrayed as were other characters.
I felt the story took off slowly, but it worked well for the story to do so. It was much like the detective/protagonist building a case. When it got going the story couldn’t be put down.
The story intertwines the hunt for the truth in a case that waffles back and forth between suicide and murder as the cause of death. Each waffle had me convinced that was the truth.Simultaneously Bosch works a twenty-year-old cold case that ends with…
Detective Bosch is made very believable as the single parent of a fifteen-year-old daughter, and by his relationship with a woman he meets during the course of his investigation. Relational dynamics between he and his partner keep tension throughout.
I will be reading more books by Mr. Connelly and gave it a solid four stars.

Trivia from Wiki
In March 2011, Connelly auctioned off the naming of a character in The Drop on eBay. The fundraiser will benefit the DeKalb County Public Library Foundation. The bidding ran until 13 March 2011, at which time, after 65 bids, the auction closed at $2,917.00. The name of the winner has not been disclosed

Book Review- The Hook by Donald Westlake

The Hook by Donald WestlakeCombination Crime and Writer’s DramaBryce Proctorr is a successful writer, well-known wherever he goes. His wife is famous only for being married to him, and she’s dragging him over the coals in an ugly divorce. 
Bryce is stuck with a bad case of writer's block, and an impending deadline. His chance encounter with an old college buddy and fellow writer, Wayne Prentice, generates an evil idea, and Proctorr has a proposition: If Prentice gives Proctorr his unsold manuscript to be sold under Proctorr's name, they will split the book advance fifty-fifty. There's just one small catch to the deal.... and that is what drives the entire story.The story moves amazingly well but gets hung up two-thirds through and spends a great deal of time in internal dialog about the angst within both writers. The story was still so good I was afraid to put it down. Nevertheless; the inner workings of each writer are a point of empathy. If you are a writer, you will recognize the thought schemes from your own.The story provides lots of surprising twists and turns. The ending though is anticlimactic and leaves you hanging.
It is a worthwhile four-star read. I listened to it as an audio book, and it was well performed.
If you'd like to leave a comment and find the form tedious you can comment on my twitter feed @mikeyznsacto or Facebook M. Matheson

Life Better Lived Dead

Life Better Lived Dead, that's the tagline of my second novel twisting in the grinder of the editing and revision process. I can’t recall how those words first emerged from the loamy earth, but I immediately liked the taste, smell and sound. That short phrase encapsulated the message of, ‘FLATLINE’.
It’s a crime novel, a fun little read, 90,000 words plus of bullets, blood, splattered brains, and big – make that – HUGE knives slipped from hidden sheaths between the shoulder blades of Goliath-sized cartel soldiers.

Can a book like that have a message to edify one's soul?

All books and stories have a lesson, moral or message – for someone. I'm a believer. Every book I've read had something to say.

Stories, like primeval notes stuffed in bottles, are penned, corked and set adrift upon stormy seas just waiting to land on some foreign shore in the hands of its next reader. This happens by chance and providence alone. Or, how else would they find us? Or, we find them?

Every year for Christmas, Nichole, one of my five daughters, has given me a book. Not a one of those has failed to spark some big shift in my psyche. They arrived exactly on time. She had no idea what was swimming in my soul at the time, and we never discuss books since she is not a big reader. Even our tastes and styles run divergently to one another.

Asked how she picked them, she responded, “Oh, it just looked like something you would like.”

By the same process, 'Life Better Lived Dead' came to life. If I were to think on it much longer, I might wonder if it would stir some controversy, but then again, it may drive some people away. Perhaps it was not in the stars for them to read this book.

How do those words strike you? What do you think of me as an author for penning “Life Better Lived Dead?" Does it bring up thoughts of suicide or vampires, or a biblical verse you once read or heard?

Suicide:Do I think suicide would be a better option than a living breathing above ground existence?Not on most days, no. This story and that line are not a lead into a discussion on assisted suicide. I have strong thoughts on that, but would rather leave them where they're at for right now.

Vampires and the Undead:Am I a vampire or am I promoting the life of the undead as some better option than what most of us have here? Or, on the other side of the same coin, do I have something against the undead or a vampire’s lifestyle?I’ve enjoyed reading vampire tales, but it doesn’t stir a belief in them. The original Dracula tale might come close, but is definitely more Christian than my story. Dracula was chock full of Christian truths in a metaphorical battle of good against evil.

Looking for the correct words to describe my experience with Dracula, I searched the internet and found Mike Duran’s tremendous blog and comments. His well-worded explanation for what I found during my read of the original Dracula was better than I could have come up with.

“For one, Christianity is portrayed in a positive light throughout Dracula. The protagonists pray, quote Scripture, seek God’s guidance, and ultimately prevail. If Count Dracula is meant to symbolize the devil, then it is clearly Stoker’s intent to show that the evil one is resisted through the power of God. And unlike much contemporary vampire fiction, Christianity is not minimized or mocked. Rather, our heroes display an unabashed reliance upon the God of Scripture and His Son, Jesus Christ.”

“Life Better Lived Dead,” should be better explained…

In my novel ‘Flatline,’ Troy Bittles is retired from decades as an enforcer for the world's most notorious motorcycle gang. He sees his best years behind him. Life was once a constant flow of blood, bullets, and fists which never stopped flying. But those wild times have slowed to a nonexistent trickle. He and Sam, his Bulldog, go from one day to the next in a snails-paced progression towards the end…

All in one day, Troy moves from bemoaning his flatlined existence to tumbling headlong into a mad dash of crime and murder across two states and three countries. Troy is strong-armed into using his former skills in the killing arts to perform for a mystery organization. These deeds run counter to his newly formed set of values, but his only choice is kill or be killed. The only reason Troy finds to go through with it is one faint sliver of hope that he can redeem himself from an old dark regret that looms over his life.

He pours his life into that purpose rather than keep his life to himself. And, in that sense, his life is better lived dead.

“If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.” (Matthew 10:39 NLT)

When Jesus said this, there were no churches, so he meant more than church attendance and missions service. What he meant was, if you pour your life into his cause, you will find your life.

Jesus’ cause was people, not necessarily their comfort, but their life.
Our lives scream for a purpose, a cause to throw ourselves into, a cause outside of our own small world. When we chase that cause, it brings us life. Hence, our life is better lived dead.

You could read Flatline, ignore its message, and still enjoy it, but, why the hell would you waste your time like that?

I’m on my second pass of revisions. My next pass is to print it and read it aloud to the cat before turning it over to an editor.
Hopefully, it will be done by the end of 2015.

Review of 'Wish You Well' by David Baldacci

For hardcore Baldacci fans, this novel is a departure from his taut legal, crime and spy thrillers full of bullets, large burly heroes, and villains. But even they will not be disappointed by this tale of wonder and hope launched from a childhood tragedy.

The year is 1940.
Twelve-year-old Lou and her seven-year-old brother Oz are plucked from New York city after a car accident kills their father and leaves their mother Amanda in a catatonic trance. Set down in the hills of Virginia on a farm with neither phones, plumbing or electricity, the stories best workings are found in the children as they overcome the shock of a new deprived existence. They have no choice but to fall into the sunup to sundown rigor of chores to keep the farm in working order.
The character of Lou’s namesake great-grandmother Louisa will stay with you throughout your life. You’ll both wish you’d had a grandmother like her and at times be glad you didn’t.
The children’s first best friend Diamond Skinner, a barefoot preteen Daniel Boone scraping out his own existence and spinning towering tales along the way, is as stunning a character as any of Baldacci’s spies and gunners.
Cotton Longfellow is a lawyer and friend of the family, but not the coal company trying to steal the farm. Perhaps he’s never made it as a lawyer due to his lofty principles.
Villains abound in grimy men of the hills and sharp-suited coal company men.
Any reader of fiction would regret missing this story.
Wikipedia entryAmazon
Goodreads

~~~~0~~~~If you'd like to leave a comment and find the form tedious you can comment on my twitter feed @mikeyznsacto or Facebook M. Matheson

'Flatline' The heroes of this story are NOT the good guys.

My next novel, (which I expect to publish 11ish/2015) started as a speculative fiction piece intended to be a short story. But, the characters and events got loose and I was never able to corral them into the seven or ten thousand words I originally intended. They wanted a crime novel and I became their galley slave.

Despite its cry for guns, guts, blood and violence, it is a clean, flinch-free read.The only flinching come as you duck the bullets and the brains.

Troy Bittles, the protagonist, is a retired enforcer for an infamous worldwide motorcycle club (gang). In his retirement, he turns his former exploits into fodder for a somewhat successful novel writing career. He lives alone with his aging English Bulldog Sam.

Life seems good, but the monotony is not all he thought it was cracked up to be. Stacked against his former action-filled life of an enforcer amongst outlaws, it is a flatline. He found a slimly negotiated peace with the life he yearned for, yet there is a haunting deed he can never shake, the accidental murder of a child. That secret haunts Troy's mind and heart. The hit was never supposed to go down that way. The boy was not supposed to be in the house. On law enforcement logs, the child is still listed as missing likely kidnaped.

While out for a routine walk with Sam, Troy is jumped by street thugs in an unwarranted beating. Initially, it seems a random event until another much older outlaw, Roy Beckett, from a notorious street gang himself, appears to help. Roy, in the spectrum of organized gangs, is a polar opposite to Troy's world. The only thing they have in common is strong arm violence and murder.

Roy's offered help comes with a bite, and both men are propelled headlong into a series of calamitous events filled with hitmen, murder, drug cartels and runs from the police. Within these events, Troy sees a dim chance at redemption for the one deed he felt doomed by.

The story winds its way through California, Arizona, Mexico, Central America, and Brazil. In Recife, Brazil they are killing killers, the death squads preying on children whose only real crime is poverty. The story takes a turn I could never have imagined and redemption for the protagonists remains in sight but just out of reach.

The ending flabbergasted me and almost made me flinch.

Flatline is a crime novel. A wanton wild tale with a cast of strong colorful characters that ride with impunity through violent circumstances mostly of their own making.

The heroes in this novel are not the good guys.

Look for Flatline's release by October 1st, 2015.

'Flatline' my next novel. The heroes of this story are NOT the good guys.

My next novel started as a speculative fiction piece intended to be a short story. But, the characters and events got loose and I was never able to corral them into the seven or ten thousand words I originally intended. They wanted a crime novel and I became their galley slave. Despite its cry for guns, guts, blood and violence, it is a clean, flinch-free read.

Troy Bittles, the protagonist, is a retired enforcer for an infamous worldwide motorcycle club (gang). In his retirement, he turns his former exploits into fodder for a somewhat successful novel writing career. He lives alone with his aging English Bulldog Sam.
Life is good but stacked up against the action-filled life of an enforcer amongst outlaws, it is a flatline. He found a slimly negotiated peace with the life he yearned for, yet there is a haunting deed he can never shake, the accidental murder of a child. That secret haunts Troy's mind and heart. The hit was never supposed to go down that way. The boy was not supposed to be in the house. On law enforcement logs, the child is still listed as missing likely kidnaped.

While out for a routine walk with Sam, Troy is jumped by street thugs in an unwarranted beating. Initially, it seems a random event until another much older outlaw, Roy Beckett, from a notorious street gang himself, appears to help. Roy, in the spectrum of organized gangs, is a polar opposite to Troy's world. The only thing they have in common is strong arm violence and murder. Roy's offered help comes with a bite. Both men are propelled headlong into a series of calamitous events filled with hitmen, murder, drug cartels and runs from the police. Within these events, Troy sees a dim chance at redemption for the one deed he knew he was doomed by.

The story winds its way through Mexico, Central America, and at this point (August 20) Brazil. In Recife, Brazil they are killing killers, the death squads preying on children whose only real crime is poverty. The story takes a turn I could never have imagined and redemption for the protagonists remains in sight but just out of reach.

Flatline is a crime novel. A wanton wild tale with a cast of strong colorful characters, they ride with impunity through violent circumstances of their own making. The heroes in this novel are not the good guys.

Look for Flatline's release by October 1st, 2015.