No Way to Run a Country

The US is a country built with the labor, sacrifice, and dedication of serous, committed working class men and women. People who get up day after day, rain or shine, hot or cold, whether they feel like it or not and do their job as best they can - paying the bills, putting a roof over their family's heads, putting food on the table, getting their children through school, and hoping to save a little against the day when they are no longer able to do all that. The current administration was elected to make life a little easier, the day a little brighter, the future a little safer, and so far all they've done is destroy the wealth and savings of hard-working Americans - and for no good purpose. This is no way to run a country.

Life is a Process

Life is a process. We are in that process. We are part of that process. No one stands apart from life as an unbiased, unaffected observer.

An Alley in Meridian

 

                                                                An alley in Meridian

A Red Door

 A red door, in Brenham, Texas

Countertop Reflection

Countertop Reflection

 

Box On A Parking Garage Wall

 Box on a Parking Garage Wall

SUNSET MOTEL - MIKE CONNOLLY #6

Sunset Motel - the sixth book in the Mike Connolly Mystery series - is now available everywhere online. Click the links to order.      Amazon - Barnes and Noble - Bookshop

 I like the sound of a train, passing in the distance, late at night.

New Edition of The Deposition

The Deposition - the 5th installment of the Mike Connolly Mystery series (originally released in 2007) will be re-released in December. It will be available in print and eBook. 

This is the latest version of the cover.

 

Other People, Other Places

AVAILABLE NOW!

Other People, Other Places - my newest collection of short fiction - is available now in print and eBook from all the usual places - AMAZON - BARNES & NOBLE - BOOKS A MILLION - and INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORES everywhere.

Manhattan Book Review called it, "an outstanding book of short stories and novellas."

 

Teachers Make a Difference

One day when I was in the fourth grade, our teacher, Evelyn Miller, brought us back from lunch and spent half an hour reading to us. The story that day was about a boy who was given the chore of painting the fence around his aunt's home and how he convinced his friends to pay him to let them paint it. That story, of course, was from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain. I remember the day, the moment she read that to us - because that was the moment I began to dream of being a writer.

DOUBLE TAKE - MIKE CONNOLLY #2

Double Take is book #2 in the Mike Connolly mystery series. Part mystery. Part legal thriller. Part police procedure. It continues the story of Mike as he struggles to remain sober while defending a client accused of murder. The story is set along the Gulf Coast, primarily in and around Mobile.

Available in print and as an eBook from Amazon - Barnes & Noble - Books-A-Million - - - and wherever books are sold.

Night Rain, the fourth book in the Mike Connolly Mystery series, has been re-issued and is now available in print and as an e-Book from all the usual places.

AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE, BOOKS-A-MILLION

 

Night Rain - available for pre-order

Night Rain, the fourth book in the Mike Connolly Mystery series, will be re-issued on June 15. 

The print version is available for pre-order now in all the usual places.

AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE, BOOKS-A-MILLION

 

OBSERVATIONS REGARDING NON-PRIME ODD NUMBERS

 

This past year has been a challenge to all of us and with so many facing dire circumstances, the moment seemed to ask something of me other than my usual writing fare. So, instead of writing fiction I used the time to explore a topic that has long intrigued me -- the nature of prime numbers. Those odd numbers that have no factors other than 1 and themselves. No one seems to know quite how they are formed, or why, and no one has found a way of determining the identity of the next prime number without resorting to a trial-and-error method. For a system such as math, that relies on logic, not knowing these things struck me as out of character. So, I decided to have a look at the matter for myself.

My first attempts involved a direct inquiry into the nature of primes. That effort quickly proved frustrating. Primes appear with an aggravatingly complex irregularity. After wrestling with that a while I decided to try an indirect approach - determine the nature of numbers that are not prime in the hopes of exposing something about the number system that might give insight into the nature of primes. I did this by exploring on my own - discovering patterns and relationships between the non-prime composite numbers - finding those patterns first, before turning to academic sources for an explanation. The effort turned out to be not only productive, but adventurous. Transforming math from a subject endured in a lifeless classroom to a marvelous journey through an elegant and intriguing kingdom.

My latest book - Observations Regarding Non-Prime Odd Numbers - contains the result of my study so far and is available now. You can buy a copy through all the usual places: Amazon - Barnes & Noble - Books A Million - and through independent bookstores everywhere.

COVER FOR ELECTRIC BEACH RE-ISSUE

Electric Beach is the third novel in the Mike Connolly mystery series and was originally released in 2006.  It will be re-issued by Dunlavy + Gray on February 1 and will be available in print and as an eBook. This is the new cover.

The Art Dealer's Wife - - Available Now!

The Art Dealer's Wife is available now at all the usual places. 

Here are the links to Amazon - Barnes & Noble - Books A Million

 

The Art Dealer's Wife

 We are running a giveaway right now on Goodreads for my next book - The Art Dealer's Wife - enter for a chance to win 1 of 10 autographed copies - click here to go to the site

THE GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED - THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO ENTERED AND CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS!

OBSERVATION ON PRIME NUMBERS - 2

If 1 is included as a prime, then all prime numbers can be expressed as a sum using only the prime numbers appearing previously on the number line (using each number only once, no multiplicity). For example, 11 can be expressed as 7+3+1. This is true for every prime number, as long as 1 is included as a prime.

OBSERVATION ON PRIME NUMBERS - 1

All prime numbers greater than 7 end with the number 1, 3, 7, or 9.