Only Love Posted on September 10, 2014 by Billy Ray Chitwood


                                                                                       Only Love

Love is a word that is loosely thrown around in our world today…guess that’s okay because it is difficult to see how the word can be used in a pejorative way unless someone is using it like a gun or knife in a psychopathic or sociopathic way.

We take for granted comments like, “I love the way that movie played out!” or “I love this book!” or “I love this juicy apple!” or “I love football!” We all get the connotation when ‘love’ is invoked in this way. Very few among us would disagree that love is a most special word, a short formation of letters that goes a long way in expressing our innermost emotions for a human being, a pet, or…

Love as a noun occupies a much loftier position than the verb, in my most humble opinion. The word is in many ways sacrosanct – sacred and on the same plane as faith. “The love of God” generally conveys “faith in God” and becomes juxtaposed with our souls and theology. We can wish as a nation and as a world that this love was more encompassing and endearing.

Of course, the most emotional, exciting, exhilarating, and physically orgasmic is the love between a man and a woman, yet, not exclusively, as our world assuredly now knows of ‘same sex’ harmonious relationships. With no wish to alienate or doubt its verity and because I am most definitely hetero, I confine these comments to ‘man/woman’.

I have known those exquisite moments of love when a kiss launches me into a mad swirl of feverish passion, when all senses are focused on but one space in time, on a delirious and delicious hunger. I have known those moments when love is not with me, when I sit alone, feel the pangs of loneliness, write my lines of dubious poetry to the one who occupies my heart and mind. I have known those moments when love is threatened by insecurity and jealousy, when doubt finally leaves and I drink once more from the sweet chalice of love’s reuniting. I have alas known love’s withdrawal and the long weeks and months of despair, only to find again another coupling of hearts.

Love both blinds and gives us light. Love is one journey or it is many, and those who know of what I speak well know that, true to that soaring pursuit, it will ultimately come to spend a lifetime with us.

Love and Faith can bring gentle measures of equanimity and peace to a wayward heart and soul.

Though we can use love as our verbs, my preference is the noun. As with Faith, without love, we can be lost.

NOW, why have I briefly written about love and faith?

Two reasons, the first, innocuous enough, I hope…I simply wanted to write about love and faithbecause they have been so much a part of my life – superfluously, among other abstract notions. The second, rather selfish, I’m afraid… You see, I have written a romance novel which is not the typical romance novel. It has love, faith, of course, and it also has murder, mystery, and suspense.

The novel is called, Butterflies and Jellybeans – A Love Story. Don’t let the title fool you. It is my belief that ‘romance’ readers will find it to their liking – at least, that is my hope. I have shared my internet marketing ineptness in previous posts, and it’s my feeling this book should sell very well…hopefully, you will prove me right. If you do read Butterflies and Jellybeans, please tell a friend about it and/or write a review on Amazon.

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Posted on September 4, 2014 by Billy Ray Chitwood


                                                                         From Where I Sit

Fingers poised over the laptop, looking out across the valley at the far bluff and horizon, how can there be any evil in the world? The silent serenity through that large window encompasses all and sweetly softens my senses. The leaves on the trees, regal and tall, stir not a whisper. The sun shines gloriously down on this natural delight of God’s good work. How dare the scenes of blood, fallen bodies, and war drums beating come as unbidden echoes in my mind…if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there, is there still sound? Dear God, I fear it must be so!

A cloud passes and temporarily blots out the precious sun as though validating those unbidden echoes. I force away the ugly thoughts of dying and evil, at least to the periphery of awareness and think what clever inventions of my mind can endure me to my readers.

To my rescue comes George the Bengal cat (his grandmother was an Asian leopard cat). George stoically stares up at me and meows timidly for his noon-time treat – three little chicken-flavored ‘Temptations’. He eats them quickly and wanders over and lies under one of the great room chairs, looking out that same big window that produces nature’s portrait…and I wonder: does he think? If he does think, what is it he thinks about? Those trees he would like to climb – except he has been deprived his front paw claws?

See how easy it is to get away from the troubles of the world? Sort of like playing nine rounds of golf with basketball buddies at Martha’s Vineyard…

Okay, it’s too important, I have to write something! It is all I’m left to do. I’ll start with this excerpt from a Fox News report…

British Prime Minister David Cameron vowed to confront radical Islam “at home and abroad” and the United Kingdom raised its terror level to “severe”  in the wake of new revelations about Islamic State’s butchery in Syria and Iraq.

Cameron, speaking from 10 Downing Street, said Britain’s problem with homegrown radical jihadists joining the bloody battle engulfing the Middle East and threatening attacks on the west must be addressed with tough action.

“This is not some foreign conflict thousands of miles away that we can hope to ignore,” the Conservative Party leader said. “The ambition to create an extremist caliphate in the heart of Iraq and Syria is a threat to our own security here in the UK. And that is in addition to the many other Al Qaeda-inspired terrorist groups that exist in that region. The first ISIL terrorist attacks on the continent of Europe have already taken place.”

“We cannot appease this ideology,” the Conservative Party leader said. “We have to confront it at home and abroad. To do this we need a tough, intelligent, patient, comprehensive approach to defeat the terrorist threat at its source.

Cameron’s words came one day after U.S. President Barack Obama said the U.S. is not contemplating imminent action against Islamic State in Syria.

“I don’t want to put the cart before the horse. We don’t have a strategy yet,” Obama said Thursday.

No tirade here! It just seems to me we must have a strategy, patient, yes, but aggressive as well.Waiting until the deaths of innocent people mount up, until another extremist caliphate is added to the Islamic empire list, until the wicked warriors and weaponry drift into America, cannot be a sober option.

What is it that I am not getting? These terrorists are cutting off heads, killing infidels, Christians and Jews, vowing to dominate the world. They are criminally rich, recruiting followers all over the world to join them, claiming to ultimately raise their flag at our own US White House. Killing is their culture. It is what they do and have been doing for thousands of years. Why would the US wait until tens of thousands more die before setting goals and objectives? These terrorists want to kill us, and appeasement, rhetoric and diplomacy are not going to solve the problem. The goal is to win the war over terrorists. Losing is not an option!

George is thirteen, old in man-years like me, and he is now napping at my feet…yeah, I know, you’re telling me to take a nap! (And I will, sooner or later.) The sun is still shining and nature’s poetry is just outside my window. Why are the worries of the world out there, too?

I’m just a man who likes to write, a person who tries to keep up with his world… Perception is not always reality, but, from where I sit, that’s the way I see it.

By the way, my new book, A Common Evil, is out…hope you get a chance to read it and review it on amazon.

                                        BUY SITE:  http://authl.it/1r2 (Amazon Worldwide)

                                                               Billy Ray Chitwood

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Posted on August 28, 2014 by Billy Ray Chitwood


                                                                   Was Einstein Right?

“I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.”

Okay, perhaps it is natural that an aging crustacean (as in ‘Crab’!) like me should be writing a post like this…you know how we are: grumpy, bitching and moaning about this and about that. But, know what? We have never been here in this place!

This place?

This place in the chronology of humankind! This place where cell phones are accessories to killing people on our streets…this place where a romantic dinner is interrupted by the musical chime-ring of the latest ‘carry along do-it-all’ world data gatherer and communication gadget that everyone just has to have – sort of like the past when we tried to keep up with the Jones or Smiths…this place where the intellectually informed folks who maybe ought to know what is happening in their country and world are not making the rounds so much…this place where the new games on these weirdly-wired gadgets show the blood and gore of our imaginary kills…

You know this place of which I speak, and, yes, technology has its upside – the dictionary is there in your pocket or your purse to check the big word someone used while trying to impart something boring and unimportant.  That little gadget can allow you to really blast someone you do not like, call her/him names, make threatening and obscene remarks, and you can even do it anonymously. What a sweet deal! You can be the bully without getting punched in the nose!

Oh, there are a few who are not so addicted to this great technology of ours that they have time to see armies clashing around the world…they have time to see the ineptness of our own government in forming goals and objectives for countering the new world of terrorists – or, should I be politically correct and say ‘radical Islamists’? Well, you know of whom I speak, those creepy crawling bugs that have been around for thousands of years spewing their hatred and genocidal actions, vowing to kill all infidels and to rule the world… Yes, those of you playing your monster games, these terrorists are infiltrating our countries, our cities, and the minds of their youth, finding it easier and easier to corrupt and dislodge great historical principles and wisdom, ‘shredding’ documents and laws by which generic man has lived in hope and security.

We have made a few blunders in our living… We have given too much to those who would wish us harm and death. We have misread the tea-leaves of history too often. We have made noble efforts to make our country and the world a better place. Despite our blunders, we are the bold and the good of everyman. Are we now to somehow prove to the world we were frauds in our ideals? Damned tootin! I’m talking about America, the greatest nation on earth. We all thought that was the case. Are we not still? All countries in the world look toward our shores, many relying on us not only for support, monetary and otherwise, in their times of crises.

We got to this place somehow, maybe through all the doubling and re-doubling of knowledge that brought us tremendous growth in technology – and those cursed chatty cell phones…wonderful inventions but easy substitutes for our real selves. Scientific knowledge and technology are good but it seems in so many ways we are making them bad. This place in which we find ourselves can be very scary and depressing. We need government leaders of grand vision and wisdom who can ignite that greatness that I felt and saw during the greatest generation, leaders who do the peoples’ business without posturing and wavering with the tools Science and Technology have provided. We do not have to stay in this place! We need to kill the ‘terrorist bugs’ that are attempting to fulfill their ‘virginal’ quests.   

We might find Einstein was partially right in his observation…but, idiots, we are not, even those using the cell phones, playing their games and forgetting how to socialize without cell phone messaging.

We are, after all, the United States of America. As our English brethren might intone in Winston Churchill’s fashion, “Let’s show these buggers what we have!”

By Billy Ray Chitwood 

A Common Evil - MY NEW BOOK!

Amazon Worldwide – http://authl.it/1r2

Yes, I’m bad! Plugging my new book – the sixth and likely the final book in the Bailey Crane Mystery Series. Each of the books in the series stand alone… Really, shouldn’t you read these books? They’re fun reads, and Bailey always gets the bad guys! All twelve of my books (mystery, suspense, romance, memoir, politics, government) are presented on http://billyraychitwood.weebly.com.

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Tilt Posted on August 21, 2014 by Billy Ray Chitwood


                                                                                       Tilt

Smoking was not allowed in the dimly lit arcade but the scent of marijuana was strong, carried in by its users, the odor clinging to the clothes, mixing with body sweat, cheap perfume, after shave, and competitive fear emanating from the players’ pores. Curse words, groans, grunts, and the constant electronic sounds spewed forth from the machines…the roaring motors of race cars, bomb bursts, gun battles, beeps, and harsh monotonic whirs of games gone tilt from constant pounding and use. The big warehouse-like building held them all – the common and now highly sophisticated pinball machines, war battle machines for single or double play with hand-held remotes, car racing machines, more complicated and different versions of Pac-Man… All were there.

The big room was crowded with teenagers and adults, male and female. For me it was rather fascinating to see this different culture, this rapt attention to machines. My bored editor felt a good public interest piece could be garnered from my visit to ‘Tilt’, a relatively new enterprise begun just a month prior by two Chinese investors… The only reason for my editor’s interest, he had passed the ‘Tilt’ on the way to his bank and saw so many people and their cars filling up the parking lot – he had not known that arcades still possessed such drawing power.

Walking among the crowd I got jostled several times by the over-exuberant players, not even mindful that they had touched me…so rapt was their self-involvement. The noise was not so shatteringly loud. It was just pesky, like the steady hum of a bunch of houseflies. I found it fascinating, the taut serious faces of the crowd lost in the moments of conquest, fighting these mechanical bulks of electronic imagery.

Paused behind a large teenager, his face covered with acne and perspiration, his arms and hands frantically moving the hand-held objects to stay some ultimate course and reach a high-scoring goal, a flying elbow came at me, caught me flush on the temple, and I went down, confused and stunned by the sudden swirling of the room. I tried to get up, but my body swayed and the entire area around me began to sway and rattle madly. Bolts and metals parts came flying dangerously close by me. I closed my eyes, shook my head, sure that I must be hallucinating. When I opened again my eyes, the scene was worse.

The machines became shadowy floating objects of different colors, blue, green, red, yellow, and I was ducking out of their way as they went by me. Then I saw the floor ahead of me coming apart, ripping, becoming a gaping one-foot aperture, getting wider as it came toward me. The crowd began screaming. The machines became a cacophonous roar, their bright colors disappearing in dissonant swoons all around me.

I reached for a shiny metal wall rail which seemed unaltered by the clamor. There I clung, both hands grasping tightly the round metal, while bodies and the machines were sucked downward into the jagged fissure. I screamed but could not hear my voice. A blond lady who resembled my wife came flailing toward me, her face fixed in disbelief and horror, her hands reaching out to me for help. But I could not let go of the rail.

Then came the turbulent wind! Now I could see grotesque images of men and women, their hair seemingly drawn straight out from their scalps to become part of the landscape of terror. My body was rigid there on the rail and unaccountably not in discomfort. As my mind registered that thought the world went black and deathly silent…

The grayness slowly spread itself into light, hazy at first but growing into a purity of brightness. The brightness came with forms and sounds…beeping sounds and voices with echoic effects. My mind was initially reluctant to accept possibilities of this current reality, but slowly it made its way to a conclusion, just as the purity of brightness gained contour and completeness.

It was a hospital room, my mind suggested, not a heaven nor a hell nor an alien planet. Now from the echoic voices came the solid enunciations of some recognition. Was my wife in the room, noticing my stirring, speaking to a doctor, a nurse, to whom? I found no language clarity in the seemingly faraway words. Then, a spasm within my head made void all sound and I was being absorbed by some pleasant paralysis.

Then, the moment passed, and, again, came the clamor and din, the colors, the machines, the vortex from hell, and my body would not move to avoid once more the blackness that came to engulf me. Just before the blackness a thought came, prosaic in its numbness… Was this the end of days of which I had heard so much?

                                                          Flash Fiction by Billy Ray Chitwood

NOTE: My 12th book was just published. It was inspired by some personal experiences and some actual events in Mexico. It is set along the Sea of Cortez in a small fishing village and has kidnapping, murder, mystery, suspense, and intrigue. It has 5-Star Reviews, and I hope you enjoy the read.

                                                    A COMMON EVIL - A BAILEY CRANE MYSTERY (6)

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Our Crazy Wonderful WorldPosted on August 13, 2014 by Billy Ray Chitwood


Our Crazy Wonderful World

Do you ever idly surf youtube.com, listen and watch the musical and singing talent that appears on the various global ‘got talent’ and ‘X-Factor’ shows? I spent a morning doing just that and felt some strong emotional stirrings bringing tears to the brim.

Musicians and singers as young as nine years old, some as wide as a small VW, female, male, all colors, shapes, and sizes, came on stage giving the judges preconceived negative notions as to their talents. When the unique and wonderful quality of their instruments and/or voices reached those doubtful ears of the judges and the audiences, eyes opened saucer-like, faces altered, and mouths were momentarily locked in a community gape of jaws.

The cameras focused on the stunned people as they slowly began to utter their words of OMG and disbelief, stood in unison to applaud and roar approval. Tears came to many eyes on the judges’ stand and in the large auditorium.

“Unbelievable!” said the judges. “This is incredible!” said the judges. “Amazing!” On and on the praise was delivered to the thrilled singers, most of whom cast their lovely humility and thanks.

My morning idling led me to search my heart, mind, and soul for appropriate digestion of what I saw…being a hopeless romantic and aging seeker of metaphysical truth. The best I can offer is this:

I saw the ‘beauty and the beast’ that abides in all of us…

A long-haired, obese and scraggly young male appears on stage with a young and pretty female. The male is shy and barely audible as he answers the questions of the judges. The petite female is more casual and open in her responses. There is a palpable awkwardness felt all the way into my great room television. Then, magically, there comes the beautifully booming operatic voice of the obese male and the accompanying female’s harmonious notes of unity, a tour de force with everyone standing and applauding.

I saw a young girl, Melissa Venema and her trumpet join the official orchestra of Holland and Andre Rieu to play magnificently ll Silenzio, a version of Taps.

I saw a handsome fourteen-year old lad from Australia sit on a stool with his guitar and bring the tears to all assembled with a voice so vibrant and clear, singing songs he himself wrote.

I saw nine-year old Amira Willighagen sing O Mio Babbino Caro with Andre Rieu’s orchestra, with outstanding beauty and clarity.

As I spent most of my morning surfing these venues on YouTube it came to me that our world is rich in beauty and talent, regardless the skins and structures our DNA dictate, regardless ages. The big question I asked myself in listening to the music of the varied many, why did it evoke tears? Were the tears a natural protocol of the aging masses? Tears of joy for the performing youth? Tears of sadness that these joyous sounds had only this momentary passage in my life already lived? Tears of remembrance for beloved comedians who made people laugh with their pieces of genius?

The only answer which satisfied me was that my soul recognized some eternal message of the ages – Love conquers the beast (the evil) that hides in all of us. The caveat that followed? It seems so much of the world in its misery cannot accept the beauty that surrounds it, and the soul cries in torment. Are the tears but another way in which God tries to reach us, to tell us that there in eternity we will find the beauty found in some idle morning of surfing?

                                                                                   Billy Ray Chitwood

(This post dedicated to ‘crazy and wonderful’ Robin Williams who made all of us momentarily forget pain and suffering with his frantic comic genius… Rest in Peace, Good Robin!)

                                                                                               ***

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Animal CloudsPosted on July 31, 2014 by Billy Ray Chitwood


                                                                               Animal Clouds

Okay, too much time on my hands, you say! Really, do we ever have enough time? It was only yesterday I was a young man ‘courting the girls’ when my ‘young man’s fancy lightly turned to thoughts of love’. Time has taken those wonderful moments away from me, yes, but it has given me a love, comfortable and serene. Or, is it that my dotage has made it so much easier for my mind to wildly ponder the unrealities of life? Or, is it that my cleverness lives only in a return to childhood? That seems an inconsistent thought when one foot is already inside the boat that gives passage to the River Styx.

Animal Clouds, indeed!

Today, I write and find a multitude of ‘fancies’ as subjects for my pen – well, the laptop, if you must! Today, as I gaze out upon a sunny day with clouds drifting by as if on parade, I make of the shapes animals of all kinds…there’s a boar kneeling in prayer…there, a heavily plumed fowl stretched full out and zipping along with the wind…above the fowl, there’s a huge turtle creeping by the lovely blue background.

Actually, I’m procrastinating! I’m writing my thirteenth book, a saga about my saintly grandfather, his family’s turbulent emigration in 1885 from the Canton of Bern, Switzerland as his fetus lay curled in the tummy of his mother. Well, perhaps it is not to be a saga – don’t know if I have a saga in me, perhaps a mini-saga if there be such a thing. Through the genealogical channels, my wife has found a very interesting life of the man I loved very much as a child. There is of course love, two lovely sisters vying for his troth, his devotion and loyalty. There is madness, literally, as my grandfather’s mother spends much of her life in a mental institution. There is murder, suicide, and all sorts of interesting turns and twists in his life, so I shall make it into a fictional novel that will contain much factual information. After all, there is much that my novel mind must create.

So, I procrastinate, take a break from the longer form of writing to hallucinate and enjoy the circuitous routes the synapses dictate.

Should you wish to form your own animals from the scudding clouds, do not use mine…be proper and original with your laptop. If there is some other wild writing trip you wish to take, turn to any page in the dictionary and pick a word with which you’re not familiar…you can then amaze us blog lovers with the profundity of your wisdom – ahem, as I have here…

‘Tongue in cheek’ time over, I’m back to my saintly grandfather.

Oh, one last thing, I do have twelve books of mystery, suspense, romance, memoir, politics that really need to be read…consider them lonely for attention, words and phrases ‘just looking for a home’. Books have ‘feelings’, too, you know!

Might I suggest one (or, all) of my six ‘Bailey Crane Mysteries’ – some inspired by true crime?

If ‘Romance’ is your staple, my Butterflies and Jellybeans – A Love Story will answer your call, plus add a dash of suspense (don’t let the title fool you).

If you want the hard reality of evil in our world, try my Mama’s Madness (fiction from truth) OR The Reluctant Savage (romance, mayhem, murder) OR my brand NEW thriller A Common Evil.

 Memoirs of my sordid and wonderful life might interest you. The Cracked Mirror – Reflections of an Appalachian Son and What Happens Next? A Life’s True Tale.

Finally, you can determine whether or not you truly hate me or like me by reading Joe Public’s Political Perspective, a ‘rant and rave’ about government – yes, I had to open my mouth, or, in this case, my laptop! Don’t know if I have it right but the thoughts come from an honest place.

All these books are on my personal website – http://billyraychitwood.weebly.com – just scan the home page after the short bio section. Really, could you just start something ‘viral’ for me? The books are entertaining and non-convoluted – I would not know how to make a book too complicated!

Now you’ve seen the begging and crass side of me after getting your attention with animals in the clouds.

Next week, I promise to behave!

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Feel free to comment. My best wishes.

                                                                          Confused and Mystified

Participating, watching others participate, wondering what and where is the magic in this digital mind-boggling world. You are a writer. You write because of need and because you have identified writing as the talent you most likely possess more than any other, because just maybe that activity keeps you alive and in tune with the world around you. You go through the spasms of depression, frustration, and an occasional adrenaline rush of encouragement and excitement.

Then, you take a look at the marketing aspects of selling your books, the various providers of platforms, tools, and applications. Perhaps, like me, you become aware of the specialized and confusing language used in the digital market places, things like Avatar, widgets, SEOs, RSS feeds, URLs, hash marks, and all of it somehow cannot seem to make sense to you. You become angry with yourself, with the computer and its devious foreign language, and with the madness of minds making life so much more complicated than it really needs be. You wonder what you should be doing that you are not doing but most of all how to do it. Could you have been selling more books and yourself if you had joined this group, used this platform, done this, done that?

Sure, you can hire someone for a tidy sum you think you can trust to take the marketing worries away that allows you to concentrate on your writing. Yet, you either feel not quite comfortable among the so-called professional or you are too money-tight to give it a try. So, you muddle on, writing good books – books that should be selling – and attempting a one-person publishing house. Is there an answer? Is there a Nirvana out there for you?

The odds might not be great, but you figure to keep on writing – because that’s what you love to do. Hopefully, before the grim reaper comes calling, a benevolent event, a magic will come your way and finally make all those moments at the laptop pay off. A Publishing deal with a handsome sign-up bonus? An Amazon selling spree that puts your books virally in the top echelon of the Indie market? Okay, more realistically, beautifully written and sincere heartfelt reviews may lack the money and fame but they do make you soar for a few moments in those heady clouds of success. Maybe that is all we can hope – that and learning the foreign language that is the internet.

Writing mimics life and weather! Just wait a few moments with the emotion you are currently feeling…it will soon pass and be replaced by another. Time is the arbiter of all things – it is here and gone!

Just in the time it took me to write this blog post, I became a famous writer! Talk about an emotional uplift… A good caring and loving spouse can do that for you.

Keep Writing! Good things can happen!

 NOTE:

My NEW BOOK,  A Common Evil is set in Mexico along the Sea of Cortez – murder, mystery, suspense as good fights evil among the drug cartels. The initial reviews are 5-Stars – Hope you can enjoy it at Amazon Worldwide authl.it/B00LMHJUIS. Reviews are welcome.

Feel free to leave a comment. My best wishes.

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Why Did I Write “A Common Evil…?”Posted on July 10, 2014 by Billy Ray Chitwood


                                                                         LAUNCH BLOG

                                                         Why Did I Write A Common Evil…?

The title could just as easily be ‘Why Do I Write’? This book, however, has a rather significant place in my heart and mind. A Common Evil – A Bailey Crane Mystery is the last book (6) in ‘The Bailey Crane Mystery Series but that is not the reason it occupies that significant place in my heart and mind.

It was a marvelous pleasure for my wife and me to live full-time in Mexico on the Sea of Cortez in a small fishing village some sixty miles south of the Arizona border. We were there for several years, and I served proudly as the president of the Homeowners Association at our resort…that part of the book is accurate for the character of Bailey Crane. Another part of A Common Evil which is indeed couched in fact is the early morning raid at our resort some months back in which a cartel boss was killed, along with some other bad drug people. It must also be stated as fact that this incident occurred shortly after my wife and I left Mexico in our return to the United States. The raid, or ‘sting’, by the Federales and their allies was the true inspiration for writing the book – that, and exploring the unlikely drug solutions south of the border. There are other truths in the book taken from my experiential mind vault, but, for the most part, it is a fictional novel that has all the necessary disclaimers.

It was important for me to write the book for a number of reasons.

First and foremost, it gave me a poetic license to tell a story and relive some aspects of my life and times in Mexico, a country for which I have had a love affair for many years. The allusions to the Sea of Cortez, its incomparable beauty, and to the hospitable, nostalgic, warm people of Mexico, are all from a truly thankful mind and heart. My thoughts in the book about the people in general and the country come from a good place. It is true that Mexico has its poverty, its cartels, its corruption, and it also has a desire to become more than what some in the world perceive it to be…not so different from many countries. In the main, my full-time years spent in Mexico were enjoyable and my love for the people genuine and heartfelt.

Second, I wanted to explore a common evil shared by most if not all the nations of the world. Because Mexico gets so much media attention drawn to its drug cartels, its brutal murders, and the sometime popular opinion that the government is an awed and intimidated partner in the awful business, I wanted to explore some off-the-wall solutions to the drug wars. While living by that beautiful sea and in having a resort position that gave me perhaps more opportunities for contact with local government officials, there came to me an emerging microcosmic vision of the country as a whole…certainly, not empirical, nothing measurable or notable in scientific terms, simply a desultory and superficial mix of observations.

Another reason for writing A Common Evil, the most crucial to me, I wanted to write an exciting novel that readers might enjoy, one with believable characters, one with a few twists and turns, some irony, perhaps even a red herring here and there.

Finally, writing is life for me. It keeps the old heart ticking and gives me clues to identifying myself, providing dimensions otherwise not known…after all, some of us need a lifetime to figure out just who we are.

Hope you will check out A Common Evil – A Bailey Crane Mystery – book 6. Incidentally, each book in ‘The Bailey Crane Mystery Series’ stands alone…while fleshing out the central character in each story. Some of the mysteries are inspired by true crimes.

                                                               BUY SITES FOR "A Common Evil":

                                                              Amazon US: goo.gl/cMutZf (Kindle)

                                                           Amazon US: goo.gl/seIxV4 (Paperback)

                                                                    Amazon UK: goo.gl/W1i9si

                                                 CreateSpace: https://www.createspace.com/4856989 

If you enjoy A Common Evil perhaps you will write a review of your reading experience on amazon.com and amazon.co.uk. You, the readers, are the life-blood of writers. Without you, authors can lead a very lonely life.

Feel free to comment below. My very best wishes.

                                                                   SOME LINKS TO THE AUTHOR:

                                                                  http://www.about.me/brchitwood

                                                                http://billyraychitwood.weebly.com

                                                               Follow me on Twitter – @brchitwood

                                                               http://facebook.com/billyray.chitwood 

                                                                http://facebook.com/billyrayscorner 

(NOTE: I’m very proud to have received nine awards for my blog and I usually display those awards at the end of my posts – as required. On this occasion, I will hold my pride in check – almost!)

An Interview With Author Eden Baylee Posted on July 3, 2014 by Billy Ray Chitwood

An Interview With Author Eden Bailey

My blog post this week is a most particular pleasure. Having been interviewed myself by this adorable lady, here is my chance to change seats, to be the inquisitive one. To Eden’s many friends who are in the audience, please feel free to re-blog this interview.

So, without delay:

                                  An Interview with Eden Baylee

Eden Baylee is one of the grandest ladies I know…supportive of so many authors and friends. She is one of those people who has a lot of humanity the world would not necessarily know about. She is an author who has written erotic books – and written them with a literary flair and without the raw and gratuitous verbiage that many readers might associate with erotic writing. Her style is warm and inviting, and her themes touch on real life issues and content. There are described in her writing the beauty of love, romance, and sadness that drops in on all of us. Her writings speak to life and have literary melodies that flow through them.

With a course change, Eden launched her very first full-length novel, Stranger at Sunset, and this psychological thriller hit the streets on June 30, 2014. I can tell you there is a beautiful, strong, female protagonist who may have dabs of quirk in her behavior but you will love her – guaranteed! Here is the beautiful cover and the buy sites:

                   BUY SITES: 

Amazon US – http://amzn.to/1wmygEY

Amazon UK – http://amzn.to/1pDH9ry

(There are rave reviews already accumulating on Amazon – US and UK) 

Hmmm, I think I saw the book on Times Square…

WOWEE!

Why don’t I stop with the monologue and have you meet this great lady, Eden Baylee, a Canadian lass who writes under the alias just mentioned, a banker for some years before she began writing…but, wait, the Q and A will tell her tale…

Question: Surely you have much more to tell us about yourself, your personal life, and times?

Answer: Oh my, Billy Ray! You sure know how to make a girl blush. Thank you so much for that incredible introduction. Hmm … as for my personal life, I never think people are all that interested in me. Most of anything you want to know can be found on my blog or website.

But in a nutshell, I’m born and bred in Canada, raised French, now living in Toronto, which is English. As you know, Canada is a bilingual country. I speak four languages fluently and get by with mediocre German and Spanish. In 2010, I left banking after twenty years to write full time. I haven’t looked back since. I’m an audiophile, logophile, and an introvert, though I do enjoy being with good friends.

Question: What do you consider the most dramatic event of your life?

Answer: Wow, you’re not letting me off easy, are you? ;)

I suppose it would be when I had cancer. It took almost two years out of my life, but it reset my priorities. Though I would not wish an illness upon anyone, it brought into focus what was really important for me. Leaving my job was part of it.

I had a lot of fear about failing as a writer, but that fear paled in comparison to how I would feel if I never gave writing a chance. I never wanted to look back and regret that I was too afraid to make a life change. As much as I can, I don’t allow fear to rule me anymore.

Question: What was the very first piece of writing that gave you the passage and passion to become a full-time author?

Answer: It’s the first erotic novel I read: Story of O by Pauline Réage. I was eleven. It left an impression that has stayed with me all my life. In your introduction, you alluded to good vs. bad erotica. I have read both, just as I have read good and bad mysteries, and other genres. I think it’s important to know the difference, and this can only happen by exposing oneself to both ends of the spectrum.

I have always loved ‘sensual’ writing, the type that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Of course, it does not necessarily have to contain sex. Writing that draws in the reader emotionally spans all genres.

My goal was to write stories to make others feel like I did when I read that first erotic book. Of course, erotica left an indelible mark on my psyche, so that’s what I started writing. You can find many of my non-erotic works in my shorts and flash fiction.

Question: Which authors and/or life themes have inspired and motivated you to write?

Answer: I won’t name any one author because there are many, including you, Billy Ray. You are inspiring in that you have written so many books. “Prolific” does not even begin to describe you!

As for life themes, I love writing about foreign places because I love travel even though I haven’t had much opportunity of late to go away. I also love music, poetry, art, and languages. All these themes play into my stories.

My latest book shows my love for psychology, which I majored in while going to university … then I became a banker. Go figure. I don’t even like numbers!

Question: How about the process of writing itself? What emotions run unbidden within you while sitting and pecking at your laptop?

Answer: Oh god, Billy Ray! I laughed aloud with this question! I have never been asked this before. First of all, I don’t sit to write. I stand. I find sitting for too long makes me tired and hurts my back, so standing at my kitchen counter has proven to be much better for keeping me alert.

As for emotions? I’m probably just saying to myself: Get this damn book written already. What’s taking you so long?! I’m not the most patient person.

[That's interesting that you stand and write... One of my favorite authors of old was Thomas Wolfe (Look Homeward Angel and You Can't Go Home Again) --- he was a tall man and wrote his long novels standing, penning his words atop a refrigerator.]  

Question: Is there a time of day you feel more effective as a writer?

Answer: I’m a night owl, though lately I have been getting up with the birds and have been surprised by my productivity. I usually don’t go to bed until well after midnight, so it makes for long days. I love the quiet of the night and can write clearly after dark.

Question: Other than writing, what are some of your most favorite moments of leisure?

Answer: I love good conversation, so it’s usually time spent with friends, dinner, wine, or something in that vein. I enjoy good films, my harmonica, and now that the weather is hot (finally!), I tend to my small flower and herb garden.

Question: This may be tough for you, but is your good husband aware of our current affair – AND, the discarded affair you had with John Dolan? (Tee Hee!)

Answer: Billy Ray! I thought you were going to keep our little secret.

There are some wonderful and supportive authors in my social network. Both you and John rank highly as two of my favorite and closest friends.

As you know, writing is a solitary profession, and it’s always wonderful to meet like-minded people who can help pass the day with humor.

Question: More seriously, and I know you are being interviewed consistently since Stranger at Sunset came out, can you give us a brief summary of the book and what motivated you to write this psychological thriller?

Answer:  Stranger at Sunset is inspired by a real place, but my love for characters inspired the story. The title is a play on words, as it’s meant to explore the ‘stranger’ in all of us. I was motivated to write a psychological mystery/thriller because I enjoy the genre, both in books and in film.

Here is a summary of Stranger at Sunset:

A vacation can be a killer. 

Dr. Kate Hampton, a respected psychiatrist, gathers with a group of strangers at her favorite travel spot, Sunset Villa in Jamaica. Included in the mix are friends of the owners, a businessman with dubious credentials, and a couple who won the trip from a TV game show. It is January 2013, following the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. The luxury resort is struggling, not from the storm, but due to a scathing review from caustic travel writer, Matthew Kane. The owners have invited him back with hopes he will pen a more favorable review to restore their reputation. 

Even though she is haunted by her own demons, Kate feels compelled to help. She sets out to discover the motivation behind Kane’s vitriol. Used to getting what he wants, has the reviewer met his match in Kate? Or has she met hers? 

Stranger at Sunset is a slow-burning mystery/thriller as seen through the eyes of different narrators, each with their own murky sense of justice. As Kate’s own psychological past begins to unravel, a mysterious stranger at Sunset may be the only one who can save her.

Question: Finally, will there be a sequel to Stranger at Sunset and/or more writing in this (or, these) genres?

Answer: Yes to both. I envision Stranger at Sunset to be the first of a trilogy. I’m working on the second book right now called: A Fragile Truce, and there’s an excerpt in the current book. The books will feature my protagonist Dr. Kate Hampton and maybe a few other recurring characters, but she is always in the starring role.

Question: Any ending comments and/or suggestions you would like to leave with your many fans, with authors, potential authors, and readers in general?

Answer: First and foremost, THANK YOU, Billy Ray, for your generous spirit as a man and author. I’m amazed you find the time to both write and help promote other authors with such zeal. It has been my pleasure to be a part of your blog, and I am so thankful for your help and continued support. Your humor continues to keep me on my toes. ;)

As for readers, I truly hope they enjoy the book. I’m always grateful for feedback via a review or connection through any of my networks. Talking to readers is one of the biggest pleasures of being a writer.

Thanks again, Billy Ray. xox

We tease a lot and find amusement in our interchanges on Twitter and the other networks, but I do want the cyberspace folks and the world to know that you have a big heart, a lovely writing style, and a most charitable, generous nature. I cherish our simpatico relationship…and bless your husband for putting up with my inanities.

Also, to the world, I say: Please buy and read Stranger at Sunset - otherwise, that ‘generous’ check will not reach me. :-) 

OTHER WORKS BY EDEN BAYLEE

With her new psychological thriller, Stranger at Sunset, Eden’s body of work consists of ten books.  For a complete list of her books, visit the links below:

http://www. goo.gl/34Gdvl – amazon.com (US)

AND

http://www. goo.gl/DQKJJa – amazon.co.uk (UK)

AND

http://edenbaylee.com 

To stay apprised of Eden’s book-related news, please add your name to her mailing list at her website.

There may be duplication but here following are all of Eden’s Links:

Website – http://edenbaylee.com

New Link - www.edenbayleebooks.com

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22570211-stranger-at-sunset


Amazon Author page US

Amazon Author page UK

Twitter @edenbaylee

Facebook

Goodreads

Youtube

Pinterest

Linkedin

Of course, you can always find me here, on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and  http://billyraychitwood.weebly.com

A Common Evil – A Bailey Crane Mystery Posted on June 29, 2014 by billyraychitwood1


Kindle Version Just out today! Paperback out in week or so.

The Kindle version of A Common Evil – A Bailey Crane Mystery came earlier than expected. The paperback will be available in a week or so. The link for the Kindle version is goo.gl/5PsAie . One beta reader has given me a 5-Star review which should be published on Amazon US and UK shortly. Other reviews are coming in and will be posted as soon as received. Any other reader reviews are most welcome.

Thanks to everyone who responded to my last post query regarding a book cover. The cover shown here is obviously the first choice.

Amazon Kindle - goo.gl/5PsAie - gives the reader a few pages of the book to preview, and, superfluously, it’s my hope you will want to read the entire novel.

JUST ONE LAST NOTE: my next post on JULY 3, 2014 will feature an interview withEden Baylee with some Q and A about her life and her new novel, Stranger at Sunset - I think you will enjoy the post, so see you there.

Thanks so much to all the great followers of my blog for your good support…all my very best wishes.

Billy Ray Chitwood - June 29, 2014

http://www.about.me/brchitwood

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