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.

http://www.about.me/brchitwood 

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)

                                                                                 BUY SITES : 

                                                         http://www.goo.gl/d1fSnc (Amazpon US)

                                                         http://www.goo.gl/U3pZtP (Amazon UK)

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

http;//www.about.me/brchitwood

http://billyraychitwood.weebly.com

http://twitter.com/brchitwood (@brchitwood)

http://facebook.com/billyray.chitwood

http://facebook.com/billyrayscorner

http://linkedin.com (billyraychitwood)

http://goodreads.com/author/dashboard 

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!

http://www.about.me/brchitwood

http://twitter.com (@brchitwood)

http://goodreads.com/author/dashboard

http://facebook.com/billyray.chitwood

http://facebook.com/billyrayscorner

http://linkedin.com (Billy Ray Chitwood)

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.

http://www.about.me/brchitwood

http://billyraychitwood.weebly.com

http://twitter.com/brchitwood (@brchitwood)

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http://facebook.com/billyrayscorner

http://linkedin.com (billy ray chitwood)

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!)

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

http://billyraychitwood.weebly.com

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Book Cover To Be Or Not To Be !Posted on June 26, 2014 by billyraychitwood
 

                                                                A Book Cover To Be Or Not To Be!

A Book Cover To Be Or Not To Be?

I’m told by so many people that a cover can make or break a book, in terms of drawing readers to it. Of course, the content goes a long way in deciding whether or not success comes its way.

Having just finished my 12th book, A Common Evil – A Bailey Crane Mystery, having worked within the constraints of Create Space for all of my book covers, the two shown above are those that come close to my parameters – Title on one line, Sub-Title on one line, Author on one line, and the image of Evil pretty much captured. Any other ‘theme fonts’ used would put the first three items mentioned on two lines. So, I came up with these two choices: one, bold, dark, and hard in visually presenting the book; the other, soft and rather elegant in its visual appeal.

•                                                                HELP – HELP – HELP
  

 I’m still processing cover designs but thought you might be willing to comment on the two covers presented here and give me your thoughts. Label the darker cover ‘A’ and the softer cover ‘B’. Or, just tell me to keep working on a cover. Thanks so very much.

It is ultimately the content between the covers of a book from which the reader will render a final verdict, but a visually attractive glossy front can be a good draw. If you have the time and inclination please leave a comment if you like the covers shown here or whether I should keep exploring.

Speaking of content, here is an early sampling from A Common Evil – A Bailey Crane Mystery:

When I raise myself for a look-see, the site appears under siege. Much of the shooting is coming from an interior villa, and through the moonlight and gun flashes I can see bodies, some moving, some on the ground, probably dead or dying. To my surprise, on one of the balconies in building 3 to my left, there is a machine gun set-up. The firing that reaches my ears is coming from pistols, semi-automatic rifles, and AK-47s. Clearly there is a strong presence of lawmen, Federales, and there are bad guys with guns, most assuredly members of the cartel.

Suddenly there are other sounds. Three Blackhawk helicopters dip and roar in from the sea, the guns aboard shooting down on precise points of the resort. It is all alarming and dramatic, like I’m privy to filming of an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie…my mind stupidly thinks of “True Lies.” I’ve had some action and drama in my day but nothing quite as panoramic as this. The early morning sky, the color streaks from the ammo display, the distant town lights of the Pueblo del Mar port, and the shadowy figures flickering by on the ground below me, all are vivid Technicolor at its best.

For long moments I watch the battle play out, more mesmerized than gripped by fear. Somewhere behind me I hear Wendy calling me… I yell back, “I’m coming!” but stay fixed for more moments watching the gun display far down on the eastern edge of the resort’s grounds. Then I notice moving figures getting into a van and dashing toward the front gate area, more figures climbing over an 8-foot stucco wall to the neighboring resort.

As the rapid firing slows to periodic bursts I rise and discover that Wendy is crouched behind me at the arcadia doors. “What are you doing, Wen? Get inside, please!”

She gives me an instant reply: “You can’t figure bullets can bend and reach us up here, Bailey-cakes. But, then, I was always more swift of mind than you.”

“Point made, Genius, but stray bullets can and has hit some of our towers. That scattering shrapnel can harm and maim.” I grab her by the arm, and we move inside, close, lock the doors, and sit on the sofa in our great room. There are now faint, sporadic rounds of fire but it is my guess that the show is about to wind down… Of course, my clever wife has beat me to that conclusion.

Stunned by this early morning anomaly, my thoughts turn to our homeowners and resort staff. I have to find out more clearly about the health of our people and just what the hell is going on. (End of sampling.)

In case you can’t read the back cover of the first sample cover (‘A), I repeat it here:

Former sleuth Bailey Crane and lovely wife Wendy are enjoying their penthouse pleasures until a cartel sting operation at their Mexican resort brings chaos and emotional uncertainty into a blurry reality. Wendy is kidnapped, and Bailey faces the demons running loose in his mind as he struggles with his choices. Also President of the resort’s HOA, Bailey has not only kidnapping and murders with which to contend, but other problems which add to this suspenseful chapter in his life. The surprising end point brings back to Bailey and Wendy those memories better left in the memory vault. 

An exciting, intense thriller in the sand and cacti of Mexico’s Sonoran desert by the beautiful Sea of Cortez.

This is the final Book 6 of ‘The Bailey Crane Mystery Series’.

Evil can be so common as not to be seen.

A Common Evil – A Bailey Crane Mystery will be published in mid-July, 2014.

One final word about A Common Evil – A Bailey Crane Mystery, my wife and I lived in the lovely falsely named resort depicted in this novel. While the book is a work of fiction there are many elements of truth here as well. In fact, one of those truths was the real inspiration for the book. It is my hope that you watch for the publication of A Common Evil mid-July, 2014 (next month). I hope also that you will enjoy this suspenseful tale.

Each book in ‘The Bailey Crane Mysteries’, though showing the natural progression of the central character, stand alone and can be read independently – that is, there is a beginning, a middle, and a conclusion. The books in the series, some inspired by true events, are meant to be not so convoluted. Hopefully entertaining to the readers, the books allow the author through his characters and plot lines to muse, wander in his thoughts on life, while staying focused on the business at hand.

There, I have had my say!  

Billy Ray Chitwood – June, 2014

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Meet Author Billy Ray Chitwood - Posted on June 19, 2014 by billyraychitwood


                                  Meet Author, Billy Ray Chitwood

                               NEW BOOK COMING: Mid-July, 2014

                           A Common Evil – A Bailey Crane Mystery

[The following comments from a husband standing behind his wife as she reads a blog post]

“Okay, know what I’m thinking… I would never read an author who can’t get a bowtie correctly in place on his tuxedo.

“My next thought is… What’s the guy doing in a tuxedo? Authors don’t make the kind of money to be wearing tuxedos. They walk around in smelly shoes, jeans, and soiled t-shirts. This guy’s after something… Got to be careful here!

“Look at the guy! He’s got a smug know-it-all half-smile and bags under his eyes – probably an alcoholic or an insomniac. He’s looking like he’s God’s gift to literature! Give me a break. These author-people – what? Maybe a hundred million of them? And they all think they can sneak up on us with their words and phrases, make us fans, pay enormous prices for their fancy-covered books, and make them millionaires.

“What! The guy’s written twelve books… I’ve played Texas Hold’em twelve times and won one hundred grand. Big freaking deal!

“Six books in his ‘Bailey Crane Mystery Series’ and he’s saying some of them are inspired by true events… Yeah, I’m sure! His new book: A Common Evil… what kind of title is that for a book? Supposed to turn us on? The guy knows the world thrives on murder and mayhem – he’s likely trying for a movie deal. Hey, he’s got a chance! It’s about murder and Mexican cartels. They’re in the news.

“The guy’s even written a romance novel, two more mysteries, two memoirs, and a political rant and rave… Bet money the guy’s a right-wing zealot! He just looks the type. Ah, he is, see what he says right there?”

Finally, the wife has had it. “Will you finish your diatribe? I happen to like this author’s writing style and I find what he has to say very interesting. Go slobber down another beer, Fred. At least, that will keep you in the bathroom most of the evening.”

“Touchy, touchy, Wilma! So, one question before I leave you alone… What’s this guy’s writing style you’re so excited about?”

“Would not expect you to understand, Fred, but I’ll try… His style embodies the elements I like in writing. He’s not convoluted in his plots. He is not afraid to show his emotional side and he loves his wife. He stays focused on his plot but muses about life’s idiosyncratic turns and twists, and I suspect he puts quite a lot of himself into his books. He is in some ways a polymath.”

“Well, if you’re going to use your big words, I’m outta here. Let me know when the author has left the room.”

                                                           Billy Ray Chitwood – June 19, 2014

Happy to have your comment if inclined…

http://www.about.me/brchitwood (Bio)

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https://www.goodreads/author/dashboard

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http://www.amazon.com/author/billyraychitwood (Author Page)

         

                           The Beginning of a Book Launch

                 A Common Evil – A Bailey Crane Mystery (Book 6)

                               Authored by Billy Ray Chitwood

The Beginning of a book launch?

First, an admission, I’ve never been very good at my own book launches. With this book, I would really like to get it as right as I possibly can. You see, I think my previous eleven books, five of them part of ‘The Bailey Crane Mystery Series’, are very good books – there are aside from ‘The Bailey Crane Mystery Series’ a romance-suspense novel, two other mystery-suspense novels, and two memoirs. Some of these fictional books are inspired by true stories.

The truth is the manuscripts of some ‘Bailey Crane’ books sat and gathered dust for a few years before I cleaned them up, rewrote and edited them. Then, the books were published one after the other without any fanfare, without reviews, and put on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. In short, I did no pre-launch, very little social networking, and tried to catch up by tweeting like crazy – it was not a professional marketing effort at all. Good Twitter followers, LinkedIn, Google Plus, and Facebook friends supported as best they could. Ergo, the sales never kept up with the hopes.

Look, I’m a humble guy and understand that my writing style might not please everyone. I do inject some musings, dabs of humor, and some diversionary little bits here and there, but I know the books are good, some close to damned good, have great characters and plot lines. I also know that there are millions of readers and books, so it behooves me to start doing something right in launching/marketing my books.

So, with this twelfth book, A Common Evil – A Bailey Crane Mystery (Book 6), I’m after some folks reviewing the book prior to publication, designing a dynamite cover, blogging some sample sections, tweeting, using Facebook, LinkedIn, and other platforms. I want to make sure that every best effort is made to make this book and all my books known to the reading public with the strongest launch effort I’ve ever attempted.

‘The Bailey Crane Mystery Series’ are books that can stand alone, but the progression in age and circumstance of the central character, Bailey Crane, is evident book to book… One side note, one ‘Bailey Crane’ manuscript was lost in all my wandering – it was a book titled “Stranger Abduction” (it was to be Book 2 in the series – “Satan’s Song” is now in that position). “SA” was about a mother and daughter gone missing from Arizona who were never found (based on true events). As each book stands alone, the only missing elements with no “SA” have to do with some of Bailey’s personal life. I have searched everywhere I know to search for the missing manuscript, and, if it’s ever found it will be published.

So, now I have honestly shared with you my ineptness in launching my books and what I hope for in a new invigorated launch attempt. Now, here is a brief description of A Common Evil – A Bailey Crane Mystery (Book 6)…

Bailey Crane and wife Wendy have retired to a small fishing village in Mexico, living the good life in a most beautiful resort – a penthouse no less. Early one pre-dawn morning gunshots ring out at the resort and Black Hawk helicopters swoop in from the sea. Thus begins another adventure for Bailey. Several cartel people die in the ‘sting’ operation at the resort, most notably one of the more notorious cartel leaders. In many respects Bailey is partially responsible for the raid as the story will report, forcing him and his wife to reflect on safety issues and other living quarters.

Wendy will be kidnapped, and Bailey will be frantic in his attempts to find and rescue her. Bailey will have an emotional desert experience like no other experience he has ever faced. Other bad guys will be killed while the Mexican government and the principal Cartel boss attempt a coup of sorts. There is an abundance of romance, mystery, suspense in this book about corruption and evil, and the ending will come where the Sonoran desert meets at an estuary and the beautiful Sea of Cortez.

Next week I will share some of Bailey’s narrative in the book, perhaps have a cover design for your preview and acceptance.

Now I’m off to find some reviewers for A Common Evil – A Bailey Crane Mystery (Book 6). If anyone reading this blog would like to give me a review, just contact me at the Twitter link below. Please include your e-mail address. Thank you.

                                                                Billy Ray Chitwood – June 12, 2014

Your comments are welcome.

http://twitter.com/brchitwood (@brchitwood)

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http://billyraychitwood.weebly.com (My personal website – Books – Reviews – Blogs)

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Writing Therapy - Posted on June 6, 2014 by billyraychitwood


                                           Writing Therapy

Unless your brains and emotions have been so scrambled that you’re hopelessly lost and unable to vent in any form, try writing as therapy. Who knows, you could save thousands of dollars in psych office visits…

Take me, for example, those who occupy psych offices are loony types – he says rather tongue in cheek but not without respect. Me, I write books and blogs for my therapy and my thought is I might use this space to describe what it is my words and phrases are trying to convey.

My writing first and foremost is hopefully entertaining and connecting with some kindred souls. There is no formula that I use for writing – I simply take off and hope in the end it all makes some sense. Sure, I try to build a cohesive story, mixed with some interesting characters, some philosophical meandering, and a dash of humor. There was a time when I taught ‘Advanced Writing’ and I’m the first to admit that my style probably defies all the rules of good story-telling…you know, the ‘big bang beginning’, the sustaining plot and sub-plots, the unforgettable characters, the action, or, the ‘mesmerizing middle’, and the ‘bigger bang ending’. Don’t get me wrong, I try for these good elements and to one degree or another make them.

Where I likely deviate a bit from rules is my subconscious need to ‘diarize’, to inject so much of me into the narrative and out of the characters’ mouths. You see, I really want to write something most worthy but I have a selfish motive… I want to see if I can find pieces of me that give me a better sense of my life and times. We have all begun somewhere, been delivered to this place or that place, and have our scars to show for the life experiences. Me, I’ve always been an incurable romantic, a risk taker, not so much a multi-task type of guy, more interested in finding and evaluating all the variables in my journey, finding the reasons for this action and/or event.

So, through the made-up characters and the stories (even those inspired by true events) I’m hoping to get a better handle on me. The dialogues and the personalities are my inventions, and somewhere there on the lines and between the lines, am I. There is no question about my writing ability. Humbly, I believe it good to excellent – given a careless mistake here and there. The story will be simple and compelling…interesting but with some digression here and there. The books I’ve written are like the wanderlust author who penned them – hobos looking for a place to settle…but, then, hobos don’t look to settle, methinks.

I’m envious of those good folks who live in the same house, city, community, town for most if not all of their lives… I’ve lived in some beautiful places over my journey and part of me wishes I had never left some of those places. Like now, I’m living in a magnificent home with a bluff view across the valley on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee, and, guess what, I’m getting antsy for another move.

Therapy? Hey, I’ve got to do a lot of writing! 

One more thing… I’m finishing up my twelfth book titled “A Common Evil” – The setting is a small fishing village on The Sea of Cortez in Mexico. It is the sixth and final book of my ‘Bailey Crane Mystery Series’ and possibly the best. “A Common Evil” stands alone as do all the books in the ‘Bailey Crane Series’ and there are some musings in the book taken from my experiences while living in this fishing village by the sea. Actually, I can say the book was inspired by some actual events that took place in the very resort where I lived. All the books in the ‘Bailey Crane Mystery Series’ are quick and simple reads that will attest to my claims in this blog post. Obviously, I hope you will read “A Common Evil’ and the rest of the ‘Bailey Crane Mysteries’ — you will find me on and between the lines in each and every book. LOOK FOR IT – COMING SOON!

Thank you for taking time to read “A Common Evil’ when it is available – and any of my novels and/or memoirs now available at links below. If you enjoy one of my books, please consider telling your friends or posting a short review. Word of mouth is an author’s best friend. 

Billy Ray Chitwood – June 6, 2014

Please leave a comment if so inclined. Thank you and best wishes.

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