The Godfather who made me a Pastor

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In: Interview, Novel, Writing

The Godfather made me a pastor. No, really. Working for the Godfather helped finance my theology degree. In an interview with Authority Magazine, I described how I worked for Marlon Brando, the actor who played the lead role in the 1972 hit movie The Godfather. I’m not going to tell you how or why. You’ll have to read the article to find out. I can say this. When I started working for him, I was as surprised as you. Authority Magazine publishes feature interviews of people who are authorities in Business, Film, Sports and Tech.  In this article, I shared what I’ve learned about writingRead More →

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In: Novel, Uncategorized, Writing

I had the pleasure of being interviewed on the Douglas Colman Show. This is my first video interview, and I found it easier than expected. About half of the questions were personal and half concerned his upcoming novel The Healing Stone and the Shadows of Time series. When asked where my stories come from, I said, “As a kid, I had a fascination with science fiction and history. Shows like the old Star Trek, Star Wars, Dr. Who – these were the ones back in the late 70s and early 80s – these shows fascinated me. I wondered if I were to write an episode,Read More →

Cartoon drawing of Batman's best villains

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In: Writing

To drive story tension and conflict, every main character (protagonist) should have a villain (antagonist) of equal or greater ability. Ability That ability could come in the form of raw strength, cunning, knowledge, or any other skill that pins them against each other in a battle on a knife’s edge. The skill doesn’t even need to match. They don’t both have to be equals in strength—it often works better if their skills aren’t the same—but what does matter is that the protagonist and reader aren’t sure of victory. Nature The antagonist doesn’t need to be a human being. It could be an animal or anRead More →

Nanoparticle Drug Delivery for Caner Treatment

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In: Science

Nanoparticle drug delivery for cancer treatment offers hope for faster remission. Phenformin-loaded nanoparticles targeted both kinds of cancer cells in a mouse model of human lung cancer. ~ Yi Yan Yang, The Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology in Singapore Scorched Earth Treatment We cure cancer with poison. Well, we don’t really cure it. Rather, we beat it into remission with the brute force of chemotherapy. The method is akin to attacking an enemy army with a nuclear bomb. Yes, it wipes most of them out, but it also makes the uninhabitable unless you’re a cockroach or a Twinkie.  Cancer stem cells tent to survive, whichRead More →

Child of the Stone - featured image

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In: History, Short Stories, Writing

 New short story Child of the Stone released as an ebook on Amazon. Child of the Stone Discovering a Relic of Time Travel Avar-Tek Event 4 eBook – Short Story When an old peasant in medieval Spain unearths an ancient box, he discovers a power that will change his life. A silver plate promises to bring him and his wife out of poverty, but the true treasure lies hidden in another artifact: a simple stone. Once he discovers the stone’s powers, he must either tell the truth and forfeit it to the authorities, or let his greed corrupt it. Preview       Mud, heavyRead More →

Say what?

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In: Theology, Writing

Swear Words in Christina Literature I’ve always been a clean guy. Well, at least my language. And hygiene, I mean … I shower also. So, when it comes to writing a story, should we have our characters cuss or curse or use those words our mothers told us not to? To a point, yes. Here’s my reasoning. If, for example, your character is in prison and he’s going to talk to someone, they’re going to cuss. Sorry. That’s the way you roll in prison. The most common word is Mutha-Fudga. What is a mutha-fudga? Honestly, I’m not sure. It must be something cold as inRead More →

preorder The Apprentice Stone

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In: Book Launch Announcement, Novel, Writing

Preorder We have made The Apprentice Stone novel (ebook) available for preorder at Amazon. This shocked me. Amazon said it could take up to 72 hours to be posted. So, I rushed to complete the final editing and formatting. In the wee hours of the morning, I pushed the PUBLISH button with great trepidation. I woke up this morning and … wow. There it was. I must admit I jumped up and down like a little kid on Christmas morning. Derek — my oldest son — stood behind me with his smart phone. I’m sure somewhere in social media is a video of me makingRead More →

The Apprentice Stone Map - sepia strip

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In: History, Novel, Writing

The Apprentice Stone Map has been released! This map will be in the new novel, The Apprentice Stone, due to release in ebook this Saturday, October 7th on Amazon. I plan on releasing the print version (soft-cover) in about a month. The ebook version will have the colored version of the map, and the print version will have a black and white version. The map shows the main character’s (Francisco) journey from Toledo, Spain to Fez, Morocco. These are the modern names and not the names used in 1212 AD when the novel takes place. At that time, Spain split into several Christian kingdoms inRead More →

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In: History, Novel

Doesn’t seem possible, right? I mean assembly lines in the European Dark Ages? Yes. Technological innovation did not come to a halt after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th Century AD. It crawled, in some ways went backward, and in other ways forward. We need to define terms first. The time period I’m talking about is between the 5th to the 15th centuries. The location is Europe. An assembly-line is a process by which a series of workers and machines manufacture and assemble an identical product. In researching the history behind my new novel “The Apprentice Stone,” I was shocked toRead More →