The Godfather who made me a Pastor

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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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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 →

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 →

The Apprentice Stone cover close-up

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Eye Catching Cover The cover art for The Apprentice Stone is complete! A shout-out to the artist who did a wonderful job. I would recommend Rebeca from RebecaCovers to anyone because she is flexible, quick, and talented. Mysterious Elements The knight on the cover is the main character Francisco when he’s in his early thirties. Francisco is 12 to 16 in this novel. The castle in the fog behind him is Almovodar Castle near Cordoba, Spain. Francisco spent some time here with Angelo as a captive of Prince Sidi Abbad ben Ali. As a result, this gives the cover a sense of realism and mystery that catches the eye. Blurb on theRead More →

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In: Book Launch Announcement, Novel

 The Apprentice Stone A Novel Coming November 2017 Francisco is the answer to prophesy, and he could end the temporal war. Since 3188 BC, the surviving soldiers from a future time war have fought among themselves and altered Earth’s history. As the Key’ari threaten to overrun the outnumbered Sittiri, the Sittiri discover Francisco. He holds a simple looking stone that heals all ills and injuries. In Medieval Spain, when Christians and Moors fight for both land and the hearts of men, young Francisco escapes from his drunken uncle. Orphaned on the streets of Toledo, Francisco has nothing more than the clothes he wore and theRead More →