American Authors Take Their Turn

Yes, good news. American authors are taking their turn to show they can match their British counterparts with great hearts. Two American authors have stepped up to the plate to help out a fellow author, (me) in their endorsements for my book, Second Chance - A Football Story.

Like the British, these two American authors don't know me from Adam. But they have demonstrated great kindness and willingness to take the time from their busy schedules to help me out with great endorsements for Second Chance.

As I mentioned in earlier posts, only a British author, (and a great one, btw,) and a British reviewer for British army magazines had taken the time from their busy schedules to provide endorsements for John Dunn - Heart of a Zulu.

But now, a couple of American authors have done the same for my football book, Second Chance. One of them, a successful sports book author who is currently touring Africa, took the time from his hectic schedule to read Second Chance and send me a great endorsement. His name is John Coy, and he has written several sports books for big time publishers. His latest is Crackback, a story about high school football, just like Second Chance.

The other is a fellow author from my publisher Penumbra, Walter Knight, the author of the successful sci fi series America's Galactic Foreign Legion. He also wrote Vampire in the Outfield and Zombie Missouri. Although his books are horror comedies, he just happens to be a former high school football player who played in the high school state championship game, just like the main character in Second Chance. So it was great that he took the time to provide an endorsement.

I thank all of them from the bottom of my heart. It's great to know that people you never met can be so kind and willing to help.

Black Sabbath "The End" Tour

Tony Iommi

I went to the Black Sabbath concert last night. Like every Black Sabbath concert I've seen, it was great. I don't know how many Black Sabbath concerts I've been to, but every single one of them was great. In case you haven't guessed, Black Sabbath is my favorite music group. They've been my favorite rock band ever since I heard them for the first time. That was a long time ago.

They are pushing seventy now, but they were playing the heavy metal tunes as if they were still in their twenties. Guitarist Tony Iommi invented the heavy metal rock sub-genre. It's why he and Black Sabbath are legends.

Ozzy Osbourne

I remember back in the seventies, my friend and I were the only people in my high school who liked Black Sabbath. It's because the heavy metal sound was so new, so unique, other people disdained it. Shows you what kind of narrow-minded people attended my high school. Nowadays, the heavy metal sound is so common, it could be considered the norm for rock music. Metallica and many other successful rock bands are on record for crediting Black Sabbath as their inspiration.

Geezer Butler

Ozzy Osbourne is still in good shape. His voice still hits the notes, and he's still an active front man. Geezer Butler is the best bass guitarist that I've seen and a rare talent in his own right. Unfortunately, Bill Ward, the drummer, has been replaced with the drummer from Ozzy's solo band. The new guy's a fantastic drummer, however, otherwise there would be no chance he'd be drumming for Black Sabbath. Still, before Black Sabbath really does call it quits, I'd like to see them perform one last time with Bill Ward on the drums. That would be ideal.

Defense Wins Championships

I watched the super bowl yesterday, but I had no stake in it. I have no affiliation with either team. I've never liked the Denver Broncos, and I had no reason to like the Carolina Panthers. So it didn't matter to me who won. It was nice to see Peyton Manning win his final game, especially since that final game was a super bowl. But was it his final game? Many sportswriters are saying it should be. And I agree with them. If you want to go out on top, and I suppose most professional athletes do, then he has the opportunity to right now. Just as John Elway did.

But it wasn't a game in which Manning excelled. He didn't have an MVP game. The award went to Von Miller, and rightly so. Miller and the Denver defense proved that it's defense that wins championships. This has been proven over and over again. In fact, it's a repeated cliche by now. Defense wins championships. The Panthers had the league's top scoring offense this past season, and many people were on their boat. Even I was thinking that after a 15-1 regular season, the best record in the league, it was Carolina's year. But in the back of my mind, I was reminding myself that Denver did in fact have the league's no. 1 defense, and  the old cliche was ever present.

Two years ago, Denver and Peyton had a record setting offensive year. But Seattle had the league's best defense, and subsequently Seattle blew Denver out of the water. It wasn't even close. This year the best defense belonged to Denver, and so a Denver win was the result.

So the cliche is alive and well. Defense wins championships. And every team should know that by now. If anyone doubted it, they shouldn't anymore. Defense wins championships. Period.

And speaking of defense. The main character in my soon to be released football novel, Second Chance, just happens to play defense. And they win the championship. Watch for Second Chance coming this summer.

Arrow Drives Off Into the Sunset

Just finished the last episode of season three of Arrow, and yeah, off he drives into the sunset with Felicity. And I like Felicity. I'm glad the writers made their romance happen. But you know what? I'm not glad they killed off Sara Lance, AKA the Black Canary. She was a better match for the Arrow, and she was the better Black Canary. I completely disagreed with the reasons why, and how, they killed her off. And I disagree with her sisterly replacement. Why? Because her sister, Laurel Lance, taking Sara's place, is a very weak Black Canary. Very weak, indeed. As the Black Canary, Laurel is not convincing at all. She looks no tougher as the Black Canary than a real canary, even with the black outfit. And seeing her beat up dozens of ninjas was laughable.

Oh, well. At least Felicity finally got Arrow, AKA Oliver Queen. Emily Bett Rickards has played the part of Felicity to perfection. I mean this young actress is a better actress than most of the A list actresses in Hollywood right now. I expect some great things from her in the near future. She's only twenty-five right now, so she's got at least a solid decade ahead of her.

As for Stephen Amell who plays the Arrow... Yeah, he's been great. He makes a terrific leading man. He's 34, so he too has at least a decade ahead of him in like parts. For now, the Arrow character, or the Green Arrow, as he's better known, is a great role. He's perfect for it.

Don't know if I'd cast him as Trent Smith, though. Maybe. My first choice remains Dustin Clare. Then Stephen Amell. Both make great fighters, and both would fit the part of a lady's man. Those would be the requirements. Don't have to worry about it now. I'm interested in how the Arrow returns in season four. I think it's safe to say he returns as the Green Arrow. It's been a long time in the development. But it worked. We'll see.

Arrow TV Show Makes a Comeback

I criticized the season three episodes of the TV show Arrow, recently, and for good reasons which I explained very clearly. I still don't like what they did with the character regression for the police detective, but wow, have the other characters grown.

I especially like how the romance between the Arrow and Felicity Smoak developed. And it was three years in the development. Felicity Smoak is really a great character on the show, and she has become one of my favorite characters. So now I'm nearing the latter stages of season three, and the romance between the Arrow and Felicity has finally reached fruition.



In the show, Felicity is a computer genius. Her glasses reinforce the persona of a computer geek. But there's a very attractive quality about her. She's cute, and the glasses add to her cuteness. From the start, she has a tremendous crush on the Arrow character, played by Stephen Amell. And after the Arrow loses girlfriend after girlfriend for one reason or another, Felicity is always there. Even when she gets another boyfriend, her love for the Arrow is not quashed.

Amazingly, when she takes off the glasses, she becomes quite a stunning beauty. So much so that I've even considered her for the part of gorgeous blonde police detective Samantha Jones in my book Killer of Killers. It's more competition for Amber Heard who I previously considered the best actress for the part. It's a tough call. I like how actress Emily Bett Rickards plays the part of Felicity, who is the polar opposite of Samantha Jones. But she's not the polar opposite when she takes off those glasses. It's like wow. She could be Samantha Jones. Like I said. It's a tough call.

Isn't it interesting that Hollywood seems to have no trouble finding gorgeous blonde actresses? It's like they're coming out of the woodwork. In just about every TV show or movie, there's a stunningly beautiful blonde woman. I mean absolutely beautiful, drop-dead gorgeous. They're so beautiful they're like golden goddesses. And almost any one of them would be right for the part of Samantha Jones.

But I've yet to find the right black actress to fit the part of Susie Quinn. I've been searching for years, and it's been very frustrating. Not one black actress in Hollywood that I've seen would fit the part of the extremely beautiful Susie Quinn.

Sure, there's plenty of beautiful black actresses. But none of them are how I described Susie Quinn in Killer of Killers. I know first hand that there are plenty of beautiful black women out there. I based the Susie Quinn character on women I've known in real life. (One was a Raiderette cheerleader.) But Hollywood hasn't found them. Maybe the complaints about lack of diversity in Hollywood are valid. Otherwise I'd have as easy a time finding an actress for Susie Quinn as I've had finding actresses for Samantha Jones. I talked about Jill Marie Jones, recently. She might have been right for the part, but she's too old now. So the search for Susie Quinn goes on.

2016 AJC Decatur Book Festival

My publisher Knox Robinson is going to be attending the 2016 AJC Decatur Book Festival, which takes place in Atlanta over Labor Day weekend this year. They invited all of their authors to attend and I would love to go. But only one of my KRP books will be published by then, (tentatively) and that one is Second Chance - A Football Story.

But wait a minute. Second Chance - A Football Story is just the type of book you'd want to promote in Atlanta. After all, southern cities like Atlanta love football. They have college teams galore, and Atlanta of course, is home to the NFLs Atlanta Falcons.

I hope Knox Robinson is planning on having my book represented there, and I hope it has a cover like this one. This is just a stock photo from some free photo website, but I wouldn't mind if they used it or something similar because it conveys the spirit of the story. You probably are wondering why I say that. After all, it's just a picture of a dude wearing a football uniform. And he's just standing there, right?

Well, after you read Second Chance - A Football Story, you might understand what I mean. It's a dude in a football uniform, yes, but you can't see his face. So you don't know who he is. And, yeah, he's just standing there, but it's like an "in-your-face" kind of way. In addition to that, the darkness in the background provides a kind of mysterious atmosphere. Don't worry, after you read the book, you'll get it.

Stay tuned.

Arrow Show Reverts to Bad Writing

When it comes to the hero of a show being falsely accused for crimes he didn't commit, or for being hated by the community he's been saving for years, well, that concept is getting old. We saw it with Spider-man for ages. You had the newspaper man J. Jonah Jameson hating Spider-man for no reason, and his crusade to have Spider-man killed or arrested was never ending.

We saw it with Arrow in season one, when the police detective hated the Arrow for personal reasons, despite the Arrow saving his life, his daughter's life, and countless others. But then in season two, we saw the detective overcome that hate. Which was a good thing. He even sided with the Arrow and they were unofficial partners in the war against crime.

So what's the problem? In season three, the detective has regressed. In season three he's back to hating the Arrow and this time, he finally arrests him. And despite his own daughter being the Arrow's ally, and defending him, this detective dude can't let go of his hate, which, btw, is based on a ridiculous assumption that he, (the detective) was right about him all along. But wait. He wasn't right all along. He was wrong all along. He had come to realize that in season two. But in season three he comes to realize that he was right in season one, even though he was wrong. Sheesh...

So the detective, (now a captain) has regressed. And it's back to square one. All the growth of the detective character is flushed down the toilet. Come on. I was appreciating character growth. It's something that makes a story worth watching. But to erase all of that? It makes the story  boring. It's bad writing. Can't the writers think of something new? A new conflict? It's like the repeated, never ending, and ever old J. Jonah Jameson's obsession with hating Spider-man. The guy never grows, his character never develops and the repeated story line of his crusade against Spider-man is more than tired. It's rusty. It's boring.

I would think that after someone saves your life, not once, not twice, but multiple times, and saves the lives of your loved ones, and saves the lives of countless innocents, over and over again, you might find a reason to stop hating. But no. Not in these ridiculous story lines.

Sheesh...