Category Archives: Rants and Raves

Here’s where my thoughts go.

Can There Be Comedy Post-MeToo?

My inspiration for Mick & Moira & Brad was the romantic comedies of Hollywood classics. I wondered whether, in our presumably enlightened but admittedly distressed age, lovers can like as well as lust after each other. Can’t we all get along? Might we actually enjoy each other’s company – even when we have all our clothes on?

I thought the book managed just that. My models were Myrna Loy and William Powell (aka Nick and Nora Charles), and Tracy and Hepburn.

Apparently, the judges of the Independent Press  and the Amor Romance Novel Awards agreed it was worth the effort. Reader’s Favorite and Booklife reviewers, as well as colleagues who generously gave their attention as beta readers, appreciated the humor.

Mick & Moira & Brad is a #MeThree romantic comedy!

So I was dismayed to see an online review that lamented the book fell short of expectations and just wasn’t funny:

Most of the dialogue between all of the characters came off as courteous and very rarely had strong emotion to them. I was looking forward to the fact that this was a romantic comedy, yet I seemed to have missed any humor that might have been intended. 

But courtesy – mutual respect, if you will – was very much the goal of the exercise! I recognized that in trying for civilized discourse I might disappoint readers who crave a good, snarky fight. But in this story, none of the characters throw things or even slam doors.

And some of the humor is between the lines!

– paperback giveaway –

These three are so generous with their story they’re giving away 10 paperbacks.

 

Be curious. And please argue!

Elizabeth Gagnon, podcast host of Teatime with Miss Liz, asked me recently what single word defines my character. I chose curious. I recall reviewing movie producer Brian Grazer‘s memoir, A Curious Mind, in which he claims that asking questions of influencers, such as directors and studio moguls with experience in showbiz, has been his secret to success. He goes on to claim that curiosity is the single most valuable trait that teachers should encourage in schoolchildren.

We’re now at a phase in the evolution of technology when rote memorization of names, dates, and events is no longer necessary. Decades ago, the invention of the handheld calculator eliminated one of the most annoying chores of my grade-school education – long division. Now with even the most inexpensive computer, you can make an Excel spreadsheet do calculus for you – and some apps have generation of complex curves built-in. That’s a subject I never even attempted because so many of my freshman-college classmates were failing the course. (I don’t like to fail, but when I have, I’ve learned more from the recovery than from any advice I ever got.)

What remains essential – fundamental – is curiosity.

We’re all online data drillers now. But if you don’t know what questions to ask, how can you progress? At anything?

My podcast GetPublished! Radio is on indefinite hiatus but remains a rich online archive. The late, great announcer Bill Navarro would introduce me:

And now, here’s your host Gerald Everett Jones. He has the answers because he’s already made all the mistakes himself!

That’s another thing about curiosity: It will make you skeptical about advice you hear – and presumed facts that might be little more than gossip. Curiosity will drive you to challenge opinions and check facts.

When I was in middle school, it was generally understood that studying for history exams was all about memorizing names, dates, and events. A great-uncle who was a believer in phrenology once felt the shape of my forehead and pronounced I would have a lifelong propensity for such rote learning.

But the most valuable thing I ever learned in any history class was a single sentence spoken by my seventh-grade teacher:

Remember that Russia will always covet warm-water ports.

Do you want the answer to why – in today’s news – Russia wants to guarantee its access to the Black Sea? Why Syria is their alternate route to the Mediterranean? Why building a pipeline from the oil fields surrounding the Caspian Sea – through Afghanistan – to the waters of the Indian Ocean was important enough to fight a war that destroyed the Soviet system?

Curiosity will take you there. And bear in mind that as wondrous as AI might be or become, nothing starts until you ask the robot a question.

Oh, and when you have opinions about what you discover, please argue with your comrades about it. I don’t mean argue as in provocation for a fistfight. I mean argue in the lawyers’ sense of developing a case and backing it up with evidence.

Yes, debate. That’s the skill the kids should learn after they’ve honed their curiosity and research skills. When I was in debate club in high school, we participated in competitions with clubs from other schools. The topic for the semester was set. Back then it was, “Should the United States commit to nuclear disarmament?” And our team engaged in furious (library) research.

Does it strike you that members of Congress seem to have forgotten the skills of serious debate? Wouldn’t it be sweet to hear some reasonable arguments?

The catch was, in those school debate competitions, your team wouldn’t find out which side of the question you were expected to take until right before the judges told you to begin!

“I could argue either side.” Most law-school students can claim that. And they might argue with passion, but they learn that passion shouldn’t make them deaf to their opponents’ objections.

But what about grade-school children in, say, Florida? In your town?

Preacher Evan Wycliff is a an amateur sleuth, a reluctant investigator because he has a curious mind and sympathy for unresolved personal problems. This first book in the series is free as Kindle or EPUB. The other two novels are $2.99 now.

Book Review Revisited – The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey

I’m reposting this review because the limited TV series starring Samuel L. Jackson just came out on Apple TV! Watch it! #emmy

Walter Mosley is best known for his prolific detective fiction. But this book is a fond, thoughtful story about a man who finds reasons to live just when he doesn’t have much time left.

Here’s my book review.

The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey isn’t a whodunit. It’s artful, introspective literary fiction about a 91-year-old man near the end of his life.

Ptolemy Grey lives by himself in a shabby one-bedroom apartment in a poor neighborhood in Los Angeles. His place is stacked with the trash of a lifetime. You see, he hasn’t paid any attention to it since he woke up one morning to find his beloved last wife Sensia lying dead beside him.

When Sensia passed, he threw a tarp over everything in the bedroom and closed the door. He now sleeps on a mattress under a table in the kitchen. He rarely goes out, except when his grand-nephew Reggie walks him to the store for a few meager supplies. And he’s terrified to open the door for anyone.

The narrative is full of Ptolemy’s fretful thoughts. He has outlived almost all of his closest friends and loved ones. And early in this story, he finds that Reggie has been killed in a drive-by shooting.

Another nephew, Hilly, drops by to take him to Reggie’s wake. There Ptolemy meets Robyn, a gorgeous, slender girl who is about to turn eighteen. She decides to take care of him, becoming his last love, albeit platonic, but intense as any of the romances in his long life.

As Ptolemy says to her:  I love you and I couldn’t be here right now if it wasn’t for you taking care of me. And if you were twenty years older and I fifty years less I’d ask you to be my wife and not a soul on this earth would have ever had better.

This may well be Walter Mosley’s best book.

In 2013 actor Samuel L. Jackson said in an interview with Red Carpet News TV that he had acquired the movie rights to Ptolemy Grey. Just released in 2022! Watch it!

In Clifford’s Spiral a stroke survivor tries to piece together the fragments of his memories. Was he the victim or the perpetrator? 2020 IPA Distinguished Favorite in Literary Fiction.

How to Lie with Charts – Comp eBook!

Kindle price ZERO today and tomorrow

Sunday, May 8 and Monday, May 9 on Amazon

 

How to Write an Award-Winning Mystery – I surprise even myself!

In writing the Evan Wycliff Mystery series, I’ve surprised myself many times over. It will therefore surprise me if readers find anything in the plots predictable. I resolved at the outset to let my subconscious self do most of the work. And after the stage was set and the characters stepped onto it, many times they told me where they wanted to go and said whatever they wanted to say. I haven’t always worked like this. Years ago, when I wrote mainly technical and business nonfiction for publishing houses, I wrote to strict outlines, and I sought approval from in-house editors if ever I chose to depart from the agreed plan.

When I set out to write Preacher Raises the Dead, I had the notion of describing both near-death experience (NDE) and coma. In the beginning, I didn’t know who would be stricken or how those subplots would turn out. Many other plot elements were likewise uncertain right up until the words flowed into the manuscript draft, including Evan’s core religious beliefs and consequences of Luke’s schizophrenia and Melissa’s epilepsy. The reappearance of Stuart Shackleton was a complete surprise until Evan saw him again that fateful day in the courtroom. He and I should have known we weren’t done with him yet!

Evan Wycliff #1 is avaialble as an audibook from Audible and booksellers worldwide.

 

Press Release: New Mystery Novel ‘Preacher Raises the Dead’ Deals with Real End-of-Life Controversies

LaPuerta Books and Media announces the anticipated March 1 release of Preacher Raises the Dead, the third novel in Gerald Everett Jones’s multiple-award-winning Evan Wycliff Mysteries. The first two books in the series, Preacher Finds a Corpse and Preacher Fakes a Miracle, won Gold and Silver respectively in the 2020 New York City Big Book Awards – grabbing the top two slots in the mystery category that year and besting entries from not only indies but also the Big Five publishing houses. As well, the series has won three other awards to date, including kudos from the National Association of Book Entrepreneurs, the Eric Hoffer Awards, and the Independent Press Awards.

When readers meet Evan Wycliff in the first book, he’s a lapsed divinity student from a devoutly Southern Baptist family, but he’s also fascinated by astrophysics. After forsaking both Harvard Divinity School and MIT, he returns to his farm roots in Southern Missouri. When he’s not serving as a guest preacher, he’s using his investigative skills to track down neighbors who have fallen way behind on their auto loans. Bachelor Wycliff lives in a modest trailer, and some evenings he thinks his only friend is Jack Daniels. Although he might not be an agnostic, he’s certainly a fretful believer who has serious doubts.

In these novels, Evan gets involved in criminal plots and intrigues as an amateur sleuth because sometimes he’s the only clever fellow in this small rural town who is willing to help after the authorities have given up.

In Preacher Raises the Dead, Evan reluctantly takes on the role of full-time minister and walks straight into more responsibility and trouble than he can handle. He attends to near-death experience (NDE), late-stage dementia, long-term coma, and consequences of the pandemic. His old nemesis investment banker Stuart Shackleton is back – and claims to be converted. Shackleton’s money sustains a critical-care medical breakthrough, the building of a new church, and a career boost for Evan as a celebrity evangelist. Are these thrilling transformations part of a divine plan, or has Evan sold his soul?

Author Gerald Everett Jones explains how his writing process generates plot twists and surprises: “In writing these mysteries, I’ve surprised myself many times over. It will therefore surprise me if readers find anything in the plots predictable. I resolved at the outset to let my subconscious self do most of the work. And after the stage was set and the characters stepped onto it, many times they told me where they wanted to go and said whatever they wanted to say. I haven’t always worked like this. Years ago, when I wrote mainly technical and business nonfiction for publishing houses, I wrote to strict outlines, and I sought approval from in-house editors if ever I chose to depart from the agreed plan.

“When I set out to write Preacher Raises the Dead, I had the notion of describing both near-death experience and coma. In the beginning, I didn’t know who would be stricken or how those subplots would turn out. Many other plot elements were likewise uncertain right up until the words flowed into the manuscript draft, including questions about some of Evan’s most basic religious beliefs. His philosophy of life is bound to be controversial. The very thought of a practicing minister who is too often an agnostic will raise eyebrows. But do churchpersons have occasional doubts? I don’t doubt it.”

Commenting on Jones’s talent for surprising the reader, novelist John Rachel, author of Blinders Keepers and The Man Who Loved Too Much, writes in his review ofPreacher Finds a Corpse: “This is an excellent read from such an engaging storyteller! It really sucked me in. That last page did cause a triple-take, quadruple-take, and whatever comes after, up to about eight. Jones is definitely one of my favorite authors.”

Likely questions from readers about Preacher Raises the Dead might be: “Should churches take views on the pandemic – or on political parties or candidates? Are near-death experiences physical or metaphysical? How do ‘right to die’ laws affect treatment of patients in long-term coma?” And, perhaps most telling of all: “Can an agnostic be a practicing minister?”

Preacher Raises the Dead is available for pre-order now in trade paperback from booksellers worldwide and in Kindle ebook format from Amazon. Book release is set for Tuesday, March 1, 2022.

CONTACT INFORMATION
Lu Ann Sodano
La Puerta Productions
770-356-5030

Terriers in the Jungle – Oh My!

Do you ever wonder what your dog is thinking?

The new novel Terriers in the Jungle is narrated by Roxie and Romeo, two small and clever California street dogs who get adopted by a wildlife conservationist. The two adore each other, their home, and their mom Kate. But Kate decides the family will move to Kenya to help save endangered elephants. The dogs must now learn to survive in the midst of wildlife, dangerous people, and challenging circumstances. Told in their own words and based on real-life experiences.

Available today in Paperback on Amazon!
or Preorder Kindle for February 2

Click here to buy it now!

I really loved it. Roxie and Romeo are so different (just as people are so different ) and their personalities come across superbly. We also experience the care and love they have for each other. The illustrations are lovely and whimsical. – Jane Gillis, Retired Special Collections Librarian, Beinecke Library, Yale University

“What a story! Speaks to the heart of all that matters. The author has managed to capture my attention from the beginning to the end. It is only when I finished reading that I realized I had learnt so much from this story. Brilliant!” – Gabriel Dinda, Founder and Executive Director, Writers Guild-Kenya

Meet Author Georja Umano

Georja Umano is a vegan animal activist who has organized, spoken and written about animals and animal causes in the US, Italy and Kenya, especially in the fields of elephant and wildlife conservation and canine companions.

Georja is a SAG-AFTRA actress and has been seen in film, TV and theatre. She has performed around the country as a stand-up comedian and works as a feature journalist. She is a credentialed adult education teacher and a children’s nature docent.

She created, produced and cohosted with her dog the YouTube series, “The Georja and Marcello Show.”

She holds an MA degree in Educational Theatre from New York University, and a BA degree in English Literature from LeMoyne College.

For more information, please go to GeorjaUmano.com.

Terriers in the Jungle is her first novel.

Reflecting on Reflecting – Kind Thoughts of the Season

GetPublished! Radio’s most popular show ever – was a complete surprise!

Here’s a link to the podcast Spirituality and Metaphysics

A few years back, when we were planning this show, my cohosts sci-fi legend Tom Page and razor-sharp journalist Cheyenne Cockrell agreed this was an unlikely topic for us to be covering. But spirited discussions around literary genres and themes had proven to be much more interesting (and popular) than how-to-break-into-print sessions.

We thought about booking a celebrity author, then we realized their point of view, however respected, might seem one-sided.

So instead of inviting an author, we invited a reader. Dennis Hutchison, co-proprietor and practitioner at Afterglow of Sedona, proved to be exceptionally widely read and engagingly articulate on topics ranging from real to seemingly unreal – experiences from near-death to mystical.

His heartfelt descriptions of hopeful discoveries in literature and life may inspire you this holiday season.

Here’s wishing us all a much less eventful and much more joyous New Year!

Releasing in March – the third novel in the award-winning Evan Wycliff Mystery series.

Christmas Karma – Do you have a guardian angel?

Angel by Francesco Bartolozzi

Do you think you have a guardian angel? Or perhaps you call her / him / it your spirit guide? Etheric double? Sage self?

This one bears a strong resemblance to my local reference librarian as she points the way to a shelf in the upper stacks.

I don’t think an angel can get you a better airline booking. Maybe the determination to find yourself something better?

In the opening chapter of my humorous novel Christmas Karma, Willa Nawicki’s guardian angel explains why Willa isn’t at all ready to cope with the holiday – and that an angel can’t clean her house or decorate a tree.

So why not let Willa’s story lighten your mood as a break from your holiday tasks?

(Buy the Kindle or EPUB for yourself. Gift the paperback or download the Audible book.)

Wishing you a light heart this season!

Amazon (Paperback, Kindle, Audible)

Barnes & Noble (Paperback, Nook/EPUB)

Christmas Karma – What gift does Willa want most?

What gift does Willa want most?

Photo 123r.com

She wishes she’d said a few more things to her mother. She yearns to see her son again, but she’s pretty sure that can’t happen. If she could find a way to push her father out of her house, she would. He says it’s still his and he wants to sell it.

In my humorous novel Christmas Karma, Willa Nawicki gets a series of surprise visits from friends and family – just a week before the holiday and when she’s totally not ready to talk to anyone, much less clean her house.

So why not let Willa’s story lighten your mood as a break from your holiday tasks?

The screenplay version of Christmas Karma won a Writers Guild of America Diversity Award.

(Buy the Kindle or EPUB for yourself. Gift the paperback or download the Audible book.)

Amazon (Paperback, Kindle, Audible)

Barnes & Noble (Paperback, Nook/EPUB)