Author's posts
Jun 07 2008
Prayer, Magic and Sprained Ankles
I would very much like to pray that as I spun around last night and attempted to volley the football on the goal, I did not severely sprain my ankle. I’d like to pray I won’t be out two to six weeks while my team, Chivos Viejos, fights on in the summer season. But I know that praying for such things will not make them so.
Resigned to a lethargic Saturday, I crutched into my den, elevated my leg, and started to finish a book I had heretofore greatly enjoyed: The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight by Thom Hartmann.
May 28 2008
An Invitation
On Wednesday, May 28 (tonight) at 8:00 p.m. EST/5:00 p.m. PST my publisher is hosting an on-line chat for the release of my second novel, Skinny Berry.
For those unfamiliar with my work, I think it is a bit of a mix between John Grisham, Michael Crichton, Carl Hiassen and Ayn Rand (if only she were progressive).
This particular novel is a fictional look at the potential problems with the introduction of genetically modified organisms into our food supply. My publisher will be giving away a few copies of the book during the on-line chat, so if you haven’t bought the book yet, this might be a good chance to get a copy at the rock bottom price of $0.
May 24 2008
Stepping Through the Door
This diary is about the irresponsible statements made by Hillary Clinton on this 23rd Day of May, 2008. I’m not going to link to the statements. BooMan has done a sufficient job laying it out. I simply want to comment on the seriousness of what she has said.
As a trial lawyer, one of the cardinal rules I have been taught about a jury presentation is that it is most effective to lead a jury right up to the point of making a decision. But to pause on the door step. To let them take the last stride themselves. People want to make their own decisions. It makes their positions more firm. They become committed to the idea, because it is their own. Given that Mrs. Hillary Clinton and I were both educated in American Law schools in the same quarter century, I am almost certain she has come across, and probably internalized this rule.
May 20 2008
The Accidental Activist: Ripped From Tomorrow’s Headlines
So my second novel is going to debut in brick and mortar stores on Thurdsay, May 22nd at 7:00 p.m. at Everybody Reads Books & Stuff at 2019 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing, Michigan.
And it is going to be birthed into this world with great reviews.
Terry Olson’s Skinny Berry is a highly intriguing legal thriller that’s ripped from straight from tomorrow’s headlines.
[snip]
Full of likable and despicable characters caught in tense situations, Olson’s paperback thriller is a timely, enjoyable and entertaining follow-up to his earlier book, “Direct Actions.”
Apr 20 2008
Caught a Virus on My Computer
It’s called AOH. Apparently.
Have you ever had that moment, when it just clicks? The metaphors and cliches describing the the moment are myriad. It dawned on me. I was struck by the notion. Then I saw it clear as day.
I was reading Booman’s recent observation about the press yet again seeming to manipulate things in an anti-Obama way. And Boise Lib’s take on finger gate. And plasticseapolluter’s catch of the job the foreign press is doing on our country’s embrace of torture and terror tactics, while the U.S. media more or less ignores these crimes. And OPOL’s ode to a love — and to a life as an activist artist.
Apr 15 2008
A Progressive Novel
I turned forty-one last year. I am fairly certain, in biological terms, I’m on the downhill slope of life. But I still feel magic in the world.
As I get older, I’ve come to understand that magic is different for all people. We all have to find our own sources. You know it when you see it come into your life. It is the moment you spend totally immersed in nature. Or perhaps, when you saw the one you love stand somewhere up the aisle. Saw your child born. The sources are different and many. You know them. You have felt them.
I have been a writer since I was a young lad. It was always a source of magic for me. I did not realize what it meant to be a writer for many, many years. Did not know I even belonged to that particular limb on the evolutionary tree. But from earliest memory, it has given me joy to put thoughts on paper (or now, as the world has turned – to transmit thoughts to the realm of electronic data). I published hand-drawn newspapers. Wrote silly stories. Dealt with life through poetry. Was a second-rate journalist for short periods of time. Found the joy of writing for political blogs. And finally came to write a novel.