Welcome to Book Readers Heaven! Find Books, Reviews, Short Stories, Authors, Publicity, a little poetry, music to complement...and other stuff including politics, about life... "Books, Cats: Life is Sweet..."
A couple of notes as I begin... I was trying to contact the author because the book copyright states clearly that excerpts may NOT be used even for reviews... So I'll be talking about the books from my own thoughts without any ability to share the actual writing. Please note also that there are mistakes, not many, but sufficient to be aware that a final editing was never done. Also, the book I got for my reader is NOT what I later found to be provided on my desktop format. I have no idea why, but as I already noted to the author, the pages were unnumbered, and at least once, I lost location of where I had left off reading. Don't ask me why. other than to say that Fire does that frequently if you lay your reader down on an uneven surface... Not LOL
In any event, once I discovered that the desktop version was different, I decided to not talk about the books in the order in which this book presents them. Given that I will be discussing the books as opposed to my regular review format, you should realize that the comments and thoughts are purely my own--sometimes opinions--sometimes flashbacks--sometimes editorial... And, more importantly, as most of you already know, I will be correlating the material presented in a somewhat comparative analysis with what is happening in the world right now, on a daily basis. I'm going to try this first book that I just finished and see how it goes. As you know, I normally use short excerpts to pinpoint issues and explore the content, but since, apparently, the fear of AI related to book content being illegally used is growing, I will be exploring how to adjust to those authors who require that I seek permission before any use. In any event, feedback about how you feel about my adjustments to copyright restrictions are, as with any other issue, always welcome...
Amazon Book Description - Life is already complicated enough for John Lee Quarrels, what with his estranged wife dropping in for unannounced sleepovers, her oversexed sister tempting him, his pot smoking ponytailed grandfather growing his own stash, his Elvis obsessed grandmother, and being caught smack dab in the middle of a power struggle between the Sheriff and Chief Deputy. But when a road construction crew unearths the skeletons of three murder victims, John Lee suddenly finds himself on the trail of a killer who may well have died long before the deputy was even born. And then a mysterious sniper begins shooting at deputies... As sultry as a Florida back road in August, as mysterious as the South's live oak trees dripping with Spanish moss, and as deadly as a copperhead strike, New York Times bestselling author Nick Russell's new John Lee Quarrels series is sure to hook you from the first page and keep you reading late into the night. ~~~~
Small town USA is the setting for the books I've read thus far... As I mentioned yesterday, I immediately thought about the fact that in the first term for the republicans as they began movement toward Project 2025's attempt to control us, there was an emphasis that they had already started at the local level to influence for their plans and to begin control... We saw an emphasis on banning books, disruptions of school boards as movement toward a tighter control for our citizens was begun...
In the books thus far, there is one blatant factor. There are always local "rich" men, leaders of the community who "think" they have the right to control our lives... Interestingly, however, Russell also includes the extreme of the other side of the small town people... Discovering the individual people within each story is, therefore, a highlight to be watched...
Because within a small town, apparently, it seems that everybody knows about everything that is going on... And, as with today's world, individual reactions are based upon where you are "seen" in relation to the "class" of people in which you live...
Let me quickly point out that, for me, I was influenced by this obvious use of people and their relationships to each other was quite offensive. That doesn't mean that I've never had similar feelings, it merely shares that "my feelings" are based upon, oftentimes, a very different base of beliefs. I found myself often reading the books more from a sociological standpoint as opposed to content of the storyline.
What do I mean by that? Well, for instance, I have no idea what the title of this book is supposed to represent... LOL... Now talk about coons or deer that scamper around my area, and I'm fully involved. Add some cats or dogs, and I've got friends to enjoy while I read... But talks among men as it relates to sex and competition was too much of a reminder of how deadly that can and has become as we watch television each day...
Take John Lee Quarrels as the main character... and how his character is developed. My first reaction was John Boy from The Little House on the Prairie... I mean, do small towners actually use two names each time you talk among friends? In any event, his personal life is interesting. His interaction with family is stranger... and yet, the man, himself, is somebody that most women will immediately respond to. But not know what to say about him... Interested in knowing more?
Well, often in a small area, we have nepotism as an issue... relatives getting jobs because they are familialy connected. John Lee's boss, is also his father-in-aw. This becomes an issue because John Lee is an excellent officer, but supposedly reports to another man, who is also familialy connected and feels he should be the Sheriff--as opposed to reporting to his brother-in-law... So there is constant friction by the supposed boss being bypassed... Also, in a small area, we learn that sex is an open discussion option, so readers will know all about John Lee's life in that area...
But let's start at the beginning. Often an officer will be involved in providing security to construction site activity. It was there that, as digging was occurring, a human bone was discovered. In fact, ultimately there were three old bodies that had been brought to the surface... And, once site review was made, they learned that each of the men, later confirmed as Black, had been shot in the back of their heads.
This, then, becomes an ongoing investigation led by Quarrels and a need to search old records when the age of the skeletons were confirmed. That occurred when the first few bones didn't match and the digging spread out from that original discovery... And, almost immediately somebody attacked the group, firing from a distance into the cop cars!
Once it was determined that the skeletons were from Black men, the issue of slaves was considered. But the timing and the ages of the skeletons soon eliminated that they had been slaves... One major find at that time was a small object that could not be defined with a purpose... Finally, a local historian provided sufficient information to pull up an historical fact on earlier camps to collect turpentine... On the other hand, John Lee learned that what was called Turpentine had been a product of a company that was still located in town... At some point in the past a discovery was made that there had been six camps which might have used the small token to be worn by the workers who lived in the various camps. Using these to identify the workers.
This was one of the connections that came to mind... That is, the fact that, supposedly, slavery had been abolished, but many Black people, attempting to find some type of work, were often caught into the same type of corruption of rich cotton growers... The product just changed... And, workers might have been of more than one race, but treated just as badly... Those who controlled men in the camps, I picture, as the type of men now working with ICE... Yes, it was a job, but it was also a method by which racial bias was often displayed, often resulting in death for the workers... The small ID could be used and often was worn around the neck. Indeed this small item had the initials of the company name.
John Lee soon was talking with the company leader but he claimed he knew little about what was going on back that far in the company's history... But John Lee soon was dealing with who was shooting up cop cars as well as who might have murdered the three Black men so long ago...
An interesting connection between many of those John Lee interacted with was a slightly different version of ICE of today, where they go into various locations without benefit of warrants or other legal authority. This theme runs through the small town areas in the various books, with militia-type individuals--or Klan--who used guns and threats against any law officer who tried to come on to their property... As of now, I don't have a handle on why these people felt that they could prevent the law from coming on their land... Perhaps when there is a conflict between what the law is actually trying to do, versus what the individuals believe is right or wrong? Certainly we have learned of the correlation being used by those who now walk our streets masked and with guns aimed and ready...
It was the murder of Ray Ray that brought the entire community up in arms... Ray Ray stuttered, but was so involved, kind, and caring that it didn't matter... He paid with his life... And how he died was something that called for action of various sorts...
As the book ends, readers are confronted with an ending that has little to offer... When those involved lie to the police officers or blame others as seems to be a standard operating procedure for many small town business representatives, we are confronted with one major result.
The problem of communication moves from the very bottom of civilization all the way to the top... The question is what to do when the people with legal authority are prevented from acting... by parents who choose to support their child rather than acknowledge that accountability is required... Two boys had decided it would be funny to scare a cop... The cop thought he was being killed, or could be... The mother attacked John Lee for pointing out that her son could be killed...
All I have to say it that if the small town of these books represent what actually exists in the United States...there is every reason to consider that the lack of proper training and accountability does indeed begin in the families... And, when power and money becomes a factor, it only gains strength, longevity and moves upward and outward... creating chaos...
John Lee had the scars to prove it. That mother used her claws and dug into his face, not caring that her son was actually to blame--or, perhaps, she was actually the one to be jailed...
Are we generating the world we live in through the type of parenting being done? Yet, those who are parents are often stopped from dealing with problems due to lack of money, some type of abuse, or out-of-control problems in the family that are rarely handled or even attempted because the parent is not able to handle the responsibility.
Have we reached today's crisis through ignoring the needs of those who need the most help? Statistics seem to support that to be true... Decades have gone by while one political party not only refuses to deal with gun control, but also garners financial support for retaining policies about gun control as not being needed...
Are our children being stillborn because there are no longer clear guidelines with families, local governments, federal government and across the world?
Like Nero, do we allow supposed leaders at every level to fiddle while Rome burns to the ground... and then blame anybody and everybody other than ourselves or those we voted for, at any level, including our religious leaders, to actually get away with murder???
A final thought re this series... Quarrels, in developing John Lee as his main character achieves something that many writers have not... He has put together a story that is intriguing enough to pull readers in at the same time, that his main character has sufficient moral character to allow readers to know exactly how he feels about various situations... and yet provides a layer of ongoing humor that both surprises and delights...
Though off to a bad start this morning, I had already planned to talk about my thoughts on AI... So, it might as well be as the start today... I was awake at 4 and reading the latest from the third story in this book and my mind suddenly grasped that Nick Russell is a writer who I was very often in sync with... I had gotten to a certain part and was highlighting a lot and realized that I wanted to spotlight what was being said there...
But, yesterday, after finishing the second story, I went online to find the author. Facebook popped up first so I clicked and verified that this was the man who had written the book, so I requested a connection... I immediately was told that I didn't know this person... Once again, Facebook infuriated me! I DID know this individual. I had been reading him for days... And I knew more about Nick Russell than I ever would for all those other possible connections that Facebook routinely suggested for me! The "brain" behind the programming on Facebook has boggled my mind for years... They claim that they are connecting the world, BUT it is with selections being made by...computer... Duh... I had just once again been told that I didn't know Russell so I couldn't possibly have a need to connect with "him..." DUH... I'm a reader reading his book. Russell is a writer who wants people to read his books... Surely a simple programming routine would have connected these two individuals?! But, hey, they are now using AI and, according to the news yesterday, thousands are being terminated because of AI implementation. And, my message has not been read...so I'll not finish talking about these four books now...
BYW, before I started this post, I was prevented from being able to start this blog post... But, at least, I know that Google normally pays attention to feedback...
PREPARE FOR AN EVEN WORSE COMPUTER-GENERATED TIME-WASTER IN YOUR FUTURE!
And I've had a lifetime of time wasted by those who claim that they know what is best for me in relation to computer use... Take for instance that I had created an entire facilities management system and even gave a paper presentation of it at a professional meeting, only to discover that West Virginia University was far behind most of the basic systems used at other universities... Yes, that's true... You see, I had the brain to create the system. I did not have the power and authority to gain support for that system... Years and much employee time wasted...
So, there I was yesterday, after being a book blogger for over 20 years, being told by a machine--or the minds that told the machine--that I did not know Nick--I was already calling him one of my favorite authors! But they allow anybody and everybody to send messages - so I did take advantage, carefully identifying myself, the book I was reading and why I was contacting him... Then...wait... As of this morning, it never was read... sooo, I'm going with my original plan... I will be talking about each book separately, even though I got them as a package... It works for me, so... we'll see how it goes...
So I went out to Amazon. Now they force you to use some type of "named" AI system... I explained that I had been billed twice for a book that, both cost, $18.01... So I went out to orders, found the book and saw that no other book recently bought had the same price...
Oh, wait... I must point out that all of these companies claim that you no longer need to have paper files, right? That's been one of the key "selling" points as far back as the 1960s! In any event, I had been reviewing my "online" checking account, saw the two listings for a book costing $18.01, along with a bunch of numbers created by the bank to supposedly identify this purchase... Well, both were marked as a reduction of my available money, but had different ID numbers... which, of course, forced ME to go hunt up what was going on... BTW, I also made a list of supposed Walmart purchases that I questioned within the time period...
So, back on Amazon, the AI generator had pulled up a different book, at a different price... BUT, on the opposite page was the right book cover with the right price...So I go back to AI, the book listed was a purchase I had also made, but a lower price... So, which was the mistake? On my bank, on Amazon, or the AIs of the world united to drive us crazy?! But no person to talk to... I didn't spend time writing out the issue for the AI to generate...whatever...
Now back to Facebook. I know I have a personal grudge against that site who claimed that there was possible hacking and kept me offline for nearly 2 years and which resulted, ultimately, in a total loss of my data in a group I have started on Facebook which had been operational since the last decade... So I keep a lowkey most of the time unless some computer crap from some corporate online system drives me to...rage...
Anyway, JC and I were doing a lot of telepathic action as I was reading Russell's book... I was getting all kinds of connections with news items, other books, and messages from Him, depending upon what I was reading... If you don't get it, that's ok...my brain activity is way unique even I am surprised some times...
This morning I read about an event that had affected the entire town. Somebody--I don't know who yet--had murdered a cop who stuttered... And immediately a videos of many times when this president has made fun of those people whick included the disabled, or those he calls stupid or...whatever... The man then gets upset when comedians use him as the stooge he is, in my opinion, of course... LOL
Folks, I've been around a long time and have led somewhat of a sheltered life until I started working at WVU and met many people from around the world. By that time, my family, school, and church background had created a basic sense of awareness that all people desire recognition as "potential" children of God... I word that carefully to reveal my own humanity in not being as God wants--that we love all of our neighbors... In my defense, though, until about 2015 and both the news and the internet opened my eyes to the diversity in America... I was, and, still am, quite naive about the full scope of all peoples now living around the world...
But Russell has made it quite easy for us, really. He takes us to the smallest group of people under one level of government--the small town--and reveals more than we might never know exists in other locations... To me, this was a gift that is needed, right now, when one group of people are striving to destroy the advancements which have been made by many, many people pulling together, working together, to meet the needs of our own lives, as well as the people from all around this earth... at the first level of organizing...
Now Reading: Haberman, Maggie; Swan, Jonathan. Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump (p. I). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.
Just got a call that I have a driver to help me get groceries today... So need to close this out... But I want to add one video and talk about it soon... see if you can find MSNOW of the news items... I think it was one Turi's Moment...
I have been quiet too long. Silence can be a kind of complicity, a way of letting the powerful believe their actions carry no witness and provoke no moral accounting. But there comes a moment when the weight of events presses against the ribs, when the news scrolls like a ledger of avoidable suffering, and when a citizen, any citizen, must speak.
We are living through such a moment now.
For months, the United States has waged what many have called an undeclared war against Iran. The headlines arrive with the rhythm of a drumbeat: schoolchildren killed in airstrikes; senior Iranian leaders targeted and assassinated; peace negotiators bombed while carrying proposals meant to stop the bloodshed.
In the Strait of Hormuz, American and Iranian vessels face each other in a tense maritime standoff, each side daring the other to blink. Oil tankers idle like hostages. The world holds its breath.
And over it all, the American President issues threats that echo across continents, threats to “annihilate” an ancient civilization, one whose poetry predates the English language, whose cities were old when Rome was young, whose memory stretches back to the earliest chapters of human time. These are not the words of diplomacy. They are the words of a nation forgetting its own history, its own fragility, its own moral obligations.
Meanwhile, the American stock market rises and falls like a fever chart. A single mention of ceasefire sends it soaring; a single threat sends it plunging. Oil prices convulse. Working families feel the tremors in their grocery bills, their heating costs, and their commutes. The global poor, who have no voice in these decisions, pay the highest price. A blockade in the Persian Gulf becomes a tax on a mother in Detroit, a farmer in Kenya, a bus driver in São Paulo.
This is what power without mercy looks like. It is not a strength. It is not leadership. It is a form of blindness.
Nations, like individuals, reveal their character in moments of crisis. When a country possesses overwhelming military might, the temptation is always to use it, to believe that force can solve what diplomacy cannot, that threats can replace negotiation, that fear can substitute for respect.
But power without mercy becomes reckless. Power without accountability becomes dangerous. Power without imagination cannot see the humanity of others.
We have seen this pattern before in American history: the belief that overwhelming force can bend the world to our will. It has never worked for long. It has always left scars on foreign soil, on American soldiers, on our national conscience. The Guest House*
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning, a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
Some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
Who violently sweep your house
Empty of its furniture,
Still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
For some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
Meet them at the door laughing,
And invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
Because each has been sent
As a guide from beyond.
~ by Rumi
Iran is not merely a geopolitical adversary. It is a civilization. Its poets Hafez, Rumi*, and Ferdowsi shaped the spiritual vocabulary of half the world. Its cities, Shiraz, Isfahan, and Tehran, carry the architectural memory of empires and revolutions. Its people have endured invasions, dynasties, sanctions, and isolation, yet they remain rooted in a cultural lineage older than the United States by thousands of years. To threaten such a civilization with annihilation is not only morally indefensible; it is historically absurd. Civilizations do not vanish because a modern nation wills it. They endure. They outlast the empires that try to dominate them. They survive the bluster of presidents and the ambitions of generals. Every blockade in the Strait of Hormuz sends shockwaves through the global economy. Every drone strike reverberates through markets. Every threat from the White House becomes a tremor in the price of oil, a tightening in the budgets of families who have never heard of Hormuz and never asked to be part of this conflict.
This is the hidden cost of American foreign policy: the way it reaches into the pockets of ordinary people, destabilizes fragile economies, and turns distant conflicts into local hardships.
War is never contained. It leaks into everything.
I have watched these events unfold with growing unease. I have listened to the pundits, the analysts, the retired generals. I have waited for someone to say plainly what seems obvious: that a nation cannot claim moral leadership while threatening to erase another civilization; that a democracy cannot bomb peace negotiators and call it security; that a superpower cannot kill children and call it collateral. Bombing the infrastructure of Iran at will only goes to prove the Iranian point that they need a nuclear weapon to deter outlandish aggression from the United States. If Iran had a nuclear weapon, this invasion would never have happened, certainly not with the impunity displayed by the Americans.
So, I break my silence. Not because I have all the answers. Not because I speak for any party or ideology. But because conscience demands it.
A nation as powerful as the United States must be held to a higher standard, not a lower one. Our strength should be measured not by the reach of our weapons but by the restraint with which we use them. Our greatness should be judged not by the fear we inspire but by the mercy we extend. Power without mercy is not sustainable. It corrodes a nation’s soul. It erodes the trust of allies. It fuels the resolve of enemies. It destabilizes the world.
We must demand better from our leaders, from our institutions, from ourselves. We must insist on diplomacy, accountability, and a renewed moral imagination. We must remember that the world is not a chessboard but a shared home, fragile and interdependent. The Artemis crew told us as much on their voyage around the backside of the moon. The crew described a universe abounding in darkness, but Earth stood out as a living, breathing, colorful rock in the cosmos. How blessed we are to live on a planet bustling with life. We should at least respect what we have by living peacefully with those who inhabit this oasis surrounded by darkness.
I have been quiet too long. But I am speaking now. And I will continue to speak until mercy returns to the vocabulary of American power. Author’s Note
I’ve been away from this space longer than I intended. Life pulled me toward the work that pays the bills, necessary work, steady work, but work that leaves little room for the writing that asks more of me. Like many writers, I live in that tension between calling and survival. Some seasons allow both. This one did not.
But even as I tended to the work that keeps the lights on, this piece kept pressing on me. I carried its sentences through long days. I felt the weight of the moment growing heavier, the cost of silence growing sharper. Eventually, the pull to speak became stronger than the reasons to stay quiet.
So, I’m here again, doing the work I’m meant to do.
If this piece resonates with you, if you believe independent writing still matters in a world this volatile, I invite you to consider becoming a paid subscriber. I’ll be candid: it doesn’t take a crowd to sustain this work, but it does take a committed circle. Thirteen new paid subscriptions would give me the breathing room to keep showing up with the consistency and depth these times demand.
Whether you read freely or choose to support the work, I’m grateful you’re here. Thank you for giving these words a place to land, and for helping ensure I can keep writing when the moment calls for it.
~~~~*I have read Rumi before and use his words here...I use it today to illustrate for each of us to ponder?What could happen if we lost all writers of song, poetry and literatureby destroying another civilization?What would happen if we lost all scientists, doctors, researchers...We would NOT be the world we are today...So why is it that people like this president are allowed to screw aroundAnd deny the rest of us what we need to reach our own dreams?God created each of us and gave these gifts, like Rumi, for all...Don't allow freedom to disappear... It was 2011 when I first met this wonderful, knowledgeable, and prolific writer who has used his life to speak for good for all people. I am grateful that God brought him into my life! Because at this time in our country, I sometimes find myself unable to find words that speak clearly and objectively, with details sufficient to perhaps change somebody's mind about the crisis we are facing. Yet Michael presents words that touch my mind and soul in the awareness of a man who speaks with the words of God's Truth and Love. This is one of those articles that will/should be shared across the nation and the world and so I send it out to all of you who stop by Book Readers Heaven often... and hope you share it as well... Because I know that our Merciful Father has once again used Michael to speak of what needs to be said... And I, again, thank Him for bringing Michael into my life so many years ago... Please take the time to share directly from this site or find Michael on Substack, LinkedIn and other sites on which he can be found... Support his work if you can! This is a time when our Black Brethren are being attacked daily in one way or another... the latest is the forced relocation of refugees who had been accepted when a crisis occurred and a call for help was made... This president has no code of honor that helps him restrain and consider just how the people will be placed in harm's way... Indeed, he routinely places millions in harm's way daily, doesn't he? I, too, have found that I must speak of this crisis as much as possible. I had not seen this post originally shared in April, because of my own medical issues, but I'm so glad I was led this morning to think of Michael and have reposted it as per my agreement with him to be an ongoing contributor to this blog... Do you have something you'd like to share as well? Let me know and let's talk! Gabby
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