Simple Thoughts From A Complicated Mind, Sort Of . . .

Sunday, January 9, 2022

Numb

Each night, it seems, we hear news reports of a random shooting, someone killed unintentionally by someone wanting to kill someone else. Sad. Tragic. Disgusting. Senseless. No other words suffice, but even those seem inadequate. While I hear the reports and watch the commentator expressing sadness, hear the parents and loved ones in their agony, it affects me, just like it affects you. At least I hope so.

The thing is, this happens each night. Pick up a newspaper. Pick out a newscast. It’s all on display for us to see. We become numb to it because the occurrences are so frequent. That in itself is tragic, beyond the actual shooting and death. We feel . . . something, I guess, but nothing like the victim’s family and loved ones.

That changed for me on July 12, 2014, when our son was shot and killed as he walked home from lunch and a quick trip to pick up a couple of things for his and his wife’s new apartment. Caught on a street between two rival gangs. One gang saw a rival, and according to court testimony, a 35-year-old gave a gun to a 15-year-old and said, “Go wet his shirt!”

“Go wet his shirt!”

The only shirt that “got wet” was our son’s shirt. An innocent pedestrian. Collateral damage, it’s called. Rather cold, don’t you think?

From the moment Kim and I received the news that Wil was shot and killed, news reports of gun violence and death mean something different to me. My heart hurts for the family. My heart hurts for the victim. My heart hurts for Kim and our daughters. My heart hurts for Maria, Wil’s wife, a young widow. My heart hurts. It’s something one does not “get over.” Loss, any loss, is something one does not get over. We learn to live through it. We learn to live with it. The loss is there. It will always be there. Always.

I was reminded of that as I sat and watched David Muir interview three Capitol police officers about their experience and aftermath of January 6, 2021. Their experience, their ongoing trauma. One man nearly crushed to death, caught between a crowd and a door frame. One dragged down steps face to the stone. One sprayed with so many chemicals, he still has scars. And all of them carry scars on their heart, in their mind, and on their soul.

One congressman described the event later as: “Nothing more than tourists!” even though he helped barricade the doors. A picture shows him front and center, terror on his face. Yet, he called them “tourists.” The former vice president called it “Just a day last January.” Just a day? Even when the “tourists” built a gallows and shouted, “Hang Mike Pence!” Just a day?

A memorial was held on January 6^th last week to honor those who died. It was symbolic of what had happened to the victims, to our government, to our country. Only two republicans were present: a congresswoman and her father, a former vice president. Why? Why weren’t more republicans . . . all of them . . . present? Why?

Have we become so numb to political discord, to political division, and political derision that we cannot remember those who died and cannot remember the assault on our capital, our democracy?

Numb. Substitute one letter and you have dumb.

We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering and hurt of others. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to that which is so meaningful to us, to our neighbors, to our country. We cannot allow ourselves to walk through this life numb to what others are going through. We cannot allow ourselves to go through life numb to what others are living with each day. We cannot allow ourselves to be numb. Something to think about . . .

Live Your Life, and Make A Difference!

To My Readers:

I received great news this week! My newest book, Blaze In, Blaze Out won two awards and some recognition! Blaze won a Literary Titan Gold Book Award, an Author’s Shout Recommended Read Award, and was selected by BestThrillers as an “Editor’s Choice.” I am pleased with the recognition and the number of 5 Star Reviews Blaze has garnered.

A Goodreads Giveaway for Blaze In, Blaze Out Began Friday, December 17 and will finish at 11:59 PM PT on Saturday, January 15. My Publisher, Black Rose Writing and I are giving away 5 copies to Goodreads members in U.S. To Enter the Giveaway, use this Link:

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/enter_choose_address/336915?utm_medium=api&utm_source=giveaway_widget

I am pleased to announce that my book, Stolen Lives, Book One of the Lives Trilogy, has been named a Crime Thriller finalist in the 2021 Best Thriller Book Awards! That is the second award Stolen Lives has won. Previously, it received a Literary Titan Gold Book Award. I’m happy, as well as humbled, that there has been success with Stolen Lives.

Connect with me on Social Media:
Author Website: www.jrlewisauthor.blog/
Twitter at @jrlewisauthor
Facebook at: www.facebook.com/Joseph.Lewis.Author
Amazon at: www.amazon.com/Joseph-Lewis/e/B01FWB9AOI /

Blaze In, Blaze Out, is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble websites!

Eiselmann and O’Connor thought the conviction of Dmitry Andruko meant the end, but it was only the beginning. They forgot that revenge knows no boundaries, vindictiveness knows no restraints, and ruthlessness never worries about collateral damage. A target is a target, and in the end, the target will die. https://amzn.to/34lNllP

Betrayed: A PenCraft 1^st Place Winner for Thriller-Fiction! A Maxy Award Runner-Up for Mystery/Suspense! A Literary Titan Silver Book Award Winner! A Reader’s Ready Recommended Read Award Winner! A Reader’s Favorite Honorable Mention Award Winner for Fiction-Crime-Mystery!

Betrayed is Now Available in Audio Book, Kindle and Paperback! https://amzn.to/3AfUUpS

A late-night phone call, a missing kid, a murdered family, but no one is talking. A promise is made and kept, but it could mean the death of a fifteen-year-old boy. Seeing is not believing. No one can be trusted, and the hunters become the hunted. https://amzn.to/2EKHudx

Spiral Into Darkness: Named a Recommended Read in the Author Shout Reader Awards!
He blends in. He is successful, intelligent, and methodical. He has a list and has murdered eight on it so far. There is no discernible pattern. There are no clues. There are no leads. The only thing the FBI and local police have to go on is the method of death: two bullets to the face- gruesome and meant to send a message. But it’s difficult to understand any message coming from a dark and damaged mind. Two adopted boys, struggling in their own world, do not know they are the next targets. Neither does their family. And neither does local law enforcement. https://amzn.to/2RBWvTm

Caught in a Web: A PenCraft Literary Award Winner! Named “One of the Best Thrillers of 2018!” by BestThrillers.com

Caught in a Web is also Available in Audio Book, Kindle and Paperback! http://bit.ly/2WO3kka

They found the bodies of high school and middle school kids dead from an overdose of heroin and fentanyl. MS-13, a violent gang originating from El Salvador, controls the drug trade along the I-94 and I-43 corridors. They send Ricardo Fuentes to find out who is cutting in on their business, shut it down and teach them a lesson. But he has an ulterior motive: find and kill a fifteen-year-old boy, George Tokay, who had killed his cousin the previous summer. Detectives Jamie Graff, Pat O’Connor and Paul Eiselmann race to find the source of the drugs, shut down the ring, and find Fuentes before he kills anyone else, especially George or members of his family. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CKF7696

The Lives Trilogy Prequel, Taking Lives:
FBI Agent Pete Kelliher and his partner search for the clues behind the bodies of six boys left in various and remote parts of the country. Even though they live in separate parts of the country, the lives of Kelliher, 11-year-old Brett McGovern, and 11-year-old George Tokay are separate pieces of a puzzle. The two boys become interwoven with the same thread Kelliher holds in his hand. The three of them are on a collision course and when that happens, their futures grow dark as each search for a way out. https://amzn.to/34nXBH5

Book One, Stolen Lives: Editor’s Pick by BestThrillers! Literary Titan Gold Book Award Winner!
Two thirteen-year-old boys are abducted off a safe suburban street. Kelliher and his team of FBI agents have 24 hours to find them or they will end up like the other kids they found- dead! They have no leads, no clues, and nothing to go on. To make the investigation that much tougher, Kelliher suspects that one of his team members might be involved. https://amzn.to/3oMo4qZ

Book Two of the Lives Trilogy, Shattered Lives:
The boys are home, but now they have to fit back in with their families and friends. Their parents and the FBI thought the boys were safe. They were until people began dying. Now the hunt is on for six dangerous and desperate men who vow revenge. With no leads and nothing to go on, the FBI can only sit back and wait. A dangerous game that threatens not only the boys, but their families. https://amzn.to/2RAYIk2

Book Three of the Lives Trilogy, Splintered Lives:
Three dangerous men with nothing to lose offer a handsome reward to anyone willing to kill fourteen-year-old Brett McGovern. He does not know that he, his younger brother, and a friend are targets. More than anyone, these three men vow to kill George, whom they blame for forcing them to run and hide. A fun vacation turns into a nightmare and ends where it started, back on the Navajo Nation Reservation, high on a mesa held sacred by George and his grandfather. Outnumbered and outgunned, George will make the ultimate sacrifice to protect his adoptive father and his adoptive brothers- but can he? Without knowing who these men are? Or where they are? Without knowing whom to trust? Is he prepared for betrayal that leads to his heartbreak and death? http://bit.ly/SplinteredLives

Photo courtesy of The National Cancer Institute and Unsplash.

Sunday, December 19, 2021

Feel Like It

Growing up in Wisconsin, Christmas had snow. Usually, plenty of it. The cold air froze nose hair, and fingers and toes stung. Seldom, if ever, do I recall a Christmas without snow on the ground.

Kim and I lived in California for eleven years. No snow in Southern California or where we lived. I remember one year Kim and I took a walk in jeans and a sweatshirt just before the Wisconsin Badgers played a bowl game. One year, we grilled out and swam in the pool. Tough to conjure up thoughts of Christmas in a bathing suit.

We live in Virginia now, and a few times we had snow. One year, it snowed enough to shut down everything for almost a week. This year? It’s been gray and rainy. A few days, we had chilly weather, but not cold weather- at least by Wisconsin standards.

Kim, Emily and I decorated our house for the season. We’ve done most of our shopping, and the wrapping- I dread that part- awaits. Driving through our neighborhood, houses are decorated with Santas, reindeer, and snowmen. Some have Charlie Brown characters or other animations. Nothing like Clark Griswold. But pretty.

This week, Hannah and her new husband, Alex, will drive up to be with us. Emily arrives tonight or tomorrow, and her boyfriend will show up a bit later in the week. We’ll have our Christmas meal and open presents, laugh and play games, tell stories and laugh some more. There will be quiet moments and reading and naps, watching shows and movies. All comfortable and cozy.

Tough right now, I suppose, to get into the feeling of Christmas. No snow. Mild weather. Kind of gray and gloomy. No snow.

But I remind myself what Christmas is about. God on high sent his Son to the world, to us, as a gift. An ultimate gift. He shared his own being with us.

We as fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, give gifts out of love, not obligation. It is the act of giving that is important. The spirit with which we give, the reason we give, that is important. It isn’t the size of the stack of presents under the tree. It isn’t the number of presents we receive. It is the fact that someone thought enough of us to give us something we may have wanted, or dreamed about, or wished for.

And my thoughts drift to those moms and dads who can’t provide nearly enough, who can’t give what they would like to their sons and daughters because they lack. Yet, with breaking heart and hurt so deep, they too love their kids and want more for them than they have to give. But I know from my own background that those children will love whatever is given to them, because it was done out of love for them. They might not see the hurt their parents wear or feel the pain their parents shed. It is there, but in that moment of unwrapping a gift of love, it is love that is felt.

Christmas isn’t about tinsel or snow or colored lights. It isn’t about ornaments or lawn decorations.

Christmas is about giving and loving. Christmas is about making someone else happy. Christmas is about sharing and laughing and storytelling. It is about comfort in silence and hugs and kisses. Christmas is about being near to those who love you and being near to those who you love. That’s what Christmas is about. It began with the Father and the gift of his Son. It continues with each of us in our own way and in our own tradition. Something to think about . . .

From the Lewis Family:

Joe, Kim, Wil (deceased) and Maria, Alex and Hannah, Emily and Q,

we wish you a very Merry Christmas and Holiday Season.

As always, Live Your Life, and Make A Difference!

To My Readers:

A Goodreads Giveaway for my new book, Blaze In, Blaze Out Began Friday, December 17 and will finish at 11:59 PM PT on Saturday, January 15. My Publisher, Black Rose Writing and I are giving away 5 copies to Goodreads members in U.S. To Enter the Giveaway, use this Link:

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/enter_choose_address/336915?utm_medium=api&utm_source=giveaway_widget

Blaze In, Blaze Out, is available for preorder until 1-6-22. Save 15% by using the promo code: PREORDER2021 it at my publisher’s website at: https://www.blackrosewriting.com/mystery/blazeinblazeout

Eiselmann and O’Connor thought the conviction of Dmitry Andruko meant the end. They forgot that revenge knows no boundaries, vindictiveness knows no restraints, and ruthlessness never worries about collateral damage. A target is a target, and in the end, the target will die.

Betrayed is Now Available in Audio Book, Kindle and Paperback! https://amzn.to/3AfUUpS

Caught in a Web: A PenCraft Literary Award Winner! Named “One of the Best Thrillers of 2018!” by BestThrillers.com

Caught in a Web is also Available in Audio Book, Kindle and Paperback! http://bit.ly/2WO3kka

Photo courtesy of Linda Arney and Linda Arney Photography.

Sunday, December 12, 2021

Lessons to Learn

I was twenty-two when I moved to Wyoming for my first teaching and coaching position. I had never lived there, and only traveled there once with my family when I was in middle school. I took that job because of my fascination with the west and with cowboy and Native American lore. I love that era of history. My books are filled with contemporary images and settings.

I lived in the very eastern, but middle part of the state, just miles from Scottsbluff, Nebraska, in what they call the Nebraska Sandhills. I lived in two towns while I was there, Torrington and Yoder. Torrington was the larger of the two, but still small compared to where I grew up. Yoder had a population of 101 when I was there. It had an elementary school, a gas station, a bar, and a post office.

One of my students took me on a drive to a bluff, a small mesa, and we climbed to the top. Not at all a struggle. In fact, that image of and trek up that mesa became the image and setting in several of my books. I’ve not been back there in ages, and I even wonder if I could find it again.

Just like the song sung by the Who, ‘I could see for miles and miles’. Nothing but flat grassland and fields of wheat.

Even at a lower level of terrain, one could still see forever. I watched many storms build in the northeast and roll across the prairie. I watched sheets of rain creep closer and closer until I felt mist on my face and arms. I would then run for cover.

During one or two summers, I drove wheat truck for Gerald and his brother, Harold. The day would begin early, just before sunup. I’d climb in the truck and drive to the field. The harvester would pull filled with wheat, dump it in my truck, and I’d drive it to the granary to unload. Then I’d drive back and repeat the process, stopping only for lunch or to fill the truck up with gas.

Gerald and Harold knew the weather could be unpredictably predictable. They knew it would rain about three o’clock in the afternoon most days. Other days, especially in late summer, the storm could bring hail. They discussed taking out crop insurance in case a field or two would get wiped out, but in their experience, they’d take it out on one or two fields, not on the others, and the fields they didn’t get the insurance on would get the hail.

While disappointed them, they would shrug it off and accept it as something nature would do. It would happen whether they fretted about it or not. They would take it in stride, collect their remaining wheat from the untouched fields, and move on.

One rancher spent thousands of dollars on a bull. He had hoped the bull would provide stock for years to come. However, several days after the purchase, it was struck by lightning and it died. He had insurance on it, but as he said with a shrug, “I’d rather have the bull.”

I spent three years in Wyoming, and I learned many life lessons. Who would not at age 22? Some lessons stuck with me, while I with other lessons, I still struggle.

Watching a storm creep along the prairie, I knew it was coming and there was little I could do about it, except to get out of its way and find some shelter. The storm would pass, and the sun would shine, and life would move on. There were many storms. But there were many wonderful days spent under the sun and the brilliant blue sky. Many more days like that than the ones filled with a passing storm.

And stuff, like hail hitting the uninsured field or lightning killing an insured bull, happens. Nothing I, or the ranchers, could do about it. It happened, and with a shrug of a shoulder, we move on.

I still struggle with the stuff happening lesson. I play the ‘what if’ game, and it drives me and others around me crazy. I can spend precious minutes, hours, even days, worrying and wondering about stuff I can’t control. Why bother? Maybe I should be more like Harold and shrug at the ruined wheat field. Maybe I should be more like Sonny and shrug at the death of the bull. Not much I, or we, can do anyway, right? Maybe we should learn to take care of the things we can control to the best of our ability, and then when things we can’t control happen, remember that we did the best we could.

If we see a storm rolling toward us, maybe we can remember all the sunny days spent under the brilliant blue sky and still smile. After all, the sun is still shining somewhere. We just can’t see it at the moment. It’s still there, and it will shine upon us once again in time. It always does. Something to think about . . .

Live Your Life, and Make A Difference!

To My Readers:

Betrayed is Now Available in Audio Book, Kindle and Paperback! https://amzn.to/3AfUUpS

Caught in a Web: A PenCraft Literary Award Winner! Named “One of the Best Thrillers of 2018!” by BestThrillers.com

Caught in a Web is also Available in Audio Book, Kindle and Paperback! http://bit.ly/2WO3kka

Photo courtesy of unknown and Facebook.

Thursday, November 25, 2021

Gratitude

Thanksgiving looks different for us today than it did for years. Typically, we have a family Thanksgiving with all the trimmings. We’d watch movies and play games. As I said, this year, it is different for us.

Hannah and Alex are on their honeymoon for the week. Well deserved, and a happy send off and start up for their years together. Emily is with her boyfriend in South Carolina, visiting his family. That leaves Kim and me with five dogs: our two, Hannah’s and Alex’s two, and Emily’s one. Kim and I jokingly call them our grandchildren.

It is also my birthday. I’m sixty-eight, still going strong, though slower. Semi-retired, and loving it. I get to work with kids directly again. I missed that. Kim still teaches and will do so for the next three or four years. Maybe less. Hopefully, less.

Kim is at cross fit. She already ran her six miles in the dark, but likes the additional workout. As she likes to say, it’s her morning cup of coffee. Me, I’m sitting at the kitchen table putting this post together, something I should have done a couple of days ago. Time got away from me. Odd, since I have more of it these days.

Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday. The whole purpose behind it is in its name: to give thanks. And I have much to be grateful for.

Hannah’s and Alex’s wedding was two weekends ago, and I’m still smiling. It was such a fun weekend. Emily has one more semester of grad school to go and then she will be a clinical social worker. She already has “nibbles” of jobs. Nice that folks think highly of her, even though she isn’t quite finished with the program yet.

I’m especially grateful for my family, both my own and my extended family. It’s always nice when we get together, and it seems it happens less and less. I’m grateful for my health. Nothing big, nothing ugly. Just trucking along quietly and comfortably.

I’m grateful for Fall. The colors of leaves. The crisp bite of morning air. Flannel and sweatshirts and jeans. The sun winking its good-morning over the trees in our backyard. The moon keeping watch at night.

The comfort of a warm bed, food to eat, a roof overhead. Books to read, and to write. Friends who keep in touch. Fewer decisions to make. Peace in my home and in my heart. Contentment with what I have, not really needing anything more.

Gratitude, being Thankful, is such a powerful emotion. It has love at its root. I don’t believe one can be thankful without love. I don’t think one can have gratitude without the firm foundation of love.

And I think there needs to be more gratitude in life. I think we need to appreciate what we have, as little or as great as it might be, knowing it can be less, and there are those who suffer because of the little they have.

I think we have to understand that there will always be those who have more than we do, while others will have less. Gratitude for what we have, thankfulness for what we have, is sometimes forgotten. And when it is forgotten, we are less happy, more grumpy, more negative. And in these days, in these times, we can’t afford any more negativity than there is now. Something to think about . . .

To My Readers:

Blaze In, Blaze Out, is now available for preorder. Use the promo code: PREORDER2021 and order it at the publisher’s website at: https://www.blackrosewriting.com/mystery/blazeinblazeout

Betrayed is Now Available in Audio Book, Kindle and Paperback! https://amzn.to/3AfUUpS

Caught in a Web: A PenCraft Literary Award Winner! Named “One of the Best Thrillers of 2018!” by BestThrillers.com

Caught in a Web is also Available in Audio Book, Kindle and Paperback! http://bit.ly/2WO3kka

Photo courtesy of Libby Penner and Unsplash.

Tuesday, November 16, 2021

A Cherished Moment

This past weekend, friends and family gathered from across the country – literally – to celebrate my daughter’s marriage to her best friend, Alex. Throughout the years, I’ve seen Hannah happy. I’ve seen my wife, Kim, happy, and I’ve seen my daughter, Emily, happy. If it is possible, I don’t think I’ve ever seen them as happy as they were this past weekend. I don’t think I’ve stopped smiling. In fact, it was such a joyous wedding weekend, I couldn’t sleep Saturday night as I played the day through from beginning to end on continuous repeat.

I can only describe Alex’s and Hannah’s wedding day as magical. A true celebration of two families coming together in joy and laughter to support two young hearts deeply in love. A Cherished Moment, to be sure!

Hannah and Alex spent months, days, and hours planning it. Postponed one year because of Covid, they had it on the same Saturday as originally planned only one year later. The ceremony took place outdoors on the steps of an Inn, and the reception took place in the back in two tented pavilions. It was chilly, so they had portable heaters. No one seemed to care about the chill.

Speeches were perfect. A nice blend of funny and poignant and nostalgia, much like Alex’s and Hannah’s vows. I sang Paul Stookey’s Wedding Song and almost made it through without choking up. Knowing I was vulnerable, I kept my eyes glued on the sheet music in my folder. The last line of the song is, “And there is love” preceded by four or five bars of instrumental. I made the mistake of glancing up at Alex and Hannah, and saw them weeping. Aw hell! I ended up with my heart in my throat and I think I choked out the last line in nearly a whisper. I couldn’t help it.

Hannah picked a Zak Brown song, The Man Who Loved You Most, for the father-daughter dance. She and I both broke down, and I truly cherished that moment. Later that evening, during the dance after the dinner, she and I laughed as we danced a polka, spinning and twirling.

Life gives us many cherished moments. The birth of a child. A graduation. Watching a sunset or sunrise. A first kiss. A first date. A proposal. Certainly, a wedding.

In today’s fast-paced, rush-to-the-finish world, we don’t always take the time to slow down, much less stop, to a cherish moment. And there are some moments that we should take the time to spend on them. Sadly, there are some moments that will never again appear. A “Goodbye” an “I Love You” or a “Thank You” before life passes.

Please don’t wait! Don’t plan on “the next time.” The next time might never happen, and it might be too late. Please don’t wait. Something to think about . . .

Live Your Life, and Make A Difference!

To My Readers:

Blaze In, Blaze Out, is now available for preorder. Use the promo code: PREORDER2021 and order it at the publisher’s website at: https://www.blackrosewriting.com/mystery/blazeinblazeout

Betrayed is Now Available in Audio Book, Kindle and Paperback! https://amzn.to/3AfUUpS

Caught in a Web: A PenCraft Literary Award Winner! Named “One of the Best Thrillers of 2018!” by BestThrillers.com

Caught in a Web is also Available in Audio Book, Kindle and Paperback! http://bit.ly/2WO3kka

Photo courtesy of Linda Arney of Linda Arney Photography.

Simple Thoughts From A Complicated Mind, Sort Of . . .

Sunday, January 9, 2022

Numb

Sunday, December 19, 2021

Feel Like It

Sunday, December 12, 2021

Lessons to Learn

Thursday, November 25, 2021

Gratitude

Tuesday, November 16, 2021

A Cherished Moment

About Me

Blog Archive