Category: Uncategorized

Short Stories by Michael J. Tucker

Casting Shadows Everywhere

By L. T. Vargus

If the opening of Ms. Vargus’ story doesn’t get your attention, nothing will. The cover design suggest a noir novel, and in a way it is, but not in the traditional sense. The book defies genre: it could be noir, or young adult, or coming of age, or romance, or all of that wrapped into one. Regardless, it’s a great tale and worth reading.

The reader is informed of the action by a journal kept by the protagonist, Jake, a 15 year-old high school student and part-time college student. The tone, and his character, will remind some readers of J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye. Jake comes off as a contemporary Holden Caulfield (angry, confused, self-esteem issues, filled with angst) albeit a Holden Caulfield on steroids.

On one level, Jake is simply the story of a boy trying to find his place in the hierarchy of adolescence. But in a very subtle way, Ms. Vargus takes the reader to fundamentally deeper psychological and philosophical levels. Jake’s journey goes into the world of bullying, bulimia, peer influence, adolescent love, and self-hatred.

While much of this is pretty heavy stuff there is still a lot of entertainment value, thanks to Jake’s narration. There are some very funny lines, and Ms. Vargus’ use of similes and metaphors are original and refreshing. However, there came a time in the book that frightened me, and not many writers can do that to me. L. T. Vargus is very good, and I look forward to more from her in the future.

Interview with L. T. Vargus, Author of

Casting Shadows Everywhere

All I can tell you about Ms. Vargus right now is that she is a cat lady. No, not the one from Batman, but a lover of cats, she lives in Michigan with three of them. However, her debut novel, Casting Shadows Everywhere, is winning rave reviews from readers on Amazon and GoodReads.

Let’s see what we can find out about the talented and secretive Ms. Vargus, and her exciting novel.

MJT: LT, I’m teasing you about your bio because so many authors (myself included) tend to ramble endlessly about how they wrote their first short story at age 2, where they went to grade school, how their 6 year-old son is their muse, but you are a minimalist. I know 3 things about you: 1. You live in Michigan, 2. You live with 3 cats, 3. You are an awesome writer. So, tell our readers all about yourself, like what you do when you are not writing, and maybe even of your some secrets.

LTV: Outside of writing, my interests include being mysterious and brevity.

MJT: The title of your novel, Casting Shadows Everywhere, is very unusual. How do you relate it to the story?

LTV: Well, it’s open for interpretation, but I thought of shadows in terms of the archetype. Nick teaches Jake about the dark side of humanity, casting his shadow on him. In the process of teaching, he talks about how this idea of morality not being real is all around us in the way corporations and governments behave, and the way humans treat each other and other beings in general. To me, that is the shadow being cast everywhere.

MJT: How did you come up with the idea for this story? Did you know a Jake, or a Beth, or a Nick?

LTV: For years I had this fragment of a story in mind. I knew how I wanted the mood and voice to be. I had some images in mind and a vague notion of the situation the main character was in, but that was it as far as the plot. So that simmered in my imagination for a long time before I committed to a specific storyline. I did know people a lot like Jake, Beth and Nick, though in the final product they’re jumbled together into composites of many people.

MJT: You managed to weave into your story a lot of very relevant and contemporary issues. What were some of the important points that you wanted to get across to your reader?

LTV: It’s interesting to me to read the wide variety of interpretations in reviews and on twitter. It almost makes me reluctant to talk too much about my intent as I like the idea of people arriving at their own meaning. So without going too far into detail, I’ll say that to me the story is about self examination and moral ambiguity.

MJT: This is your first novel, but your skill level says you are not an amateur. What has been your writing history?

LTV: Well, I’ve always written a lot. I got serious about it in 2006 or 2007, I think. I completed a novel and a couple of scripts that got rejected by a slew of agencies. I always got a lot of positive feedback from the agents, though, which heartened me enough to keep going. In fact, I had serious talks with a manager in Hollywood, but when he explained the reality of what my life would entail, I knew writing movies wasn’t for me after all. I would have had to move to Los Angeles, go to tons of meetings with executives to pitch ideas, get jobs rewriting other people’s scripts, and everything I wrote would have to adhere to a specific beat sheet. It was basically telling the same story over and over again with different details. This just didn’t fit my dream vision of writing enough to drop everything for the still fairly slim chance it would all work out.

I went back to novels and wrote Casting Shadows Everywhere. I didn’t realize how viable self publishing was until April of 2013. Within a month, I’d self published my book.

MJT: Based on reader reviews on Amazon and GoodReads, your book has been a marketing success as well as a literary success. What are some of your most successful marking actions?

LTV: This is probably the best way to sum it up: Before I made my book free, it got 13 Amazon reviews over the course of 4 and a half months. Since I made it free 4 and a half months ago, it’s gotten 89 additional Amazon reviews. (It was actually 90, but someone deleted their review during this interview. Jerk!)

Right now, there is a great opportunity for a self-published writer to reach tens of thousands of readers and build a fan base with free promotions. With e-books, this costs nothing. It’s awesome.

MJT: What is your typical day like? When do you write? What do you do when you don’t write? Do your cats help you with your research?

LTV: Lately I’ve been writing first thing in the morning. I adopted a dog a few months ago, and he demands to sit on my lap while I’m at the computer. When I’m not writing, I’m bemoaning the fact that my dog has really terrible breath. The only thing the cats are interested in researching is how many things they need to knock off my desk before I’ll get up to feed them.

MJT: Can you give us a summary of what your next project is about? Do you have a title for it?

LTV: I’ll just say that it’s part mystery, part magic realism and part horror story.

MJT: What is your website address and what would readers find there?

LTV: My website is http://ltvargus.com and there are a few book reviews posted there. I’ve started working on some blog posts about writing and promoting that I haven’t put up yet. So I guess there will be more to check out pretty soon.

MJT: Where can readers go to buy a copy of Casting Shadows Everywhere?

LTV: Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Casting-Shadows-Everywhere-L-T-Vargus-ebook/dp/B00CR0T70U

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/casting-shadows-everywhere-lt-vargus/1116782454?ean=2940045231893

Dance For Me 

By Tiffini Johnson

The story of Maelea is a fictional account of an 11 year-old Cambodian girl and her poverty stricken family living along a remote region of the Mekong River. It opens with her letter to her father, Eu. It has been two years since Maelea left her home and the letter rings of happy memories.

The novel then moves to Maelea telling the story of the horror she has lived during that two-year period. She takes us into her family’s life in a thatched hut with bamboo-woven mats for a floor, and hanging blankets are the only room dividers. And it is where the life of subsistence farmers depends on the whims of the Mekong, and where a meal consists of a spoonful of rice for three people. It is a place where hunger leads to worry, and “worry steals things,” things like sleep and fun. To bring joy, Maelea will dance like a dervish, whirling with arms it the air until she falls to the floor exhausted, to the cheers and laughter of her sister, mother, and father.

Maelea’s life takes a change when her sister, Srey, comes down with Dengue fever. It will require a doctor to save her and that will require money, money the family does not have. To save his youngest daughter, Eu’s oldest daughter must become an indentured servant. In Cambodia, for a young girl, that means a sex slave.

She is told she will be taken to a school, and for Maelea, the word means paradise. Upon arriving in Phnom Penh she is thrown into a dark underground dungeon and soon learns disobedience results in extreme pain. But her most hurtful experience is the realization that she has been sold and is now “waiting to be picked like her father picks sheep.”

Author Tiffini Johnson raises the curtain on the horror and brutality to children forced into brothels. While her words are delicate and compassionate and the scenes not explicit, it is very clear what is happening to Maelea at the hands of brutal men who pay for an hour to use her. But the real brutality rests with the brothel owners, for whom torture is a means of control and a way of life.

This is an important book. While the character, Maelea, is fictional, the scenes portrayed are real for hundreds of thousands of girls and boys throughout the world. We tend to think this is a problem of third world countries, but we would be fooling ourselves. It occurs, but is well hidden, in developed countries as well. How many weeks go by without a news account of an arrest in your city for child abuse or child pornography? Ms. Johnson’s novel is but one soldier in the crusade to end the nightmare.

The novel contains a Book Club Guide that offers the reader thought provoking questions appropriate for group discussion.

Interview with Tiffini Johnson,

Author of Dance For Me

When she’s not acting as a canvas for her girls to paint upon, searching for creepy crawly bugs or found playing any number of imaginative games, Tiffini can be found writing. Writing has been a part of Tiffini’s world for as long as she can remember. She is the author of over 100 books. The majority of her books focus on childhood trauma and the children who must overcome it. She is also an avid reader, horseback rider, chef. She soaks up country music like sunshine and currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee.

MJT: Tiffini, what was your inspiration for the character Maelea?

TJ: I never know exactly how to answer these questions.  I don’t “come up” with a character;  characters just pop into my head.  One day, they won’t be there;  the next, I’ll see a figure.  Usually, she hangs around for awhile before she tells me her story.  Maelea was the same way.  I saw her caramel colored skin, dark hair and solemn expression for several weeks before she ever said anything at all.  The pervading emotion was sadness, but I didn’t know why.  Maelea stands out from my other female characters, though, in that she is particularly wise.  The book is written in her voice—but it doesn’t sound like an eleven-year-old—or even a thirteen-year-old, as she is at the end of the book.  It sounds like an adult talking.  And yet, there’s this naïvity that seems to envelop her, especially where her home and family is concerned.  She misses her mother in heartbreaking scenes, she chooses not to go back because she’d rather miss them than face their rejection.   Maelea impacted me on a personal level very much and I think that’s because I see a lot of the teenage Tiffini in her;  in the way she refuses to give up and in the way she thinks.  I’m not sure where Maelea’s character came from, but I am glad that she showed up at all. 

MJT: Much has been made about “sex tours” to Thailand but I was not aware of these issues in Cambodia. Why did you select Cambodia for your novel’s country?

TJ:  This goes back to my being extremely character driven.  I didn’t have a choice.  Maelea told me to write about her home;  that was the first sentence she ever “said” to me:  “write about my home.”    I did not know where her home was.  So I got online and searched for images of third-world countries.  I had a picture of her home in my head—I knew what it looked like.  She was walking down a dirt road barefoot, with a dog following her, and water nearby.  When I did the search, the exact same image I had in my head appeared on the screen.  Goosebumps traveled my arms.  I followed links until I discovered where the picture had been taken:  Cambodia.  Then I started researching Cambodia and sex trafficking and was horrified to learn that they did not have any laws specifically against child sex trafficking until 2010, which is why there are still some hotels that post signs saying,  ‘No child sex.’    I knew Maelea was from a poor village, so I looked up remote villages in Cambodia and discovered Anlong Veng. After researching the people there, and the culture, I knew that’s where Maelea was from.  Now, most of the trafficking takes place in the capital, but the most vulnerable are those facing desperation and that is usually those with little to no income or education. 

MJT: What research did you do to understand the life of Cambodian people and the nature of the treatment of the girls in the brothels?

TJ:  I read several books, including Half the Sky.   In addition, I tracked down experts in the field, like Nicholas Kristof, and read everything they wrote on the subject.  Then I watched videos of survivors speaking out.  I watched their body language.  I heard horror stories that gave me nightmares.  I had a friend who works with an organization in my hometown that rescues girls that are being trafficked, and I was able to talk with her.  The torture is what most upset me.  A survivor of childhood abuse myself, I could not wrap my mind around the unnecessary torture of the victims.  It isn’t necessary—a young girl who is raped multiple times a night, every night, will not be emotionally capable of running, especially if threats against her family or her life are added to the equation. Torture via electric shocks, isolation, whips or any other form simply isn’t necessary.  It’s just evil.  And my heart quite literally hurt after reading the stories and watching the  documentaries that showcased the survivors speaking.  After I had a good understanding of the brothels and how the perpetrators get their victims (trickery, lies, coercion, etc),  I started researching Cambodia.  While the city is mostly modernized, the outlying villages still retain old traditions, superstitions and beliefs that are fascinating.  I learned how they make a house. I learned why their houses are on stilts. I learned about the Nagas.  I researched things as simple as traditional fairy tales and as complex as dating rituals. I looked at hundreds of pictures and videos of the region and even made the one of Maelea’s home my screensaver on the desktop.   I even learned to speak certain phrases in their language, and listened to the audio recordings of them speaking repeatedly.  I also looked up and watched videos of games the schoolchildren would play.  Not because Maelea was going to play them, but because games tell about culture and values.  It was an interesting time, researching the people, history and land of Cambodia.  But it left me sad and hurting because of just how common this crime is there. 

MJT: What does Maelea’s dance represent?

TJ: This is a fascinating question, to which there are multiple possible answers, depending on who you are as a reader.  For me,  Maelea’s dance represents freedom.  When she dances at home, it isn’t because she’s obligated to, it is because she wants to.  She feels an unspoken permission to act spontaneously.  She feels the freedom to let her body move without conscious thought;  she is happy and so she moves.  But after she is taken to the brothel, her body is stolen from her, repeatedly stolen.  Never again will she look at her own body in the same way.  Now, instead of an expression of joy, dance has become sexualized;  instead of allowing her body to move based on emotion, she is taught how to manipulate her body for the pleasure of the Dancing Man.  She doesn’t see her arms the same way, or her legs, or any other part of her body because suddenly the arms that once were held above her head with abandon are now like foreign instruments whose purpose must be controlled.  Dance is also a representation, therefore, of the innocence she loses. When she danced at home, no one was looking at her body and breathing heavily;  instead, everyone was clapping and laughing and smiling.  Dance wasn’t symbolic of anything then—it was free.  But the Dancing Man steals that from her.  He takes something clean and pollutes it.  Suddenly, Maelea feels like a stranger within her own skin;  she can feel herself being watched and now to raise her arms above her head is to “want” someone.   It represents the mind games that make rape so traumatizing.  Dance can also represent the loss of innocence.  Her life isn’t carefree before being sold;  her family is poor and food is scarce.  But within the confines of simplicity lay innocence.  She didn’t know what a “lollipop” was—neither the candy form or the other.  When she danced at home, she was innocent, there was no manipulation involved at all of her body.  But after the brothel,  she is forced to think about what her feet are doing, what her arms are doing, what her head is doing.  She isn’t innocent anymore because, like Eve upon eating the fruit, she was suddenly ashamed of her previously innocent actions. What had she done differently? Nothing. But that’s the lie of rape… that, even though you haven’t changed at all,  you are, overnight, guilty of something terrible.  No one knows what that something terrible is, really, only that whatever it is “deserves” terrible treatment.  When the perpetrators tell you,  “You look like a slut,”  suddenly, you remember how you held your arms above your head and danced and what they say sounds logical.  So you believe it. 

MJT: In Dance for Me Maelea expresses a very dim view of men, and the perspective is justified based on her experience. Is it possible for women like Maelea to see that not all men are like the ones she encountered? Does trust ever return?

TJ: One of the survivors I watched tell her story was asked if she thought she would ever get married and her response was immediate and fierce:  “Oh no.  No.  I could never.”  Her reaction to the question stayed with me for a long time.  Will she never marry because she cannot trust a man or will she never marry because she doesn’t want to have sex anymore?  Or is that really the same question?  

Personally, I think yes, survivors can trust again, but it takes a lot of concentrated effort—not only on the part of the survivor, but also on the part of whomever it is seeking her trust.  Abuse clearly demonstrates that words are meaningless.  Abusers almost always promise things—school, flowers, forever—but when things don’t go as they planned, they turn on the ones they have sworn to love and those actions contradict flowery praise.  So then, once the survivor is out of the abusive situation and meets a man, any man,  she can’t just believe everything he says, no matter how wonderful – or how true – it may sound.  She is too afraid of finding herself ensnared again.  So she has to be shown.  Actions speak louder than words. How does this new man respond to stress?  Does he strike her?  Does he leave?  Does he yell?  Does he turn cold?  How does he take his anger out on her, or does he?   How does he react when she disagrees with him over anything? Does he criticize her?  Does he laugh at her, or make sarcastic remarks?  Or does he give her ideas merit by seriously engaging them.  That doesn’t mean he has to agree with her, but does he at least acknowledge her thoughts are just as valid as his?  If she is shown, over time, that he can be trusted, then it is possible for her to give it.   I was hurt as a child, for 11 years.  Today,  17 years later,  I truly trust only 3 men;  my pastor,  a male teacher who cared about me when I was in the middle of the abuse and one friend.  But, despite my caution and all the walls I have constructed, I can learn to trust you. 

MJT: One of the brilliant pieces of your story is the moral dilemma given to Maelea’s father. He has two daughters that he loves very much. He is confronted with a decision either let one daughter die or sell the other daughter in exchange for medical treatment. Why did he make the choice that he did? What does it say about his love for Maelea?

TJ: The real question here is, did he know?  And  the story simply doesn’t say.  Maelea’s mother cries, she is clearly worried.  But that doesn’t mean she knew for sure where Maelea was going.  Perhaps they really believed Madam.  If they did really believe her, well, then, they weren’t sacrificing their daughter… they were securing a better future.  Was it wrong?  That’s a question only the parents can answer but I know that, even if my intentions were pure,  I would not be able to live with myself if I sent a daughter away for the sake of the other.  However,  if they really believed Madam and trusted that Maelea would be provided for, sent to school… then I wouldn’t have trouble questioning their love for her.   But… What if they did know?  What if they knew what was going to happen?  In this case, I have serious doubts that they understand what love is at all.  As Maelea fears in one part of the book,  what would happen if Mae got sick?  Would Eu sell Srey then?  See, once one does something previously thought impossible, it becomes easier to do it again. 

Eu was desperate.   Desperate people do desperate things.  All he could see was the immediate danger of Srey dying.  His need for a resolution to that illness prevented him from seeing the long-term danger of Maelea dying an emotional death if not a literal one.  I like to believe that had he been capable of seeing how severe the danger was to Maelea, he would not have sold her. I like to believe his love for Maelea was genuine and deep; that he was just blinded temporarily by desperation. But doubts about his genuine love for his daughter is evident elsewhere in the novel.  For instance, if a parent truly loved their child, would the fact that she had been raped and deformed prevent him from welcoming her home with open arms?

MJT: Some of the scenes in the book were very difficult to read. How did you manage to write those scenes where extreme pain is inflicted on Maelea?

TJ: Writing this book was the most emotionally draining and difficult thing I have done… possibly ever!  I literally could not sleep for crying.  I would lay awake, thinking about how the things I wrote just hours before, were really happening to someone right  now.  Not only that, but Maelea struck very raw nerves because she reminded me a lot of myself  as a teenager. This made it doubly hard. I honestly did not think I could finish the chapter in which she is deformed;  it took me days to finish that chapter because I simply couldn’t do it.  But the truth is, as difficult as it was for me to write it or for you to read it,  it is a thousand times more difficult for the victims to experience it.  It was very hard to write this book.  But it was just as necessary. 

MJT: The consistent theme in your novels involves the trauma of child abuse and the battle to heal the scars. Why is this the focal point of your work?

TJ: I remember.  The mind-numbing terror.  The feel of ants in my skin.   The heaviness of someone hurting me.  The numbness.  I took brushes and quite deliberately made bruises on my skin because the reflection in  mirror did not match the horror I felt I really looked like.  The idea that children are hurting like that right this minute rips my heart out.  The idea that those same children truly believe they are totally alone in the world, and that no one else understands, lights a fire in me that nothing can match. Quite simply,  I cannot sit by and do nothing.  Initially,  writing was my way of healing personally.  I would write what I could not say.  I still do that.  But even after healing a great deal,  I still write about it, because I want children who are going through  now or adults who went through it at some point to know that someone else really does understand.  I want them to know it does not have to be, as Maelea described , “a death sentence.”  Hope.  I write about it because I am trying to offer hope—to those whose need it and to myself. 

MJT: If someone suspects a child is being sexually abused what should they do?

TJ: Don’t talk yourself out of helping a child.  It’s easy to do.  It is easy to tell yourself you’re imagining things or that you shouldn’t interfere.  But 1 in 3 little girls and 1 in 5 little boys are sexually abused. If you don’t say anything, there is a distinct possibility you are allowing horror to remain a reality. If you speak up, but are wrong, nothing bad will happen.  No one even has to know it was you who spoke up.  But a child’s safety will be ascertained.  Even more than that, if you speak up and your suspicions are right,  you will have told a child:  “You matter.”   And that simple, unspoken statement is often enough to offer her enough hope to heal.  Call the authorities.

MJT: Are you available to speak to community or church about child abuse?

TJ: Absolutely, and I’m not interested in speaking about child abuse for profit.  Anyone interested in hearing my story, or having speak about child abuse in general, is welcomed to e-mail me at tiffini@tiffinijohnson.com.  

MJT: If readers want to become involved in the fight against child abuse, either financially or by volunteering their services, what do you recommend them to do?

TJ: CASA —  “Court Appointed Special Advocate” – is an organization that uses volunteers to act as advocates for children who have been removed from their parents’ care. Many of them have been abused.  As a CASA volunteer,  your job isn’t to determine where the child should be placed but rather to act as a friend/mentor/advocate for that child.   It is a fantastic organization,  one to which I have personally volunteered.   The website, casaadvocates.org can give more information.

As far as financial gifts go,  RAINN. RAINN stands for Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network.  They provide a 24/7 hotline and care for survivors through resources, their Speaker’s Bureau and a wide range of other, community-based outreaches.  You can locate their website at rain.org.

MJT: Where can we find your novels?

TJ: Local bookstores in the Tennessee area like Parnassus and Landmark Booksellers shelf them, as do select retailers like Barnes and Noble.  All of the books are available world-wide on Amazon and my website, tiffinijohnson.com.  My blog, which I update regularly, contains multiple excerpts from each of the books and can be found at storiesthatmatterblog.com.

Deadly Beliefs

By Rod Huff

The novel opens with a Prologue that takes place at Osama Bin Laden’s Abbottabad, Pakistan compound the night of the night of the Navy Seal assault. A secret tunnel allows the escape of Nasi Ahsan, Bin Laden’s closest associate, and this escape enables al-Qaeda to continue forward with the long planned Operation Sky Burst.

Mr. Huff tells a tale of intrigue, espionage, sabotage, and murder, as al-Qaeda operatives race to complete tasks that will wreak havoc on five continents and turn modern civilizations into Stone Age societies for the sake of Islamic domination. A huge cast of characters takes the reader from fortified caves in Afghanistan to New York City, Chicago, Washington, D.C., rural Pennsylvania, and Nashville.

Like a Tom Clancy novel, the reader is treated to an array of technological warfare, and a bonus: a look inside the spiritual conflict that drives the War on Terror. The author provides insight on the motivation of religious terrorists. Through his characters we see the battle for men’s souls and the contrast between Islam and Christianity.

To help the reader through this character-laden novel, Mr. Huff provides a useful Character List in the front of the book. Another clever idea by the author was to post images of his fictional characters on his website. By clicking on the image the reader will open a bio page of that character revealing a backstory for each player. You can visit the site at http://deadlybeliefs.com/#

Interview with Rod Huff

Author of

Deadly Beliefs

Mr. Huff is a successful business executive with thirty-five years of experience in various executive level positions. He previously published a non-fiction work entitled, Coaching Made Easier, How to Successfully Manage Your Youth Baseball Team. The author holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Shippensburg University and a Master of Business Administration from James Madison University.

MJT: Rod, you’ve delivered an interesting thriller that looks at a possible future attack by al-Qaeda. What were some of the current events that inspired your story?

RH: When I started to write there were some notable blunders by al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda had pulled off a nearly perfect attack on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and, except for a band of patriots, United Flight 93 headed for another Washington DC target on 9/11/2001. I thought it was odd that they followed that success with the Detroit ‘underwear bomber’, the failed Times Square van filled with explosives, the UPS shipments from Yemen and a few others. These gave me the idea that perhaps al-Qaeda was intentionally failing to have the US and other intelligence agencies write them off as inept. Since then the government has indicated that there have been over fifty other plans that were thwarted by NSA surveillance – or did they really want to be thwarted?

MJT: There appears to have been a considerable amount of research for this novel. In addition to the technology there was also details of Islamic beliefs that are revealed throughout the story. Tell us about your research.

RH: I have to go back to the 9/11 incidents again – that attack prompted me to dig into the Muslim religion. I was curious what kind of religion would have its people do such evil acts of terrorism. I dug in and read everything I could find on the religion, Muhammad, al-Qaeda, and other historical records on Islam. While doing this research I published my baseball book, which fueled a fire to write fiction. I hoped to emulate the late Michael Crichton with my book. Crichton always left the reader educated on some aspect of his stories. Everything in my book regarding Islam is factual. In regards to the technological aspects of the weapons – they are mostly fictional. The weapon, Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) bomb, exists but has been discounted by most experts as not being capable to create widespread destruction and devastation as Deadly Beliefs suggests.

MJT: You have a pretty busy life with your business and family. How long did it take to write Deadly Beliefs and when did you find the time?

RH: I wrote nights, weekends, vacations, and even lunch hours. I completed the first draft in approximately seven months. Then came the fun of rewriting with editors and landing an agent. My journal tells me I began writing the later part of June 2010 and the book came out earlier this year. I met with a publishing friend of mine when I started writing. When I told him the book took place in the future (2015) he told me I better get busy – I laughed but didn’t realize how right he was. 

MJT: Rod, one of the many interesting aspects of your novel is the spiritual conflict between Christianity and Islam. One of your characters even has a conversion experience. What are you trying to show your reader in those scenes?

RH: My hope is that the readers get a glimpse of the fact that our Muslim brothers and sisters are God’s creation and He loves each of us equally. Hopefully, by educating my readers on the beliefs of Muslims they will be better equipped to get into meaningful discussions of the differences and the similarities of our two beliefs. The terrorist in my book was attracted to the Christian young man who reached out in love to help him with a car problem. That gesture led to a friendship and paved the way for the Muslim to realize the gravity of the plot that he was involved.

MJT: What is your next writing project and do you have a target date for publication?

RH: I am currently writing my next novel. The hero, Teddy Brewer a geeky Arab expert, of Deadly Beliefs continues in the sequel, Deadly Borders. This book takes place in Mexico where the Lebanese terrorist organization, Hezbollah, joins forces with the Mexican Juarez Cartel. Instead of smuggling drugs into the US they are utilizing the cartel’s distribution system to smuggle terrorist and weapons. I never know where a story is going to lead me in my writing but so far the book has taken some exciting twists and turns. I’m anxious to see how it unfolds and ends.

MJT: Tell us about your website and also where can readers buy Deadly Beliefs. 

RH:  My website for this book is www.deadlybeliefs.com . In addition to the typical information about the book – my blog, reviews, overview and the author there is another section worth mentioning and visiting. Check out the ‘behind the scenes’ tab where you can explore my characters in depth by clicking on ‘character group’ and then whatever group you wish to see. The groups are listed as they appear in my character guide at the beginning of the book (al-Qaeda, Homeland Security, Antioch Islamic Center, etc.). Each ‘character group’ is shown in an organization type image that shows the characters name, position in the story and an image. When you click on the image you can read a bio on each character. I originally created these for my own reference to assist me in the writing but thought it may be interesting for my readers.

The Character

By Tiffini Johnson

This novel will make you cry.

Told in a first person narrative by ten year-old Anna, the story is about sexual and physical abuse. The author has accurately captured the voice, grammar, and life of a child trapped in a nightmare where morning never seems to come and reality fades to what the mind imagines or denies. It is a painful read that will touch your emotions as you feel Anna’s loneliness, betrayal, guilt, shame, and pain. Stay with it and you will be rewarded in ways you could not have imagined. Continue reading

Interview with Tiffini Johnson,

Author of The Character

  When she’s not acting as a canvas for her girls to paint upon, searching for creepy crawly bugs or found playing any number of imaginative games, Tiffini can be found writing. Writing has been a part of Tiffini’s world for as long as she can remember. She is the author of over 100 books, including 7 published. The majority of her books focus on childhood trauma and the children who must overcome it. She is also an avid reader, horseback rider, chef. She soaks up country music like sunshine and currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee. Continue reading

Vendetta Stone 

by Tom Wood

Official disclaimer: For the past 12 months the author and I have participated in a critique group where I had the opportunity to read portions of this novel while it was a work in progress. This is my first reading of his edited finished product.

The novel is uniquely written as a fictional true crime novel. Think of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, but with the major difference being Mr. Capote’s work is based on an actual crime and interviews with real people. Vendetta Stone has the same style and tone but is fiction. Continue reading