An Exciting Announcement

I have an announcement to make that has been a year-and-a-half in the making. Are you ready? Here it is—my latest novel, Remaking Danny, is now published and available on Amazon.

Here is the back cover blurb: After his rabbi declares that young Danny Epstein is now a man in the eyes of God, Danny witnesses a sight so gruesome he turns against a God that would allow such a thing to happen.

Now grown and a firefighter, Danny is adept at putting out fires in his hometown of Buffalo, NY, but can he put out the internal fires that have plagued him ever since his bar mitzvah?

It takes more than water to extinguish some flames.

This story takes place during the tumult of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Danny's struggles include a son who opposes him on the USA’s involvement in the Vietnam conflict, a wife who has grown distant, a life-changing accident, and a faith that has been MIA for most of his life.

This book has been a pleasure to write and I believe it goes deeper into a serious subject than any of my other books. I’m pleased with this story and hope it strikes a chord with readers.

Here are two excerpts from Remaking Danny.

Excerpt one: Unable to stop the tears now streaming down his face, Danny buried his face in his hands and trembled. He then heard himself cry out, "You probably don't remember me, God. I know I have no right to expect you to listen to me after ignoring you all these years since my bar mitzvah, but I gotta talk to someone. Can I talk to you? Can I tell you how helpless I feel right now with Josh in surgery and there's nothing I can do to fix it?"

Danny looked up at the sun's rays coming in the windows. "What do I do, God? Are you even there? Do you care about me and my family?"

Excerpt two: The rabbi moved a pile of papers off a chair and invited him to sit down. ”Look at you, walking in here, no wheelchair, no crutches, nothing but your two legs. What an answer to prayer!”

Danny grinned. “What prayer, Rabbi? That I’d be able to walk or that I’d come here?”

Now Rabbi Goldstein grinned. “Either one, my boy, either one. What can I do for you? Can I get you a cup of coffee?”

Danny nodded. “I don’t really know why I’m here. I was driving, lost in thoughts of my future, and found myself here.”

“And you think that’s a coincidence? My boy, you were led here.”

This book is available in print and as an eBook; just go to amazon.com and type in my name. If you order it, I’d be very pleased if you’d leave a comment on Amazon. You don’t have to, of course, but it would be helpful. Let me thank you in advance.

Quote of the Day: I don’t think that we're meant to understand it all the time. I think that sometimes we just have to have faith. Nicholas Sparks 

Rural Living

There are big cities and small towns. And then there are rural communities like mine--Angier, North Carolina. 

We’ve gotten a bit used to the idea that almost all of the restaurants and cafes close at two o’clock in the afternoon. If you’re hungry and want to stop in for a bite at three o’clock, you’re plumb out of luck. Some of the restaurants open again at five o’clock for the dinner crowd, but a lot of them don’t. This is true laid-back country living. Our best guess is that everyone takes a siesta in the afternoon because it’s obvious they aren’t serving food. You want a burger, go to McDonald’s, they’re always open.

Another way we can tell we’re in rural America is that there are fields alongside every road, all of which are in different stages of being plowed in anticipation of the growing season—mostly tobacco. You see John Deere equipment everywhere—on lawns, in fields, on the roads, everywhere. It’s evident no one here uses a push mower to mow their lawn; everyone rides a tractor.

Looks like the field across from our house will be one of the last to get plowed as it’s still a large expanse of green. They raised tobacco last year, what it’ll be this year is anyone’s guess. I’ll keep you updated on the planting progress. 

Rural living really hit home today when we stopped at a drugstore in the little town of Coats just south of Angier. Unlike Angier with a human population of five thousand--horses, cows and goats up the population number considerably--Coats has a population half that size. (But they do have a farm that sells delicious homemade ice cream!) Coats has two stop lights and if you blink, you’ll miss the town entirely. Coming home today from the bigger city of Dunn, (pop. 9500), we needed a product, okay Fixodent for dentures, and since we were driving right by the Coats drugstore, we figured that was as good a place as any to stop.

I entered the store, found what I wanted, and since there was only one tube on the shelf, asked the clerk if she had more in the back. She said, “No, we only stock one tube at a time, but if you want more than one, call us and we’ll order two or three for you and get it shipped here.”

After paying for the one tube, I walked out of the store laughing and shaking my head. What drugstore EVER carries only ONE of a product? Stewart and I laughed all the way home.

We definitely live in the country. Others can have the glitzy cities, I'll take our one-tube town any day.

Quote of the day: The country life is to be preferred, for there we see the works of God; but in cities little else but the works of men. And the one makes a better subject for contemplation than the other.  William Penn