The Old Man

          One week ago this morning my father, Ernest Lee Carter, passed away. It brings a certain of level of comfort knowing he went peacefully in his sleep. No pain, no chaos, just slipped away. Since then my family and I have been dealing with it in our individual ways while coming together to get through it. I've been pretty removed this past week and fairly detached and kept my grieving private.
          I was on my way to therapy when I got a phone call from my dad. Upon answering it I found his friend in hysterics. She told me that she had shown up to take him to an appointment and found him cold and unresponsive and thought he was dead. I told her to call 911 and my driver turned around to take me home while I made phone calls. Still didn't know for a fact that he was indeed dead so my phone calls were as vague as the information I had, "We think he's dead." After calling my sister, she made calls to other family members. If you knew him or know our family then you know we've had our scares in the past. Anchanie came home and we went out there to find sheriff vehicles and the friend of his. Before seeing him I was greeted by an officer who started off with "First off, I'm sorry for your loss," so we got our answer, he had passed away. More phone calls with concrete information. They next asked if anything was taken or if there were signs of foul play and there wasn't, he appeared to be sleeping peacefully. It must've happened that morning because he actually wasn't cold. My little sister Nikki showed up soon after and we waited for the guy from the coroner's office. Since then we've all been pulling together to get things done. Nikki and I have been out at dad's with our wonderful spouses and our amazing Aunt Wanda to get things cleaned up and set up.
          We're still processing it. We've all had moments of wanting to text him or call him as we normally did only to remember that he's no longer with us. It still doesn't feel real, as if I'll wake up tomorrow and get a text from him. He wasn't just my dad, he was my friend. I hear trucks outside and I keep thinking he's gonna pull up as he did a hundred times before. One of the hardest things is how life moves on regardless of tragedy. I'm trailing off now but I'm still figuring things out. It's hit my wife really hard as well as they were close. He has a dog named Tinker who was his little bestie, we have him now and he's safe and loved. Right now there's so much to do that none of us will really be able to grieve or process until everything that needs to be done is done. I'd love to write about what he meant to all of us but I can't find it in myself to write much of anything at the moment so I'm going to continue my silence and processing.
          He donated his body to science so we won't get his ashes for some time. He also didn't want a funeral, he hated funerals. Instead of a funeral we are having a celebration for his life on Sunday, September 2nd at 1pm at Lake Pavilion in Rothwell Park in Moberly. Feel free to come out and share your stories of him and it's a potluck so bring a dish if you can. If you have pictures or stories of him feel free to share.
          Thank you for your patience with our family in this difficult time.

Free Novel

While this book may be controversial, it is a work of fiction. My wife and I see and read the news of constant police related deaths and brutality. It's hard not to be affected by it. We would talk about it at length and I threw out a 'what if' thought of 'You know, if they keep it up eventually there's gonna be an uprising and people will revolt against police.' So this story - a mosaic of 4 sets of main characters dealing with the struggle - unfolded. I don't believe cops are bad, the best man at my wedding and one of my best friends is actually a police officer. But the cops that are hurting unarmed civilians or using excessive force do need to stop before an uprising like in this book actually occurs. I feel bad for the good cops whose reputations are constantly tarnished by those that are abusing and killing. I'm not anti-police, I'm just a writer and this was something I felt I had to write. The process took a toll on me between research and news reports and the actual writing of it but it's done. Again, it's fiction.

John and Vanessa Avery are in a mixed race marriage and they worry for their daughter's safety amidst the growing turmoil. While the barrage of news reports frightens Vanessa, John assures her that they're fine and nothing like on the news would ever happen to them.
Loretta Barret is reeling from the wrongful death of her husband and tries to keep their son Reggie from become bitter and jaded.
Carol Cross has just lost her son, tased to death in her front yard, and is trying to put the pieces of her life back together.
Jackson Baker is a good cop in a messed up world. He tries to do his best while seeing colleagues of his abuse their power.

While there are side stories, these are the four we follow throughout. The tension rises to a fever pitch. Blue Sweep is free for the next three days.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07G3CQL8D?pf_rd_p=d1f45e03-8b73-4c9a-9beb-4819111bef9a&pf_rd_r=7TWSPBCT00WZGE47XZ2B

Blue Sweep

After plenty of rejections from agencies I've decided to self-publish the novel I wrote last summer, with a rewrite earlier this spring. BLUE SWEEP is my first self released novel and it's unlike anything else I've ever written. It's a very relevant story dealing with race and police brutality; a cautionary tale of what happens when we go too far. Blue Sweep is a sociopolitical thriller with drama, action, and suspense. The more I think about it the more it seems like a real life horror story. Order your copy today!

Paperback
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1718013221/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1533146413&sr=1-1


Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07G3CQL8D/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1533146413&sr=1-11

While it's around my 9th project released, Blue Sweep is my second novel. I had hoped to get it in the hands of publishers but this is the route I've been left to choose; of course, I'm open to publishing it elsewhere. Until then it's available now on Amazon. Tell your friends!