Vincent: the Man from Nowhere is the fourth installment in the series Character of the Song (a working title). Each story is based on a character or characters mentioned in the lyrics of a popular song. This one is unique in that it is inspired by two songs from two vastly different artists:Vincent by Don McLean, a haunting and beautiful depiction of the genius and madness of a man who was rejected by his peers but ...

Tilly Rae Dunn is a preacher's kid and a runaway. She experiences betrayal, abandonment, and loneliness and fights to rebuild a life in Santa Rosa, New Mexico at a roadside diner, The Rainbow Cafe. She will meet an array of characters along the way like Francisco "Cisco" Ramirez, Hattie Mae Winslow, Buck Henry, and the irrepressible Jimbo Olmstead.This is a short ride on a long road to finding a place and way to belong.

Mona Lisa and Mad Hatter"They don't get more human or interesting than this, Ollie."When syndicated columnist Oliver Caudle stops to gawk at a larger-than-life figure on a bone-chilling Chicago street corner, he expects a simple human-interest story. What he finds is Mona Lisa—a six-foot-two powerhouse in a royal blue satin dress—and her silent, dancing companion, the Mad Hatter.In the seventh installment of The All-American Son...

A three-year silence. A frantic race across Texas. A final chance to say goodbye. When writer Oliver Caudle learns his estranged father is dying, he speeds toward a Fort Worth ICU to mend their fractured relationship. But in a sterile waiting room shared with grieving strangers, his family finds unexpected grace through the songs their father used to sing. Inspired by Kris Kristofferson's "For the Good Times," this powerful short story is a deeply human journey into complex family dynamics...

Bobby McGee & Me: The Rest of the StoryEveryone knows the song about the restless souls who found freedom on the road, but the legend of Bobby McGee ends with a heartbreak and a mystery. Now, her husband, Little Tony De La Cruz, is ready to tell the real story.In a dual-timeline investigation that spans from the dusty dive bars of Lindale, Texas, to the foggy serenity of a Napa vineyard, two reporters chase the truth. They uncover the devas...

Or the Magnolias BloomA heart on the run keeps a hand on a gun.Sam Cade has spent twenty years trying to outrun himself. A legendary Texan known to the Comanche as Mupitsi—the monster who comes in dreams—Cade's life is a trail of gunpowder, high-stakes gambles, and narrow escapes. From the blood-soaked soil of Missouri to the bone-chilling winds of the Llano Estacado, he has survived by being faster, smarter, and colder than the me...

Before you is a Christmas story. A short story. A short Christmas story. It is all you need to know about three men you will never forget.Little Lou, Ugly Jack, and Prophet John are lonely people, each from a different and difficult place, whose lives are thrown together by circumstance, fate, or God Himself. They are rail-riders, rovers, vagabonds, and thieves. They are running toward as much as they are running from, and one of them is near the journey's end. This is a story abou...

Some say modern poetry does not rhyme. It is devoid of meter and rhythm. But what do they know? Here is a book full of life and death, love and loss, raw nerves, and rubber-meets-the-road reality-and you can snap your fingers to the rhythm in most of itThis book is more than an act of defiance. It is a work of passion, pain, pleasure, and purpose. This book mocks the self-satisfied, stalks the sagacious, and talks plenty of smack.Says the author, "I...

For the first time, author Gene Strother releases a book under his own name rather than his pseudonym, L.A. Holly. This is a collection of poetry and prose, raw and real, and personal. Gene writes about life in the trenches, growing up lower middle-class and in a conservative Christian family in small-town Texas, his dalliance with pulpit ministry, toeing the line, crossing the line, marriage, fatherhood, friendship, loss, and love with all its gains and l...

These 31 daily devotional messages are designed to engage the reader in biblical truth in a real-world context. For the casual or the careless Christian, Sunday is the Lord's Day, the one day they set aside to "put God first." But for the true disciple, every day is the Lord's Day, every day is Sunday, and every day is a good day to walk more closely with Christ. These devotions are designed to encourage meditation, enhance focus, and empower you to pursue a richer, fuller life in Christ.

This is the story of Pancho and Lefty, whose lives were memorialized and immortalized in the song "Pancho and Lefty" by Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard. The story is from a written record left for posterity by Jesus "Lefty" Boehm. It is a story of friendship, adventure, murder, and betrayal.While many of the characters and events in this story are based on real people and true events, this is a work of fiction and an indispensable read for understanding the tenor and the tide of th...