The government is headed by Josua Reston,
a profane, skirt-chasing, drug-taking president,
whose administration is crumbling around him.
All of this frustration and a scandalous affair, brings the crippled president to resign, causing a huge celebration in Nebraska.
But the assassin is still there !
Q - What inspired you to write it?
A - This story actually began back in 1983.
At that time, the plot was going to be that oil was discovered in Nebraska and the Arabs were trying to buy the land.
This time it’s “all about the water”.
I was inspired to write again by an experience I had
while recovering from my second battle with cancer.
I then, had the time to write.
I wanted to write an inspirational story, so I made it a, sort of, ‘second-coming type', with John Gall as its focus.
It was important that he be an Indian because Nebraska
had nearly run them all out in the 1840’s.
He resurrects from the Sand Hills area, around Ogallala.
Inspiration, for me, can come from anything natural.
If I’m out in the air, with trees, water, grass, it doesn’t matter;
I am inspired.
Q - Is this your first book and do you have plans to write another.
A - I wrote my first book in 2003.
It is called “Zapata’s Horse: The Book of While”.
I self-published it, big mistake !
I had to do my own editing, and promotion.
It laid a huge egg !
I made many mistakes, and a person doesn’t pick up
their own mistakes often.
It was plot-repetitious, and much too long !
I have another almost ready for submission.
It is entitled “Jack Stand: the minimal man”.
It’s about an ordinary guy, falls in love,
and becomes caught up in a terrorist attack.
Q - What authors have inspired you and why ?
A - Steinbeck and Jack Kerouac are two of my favorites,
Kerouac especially.
He went against convention and established publishing companies. He blew out his first novel “On The Road” in 36 hours,
on a scroll of continuous paper.
No publisher would touch it !
Then City Lights Publishing took the chance
and the rest, they say, was history.
Like so many others, I carried it around in my back pocket,
when I was fifteen.
His incisive color, when describing anything,
was full of rebel enthusiasm.
He could make a plate of potatoes read like a revolution !
Steinbeck was everyman’s writer.
He knew the value of hard working people,
and put their lives in a literal perspective.
He knew poverty and hardship.
I loved “Travels with Charlie”, a book about him and his Dog.
Q - The reason I love to promote blogger's books is because I am simply amazed at the wonderful writing here.
What advice would you give to someone who would like to
write a book and the second part of the question is
how does one become published.
A - My only advise was given to me a long time ago.
It was: “write every day!”
Force yourself, even if you don’t feel like it;
especially if you don’t feel like it !
Sometimes, the best stuff you do is when you don’t feel like doing it!
And, never give up !
My writing probably won’t do much; I have no illusions.
But it is fun and a compulsion now; I love it.
To tell how a person becomes published is
more difficult than pole-vaulting.
I have the obligatory drawer full of rejection slips.
It hurts, personally, when you get rejected.
These stories are our babies, and it’s a real slap to
have them spanked !
My publisher this time, Publish America,
printed my story, did the art work from my ideas,
put it out, and is promoting it to outlets.
They did it all at no cost to me.
I am under no other obligations.
Whatever it does, is unimportant.
I am on to the next thing, and it will have to live or die on its own !
I have hopes for it, but I’m under no illusions.
Q - At what age did you begin to writing.
Was there a particular teacher who took an interest in you
and guided you or perhaps one of your parents ?
A - When I was 13, my English teacher picked me
to write an article for the town newspaper.
I got a huge kick out of that, and have loved to write since then.
My oldest brother, who always tormented me as ‘skinny and ugly’, read it and said: “Joe, you can write!”
That was a real compliment because I thought he hated me.
His words were real !
Q - How does a book come to you ?
Do you have it mapped out in your head with a beginning,
a middle, and an end ?
In other words what is your writing process?
A - I write in the morning, the earlier the better.
My head seems to be its freshest then.
I go until I feel empty.
It might be two hours, or six;
it all depends on the subject matter, and my mind.
I have never started a story at the beginning.
Ideas, just lines of notions, will come to me.
If they make a reasonable story line, I begin to build around them.
My first story came from a poem I wrote down.
That came from a dream I had while in the hospital.
Dreams are very important.
If I can remember them, I write them down
in as much detail as possible.
I guess you would describe me as an off-beat writer.
Dreams are really weird, but you’d be surprised
what truth you can come up with from them.
Somewhere, along the story line, I have to decide the ending.
I think the ending is as important as the beginning,
maybe even more so.
What will become of the characters?
What is the story’s purpose?
Where do I think, is the reader’s interest.
Q - I have often heard that fictional books have
a degree of biographical truths to it...
Do you find this to be true on a certain level ?
A - Absolutely!
I can only write things I know about.
Now, Sci-fi, and horror writers are a different breed.
They have to, practically, make up everything about their stories!
My stories always contain people I know, including myself.
The places I have seen are important.
I have to ‘feel’ what I write about.
Diane and I went to Ogallala so I could get a ‘feel’ of it.
It didn’t disappoint me.
The Sand Hills are a huge inspiration, so quiet,
I could hear my breathing.
It is a huge part of my latest story.
Characters are huge.
They must be believable, and the readers must care about their lives - love them, or hate them.
Comedy is also important to me.
I want the reader to snicker once in a while.
I like comedy at a surprising moment.
My characters are always people I know, or have known.
It makes me know the character’s quirks.
I think that is important.
Q - What book are you currently reading ?
A - I just finished “The way of the Pilgrim”.
I don’t read a whole lot.
I have it in my mind to re-read “Moby Dick”, and “Don Quixote”. Time is my problem, and usually when I start reading,
I get tired and fall asleep.
I haven’t read any new writers in a long time.
I love to read poetry.
It is mind candy for me.
I love the writers in Blogstream;
I to, am surprised by the quality of the writers,
and wish in any way to support them.
I’d like to put them up on my web site, to get them exposure.
Q - What is your favorite book of all time?
A - That would have to be “On the road” by Jack Kerouac.
The life, the city, the musical Jazz, the seeming futility of all of ‘it’, were his ever-present search.
It was about two guys who traveled, looking for America.
Q - Joe, do you have information on the shirts you mentioned?
I would love to promote them also.
A - The tee shirts are available now.
Anyone buying the book, can get one for $3.00; send it to:
Ogallala
PO Box 6
Burlington, Iowa 52601
If any one wishes to just have the tee shirt,
send $10.00 to the same address.
To purchase Joe's book:
The price on Amazon is $18.95 + $3.00 shipping and handling.
Barnes and Noble also has it.
A little bit about Joe:
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"I like crazy shit, man. I love Jack Kerouac, and the "beats". Like, who really was the Beatles' Walrus? And what was Jesus's middle name? I know it wasn't the one that we learned in the Army ! Or, in the movie "Magnolia", what the hell was that about it 'raining frogs' ? You know, shit like that ! " | |
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I love my wife's smile.
I love the five humans, who call me Father.
I fell out of a tavern, and down concrete steps. It hurt !
I hate war (a boastful, senseless, excursion).
I think God is the Air, Water, and Earth.
Yes, I suppose that makes me a Pagan.
I am, politically, independent--the verb, not the noun !
***REVIEWS***
Local Author Turn Out Book
 Bobby Wilson |
Verse, art, history and geography. Sharon Rexroth has included all four in her third and latest offering in her "From the Sky" book series, dedicated to providing kids with a learning experience.
And that's what "America from the Sky" is, an educational children's story by Rexroth, with illustrations by her sister–in–law Lee–Ann Paaseh which uses an eagle named Liberty as a guide.
Speaking in verse, Liberty, the country's national symbol, flies over the land of the free, describing its beauties and wonders and providing informational tidbits against a background of vividly colored watercolor illustrations which capture the beauty and significance of the locales depicted.
Readers visit the Great Lakes, a mall in Minnesota, St. Louis and the Dakotas, as well as a number of other locations which, Rexroth said, "make you proud to be an American." It concludes with the tragedy of 9/11.
She said the person responsible for placing books at airport gift shops across the country has indicated he's interested in placing them in such venues.
Rexroth will be signing books from 1 to 3 p.m. today at the Iowa Store at the Port of Burlington. The coil–bound book sells for $9.95.
Also available are Rexroth's two previous books in the series, "Iowa From the Sky," also illustrated by Paasch, and "Ohio from the Air," illustrated by Anita Lee. Inez Metzger illustrated "Illinois from the Air," which has yet to be published.
Rexroth, a graduate of Iowa Wesleyan College, is a financial service representative for Allstate. She also is a substitute teacher in the Burlington and West Burlington school districts.
Novel by Coleman
A drunken newspaper reporter who has fallen from grace into the desperate cycle of his addiction stumbles upon the story of a lifetime while investigating corporate corruption.
Such is the basis of the storyline of "Ogallala: The Rise of Morning Sun," a recent novel by Joseph H. Coleman of Burlington, published by PublishAmerica.
Coleman was first diagnosed with cancer in 1998. The second time, he spent 85 days in the hospital, and on one of those nights he is certain he died. It was at that time that he began writing in earnest. |
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