The 15th Dr. Dan Trix Mystery
Last NIGhtlight
Zeitgeist refers to the mood of a particular period of history. Is the current mood to create chaos such that democracy is exposed as having inadequate systems to moderate divisiveness, thus clearing the way for the rise of autocracy in America?
After selling his sizeable ranch, Stephan Pokorsky moved from Florida to Poland. Within a few months he sent a desperate message to Dan Trix and Elaine. Fly to Warsaw ASAP. It wasn’t soon enough. Stash is dead by the time they arrive.
Stash had become a strong supporter of pro-democracy political candidates in Poland. Stash’s wife thought the Russians were responsible for his death. When Trix returns to Florida and begins to dig for answers, he learns the FBI considers him a prime suspect in a multi-million-dollar scheme to defraud the government through the Paycheck Protection Program. He will soon be indicted.
Is it just a coincidence that those Trix and Lester investigate appear to be fervently opposed to the political traditions and institutions in the U.S? Is there a link between these people and Stash’s death? Could all this be somehow connected to the bogus pending indictment by the FBI? Has Trix stumbled across a complex scheme to erode American democracy and replace it with repressive autocracy? It is not a time to be gentle.
The would
The Would is under siege. The grays who control the mill in Is-land, and Power, who resides in the great mountain, across Barren Plain, have found the Would expendable in pursuit of maintaining their authority. Some, however, are begrudgingly forced to act preserve their way of life and prevent the destruction of the Would: Traveler, who left a life of redundancy of Is-land for a simple and satisfying life in the Would; Chogi and Tanee, who can’t ignore changes in the Dimrock mountains that have led sleebos to steal their pies and gunocks to feed on defenseless sleebos; Juggler, who has more talents than there are wishes in the Would; the Head Willager, who mortally understands the meaning of sacrifice.
The notion is that no matter who or the challenge, big or small, if we do the best with our best, the result must be that the best will be done-even if it seems catastrophic.
The Traveling Salesman
It’s 1976. It’s fashionable to be against the status quo and searching for certainty. The Marcos’ rule the Philippines. Hank Cuffee and Derek Witherston can barely rule themselves. They bonded during five years teaching with the U. of Maryland – Far East Division. Professors who hired on for the ride were often attracted by the blurb, “Gypsy Scholars”. Post-Maryland, they hatched the idea to publish a newsletter for those with wanderlust–The Traveling Salesman.
Hank is the man on the ground, in the bordellos, the massage parlors, on buses in the jungles. Dina is a lovely Filipina who stumbles into the typhoon of Hank’s life. Derek is the publisher and lives in Lincoln, Nebraska who stumbles into Tammy. It’s not obvious who is the typhoon, Derek or Tammy. The only certainty is that typhoons create consequences. The only question, will the consequences be fatal?
Lakeside
Drake Bauer is a man who believes the world owes him. And he has a deadly plan to collect. Jumbo Good Shot is an American Indian who refuses to concede to the tyranny of racism. Alvie Kincaid has just finished an overseas tour of duty in the Army and wonders about fences and green grass. His highly respected father, Wooster, is the foreman at the cemetery and lives by the credo that the good life is the simple life. Maralou Bauer is an accomplished pianist shackled by motherhood, family, and the persistent sameness of small town life. Lakeside is a town where these people and their ideals collide with the steamy impact of a splitting atom.
One a Day: Bites to Better Business
One A Day: Bites to Better Business is a compilation of mostly wry, often whimsical observations on business and the people and personalities that inhabit contemporary organizations. From “Don’t Ask a Cucumber to be a Tomato”, which skeptically examines the wisdom of appointing lawyers to manage government units or faculty to manage colleges, to Calgary and Butte as lessons in local economic development, to “Integrity as a Corporate Value”, the book is organized in small digestible bites. The insights are presented in several arbitrary categories: Communication, Government, Leadership, Management, Organizational Behavior, This-and-That.