It’s all about character. The characters.

The schemers and the screwballs. The preachers, the polecats, the prim-and-propers.
The winners, the sinners, the fence-sitters.

They want to come out. Be heard. Play their parts. Like an indulgent parent, I let them.
To keep them cooped up would be abuse
of the imagination.

I let them loose on the world, these characters. To have their hearts broken, their dreams fulfilled, their journeys traveled. To meet the tragic end that everyone but them saw coming.

Who am I to do such a thing?
Grew up among the foothills of north Alabama. A former journalist turned

writer of fiction.

Surrounded by older generations who shared stories of fate and faith,
of unbreakable bonds to the red earth and the dark heavens,
of unforgettable encounters with friends and enemies—both alive and dead.

Of how, in the telling of any tale, humor is a sword and truth is its shield.

So, be careful now.

The characters are loose and they are armed.