Can We Hide?

By BR Chitwood

Many of us hide from the World, fearing we might end up as a newspaper ‘Obit’ headline.

Many novelists become wealthy in their efforts to depict the homicides, robberies, and the ugliness found on our streets and in our homes. ‘Jack, the Ripper’, ‘Preyors of the young and vulnerable’, ‘ The Boston Strangler’, ‘Snake River Murders’, ‘Jeffrey Dahmer’, ‘Ted Bundy’ people who live by robbing and killing their victims, all the while smiling and displaying their innocent smiles…

This ‘epidemic’ did not just get this way. Our world history is over-weight with these ‘thrill-kill seekers’.In Capone’s Chicago’s early days, hoods were lined up against a large garage wall and mowed down with machine guns. Al Capone was something like a ‘folk hero’!

Of course, our police departments, our colleges and universities have courses in Criminology. Our laws, our court systems have tried to initiate new ways of controlling the episodic crime events of our history, new laws, ‘sentence guide-lines’, and what we see historically is that there are ‘up-ticks’ and ‘down-ticks’… but make no mistake, Crime is alive and well in the world. Defunding of the police most certainly has invited more crime and brazen disruption of business in many major cities…and, it can certainly be suggested that the state of our political activities that concern our borders (particularly, our southern border) will see more, not, less crime- i.e., https://www.eurotechsecurity.com/how-crime-and-technology-have-evolved-over-the-last-10-years/Aug 06, 2020 · Crimes recorded in the UK in 2010: 4.58 Million. Latest crime rate recorded in the UK: 6.3 Million. So, as you can see there has been a pretty significant uptick in physical and violent crime when it comes to the UK. Seeing a nearly 2 million crime increase in a little under a decade can seem daunting and in some regards it is.

www.foxnews.com › us › police-defunded-citiesPolice defunded: Major cities feeling the loss of police …Apr 01, 2021 · Total violent crime in Minneapolis between July 22, 2020, and March 28 was also up 22% year-over-year – 3,692 this year compared to the 3,025 last year; the violent summer months…

Anyone feeling good about our ‘State of Crime’?

BR Chitwood – July 5, 2022

My 20 books, 500 blog posts, Short Stories, Flash Fiction can be found, with synopses, descriptions, and Poetry can be found at:

https://www.brchitwood.com

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Two Books Based on Truth

Two Books Based on Truth

By BR Chitwood

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Two True Crimes!

One solved! One still a mystery!

“Mama’s Madness” was solved some years ago by some excellent police work in Northern California…

This ‘Mama’ was from the loins of Satan, evil in word and deed, the punishments of her daughters were manic and difficult to believe, recorded not here but stark and vivid in the book. This ‘Mama’ murdered two of her three daughters and an ex-husband, robbed and invented tortuous punishments so ugly and vile to mention here – but, there between the pages of the book, the reader will find them. This is a well-written book with many 5-Star Amazon ratings…you don’t want to miss this one!

This one was solved: mother sentenced to a California prison…probably out by now…

BUY SITE FOR ‘MAMA’S MADNESS’: https://www.amazon.com/Mamas-Madness-Billy-Ray-Chitwood-ebook/dp/B07DCFWNX7/ref=sr_1_1?crid=I8WMPK9ELK7W&keywords=Mama%27s+Madness&qid=1654728126&s=books&sprefix=mama%27s+madness%2Cstripbooks%2C101&sr=1-1

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 “Stranger Abduction” is very close to the Author’s heart because this crime was committed prior to my move to some ranchland in SE Arizona… My new neighbors told me as much as they could know about this mother and daughter disappearance, to wit:

It is a summer Sunday afternoon in rural Cochise Country, AZ near Sunizona, AZ, and a large happy family has just finished Sunday lunch. It is decided that Mom and her pert little 14-year-old daughter will walk three miles to their country store for ice cream and cigarettes for Dad. It is a walk often taken by members of the family – a sister lives along the Hwy. 181 route, affording them the opportunity to stop and visit.

Mother and daughter reach the country store, chat gaily with the owners and other shoppers, then leave for their return walk home, happily smearing ice cream on each other’s faces and kicking gravel along the road… a cheerful Mom and Daughter enjoying their Sunday.

Mom and daughter never make it home on that sunny Sunday in 1983!

They were never heard from again.

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The sad aftermath of this true case is a family tragedy!

This novel explores the possibilities of what might have happened on that Sunday afternoon so many years ago. As an author in residence some six miles from Route 181 where two people were abducted, having talked to so many of the neighbors, I had to write about this case… It became a ‘must do assignment’ for me, and, I suggest for other writers as well.

PLEASE! If anyone has any information about this ‘Cold Case’, please contact the Sheriff’s Office in Bisbee, Arizona. PLEASE!

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By BR Chitwood

https://www.brchitwood.com

OR

https://www.billyraychitwood.com

BUY SITES:

BUY SITE FOR “STRANGER ABDUCTION: https://www.amazon.com/Stranger-Abduction-Billy-Ray-Chitwood-ebook/dp/B01K5ZRFS4/ref=sr_1_3?crid=135W0RS5SS0XS&keywords=stranger+abduction&qid=1654729175&s=books&sprefix=%2Cstripbooks%2C96&sr=1-3

All 20 of my novels, 500 blog posts, many Short Stories, Flash Fiction, and Poetry are on the website provided above… Hope you can read and enjoy some of my stories.

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BRC

The Author’s Mission

For Me, I Write

BR Chitwood

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Since my mobile and turbulent childhood my head fills with the events and movements of the days, the emotions that come and stay with me until I write about them from some subliminal heart/mind connection the words flow onto the screen of my laptop. I accept them and allow them entry on the page – as though they were destined to be there, an outlet for the subtle joy and pain of the soul…it is my belief that all artistic endeavors come from that similar sort of tingling.

As some subscribers to my blog posts might allow, most of my writing has a ‘Romantic’ cant, from my murder mysteries (some taken from actual crimes) to genres with historical essence, love, poetry, murder, and current events. My writing heroes of the past are many – …Hemingway, Steinbeck, Crane, DeMille, Grisham, to name a few. For Poetry, my favorite is an ex-Priest named James Kavanaugh.

I have written twenty books, their ‘buy sites’, 375 blog posts written over the years, plus poetry and tribute pieces to Arnold Palmer and other notables. That Website/Blog site address is:

https://brchitwood.com

 I hope you will visit my website/blog, look over some of the book synopses, posts, poetry…perhaps you will find something you would like to read…

At least, I can hope!

Wishing all writers and readers my best wishes.

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BR Chitwood – February 28, 2022

https://brchitwood.com

Author BR Chitwood’s Writing

By BR Chitwood

PLEASE VIEW

1. You sleep while riding a ‘mare’ or ‘dreaming peacefully’. You awake in a ‘bad mood’, snack on quick and easy ‘coffee and toast’ (too much coffee!), and drive to your job – while your kidneys insist on your quick attention…
2. You sit at your desk, work menial tasks and have your fanciful day dreams and ‘Romantic Thoughts’…
3. You think of where you and your soulmate will vacation… perhaps a great resort in Aruba or an Ocean Cruise…
4. Work ends for the day, and you go for cocktails at your favorite pub with your favorite lady…
5. At home, feeling guilty, you open your laptop and resume writing the manuscript for your new novel…
6. You take a break, check your E-Mail. There is your new blog message: “5-Star Reads in most genres – 20 books, some based on true crime, Short Stories, Flash Fiction – some books are related to true criminal events: https://brchitwood.com – Also, Romance and Suspense…”
7. Ah, c’mon! Take a ‘tour’! There are some great books and writing at this website…
8. If you are a reader, avid or not, you will enjoy the books’ synopses, blog posts, short stories, flash fiction, poetry.  
9. ‘Thank you’ from the author – and good reading!

BR Chitwood – February 24, 2022

https://brchitwood.com

https://twitter.com – @brchitwood

https://facebook.com/billyray.chitwood

Killing Machines

Killing Machines?

BR Chitwood

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Not so fast!

Killing someone with a gun, hammer, fists, eyes blazing with sadistic, satanic glee must be the most despicable human trait. Yet, somehow, in a hostile war between countries, our warriors are trained to blow their enemies to bloody fragments in many number of ways, and, in the process, find reason to celebrate their victories…it is the essential nature of the warriors – their training includes film, hand-to-hand combat, all numbers of ways to destroy their enemies.

Most of us cannot fathom the beasts within those of us who hate so fervently and vindictively that we cannot control the terrible urges that possess us. Real war builds those elements within us, particularly those of us who live a sheltered life in our religious groups and our private ways of life.

Being a veteran of one of our wars and having lived up close and personally with a good lady friend of my wife and me. That lovely young lady was a secretary for two attorney friends of mine, an actress/model who shared living quarters with my wife briefly before our marriage.

 During one record-hot summer day of a Phoenix, Arizona August evening this lovely lady was savagely murdered in the Northeast desert of Phoenix and left there by the killer for two record-heat weeks to be ravaged by desert denizens and her body unrecognizable… She was found by two terrified young boys during their rock-hunting hobby and rushed to tell police of their find.

My wife, I, and friends of this lady were devastated with the news and mad as hell when we were finally told by the newspapers of the method of her murder. The killer’s method of murdering her, the newspaper told us…the bastard dragged her through the desert, stopping every few yards to slam large rocks down upon her head. The case is now closed, and the beast is still out there somewhere, his crime unsolved.

This case, so far as I know, is still an ‘Unsolved Closed Case’ in the Phoenix PD files. Please, if you have any information about this case, please contact the Phoenix Police Department. Thank you…

Being an author, I ultimately wrote a fictional novel of my friend’s homicide, using library microfiche for the only facts available about the case. That book became the first book of my ‘Bailey Crane Six-Book Mystery Series’. The title of the book: “An Arizona Tragedy – A Bailey Crane Mystery” (Book 1). You can find it on Amazon or the ‘buy site’ at my blogsite/Website:

https://brchitwood.com under ‘Books by BR Chiwood’.

 Thank you and always, good reading…

https://twitter.com  @brchitwood

https://facebook.com/billyray.chitwoodC

Conundrum Craziness

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Conundrum Craziness

BR Chitwood

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No!

Not, AOC!

Not, ‘Building Back Better’!

We waken in the morning…

Not, ‘Covid’ and mad Scientist…

We drink coffee, eat, go to work, or, retired from the ‘bee buzzing’, we read. go to our computers to display our ‘genius’ and/or idiocy, write blog posts or books, watch crazy news, read, settle into our favorite habits, find boredom preference in our routines…

After all, we are retired, no longer fighting AM and PM traffic…

We become habitual and wary of our existence…

Some political scenarios make us feel so uncertain about our world and day-to-day lives…

I look out the big windows by my office and see a clear blue sky, an inviting sun, a mountain, a pool, a relaxing seating area, and debate with myself whether or not to finish this post – actually, forgetting the original purpose for the post, other than more railing about our unpredictable political structure, the build-up of Russian troops on the border of Ukraine…

Easy decision…

Actually, the world has not changed all that much since I once cared to debate the political stature of our governments, their leaders, and the political tendencies of neophytes who would make our world so much better…

Hell, I’m poolside, not that anyone will be contacting me about anything I care about…

I look at my lovely wife! “Hey, milady, you going to read, play with your laptop, or you coming poolside with me?

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BR Chitwood – February 3, 2022

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Anyone interested can check out my 20 books, each book with synopsis and buy site, my 275 blog posts, my many Flash Fiction and Short Stories…

https://brchitwood.com

https://facebook.com/billyray.chitwood

(Other author sites as well.)

Until the End

Until the End

BR Chitwood 

So, it seems I shall be ending this fascinating life adventure as I entered it, confounded by the sounds of jubilation and tears, yet, without a kindly grandmother slapping my rear end to bring the breath of life to a reluctant new birth in a small clapboard house in Appalachia, a saw mill hamlet of dirt roads and a railroad spur for bringing logs to the primary employer of most of its scant population of farmers, most of whom were in a prolonged ‘Great Depression’.

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As a man ready for his final destiny, a man with precious little of consequence for the reader who might chance upon these few words I write here, the words will have little historic value or any other kind of value that would perpetuate a useful understanding except for some amusing and pathetic experiences. At best, the words herein have been written by many others facing their final breaths of air on this orbital craft that ended up with the name of ‘Earth’.

So, skipping over my apathetic problems with school and teenage acne, some good buddies, and a couple of young ladies I was too dull and dim-witted to approach, and an early entry into the United States Navy, marriage to a ‘Navy Wave’ with her own confused history, college, teaching, and emotional experiences that not only paralyzed me but would put me on the path of unrighteousness…yes, alcohol and lovely women of the night – indeed, a shameful and wonderful foray into an almost every night ‘Whoop-de-do’.

Mistakes of a shameful quality?  

A ‘big time’ Uh-Huh! Years of willful neglect to career and inner peace. Still, it was fun and disaster – now, you know where the phrase came from, wait for it! ‘Honkytonk-Heaven’ or, ‘Neon Madness’.

So much time wasted?

I suppose – but it was my life for a time. Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias wrote and performed the lyrics and music For All the Girls I’ve Loved Before. It is a song I should have written. In other words, I could not have written a better epilogue for my life.

 My good wife of nearly forty years has encouraged me in my writing efforts, always steadfast and loyal. She also with her love and unselfish nature brings a smile to each new day.

Somehow, in the aging process, I found the gift of writing, much of it venting moments of my life.

Twenty books – some based on true crimes, some in different genres, give glimpses into my life…Romance, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Sci-Fi, Biography.

Short Stories,  FlashFiction., Poetry and over 375 Blog Posts!

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Perhaps, I have atoned for some of my ‘low spots’ in life… Regardless, my writing speaks ‘Truth’, and it is my hope that readers can find in my books not only the joy of reading but some essence of inspiration. All my writing can be found at: https://brchitwood.com complete with synopses and Amazon Buy Sites.

Wishing everyone a happy and frustration-free 2022, with the scourge of Covid and Omicron all in our rearview mirrors.

• BR Chitwood – January 20, 2022
• https://www.brchitwood.com (Website/Blog/et al)
• https://Twitter.com @BR Chitwood
• https://facebook.com/billyray.chitwood
• https://Linkedin.com – BR Chitwood

Website: http://brchitwood.com – B R Chitwood – My Mission: Writing to Discover Me

In Praise of Books

In Praise of Writing

BR Chitwood

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There has always been for me an aura of magic, an arcane sense of urgency in writing, perhaps a natural and innate inclination to share something about my life that has caused fear, joy, pain, regret, sorrow, aches that must have palliative affirmation that can be a cathartic experience and perhaps cause some soulful searching.

      So, that sense of urgency has been with me all my life but became reality on an eighty-acre ranch in southeast Arizona called ‘The Lazy Rabbit Ranch’.

There was a lovely library, fireplace, large mahogany desk, walls of books, views all the way to the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico to the South. To the East were the long stretch of the Swisshelm Mountains. To the West were the Dragoon Mountains, over which some thirty miles was the historic ‘town too tough to die’, Tombstone.

In that setting, I wrote six mystery books called the ‘Bailey Crane Mysteries – 1-6’, each book based on true elements. Many of my books (twenty in all) were written about actual crimes (two of those crimes are still unsolved today.)

In that setting, I also wrote of a mother and daughter who went missing while on a walk to a country store some three miles from their home. The title of that book is “Stranger Abduction.” The disappearance occurred years before we moved to the area, but the locals told us what they knew about the ‘still unsolved case’ which occurred in 1983.

 (My wife and I often shopped at that country store – some four miles away from our ‘Lazy Rabbit Ranch’.) The disappearance of the mother and daughter would not leave my mind, and I wrote a fictional account of the case  

      On the beautiful ‘Sea of Cortez’ I wrote of a Northern California mother who tortured and murdered two of her daughters and an ex-husband – “Mama’s Madness” – many 5-star reviews of this book are on Amazon.

There are other fictional books that deal with Romance, History, Mystery, Suspense, one Science Fiction book – “Serpent Rock” … my first effort with that genre.

Writing has been ‘my love’ since my humble beginning, and I believe I’ve written some good books over the years. My problem? I have not invested in marketing to any great extent. With that admission, I would still proudly put my books alongside any of the books in the genres I have written.

If you are interested, you can find all of my books (with synopses and ‘buy sites’) at:

https://brchitwood.com

You will also find at my website some 375 blog posts, short stories, flash fiction, and poetry.

Hope you can read and contact me. Best Wishes.

HAPPY NEW YEAR – 2022!

HAPPY READING!

brchitwood@gmail.com

BR Chitwood – Warts and All

BR Chitwood

BR Chitwood (Author) – Warts and All!

December 19, 2021

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I’ve written over twenty books, over 375 blog posts, short stories, flash fiction, and poetry, all found on my website and blog: https://brchitwood.com.

The books cover most genres, some crime novels depict the author’s factual accounts with some fiction to enrich the drama. There are romance novels, a ‘Bailey Crane’ six-book mystery series, some of which inspired by true events, one science-fiction novel, memoirs that perhaps tells too much about the author’s life.

THE CRACKED MIRROR – Reflections of an Appalachian Son is a narrative about my life, and I use a character – Prentice Paul Hiller – to depict me. In this memoir I use a two-track system for conveying the action taking place: PP Hiller (me) on a ‘Nursing Home’ track, PLUS a track that covers my life. I believe the reader will find THE CRACKED MIRROR an excellent read…of course, my selfish-side believes all my books are excellent.

In my Website – https://brchitwood.com – you will find all my books with cover pics, synopses, and Amazon Buy Sites.

The Cracked Mirror – Reflections of an Appalachian Son

​​(A fictional memoir – 90% + TRUE)

BR Chitwood

​About a Tennessee boy who ate some emotional soup and spent a lifetime trying to digest it. It is the story of a young man leaving east Tennessee and going in search of himself, unprepared for the adult world he is about to enter. Behind him, and, within him, is the emotional debris of his childhood: abuse, broken family, and a substantial part of his soul. Searching for his identity in isms and bars, he stumbles, gets up, only to find in the end that legacy and meaning are elusive, a ‘white buffalo’ always somewhere in the shadows. 

“The Cracked Mirror – Reflections of an Appalachian Son” is largely a true story of the author’s own life, a mirror of his past, cracked with the stress of all his memories: a family broken apart by their Appalachian circumstances and the ‘great depression’; a childhood tainted by a father’s abusive nature; an impetuous marriage and a sorrowful divorce; a subsequent search of ‘isms,’ for love and meaning in California and Arizona gin mills; a tableau of horrible events, including a senseless family murder, suicide, and a desert survival.

“The Cracked Mirror – Reflections of an Appalachian Son,” is the story of fictional Prentice Paul Hiller (Billy R. Chitwood) his life, his heritage, his mistakes, the events that have come to shape him, and the demons within that he cannot dispel. Along the way, he gives his passionate and provocative views on criminal justice, love, politics, religion, war, and his favorite writers. In the end he finds a new love, some hope for redemption, some semblance of meaning and legacy. 

The author’s own family roots trace back to the eleventh century in Chetwode, a lovely hamlet north of London… 5-Star reviews on Amazon.
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 Amazon BUY SITES:

Amazon Universal BUY LINK: mybook.to/B004ZGWQY8
https://www.amazon.com/Cracked-Mirror-Reflections-Appalachian-Son-ebook/dp/B004ZGWQY8/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1511899160&sr=1-1&keywords=the+cracked+mirror+-+reflections+of+an+appalachian+son – US

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cracked-Mirror-Reflections-Appalachian-Son-ebook/dp/B004ZGWQY8/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1511899160&sr=1-1&keywords=the+cracked+mirror+-+reflections+of+an+appalachian+son – UK

https://www.amazon.ca/Cracked-Mirror-Reflections-Appalachian-Son-ebook/dp/B004ZGWQY8/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1511899160&sr=1-1&keywords=the+cracked+mirror+-+reflections+of+an+appalachian+son – Canada

Thank you for previewing and reading my books. Any comments you might have can be left on this blog or my Web site or at my E-  Mail: brchitwood@gmail.com

I wish everyone good reading!

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BR Chitwood – December 19, 2021

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!      

https://twitter.com – @brchitwood

https://facebook.com/billyray.chitwood

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BR Chitwood

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The ink in the pen is dry!

So much output!

So little notice!

Shoddy self-marketing!

Calculations, Actions mis-guided!

Message received!

Enjoyed the journey!

Wrote some lovely words and phrases!

Pleased with the writing efforts!

Twenty books in many genres!

All on Amazon!

Over 375 posts, short stories, flash fiction!

Quite an adventure!

Loved Authors friends made!

Good luck to all!

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BR Chitwood – https://www.brchitwood.com