Author: John W. Howell

I have been working in business for over forty years and now have the time to work in special areas of interest. My passion has always been to create compelling stories of fiction. I have authored six novels and am working on my Seventh. The first novel is still in manuscript form and being utilized as a door stop in the laundry room. The second is a contemporary fiction novel of 89,000 words and is complete and I am currently seeking a publisher. I also write poetry but have not had the guts to share any with anyone. The one time I read a piece to a person their only comment was, “it doesn’t rhyme.” I will continue to write and hopefully my blog, Fiction Favorites at www.johnwhowell.com will provide some entertainment and an interesting thought or two. I live in the Austin area with my wife Molly and an assortment of loving pets.

Tuesday – Anything possible – A Story

May 19, 2015May 18, 2015 ~ John W. Howell ~ 38 Comments

I came across this fifty-gallon barrel while riding on the beach. Although it is sturdy plastic, it still shows signs of extreme wear. As you can see, the bottom is completely ripped open. I can’t imagine how long the barrel was in the water but given all the bi-halves and algae it must have been a while. The discovery of a half-destroyed barrel naturally led me to a story that you will find below. Hope you like it.

“I like the barrel. what are you going to do with it?”

“I thought I would load it up with some important things and set it adrift in the ocean.”

“Why in the heck would you do that?”

“For science. I want to send a message to whoever finds the barrel that it is my barrel, and they should tell me where it is.”

“So you can go get it?”

“No. Just to see how far it traveled and where it ended up.”

“Couldn’t you do that with a bottle and a note?”

“Well, sure but what kind of statement would that make?”

“What are you putting in this thing.”

“I thought a computer so whoever finds it can see where it came from and can then just hook up and send me a message.”

“What happens if the barrel gets damaged or sinks?”

“Not going to happen. Look at this thing. It is waterproof and indestructible.”

“Okay, but I think you are taking a chance.”

“It will be fine. Oh, by the way, the computer I’m using belongs to my boss.”

“He let you use his computer? Is he nuts?”

“No. On vacation.”

Ten Things Not to do on Memorial Day Feat. Marie Ann Bailey

May 18, 2015May 17, 2015 ~ John W. Howell ~ 40 Comments

Last Year Marie Ann Bailey and I did a simu-publish of what not to do on Memorial Day. I was constructing a new one for this year, and it occurred to me that last years was pretty suitable. So here is last year’s and I must say the advice seems pretty relevant. Thanks, Marie for helping with this one.

Top Ten Things Not To Do On Memorial Day

10 On Memorial Day, do not accept an invitation to your boss’ house for a picnic even if you think it will be good for your career. If you do, at best, you might just have an awful time. At worst, you might be pressed into service as one of the wait staff.

9 On Memorial Day, do not accept an invitation to your friend’s parents’ house on the lake. If you do, at best, you might be subjected to uncomfortable questions about why you don’t eat potato salad sitting in the sun for an hour. At worst, you won’t notice the potato salad and end up riding to the ER in an expensive ambulance.

8 On Memorial Day, do not try for the record number of drinks in an hour set by the Legend last year before he died. If you do, at best, you will feel awful the next day. At worst, you just might meet up with the Legend to compare notes.

7 On Memorial Day, do not show the crowd how many hot dogs or anything else you can consume in less than sixty seconds. If you do you, at best, you may get off lucky with just one. At worst, you may eat enough hot dogs causing you to go into a Nitrite and manufactured meat coma that takes days to wear off.

6 On Memorial Day, do not try to better any story being told by someone who has served in the military. If you do, at best, you might be telling the truth, but will look like a braggart. At worst, you might get in so deep that you will need to join up just to make the stories come true.

5 On Memorial Day, try to resist the beer bong challenge. If you don’t, at best, you will need to find a ride home. At worst, you will have lost all power to reason and the ability to talk which will make great discussion topics for the next day, not to mention the cell phone pictures on Instagram.

4 On Memorial Day, do not offer to light the fireworks display. If you do, at best, you will be contributing to an illegal act in most places. At worst, you may just set off the whole pile and be faced with trying to explain to Homeland Security exactly what your intentions were, hoping you can talk them out of a planned waterboard session.

3 On Memorial Day, do not decide to join in the volleyball game if you don’t know how to play. If you do, at best, you will slowly learn how to play and eventually stop making points for the other team. At worst, your team mates will decide you need elimination and will hire someone to take you for a long ride out-of-town.

2 On Memorial Day, do not wear any bathing attire that doesn’t fit or has a competitive racing design. If you do, at best, the rest of the party will try to ignore the sight. At worst, your picture and all the stuff that doesn’t fit in the suit will make the internet rounds on sites titled: “What not to wear in the pool this summer.”

1 On Memorial Day, do not think you need to entertain all your friends with stories of horrific behavior on Memorial Days past. If you do, at best, everyone will eventually walk away as they lose interest, and you’ll have a Golden Retriever as your audience. At worst, someone remembers your antics and is able to top your story with an even more embarrassing tale about you which you may or may not remember

Sunday – Fifty-Two Views of the Gulf

May 17, 2015May 16, 2015 ~ John W. Howell ~ 20 Comments

This weeks picture was taken following a lot of rain. You can see the wet sand in front of the dunes and what looks like a little river approaching the cross over. The seas are still quite rough and one more morning-glory has decided to brave the wet weather. The sea weed that was in last week’s photo has all been washed into the dunes. The high tide actually came up to the dunes which seldom happens. If you look to the right and in front of the dune you can see some of the erosion.

Last week’s picture shows rainy conditions but not the results of ten inches of rain which we got after last week’s photo was taken.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday – Prompt “Stick”

May 16, 2015May 15, 2015 ~ John W. Howell ~ 18 Comments

Saturday Stream of Consciousness Saturday time again. This week’s prompt is “Stick.” The word can be used in any form or maybe all. Who knows? If you want to have this kind of frustration fun go to Linda Hill’s site and read all about it http://lindaghill.com/2015/05/15/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-may-1615/ here is my interpretation. I hope you like it.

“I have to ask you why you are bent over like that?”

“I am looking for water.”

“For water? What is that you are holding/”

“It’s a divining rod.”

“Ha. It looks like a stick to me.”

“That’s because you stick to your usual practical comfort zone.”

“Comfort zone? At least I stick to the normal practices.”

“I don’t call your practices normal.”

“And you pointing a stick at the ground is normal?”

“Stand back. I hear something.”

“What do you hear?”

“The sound of money rumbling underground.”

“Money?”

“Yeah, water is money. Stick with me my friend and we will be rich.”

“Stick with you and get locked up.”

“You are like a stick in the eye.”

“Well, you can stick your stick if you get my drift.”

“Nice. Look out here comes the geyser.”

“Still waiting. Better stick to normal practice.”

Ichabod Brooks – New character from Charles Yallowitz – June 1st

May 15, 2015May 15, 2015 ~ John W. Howell ~ 7 Comments

Coming on June 1st for 99 cents!

Ichabod Brooks & the City of Beasts (Cover by Nio Mendoza)

In a time of heroes, a man will take any job to provide for his family.

Ichabod Brooks has earned a reputation for taking the jobs most men and women fear to challenge. This reputation has brought him to the charred remains of a small village nestled within the hills and forest of Ralian. The ruins are a source of strange monsters that terrorize the countryside and repeatedly elude the local guards and hunters. The few brave souls who have entered the creatures’ lair have yet to come out alive or dead.

The chances of survival are slim, but that generous payment is too much for Ichabod to resist. After all, a man and his family have to eat.

Author Biography

Charles E. Yallowitz was born, raised, and educated in New York. Then he spent a few years in Florida, realized his fear of alligators, and moved back to the Empire State. When he isn’t working hard on his epic fantasy stories, Charles can be found cooking or going on whatever adventure his son has planned for the day. ‘Legends of Windemere’ is his first series, but it certainly won’t be his last.

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Friday JohnKU – AKA TGIF

May 15, 2015May 15, 2015 ~ John W. Howell ~ 29 Comments

Friday and the rain is still coming down. I have to turn to something more uplifting that a continuous weather report. Let see, maybe I can look forward to the weekend and do something fun. I have a writer’s group meeting on Saturday, and that is always fun. I guess I will try to ignore the weather and look forward to the meeting. Of course, the roads have to be clear since I need to take a ferry and drive about a half hour to get there. The effort required to attend brings to mind the question of how much trouble does one endure to do something you like to do? In my case, the ferry ride is usually a fifteen minute wait both ways. In the summer, it can be as high as an hour. The drive after the ferry is twenty-five minutes. The meeting is two hours long so on average I travel two hours for a two-hour meeting. Since I love to attend and read my stuff and get some spot on advice, I would probably do it even if the travel times were longer. Am I crazy? Today’s JohnKu (a term coined by Words4jp) is all about what we will put up with to do what we love. I hope you enjoy. Pain for Pleasure by John W. Howell © 2015 Investment’s the name, Applied to the pain endured. . . For the sake of love.

Win a copy of American Sniper (and how to be part of a good cause)

May 14, 2015 ~ John W. Howell ~ 5 Comments

Chance to win a copy of this fabulous movie. Read more.

readful things blog

American Sniper is out on DVD the 19th of May. Here is your chance to take home a copy of your very own Blue-Ray + DVD combo. Also, Warner Brothers is donating one dollar of each sale for the film to the Wounded Warriors project. If you would like to buy a copy, you can do so here: http://amzn.to/1zKw2VJ

This is a great cause and a great film.

To be entered to win a copy, please share this post with your favourite social media outlet and drop a comment to let me know. Huge thanks to Warner Brothers and Grace Hill Media for the giveaway prize. A Winner will be chosen over the weekend and notified via their blog. US residents only please.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“The best film of the year.”
— Kyle Smith, New York Post

EXPERIENCE THE MOST LETHAL SNIPER IN
U.S. HISTORY WHEN
AMERICAN SNIPER
ARRIVES…

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Thursday – A Little Personal – Noah on Speedial

May 14, 2015May 13, 2015 ~ John W. Howell ~ 28 Comments

I have been discussing the fact that we have been getting a lot of rain lately. I thought I would put it into perspective with a couple of photos. On Monday night, our area received six inches of rain and wind gusts of thirty-five miles per hour. The net effect was a lot of flooded streets and flood warnings all night. Here is a photo showing how full the collection pond is behind our house.

That thing made out of concrete is the storm drain with the pond behind. The street is flooded. The next photo shows Wednesday morning’s result of three inches more.

That house on the right is ours and as you can see the water is getting serious. We are fortunate our builder put the house on a high mound of fill. The next photo gives you a bird’s eye view of the water level.

This is a photo of the backyard from the sundeck above. You can see the water making an incursion into the palm tree bed and the flooded street. We expect more rain and won’t be clear of the weather until Friday. We have also had a few tornado warnings as well.

“Hello. Is this Noah? Yeah, a question for you. Got any room on that Arc? Port side cabin preferred.”

Wednesday Story Day – AKA Hump Day

May 13, 2015May 11, 2015 ~ John W. Howell ~ 25 Comments

Wednesday story day again. Last week we learned Bob was continually ignored by his mother as she seemed to be more interested in men than in bob. Charlotte also discovered Bob was only trying to get her to quit on him with the handwritten manuscript idea. The idea would be he would be back to trying to get his mother’s attention. He has another book which he has written on his computer. Let’s get back to the duo.

“So Bob you have another book and you wrote it using a keyboard?”

“Yes, Charlotte. It’s over one hundred Thousand words.”

“What is the genre?”

“It’s a thriller. By the way, I thought you would have been put off by that other book. Even the title was something I thought you would catch.”

“The title. What to you mean. My Struggle seems pretty straight forward.”

“Adolf Hitler wrote a book titled Mein Kampf. Translated from German means My Struggle. I was sure you would question me on that one.”

“Well, Bob my job is to somehow get you published not find out how not to get you published.”

“I can see that now. You are very dedicated.”

“I don’t think it is fair to drop a student. I can certainly empathize with you after talking to your mother.”

“Yeah, she doesn’t much care what I do as long as stay out of her hair.”

“Bob, let’s talk about your book.”

“Okay.”

“What is the title?”

“Little Women.”

“Oh, my gosh.”

“I’m just playing with you, it’s titled Consequence of Childhood.”

“Nice title. What is it about?”

“This guy becomes a big business person only to accused of money laundering and he loses everything.”

“Sounds interesting.”

“You think so?”

“I do. Let’s have a look at the first chapter.”

“Well, that’s a problem since I haven’t written it yet.”

“Wait let me get some water before you explain this one further.”

Tuesday – Anything Possible

May 12, 2015May 11, 2015 ~ John W. Howell ~ 37 Comments

On May Ninth, Audrey Dawn posted a beautiful poem along with a great picture that she titled Wild West. Here is the picture and you can go to her blog and read the lovely poem. I could not help but be drawn to both the picture and her words. They served as a prompt for a short story that follows. I hope you take a moment and visit Audrey and enjoy her work as well as this story.