Tag: Book Review

The Prairie Dogs Have Coal Miners’ Helmets With Lights and Other Stories

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The Prairie Dogs Have Coal Miners' Helmets With Lights and Other Stories
The Prairie Dogs Have Coal Miners’ Helmets With Lights and Other Stories

Today is Saturday, February 8, 2014. It is a Saturday. After a week of cold miserable weather, we had a reprieve this afternoon. The sun came out after spending the morning behind clouds. Temperatures that started at freezing made their way to 52 degrees at 4:47 PM. After days with temperatures staying below freezing it felt like a heat wave.

My Saturday was similar to many others. I awoke later than usual today. I slept until 7:15 AM. Instead of heading for coffee at Starbucks, I had breakfast at home as well as my morning caffeine. I watched some of the Olympics opening ceremonies on DVR while I ate a bowl of Cheerios with dried cherries. I remained at home until my wife departed for work.

After she left I loaded my laptop and myself into my Ford Taurus. I headed to my favorite Starbucks for a morning of editing and formatting. I had a tall blonde roast coffee. I spoke with my friend Joanne and her husband. She is a local bank branch manager I see most mornings when I stop in for coffee.

I put the last touches on the formatting of my book “The Prairie Dogs Have Coal Miners’ Helmets With Lights and Other Stories”. It is available on Kindle February 9, 2014 in the United States, India, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and Australia.

Maybe the hardest part of the book was the dedication. I dedicated it to:

  • My wife Benita B. Kepler, who permits me to pursue my passion of writing.
  • My poet friend and beta reader Karen Vandiver Garrison for her encouragement.
  • My writing coach Linda Lee Tritton and the Wholehearted Writing Group: Marcie Aber, Sabrina “Sam” Chapman, Amy Koetter, Talya Tate Boerner and Storm Ricamore. I told them thank you for their beta reading and suggestions. I have grown to love them like family.

At 1:30 PM, I left Starbucks. I went to the gasoline station and filled my car up with gas.

Next, I returned home. My wife was still at work. My kitty greeted me. She was looking for tuna. I ate leftover meat loaf to her disappointment.

I retired to my home office and did more editing while watching/listening to The Seekers 25th Anniversary Reunion Concert from the early 1990s.

About 5:45 PM I moved from my office to the kitchen. I prepared pork chops, corn, green beans and pineapple for the evening meal. I had it ready when my wife came home from work about 6:45 PM.

Following dinner, I watched the conclusion of the Olympics opening ceremonies on DVR. I then retired to the kitchen. I put up the clean dishes in the dishwasher. I next rinsed the dinner dishes and placed them in the dishwasher. I washed the pots and pans in the sink. I made a pitcher of iced tea as well as taking up four trays of ice. I do not own an ice maker other than four ice trays.

I read the short story “Dehydration” by Grayson Queen. It was very interesting. It deals with the premise of what happens if the earth’s water supply becomes non-potable.

I also finalized arrangements for going to see the Dallas Symphony and Bernadette Peters tomorrow. The show is after church. It is at 2:30 PM.

Well, it’s about time for bed. In the name of shameless self-promotion, buy my book “The Prairie Dogs Have Coal Miners’ Helmets with Lights and Other Stories”. It’s available on Kindle at http://www.amazon.com/Prairie-Miners-Helmets-Lights-Stories-ebook/dp/B00IBRLH74/.

Photo Credit: The cover image use is with permission under Creative Commons Share-Alike License CC-BY-SA 3.0. Joe Ravi is the photographer.

Ten Things to Know About Me

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Jimmie A. Kepler
Jimmie A. Kepler

1. I’m a writer of speculative fiction, nonfiction, poetry and a book reviewer. I primarily write science fiction and fantasy, poetry and review military history books. I sell a high percentage of my nonfiction. My bibliography is listed here.

2. I live with my wife in the Dallas – Fort Worth Area, but I’ve also lived in other places. I grew up a cold war era military brat. I did my bachelor and master’s degrees in Texas and my doctorate in California. Growing up I lived in Texas, Ohio, Texas, South Carolina, Illinois, South Carolina, Arizona, Texas, New Hampshire, and Texas. I have worked in Texas, Kansas, Georgia, Washington State, California, Idaho, and Louisiana.

3. A partial list of my hobbies: reading, computers, history, walking/hiking, guitar, customer care and caring for my wife and aging-parents. I have a strong commitment to lifelong learning.

4. I know a secret about the Texans. As a fifth generation Texan and member of Texas First Families I know a lot about Texans. Texans think they are smarter than you, know more than you, and come from the best place on earth. Texans are born with a bad infection of Hubris – self-confidence is abundant. Garrison Keillor adequately explained a Texan’s view of gun control. They view control as holding the weapon steady as they squeeze off the next round.

5. Yes, Jimmie A. Kepler is my real name. It is Jimmie with an ie, not James. Why? That’s is my father’s first name. The A is for Aaron. I was named after my paternal grandfather whose middle name was Aaron. He passed away eighteen years before I was born. Kepler is my last name. Yes it is the same as the famous mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler. Am I related to him? Heck if I know, but I’ll claim him.

6. I graduated from The University of Texas at Arlington with a BA degree in History and minors in military science and English (creative writing and grammar). I have a MA degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. I hold a EdD degree in educational administration.

7. In ancient history I was a commissioned officer in the US Army. I won the military draft with a lottery number of 25 back in the day. I even went to airborne school and jumped out of airplanes.  I’m honorably discharged at the rank of Captain.

8. Some people tell me I’m driven with lazor focus. I like to say I set and achieve goals.

9. I’ve been blogging and on the Internet since the 1990s. I used Compuserve all the way back to the mid 1970s. I used email as early as 1976 in the US Army and 1979 with CompuServe. I first used Chat in 1980. I’m an old dude. I’m older than Bill Gates or the late Steve Jobs.

10. I am a Christian. My faith impacts all areas of my life. I am not perfect, but forgiven. I won’t preach at you.

A Life in a Year: The American Infantryman in Vietnam, 1965-1972

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Wisconsin high school teacher James R. Ebert does a masterful job as he combines interviews and printed primary sources in this remarkable telling of the infantryman’s experience during the Vietnam War. Ebert tells the story of the US Army and a few US Marine infantrymen during the Vietnam War. He takes their story from induction into the service through basic and advanced individual training, arrival in Vietnam, their first combat experiences, the first killed in action they experience, in some cases the soldier’s death, and the freedom birds that take them back to the world. Ebert points out while infantryman accounted for less than 10% of the American troops in Vietnam, the infantry suffered more than 80% of the losses.

Ebert uses an interesting technique starting every chapter with a letter by Leonard Dutcher to his parents. Dutcher just wanted to do his part for God and country and go home at the end of his 12-month tour (13 for Marines). In the last chapter, we find out that Dutcher was killed. It caught me off guard and really added to the impact of the book. Ebert takes many of the soldiers and Marines experiences word for word from the individual himself through interviews or letters. It is a collective look at similarities of the many infantry soldiers and Marines in the war. It is a very personal account from many points of view.

This is an important book in Vietnam War literature. This is what the grunts really went through. I was left with somewhat of feeling of guilt from reading the book. Why? I graduated high school in 1971. Some of my high classmates went to Vietnam and fought. Everett Maxwell was killed in action. I went to college and was ultimately commissioned a second lieutenant in the infantry, went through airborne school and served three years active duty. My becoming an officer deferred my entry on active duty from 1971 to 1975. This is the reason for my reflective thoughts.

Book review of: A Life in a Year: The American Infantryman in Vietnam, 1965-1972 by James R. Ebert

One Great Way to Write a Book Review

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About every five weeks I write a book review. Since December 2007, I have written 148 book reviews of military history books for my website Kepler’s Military History Book Reviews. Front Row Monthly noticed my love for reviewing books. Last year they published twelve of my reviews in their Front Row Lit Magazine.

I love reading, receiving review copies in the mail, having authors and publicists asking if I am interested in reading their book and interviewing the author.

In recent days, the newspapers and Internet have had negative articles about some reviews. Regarding any review I have written on Kepler’s Military History Book Reviews: I received no payment, the only compensation, was the book that was used to write the review and was sent by the publisher, author, publicists or media groups. Here is one great way to write a book review. It is my philosophy for writing a review.

Read the book. I know; it seems obvious but read the book! You might find out the author did a very good job.  She or she probably invested two to four years of their life in the book project, so read the book.  Don’t even think about writing a review of something you only skimmed or only partially read. Reading the book is critical to a good review.

Know what you are reading. If you don’t understand the book that you are going to write about, you cannot write a good review. If you are reading a nonfiction book on a topic you know little about, make some effort to learn something about the topic.  I write military history book reviews.  I have a formal background in history with a bachelor’s degree in the subject.  I am widely read in history with a general background in all areas of US and English History and am a serious student of US Military History.

Make notes about what you read. You may want to make note of key phrase or sentences as you meet them.  You can quote them in the review. As you read ask yourself:

  • Who is telling the story? Is it in first person or third person?
  • What genre does it belong to? Narrative history, historical fiction, memoir?
  • What about the style of writing? Is the author a good story-teller?  Is it serious scholarship with footnote after footnote? Is the style conversational or is it full of big words that need a dictionary at your side? Does it paint a word picture in your mind? When was it written? Was there a ghost writer or co-author?
  • Does the book touch your heart and mind?  Does it move you to an emotional or volitional climax about the topic being read?

Keep track of the storyline or chronology of the book.  It will help you when reading long, complicated works.

Know the author and his or her works. When you finished gathering the information and you have enough notes, then you are ready to write the article.

Start with an introduction. The way you start will depend on your target audience. Consider beginning with a paragraph that describes your first impression of the work, or an interesting story that you had experienced through the book, or a more technical introduction where you briefly state the author, title, publisher, and any other information about the book you see pertinently.  I like to ask a thought-provoking question.  An example is “Have you ever wondered what it would be like being a marine in Iraq?” It gets the reader thinking.a.  Give a brief history of the author with some relevant information such as earlier works, awards, etc.

  • Cover the structure of the book without giving away the plot or ending.
  • Explain your opinion of the book and give a summary of the review.
  • Finish by recommending the book. State who would benefit and enjoy the book, using general terms (students, veterans, etc.).
  • I like to tell the reader where and how they can get the book.

Include your full name in the end with the date of the review. On my book review site, I allow feedback. I have had a few authors contact and challenge me. I have had some authors point out grammar or spelling errors. An example of the most frequent comment are in the words of David Laskin of the University of Washington. He wrote, “The Long Way Home: An American Journey from Ellis Island to the Great War”. He thanked me for reading the book. He said from my review he had no doubt I had read the book.  By the way, the book was amazing.

My Writing Room

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Jimmie A. Kepler here, greetings from the blast furnace called north Texas and the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The temperature reached 109 degrees on my front porch today. That’s hot!

This morning I went to Starbucks for my morning writing. I love the early morning right before the sun comes up. There is a peacefulness found there not found elsewhere. Starbucks is where I do about third of my writing. I do over half of my writing at home. I thought today I would show you   my modest home office. It is a combination bedroom/office. It is the bedroom where I sleep each night.

I’ve created a three-minute and fifty-one second video tour of my home office. I hope you have as much fun seeing the video as I had making it.

My home office, by Jimmie A. Kepler …

Exciting and Sad

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Bewildering StoriesI live in the Dallas Fort Worth metropolitan area of north Texas. The area includes 12 counties, over 9,000 square miles (larger than the states of Rhode Island and Connecticut combined), with just fewer than 7,000,000 million people, it is the fourth largest metro area in the USA. Only the New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago metro areas are larger. It’s big!

The blast furnace has returned to north Texas. After a week of overnight lows in the lower 60s I awoke to 77 degrees at 5 AM. Ugh, that is hot. Heat is on the schedule the rest if the month. It is August, so we should have highs around 100 and low temperatures around 80.

The last week has been exciting and sad. Let us look at the sad first. Another of my high school classmates passed away. Her name was Deborah. She went in for routine surgery on August 13. There were complications. She died on August 15. She was a sweetie. She loved her children and grandchildren. Her funeral was Monday August 19.

On Sunday evening I found out my friend Christy (Judy) had passed away from pneumonia. I had only known her eight years. I met her through Yahoo 360 and then became friends through Multiply. She was only a couple of years older than me. When I worked in Los Angeles last summer she was a great help. She told me which places to see, visit (like the bookstores), and I even made my way out to Simi Valley.

The exciting is I had a short story come out this week in Bewildering Stories. While it has been over thirty years since I had my first writing sale, I still get excited seeing my by-line and reading my articles and stories. You can check it out by clicking HERE.

Education of a Wandering Man by Louis L’Amour

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Education of a Wandering Man

This is about as close as an L’Amour fan will come to an autobiography. This is not a western novel, though it gives great insight into how he wrote and researched his books. The book starts with a reference to his high school class graduating while he was on a steamer in Indonesia.

L’Amour gives the reader a lengthy discussion of becoming self-educated through books, travel, and experience. I enjoyed the lengthy lists of books L’Amour read during his wandering years in the 30s.

I have logged what I read since reading the book in November 1990. It is a worthy discipline. I also started writing a short, generally no more than on page review of what I read after reading this book. It was the beginning of my writing a review or summary of each book I read.

L’Amour gives a breathtaking discussion of walking out of the Mojave Desert. It reminded me of my time at Fort Irwin, California (about 50 miles north of Barstow in the middle of similar land). L’Amour was a great researcher, and wrote from both personal experience and knowledge.

Disorganized, rambling, and repetitious, it is still an enjoyable book. Louis L’Amour emphasizes the value of education through experience and self-guided reading. He never degrades formal education. Required reading for any aspiring writer must include this book. Read by Jimmie A. Kepler.

Review: Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon – And the Journey of a Generation

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Tonight I watched a new installment of PBS’ My Music series. Founding Supremes singer Mary Wilson served as the host of the program showcasing many classic female singers and girl groups of the 1960s. It showcased seventeen of the singers/groups. Watching it reminded me of the book “Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon – And the Journey of a Generation” by Sheila Weller that I read a couple of years ago. Here is a review of the book I wrote in August 2011.

The contents of “Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon–And the Journey of a Generation” by Sheila Weller will be very recognizable to us who came of age in the 1960s and 1970s. Sheila Weller tells us that King, Simon, and Mitchell pushes back the barriers for women specifically, “one song at a time.”

The enigmatic one remains Carole King, whom Weller just can’t shed light on in any significant way. King’s life was amazing then it stopped being of any interest at all. We learn and hear again and again how she wrote all those Brill Building masterpieces before she was 21. We learn how she broke down under the strain of a troubled marriage to a husband and lyricist, Gerry Goffin whom she at married when she was 17 and pregnant by him. We see how she comes through the divorce with an LP, Tapestry, that everyone loved and bought. After that her life is bad men in abundance. They were attracted to her wealth. King once estimated that every time she divorced a man, it cost her a million dollars. Weller gives us all the facts. One still has to wonder why King did this to herself.

Carly Simon, on the other hand seems nearly normal as normal can be for someone of the upper, upper middle class. Though perceptibly spoiled and protected by wealth, Simon doesn’t seem spoiled. Her reactions are always understandable and sympathetic. This includes her meeting and marrying the drug-zombie James Taylor.

Joni Mitchell isn’t sympathetic. She has the integrated persona of the genius totally in love with herself and obsessed with her own reflection, so she’s great in a special way. The author makes fun of Mitchell’s vanity and enormous self-esteem. Weller still lets us know that, in her estimation at any rate, Mitchell actually is amazing.

Weller is interested in the ways women deal with each other. It’s nearly a biography of five people, not just three, as there is so much about James Taylor you will never need to read another word about him if you have this book on your shelf. There is also plenty of material about Judy Collins. Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon–And the Journey of a Generation is a book that convinces us forcefully in its larger arguments and dazzles with its wide-ranging portraits of artistic life in the 50s, 60s and 70s.

Hello, I’m a Writer and Poet

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Poetry & Prose Magazine February 2011
Poetry & Prose Magazine February 2011

I’m Jimmie A. Kepler. I write poetry, nonfiction, science-fiction, historical fiction, and book reviews. You’ll find my blogs and websites are: Speaking of … , Kepler’s Book Reviews, Kepler’s Military History Book Reviews, Kepler’s Military History, and Jimmie A. Kepler – Writer & Poet. You can find a list of my publications and poems at Jimmie’s publications and poems.

I have completed a Christian historical fiction novel, “Honor and Jealousy in Texas.” I support my writing and reading habit by working a day job. I work as a solutions support analyst for a Fortune 500 privately held company. I belong to the Wholehearted Writing group in Dallas.

Reading, poetry and writing are my passions. I grew up in a career United States Air Force family. In my youth, I worked in a grocery store, warehouse, folk-rock band as a rhythm guitar player, a vendor at a major league baseball stadium, and for a milk distributor. I graduated college with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history with minors in English and military science.

I served as a commissioned officer in the United States Army on active duty for three years and then five years in the United States Army Reserves. I graduated from the Infantry Officer Basic Course and Airborne School. I am honorably discharged as a Captain, United States Army Reserves.

Coming off active duty I went to graduate school full-time completing Master of Religious Education/Master of Arts degree. During graduate school, I worked as a custodian, day laborer, painter, preschool teacher, and as a route auditor for a soft drink distributor. For 16 years, I worked as a director of education and private school principal. I earned a doctor of education degree in educational administration.

I have been freelance writing over 30 years selling his first article in 1981. I have sold nonfiction magazine and trade journal articles including getting three cover articles. I also have short stories and poems published. I wrote a weekly column for over sixteen years as well over 150 books reviews in the military history genre for several publishers. I have written a historical fiction novel, “Honor and Jealousy in Texas” and am an active member of Wholehearted Writing in Dallas.

In the late 1990s, I went back to college studying computer science completing the core curriculum for the associate of applied sciences in computer systems. I earned CompTIA A+, i-Net+ and Network+ computer certifications as well as induction in for Phi Theta Kappa for academic excellence. While born in Texas, I have lived in Ohio, Illinois, South Carolina, Arizona, New Hampshire, Kansas, Georgia, Louisiana, California, Washington, and Texas. I am married, have three grown children and one grandchild.

The Clifton StrengthsFinder

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As you may know, the Clifton StrengthsFinder measures the presence of talent in 34 categories called “themes.” These themes were determined by Gallup as those that most consistently predict outstanding performance. The greater the presence of a theme of talent within a person, the more likely that person is to spontaneously exhibit those talents in day-to-day behaviors.Focusing on naturally powerful talents helps people use them as the foundation of strengths and enjoy personal, academic, and career success through consistent, near-perfect performance.

About eighteen months ago I read Strengths Finder 2.0 and took the test. I was a required day job activity. Below are my top five themes of talent, ranked in the order revealed by my responses to the Clifton StrengthsFinder.

How well do you think these themes describe me?

1. Context

People who are especially talented in the Context theme enjoy thinking about the past. They understand the present by researching its history.

2. Learner

People who are especially talented in the Learner theme have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. In particular, the process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites them.

3. Strategic

People who are especially talented in the Strategic theme create alternative ways to proceed. Faced with any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.

4. Achiever

People who are especially talented in the Achiever theme have a great deal of stamina and work hard. They take great satisfaction from being busy and productive.

5. Responsibility

People who are especially talented in the Responsibility theme take psychological ownership of what they say they will do. They are committed to stable values such as honesty and loyalty.

I think they are correct.

To learn more about the Clifton StrengthsFinder and how you can discover your top five themes, visit http://strengths.gallup.com