The Rifle

April's digiread is The Rifle. This novel is a post-apocalyptic tale with men in a cabin struggling with the occupants of the valley below. The cabin possesses a lever action rifle. The men in the valley build a catapult. As with most wars death and destruction reign, but there is a glimmer of hope, which is usually all that remains after the shooting stops.

Digireads

I’ve opened a new discussion group on Facebook called “Digireads.” 

The purpose of this effort will allow readers to get author comments, background, and writing tidbits by reading the books written by William Behr Mueller. 

One book will have the spotlight during the month. So far there has been a good response to the forum with comments by a number of readers. Since all my books are available in the Kindle Owners Lending Library you can borrow the selected book for free. Of course, it would be serendipitous if you were to purchase a book, but that’s for you to decide. If you do buy a copy you will be able to leave a review. Amazon frowns on reviews from non-purchasers. On the other hand you can always make a comment on Digireads. And if you don’t want to have your comment reviewed publicly you can always email it to me and I’ll respond, if appropriate.

You might want to take a look at the page on Facebook to get some idea of what the effort is all about.

Politics

The political process hasn't changed that much since the founding of these United States. As reported in Fred Kaplan’s biography of John Quincy Adams the vitriol, name calling, outright lies and physical violence are much the same as they were a couple of hundred or more years ago. The real difference is that then the rent-a-mob phenom hadn't been invented to exploit the meaning of the First Amendment. Of course, the size of the population compared to Adams’ day is partially to blame for the number of participants that disrupt political events. However, the real culprit in Adam’s eyes is the quest for power that leads to the anger and hatred that makes potential politicians fear for their lives. He was convinced that his enemies (much like his father’s) would do or say anything, true or false, to keep him from having a second term.  If the outcome weren't so vital to the future direction of the country and if he weren’t such a concerned citizen it might have been a case of a pox on both their houses. But, like Adams, we have to face the fact that there will be an occupant of the White House even if he or she is antipodal to our views. Since that is a given we should forget all the negativity and ask what their policies would be. That would be the enlightened way to elicit information that might be helpful to our participation in the republic.