What my Books are about
Brilliance-at-Twilight
Quasi-autobiographical, this story is based on two events of my life. First, what I have come to call a "visitation" by two entities, which I characterize as stars, happening when I was quite small, probably about the time I was three. I remember their time with me wasn't a dream, nor did it have the characteristics of a dream. It was a vivid, living experience. I remember getting very upset, and crying, to the point where my mother tried in vain to comfort me.
These two "stars" remained nameless for years, then I realized they needed names to better talk about them. There were two of these stars, the louder one I named Brilliance-at-Twilight, his comic of a brother star I called Laughing-at-Shadows.
Secondly, I was told to go to a place of power to decide to go down and do some personal work I went to downtown Indianapolis where the Soldiers and Sailors Monument towered over the attending Circle. I asked a question: should I go do this work? After awhile, the place spoke to me, saying if you don't go down and do work you'll be no use to me. I went, and did work, and for the past 30 years, have been richly rewarded.
The meeting of these two events becomes an alternative history of Indianapolis and origin story for the City of Indianapolis and the Soldiers and Sailors Monument. It's a place of enormous power, harkening back to the earliest of cities. with Victory as the patroness on her tower-throne. People have not treated this place as sacred, but it is, an initiatory space for people to commit themselves to being citizens - at least this is what I forsee.
Almost all the the poetry in this story is actually chant or song, though the music for this story remain unrecorded and unpublished.
The Golden Child
Another quasi-autobiographical coming-of-age story about a young boy, an old woman, and a magical walled garden.
This story harkens back to the life of my late maternal grandmother, G.F. Dawson, who was a fierce and fiercely loving matriach. My obsession with willow trees is the sound of a great willow's canes gently brushing the house when I was just nodding off to sleep. Willows are considered the storytellers and poets of the forest, so no wonder that whatever subconscious lullibyes the tree sang to me woke up my desire to be a storyteller and poet. It's my intent that the poetry included in this story move it along and deepen the narrative. My poetry is inspired by song particularly hymnody, which is now quite out of fashion, The music is also unrecorded and unpublished.
Waiting for Men to Gather Together
I was deeply affected by my involvement in the Men's Movement in the late 1980's and 1990's. I was inspired by the earthy, grounded, poetry of the late Robert Bly, I was part of the Indianapolis community of New Warriors, also called the ManKind Project (mkp.org).
I was no stranger to writing poetry, when I was angry, upset, or in love. Much of this poetry dates from the 1990's.
My poetry has an experiential, atmophereic, quality, wading deep into real events and real emotions. The title poem and title of the book Waiting for Men to Gather Together is such a poem , about a real afternoon, waiting for a group to begin.
This book Includes an essay about the sacred reading of poetry, preparing a space and a group of people to listen to poetry, an event not for the casual or lazy attendee.
I also include the story "The Black Fortress". Sometimes the Sacred, the Divine, sneaks up behind us and scares us by telling us our truth. It can be difficult to hear, demanding that we respond. So be it for the young Prince, called to live his truth.
Hybrid Airships/Aerostats for Orbital Use
My obsession with airships began long ago when, on a trip to Akron, Ohio, we drove past the vast hangar where some airships had been stored and constructed.
When this book was first published as an ebook, some thought it was steampunk fiction. No. It's a nonfiction book, written and mostly rewritten for a serious intent and audience.
I originally thought of using airships to deliver large modules for housing, Being a total space and Apollo geek, I wondered if balloons could be launched into orbital space, given certain conditions be met and technologies applied.
I assume that this idea is valid, but would require enormous resources. The Graf Zepplin II was the largest airship ever constructed at a bit over 8,000,000 cubic feet of lifting gas, where we could adequately describe the ship in this paper at a quarter of a billion cubic feet, with a ship of a billion cubic feet, desirable due to these ships becoming more efficient as they grow larger.
I've always been of two minds about propulsion systems, but these whips will be designed to be robust, so a modified cluster of liquid fuels rockets will work, though if nuclear or fusion technologies are available and added for use in these cft, as well the development and use of magnetohydrodynamic engines. it's the weight and expanse of any of these propulsion systems is the reason why these very large structures would be built in the first place., to handle the enormous weight of such systems.
This paper provides an overview and a pre-patent proposal for the manufacture and use of such ships. I would like to start the patient process as soon as possible.
What I'm Working On: Coming Attractions
- !GLOP! - The Starship Ray Bradbury lands on Mars. They find a planet teaming with intelligent life, living in underground rivers, lakes, oceans, and aquifers.
- Continuing the Billiance-at-Twilight story.
- Essays on political science, philosophy, and spirituality.
- The City of Indianapolis is a serious preoccupation and obsession. There are many different ways I'm approaching this topic, from stories to actual brick-and-mortar proposals.
- Revision of Hybrid Airships/Aerostats for Orbital Use.
- Yorktown, Indiana, a long-form fictionalization of my early life.
- Calendars. A hard-bound "thousand day" calendar book for 2025-2027 is on my Amazon page.