tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4054523150104871532024-03-05T01:44:46.875-08:00The Revelation of Phillip Thomas DuckRevelation: to make known as in an enlightening disclosure and oftentimes pleasant surprisePhillip Thomas Duckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02521456289647319226noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-405452315010487153.post-65370744141265697472012-02-29T03:18:00.000-08:002012-02-29T03:18:22.566-08:00Triage: A Thriller (Shell Series)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVgyeO2HJOJyIxX_cw2hfrT7gSsbrR3YPuwoBXsanJboeuK2yVxIl7dg5tNut4W7U2NYYjtZKDd7lDyxPz1mNfPgtGV12-roHuvSpqr6o9NVRI6VUDRMsOkYKUqYlgrkeL4FBkgkvWb2o/s1600/TRIAGE-FINAL-FINAL-FINAL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVgyeO2HJOJyIxX_cw2hfrT7gSsbrR3YPuwoBXsanJboeuK2yVxIl7dg5tNut4W7U2NYYjtZKDd7lDyxPz1mNfPgtGV12-roHuvSpqr6o9NVRI6VUDRMsOkYKUqYlgrkeL4FBkgkvWb2o/s320/TRIAGE-FINAL-FINAL-FINAL.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
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<span style="background-color: cyan;"><span style="color: #660000; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">Jack Reacher…</span><br style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">Leonid McGill…</span><br style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">John Rain…</span><br style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">Now a new brand of tough guy…</span><br style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">There is serious trouble brewing on the cracked streets of Newark, New Jersey, and Shell, a former killer-for-hire, finds himself at the deep center of it all. Nevada, a past love interest, has gone missing from a seedy motel, leaving behind nothing but an impression in the wet spot on the bathroom sink counter consistent with the shape of a laptop, a haphazardly parked SUV in the lot, and blood splatter on the pillows and wall tile. What happened in the shabby motel room? Speculation ends with just one conclusion: Nevada had fallen into the rough trade of sex for money, nothing more than a trick/john transaction gone terribly wrong.</span><br style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">Case closed.</span><br style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">It makes sense for Shell to chalk it up as another dose of the bad luck and trouble that dispirited him on the killing game. But walking away is always easier said than done. The thought that Nevada is out there somewhere, hurt and praying for a savior, simply will not leave him.</span><br style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">He has no choice, really, but to roll up his sleeves.</span><br style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">In the blink of an eye, Shell is traveling a path littered with shocking betrayals, brutal ambushes, and senseless murders. One day he is ensnared in a Mob beef, and the next he is confronting an assortment of men linked to Nevada: a community activist with the comportment of a street thug, a possibly bent politician, an understated college professor, and a slick fire-and-brimstone preacher. At best, they are all very dangerous; at worst, at least one of them is a murderer.</span><br style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">And to survive, Shell is going to have to return to what he worked so hard to distance himself from being: a violent man with a conscience in foreclosure.</span> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00731JY0G/ref=cm_cr_asin_lnk" style="background-color: cyan;"><span style="color: #660000; font-size: large;">Purchase at Amazon</span></a></span></span>Phillip Thomas Duckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02521456289647319226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-405452315010487153.post-71301383583803601602011-07-19T09:16:00.000-07:002011-07-19T09:21:05.051-07:00Who in the World is Neville Longbottom?<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">I have a major confession that I hope will not result in me being tarred-and-feathered. I have not read even one of the Harry Potter novels, and it is quite possible I never will. However, my ignorance as far as everything Potter has not been so thorough that I am unaware of the little wizard’s impact on our culture (He is a wizard, correct?). Potter, nor his creator, J.K. Rowling, needs my seal of approval. The votes have already been cast. Millions of book sales. Hundreds of millions in movie revenue for this past weekend’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Deathly Hallows: Part II</i> alone. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Harry Potter is doing just fine without Phillip Thomas Duck.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Nevertheless, I find myself compelled to express my high regard and appreciation for the series. I am a writer, and a decent enough one according to some (the others are delusional), but I was a reader first. Dr. Seuss and later the Hardy Boys. Quick pause while I scan through a Hardy on my bookshelf for the first line:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">“Iola’s missing?” Chet Morton gasped as he ran up the driveway to the Hardy home.</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Okay, I’m back. I don’t know Iola from a can of paint but she is missing and I, right along with Chet, am certain something needs to be done. Go get ‘em Hardys!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Eventually, I graduated from the Hardy Boys to more adult fare. A Stephen King here and there. One of the naughty Anne Rice’s too steamy for Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. James Patterson. Eric Jerome Dickey. George Pelecanos. Walter Mosley. Lee Child. James Lee Burke.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">If every author I’ve loved were a brick, I could build an additional wing onto the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Thank you, Wikipedia).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Anyway.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">My love of reading ultimately fueled a love of…this is brilliant stuff, so pay attention…a love of words.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">That’s right. <place w:st="on"><city w:st="on">Reading</city></place> made me want to be a writer. I knew by writing I would have the opportunity (hopefully) to transport someone to another world peopled with characters I invented. I could make readers laugh, or cry, think, or simply drift away (drift being different than falling asleep). </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">I write books about flawed people and broken relationships. Husbands that forget anniversaries and wives that make forgetting easy. Absent fathers and those that stuck around but should have gone on a twenty-five year run to the store for cigarettes. I also write about violent men with soft spots for discarded women. And troubled teens with both the intelligence and will to overcome their circumstances.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">I write about people you know.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">I write about you.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">I am beyond grateful for the writing opportunities I’ve had as well as those that are still to come. But I am even more grateful for every book I’ve read.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">So who in the world is Neville Longbottom?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Most would say a transcendent character in Harry Potter.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">I say INSPIRATION.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Keep reading.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Best,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">PTD</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
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</span></div>Phillip Thomas Duckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02521456289647319226noreply@blogger.com2