Don's Blog: September 2013

Clay Shaw/Man of a Million Fragments: The True Story of Clay Shaw/Dueling Voices/I Lost It at the Beginning/101 Reasons Not To Murder The Entire Saudi Royal Family/He Knew Where He Was Going (?)

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Were You Ever A Source Of Information For The CIA (Domestic Contact Division Or Other), Or Any Other US Intelligence Agency?

Were you ever a source of Information for the Central Intelligence Agency or any other US intelligence agency? Office of Naval Intelligence? National Security Agency?

I am particularly interested in the period of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, and especially if you were a resident of the New Orleans area.

However, any time period and area will do.

If you fit this description and are interesting in talking about it, get in touch with me.

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Wednesday, September 18, 2013

New Biography of Clay Shaw Getting Good Feedback

Man of a Million Fragments: The True Story of Clay Shaw, my recently released biography of Clay Shaw, is getting great feedback from those who have read it, especially those with some knowledge of his life and of New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison's investigation into the assassination of President Kennedy,

Recently, as an example, one of the former top officials at International House, the sister organization of the International Trade Mart, which Clay Shaw headed for almost twenty years, praised the scholarship and writing that went into the book, saying that it really should be studied by professional historians.

Others have commented on the depth of the research and the wide-ranging array of topics touched on or covered in some detail in the book.

Copies of have sold in the United Kingdom, Germany, and India as well as here in the US.

While it is now out in all major e-reader formats, I am still working on a print edition. Perhaps soon, but time will tell.

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Saturday, September 14, 2013

LANNY (A New Novel)

I just published LANNY, a novel set in the 1960s. I worked on it while I was editing and completing the biography of Clay Shaw, Man of a Million Fragments: The True Story of Clay Shaw,

LANNY tells the story of a rather unusual friendship that developed between a young boy and his next door-neighbor, a friend of the family and a man of mysterious actions and motives.

The story takes place over a number of years, and deals with interactions within families and outside of families. It is a road trip novel, a family disintegration novel, and a novel of a unique friendship, all set against the turbulence of the 1960s.

It is available only on Amazon Kindle at the moment, but should be available on all e-reader platforms (Barnes and Noble Nook, Apple, Sony, etc.) soon.

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Sunday, September 8, 2013

U.S. State Department To Re-write Old, New Testaments, Koran, Placing Events In West Texas

The United States Department of State today announced an ambitious project to re-write the sacred texts handed down many centuries ago by Middle Eastern religions to reflect that all of the events happened in West Texas in the United States, not in the Middle East. The project apparently grew out of a growing desire on the part of U.S. voters to avoid military conflict, future religious divisions, and international turmoil.

"We see an unending military presence in the Middle East unless we do this, and very quickly," Thomas Murtani, a State Department spokesperson said. "Time really is of the essence. By shifting the location of the events to where they all happened within one country, our country, it takes the biggest military player out of the Middle East.

"It basically secularizes and de-internationalizes the whole thing. With this move, we have the opportunity to, as it were, re-write history and bring about lasting peace. We re-build any religious shrine, and its surrounding atmosphere, that any of the related religions request. The motion picture industry is on board with us, and together we feel we can re-create the Middle East in the fields of West Texas with stunning authenticity. The technicians in Hollywood can do literally anything in that regard, from projecting a realistic image onto a mountain to building a fantastic set."

Asked about the need for oil, Murtani said, "Oil was never the real issue we were in the Middle East, and even if it had been, all that has shifted now with new technological breakthroughs in that area, and with with large new discoveries of petroleum reserves around the world."

Murtani estimated the project would take at least ten years, what with the writing itself, and with the "cultural reconditioning" the U.S. would need to do. "But we can do it. Hollywood can play a part there as well. They did it magnificently in World War II, and they can do it again."

Murtani said that the small town of Marfa, Texas "would be a wonderful location to center everything. Remember, they made the movie Giant, with Rock Hudson, here in the mid-50s. Rock Hudson is no longer with us, God rest his soul, but Denzel Washington can play anybody, from Moses to Paul, or dare I even say it? Mohammed."

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