Play a little game and take a little trip: Imagine yourself trapped in a reality with all the makings of a never-ending nightmare that holds you hostage for a ransom you can’t pay and a tie you can’t cut. You’re only aware of one way to get away and the danger is undeniable and unavoidable. The odds of survival are unknown but it’s a good bet that you’re about to run out of birthday celebrations. All you know for sure is that you want out of the trap and nothing else matters. Bottom line: It’s the ultimate gamble. It was just imagination to you but it was as real as your next breath for the subjects of the story. The tale might read like a five-star stretch of any truth, but it all happened just as it’s written, and I oughta know because I’m the one who wrote it.

The three stories range in tone from dead serious to playfully poetic with sprinkles of humor for flavor and fun. They are uniquely different in storyline but captivating enough to grab you by your literary lapels and hold tight till the ride is over. The adventures were penned from firsthand experience, and I didn’t cheat to make them more exciting or entertaining…because I didn’t have to cheat. 

A good book is like a puzzle with thousands of pieces that have to fit just right for the chance to be called a masterpiece. The voice has to speak with enough energy and clarity to avoid any misunderstanding in the message, and I’ve got enough nerve to declare the accomplishment achieved. Politics, poker, and the power of perseverance make up the bones of the book, but the meat and the muscle came from the struggle to finish the puzzle.

As a schoolboy I was much more likely to pick up a baseball or a bicycle before I ever picked up a book, and that didn’t change until I got older and began to appreciate the power and the punch of a perfectly phrased sentence. I eventually taught the trick to myself but I never went looking for stories to write — they came banging on my brain and begged me to fight till I got it right. So I grew up after learning to shake off a blunder and slowed down enough to turn thought into thunder.

There are no wasted words here so it isn’t real long, but you just might love the melody because it reads just like a song.