John Jones

A trip to the funfair sounds like a good day out doesn't it? Not for Ray Trent, dragged along by his sister's bridesmaids. Still, to show willing, he has a go on the zodiac oracle booth. He shouldn't. Sometimes prophecies have a habit of coming true. Yet Ray doesn't believe in astrology, but the zodiac believes in him, and decides to play a game. Compete to see who can get him to believe in them. He becomes their toy. Their piece on the giant board-game....

A fictionalized retelling of Florida's infamous Chillingworth murders. Bobby Lincoln, a young African American, seems to always be broke. He works a day job at a sugar mill and weekends on a charter boat, but he gambles it away, then borrows money to live on. After his common-law wife says she's going to leave him if he doesn't start making more money, he agrees to take part in a murder which goes horribly wrong. Once he and his accomplice have...

Set in Alabama over a period of fifty years beginning in the late 1940s, this exquisite collection of fifteen short stories provides snapshots into the lives of different characters. The link between the stories is Billy, AKA William Vernon Johnson. Though they can be read as stand-alone stories, the collection chronicles the life of young Billy from a young boy to a man enjoying his role as a grandfather. Billy/William narrates several stories, but...

"Follow love and it will flee; flee love and it will follow thee." - Anonymous.When Alma Dawson, a middle-aged, hard-working single mother, sets out to get the tuition money for her daughter's last year of college, she never dreamed her entire world would be turned upside down. A poignant, inspiring story, this novella is a testimony to a devoted mother's love! "This short story is a good read. Business is business and love is love. This short story...

“Thanks, PG! Memoirs of a Tabloid Reporter” recounts the life and adventures of reporter Billy Don Johnson during his 20 years (1975-1995) working for the fictional tabloid The National Insider. After his dreams of becoming a crusading journalist with daily newspapers are dashed, Billy throws himself into the wild world of diets, household tips, ghosts, UFOs, weird history, and celebrity scandal, all of which is designed to please Padrone Gallione...

"Be not forgetful to entertain strangers for some have entertained angels unaware." - Hebrews 13:2 When his father died, Billy Johnson felt he would never lose the vicious, gnawing grief that had formed in the innermost recesses of his soul. His father had been his mentor, his adviser, his fishing buddy, his protector, and most of all, his dearest and closest friend all of his life. It was grief he felt he could never be totally free of. Then, out...

For years, the old men had been hanging around the country grocery store whiling away their days playing checkers and dominoes and talking about politics, women, drinking and life experiences.All that time, the store owner readily approved their presence in the store and went on about his business as if they were not there. Then, one fateful morning in the fall of 1956, a new owner bought the business who was not quite as tolerant. The narrator of...

"I like talking to you, Granddaddy," the child said. "I like talking to you, too, little boy," the grandfather said. Suddenly, the child burst into tears and ran to his grandparent. "Oh, Granddaddy," the child sobbed, leaping into his grandfather's arms. "I love you! I love you! I love you!" For a full ten seconds, the child clung to the grandfather's neck with all his might, shedding huge tears. As the grandfather and grandson held one another...

"Everything he did, he did for Miss Mary" - Amazon reviewer A snapshot view of an old Alabama farmer, seen through the eyes of a young boy, Billy, whose mother had been employed at the farm to nurse the terminally-ill wife that the gentle farmer had loved his whole life. Well-written, this short novella conjures up the expanse of the farm, the solitude of Boone, despite the numerous farm workers, and above all, Boone's love for his invalid wife Mary....

This yarn recounts a day in the life of one Robert James Worthington, a young man who "had the world on a string." "Don't let your ego get out of hand!""A story that ended as I predicted! Use good judgement and don't let pride and ego dictate and overrule good sense! 5 stars." - Amazon reviewer