After a week of various tunings, I finally settled on “standard” (so much wasted time), came up with riffs for both verses and chorus and a rhythm bridge. The lyrics are done-ish as well. Sigh. I may have a new song tomorrow. Maybe next week.
I was laying in bed, staring at the ceiling in deep thought like every other morning, when I stumbled across a couple of memories. These memories found their place within the existing story and brought the entire scenario down an alternate timeline. This angering event will forever live rent-free inside my head for the rest of my days.
It’s an unsolved mystery worthy of prime time television: a newly retired man lands his childhood dream job. I was working for the Six Flags and Texas Railroad and training to be a fireman on the oldest operating steam locomotive in the entire state of Texas. I was honored and living inside my own personal heaven. Then, in the blink of an eye, it was gone.
Don’t stop me if you’ve heard this one. There is an “x” at the far top-right of the screen that will remove this “redundant” story from view, and you can go about your merry way on the internet American superhighway. That’s a highway that looks cool on Google maps, but it’s riddled with potholes and death around every corner.
I received a phone call on the day before my final test and terminated. An anonymous person made a Tik Tok video about one of my books. They claimed it contained pedophilia, and that it was unsafe for me to be working around children. I personally have five children and eight grandchildren. I’d never been so insulted in all my life. The book in question is with a tradition publisher and sold everywhere. Not quite sure how pedophilia managed to exist within a publicly traded work of old-west fiction, but my mystery groupie must’ve looked within and recognized something within themselves, pulling the brakes.
I did what I normally did. I turned to the internet, made a scene, and more than likely shot myself in the foot. Regardless, it was the most wrong thing that’d ever wronged me. The video and account were erased upon my termination but, after all this time, I believe it was an inside job.
There’s been a lot of villains since this whole thing started: ex-wives, ex-girlfriends, ex-friends, ex-colleagues; I have a lot of ex’s. This morning, however, something clicked that hadn’t before.
I remember when the treatment via my coworkers “shifted”. Being on the spectrum, I have a tendency to overshare with those I believe are my friends. What I always fail to recognize is, at a job, no one is anyone’s friend and everyone is trying to get a leg up at all times. The corporate ladder is littered with blood stains from unlucky souls who were flung to their deaths by “friends”.
I was walking down the tracks with my boss one day toward the end of my employment, looking for things that might possibly damage our old-lady aka the train or one of the guests on its multiple rotations around the park. I casually mentioned that my therapist suggested I was high on the spectrum and it’d been overlooked since my birth. She used the word Autism repeatedly. In hindsight, fifty years worth of life suddenly made sense.
When I told him of my most recent conundrum (of many) he quickly shut me down and instructed me to never say anything out loud about being Autistic ever again. He feared it would be the end of me at Six Flags Over Texas. I didn’t understand why.
Six Flags has low sensory areas for guests, hires the oddest among society (some wouldn’t even qualify as a Walmart door-greeter), and are HUGE supporters of the LGBTQ+ community. Most of the guys working on the railroad, because of our ages, may have been the most heterosexual employees in the entire park! What I’m saying is, Six Flags was more tolerant than any other employer I’ve had in life. That’s why I found it odd when the trouble began.
You see, there were certain people who were always just a little too curious about my personal life, and I believe they were the ones responsible for my termination. It was so sloppy and juvenile, I can’t help but think it was an inside job by those closest to me; those who continued to have dinner at my own table after I was gone or pretended to be gob-smacked by this most shocking of solutions.
Let me put it in perspective for those in the dark: The logic behind this place gave me a supervisor who wasn’t even old enough to be in the train’s cab with any of us. My outgoing personality, quick wit, and talents made me a guest favorite to the point I’d had more positive compliments than any other employee in the entire park for the last quarter in which I worked. Three days later, my teenage boss stumbled through my termination call.
No matter how many times I’ve been told this, or even told myself this, do everything you can to keep your personal life personal. It’s too late for me. I’ve been an author now for almost twenty years, and my social media presence has run from murderous to butterflies. It has caused me issues with every single job I’ve had since I first signed up for a Myspace account.
I fail to remember, even though I co-hosted an entire podcast season about Brandon Woodruff (I won’t recap; find The American Justice Podcast and listen to it) that others can’t live that Bruce Wayne/Batman fine line like a horror author in modern society. This event is going to haunt me until I die and, yes, it has caused me to have the darkest of thoughts at least once a day for years now. Other than the first personal death I ever experienced, I can’t think of any other scenario that saddens me more.
I just wish someone had the balls to come clean about the whole thing. Cancel-culture will get people killed in the upcoming lawless apocalypse. I know, because I plan on being the one doing the killing. My sadistic yet cool mask is on back order.
Preach truths, toke jokes, and shoplift Amazon. Life is like the X-Files; trust no one. Especially when it comes to your dreams.
Added after the initial post: I guess what disappoints me most is that this should’ve been a call to arms for the indie author community. Don’t get me wrong, I received a ton of support from some very awesome authors, but none of those supporters were “The Gatekeepers”. Instead, some of those spread rumors that I made the whole thing up.
More books are banned daily. Artists are being cancelled left and right by the highest ranking official in the country as though the Constitution itself were physically aflame and he had nothing better to do than read Twitter on the Presidential Pooper. I guess it was difficult to see my tiny red flag waving in a sea of mirrors. I just wish we could’ve made something of it. Screw the train; maybe I just wanted “change”?
But, change is hard…
Looking for a new read? Try this one. It’s the one that got me fired. There’s even an audiobook on Amazon!
The “comments” section is at the very bottom of the page. That way, if you’re going to be a poon, I can try to sell you a book on the way down.
The Reverend’s Reads
To most, 1865 was an eye-opening year. The American Civil War was officially over and the soldiers fortunate enough to survive the bloody conflict returned home to collect the pieces of their former lives. To young Arizonan, Robert Jack, the fateful desert homecoming marked the end to all he once knew. Forgiveness is overrated. Death is final. Revenge, however, dances between the fine lines of mortality and eternity. Love always finds a way.
“Reading Jim Walker and the Redemption Hymn is equal parts quirky fun and riveting action. Cloud’s confident, entertaining voice draws the reader in like an old radio western: the perfect bite-sized story with a main character you’re ready to follow through every adventure he finds himself on. So, tune in next time…”
– Megan Stockton, author of Lovely, Dark & Deep
The history books would read that Jim Walker was brutally executed after the Battle of Goliad, but a few promises in the right ear blurred the contrast between blood and ink. Now an aging bounty hunter on the verge of retirement, his services are requested in the Northern Arizona Territory to solve the terrifying mystery of the Verde River Massacre. With guns from a local Deputy, courage from a saloon proprietor, and a deathbed confession from an all-too-familiar Medicine Woman, Jim sets off on what could be his final adventure. Will he lay the ghosts of his past to rest once and for all, or is he simply whistling his Redemption Hymn?
“Someone call DC and tell them this is how you write a female hero character!” – Lisa Lee Tone, Bibliophelia Templum
Angel Burns is a young firefighter with a shrouded history. During a routine night at work, she stumbles upon a demonic ceremony that brings her memories out of hiding – as well as her repressed supernatural powers. Angel soon learns her life was intended for things greater than extinguishing fires for mortals. Now on the payroll of the Vatican, Angel embarks upon an epic quest to protect the Gutenberg Bibles from evil. If successful, she will secure peace for generations. If she fails, the power of the ancient books will bestow an eternity of darkness upon all humanity!
Toby Liberman is nearing the end of his rope. After a fateful confrontation with his wife’s lover, he is chased into the woods only to be discovered by an unidentifiable creature. He is attacked and rendered unconscious. Upon waking at the scene of a gruesome triple homicide, Toby is arrested as the sole suspect and thrown into a jail cell with a strange man that knows way too much about his predicament. The stranger reveals to Toby that he now possesses the curse of the werewolf. Using his new-found strength to flee his captors, Toby begins to discover that things are not what they seem in the sleepy town of Twin Oaks, TX. Now hunted by law enforcement, as well as the town’s gun toting civilians, Toby seeks vengeance against his false accusers and embarks upon a quest to clear his name once and for all.
A Curse Beyond Comprehension. A Power Beyond Belief. A Girl Far From Home. Katie Liberman is your typical eighteen-year-old college student…or at least that’s what her family thinks. Picking up five years after the events of A Taste of Home, Katie has dropped out of school and embarked upon a dangerous quest to find Kurt Jimmerson, the New York City attorney responsible for her family’s werewolf curse. Unknown to her, the attorney’s grip on the ‘City That Never Sleeps’ is tighter than imagined and she’ll need any and all help available to be victorious. But… where do you find friends when you’re Far From Home?
Twin Oaks, Texas is at war! Taking place immediately after the Far From Home events in New York City, Katie Liberman has returned to rescue her birthplace from the clutches of her nemesis. As the paranormal battle of North vs. South rages in the shadows, the tiny town must decide to fight against the odds or become one with the darkness. Blood will be shed and only one will survive as the final battle of the Home Series concludes.
I know this is the part where I’m supposed to talk about the book, but I feel as though the synopsis needs its own preface to truly understand. 2023 was quite an eye-opening year! I began it by living my dream as a vintage steam locomotive fireman, but that dream was soon squashed thanks to my writing career. It won’t matter that you wrote your extreme horror offerings years ago and under a pen name. Also, it won’t matter that your publisher and author friends from days gone by express pleasantries and kind, nurturing words to your face, because they’ll clique-up and talk trash the minute you turn your back. F**k the biz, create. Create for art, not clicks. Click for love, not hate. Those are words true artists should have no issues living by, yet most seem to hide behind their keyboard shields, flinging ill-thought words of destruction toward once-trusted ears. Don’t pour something into everything; pour everything into something. Do it all by yourself if necessary. With any luck, 2024 will be the year of The Reverend. I’m not exactly sure what that means yet, but we’ll find out together. Anyway, here are a few short stories and poems I wrote as C. Derick Miller in 2023. I stole them from myself. Fair and square. Enjoy.
Poetry has always come naturally to me. Whether it is an expression of emotion toward someone I care about, or a display of humor pointed in the direction of those I loathe, it is my true outlet. Several of these works were written in a passenger seat while exploring the highways of the United States and somehow managed to survive “The Great Ex-Wife/Ex-Girlfriend Poetry Purge” of 2019. Others were penned during COVID-19 quarantine. Although it may not be the most epic poetry collection you’ve ever read, it all contains bits of blood and soul. You will feel something. Guaranteed.
“This profound collection of horror brings classic monsters into new light in the modern day” – B.L. Blankenship, God Walks The Dark Hills series.
The modern world is a crazy place. Worrying about childish politicians, empty grocery store shelves, and our pending membership to the “global disease of the week” club, it leaves very little time for the average reader to finish an entire novel. This is where Six from Five Seven: Short Stories from a Short Man comes in clutch! A story per day to keep the impending apocalypse away, with a single day left over to contemplate why you purchased this book in the first place. That sounds like an entertaining week when compared to the one you were destined to have regardless. What do a cursed husband, a privileged brat, a curious prostitute, a repressed savior, a vengeful son, and two hell-bound soldiers have in common? Their stories lie within the pages of this collection and invite you to tag along on their journeys of fate, redemption, and demise. When finished, you, dear reader, can hide this book inside your basement with the rest of those important documents you wished you’d never taken home. The FBI won’t be happy, but at least they’ll know you’re a cool person for owning a copy while conducting the raid. That must count for something, right? Let’s hope the judge thinks so!
Also, there’s a few other things not listed here that are floating around out there. Best of luck with the hunt.
Current Projects
Rev. Dare Cloud
Reverend · adjective. worthy of adoration or reverence. synonyms: sublime · sacred.
is a Dallas author, musician, and gonzo journalist. Some of his works include the controversial splatter-western Starving Zoe (written as C. Derick Miller), the Taste of Home trilogy, and the ongoing Jim Walker series. He is also the co-host of the American Justice Podcast and Senior Writer/Junior Producer for AtuA Productions LLC. His literary crushes are (of course) Hunter S. Thompson, J.D. Salinger, and Kevin Smith. Preach truths, toke jokes, and shoplift Amazon.
“You’ve got to press it on you You’ve just been thinking That’s what you do, baby Hold it down, Dare!” – Gorillaz
The Gonzo Wolf 
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