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.
The beginning of the ‘ber months have arrived and I’m officially settled into my own head for heavenly deep breaths. Heaven is a point of view, and mine just happens to be cool, misty breezes coming through the guitar-window, warm beverages, and the smell of campfires. Luckily, I have a lady who loves those same things.
Imagine being in a committed relationship with someone who hates what you love the most. I don’t need to; I lived it a couple of times. No harm/no foul; young people do stupid things when they think with nostalgic wieners. Life’s a journey; not a destination. I learned that from the lead singer of Aerosmith.
Yesterday, my wife and I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary. We have a significant age gap, so men sometimes mistake us for father/daughter. They don’t always say so out loud, but I can read faces like a super power. I also briefly studied psychological criminal profiling in the early days of my writing career, and it kicks in at the most inopportune times. Luckily for us, it works out: She acts older than most women her age, and I’m a sixteen year old stuck in a middle-aged man’s body. That last part has been professionally diagnosed by a trusted source. The army taught me how to turn it on and off with the flick of a switch, though. Don’t; Just don’t.
We celebrated in the way we vowed: riding rollercoasters. This morning, my body is numb. That’s mostly because it’s a holiday and I prayed to the spirit trees at sunrise. Before that, I was walking like an elderly man who experienced a car crash. It was fun, though. As a society, I think we should do that more often; have fun, I mean. Strip yourself of any gang affiliation (red hats included) and just go have fun with total strangers. To fit in, just for one day. What a blessing that would be.
Deep diving, I feel as though my entire life was spent on the defensive since I returned back home from the military. I know I’m not the only one who feels that way either. A couple of my Army buddies have begun to notice this as well as things get more divisive in this country. That said, my gorilla mode flickered all the way to the car leaving the theme park.
It was still early enough on a beautiful day for there to still be a steady stream of people pouring into the park. Uncontrollably, I picked apart each passerby via past experience and professional education. Some of them wore their pride on their sleeves while others – like me and mine – have adopted a more incognito approach. There are too many idiots with guns running around the world today. I respect them, we own a few, but they’re meant to protect me and mine; not to be used as a problem solving tool our society’s collective, feeble minds’ are too unevolved to debate.
All stiff-cock affiliations aside, what I saw the most were my own eyes approaching me with every glob of ganged humanity. The children in each unit had that, “Wow! That old man still rides rollercoasters,” look on their faces, and I wear that badge with pride. I’m well aware that society doesn’t consider me to be an old man, but children do. When we were children, we did. Everyone in their twenties were still clinging to youth and you were old AF at thirty.
Metaphorically, the journey to the truck was more like an awakening than a tired, broken lumbering. I’ve still got a lot of life and love left to offer the world, unexpected illnesses aside. The older I get, the more I look forward to that journey as well. Not that I’d want to end my life prematurely – I’d like to aim that energy toward others – but “what happens next” is the roller coaster I have yet to ride.
I’ve seen it from the highway, though. Several times. I’m curious.
What if life is the miserable, late-summer-sweat-fest queue line of our journey and “what comes next” is the ride itself? I think that’s something I can believe in without waking up early on a Sunday morning to impress the neighbors with my funeral suit. Just don’t forget to hold your hands up during the whole ride. No one likes a coaster-wimp.
Preach truths, toke jokes, and shoplift Amazon, my friends.
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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