A triumph of the imagination and a masterpiece of storytelling, Grandpa Benjamin is narrated by Grandpa Benjamin himself. He told his grandson this story that he had been told by his mother about their ancestors beginning with the year 1776 when his great-great-great grandparents, Baatsi and Ashanti Nkrumga, were kidnapped by American slavers in Africa, separated from their two small children, and enslaved in America. This is also the story about Grandpa Benjamin and his half brother, Alexander, also born into slavery, and how they established the Zeals Community and the Zeals School in Wildflower, the place of their birth, where for several generations they and their descendants were nurtured. Their legacy continues to inspire their descendants to live productive and dignity-affirmed lives. Grandpa Benjamin, the first person in his lineage to have the surname Zeals, is a character that, even in contemporary perspective, will live in the readers imagination forever.
During the adolescent years of Benjamin Bird, he wrestled with inevitable post–World War II socioeconomic and technological change, the breakup of his extended family, transitioning from the country to the city, from public school to college, and from confusion over his bisexuality. The following is an excerpt from Chapter Three. Benjamin pulled his socks tight in his shoes to avoid getting blisters on his heels, and he began trotting across the Dover pasture out to the county road. There he crawled under the barbed wire fence and headed home on foot. He did not mind walking, even three miles. Walking always seemed to clear his mind. He was relieved to be escaping from Denver's influence, at least for a time. Every step he took away from Denver was a step in the right direction. Step, step, step. Denver is sexy, all right, Ben admitted to himself, but not as desirable as Jacob Jiggs had been, not sexy enough for me to start daydreaming about Denver, or any other male, or I will fall into a trap that might haunt me for the rest of my life. Step, step, step. Don't think of Denver's masculinity, don't think of the arousal I felt riding behind Denver on old Misty, don't think of Denver's broad shoulders or his beautiful backside. Step, step, step. Don't think of Denver's naughty nature, don't think of what Denver might be doing with old Misty. I don't ever want to know. Step, step, step. Stay on the right side of life. Think of girls. Think of becoming attracted to girls. Think of which girl I will try to win for my sweetheart when school starts up again. Step, step, step. Should it be Peggy Blessing? Peggy is so feminine and dainty. I actually felt manly when I was sitting beside her in assembly! Step, step, step. Imagine putting my arms around Peggy Blessing and having babies and building a nice home and becoming a good husband and father. Step...by...step...by...step. Ben's shoes became hot to his feet, so he sat down and took them off, stuffed his socks into his shoes, tied the shoestrings together, and slung them over his shoulder. His feet felt good tramping in the warm sandy ruts. His toes felt liberated. At least his toes were liberated. ***** Watch for the forthcoming sequel, The Rootless Years of Benjamin Bird.
In Southwestern Oklahoma in 1953, nineteen-year-old Benjamin Bird had not yet learned how amazingly diverse human sexuality could be. Growing up in a devout rural Christian family who believed that homosexuality was an abomination justifying death, he dared not reveal his yearning for sexual intimacy with certain attractive males in his small circle of acquaintances, for fear of being attacked or shunned.Because Benjamin was also sexually attracted toward certain desirable females and because he shared his beloved family's belief in Christian principles, he hoped and prayed that he could overcome his homosexual propensity.Ben's confusion over his sexuality occurred more than a generation before the gay rebellion at New York's Stonewall Inn took place, and more than two generations before homosexuals could legally marry. Ben felt he had no alternative but to conform to a heterosexual life style, so he sought a formal education to prepare him for a fulfilling career that would afford him an opportunity to prosper, marry a desirable young woman, and raise his own family.This story traces Benjamin's journey into adulthood, a journey of challenges, achievements, failures, self-doubt, discovery, confrontation and intrusive family influence--a search for truth, faith, and courage to be who God created him to be.
The story of Benjamin Bird is set in Western Oklahoma in the Dust Bowl years of the Great Depression. Benjamin was born in 1934, the third child of a sharecropper. Ben's heritage encompasses the history of late nineteenth-century frontier America, for his grandfathers were born in the aftermath of the Civil War. His paternal grandfather was the son of a former slave owner, and his maternal grandfather, the youngest son of a Confederate veteran, was from an extended family who, for generations, h
Murders just didn't happen in the little village of Cole Harbor, Maine. New York investigative reporter Laura Friday returns to Cole Harbor to recuperate from a near-fatal gunshot wound. When she and her aunt go picnicking on a nearby island, the ground gives way beneath her and Laura falls into a shallow grave, landing on a woman's skeletal remains. Now someone is leaving white rosebuds on Laura's doorstep. Park Ranger Bryan Cole makes no secret of his attraction to Laura. Riddled with guilt that she's to blame for her best friend's death, Laura lets Bryan know she is not interested in anything beyond a platonic relationship, and he realizes he has his work cut out for him if he wants to win her heart. A psychotic killer lurks in the town. The voices inside his head tell him Laura is the perfect woman. If she screams when he tries to love her, will there be another grave to fill?
There are hundreds of billions of galaxies in the universe. Each galaxy contains hundreds of billions, if not, trillions of stars. There are millions of trillions of stars. There are tens of millions of trillions of planets. Quadrillions of the planets are Precambrian. Trillions of them are suitable for evolved earthlike creatures. Billions are type O civilizations, still using fossil fuels. Millions are type 1, harnessing their planets energy. Hundreds of thousands are type 2, harnessing their suns energy. Thousands are type 3, harnessing their galaxys energy. But only twelve are type 4, manipulating time and space. There are twelve dimensions, eleven being spatial extensions; the twelfth, love. This is the account of the Councils Twelve.
Ben Jacobs has made a list of everything that could possibly go wrong at his bar mitzvah, but even he didn’t foresee that the shul might disappear just days before the celebration. The trouble is, no one believes him, apart from Grandpa. The rest of his family just carry on as normal… except now they are behaving rather oddly. And there’s a strange light in the woods behind the house, and some huge glowing egg-shaped objects appear at night. Is it just Ben’s over-active imagination, as Mum and Dad say, or is something more sinister taking place? Ben turns to Grandpa for help, and together the two of them hatch a plan to save the world – and Ben’s bar mitzvah. This zany and fun story of family, adventure and imagination is also about gaining confidence and growing up. Ben learns courage and builds belief in himself as a member of his family and the wider community.
Sixth-grade twins Bryant and Bryce, and their precocious cousin Kate, face off with seventh-grader Rich, not knowing that Rich's evolutionist attorney dad is in a conspiracy, with a famous TV host of a major TV network, to ridicule the Christian faith on a nationally televised debate. While Kate, Miss Young Philosopher, delves into her dad's library, Bryant, Mr. Young Historian and Bryce, Mr. Young Archaeologist consult authoritative experts. The extensive research led them to more questions: How did the universe begin? Did it begin at all? Or, did it always exist? Can a man walk on water today? What about 2,000 years ago?
