Among What Is Small by Comparison

Somehow I spent most of two days working on a stock car racing story.

Oh, I cut the grass the first day. Yesterday I shipped off some copies of my new racing novel, Life Gets Complicated. I wrote a regular column for a website. Okay, two stock car racing stories. And two stock car racing novels this year.

In a way, I’m back in business.

At the moment, a huge chunk of Texas is underwater, so it ill behooves anyone else to complain.

I’m glad to be high and dry, though I am concerned about the forecast for high school football Friday night. So dire is the situation in Texas that high school football is the least of worries there. That’s unusual as I have attended several games there, but these are desperate times.

I thought briefly about going to a watering hole and ordering a Harvey Wallbanger. Only briefly. I’m not sure what a Harvey Wallbanger is, but I have access to the Internet.

It’s made with vodka, Galliano, and orange juice. What is Galliano?

It’s a sweet, herbal liqueur. Okay.

I think I’ll stick with a mug of coffee.

The beginning of this blog, by the way, was an exercise in waiting for a phone call.

Modern problems. They’re waiting for waters to crest on Buffalo Bayou, and I’m fretting about getting my mother’s lawn mowed before rain hits here tonight. I’m worried that a high school game scheduled for Friday might be played on Saturday, when I’ve got a book signing in Spartanburg.

Did I mention I have a book signing? It’s on Facebook, just like everything else that’s on Twitter.

If you’d like me to mail you a signed copy of Life Gets Complicated, or any of my other novels, you can find my address and instructions at montedutton.com. (montedutton.com/blog/merchandise). Or, just drop me a line and you can pay through PayPal.

I’ve written seven novels and a collection of short stories. I’ve also written a number of books about sports, mostly about NASCAR. You can find most of them here.

The Kindle versions of my books, where available, can be found above. Links below are to print editions.

Lightning in a Bottle is the story of Barrie Jarman, the hope of stock car racing’s future. Barrie, a 18-year-old from Spartanburg, South Carolina, is both typical of his generation and a throwback to the sport’s glory days.

Life Gets Complicated follows Barrie Jarman as he moves up to FASCAR’s premier series. He and Angela Hughston face discrimination for their interracial love affair, and Barrie has to surmount unexpected obstacles that test his resolve.

Cowboys Come Home is a modern western. Two World War II heroes come home from the Pacific to Texas.

I’ve written a crime novel about the corrosive effects of patronage and the rise and fall of a powerful politician and his dysfunctional family, Forgive Us Our Trespasses.

I’ve written about what happens to a football coach when he loses everything, Crazy of Natural Causes. It’s a fable of life’s absurdity.

I’ve written a tale of the Sixties in the South, centered on school integration and a high school football team, The Intangibles.

I’ve written a rollicking yarn about the feds trying to track down and manipulate a national hero who just happens to be a pot-smoking songwriter, The Audacity of Dope.

I’ve written a collection of 11 short stories, all derived from songs I wrote, Longer Songs.

Signed copies of Lightning in a Bottle are on sale at Emma Jane’s (see ad above). Signed copies of all my fiction are also on sale at L&L Office Supply in uptown Clinton, South Carolina.

Follow me on Twitter @montedutton, @hmdutton (about writing), and/or @wastedpilgrim (more opinionated and irreverent). I’m on Facebook (Monte.Dutton), Instagram (TUG50), and Google-Plus (MonteDuttonWriter).

Write me at hutdut@[email protected] or “message” me through social media.

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