The first of two e-book compilations of blogs from prolific mystery writer Dorien Grey
Anyone curious about the people, the experiences and circumstances, the events and mindsets that combine to produce another human being will find the 172 blogs, culled from five years of three-times-a-week blogs in this e-book both informative and entertaining, and may well find echoes of themselves.
To learn more go to http://bit.ly/m8CSO1
Excerpt
The circuitry of the human brain is often compared to electrical wiring. In most people, thoughts
flow smoothly, like direct current passing through a wire. But for some thought processes more
strongly resemble a downed power line, whipping about madly, spewing sparks of random
thoughts. I am one of those people. I channel as much of the power flow of my mind as I can into
my books, and the random sparkings and sputterings result in blogs—brief flashes of one man’s life and thought.
The short-circuitings contained herein are gathered loosely into general topics, but there is no
smooth flow to them, no direct link between most of them. Each is a separate sparking; each is a
spontaneous response to some random stimulus. Put together, they outline and define a life.
While they all stem from my personal experiences and opinions, they aren’t purely an exercise in
egocentrism, but a game I hope you might find some pleasure in playing. And as to who you will
be playing with....
The beginning is always a good place to start. But I’ll skip the traditional “I was born in a one-
room log cabin on the prairie on a cold winter’s night...” bio. You may or may not already know
who I am (Dorien Grey, author of the Dick Hardesty and Elliott Smith mystery series as well as
the western/adventure/mystery/romance Calico). But you are obviously curious enough to be
reading these words, and I thank you for that.
Actually, I’m in effect two people: in everything having to do with writing, I am Dorien Grey. In
all other aspects of my life, I’m Roger Margason, the name with which I was born. It’s a
complicated arrangement, but it works very well for me.
I’ve written a total of 17 books so far, and well over 500 blogs. This compilation is the first of
two planned. This first one is primarily designed (though the words “designed” and “blogs”
really don’t go together all that well) to let you get to know me and how I got to be a writer. The
second book concentrates more on the fireworks display of topics which piqued my interest—
and hopefully, yours. And, also hopefully, by the time you’re done, you’ll be able to see where the various themes and topics come from. All were gathered over four years of my
Monday/Wednesday/Friday postings on my website (http://www.doriengrey.com).
Perhaps because I’ve always been acutely aware of the human tendency to feel unique—which
we are—and alone—which we are not, I am compelled to emphasize our commonalities and how they bind us. To that end, I write books and I write blogs. Books tend to be more complex,
generalized and cohesive than blogs. They require some degree of control on the part of the
writer, and considerable structure, and tend to connect with the reader on a different level than
blogs, which tend to be more spontaneous, shorter, wide ranging and therefore in a way more
personal. If books are a painting, blogs are an Etch-a-Sketch drawing.
I also write to leave some evidence, once I’m gone, that I was here. As a gay man with no
children, my words are my progeny. And while I’m here, I write to let you know I’m aware that
you are here, too, and to hope you might find in my words some connections to yourself. But at
the foundation of it all I write, quite simply, because I cannot not write.
Though you and I have probably never met, I like to think we know each other. I hope by the end
of this book, you might feel the same. I would be truly delighted to think these little short-
circuiting sparks and sputters might not only illuminate some of who I am, but might afford you
a glimpse or two of who you are.
Roger Margason, a.k.a. Dorien Grey
Democratic Dilemmas and Divine Inspiration examines the significance or relevance of the idea that the U.S. Constitution was, as many believe, divinely inspired. How much did that belief matter to founders of the nation and how much does it matter no
