Did the FBI abscond with nine tons of stolen gold?

Fiction starts where real life ends.

If you have read my novel, Treasure of the Diary, you know that I wrote about Dents Run, Pennsylvania’s legendary buried Civil War Gold. Is it real, or did I make it up out of whole cloth?

Kris Maher in the Wall Street Journal writes about the allegation that the Federal Bureau of Investigation dug up nine tons of the gold, worth more than $500 million, and made off with it in the middle of the night.

According to the article, Warren Getler, co-author of Rebel Gold and a former Wall Street Journal reporter said he believed Confederate sympathizers allied with a secretive society known as the Knights of the Golden Circle, likely stole and hid the gold.

Treasure hunters were sure that they had found the spot where the gold was hidden, and believed they had a finder’s fee deal. There is no question about the dig by the FBI. They brought more than 50 agents to the location and dug down 12 feet, but “Nothing was found,” the FBI says. The treasure hunters who led the FBI to the spot have gone to court. They aim to prove the loot was in the ground, and the government took it!

To readers of Treasure of the Diary, it sounds familiar. You can read Maher’s full article titled, Three Men Battle the FBI Over Buried Civil War Gold. Stuff Just Doesn’t Add Up. in the August 5, 2023, issue of the Wall Street Journal.

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Collins’s books are available from neighborhood bookstores and online sources. E-book editions are available on Amazon, Google Play, Apple iBooks,  Smashwords, and other online bookstores. Audio editions are available on Amazon, iTunes,and directly from Audible.com.

Silver Falchion Award

I returned home from another visit to the hospital to discover that my latest book, Treasure of the Diary, is a finalist for the coveted Silver Falchion Award in Literary Fiction. The novel, #7 in the Mark Rollins Adventure Series, was also honored as the Independent Press Award’s 2023 pick for Distinguished Favorite in Literary Fiction.

The Silver Falchion Award honors the best books of the year that incorporate elements of mystery, thriller, and suspense across numerous genres. It is administered by Killer Nashville, which is considered the premier forum for mystery writers. The awards are presented at the annual Killer Nashville Writers’ Conference. The event marks the 18th year of the forum's international writers’ conference. The four-day event is scheduled to begin on August 17th in Nashville, Tennessee.

As for the rest of the story — my four-day hospital experience — I developed an MRSA Staph infection in my left arm, requiring intravenous treatment. MRSA stands for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a bacterium resistant to many antibiotics, including penicillin. Although I am now home, I am still undergoing treatment. Doctors say that eliminating the bacteria takes an unusually long time. And, of course, where did I contract MRSA to begin with? You guessed it — during one of my previous visits to the hospital.

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Collins’s books are available from neighborhood bookstores and online sources. E-book editions are available on Amazon, Google Play, Apple iBooks,  Smashwords, and other online bookstores. Audio editions are available on Amazon, iTunes,and directly from Audible.com.

Keeper of the List

I have been intrigued by the notion of the “Keeper of the List.” Who or what is pulling the strings? It seems like there is always something reshaping our culture and society—some are in pursuit of a more perfect union, and some seem to be taking us down a rabbit hole. If you live long enough, you understand that the process is unending. As soon as we have accepted one cultural shift, another one is waiting in the wings. After a while, you wonder who is driving the unending stream of changes. Who or what has the list we seem to be following? Somewhere in that mystery is a novel.

I have created a list starting with the United Nations of transforming movements and events that led to or contributed to cultural shifts. I would welcome additions that I may have overlooked. Here is my list:

1.  UN (United Nations) - 1945

2. Book - "Silent Spring" - 1962

3. School Prayer Banned - 1962

4. Desegregation - Mainly 1954-1968 (Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 through the Civil Rights Act of 1968)

5. Civil Rights Act - 1964

6. Voting Rights Act - 1965

7. Immigration and Nationality Act - 1965

8. Interracial Marriage Legalized in all states - 1967 (Loving v. Virginia)

9. 1966—1979 emergence of postmodernism philosophy Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Jean-François Lyotard

10. Move to Fiat Money - 1971 (President Nixon took the U.S. off the gold standard)

11. World Population Control - 1970s (Though concerns have been raised since the 18th century, the modern "population control" movement became significant in the 1970s.)

12. Planned Parenthood - It has been around since 1916, but it became particularly prominent after the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973.

13. PETA, Save the Whales, and Animal Rights Movement - 1970s-1980s.

14. Deinstitutionalize Mental Patients - began in the 1960s but had the most significant effects in the 1970s and 1980s.

15. Affirmative Action - 1970s (although its roots can be traced to the Civil Rights Act of 1964)

16. Non-Smoking Policies - Became prominent in the late 1980s and 1990s.

17. Transhumanism

18. Americans with Disabilities Act - 1990

19. War Against Coal / Climate Change Movements - Late 1980s-present

20. Genetic Modified Food Products - 1990s

21. Gay Pride - Gained momentum in the 1970s post-Stonewall, but significant advancements in the 1990s and 2000s. Bill Clinton established June as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month in 1999.

22. Community Relations Service - Established in 1964 but increased in importance during the 1990s.

23. Push for Universal Health Care - Periodically throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, but significant momentum in the 1990s and 2000s, culminating in the Affordable Care Act in 2010

24. Bioconservatism [Francis Fukuyama's critique of transhumanism in his 2002 book "Our Posthuman Future" is one marker of this.]

25. Renaming Movement / State and Region Flag Banning and Redesign - Most prominently from the 2000s onward

26. Same-Sex Marriage - Became prominent in the 2000s and culminated in the Supreme Court decision in 2015.

27. Globalization and Move for New World Order - Notably from the 1990s and 2000s

28. Cryptocurrency - 2009 with the introduction of Bitcoin

29. Rise of Big Tech - 2000s onwards

30. Black Lives Matter Movement - 2013

31. War on Fossil Fuels - Ongoing, but most significant since the mid-2010s

32. Zero-Waste Campaign - Became more prominent from the mid-2010s onwards.

33. Gun Control Debates - Have been ongoing for decades but have become particularly prominent in the 2010s.

34. Legalization of Marijuana - Became more widespread from the mid-2010s onwards.

35. Pronoun Choice / Trans Movement - Gained significant prominence in the 2010s.

36. Monument Removal - Became a significant issue particularly in the 2010s.

37. Cancelling Movement / Book Cancelling - Most significant in the 2010s and 2020s

38. Males in Women's Sports - Became a topic of significant discussion in the 2010s and 2020s.

39. Abolish Police Movement - Notably from 2020s (Post George Floyd)

40. Covid and Government Expansion of Control - 2020s

41. Cashless Bail - Has been a topic of discussion since the 2010s but gained significant attention during the protests in 2020.

42. Facial Recognition - Became a significant topic in the late 2010s and 2020s.

43. Editing Previous Works of Literature - Has been done for centuries but became a particular controversy in the 2020s.

44. Universal Basic Income Movement - Has gained traction in the 2010s and 2020s.

45. Reparations Movement - Has been discussed for many years but became a major topic of political discourse in the 2020s.

46. Move to AI - Has been ongoing, but most significantly in the 2020s.

47. Move for Digital Money - Became more prominent in the 2020s, following the rise of cryptocurrencies.

48. Critical Race Theory - Dates back to the 1980s, but it has become a significant topic of political and cultural discourse in the 2020s.

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All my books are available from your favorite neighborhood bookstore or online source. Ebook and print editions are also available on Amazon, Google Play, Apple iBooks,  Smashwords, and other online bookstores. Audio editions are available on Amazon, iTunes and directly from Audible.com. For signed copies go to my website, tomcollinsauthor.com. Exploring Asheville was the 2022 winner of the Independent Press Award and the NYC Big Book Award for its literary category. My novel, Beyond Visual Range, was NYC Big Book 2022 Award’s Distinguished Favorite in Military Fiction.

Free Audio Books

To encourage listener reviews, Audible provides me with a limited number of coupons for free copies of the audio editions of my books including the newest, Treasure of the Diary. If you would like one of the FREE copies go to COUPONSor click on the picture of my books.

The audio editions of my books are produced by Audible and are distributed by Audible, Amazon and iTunes.

If you are not already a fan of audio, you are in for a real treat. You will discover that narrators breathe life into the characters and amplify their emotions. And activities like driving or exercising become reading (listening) time. So, the number of books you can check off your wish list every year will explode. You will be able to enjoy all those books you just didn’t have time to get to before switching to audio versions.

If you do take one of the free copies, please consider posting a review on Audible or Amazon.

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All my books are available from your favorite neighborhood bookstore or online source. Ebook and print editions are also available on Amazon, Google Play, Apple iBooks,  Smashwords, and other online bookstores. Audio editions are available on Amazon, iTunes and directly from Audible.com. For signed copies go to my website, tomcollinsauthor.com. Exploring Asheville was the 2022 winner of the Independent Press Award and the NYC Big Book Award for its literary category. My novel, Beyond Visual Range, was NYC Big Book 2022 Award’s Distinguished Favorite in Military Fiction.

A lazy New York Weekend

One of my readers sent me this photo. She lives in New York City. It was an overcast and dreary weekend day, but it was also a free weekend, one with no more holiday parties or events to attend, no visitors to the big city to entertain, and no more incomplete work projects to be dealt with.

It was a perfect day to just relax and read a book. And that is exactly what this reader did. She sat in front of her apartment window looking down on a New York City street, propped her feet up and read Treasure of the Diary. Later in the day, she texted me:

Just finished —it was great!! Loved reading about Applewood Manor and Asheville. I also did not realize Asheville was involved much in the Civil War. Are there actually tunnels?

If you are wondering, I did reply to her question about the tunnels noting that a little truth is the nexus of good fiction. There are rumors of tunnels—from beer halls and hotels to brothels and also to transport and store moonshine and illegal liquor, so why wouldn’t there “actually be tunnels” during the war?

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All my books are available from your favorite neighborhood bookstore or online source. Ebook and print editions are also available on Amazon, Google Play, Apple iBooks,  Smashwords, and other online bookstores. Audio editions are available on Amazon, iTunes and directly from Audible.com. For signed copies go to my website, tomcollinsauthor.com. Exploring Asheville was the 2022 winner of the Independent Press Award and the NYC Big Book Award for its literary category. My novel, Beyond Visual Range, was NYC Big Book 2022 Award’s Distinguished Favorite in Military Fiction.

Give a guidebook for success this Christmas

In addition to by new book, Treasure of the Diary, I can’t think of a better Christmas gift for the aspiring young entrepreneur or the busy corporate executive than my guidebook for achieving long-term success.

The Language of Excellence has been hailed as one of the best five books you can buy on the subject of leadership and management and would make a valuable Christmas addition to any library.

Andy Warhol noted that anyone can have their fifteen minutes of fame. They can accidently achieve short term success, but while that is true, it isn’t likely, and it will not last. Enduring success is a purposeful endeavor with proven guidepost and warning signs. Take for example, the concept of “Two Certainties.”

For enduring long-term success, the enterprise must be solidly rooted by a belief in the “Two Certainties”—we are always judged by others and change is constant. What we are is determined through the eyes of those who judge us, and we must constantly innovate and change, or natural forces will erode us for the worse.

As for the natural forces at work to erode us, Peter Drucker identified five common behavioral traits among established organizations that over time render the organization competitively weaker. Left unchecked they will give the alert company the opportunity to achieve increased market share through “Management Judo”—leveraging off the competitor's weaknesses. Drucker’s weaknesses include:

1.       A "Not Invented Here" (NIH) attitude that will make the company slow to take advantage of new technology, processes, or materials, etc.

2.       The "Creamer" will concentrate too long on the higher profit, upper end of the market leaving the door open for others to enter the market through the lower end.

3.       “Wrong Quality” will result from a failure to stay in touch with clients. That will result in the company emphasizing its idea of best quality or features leaving the customer's real wants unsatisfied or the price too high.

4.       The "Premium Pricer" is the high price alternative and continues to maintain or even increase price in the face of equal or superior competitive alternatives.

5.       The "Maximizer" keeps adding features to satisfy marginal market elements, leaving the door open for the niche company that will provide a simpler, lower cost product or service that only addresses the needs of a particular market segment.

The seeds of these five weaknesses already exist in any organization or endeavor. Long term purposeful success requires constant effort to prevent their growth. For the excellent organization, their existence in other enterprises will provide an opportunity to gain market share by capitalizing on their weaknesses.

A Book for Christmas

My new book, Treasure of the Diary, seventh in the Mark Rollins Adventure series, has arrived just in time for Christmas

In the tradition of a rags-to-riches story, three Belmont college students find a one hundred and fifty year old diary written during the Civil War. Using their wit and modern technology, they discover the diary’s secret and their find sends them to Asheville and the western North Carolina mountains in search of buried treasure.

I think you will find Treasure of the Diary an enjoyable family friendly mystery. It is both educational and entertaining, weaving historical fiction and familiar places into a seemingly realistic adventure mystery.

And it would be a good choice for this year’s Christmas gifts!

And I ask a favor. After reading Treasure of the Diary , please post a review on the website where you made your purchase or on https://www.goodreads.com/.

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All my books are available from your favorite neighborhood bookstore or online source. Ebook and print editions are also available on Amazon, Google Play, Apple iBooks,  Smashwords, and other online bookstores. Audio editions are available on Amazon, iTunes and directly from Audible.com. For signed copies go to my website, tomcollinsauthor.com. Exploring Asheville was the 2022 winner of the Independent Press Award and the NYC Big Book Award for its literary category. My novel, Beyond Visual Range, was NYC Big Book 2022 Award’s Distinguished Favorite in Military Fiction.

What would you do if you found an old Civil War diary?

In my new book, Treasure of the Diary, three college students do just that. The old diary was written by a Confederate soldier while a prisoner of war. He secretly recorded the plight of prisoners, their mistreatment, bad food and water, disease, general miseries, and the occasional fleeting moments of happiness in an otherwise hopeless place. When he fears he will not reach freedom alive, he writes a secret in his journal.

More than a hundred a fifty years later, the college students discover the diary’s secret. Their find sends them to the Western North Carolina mountains in search of a stash of stolen Civil War gold.

The new book, number seven in the Mark Rollins Adventures series of mysteries, is scheduled for release in December and will be available in print, digital and audio formats. Pre-release orders for signed copies of print editions are being accepted now on www.tomcollinsauthor.com.

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    All my books are available from your favorite neighborhood bookstore. Ebook and print editions are also available on Amazon, Google Play, Apple iBooks,  Smashwords, and other online bookstores. Audio editions are available on Amazon, iTunes and directly from Audible.com. For signed copies go to my website, tomcollinsauthor.com.  The latest book, Exploring Asheville, was the 2022 winner of the Independent Press Award and the NYC Big Book Award for its literary category. My novel, Beyond  Visual Range, was NYC Big Book 2022 Award’s Distinguished Favorite in Military Fiction.

2022 Book Awards

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 23, 2022
Media Contact:
M. Thomas (Tom) Collins
(615) 948-1544
Tom.collins@i65n.com

Books by Local Author Tom Collins Earn Top Awards

Tom Collins’s book, Exploring Asheville—Its History Attractions, Mysteries, Ghosts, and Tall Tales earned the top spot as the 2022 winner in the regional category at both the Independent Press Awards and the NYC Big Books Awards. Also winning in the NYC Big Book Awards was his novel, Beyond Visual Range, as a 2022 Distinguished Favorite in Military Fiction.

M. Thomas (Tom) Collins writes from his home in Franklin, Tennessee, where his characters come to life and frequent familiar places in the bucolic middle Tennessee landscape and the majestic mountains of Western North Carolina. A pioneer entrepreneur of the information technology industry, Tom is now retired from the commercial world and devotes his time to creating his mystery series, Mark Rollins Adventures, and writing about Asheville and Western North Carolina.

Regarding his two award winning books, Collins explained:

As an author, the awards are even more meaningful because the books are so different from each other. “Exploring Asheville” is not your typical travel book. It addresses the Western North Carolina destination as a whole to make the reader ‘Asheville Smart’—to understand why it’s called “The weirdest, happiest, quirkiest, most haunted place in America.” As for “Beyond Visual Range”, it is the fictional story of a paraplegic former female fighter pilot turned drone pilot who exposes the reader to the moral injury suffered by drone pilots deployed on kill missions.”

Books by Tom Collins are available from your favorite neighborhood bookstore. Print and eBook editions are also available on Amazon, Google Play, Apple iBooks, Smashwords, and other online bookstores. Audio editions are available on Amazon, iTunes and directly from Audible.com.

To inquire about a review copy or an interview, call (615) 948-1544 or email tom.collins@i65n.com.

Treasure of The Diary Moves to Editing

Book #7 in the Mark Rollins Adventures series has moved to editing. The story is a short one, a little over 30,000 words compared to 55,000 for the typical murder mystery. However, this is not a murder mystery and that was the number of words needed to tell the story of buried stollen gold and a two hundred year old diary that contains the direction to the treasure—if you are smart enough to figure it out.

The unique cover is the idea and design of Tom Trebing who has designed all prior covers. Thomas King Lusty, Trebing’s Great, Great Grandfather, was born at Near Stroud, King Stanley, Gloucestershire UK on February 2, 1799 and died in the US on August 2, 1884 at age 85. He was a ships carpenter and, except for a short role in the Civil War building fortifications around Chattanooga, he traveled the world. Throughout his seafaring life, Thomas Lusty kept a diary. It is that two hundred year old diary that served as the model for the cover of Treasure of the Diary.

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All of my books are available from Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million as well as your favorite neighborhood bookstore. Ebook and print editions are also available on Amazon, Google Play, Apple iBooks, Smashwords, and other online bookstores. Audio editions are available on Amazon, iTunes and directly from Audible.com. The latest book, Exploring Asheville, was the winner of the Independent Press Award for its literary category.

Treasure of the Diary

Book #7 in the Mark Rollins Adventure series is in process. The first draft was completed last week and now I am in the process of rereading the draft and tweaking it before giving the editors a crack at it. In the interim, I thought I would give you a preview of the cover. Prior to publication, it too will be tweaked. The cover, designed by Tom Trebing who also designed covers for all my prior books, is modeled after an antebellum diary. I will tell you more about that diary and who it belonged to later. Keep in mind, this like the book itself is a work in process. Suggestions are welcome.

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All of my books are available from Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million as well as your favorite neighborhood bookstore. Ebook and print editions are also available on Amazon, Google Play, Apple iBooks, Smashwords, and other online bookstores. Audio editions are available on Amazon, iTunes and directly from Audible.com. The latest book, Exploring Asheville, was the winner of the Independent Press Award for its literary category.

X-37B Mystery Space Plane

The X-37B is in the news again as the US military's mysterious space plane zooms toward a new record—exceeding its prior record of 780 days continuously orbiting Earth. For details read Leonard Davis in Space.com.

While controversy has surrounded the vehicle due to its top secret mission, you will never be able to think of the X-37B spy plane the same way after reading my book Beyond Visual Range—a Mark Rollins Adventure. The mysterious plane plays a villainous role in the mystery adventure.

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All of my books are available from Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million as well as your favorite neighborhood bookstore. Ebook and print editions are also available on Amazon, Google Play, Apple iBooks, Smashwords, and other online bookstores. Audio editions are available on Amazon, iTunes and directly from Audible.com. The latest book, Exploring Asheville, was the winner of the Independent Press Award for its literary category.

The Man Who Saved the World

The man who saved the world, is how some people have described Gary Slaughter. Gary is a fellow author and during the Cuban Missile Crisis he was serving as a naval officer on the destroyer, USS Cony facing off a nuclear armed Soviet submarine. The events that had the world teetering on the brink of nuclear war are told in Slaughter’s book, Sea Stories: A Memoir of a Naval Officer. Under tremendous pressure, with time running out, horror was avoided—but only because of the decisions made by those on the front lines.

Slaughter is a participant along with Svetlana Savranskaya, and Modupe Akinola in a Choiceology podcast titled Under Pressure-- How can we make important decisions when time is scarce, and the stakes are high? Click on Choiceology to access the podcast.

Works by Slaughter include:

• Sea Stories: A Memoir of a Naval Office

• WW II POWs in America and Abroad: Astounding Facts about the Imprisonment of Military and Civilians During the War

• The Journey of an Inquiring Mind: From Scholar, Naval Officer, and Entrepreneur to Novelist

• The four book Series Cottonwood— Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall

• And the 1979 work— Data processing training handbook: Cost justification, measurement, and evaluation (PBI series for the computer and data processing)

Gary also wrote a review of my book, The Language of Excellence for the literary magazine, 2nd & Church, In commenting on the book, he said:

“In my judgment, The Language of Excellence by Tom Collins is among the best five books I have ever read on this subject.

Tom Collins’ The Language of Excellence just may be the only guidebook to personal and business excellence you will ever need to read. Borrowing from a lifetime of achievement, Collins lays out clear guidelines that can help you find your own success while enabling you to offer others the same excellence that has marked both his life and career. A must-read for achievers.”

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 All of my books are available from Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million as well as your favorite neighborhood bookstore. Ebook and print editions are also available on Amazon, Google Play, Apple iBooks,  Smashwords, and other online bookstores. Audio editions are available on Amazon, iTunes and directly from Audible.com. The latest book, Exploring Asheville, was the winner of the Independent Press Award for its literary category.

Alice Elsie Welch Collins: 1919-2018

April was also the month we lost my mother, Alice Elsie Welch Collins. She died April 15, 2018 at age 98.

Mom was born August 22, 1919 in Grand Parish, Louisiana, the tenth child of John Ira (John) and Ardella (Della) Waits Welch. She was living in Monticello, LA at the time of the disaster known as the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. The river reached a width of sixty miles. Her father died in August 1933 when she was just fourteen. The family broke apart, and she moved to Memphis to live with relatives. That is where she met and eventually married my dad, Marion Collins, in 1937. With mom’s help, I published her story, My Journey, in 2009. To view a digital copy select the button below. In My Journey, she wrote the following:

We shared our home with many folks along the way and always made room for anyone needing a lift in life. The Lord gets the praise for the blessings he has given us…The Journey has been a long one and although we have had a few bumps along the way, we made it and now we are almost there.

She, like my dad, are greatly missed, but her journey did not end. It continues through her four children, thirteen grandchildren, many great grandchildren, nephews, nieces, and others whose life she touched.

Aunt Enie: April 21, 1920 - April 14, 2016

This post is especially for members of the Juris now part of LexisNexis. It was in this month in 2016 that we said goodbye to Earline Rogers, a.k.a. Aunt Enie.  Actually, she wasn’t legally my aunt; she was everybody’s aunt. She passed away at 97 on April 14, 2016.

 Aunt Enie was an honorary member of the Juris team complete with logo jacket and a Juris business card with the title Official Executive Guest Chef and Expert Biscuit Maker.  For years Aunt Enie and Lee Ann’s Herron’s mother prepared a Christmas time breakfast-lunch for the Juris home office team members—Country Ham, Grits, Eggs and Aunt Enie’s Biscuits—with all the fixings.  If you were one of those Juris team members, you remember those world famous biscuits.  She left behind her recipe so that that they can continue to be enjoyed by all:

I can’t possibly detail all the credits she accumulated during her life—here are just a just a few:
She was known for her unfailing smile. Everyone she met became a friend. She was widely traveled. As a senior citizen she was a government courier for top secret documents. In her seventies, she went Heli-hiking in mountain terrain. She entertained sick children as a clown. She loved bridge and often played at what he called her second home, the Women’s Club. She was at home anywhere with anyone, but she always retained a little air of country about her. She became a lady of means and a generous one. As one family member said, “Aunt Enie believed in keeping money circulating.” She did and she enjoyed it!

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All of my books are available from Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million as well as your favorite neighborhood bookstore. Ebook and print editions are also available on Amazon, Google Play, Apple iBooks,  Smashwords, and other online bookstores. Audio editions are available on Amazon, iTunes and directly from Audible.com. The latest book, Exploring Asheville, was the winner of the Independent Press Award for its literary category.  

Exploring Asheville is 2022's Winner of the Independent Press Awards

In creating Exploring Asheville—Its History, Attractions,Mysteries, Ghosts and Tall Tails mystery writer Tom Collins, departed from his usual genre to explore the Western North Carolina region and its principal city, Asheville–the city they call the Weirdest, Happiest, Quirkiest, and Most Haunted Place in America.

Independent Press Awards, also known as IPPY Awards, typically reviews over 5000 entries annually from which one winner is selected in each literary category. For more information see the Press Release announcing the selection of Exploring Asheville—Its History, Attractions, Mysteries, Ghosts, and Tall Tales as the 2022 winner.

The 270 page book distributed by Ingram Content Group is available through independent bookstores as well as Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other online sources for $19.95 and is available in digital eBook format for $4.99.

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All of my books are available from your favorite bookstore, or click to find one near you. Ebook and print editions are also available on Amazon, Google Play, Apple iBooks, Smashwords, and other online bookstores. Audio editions are available on Amazon, iTunes and directly from Audible.com.

Malaprops

Malaprop’s is one of the independent bookstores stocking my book, Exploring Asheville. The bookstore is in downtown Asheville, North Carolina. The town itself is considered the Weirdest, Happiest, Quirkiest, Place in America. And so it is, that it would have at its heart a bookstore with such an inappropriate name.  “Malaprop” basically means to use of language inappropriately--the most common example being to use a wrong, but similar sounding, word in a sentence.

A malaprop would be for me to write about the great “tall tales” in my new book Exploring Asheville. Another example would be to “wrench” the dishes. And then there is the TV character Archie Bunker’s question, What do I look like, an “inferior” decorator?

I suppose the Hungarian founder, Emoke B'Racz, chose the name to express his feeling that it’s an unlikely store in an unlikely place by an unlikely owner at an unlikely time. B’Racz opened the store in 1982 with little more than a hope and a prayer. It was a time when businesses had left the downtown area for suburban malls and building space was nearly rent free. Writing about his store Emoke wrote, As a political exile from a communist country, I cannot overemphasize my passion to provide a space where freedom of expression is supported, where important literature—from authors backed by major publishers to those who self-publish—is available to all, where censorship has no place, where respect and service are practiced daily, where women feel safe, where all are welcome, and where books are the stars.

Today, our goals are the same as the ones we committed to in 1982: to be the best little bookstore in the land; to enjoy what we do while we’re doing it, and to ensure that bookselling remains a fine and noble profession.

Nashville’s writer, Ann Patchett ,[owner of Parnassus Books], in an article for the New York Times, said of the Asheville bookstore, Malaprop’s was the heart and soul of Asheville, NC, when Asheville was a sleepy little hippie town, and it’s still its heart and soul now…, a position Malaprop’s maintained by being unabashedly true to itself.

You can show your support for this independent bookstore by purchasing your copy of Exploring Asheville from them at https://www.malaprops.com/book/9781939285034.

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All of my books are available from your favorite bookstore, or click to find one near you. Ebook and print editions are also available on Amazon, Google Play, Apple iBooks,  Smashwords, and other online bookstores. Audio editions are available on Amazon, iTunes and directly from Audible.com.

Must Have Kitchen Tools

You need a new set of tools to survive in the kitchen, and don’t forget the Band-Aids. Is all because of how our foods are packaged or is it just my age? Thank goodness that now we can buy most milk products in bottles, but cartons are still around, and it’s the only way to buy cream. Just try to open those cartons by following the instruction—"press here”.  Forget about it—can’t be done. Go get the saw!

Opening today’s hermetically sealed jars, (pickles, preserves, mayonnaise, etc.) and even the tops of sodas and bottled water would challenge Hercules. Hot water, lid tapping, and table pounding doesn’t get the job done any more. Even the simple and safe looking packages of bacon and what we used to call lunch meat has become defeating. The package instructions read peel from here. It should read peel from hell! Oh, and what about the resealable packages that will not reseal under any circumstances—at least not for me. And God help us and bring the Band-Aids, if you try to open a can of green beans, or some other canned goods, using those pull-to-open rings on the top of the cans. I have visions of amputated fingers. I usually I save my fingers, but don’t always succeed opening the things without the help of some tool. More than once, the only thing that stood between me and dinner has been my hammer and chisel!

I have discovered that continuing to eat requires a new set of kitchen tools.  Luckily, I found most of what I needed in the tool shed.  

Hammer, saw, plyers, screwdriver, etc.

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All of my books are available from your favorite bookstore, or click to find one near you. Ebook and print editions are also available on Amazon, Google Play, Apple iBooks,  Smashwords, and other online bookstores. Audio editions are available on Amazon, iTunes and directly from Audible.com.

Exploring Asheville--Table of Contents

As a review of the table of contents conveys, my new book, Exploring Asheville, is more than just a list of things to do in this unique city and its neighboring areas. I call it the book that has everything you need to know to be Asheville Smart—a guidebook for visitors to get the most out of their Asheville experience. Asheville is more than a place with a lot of things to do and enjoy. It has a rich history filled with extraordinary people who shaped its unique diverse culture. To enjoy the city to the fullest you need to know a little about its history, festivals, mysteries, myths, folklore and love of music and art.

CONTENTS

Part One—Moments in the History of the City......……...1
Part One: Introduction......................................................... 3
Asheville Cure....................................................................... 7
Battery Park Hotel................................................................ 9
Biltmore in WWII................................................................ 12
Cold Mountain..................................................................... 14
Edwin Wiley Grove and his Pig Baby........................……… 16
F. Scott Fitzgerald................................................................. 18
George W. Pack.................................................................... 20
Isaac Dickson........................................................................ 22
Lady on the Hill—George Vanderbilt’s Biltmore........……... 24
Rafael Guastavino Moreno...........................................……..27
O. Henry............................................................................... 29
Thomas Wolfe........................................................................ 31
Thunder Road........................................................................33

Part Two—Things to Do and See.............................……...35
Part Two: Introduction.......................................................… 37
Asheville Downtown..........................................................….39
Arcade Building................................................................…..42
Asheville Urban Trail......................................................... ….44
Antique Car Museum.........................................................….47
Antique Shopping...............................................................…50
Apple Valley........................................................................….53
Arboretum..........................................................................….55
Axe Throwing.....................................................................….58
Basilica of St. Lawrence.....................................................…..60
Bears.......................................................................................62
Biltmore Village..................................................................... 64
Biltmore Visit Tips............................................................... 66
Blue Ghost Fireflies.............................................................…69
Botanical Gardens..............................................................….71
Drum Circle........................................................................…73
Cheese Country................................................................…...75
Chocolates...........................................................................…77
City Hall................................................................................ 79
Cradle of Forestry..............................................................…..81
Crossroads Monument......................................................…. 84
Cycling with Bears..........................................................…… 86
Dog Welcome Center.........................................................… 89
Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell......................................................….91
Fall Season..............................................................................93
Festivals and Events..........................................................…..96
Flatiron Building..............................................................…105
Folk Art Center................................................................…107
French Broad River............................................................. 109
Glass blowing...................................................................…112
Halloween Room.............................................................…114
Hot Springs..........................................................................116
Immortal Image................................................................... 118
Miniature Golf.................................................................….120
Mining for Gems...............................................................…122
Motorcycle Museum.......................................................…...125
Mountain Golf................................................................…. 127
Mural Trail.......................................................................….129
Musical Heritage..............................................................….132
Pinball Museum................................................................…134
Radio Museum..................................................................…136
Rat Alley............................................................................…138
River Arts District.............................................................…140
Rooftop views...................................................................... 142
S&W Building......................................................................145
Sister Bad Habit................................................................…148
Stepping Out........................................................................150
Tiny Doors.......................................................................…152
Trains...............................................................................….153
Wake Foot Sanctuary......................................................……155
White Horse....................................................................…..157
Wildlife Park...................................................................…. .159
White Squirrels...............................................................…...161
Wine Country.................................................................…..163

Part Three—Paranormal Events, Mysteries,
and Ghost Stories.....................................................…..167

Part Three: Introduction................................................…169
Chicken Alley.....................................................................171
Church Ghosts.................................................................. 174
Brown Mountain Mystery..............................................… 176
Byrish Haus Ghost............................................................. 178
Ghost Tours........................................................................180
Great Book Heist................................................................182
Helen’s Bridge.....................................................................184
Hope Diamond...................................................................187
L.E.M.U.R.—Paranormal Research.............................….. 190
Reynolds Ghost..................................................................192
Room 545...........................................................................194
Mysterious Seely’s Castle...............................................…..196
Naked Ghost......................................................................199
Subterranean Asheville...................................................….201
Tapping Ghosts..................................................................203
Witches Tree...................................................................…205
Visiting Ghost....................................................................208

Part Four—Tall Tales from the Rocking
Chair Porch..................................................................... 211
Part Four: Introduction...................................................… 213
Chimney Rock Gold...........................................................215
Cow Counting.....................................................................218
Christmas Spiders...........................................................….221
Doctor’s Advice...............................................................….224
Nail Soup.............................................................................227
Old Blue...............................................................................230
One Way Cyclist...................................................................232
Rocking Chair Wish............................................................ 235
Ruinous Wish...................................................................…237
Simpson’s Hearing...........................................................….243
Siren of the Broad...........................................................….245
Special Circumstance......................................................…..248
Valley of the Cross............................................................….251

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All of my books are available from your favorite bookstore, or click to find one near you. Ebooks and print editions are also available on Amazon, Google Play, Apple iBooks, Smashwords, and other online bookstores. Audio editions are available on Amazon, iTunes and directly from Audible.com.
To purchase my latest book click on the title, Exploring Asheville .

My 2021 Christmas Gift

This was one of those Christmas holidays when our entire family was together. Katherine, her husband, Tom, plus two boys, one girl, and two labs {Rummy and Leeloo] and Stephen and wife, Robin, plus 3 girls and two French bulldogs [Cleo and Pearl]—all the grandchildren are young adults.

While I treasured all of the Christmas gifts I received, one gift sticks out as irreplaceable. I don’t expect to have it ever again. I’m a wine lover, an affliction I share with my son, Stephen. (And I must admit that his wine cave is bigger than mine.)

My favorite French Bordeaux is Château Cheval Blanc from the Saint Emilion Region. Stephen brought a 1964 bottle as my Christmas gift, however, to be shared. That is a 58 year old bottle of wine. The wine was older than anyone gathered for Christmas with the exception, of course, for yours truly and wife, Martha. One of the characteristics of an old Grand Cru is that it has a bit of the earth in its nose and taste. You know that this wine was made from grapes that grew out of the earth because they bring a little of their “terroir” with them—some call it the taste of the forest floor, Virginia tobacco or leather. It was a remarkable, beautiful wine with a hint of cherry. The experience brought with it the knowledge that we were enjoying what could be the last bottle, or certainly one of the last bottles, to exist—forever!

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All of my books are available from your favorite bookstore, or click to find one near you. Ebooks and print editions are also available on Amazon, Google Play, Apple iBooks, Smashwords, and other online bookstores. Audio editions are available on Amazon, iTunes and directly from Audible.com.
To purchase my latest book click on the title, Exploring Asheville .