Ben E. King - Stand by Me (LIVE Cover by Sara Niemietz)

Episode 2: Chapter Twenty-Three

Episode 2: Chapter Twenty-Three

Episode 1: The Prologue

Episode 1: The Prologue

Listen to J. E. Thompson Saturday Morning National Book Interview!

J. E. Thompson will be talking about his novels on “Off The Shelf” a national Blog Talk Radio Program Saturday, 11:00 AM, Eastern Time on Saturday, July 19, 2014. Please call(347)994-3490 to listen and ask questions of National award winning author J. E. Thompson. Mr. Thompson will discuss his fifth novel, Stormy Winds, that will be published March 2015. Radio Personality Denise Turney will interview J. E. Thompson about his published novels: A Brownstone in Brooklyn, Philly Style and Philly Profile, the national Award winning Ghost of Atlanta. Mr. Thompson received the award at the Miami Book Fair in 2012. The novel beat out 200 plus general fiction novels forthe prestigous book award.

Sometimes Memories Do Make You Feel Good!

I drove into Winder, Georgia and visited the Old Lions Club on East Broad Street and the grassy area in front where the annual county fair was established in the late fifties and early sixties. Oh…the memories exploded in my mind as I looked up at the old white Lions Club building. I smiled as the flashbacks created past visual images in rapid succession. Oh…the memories exploded in my mind as I looked up at the old white Lions Club building. I smiled as the flashbacks created past visual images in rapid succession. I remember that October day was little overcast and a slight chill was in the air at the start of the early nineteen-sixties Barrow County Fair. Grandmother Mary Lee had always entered the backing contest, but this year she didn’t and I decided to uphold the family tradition and cook a pound cake. The baking contest was a big deal at the time. I wanted to use Mama Katie’s Lemon Pound Cake recipe, but decided to use a plain pound cake. I wanted to win the blue ribbon. This was important! I decided to make the this trek to Winder, in late 2009,as part of my research for my third novel, the 2011 National Gold Medal Winner Ghost of Atlanta. I’m glad I did as the visit created visual images of key scenes that I used in the beginning of the novel. I got out of the car and walked around old-fair ground area. i re-lived visions of events long gone into the deep recesses of my mind. I remembered coming to the Barrow County Fair in my uncle’s old Ford. I remembered carrying the pound cake and walking through the front glass doors of the Lions Club. I talked to the lady in charge and a gave her the pound cake. My grandmother and I drove back to the her old family home in Statham,Georgia. I talked with my grandmother about my chances of winning the blue ribbon. A couple of days later, my Uncle Charles drove me back to the Lions Club building. I opened the and walked to the area where the baking was judged. I looked for a second…smiled. My uncle carried me back to Statham, and I hugged my grandmother and we talked all night about me winning the blue ribbon. It was a joyous moment. A couple of days later my Grandmother Mary Lee put me in a car with a family friend who carried me and my sister to the train station in Athens to ride the “Silver Comet” to a new life up north. We were on our way to Brooklyn, New York and a new life as part of the great migration of southern blacks to the big cities in the north. The days of old southern living with my Grandmother Mary Lee were over, but I still remember the time in the kitchen in Statham,Georgia cooking the pound cake on the old iron stove. It was a winner then, and it’s now a winner again as a key part of my novel, Ghost of Atlanta! ********************************* If you would like the receipt please email jethompson at jethompsonnovels.com

J.E.Thompson blog talkradio interview!

J.E. Thompson will be talking about his novels on “Off The Shelf”. a national Blog Talk Radio Program. Radio Personality Denise Turney will interview J.E. Thompson about his four published novels, A Brownstone in Brooklyn, Philly Style and Philly Profile, the national award winning Ghost of Atlanta and Georgia Author of the Year nominated Phantoms of Rockwood. Ghost of Atlanta won 2011 Readers Favorite national gold medal and received he received the award at the Miami Book Fair in 2012. The novel beat out 200 plus for the prestigous book award. Mr. Thompson will discuss his fifth novel, Stormy Winds, that will be published in March 2015 at 11:00 am, eastern time, on Saturday, July 19, 2014. Please call (347) 994-3490 to listen and ask questions of national award winning author J. E. Thompson.

From Bushwick High (Brooklyn) to National Award Winning Author!

Sometimes when I enter my writing area, in a corner of my office, it seems that words will not come and the critic inside me attacks my creativity with a constant bombardment of negative thoughts. Enough! Finally, I sit down, strike the letters on the keyboard and let the words energize each other as they create vivid word pictures that become vibrant mental images for my readers. I'm on my writing schedule and I believe in my myself! I wasn't always this confident in my writing ability. I listened to the "Rules Police" or "Peer Critics" and didn't believe enough to even look inside myself to come up with the courage to write a single line. I was scared, really scared, at one time in my life, many years ago in my high school days in the turnbulent sixties. What developed confidence in my writing abiiity? It was faithful fall day, when I was a junior at Bushwick High School, in Brooklyn, New York. I was scared to express any thoughts, because of my rural southern background where you had to put your ego under a deep cover of quietness, and where any opinions brought out retribution. Heck, I was even afraid to look people in the eye because of the oppressive segregated atmosephere of small-town Georgia. Self-Esteem and Self-Confidence was lacking in my personality. I knew I had this amazing ability to write, but the motivation and confidence was zero. I was now in my second year, at Bushwick, after moving from Statham, Georgia, population 300 and segregated, to Brooklyn, population 3,000,000 and integrated. I got up enough nerve to ask my English teacher and student council/general organization sponsor, Ms. Egan, the question. If the answer was negative, all my hopes and dreams of becoming the next great novelist would be dashed. I knocked hard on the door to her office, entered, and asked, "Can I be a writer?" She stared at me for a few moments and then said, "Do It!" I haven't looked back. As a high school English teacher, I know the power of positive or negative words in a students life. I learned that fall day in Brooklyn and I instill that confidence in my students today: 2012. Oh, my writing Career: ***I wrote articles for The New York times. ***I wrote for the Philadelphia Bulletin (National Sports Writing Award---third best story in the United States in 1977) ***I wrote for the Atlanta Journal Constitution. ***I wrote for the Associated Press. ***I wrote for Sports Scene Magazine ***I wrote for Parade Magazine ***Georgia Author of the year nominee 2007(For my novel Philly Style an Philly Profile). ***Georgia Author of the year nominee 2011 ( for my nvoel Ghost of Atlanta) ***2011 National Fiction Award Winner for Ghost of Atlanta! Ms. Egan would be proud!!!!! Not bad for a scared little kid from the Bush Chapel Section of a small town in Georgia. I'm telling you like my high school English teacher told me: "Do it!" Happy Writing!