Thursday, December 12, 2024
Monday, December 9, 2024
Sunday, December 8, 2024
Tuesday, December 3, 2024
Thursday, November 28, 2024
Tuesday, November 26, 2024
Monday, November 25, 2024
Saturday, November 23, 2024
Russian Orthodox Church Viewed As Tool To Spread Kremlin Influence
Friday, November 8, 2024
Monday, November 4, 2024
Saturday, November 2, 2024
Friday, November 1, 2024
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Tuesday, October 29, 2024
Sunday, October 27, 2024
Friday, October 25, 2024
Thursday, October 24, 2024
Saturday, October 19, 2024
Tuesday, October 15, 2024
Monday, October 14, 2024
Thursday, October 10, 2024
Tuesday, October 8, 2024
Monday, October 7, 2024
Friday, October 4, 2024
Sunday, September 29, 2024
Saturday, September 28, 2024
Friday, September 27, 2024
Thursday, September 26, 2024
Sunday, September 22, 2024
Friday, September 20, 2024
Thursday, September 19, 2024
Wednesday, September 18, 2024
Tuesday, September 17, 2024
Sunday, September 15, 2024
Thursday, September 12, 2024
Thursday, September 5, 2024
Wednesday, September 4, 2024
Tuesday, September 3, 2024
Monday, September 2, 2024
Friday, August 30, 2024
Monday, August 26, 2024
Friday, August 23, 2024
Monday, August 19, 2024
Tuesday, August 13, 2024
Sunday, August 11, 2024
Friday, August 9, 2024
One me does the work of Ten!
Thanks, and a tip of the hat to Nick Wales of DS Productions for this stunning tribute on the publisher's web site.
"1 Charles Ray Does The Work Of 10" As Western Demand Increases!
“One Charles Ray does the work of ten,” the meme says—and it’s true. Charles Ray is a production manager’s dream with six novels completed each month, and that still leaves him time for his private business, family life and to catch a few hours sleep.
In a business that is dominated by production—new releases, new ideas, collaborations, rewrites, and high reader demand—it takes an author of Charles Ray’s particular rate of production to keep readers happy. When demand is high those readers want their next read yesterday, and they are never let down by Charles Ray. In fact, last month alongside his usual array of Western adventures, he managed to fit in working on the latest “Timber: U.S. Marshal” tri-write entitled “Kidnap Revenge” and he is already committed this month to so many projects he needs a production schedule all of his own at the DSP office.
Charles Ray burst onto the scene several years ago with his “Bass Reeves” series and since then he has grown into a reader favorite with such popular series as “Jacob Blade: Vigilante,” “Texas Ranger J.D. Pettit,” “Caleb Johnson: Mountain Man” and he has recently started a new series of military fiction novels set during the Vietnam War—the latest is called “Operation Body Snatch” and it’s already selling and picking up reviews.
Tri-writes and co-writes, of course, are something he excels at. He works consistently with Robert Hanlon and J.W. Masterson on the “Timber: U.S. Marshal” tri-writes, and for co-writes how about his latest top one hundred bestseller with David Watts? We are sure you read it—“The Hunt.”
And on top of that, he also takes part in promotions, interviews, having just completed a brand new Tik-Tok video where he reacts to his own reviews, and having just recorded a brand new interview for DSP’s own podcast “Y’all Listen.”
He’s a man without parallel and he’s been on the bestseller chart for a long, long time. Why don’t you go ahead and grab yourself a few of his books? You won’t ever run out because Charles Ray is a production author—quality, and production meet in his writing talent.
Why Not Try “Caleb Johnson Mountain Man: Clementine”?
Caleb and Flora are spending a day in Bear Creek, visiting their friends, Harry Packard, owner of the town hardware store, and Lillian Davis, who owns the dry goods store. Flora and Lillian are chatting when a strange young woman, Clementine Jackson, shows up at the store asking for their help. She’s being pursued by a relentless Englishman who has been sent by her father to find and bring her home, but she doesn’t want to go. Flora and Caleb decide to help her and in so doing find themselves in league with an unlikely ally, author Mark Twain, who just happens to be stranded in Bear Creek because the wheels on the stagecoach he was traveling in broke. He has time on his hands and insists on helping. The matter becomes even more complicated, though, when they learn that Clementine’s sister, Esmerelda, is traveling with the Englishman and is even more determined than he is to take her home.
Where Can I Get My Copy?
“Caleb Johnson Mountain Man: Clementine” is available now from Amazon as a Kindle e-book with a paperback set for release soon!
Wednesday, August 7, 2024
Review of Tri-Write from DS Productions
Take a look at a video review of DS Productions' Tri-Write by Charles Ray, Robert Hanlon, and J.W. Masterson.
@dustysaddlepublishing Charles Ray reviews the Tri-Write bestseller. Don't miss it! #bookreview #charlesray #triwrite #dsproud #bestseller #firstvideo #BookTok #fypage #mustread #bookrecommendations ♬ Western music rock that is simple and good with commercials and plays(849048) - respectrum
Tuesday, August 6, 2024
The grim legacy of the Brothers Grimm
Note: This will be the last appearance of Ray's Ruminations on this site. Beginning next week, it will be found on https://charlesray-author.com.
Monday, August 5, 2024
Sunday, August 4, 2024
Friday, August 2, 2024
Thursday, August 1, 2024
Wednesday, July 31, 2024
Monday, July 29, 2024
Saturday, July 27, 2024
Friday, July 26, 2024
Sunday, July 21, 2024
Thursday, July 18, 2024
Tuesday, July 16, 2024
Sunday, July 14, 2024
Tuesday, July 9, 2024
Monday, July 8, 2024
Tuesday, July 2, 2024
Sunday, June 30, 2024
Saturday, June 29, 2024
2025 World of Birds Calendar
A 2025 calendar featuring some of my favorite bird photographs is available for purchase at the link below:
2025 Calendar World of Birds | Zazzle
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Thursday, June 27, 2024
Sunday, June 23, 2024
Monday, June 17, 2024
This Juneteenth, three ‘woke’ Americans to remember
In two days, we celebrate Juneteenth, marking the date, June 19, 1865, when Union troops under the command of Major general Gordon Granger landed at Galveston, Texas, and announced that the Emancipation Proclamation, issued by Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, had freed all enslaved people in those states that were in rebellion on that date. Slave holders in Texas, in order not to lose access to the uncompensated labor, had withheld that news for over two years. The holiday that I grew up celebrating as Juneteenth in Texas in the 40s and 50s, has been an official federal holiday since June 17, 2021. This June, the third official holiday, rather than picnics and ball games, I plan to spend the day in contemplation, thinking about how far we haven’t really come since June 1865.
One of the things I’ll be thinking about is the current ‘war on woke’ taking place in large parts of the United States, in particular in states where some of the most egregious violence against people of color has historically occurred. It’s impossible to turn on a radio or TV, or pick up a printed publication or read the news on line without encountering another diatribe against ‘woke,’ a term that some Republicans have co-opted and turned into something negative and threatening. Most of the people using it, like Governor DeSantis of Florida, one of those states I referred to in the previous paragraph, have no idea what it means. One of the few times I’ve agreed with something Donald Trump said was when he said, ‘Half the people can’t even define it. They don’t know what it is.” Of course, he then went on to illustrate that he was one of those people.
Woke, dear friends, has a long and very positive history, and it just another thing from Black culture that has been co-opted and misused by others. It was used in Black protest songs in the early 20th century, such as Huddle Ledbetter, better known as Lead Belly, in his 1938 song ‘Scottsboro Boys.’ It was a term meaning being ‘politically conscious and aware of the inequities in our society, like staying woke. It was also a word of warning to Black people. When in certain places, in Lead Belly’s case, Alabama, be careful and ‘stay woke’ or you might get killed.
When I was growing up being woke was a good thing. The rabid right wing has perverted it and now try to make it the scapegoat for everything that goes wrong, and to mobilize their foam at the mouth base.
As we get ready to celebrate Juneteenth, though, I’d like to commend to your attention, three Americans who in my opinion were ‘woke’, some before their time.
First, Abraham Lincoln, the so-called Great Emancipator. Now, Lincoln didn’t really believe that Black people were the social equals of Whites, but he did accord them full humanity and believed that they were entitled to freedom. His African American valet, William Henry Johnson, while referred to by Lincoln in letters as a ‘colored boy,’ when he died, Lincoln paid off the mortgage on his family’s house and sent them money. Not completely ‘woke’,’ but not asleep either.
My second ‘woke’ hero is Franklin D. Roosevelt, the only
man to serve more than two terms as U.S. President, and who suffered from polio
even while in the Oval Office. His New Deal, designed to pull the country out
of the Great Depression, was one of the first federal programs since
Reconstruction that included African Americans and probably inspired in large
part by his wife, Eleanor, he spoke out against discrimination—although, he didn’t
do as much to end segregation in government and the armed forces as he probably
could have. He did create numerous programs to help farmers and the unemployed,
Black and White, despite intense opposition from the conservative coalition, a
cabal of Republicans and Democrats in congress who opposed his ‘liberal’ New
Deal policies. Still not completely ‘woke,’ but more ‘woke’ than Lincoln, and
certainly more than the so-called conservatives.
Finally, my number-one ‘woke’ American, and all-time hero, a man who, like Lincoln, gave his life for his beliefs, the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr., chief symbol of the American civil rights movement of the 50s and 60s until he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee by an avowed white supremacist, James Earl Ray.
The next time you hear some politician decrying ‘woke’ and blaming it for everything from failure of the military to meet its recruitment quotas, to unseasonable tornadoes wreaking havoc on southern trailer parks, think about these men and what they did for all of us.
Have a happy and safe Juneteenth.
Sunday, June 16, 2024
Thursday, June 13, 2024
Sunday, June 9, 2024
Thursday, June 6, 2024
Tuesday, June 4, 2024
Friday, May 31, 2024
Monday, May 27, 2024
Sunday, May 26, 2024
Why convicting a former president is not such a bad idea
Those who argue against former President Donald Trump’s conviction on any of the criminal charges against him often argue that this will have a chilling effect on future presidents and their ability and willingness to make the hard decisions that a head of state is called upon to make. He himself has maintained that a president is immune from prosecution for anything he does while in office—even if it is in violation of an existing law.
I’m neither a constitutional scholar nor a lawyer,
but I did serve in government for half a century, twenty years in the U.S. Army
and thirty years as an American diplomat, and from my point of view as someone
who raised his hand and swore to protect and defend the Constitution against
all enemies, foreign and domestic, I have a completely different take on the
issue.
I must say, first of all, that I strongly
support the American justice tradition that a person is innocent until proven
guilty, but if a jury of his or her peers determines that a crime was committed
and the evidence shows that the person indicted is guilty beyond a reasonable
doubt, that person should not only be formally convicted, but should be
sentenced according to the law. And that includes former presidents.
Why do I say this? I take issue with the
belief that convicting a president of violating the law will inhibit the
ability of future presidents to carry out their duties. One of their duties is
to faithfully carry out the law of the land. It’s in Article II, Section,1,
Clause 8 of the Constitution: Before he enter on the Execution of his
Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation. “I do solemnly swear
(or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the
United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend
the Constitution of the United States.” In Section 3 of Article II, it says
that the President shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed. Now,
again, I’m no lawyer, but my understanding of these requirements is that this
person should NOT be violating the laws which he (or she) is enjoined to take
care that they be faithfully be executed. To think otherwise strikes me as
playing fast and loose with the meaning of the Constitution.
So, back to the effect of convicting our
former president. I say, let the jury see and hear the evidence, let them make
their decision, and then respect that decision. What will it achieve? It will
send a message to future presidents and their staffs that we are a nation of
laws and flaunting the laws will not be tolerated. It will say to the nations
of the world who call us hypocrites when we call them on their violations of
and disrespect for the rule of law that we are quite serious in our belief that
no one is above the law.
I see this as a benefit to our system of
government and our status in the world.
To see it any other way makes me fearful
for the health of our democracy and makes me wonder what it was I spent half a
century of my life sacrificing for. The Founding Fathers were not perfect, but
they were wise, and I don’t think we should twist the meaning of their words to
suit the whim of one man, or even one group of men who wish to avoid taking
responsibility for their deeds. There is nothing in the Constitution that says
a president cannot be held accountable for breaking the law. There is nothing
in the Constitution that says any citizen cannot be held accountable for
breaking the law, and we assume then that when a citizen breaks the law, there
will be accountability. The Constitution requires that the president be a
citizen. Logically, then, the Founding Fathers, in my opinion, did not intend
that a president be allowed to do anything at any time, to anyone without
consequences. I think they hoped that no one who aspired for this august office
would be so carven as to knowingly violate the law. But, if you read the
Federalist Papers, you’ll see that they recognized that humans are fallible, and
since the president is human, I must assume that in the back of their minds
they recognized the possibility of a fallible individual ascending to that office.
Let’s allow the system to function the way
it was intended to function and move on.
Saturday, May 25, 2024
Why Judge Cannon needs to issue gag order in classified documents case
The graphic below was copied from an email I received at 11:31 am, May 25, 2024, from teamtrumpnews.com, and it shows why Special Counsel Jack Smith's request for a gag order in the classified documents case is justified. This is going out all over the place (I mean, it was emailed to me of all people) and is being used to solicit donations - naturally.
Tuesday, May 21, 2024
Tuesday, May 14, 2024
Monday, May 6, 2024
Sunday, May 5, 2024
Friday, May 3, 2024
Monday, April 29, 2024
Friday, April 26, 2024
Help Wanted: Mounting Autograph Requests Call For Expansion
April 17, 2024|Authors, DSP Articles
Autograph requests in the Western genre are becoming more popular, and Charles Ray recently shared a very pleasant request he received from a reader who had recently finished a collaboration Charles had written with Harvey Wood called “Hell’s Fury.”
More of these requests have become commonplace as more and more readers turn to Western authors for their entertainment. This has occurred to the point that DSP has considered hiring a new assistant just to deal with this ever-increasing stack of reader requests.
If there’s an indication of popularity in a genre, then autograph requests and personal correspondence with readers are that indication. Judging by the time that is now spent corresponding with readers, Westerns are working their way back into the public’s heart.
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Friday, April 19, 2024
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Friday, March 22, 2024
Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combination
My second day back in the United States, after finally reviving the dead batteries in my cars and enjoying a sumptuous Korean dinner with my daughter and her husband, I had a great night’s sleep. I slept late the second day, a Saturday, and during a late breakfast of pancakes, bacon, hash browns, and coffee, I discovered that my driver’s license had expired two months ago. Fortunately, I hadn’t been stopped the previous day, and I was having breakfast at a restaurant located only a few miles from the Maryland Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), which I remembered stayed open until on Saturday.
I got to the DMV at 11 am, an hour before closing, and
got in a line of nearly a hundred people, all waiting to get new or renewed
licenses, voter registration cards, or new tags for their cars. I got my new license, but at the same time, I
received an insight; standing in that line at DMV, I was reminded of what
America is and who we are, and surprisingly, I learned that bureaucracies
sometimes do work.
First, what is an American? Well, in line with me were people speaking
Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Malay, Thai, and Korean – oh yes, and English too,
in a variety of accents from the nasal mispronunciations of New York to the
slow drawl of the deep south. Old,
young, and all the years in between, we resembled a small United Nations, but
in fact, were just a representative sampling of this country; people of all
races, religions, and creeds who are in fact just American. A gentleman from
Peru stopped speaking Spanish with his wife long enough to commiserate with me
about having to stand in such a long line on a Saturday morning instead of
being at National Stadium watching a baseball game. The young Malaysian woman behind me agreed,
but said she’d rather be attending a concert at Kennedy Center. A middle-aged woman farther along in the
line, in a distinctly German accent, said she was going to be late for her
community picnic and yard sale, and her husband would be upset at having to
tend their sales booth all by himself.
We all came from different places, but on this day, standing in this
line; we were all one – Americans dealing with the bureaucracy.
We all learned something standing in that line,
too. When the clock struck twelve, we
were sure we’d be told to come back later, and were surprised when a voice came
over the PA system informing us that everyone in line would be served. The doors to the DMV were closed, and over
the next hour, the staff did just that; with smiles and efficiency, they worked
their way through more than a hundred people until everyone was taken care
of. Just when you thought the
bureaucracy was a faceless monolith that didn’t care about the individuals it
is supposed to serve, it surprises you and puts on a human face.
Thursday, March 21, 2024
AIA Publishing Name Change
On the 25th of April 2024, the hybrid publisher AIA Publishing (AIAP) is changing its name to Alkira Publishing because an American business is using the name AIA Publishing and has not stopped despite several requests to do so. Unfortunately, the other business using the name lacks integrity to the point that some are calling them a scam, and that’s not good for a business if people can’t differentiate them. Many emails from their clients and even a poor review on Google Business from someone AIAP never worked with indicate that there is confusion and that it’s beginning to affect AIAP’s reputation.
Added to that, the AI in AIA Publishing could be seen as being related to Artificial Intelligence, and that's not at all relevant to a brand that prides itself on their real human care for their authors.
The word Alkira in the new name, Alkira Publishing, is an Australian Aboriginal word that means bright, sunny or happy place, and that describes Alkira Publishing well. The managing editor, Tahlia Newland, says that she thinks of their business as a happy refuge for authors trying to navigate the sometimes shark-infested waters of independent publishing.
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Sunday, March 17, 2024
Thursday, March 14, 2024
Sunday, March 10, 2024
Saturday, March 9, 2024
Thursday, March 7, 2024
Wednesday, March 6, 2024
Monday, March 4, 2024
Friday, March 1, 2024
Wednesday, February 28, 2024
My lifetime achievement award arrived.
This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award goes to one of our oldest and most successful authors, Charles Ray. Charles was one of the first signings with DSP, and we are proud to give him this award in recognition of all the work he has done with our company, all of the books he has written for the company, and for all of his many achievements with DSP.
Tuesday, February 27, 2024
Monday, February 26, 2024
Saturday, February 24, 2024
As Black History Month ends, consider that Black History is also American history.
American historian Carter G. Woodson fought hard for the creation of a celebration of Black history in the 1920s, launching the celebration of ‘Negro History Week’ in February 1926, half a century before the establishment of the month of February as Black History Month in 1976. Since then, every U.S. President has designated February as Black History Month, a time when African American contributions to the development of this country are highlighted in media and in many classrooms around the country. It is seen as a time when we pay homage to Black achievements and contributions not just to this nation, but to the entire world.
While this is a welcome acknowledgement of Black excellence, it is not nearly enough. Black history, which has been intimately intertwined with the events of this nation since the 1600s and before, is an integral component of American history. As such, it should be taught in every classroom, every day throughout the year as a part of the history curriculum and reflected in popular media and advertising. The world we live in is multicultural, multilingual, and multiethnic, and the United States is no exception. Limiting attention to Black achievements and contributions to one month out of the year, especially when it is not mandated that Black history courses be taught in all schools across the country, reinforces the unfortunately stereotype that Blacks, and other minorities and women, really didn’t play that significant a role in the country’s development. This is harmful to Black students, who don’t see enough ‘people who look like them’ in positions of importance, and to White students who in many cases have been exposed to stereotypes of minorities as somehow less than them.
Black History Month, an annual repetition of stories about a select few notable Blacks, such as Harriet Tubman and Dr, Martin Luther King, Jr., actually does more harm than good, in my humble opinion. Twenty-eight days of celebrating the achievements of a few individuals obscures the achievements of so many others and reinforces the view that people of color are somehow limited. The people who are celebrated were great, without doubt, but they were far from outliers—an impression created by this limited and repetitive celebration. Ignored is the fact that after the Civil War and into the early twentieth century, as the United States expanded its borders west to the Pacific Ocean, ten percent of the soldiers protecting wagon trains and settlements, building roads, and protecting our new national parks, were Black. The men of the four all-Black regiments of the U.S. Army were often the only federal presence in many areas of the frontier, a fact that won’t be gleaned from watching old western movies of the 40s, 50s, and 60s. Black inventors contributed to technological development from the rotary-blade lawn mower by John Albert Burr to the pROSHI neurofeedback device by Chuck Davis.
Including the broad range of Black achievements in school curricula year-round rather than for just 28-days or as an elective Black History course that is subject to manipulation by state boards of education opens the door to more equitable treatment of the achievements of other minorities and women.
As we come to the close of another Black History Month, we should give serious thought to a nationwide review of how we teach history and what we teach, and establish a national requirement that all students should be exposed to a comprehensive history of the nation before graduating from high school. We, as consumers, should demand that corporations and media be more inclusive—and accurate—in the portrayal of the country and its people.
If everyone, regardless of race or gender, is exposed throughout the year to the truth about our nation’s history, we take another step toward creating ‘a more perfect union’ as envisioned by the Founding Fathers, and we create a better country for all of us.
Tuesday, February 20, 2024
DSP lifetime achievement award
It’s an honor for us to bestow the first DSP Lifetime Achievement Award upon him, and we wish him continued success.
Sunday, February 18, 2024
Friday, February 16, 2024
Wednesday, February 14, 2024
2024 - A Wakeup Call for the Sahel: US Capitol, Feb. 2, 2024
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