John Rachel's Blog

75% Off Blowout Sale on my ebooks! March 5-11 . . . Kindle, NookBook, iBook. Enjoy!

https://johnrachelauthor.com/2023/03/...

Just got another 5-star review for "Blinders Keepers", posted all over the book-o-sphere. Specific incidents aside, as whacky and outrageously funny as it apparently is, I think it's astonishing how well it captures the absurdity and circus-like environment of our current politics.

https://jdrachel.com/2022/10/30/anoth...

Here is my holiday greeting card to the world, a song I wrote seven years ago, performed by my wife and I, here in my home studio. May I wish the best year ever for you and those you love!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8M2_...

Peace!

John Rachel

Live From Japan!

Those of you who’ve been following my writing here know how enamored I am with Japan, how refreshingly different I find it, how Japan continues to this day to surprise me, how I often refer to my life here as “living in a fairy tale”.

Finally, my deluxe, full-color, large-format book about Japan, as viewed through my American expat eyes, is arriving February 14th (yes, that’s Valentine’s Day).

With over 450 color photos, it’s an expensive volume, coming in at $35.95 in print, normally $9.99 as an ebook.

BUT for the next two weeks, the ebook of LIVE FROM JAPAN! is available as a pre-order in every popular ebook format FOR ONLY . . . $2.99!

I want everyone to have this book. It offers a side of Japan they will never get anywhere else, and unless they come here and stay with me for a few days, are unlikely to experience themselves as a tourist.

Please think about it.

If it feels right . . .

DO IT!

This beautiful book can be pre-ordered by going to my website and scrolling down to the bottom.

https://jdrachel.com/2021/02/01/the-b...

Oh wow! Not only can you READ the worst book ever written, now you can LISTEN to the worst songs ever written to go along with the worst book ever written.

Standing on the shoulders of the great psychologists who laid the foundation for her revolutionary work, Dr. Joy was aggressively eclectic. She took Women Who Love Too Much to greater heights with her song “Men Who Love Too Much”. I’m Okay You’re Okay was rescued from sentimentality by her anthem “I’m Okay You’re the Pits”. By far Dr. Joy’s most popular song, "The Rut Less Traveled" was inspired by The Road Less Traveled.

Go here ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sg_CK... ... listen to the music and read the lyrics. And don't say we didn't warn you. These songs are infectious! You'll be singing them in your sleep, then seeking shock therapy in the morning!

In December, I put the finishing touches on the worst book ever written. It is now available as an ebook and in print (rumors have it that the back cover contains a single dose of LSD).

This book will offend everyone.

The woke crowd will find it so politically incorrect, they’ll only stop gagging long enough to upchuck screechy memes about gender bias, misogyny, and homophobia.

Normal folks will find it beyond rude and insulting. They’ll see themselves in the story. It’s not a flattering picture.

Critics will resist even pretending to look at it. The plot is one long flat-line, the characters one-dimensional, the premise facile and implausible, the message superficial and without any redeeming qualities.

I’ve warned my friends and relatives to stay as far away from this piece of literary garbage as possible. If curiosity gets the better of them, I accept no blame and take no responsibility. They were warned.

Why would I write something like this?

That’s easy. In the world of digital publishing, in this age of internet mania, click bait, and mindgame porn, the #1 priority is to separate yourself from the crowd, stand out, get people talking. As an author, there are only two ways to do this. Either write the best book in the world or the worst. I took the easy route.

I’ve achieved what no other author has achieved, or even tried to achieve. This book is so bad, it’s in a class by itself.

It’s a sure #1 at Amazon in …

Literature / Contemporary Fiction / Psychological Dystopia / Euthanasia / Brain Freeze / No Refunds

I’m asking each and every one of you out there to immediately buy this book. I don’t know any of you personally but I want your money. And you don’t know where I live. Don’t come looking for a refund.

Come on! Get on the bandwagon. Sex, Lies & Coffee Beans will give you something to talk about with every one else standing in the checkout lines at Walmart or waiting to get tested for Covid-19.

Outrageous! Twisted! Surreal! Rude! But … VERY FUNNY! This is the story of Dr. Joy Smothers, folk singing psychologist. Is she a genius or a con artist? You decide.

Only $0.99 as an ebook from Amazon. Go for it! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08R1CJ5ZW

Here is my holiday season card to the world. It is a video I put together with my Japanese wife and I performing my original song, written and recorded here in Japan. It is not "religious" but comes from my heart ...

"Happy New Year"

http://bit.ly/1VMUb2S

We each do what we can do. That’s all we can do.

As anyone who is familiar with my writings knows, for the past four years I’ve expressed my alarm at the systematic disempowerment of everyday citizens — the 99% — and the destruction of our democracy. I’m never content to merely identify a problem without trying to identify a solution. Thus my books Candidate Contracts: Taking Back Our Democracy (June 2015) and Fighting for the Democracy We Deserve (September 2015) focused on ways to address these critical challenges, even given the shredding of our personal liberties and the sabotaging of normal mechanisms for implementing reform.

In developing the ideas for these books, at some point I realized that the militarization of our domestic police forces, our communities, our media, our foreign policy, in fact, just about every aspect of our lives and everything America now collectively does, was central to the control the oligarchy now has over the country and its citizens. This militarization finds its most obvious expression in the constant wars and the insertion of U.S. troops all over the world, the open-ended and ubiquitous War on Terror, and the pursuit of world domination by any means necessary, all of which are steadily driving the country to its own cataclysmic unraveling.

But it also occurred to me that not only was this militarization the main mechanism for reshaping America into an imperial autocracy, it offered at the same time a phenomenal opportunity for its citizens to reclaim their country. I believe that the war machine is its own Achilles heel — at least until voting has been outlawed and we’re all locked away in work slave camps — in that its abuse of power is so ham-fisted, at core so contrary to the best social and political traditions of our nation, once the majority of citizens understand what is going on, the whole destructive regime of the warmongers can be taken down and replaced with one that serves the greater interests of all Americans. Of course, the major challenge is finding a way to communicate it in a way that makes sense and guarantees a significant number of people will pay attention to it.

This unfolds as my Peace Dividend concept, a historical and political analysis of endemic institutional corruption and abuse in the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security, the NSA and other national security agencies, Congress and the White House, offering a strategy for challenging and ending the egregious violations of public trust.

The Peace Dividend concept originally appeared and is explored in summary form in both of the two books mentioned above. With the publication of my new book, it now has its own dedicated volume with full explication, justification, and documentation . . .

The Peace Dividend: The Most Controversial Proposal in the History of the World.

Here’s the premise: With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1992, American citizens were promised a “peace dividend”, i.e. less money for war, more for peace and a good life for all. The U.S. military under misguided leadership has attacked eight countries since then. The defense budget has exploded, buying a lot of junk that doesn’t work and military hardware we don’t need.

American citizens have been grossly deceived about the real purpose and agenda of our military exploits throughout the world. As I incontrovertibly establish, we have had over $4.82 trillion of our hard-earned tax dollars taken under false pretenses and wasted with cavalier abandon on unnecessary wars and unneeded weapons. This transparent fraud on the American people has been perpetrated for two-and-a-half decades.

It’s time to change all of that. It’s time for a fresh new narrative, and a vibrant national conversation. It’s time to start thinking and talking about peace again. This book explains why and exactly how we begin.

The Peace Dividend strategy is a direct attack on America’s systemic addiction to war by appealing to the self-interest of its citizens, literally INCENTIVIZING citizens to redirect their thinking and start WORKING FOR PEACE!

Here is a site which offers an introduction to the Peace Dividend concept ... http://peacedividend.us

But the best way to fully grasp both the strategy and the impact of this approach is through the book, which is mercifully short at 86 pages, but packs a lot of punch.

If you're serious about peace but frustrated with America's obsession with war, please take a look. This will not be a waste of your time.

I confess to being schizophrenic.

There are two distinct personalities co-existing in this one John Rachel.

One is the political, driving my skewed commentary on world events ... often resulting in death threats.

The other is the artistic, inspiring my work as a novelist. This often results in ... more death threats.

Hmm. Am I doing something wrong?

In any case, everyone can breathe easy. This is not a political rant.

In fact, it's a celebration!

Six years ago, while living in Nepal and India, I wrote the initial draft of The Man Who Loved Too Much. Gosh, I was proud, hopeful, ecstatic. Much work and many long hours went into this patently semi-autobiographical tome, which weighed in at over 800 pages.

Like the clueless and naive apprentice that I was, I sent my masterpiece out to hundreds of publishers and literary agents. The unanimous reaction was that it was too long! Too long? Maybe I should have called it The Man Who Wrote Too Much.

Understandably, I was both confused and disappointed. The Bible is more than 800 pages and look how well it has sold!

I went into a self-destructive death spiral of anxiety and depression, tragically resulting in my suicide __ asphyxiation by immersing my face in an iron pot full of dal bhat.

Ha ha ha! Just seeing if you were paying attention.

Actually, I put the book aside and wrote five more novels, hundreds of political blogs __ apparently my appetite for death threats is insatiable __ three screenplays, a number of songs, carved my initials in a bench at a city bus stop, sent out over 6,000 Tweets . . . and changed the banner on my Facebook page three times. Wow! Talk about being productive. I'm so impressed with myself!

Anyway, my lovely wife and I were camping through Europe a couple summers ago, when I was gobsmacked by an epiphany. Our tent was pitched outside of Bern, Switzerland, and I was floating on my back in the cold Alpine waters of the Aare River . . . when it hit me.

The Man Who Loved Too Much should be a trilogy!

Yes, I would take that monster the size of the New York Manhattan phone directory and split it into three. With a blessedness that would rival the Trinity in the greater scheme of things, people would then flock to my inspired words. Surely these novels would kick the Bible itself out of first place as the best selling book ever!

As they say, the rest is history.

Six years.

My trilogy is complete.

When sending death threats, please attach a $100 bill.

_________________________________________



The Man Who Loved Too Much - Book 1: Archipelago

Fellow lovers of literature! Here we begin the story of Billy Green. With all of the swell advantages of growing up in beautiful Detroit, Michigan . . . what could possibly go wrong? Aren't you maybe just a little bit curious?

Darn . . . I know I was.

And folks, because I genuinely believe in the power of impulse, there's no reason to postpone a decision you will always regret. This epic faux pas is available NOW!

Apple (iBook) . . . bit.ly/1ycltFD
Amazon (Kindle) . . . amzn.to/1tyIRiw
Amazon (Paperback) . . . amzn.to/1z8F8aD
Barnes & Noble . . . bit.ly/ZDnQVO
Smashwords . . . bit.ly/1w62HOX
Direct from printer . . . bit.ly/1r6qWYQ

__________________________________



The Man Who Loved Too Much - Book 2: Entendre

The Billy Green saga continues! Billy’s challenging, sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic, always unpredictable journey.

Our boy from Detroit was more determined than ever to find meaning in life and comfort in love. He failed.

Admittedly, this is the darkest of the three books.

Available from all of the usual suspects!

Apple (iBook) . . . apple.co/1bkFQe7
Amazon (Kindle) . . . amzn.to/18x1ZnS
Amazon (Paperback) . . . amzn.to/1xfmjp3
Barnes & Noble . . . bit.ly/18OGY85
Smashwords . . . bit.ly/1AMUCPz
Direct from printer . . . bit.ly/1Du7Esh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=...

_________________________________________



The Man Who Loved Too Much - Book 3: Oxymoron

How do we function in a world which is both as randomly and intentionally cruel, as it is randomly and intentionally kind? Can we make sense of our lives when so much around us makes no sense?

In this, the final book of the trilogy, we find out what it means to be a "man who loves too much". Even more importantly, we discover if Billy Green is such a man.

Whew! Heavy stuff.

Apple (iBook) . . . apple.co/1DfoG9g
Amazon (Kindle) . . . amzn.to/1LJnMcX
Amazon (Paperback) . . . amzn.to/1NZPU9Y
Barnes & Noble . . . bit.ly/1fvzxXD
Smashwords . . . bit.ly/1LJnRgJ
Direct from printer . . . http://bit.ly/1K07Yzy