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Ronald E. Yates

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Ronald E. Yates

Goodreads Author


Born
Kansas City, The United States
Website

Twitter

Genre

Influences
Elmore Leonard, Evelyn Waugh, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway

Member Since
December 2013

URL


Ronald E. Yates is an award-winning author of historical fiction and action/adventure novels, including the popular and award-winning Finding Billy Battles trilogy. His extraordinarily accurate books have captivated fans the world over who applaud his ability to blend fact and fiction.

Ron is a former award-winning foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and Professor Emeritus of Journalism at the University of Illinois where he was also the Dean of the College of Media.

His book, "The Improbable Journeys of Billy Battles," is the second in his Finding Billy Battles trilogy of novels and was published in June 2016. It has won multiple awards, including the 2017 KCT International Literary Award, the 2017 John E. Weaver Excellent Reads Aw
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Ronald E. Yates Hi Kim,

Sorry to be so tardy in answering your question. Oh No...I NEVER have writing challenges (I'm hooting at that right now). Writing is damned har…more
Hi Kim,

Sorry to be so tardy in answering your question. Oh No...I NEVER have writing challenges (I'm hooting at that right now). Writing is damned hard work. I think the most challenging thing about writing fiction, as opposed to non-fiction, which is what I worked in most of my professional career, is keeping the story moving. That's called pacing. I love writing dialogue. I guess that's the journalist in me. I have spent decades listening to people and have been able to incorporate speaking styles into my fiction. We call get writer's block from time to time. When that happens, I simply stop, drink something (wine comes to mind) and think about other things. How about you? What are your challenges?(less)
Ronald E. Yates I stop writing. I don't force anything. Sometimes I might just start writing one sentence after another to see where that takes me. Normally, I stop a…moreI stop writing. I don't force anything. Sometimes I might just start writing one sentence after another to see where that takes me. Normally, I stop and drink something. (A cold beer, wine or a Hemingway Hammer). Then I forget about writing until, magically, the block is gone.(less)
Average rating: 4.39 · 366 ratings · 163 reviews · 14 distinct works
The Lost Years of Billy Bat...

4.36 avg rating — 153 ratings3 editions
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Finding Billy Battles (Find...

4.52 avg rating — 81 ratings — published 2013 — 5 editions
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The Improbable Journeys of ...

4.63 avg rating — 71 ratings6 editions
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Finding Billy Battles (Find...

4.29 avg rating — 24 ratings — published 2014
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Finding Billy Battles: Book...

4.17 avg rating — 24 ratings
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The Kikkoman Chronicles

liked it 3.00 avg rating — 7 ratings — published 1998 — 2 editions
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Music of the Winds

1.33 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2012 — 2 editions
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International Reporting and...

0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2001
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The Legendary Three

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0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2013
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Kara's Portrait

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More books by Ronald E. Yates…

America is Squandering its Common Sense

One day, perhaps 50 years from now, historians will look back on the years between 2020 and 2025 and conclude that America chose to abandon common sense and established fact despite significant advances in artificial intelligence, science, medicine, and technology. They will marvel at AI advancements, including the rapid scaling ...

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Published on January 18, 2026 21:00
Finding Billy Battles The Improbable Journeys of ... The Lost Years of Billy Bat...
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The Worst Hard Ti...
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The Improbable Jo...
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Asia Ernie
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Today’s Democrats and Their Baffling Empathy for Drug Cartels & Criminal Aliens

If today’s Congressional Democrats were around on Dec. 7, 1941, I wonder if they would have voted against declaring war on Imperial Japan—the nation t Read more of this blog post »
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The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan
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Quotes by Ronald E. Yates  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“Reading a book is like life: you live it one page at a time.”
Ronald E. Yates, Finding Billy Battles

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“Reading a book is like life: you live it one page at a time.”
Ronald E. Yates, Finding Billy Battles

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Duane Simolke Hi, Ronald! Thanks for the friend request!


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