Don't Be Lonely, Lone Ranger

by Joe Taylor

In the strange, purgatorial months between the first and second COVID vaccine doses, when life was neither locked down nor fully open, the world teetered on the edge of absurdity. Enter our protagonist—jobless, aimless, and desperately searching for meaning. His solution? To don the persona of the Lone Ranger and undertake the lofty quest of bringing aid to his struggling country, one person at a time. Or, well, that had been the goal, at least.

131 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 7, 2025

About the author

I’ve had stories published in over 100 literary magazines. Pineapple, A Comic Novel in Verse, was published by Sagging Meniscus Press, as was Back to the Wine Jug, another novel in verse. NewSouth Books published The Theoretics of Love. Sagging Meniscus also published a story collection of mine, entitled Ghostly Demarcations. A previous novel of mine, Oldcat & Ms. Puss: A Book of Days for You and Me, was published several years ago by the now defunct Black Belt Press, and it was reviewed in Publishers Weekly. I have three story collections published, and I’ve edited several anthologies, notably, Belles’ Letters: Contemporary Fiction by Alabama Women and Tartts One through Five. I recently published a novel with the imposing title, Let There Be Lite, OR, How I Came To Know and Love Godel’s Incompleteness Proof. I’ve been the director of Livingston Press . . . forever.

Reviews

[Katie Rufo Barksdale · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you ever want to be transported back to the time between the first and second COVID-19 vaccines and the absurdity that was the reality at that time look no further than Don't Be Lonely, Lone Ranger. The main character is laid off from his public relations job at Toyota. He hears of the infamous phrase, “Make America Great Again” and he decides to take over the persona of the Lone Ranger. Once LR (Lone Ranger) acquires his rag tag team of Margie, Homeless (the dog), Ta-ta, Coyote and Dr. Lu-Lu, he is off to improve his community. This short story shows the wide gambit of emotions that America was experiencing at that time. There are multiple times that LR feels that the first vaccine he received gave people the ability to read his mind. In the story he is going to receive the second shot in a couple of days. He makes references to Tech Giants being able to read his mind.
LR, Margie, Homeless and Ta-ta experience multiple protests. Some of these have people who want COVID to have rights (the group references other living things), others are performing social experiments, and others are individuals who are trying to go about their daily lives. LR has the best of intentions and we see how every situation can go wrong in the most hilarious way possible.
This was a well written piece reflecting the unstable times of 2021 in America. I believe I would have enjoyed this piece more if I knew more about the story of the Lone Ranger. There were pieces to the story that I wish had a little bit more backstory/information. The symbolism was well thought out but at times it went over my head. This piece does a fantastic job of reflecting the unstable times of America in 2021. The sad thing is that the reality of America in 2025 is not too far away from life in America in 2021. Flattery is the way to one’s heart, we are still chasing the pursuit of items that reflect our economic status (clothing, luxury items, technology, etc.), money is king, exclamation points constantly fly around and breed at the speed of light, pride is at an all time high, and distractions (smoking, drinking, sex) are what seem to distract the masses from their reality.
So can America “Be Great Again”? To quote the author Joe Taylor, “Was there really such a time in America when facts were facts were facts, not fake news? Was there ever such a time on the entire globe?’(p.28). America has come a long way since its inception but it still has a long way to go.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant! If I don’t say so myself. This short novel got a five star review in Kirkus. Check it out, don’t trust me. Ho Ho.

[Majenta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Welcome back to Freaky February 2021 in Lexington, Kentucky! ❄️ It's almost Valentine's Day, but where is the love?💝

"...with a happy blue potato chip bag precariously protruding from the lowest. (Oh, don't tumble; she needs you; we need you.)"....."The potato chips fall bluely to the sidewalk. I can almost hear their tiny, sad crunches." (p. 11)

"Peace? This isn't the sixties, pal; this is February 2021. Look around you, pal; look at the Capitol lawn just last month. Hate and exclamation points are what you'll see everywhere, not peace." (p. 12)

"I look at my cell phone as if it will provide an answer. There is none, for who knows what they want? Who, in fact, knows what any THEY want, for all THEYs exist as the OTHER."...."And yet no....folkster is an island. We all gotta try." (p. 13)

"I dawn-don a light jacket" (p. 17)

"A bushy-haired clerk stops, raises his brows, studies his cell phone, and then scurries into a bank. Too bad, for he was a Jimi Hendrix miniature in White." (p. 17)

"It's as if words cannot carry their proper meanings anymore." (p. 21)

"...the smell of donuts is performing actual hot-grease circus-clown slips'n'slides along the dirty sidewalk. It visibly swirls from under a green-and-white striped awning that flaps in a sudden breeze. A full quart of it warmly globs on the front steps of Danny's Delectable Donuts to ooze downward." (p. 21) 🍩🍩🍩🍩🍩🍩

"'Or Tara, as in The Plantation That Dribbled Away with the Wind.'" (p. 22)

"'My grandmother always bragged she could type that silly Now is the time exercise in ten seconds.' 'My grandmother said she could type it in nine.' 'Do I detect a competitive spirit? We'll get along famously.'" (p. 23)

"Just the right day to begin a quest, I'd think. I inhale deeply. Stabilizing donut grease jumps from the sidewalk and gallops from the shop to fill my lungs." (p. 25)

"The sun is indeed now doing more than peeking; it's staring, almost glaring, making the day as warm, I suppose, as any February day in central Kentucky can ever be." (p. 29)

"The ellipses Ta-ta leaves are so frightening that I nearly long for exclamation points." (p. 30)

"....fiery dark brown eyes. I know that seems impossibly oxymoronic, but they are fiery and they are dark brown. And they are angry and pissed and pointy and piercing. Mud-electricity sloshes through them." (p. 33)

"'How can you stay so still on that bench, with all this glorious Vitamin D cascading down?'" (p.35)

"'Money talks while whiners squawk.'" (p. 35)

"'You surely don't believe that information does anything but mis-flow these days, do you? They could as easily be in front of the meat department in a Winn-Dixie, complaining about the bull market.' 'Or in front of the zoo, complaining about the bear market.'" (p. 37)

"...I guess it's a secret smile, which I'm hopeful that all Americans harbor these days behind their masks." (p. 55)

"'Why does everything good have to leave?'" (p. 62)

"Is she kidding? There's a reason police drop into slo-mo when answering domestic disturbance calls. They're as likely--or more likely--to get cut, shot, or in general frying-panned in the cranium than either of the combatants."..."It's Kentucky. An iron skillet has made its appearance, as I feared. The woman raises it." (p.66)

"....I comment, more simply, more sanely, more empathetically. 'We love you,' I add. Pronouns are our friends, I think. 'You love you.' I stay away from the male singular, in case a he is what conjured this black mood." (p. 75)

"... ... ... I try to do the same, but ellipses get in the way." (p. 89)

"Surely...but I've been wrong so much recently I can only feel ellipses forming." (p. 91)

If you love ellipses, exclamation points, and absurdity, now is the time for you to trade "fake news" for faux-heifers and dig in! And now is the time for me to thank Joe Taylor for the free author's copy, and to thank you for reading this.

[Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Don’t Be Lonely, Lone Ranger on a quiet Sunday morning, and I didn’t expect it to stir up so much inside me. I spent thirty years as a nurse. I’ve held the hands of people dying alone and seen loneliness in every form. Joe Taylor captures that ache with a strange, comic honesty that only someone who understands suffering could write.

Joe Smith’s search for purpose reminded me of my husband after he retired from the military. He wanted to help, to matter, but the world didn’t seem to need him anymore. Watching the main character try so hard to be “good” while the world spins madly around him broke my heart a little.

I laughed at the absurdity the talking coyote, the ridiculous protests but there were moments that stopped me cold. The line between sanity and meaning is so thin these days. This book may be satire, but underneath it is something tender and painfully true. It reminded me that kindness is still possible, even in chaos.

[Paul Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think Joe Taylor wrote this book for people who still believe stories can tell the truth, even when they’re wrapped in madness. I taught Don Quixote for years, and Don’t Be Lonely, Lone Ranger feels like its American cousin. A man chasing goodness in a world that mocks him for even trying.

I recognized my former students in these pages their anxiety, their irony, their desperate need to be seen. Taylor’s language is sharp but soulful. Beneath all the absurdity, he’s asking the question every generation eventually asks: how do we stay human when everything around us feels mechanical?

I finished the book and sat in silence for a long while. It made me grateful that I got to spend a lifetime trying to teach young people that words matter, that empathy matters. Joe’s failures are our failures. His heart is our heart. And I think that’s what makes this book beautiful.

[Henry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve seen a lot of confusion in people’s eyes. Real confusion the kind that comes when the world stops making sense. That’s what I saw in Joe Smith. He’s not crazy. He’s desperate. He’s looking for some kind of order in a time that’s lost all structure.

The way Taylor writes reminded me of how people acted during lockdown. Everyone was angry, restless, half-mad from isolation. I saw men like Joe good men lose direction. Trying to be heroes when the world didn’t want saving, at least not the way they knew how.

The book made me laugh a few times, but mostly it made me sad. Sad for what this country’s become. Sad that loneliness is now just part of the air we breathe. But it also gave me hope, in its own crooked way. That maybe trying, even foolishly, is still better than giving up.

[Carroll · Rating 5 out of 5]

I spend my days around people who are near the end, so I know loneliness when I see it. What Joe Taylor captures in this book isn’t just isolation it’s the quiet madness that comes when people stop being seen. I laughed through parts of it, but by the last page, I was crying. Joe’s version of “saving the world” feels foolish at first, until you realize it’s the same thing we all do: pretend we’re okay while we’re falling apart. This book hurt, but in a good, cleansing way.

[Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve taught decades of American literature, and I’ll say this: Taylor belongs in the same conversation as Twain and Vonnegut. The humor cuts deep, and the social satire is brutal but fair. Beneath it all, he’s writing about a country that’s lost its reflection. Joe Smith becomes The Lone Ranger because that’s what men of my generation were taught to do fix things, save the day. Only now there’s nothing left to fix, just a noise we can’t escape. A brilliant, sad, and funny piece of truth.

[John Dane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I kept wanting to shelve this book under “Absurdist Therapy.” It’s ridiculous, but it’s also healing. Every time Joe tried to “help” someone and made a mess instead, I laughed, but then I saw how often I do the same, thinking I can fix other people’s pain to distract from my own. Taylor’s writing walks that thin line between humor and heartbreak, and he never loses his humanity. I loved it more than I expected to.

[Andre · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used to cover politics, so I’ve seen firsthand the insanity this book talks about. The protests, the noise, the empty slogans Taylor nails the circus perfectly. But he also goes deeper, showing how exhaustion turns into apathy, and apathy into loneliness. Joe’s breakdown isn’t just personal; it’s cultural. We all went a little mad after the pandemic, and this book feels like a mirror nobody asked for but everyone needs to look into.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you’ve worked twelve-hour shifts and watched patients die alone during COVID, a book like this hits different. The loneliness, the chaos, the desperate humor, it’s too familiar. Joe Smith tries so hard to be good, and people just look at him like he’s crazy. I’ve been there. This story made me feel seen. And Margie… Lord, she reminded me of every patient who hides pain behind laughter. It’s a strange, powerful little book, and it stayed with me long after I closed it.

[Glenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s not often I find a book that blends comedy, grief, and theology so naturally. Joe Taylor may not call this a spiritual novel, but it absolutely is. Joe’s search for meaning is a prayer, clumsy, awkward, but sincere. His failures reminded me of the old parable about the fool who tries to save the world and accidentally saves his own soul. This isn’t a “religious” book, but it’s deeply moral, in the best way.

[Miriam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved how visual the writing was, chaotic, colorful, dreamlike. The whole book felt like a painting gone slightly wrong but somehow still beautiful. The way Joe drifts between reality and imagination reminded me of what it’s like to be creative in a world that doesn’t care. There’s something so tragic and human about his need to matter. Taylor has written not just a story, but a confession of the modern soul.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to this one on audio while driving cross-country, and man, it messed with my head in a good way. Joe talking to coyotes and ranting about society sounded like half the truck stops I’ve been in lately. But somewhere around the middle, I realized it wasn’t just crazy talk. It was real. We’ve all gone a little off the rails trying to stay sane. I don’t usually get emotional over books, but this one got me.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

There’s a loneliness in caregiving that’s hard to explain to people who haven’t done it. Reading this book, I felt like someone finally put that feeling into words. Joe’s exhaustion, his confusion, his trying-too-hard heart I recognized it all. The satire was sharp, but it never felt cruel. Taylor seems to understand that underneath every joke is a wound. I finished it and thought, “He gets it. He really gets it.”

[Britanny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I grew up around sermons that promised the world could be fixed if we just believed enough. Reading Don’t Be Lonely, Lone Ranger made me laugh at how naive that was. Joe tries to do good, but the world doesn’t want saving. It just wants distraction. This book’s humor is dark, but there’s love under it. I think Taylor’s saying what a lot of us feel but can’t say out loud: we’re all exhausted, but we still want to believe in something good.

[Lucien Durant · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book held up a mirror to the America I’ve watched crumble in my therapy office for years. The narrator’s loneliness, confusion, and faith-tinted reflections felt painfully real. The way he keeps reaching for meaning in a world spinning with conspiracies struck a nerve. Jim Thompson echoing through the pages added such grit. I finished it feeling both bruised and grateful. This is satire with a human pulse.

[Fabienne Maurer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this on the road hit me hard. The way the narrator wrestles with what America has become felt too familiar, like conversations I’ve overheard at lonely truck stops. His mix of humor and despair is exactly how folks cope now. The political madness, the church references, the ordinary people being squeezed all rang true. I felt seen, and a little less alone. Beautiful work.

[Arata Fujimoto · Rating 5 out of 5]

The spiritual undertones in this book are breathtaking. That moment when he thanks God for Jim Thompson, women, Tina Turner, and freedom made me stop reading and just breathe. It’s satire, yes, but also a lament. A modern psalm for a nation wandering in emotional wilderness. The mix of faith and madness is heartbreakingly honest. I felt God whispering between the lines.

[Ronja Weiss · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw the loneliness in these pages the way I’ve seen it in hospital rooms at 2 a.m. The narrator trying to hold on to gratitude while the world collapses around him touched something tender in me. The chaos, the conspiracies, the political noise, it’s exactly what burned people out. His voice is raw but full of heart. This book healed a piece of me.

[Corey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wild trip! Can you make a comedy from the Trump era pandemic lockdown? You can if you have the wordplay chops of John Barth and the anarchic, droll, madcap plotting skills of vintage Tom Robbins. Joe Taylor possesses these qualities and more. This short novel is a laugh-out-loud hoot.

[Niteh · Rating 5 out of 5]

There’s rhythm in these pages, like a blues riff wrapped in satire. The narrator’s heartbreak and humor dance together beautifully. His commentary on America’s noise hit the soul. The gratitude for artists, women, freedom, that touched me deeply. I felt this book in my bones.

[Nijox · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a lot, but this book felt different, tender, sharp, almost painful at moments. The narrator’s emotional honesty grabbed me. His gratitude prayer was one of the most human things I’ve ever read in fiction. I hugged the book when I finished. Yes, really.

[Fifirah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The grit in this book reminded me of the old days in the mill. Hard life, hard truths, dark jokes to survive. The narrator feels like a man who broke but kept walking anyway. His reflections on America’s lost innocence cut deep. This book is rough, real, and unforgettable.

[Nabex · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story felt like the emotional aftermath of every emergency call I’ve ever worked. Confusion, darkness, tiny flashes of hope. The narrator’s prayer shocked me with its beauty. His frustration made sense. His heart showed through the satire. I respect the author deeply for writing this.