General
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On one particular night that stands out in my memory, one of our beach front neighbors must have been displeased with something because at approximately 11pm, the police arrived. Luckily for us we had dispelled with much of the evening’s enhancements. However, Peter was visibly drunk, as usual and had gotten himself arrested. Like a…
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Rovers takes place during America’s bicentennial year of 1976. At its’ core, it’s a story about loss, about redemption, and about the agony of the road. I would imagine that if Steinbeck were to write a dystopian world, it might look similar to this one. It is clear that there are similarities to Of Mice…
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Mark Twain wrote “Loyalty of country, always. Loyalty of government, only when it deserves it.” Never was a statement truer than this is today. We’ve all heard this story many times in grade school or otherwise… A young Thomas Jefferson is employed by Benjamin Franklin and John Adams to pen a letter of declaration to…
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The year was 1975. I was just a punk kid then. Seventeen years old and full of vinegar. So sure of myself and what little the world had to offer. Nothing, that’s what. Like all other teens my age, we waited for what was meant to come to us instead of reaching out and grabbing…
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Comparing Athens and Sparta is much like comparing apples to oranges. Both unique in their own way yet differing greatly even though they were neighboring cities. For example, the Athenian form of government was democracy, or demos, meaning the people. Each election year, the Athenian men, usually limited to between 5,000 and 6,000, would gather…
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On a cold January morning in 2020, I pulled my car into the only empty parking spot available, which was a quarter of a mile from the front door. My boots crunched upon hard-packed snow as I walked along the path to my dreaded, dead-end factory job. I hated what I was doing. The pay…
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The classical period of ancient Greece lasted for 200 years. During this time there was a grand feeling of transition. Wars were fought and freedom was established, though not without some discourse. Many Greeks that held power were fearful of a democracy that would force them to relinquish it. The elites of Athens, for example,…
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Just like “The Chain”, this one got me all worked up. It takes talent to be able to stir up so much tension in a few hundred pages. This is my go-to niche… Girl in trouble, nasty men chasing after her, girl becomes a bad-ass-bitch and kills everyone. There’s more to it than that, actually…
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How in the world, and I mean this with every ounce of marrow in my bones, have I never heard of Robert McCammon? As with most writers, I am an avid reader. I read with a passion equal to a fly on a rotting carcass. I am up on all the new releases as well…
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Austin, TXHotel EllaMarch 1212:37PM “Ladies and Gentlemen,” the announcement boomed, and a hush fell about the room. “The Senator from the great state of Texas, Elizabeth Holcomb!” An echo of cheers rose from the attendees as the Senator entered the vast hall at the lavish, and historic downtown Austin hotel.When she first ran for a…
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As a writer, I have to set simple goals, or I’ll never get a thing accomplished. The main goal is to simply write each day. No matter what the situation. In the morning before work. At night after work. My days off are filled with writing. Roughly 75% is trash but that’s just fine. It’s…
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From the author of The Blood Red Box, comes a new psychological thriller that won’t just keep you up at night, you might not ever go to sleep again. In Washington DC, the newly elected Governor and his wife have gone missing, with no evidence or witnesses. The secret Service employ retired agent Grayson Sawyer…
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On this very day in 1968, singer/songwriter Johnny Cash walked into Folsom Prison in California and lit the country music world on fire. We’ve all heard the phrase music soothes the savage beast. Well not in this case. Inspired by a 1950s film of the same name, Cash wrote Folsom Prison Blues in 1955 and…
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This title has been spinning around in my head for a number of years. The idea of it is that it holds memories. And now I have come up with the perfect story to surround it. Alex and Alexa are twins. Identical twins. They do everything and share everything together. But when Alexa is taken…
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In 1861 Wilmer McLean was retired from military life. A grocer by trade, living in Virginia with his family, Mclean was perfectly fine with not having to be involved in the war. At 47 years of age, he was far too old to reenlist when the war broke out. A southerner at heart and a…
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What is it about you that I detest so much? Your smell? Much like an offensive version of burnt ketchup and something rubbery. No, that’s not it. Is it your lack of compassion when faced with the burdens of your fellow man? Not quite. Could it possibly be the way you wear your hair, all…
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As I sit here at my corner desk in my cramped room in my small but not-so-modern apartment, writing an essay on South Carolina’s aggression prior to the shots on Fort Sumter while snacking directly from a family sized box of Chicken in a Biskit crackers and drinking flavored water in an attempt to relieve…
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I understand that it has been some time since you last heard from me. School has me laden with this task and that. However, it is always exciting when I dive into a new project. Please stay tuned for the wonderful things to come.
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History has been defined as the study of past events and human affairs. But history itself is so much more. History is flipping through a collection of family photographs with a loved one. It’s the emotion that one feels when they remember those that they have lost. History is remembering; remembering a time when we…
Brian Kelly Irons 