Title: THROUGH DANGEROUS DOORS
Author: Robert Charles Lee
Publisher: Wido / E.L. Marker
Pages: 212
Genre: Memoir

BOOK BLURB:

In a life defined by risk, Robert Charles Lee experiences a poor and free-ranging childhood in the racist South of the 1960s. After his father dies, the family grows dysfunctional. As a result, teen-age Robert seeks sanity and solace by rock climbing solo and driving cars fast. He wins a scholarship and graduates from university, but still seeks to escape the South.

Moving to Alaska and the Western US, Robert works in a series of dangerous and brutal jobs. He meets and marries Linda, who enjoys climbing and skiing difficult mountains as much as he does. Simultaneously, Robert trains in the science of risk to become a respected professional risk scientist.

Robert shares his remarkable story as he guides the reader through a series of dangerous but rewarding doors, culminating in a vivid journey of adventure and risk.

FAVORITE QUOTE FROM FIRST CHAPTER:

I just wanted to escape my family, but I needed a door.

BOOK COVER:

Awesome cover...gives me an idea of what's inside as most covers should do. 

FIRST CHAPTER REVIEW:
 
Great first chapter. Here we get a glimpse of mostly the younger Robert Charles Lee. Growing up during civil unrest, we are taken to a world in which there are still bathrooms marked Men, Women, and Colored. I found it really interesting to read about Robert's life as a child and it gave me some perspective on why he felt he needed to take risks as an adult. Powerful chapter.

KEEP READING?

Absolutely! Sometimes I feel that kids who are put through the wringer during childhood are the best risk takers. I can't wait to get into the meat of the book to find out what risks he did take but if the cover is any indication of what that entails, I absolutely am going to enjoy it! I'll have the full review shortly. 

  

 

Robert Charles Lee is a retired risk scientist with over twenty-five years of academic and applied risk analysis, decision analysis, and risk management experience in a wide variety of contexts. He has authored over one hundred peer-reviewed scientific works, as well as over one hundred technical reports for industry and government agencies. Prior to the professional risk work he worked in laboratories a bit, but otherwise was a manual laborer until he reckoned that he could use his brain for a living.

Robert has a BS in Botany, a BS in Science Education, an MS in Environmental Health, and a Certificate in Integrated Business Administration. He is ABD (all but dissertation) in a Toxicology PhD program. He is an ordained Minister and has an honorary Doctorate of Metaphysics from the Universal Life Church and is a Member of the Nova Scotia L’Ordre du Bon Temps, or Order of the Good Time.

He was born in North Carolina and lived there for over twenty years, but has since lived in Alaska, Oregon, Washington, and Alberta. He was also homeless for a time while a laborer in the Western United States. He currently resides in Colorado.

Robert and his wife Linda have climbed hundreds of technical and non-technical mountain, rock, ice, and canyon routes, hiked thousands of miles in several countries, and skied many miles of vertical feet at resorts and in the backcountry.

Robert is an avid amateur photographer, largely of outdoor subjects. He is a musician who plays hand, stick, and mallet percussion, and who can sing, but rarely does for unclear reasons. He is an amateur sound engineer and producer and has recorded more than a thousand written and improvisational instrumental pieces with other musicians to date. He was trying to learn to relax in retirement, but then he discovered non-technical writing. He has written a memoir and a poetry collection and is working on short stories.

Through Dangerous Doors is his latest book.

Visit his website at https://robertcharleslee.com or follow him on Goodreads.

"Even though I was not actually guilty, I know many of you think that I got what I deserved. You probably think people like me get by on their looks and coast through life without breaking a sweat. Well, in my case, coast through someone else’s life. I know for a fact, from the “fan mail” I get here, that there are lots of you out there who think I’m just a crazy man spinning a conspiracy theory. I’m used to that kind of judgment; it doesn’t bother me. I don’t need to defend myself from that. I will tell you all right now, I am not, nor have I ever been, a religious man, but I will confess my sins today. I am guilty of many, many sins.

But none of those sins is murder. That one belongs to my lookalike buddy, Brad Pitt."

-- From I Am Not Brad Pitt and Other Stories by Ross Dreiblatt

Book Description:

I AM NOT BRAD PITT is the first of three riotously absurd tales in Ross Dreiblatt’s debut short-story collection sending up America’s sometimes-fatal celebrity obsessions.

“I Am Not Brad Pitt” opens in a prison cell in which Mr. Pitt’s clone-like doppelganger, Tobey Crawford, remorsefully recounts the sequence of unlikely events that resulted in his wrongful conviction for murder.

The second story, “Please Allow Me To Introduce Myself,” considers the possibility that Keith Richards (along with, for good measure, Dolly Parton) is, indeed, a vampire. Nobel-Prize laureate Bob Dylan, the story’s vampire-killer, is equipped with more than just a harmonica and tambourine.

The final work in the collection, “Keeping Compliant With The Kardashians,” examines whether Kardashian family members are, in fact, aliens from another galaxy and what precisely is their interest on Earth.

Each of the stories are told with engaging humor, and each pokes fun more at American culture than they do, generally, of the celebrities themselves.

“Ross's stories stay with you long after you've read them. The main characters have a relatable humanity that pull the reader in as they face an array of absurd situations. Every story is a guaranteed good time.” – Pat Griffith, author of THE DPA TRILOGY

Book Information

Release Date: November 14, 2021

Publisher:  Stone Tiger Books

Soft Cover: ISBN:  978-1735667683; 391 pages; $11.00; E-Book, $2.99; Kindle Unlimited, FREE

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59610948-i-am-not-brad-pitt-and-other-stories

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3mBsxgF

You can also purchase book at the author’s website at www.RossDreiblatt.com.

Interview:

Welcome, Ross! Your book, I Am Not Brad Pitt and Other Stories sounds absolutely exciting. Can you tell us the story behind that intriguing title?

Ross:  It began many years ago when I read John Rechy’s wonderful novel “Marilyn’s Daughter.”  In the novel Rechy uses the actual timeline of President Kennedy’s and Marilyn Monroe’s relationship to create a plausible scenario where she could have secretly given birth to a daughter. This alleged daughters existence becomes the stuff of legendary conspiracy theories.  However, in the book the daughter is a real flesh and blood person and she’s not been told who her parents are.   The story follows her as she tries to reconcile her life.  

I realized then that I could use actual people and events to weave a story of my own in as long as the timeline works out.  It helps to have a distorted perspective and a feverish imagination as well. 

Can you explain to us why it was important for you to write your book? 

Ross:  Some of the other books that really inspired me to write were “The World According to Garp,” “The Mysteries of Pittsburg” and “100 Years of Solitude.”  In each of these books, the author creates a unique world that’s filled with chaos just beneath the service and manages to make order out of it all.  I was amazed that anyone could use the power of words to make me experience new perspectives and make me smile.  All of this from imaginary characters.  This was what I set out to do.

I understand you have the travel bug. Where have you traveled and did any of these trips result in story ideas?

Ross:  I have traveled everywhere!  Like writing, it’s a passion that sometimes I cannot explain.  I love big crazy cities that make me work to figure stuff out.  Some of my favorites:  Phnom Penh, Johannesburg, Bangkok, Bogota, Buenos Aires, Taiwan, Paris, Budapest and any city in Spain!

I haven’t written about these places, BUT I have written in these places. When I travel and I will always take some time to find a café wherever I’m visiting and work on my manuscript.

Where do you see yourself in ten years?

Ross:  Plugging away on a book for sure.  I’m not sure what I will be writing, but the growth process from each project always puts me in entirely different place than when I began it.

Do you have any advice for up and coming debut authors?

1.      Never give up.

2.    Do not be defeated.

3.     Always keep writing, even if it’s just one sentence.

4.    Never ever give up!

FAVORITE QUOTE FROM FIRST CHAPTER:

It all started with the wind.

BOOK COVER:

What a beautiful foreboding cover! The woman on the cover must be Lady Jane. She is standing in front of the Rathborne Castle. The wolf glares at you with his teeth menacingly protruding from his mouth as if to say don't even think about coming near me. Beautiful cover!

FIRST CHAPTER REVIEW:
 
Okay, wowzers. In this first chapter, we find Lady Jane Linwood walking through the woods hearing voices in her head. These voices are telling her things like "Danger approaches," little things like that to sort of warn her ahead of time and these voices ended up being right on target. "A stranger enters your world" it warns her. And a stranger winds up at the gate of her castle all bloodied up. She's hesitant because she doesn't trust anyone anymore since they've branded her a witch, but as she says, she can't leave him out there bleeding. She orders the butler to take him to the dungeon as she doesn't want him roaming the castle until she finds out what his intent is. So while all this is going on the voice returns telling Lady Jane the man is important to your future. She starts the process of giving him aid when she gets a vision. She is beside the stranger on a horse when he gets an arrow in the shoulder, then the vision stops. The voice returns saying "Your life and his are intertwined." This bewilders Lady Jane. 

KEEP READING?

Oh my yes. This stranger I feel is going to play a big part in this book. And Lady Jane - I'm curious to see what her voices tell her and if she gets more visions. A great read so far and it's going to be a page turner!

  

I enjoy my grandchildren, and the time I share with them. They make me smile with their antics. I like to quilt, crochet, knit and sew. Cooking and baking are occasional itches I scratch. The rest of the time, they are necessary evils. LOL.

My greatest support comes from my husband. He has been my sounding board for all my stories. My daughters are also a great support to me. I couldn’t do it without my family.

Virginia Barlow’s recent release is the paranormal romance, The Witch of Rathborne Castle.

You can visit Virginia’s website at https://www.virginia-barlow.com or connect with her on Twitter, Goodreads and Facebook.