Up close and personal with Todd Embry- indie author! Leave a comment and get a chance to win a free ebook of Revenge Through Mars-

Synopsis:

In the future, Earth is controlled by one man, Supreme Leader Jeremiah Johnson. Fueled by a desire to control the world, Jeremiah Johnson infiltrated himself into the mega-churches and led a campaign of suppression and subversion that resulted in one Church of Enlightenment, with himself as leader. The political influence of the Church extended into the political arena where Jeremiah Johnson was also elected Supreme Leader of the World. With both the power of the church and the government in his hands, nothing stands between Jeremiah and world domination.

Henry Thomas’ parents were on a mission to uncover evidence that would undermine the doctrine that is the foundation of the Church of Enlightenment. Ten year old Henry watched as his parents were deemed heretics and violently murdered by a death squad of Church fanatics. Captured by fanatics himself, Henry is sent to a Church orphanage to be reprogrammed. After six years of captivity he manages to escape and begin a life on the run. He meets the love of his life, Annie Pearl, who shares his hatred of the oppression that has created a world of extreme wealth and extreme poverty. When Annie is murdered for her outspoken views, Henry’s life is set on a course of revenge and hatred. His mission to destroy Supreme Leader Johnson will take him all the way to the Martian deserts surrounding the new Mars colony. On Mars he hopes to find the proof his parents were seeking, the evidence that will topple an empire and exact revenge for the murder of those he loved.

A Man I Once Met- T.Embry

When I volunteered to post my first guest blog I think I perhaps I leaped before looking, a calamity of the inexperienced and eager you might say. Then I realized the subject of the blog, paranormal. Yikes I am a science fiction writer, I thought.

In a near fit of desperation I resorted to renting a paranormal movie from red box. Such drivel I never hope to see again. Despaired and while wondering still, I risked a second, sadly it was much more of the same. To what depths have Hollywood slunk I asked myself. But who am I to judge, they sell books. One would be wise to pay heed. Who knows, I might even learn something.

So after much gnashing of teeth and wringing of hands I decided to sit back in my favorite chair with my faithful dog Hobo next to me, open a good German beer, put on some rock and roll and tell you a story about a man I once met. One who I am convinced was and is a time traveler. Paranormal, Yeah I know but this will have to do for now. I am still trying to get my head around the paranormal thing.

I remember that day very clearly, in retrospect I wish I had paid much closer attention. It was a typical August afternoon in south Florida, where I live, hot, sticky and between rainstorms. I needed gas so I pulled into one of the large chain stations. As I watched a brand new,  four door Cadillac, one so new I did not recognize the model for certain, pulled up to the pump next to me. So quite as all new Caddy’s must be for I have never had one so I can only dream.

An elderly man with short cut, solid white hair got out from the driver’s side front. He was wearing a long sleeved, light pink shirt and yellow dress pants, so new as to have the creases from the package still. If you have ever bought a long sleeved dress shirt from one of the chain stores you know what I am talking about. OH and that was yes on the long-sleeved dress shirt and dress pants in Florida in August unbelievably uncomfortable in the hot, sticky weather.

Now Florida has all kinds of people from all over, all the time, especially during tourist season. So he was kinda dressed like a Canadian golfer. So as I watch he stares at the gas pumps completely perplexed. Again this is Florida and we have lots of retirees some with lots of money and many more without.

He must have noticed my staring as he approached me, taking out his wallet as he got closer. “How do you pay for the fuel,” he asked me. In what I realized later was perfect, unaccented English. In itself that is certainly not an unusual question, if one were in a foreign country. 

As he opened his wallet for me to see it had a stack of one hundred dollar bills at least a quarter of an inch thick. In addition I saw at least 3 major credit cards, all and the wallet perfectly new. “You can use either the cash or the credit cards. If you want to use the cash you will have to pay inside first,” I said with a smile, I am not always able but I help with kindness as often as I can and perhaps not as often as I should. My wife reminds me when I encounter an unpleasant person to kill them with kindness for I have not walked a mile in their shoes. Oh and that good manners are free.

 Sorry back to the story. My answers seemed to both concern and perplex my strange new friend. It was obvious to me that he did not want to go inside so I showed him how I used my debit card.  “Then you enter the zip code,” I said. A light seemed to go off in my friends head and he smiled “Thank you,” he said as he turned to go back to his car. He paused turning back around to face me, “How much can you get?”, he asked me concern once again on his face. “As much as you want”, I answered. I remember thinking how odd a question that was indeed in this day and age. There hasn’t been any gas rationing in south Florida since the season we got hit by 4 hurricanes back in 2004.

 Now I am curious, but I do not yet suspect that my new friend is or may be a time traveler, just a bit confused perhaps. I mean new place, new customs and forms of dress, understandably so. I have traveled to a lot of places in my life and the difference just a couple of states can make is amazing. So I recognized someone out of place as I have been there.

So I decide to watch out for my new friend as there are lots of two legged rats in Florida too. He proceeds to put exactly two gallons of gas in a 4 door, gas guzzling Cadillac. Carefully replacing the nozzle just as he had seen me do it just minutes ago. He then gets back in the Caddy and pulls away. I remember thinking how quiet those new Caddies were I didn’t even hear him start the engine.

A couple of days later I am sitting out on my lanai trying to come up with the answer to a particularly knotty paragraph on book two when I realized  what I had really seen. No way, I told myself I am just imagining it. Then I remembered the two gallons of gas and it snapped into place. The odd dress, the unfamiliarity with the gas pump, questioning how to pay, then how much can you get. Now it all made sense. I had met a time traveler indeed.

Yes I know that conventional scientific theory says time travel can’t exist. To that I say and once the world was known to be flat. Simply because we don’t not know how it works or even if it is possible does not preclude the fact that it may be possible that in our ignorance and we just don’t know how.

So let’s look at the main facts. Aside from an odd taste in fashion mister mysterious seemed quite like you and I if we were visiting a new place. But the gas pumps? I could see not knowing how to operate the pump; sometimes that task nearly eludes me. Soon they will be too smart indeed I think. But what industrialized country in the world does not have gas pumps of some sort? If they have cars they have gas pumps of some sort.

Add to that the question of how to pay, and I ask what industrialized nation in the modern world does not use either cash or credit cards? Certainly any wealthy tourist would be intimately familiar with both of them. But the final question is the one that clinches it for me. How much fuel can you purchase ? Not even proper American idioms, never mind the fact that there has been no gas rationing anywhere that I know of in the last few years anywhere, certainly not in the U.S.

However the proof for me is in the purchase of only two gallons of gas for a four door Cadillac, one known for its gas guzzling ways. I could and have spent hours arguing my case to mostly deaf ears but I haven’t until now been public about what I saw.

I know this fly’s in many scientific faces. I guess a valid question would be was it real or am I seeing things that are not what I think them to be. Or is a logical explanation simply beyond my grasp of reality. I invite your thoughts and comments on the matter

May you have good health and long life!

T.W. Embry

Author Bio

I am a navy brat thanks to my Dads attachment to the US Pacific Fleet. My family is from Kentucky and both sides have lived there since just after the revolutionary war. I am a long time resident of St Lucie county Florida. My wife of 19 years is a Florida native, born in Stuart Fl, a cracker and proud of it. We have 1 daughter Corri who is currently a full time college student. Then there is the family dog Hobo and his two feline friends Oscar the grouch and Biggin kitty. All of who have inspired characters to write about.

 How I got into writing is an unusual chain of events culminating in my first book, Revenge from Mars. I was working for Bellsouth as an information operator and had been for 15 years when the office I was in was closed due to downsizing. As I had just enough seniority to receive severance pay equal to 1 years’ salary I decided to go back to school.

I chose culinary school as I thought I could cook and I thought I liked it. While I did graduate from Le Cordon Bleu with honors, I quickly came to realize that I was not cut out to work in a fast paced kitchen. You see I have two speeds, slow and slower. And when I get stressed, I downshift rather than speeding up.

I was working in the kitchen of a breakfast and lunch country store in downtown Fort Pierce.  This is where I grew up when I met an author who was giving a presentation at the library just down the street. That seemed like a cool thing to do.

Later that evening I remembered some advice given to me by the language professor at Le Cordon Blue. I had finished an in class essay much faster than anyone else in the class. The professor looked at my work and asked how many books I had written. I didn’t think anything of it at the time after all I was training to be a Chef not an author. It was what he said next that I remember the most, ”Maybe you should”. I did not know it at the time but Professor Wolfish was a former big college professor who taught professional writing classes for many years before.

So that night I sat down at my computer and sketched out what was to be the opening scene in my first novel. That was easy I remember thinking. Little did I realize I had embarked on a new career. One that gives me much more satisfaction than any job I have ever had and there has been many. I have just finished my second novel and I have been picked up by Solstice Publishing. All of this, and hopefully more, because of a comment made by a well-meaning professor to whom I shall be forever grateful.