Gerald Everett Jones

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Forthcoming release

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Find New Posts on Substack

Find New Posts on Substack

You may have noticed in recent emails that my blog and newsletter at geraldeverettjones.com is moving to Substack (geraldeverettjones.substack.com). Some posts will be free and others behind a paywall, as will GetPublishedRadio! podcasts. My booklist, bio, and the archive of previous blog posts will remain online here at geraldeverettjones.com. A free link to the podcast episode archive is on the…

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I Blame Hemingway for AI Bot Behavior

Ernest Hemingway boxed set of his most popular titles (Scribners) There’s been a lot of recent speculation and fretting among authors and editors about the impacts of AI. Many of us have been using writing-aid tools that weren’t labeled as such, and perhaps we never noticed those algorithms getting progressively smarter. Now the debate is out in the open, along with a flurry of new product…

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Readers and Close Observers, Great Actors as Bad Actors

Here’s a spirited interview with author and show host Karina Kantas, who resides in Greece and writes some chilling stuff. We talked about Preacher Raises the Dead and Near-Death Experience, but we couldn’t help ourselves and the discussion included topics such as WWI in the Middle East, modern Kenyan culture and politics, strife in Ukraine, aftermath of Covid, controversial literary topics…

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Can There Be Comedy Post-MeToo?

My inspiration for Mick & Moira & Brad was the romantic comedies of Hollywood classics. I wondered whether, in our presumably enlightened but admittedly distressed age, lovers can like as well as lust after each other. Can’t we all get along? Might we actually enjoy each other’s company – even when we have all our clothes on? I thought the book managed just that. My models were Myrna Loy and…

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Be curious. And please argue!

Elizabeth Gagnon, podcast host of Teatime with Miss Liz, asked me recently what single word defines my character. I chose curious. I recall reviewing movie producer Brian Grazer‘s memoir, A Curious Mind, in which he claims that asking questions of influencers, such as directors and studio moguls with experience in showbiz, has been his secret to success. He goes on to claim that curiosity is the…

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Does the "marriage plot" still work in romance novels?

For generations, a staple of romantic fiction has been a genre called the marriage plot. An underprivileged female protagonist must find a rich, aristocratic husband, or her life will be ruined. Her choices for the future will be to enter a convent or resign herself to spinsterhood. Amusing scenes in my new romantic comedy, Mick & Moira & Brad, are rooted in post-metoo sexual politics. It’s a…

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His only inflatable friend is his swelling ego...

  What is a young man’s most vulnerable part? You’d think Rollo would be discouraged, but he continually fails upward. I suspect that only an avid new female readership will make it possible to resurrect popular interest in male-centered romantic comedies. As evidence it’s women to the rescue, I offer the expert opinion of none other than Jane Austen, who wrote in 1813: One cannot be always…

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Ever Wonder What It Takes to Make a Pop Singer a Star?

  With the Grammy Awards – Music’s Biggest Night – set to take place on February 5th, it’s the perfect time to talk about how a music celebrity – like Beyonce´ and Lady Gaga – finally makes it! A new book – “Mick & Moira & Brad: A Romantic Comedy,” by award-winning author Gerald Everett Jones, is rich with insights into “the biz” – which includes Hollywood and especially the music industry. The…

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Challenges of Post-#Me-Too Relationships

Challenges of Post-#Me-Too Relationships

It’s not your mother’s world. Transparency – Hollywood super-agent Mick McGraw‘s office is glass on all sides. Loyalty – Billionaire hedge-fund manager Bradley Davenport thinks a dog will always be more affectionate than a spouse. Determination – Criminal-defense attorney Moira Halimi-Joubert is sure she makes all the decisions. And she can. But as she prepares for a new career on the stage – why…

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Thinking About Thinking: A Love Triangle Won't Roll

Thinking About Thinking: A Love Triangle Won’t Roll

Amazon Kindle Weekend Markdown $1.99 December 31 – January 2 – Get It Now Just posted on BookLife Reviews: From the prolific Jones (author of the Evan Wycliff Mysteries series, among other titles) comes a witty and timely romance between a criminal defense lawyer who has kept her opera-trained singing a secret in her professional life, an eager and well-meaning talent agent, and a stiff, highly…

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New Rom-Com Shows How Hollywood Manufactures Celebrity

New Rom-Com Shows How Hollywood Manufactures Celebrity

LaPuerta Books and Media announces the December 27 release of Gerald Everett Jones’s thirteenth novel, “Mick & Moira & Brad: A Romantic Comedy.” Reminiscent of classic movie-studio comedies like “Pat & Mike” and “The Thin Man” couple Nick and Nora, this contentious but lighthearted love-triangle story engages its trio in a “full and frank exchange of views.” Witty dialogue is very much the order…

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Harambee Means "We Are One"

Harambee Means “We Are One”

“Harambee” is the motto of post-Independence Kenya. The country was ceded from the British Empire in 1963 after a period of social unrest, which included the Mau-Mau Revolt. A prominent figure in that revolt was Jomo Kenyatta, who became the new nation’s founding president. His son Uhuru is the outgoing incumbent president, defeated by William Ruto in the election, just concluded last…

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Book Review: A Prominent Kenyan's Memoir and Daring Exposé

Book Review: A Prominent Kenyan’s Memoir and Daring Exposé

Just after the recent Kenyan national elections, a disruptive and revelatory book appeared: Stronger Than Faith: My Journey in the Quest for Justice in Repressive Kenya – 1958 – 2015 by Oduor Ong’wen. Just who is this author, and how does his life fit the provocative description in the book title? Prof. Yash Tandon, respected Ugandan policymaker who is renowned for a career opposing the viciously…

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Thinking About Thinking: A Novel of Tomorrow's Happy World

Thinking About Thinking: A Novel of Tomorrow’s Happy World

The Big Ball of Wax: A Novel of Tomorrow’s Happy World by Shepherd Mead. Here’s the cover of the Ballantine Books mass-market paperback I read back in the day. It’s now available on Kindle. That’s the subtitle of Shepherd Mead‘s 1954 novel, The Big Ball of Wax. Do you wonder – perhaps with trepidation and creeping anxiety – what the socioeconomic impacts of Virtual Reality (VR) might be? Well,…

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Book Review - Platform - Where are you going on vacation?

Book Review – Platform – Where are you going on vacation?

Kenyan national elections take place on Tuesday, August 9, 2022. May wisdom and peace prevail! I have a lot of respect for Michel Houellebecq as one of today’s foremost practitioners of literary fiction. I’d put Paul Auster in that category, as well. I’ve reviewed other novels by both of them in this blog. Another reason to read Platform was that its premise seemed comparable to my Harry…

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Book Review - Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

Book Review – Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

Here’ my book review of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. Of course, she’s not – fine, that is. This isn’t a spoiler. You’d have to suspect as much from the outset. As one of my screenwriting mentors was fond of saying, “No one wants to see The Village of the Happy People.” Soon after sitting down with this novel, I picked up on its homage to the themes of the book that…

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