Welcome to Walmart . . . Buy My Damned Book!

One Last Shot by Todd E. Creason at Wal-Mart!!!!

I'm sure there is a point in every writer's career that they realize they have finally made it.  I published my first book Famous American Freemasons in 2007, the second Famous American Freemasons: Volume II in 2009, the third A Freemason Said That?  Great Quotes of Famous Freemasons in 2010.  Those are all available on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble, and have been featured in "selected" Barnes & Noble, Borders, Waldens (before they croaked), and many more (do a Google search, you'll find it).  But until today, I had never hit the mother load!  I have arrived!

Walmart!  It's true.  Right there next to the "As Seen On TV" Yoshi knives, and next to the liquor and cigarette aisle, in the "lie-bary" you'll find my newest release One Last Shot (released just three weeks ago) for the amazing low price of $11.97 (beware of the falling prices).  Now I haven't found it yet in my local Wal-Marts, but if you're in Murray, Kentucky . . .  Anyway, if you see it, buy it, because there is only probably two copies in the store.   

OK, so you're probably still better off buying it on Amazon, ordering it at your Barnes & Noble store, or downloading it to your Nook or Kindle, but if you see it, please send me a picture--especially if you can capture somebody sporting a mullet, wearing spandex or a tubetop reading it.  I'm about to break into the whole Costco/Sam's Club market.  I need all the marketing input I can get.

Thanks,

TEC

Friday Funny

The wife and I were sitting around the breakfast table one lazy Sunday morning.

She said to me, “If I were to die suddenly, I want you to immediately sell all my stuff.”

“Now why would you want me to do something like that?” I asked.

“I figure that you would eventually remarry and I don’t want some other bitch using my stuff.”

I looked at her and said: “What makes you think I’d marry another bitch?”


TEC

This Day in History: Corrupt Bargain In House Decides Presidency

February 9, 1825



Andrew Jackson
Grand Master of Masons of
Tennessee 1822-24

 Andrew Jackson ran against three other candidates in 1824: Henry Clay, who was Speaker of the House of Representatives at the time, William Crawford, and John Quincy Adams. An-drew Jackson received the largest share of the popular vote and the most electoral votes as well, but with four candidates, no candidate had the majority, so it was up to the House of Representatives to decide the election. Jackson had ninety-nine electoral votes, John Quincy Adams eighty-four, Crawford forty-one and Clay thirty-seven. Clay’s votes, however, were not considered because he was Speaker of the House. Since most of Clay’s backers considered Jackson their second choice for President, the general consensus was that Clay’s votes would go to Jackson and that he would win the Presidency. However, in what was later dubbed a “corrupt bargain,” Clay gave his votes to John Quincy Adam—an act which surprised many. Very shortly after John Quincy Adams was announced the winner of the election on February 9, 1825, he made Henry Clay the Secretary of State. It was pretty obvious even to the elitists in government that Adams and Clay had made a dirty deal.

Jackson was outwardly calm. He even attended a reception for the President-elect given by President Monroe. Adams wrote in his diary, "It was crowded to overflowing. General Jackson was there, and we shook hands. He was altogether placid and courteous."



John Quincy Adams

 But Jackson was livid. He was convinced, as were his many supporters, that Henry Clay had traded his votes for the Secretary of State position. Jackson later said, "The Judas of the West has closed the contract and will receive the thirty pieces of silver. His end will be the same." Jackson supporters claimed they had been robbed. The Nashville Gazette declared Jackson a candidate for President in 1828 without even consulting him, but Jackson was more than willing to make another run for the Presidency. It was the beginning of one of the longest and ugliest campaigns in the history of American politics—even by today’s standards.

For the next four years, shots were exchanged between Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams in the press. Jackson accused Adams of being a dishonest and corrupt politician—a perfect example of what was wrong with government. Adams accused Jackson of being a murderer and a dangerous militant, as well as immoral in his personal life.  With little popular support, Adams' time in the White House was for the most part ineffectual, and the so-called Corrupt Bargain continued to haunt his administration. In 1828, he was defeated in his reelection bid by Andrew Jackson, who received more than twice as many electoral votes than Adams.


TEC
Excerpt from Famous American Freemasons: Volume I  ISBN: 978-1435703452

Valley of Danville Goes On the Road

Brubeck Fine Arts Center, Wabash Valley College

I had the great priviledge of accompanying the Valley of Danville to Wabash Valley College in Mount Carmel, Illinois on Saturday for the P. Duane Deputy Degree Day.  The Brubeck Fine Arts Center boasted a modern 900 seat theater with all the bells and whistles (including flat screen TV's backstage so actors in the wings can keep track of what was happening on stage).  



The weather wasn't very cooperative in the morning.  I was amongst the group that took a bus down, and it was quite the adventure getting down to Mount Carmel through the sleet and blowing snow.  But our driver had nerves of steel and delivered us safely.  Long day--the bus left at 5 a.m. and returned to Danville at 8 that evening.  Many of the cast members and crew went down the evening before to get set up and spent the night. 



There was a lot of great degree work done, and we all enjoyed a lot of laughs.  In the end, the Valley of Danville has twenty brand new Scottish Rite Masons in their Valley, so it was well worth the trip down.  It was a lot of work for the Valley Secretary, and the directors of those degrees to accomplish.  They basically took 5 stage plays, with all the costumes, props, and actors 150 miles south to be performed in a theater nobody was familiar with.  And they pulled it off brilliantly.   

TEC