THE END
Glossary
AIRTIGHTS – tin cans of food or jars of homemade goods, such as preserves, vegetables and canned meats
BALD KNOBBER – northern sympathizers after the Civil War
BAZOO - mouth
CALIFORNIA PRAYER BOOK – deck of cards
CALIFORNIA WIDOW – a woman separated from her husband when he went west, but not divorced
CHIPPIE – woman of loose morals (see floozie)
COME CALLING – to court, to sit on the porch and get to know one another
COTTONWOOD BLOSSOMS – a man hung from a tree limb
CROSS GRAINED – rough and splintered
COURTING – to come calling with the intention of developing a marriage relationship
DEVIL’S BREW – alcohol (see moonshine, pop scull, red disturbance, scamper juice, scorpion juice, shine, squeezin’s, who-hit-john)
DOXOLOGY FACTORY - church
EQUALIZER - handgun
FILL A BLANKET – roll a handmade cigarette
FIRE FACTORY – hell, the underworld (see old scratch’s own lair)
FISH GEAR – rain coats and rain hats
FIVE BEANS IN THE WHEEL – five cartridges in a six shot revolver
FLOOZIE – woman of loose morals (see chippie)
FOO-FORAH – extravagant silliness
GIRLS OF THE LINE – prostitutes who work in a brothel (see painted lady, soiled doves)
GRAND HURRAH – hazing the new guy
GRASS WIDOW - divorcee
GREAT WAR TO END ALL WARS – World War I
HOBBLE YOUR LIP – shut your mouth
HOG LEG – large revolver
HOLLOW – a small shallow valley
HURRAH – a good natured brawl
IRONS - handguns
JUMPED THE BROOM – get married by holding hands and jumping over a broomstick
KIN – relative, either distant or close
KLAN – This group started as southern sympathizers after the Civil War protecting people from the carpetbagger’s excesses
LEAD PUSHER – any gun
MOONSHINE – homemade corn whiskey (see devil’s brew, pop scull, red disturbance, scamper juice, scorpion juice, shine, squeezin’s, who-hit-john)
MUDSILL – uneducated low-life and a disreputable person
OLD SCRATCH – the devil
OLD SCRATCH’S OWN LAIR – hell, the underworld (see fire factory)
OUTHOUSE – a small building built over a deep hole in the ground used as a toilet
PAINTED LADY - prostitute (see girls of the line, soiled doves)
PIE EATER – uneducated country boy
PIECE OF CALICO – fancy girlfriend
POLECAT - skunk
POP SKULL – moonshine, whiskey (see devil’s brew, moonshine, red disturbance, scamper juice, scorpion juice, shine, squeezin’s, who-hit-john)
POSSIBLES BAG – saddlebags
POX PASSER - penis
QUILTING BEE – a social gathering designed around the sewing and manufacturing of a quilt
RED DISTURBANCE – alcohol (see devil’s brew, moonshine, pop scull, scamper juice, scorpion juice, shine, squeezin’s, who-hit-john)
ROAD APPLES – horse manure
ROOSTERED – drunk and rowdy, strutting with self importance
SCAMP – a worthless fellow
SCAMPER JUICE – alcohol (see devil’s brew, moonshine, pop scull, red disturbance, scorpion juice, shine, squeezin’s, who-hit-john)
SCORPION JUICE – alcohol (see devil’s brew, moonshine, pop scull, red disturbance, scamper juice, shine, squeezin’s, who-hit-john)
SCUT – someone who performs monotonous menial tasks
SHINE – moonshine (see devil’s brew, moonshine, pop scull, red disturbance, scamper juice, scorpion juice, squeezin’s, who-hit-john)
SICK OF A MORNING - sick in the mornings
SOILED DOVES - prostitutes (see girls of the line, painted lady)
SPOONING – hugging and kissing
SQUEEZIN’S – corn liquor (see devil’s brew, moonshine, pop scull, red disturbance, scamper juice, scorpion juice, shine, who-hit-john)
SUNRISE DOOR – eastern door
SUNSET DOOR – western door
TARADITTLES – lies, mostly small and useless little lies
THUNDER MUG – chamber pot, a container with a lid for using as a toilet in a bed chamber on cold or rainy nights
TIN – tin can
TRACE – not a regular road, but a path or track
UNION SUITS – long underwear
VICTUALS – food stuffs
WE’UNS – all of us together
WHEEL GUN - revolver
WHO-HIT-JOHN – moonshine, whiskey (see devil’s brew, moonshine, pop scull, red disturbance, scamper juice, scorpion juice, squeezins’, shine)
WIGGLE ON – hurry
Books
By
Alan Black
An Ozark Mountain Series
With Bernice Knight
The Friendship Stones (Book One)
The Granite Heart (Book Two)
The Heaviest Rock (Book Three)
General Fiction
Chasing Harpo
Eye on the Prize (coming soon)
Science Fiction
Metal Boxes
Chewing Rocks
Steel Walls and Dirt Drops (coming soon)
Titanium Texicans (coming soon)
Larry Goes to Space (coming soon)
A Planet with No Name (coming soon)
Non-Fiction
How to Start, Write and Finish Your First Novel (coming soon)
Praise for other books by Alan Black
THE FRIENDSHIP STONES (book one of an Ozark Mountain series) with Bernice Knight
Loved it
I started this book and did not want to put it down. I had to make myself stop just so I could go and finish my work, believe me I got back to the book as quickly as possible. I am happy to say I did not stop till I finished it. Wow I thoroughly enjoyed getting caught up in the life of a courageous young lady in the Ozarks.
Can't wait till the next one! This is another must have and one that will continue to enthrall your heart with each read.
By Tammie
Heartwarming and Exciting
I absolutely loved this book. I was so upset when I got to the end and realized I had to wait a few more months for the next book in the series. The characters are described so vividly that I felt I was right there in the Ozark Mountains with them. Life was not easy for the residents of that area but with everyone pulling together and helping each other there was never a dull moment.
Keep these books coming and I'll be right there to enjoy them.
By Sue M.
Growing up in the Ozarks in the 1920s
An engrossing coming of age story set in the Ozark Mountains right after World War I. The heroine, 12-year-old LillieBeth Hazkit, lives with her parents in a two-room rented cabin. Work is scarce in the mountains, and her father, who was gassed in World War I, has to take a job far away at a charcoal burning company and is able to come home only on the weekend. The work does (not help) his damaged lungs.
LillieBeth cheerfully does a round of chores that would make a grown man blanch today. She also “harvests” small game for dinner with the family’s 22 rifle. She can go to school in a one-room schoolhouse only once a week because it’s so far from home. She brings the rest of the week’s work home to do there. With her cozy home and her parents she feels rich. After all, doesn’t she have two dresses, one for work and one for Sunday?
From a Sunday sermon she learns that God wants everybody to love all people, even the unlovable ones, so she sets out to befriend an old recluse, Fletcher Hoffman, a man who rode with Quantrill’s Raiders the Civil War and did his share of killing afterwards. He just wants to be left alone.
The story revolves around LillieBeth’s attempts to befriend Hoffman a
nd the (violent) actions of a pair of louts who attack LillieBeth and have enjoyed raping women in the neighborhood for years, destroying their lives and any possibility they could marry. It’s the women’s word against theirs. They always say the women wanted it.
In addition, LillieBeth’s landlady orders them to leave their (rented) cabin so that her son, his wife and his family will have a place to live. This will leave the Hazkit family homeless, and LillieBeth will be forced to leave the only home she has ever known.
LillieBeth’s emotions are becoming more complex as she grows into womanhood. She is confused by her conflicting emotions, wanting to do the right thing—to follow Bible’s injunction to love her neighbors, but she finds it hard to love the men who attacked her and the landlord who is evicting her family.
Black gives us a vivid description of life in the Ozark Mountains in the 1920s. He also gives us believable characters which we can love or hate as the story requires.
Highly recommended. And when you finish reading it, give it to your 12-year-old daughter to read.
By Marilynn Larew (author of The Spider Catchers)
CHASING HARPO
Chasing Harpo
When an orangutan goes on the lam, anything can happen. Chasing Harpo, by Arizona author Alan Black hosts an intriguing cast of quirky characters you'd like to visit with longer. Including the star, Harpo -- an orangutan who believes humans are here purely for his entertainment and, of course, to deliver his food.
A fun ride and a great adventure for all ages, as Harpo and his trusty servant, Carl, try to outwit the zoo security team, the police, the attorney general and a gang of drug dealers.
By Anna Questerly (author of The Minstrel’s Tale)
Losing Sleep
Once again, Mr. Black has written a (story) that I could not put down. The characters and storyline are compelling and fresh. Harpo's point of view is well conceived and at times hilarious. Good read, over all. Thank you, Alan Black. Looking forward to your next work!
By Michael Rittermeyer
METAL BOXES
Found I actually lost track of time when I was reading. Has been awhile since a book has taken me there.
By Mike Proffitt
Loved it
I have not read many Sci.Fi books. I finished the author's other book Chasing Harpo and I was so thoroughly entertained by it so much so I had a hard time putting it down. So for this one I was a little skeptical that I could follow along but boy was I wrong. The author has a exceptional way of bringing all the characters to life with a believability so you are able to relate to them.
When a author can put you into the storyline like that you know it is gonna be a great ride with all the twists and turns and ups and downs. It is clever, funny and engages you.
I definitely look forward to this author’s next book whatever it is!!!!!
By Tammie
Great Book!
Great read. The flow of the book was well thought out and engaging. At times it was like I was there watching it all through Stone’s eyes. Very good read. Would like to see more stories on this character in future books. They’d be worth the read as I couldn’t put this eBook away!
By Brian A.
A fun evening
Highly enjoyable military juvenile coming of age SF. A little gem in the genre and a great night off from heavy reading, recommended as fun, adventurous and leaving you with the pleasant glow of finishing a Flash Gordon arc.
an extended combat of attrition and its culture a little light but again within the sub genre all of this is to be expected.
I would read another in the same setting happily.
By Robert Casey
CHEWING ROCKS
A strong female character you can't help but love
Chastity Snowden Whyte had gotten into too much trouble trying to defend her name and so started going by Sno. What a great name. Sno! Isn't that a weather condition, people ask when first introduced to her, many of whom have never seen snow, being born somewhere off planet, planet Earth, that is? Sno, herself, had only heard stories of snow, having been born on a planetoid somewhere between Mars and Jupiter.
In the opening chapter, Alan Black paints an out-of-this-world picture of young Sno busy outside her spacecraft in her EVA suit, by herself, mining asteroids for rock and hopefully, a rare metal or two. When she returns to her home base in Arizona City on a small planetoid called, Ceres, she gets in a barroom scrap with 4 fellow miners from a competing operation. Without harming so much as a fingernail, she puts them in their place and then shortly after blasts off into the asteroid belt again to work a claim. It's what happens when they chase after her that makes Chewing Rocks so much fun to read.
Great action, wonderful word visuals of the planetoid city, the spaceships and the mining operations along with a multitude of colorful characters made Chewing Rocks hard to walk away from. When I got to the arbitration scenes with Therese Cleasemount, I just simply couldn't put my iPad down; actually found myself chuckling now and then. I think maybe our justice system could learn a little bit from Miss Cleasemount.
Chewing Rocks was simply a joy to read. I look forward to reading more about Chastity Snowden Whyte.
By James Paddock (author of Deserving of Death)
A Place to Escape To
Mr. Black's heroine is again a highly competent if somewhat unusually designed person. Highly competent women are not the usual thing in Sci Fi, although it is getting more popular.
The story line is easy to follow and you will be rooting for the good guys all the way and hoping the villains get their just rewards. You won't be disappointed. You will also find a couple of nice bits of technology to deal with.
A fast reader could get through this in one sitting and it will be worth your while to do so.
By David P. Frankel (author of The Third Person)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Connect with the author
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alan-Black-Paperback-Writer/259372705810
Author’s biography
Alan Black has been writing novels since 1997 when he started 'Eye on The Prize'. His writing tastes are as eclectic as his reading preferences. Alan admits that he loves writing much more than editing and the whole publishing process. Marketing of his work leaves him as baffled as the whole string theory thing.
Alan was born in central Kansas, but grew up in Gladstone, Missouri, graduating from Oak Park Senior High School and eventually earned a degree from Longview Community College. He spent most of his adult life in the Kansas City area (with the exception of a few years in the U.S. Air Force), but he and his wife now live in sunny Arizona. He says the dry desert air stimulates his creativity more than the juicy air in Missouri (pronounced here as 'misery').
His desire to write started in the second grade. He was given an assignment to write a short story about Greek mythology. His teacher took the time to call his parents. Although neither his father nor his mother remember the incident, it had an impact on him eventually leading him to finally write (and most importantly finish) his first manuscript. It took two years to complete 'Eye on The Prize'. He has gotten faster since then, completing the last manuscript in three weeks.