The Mother I Knew

This is Your Story! 

If you're looking to explore a world that hits way too close to reality while leaving you laughing, falling in love, and growing to hate the many amazing badass women and dumbass villains you meet along the way, this is your story and I am happy to share it with you.  

The Mother I Knew: Race to Thunder Bay and the Battle for the Commons is my latest book and I am excited to say it is out and ready for purchase on:

• Amazon - $15.00

• Kindle - $5.00

• StarrWriter - $13.00

You can save us both a few bucks and email me at joe@starrwriter.com to get a copy. Once you email me with your mailing address, I will ship your order and we can work out payment via Zelle, Venmo or PayPal. 

Here's a free brief sample narration. I am working on this as a good audiobook option so more to come soon. 

So what's the story?

The back cover copy sums it up well.

Brock is a young man on a relentless mission north into a savage warzone to rescue his mother, a woman most would declare dead without hesitation. Countless American and Canadian forces - dubbed the Gateway - were counted as missing after the Battle at Thunder Bay, including its top commander, the enigmatic General Max Flannery. So many witnesses swore they saw her lifeless form carried by Chinese military off the battlefield, tossed into a waiting truck, and spirited away into the abyss. But Brock clung to his skepticism like a lifeline. Ignoring the accounts, he embarked on a perilous journey, spanning hundreds of treacherous miles into enemy-occupied territory, driven by an unshakable resolve to reunite with his mother and bring her home.

A shadow of desolation had fallen over vast swaths of North America, Asia, and Europe, as a megadrought had a stranglehold on many areas while China ruthlessly ascended to the throne of global supremacy, toppling the once-mighty United States. The valiant Gateway Forces had made their defiant last stand in the forlorn Canadian city of Thunder Bay, Ontario, while the rest of the world, paralyzed by indecision, hesitated to pick a side in this new world order.

The Battle of Thunder Bay saw the Chinese military vanquish their American and Canadian counterparts, further consolidating their grip on the Great Lakes region and its invaluable freshwater resources. Among these, the fabled Subperior aquifer, rumored to hold ten times the water volume of all the Great Lakes combined, now lay firmly within China's grasp. Those who managed to escape the hellish battleground of Thunder Bay found themselves scattered, disorganized, and betrayed by the very allies they had counted on. Yet, whispers of hope persisted, as word spread of a resilient faction of survivors regrouping and preparing to rise once more against their oppressors.

Brock plunged headlong into the tumultuous, dystopian nightmare that had swallowed the war-torn region, his sole purpose a singular beacon of determination: to retrieve his mother and lead her back to safety. What followed was a relentless sprint into the heart of darkness, an odyssey through a world twisted and distorted by conflict, where marauding military units, ruthless bounty hunters, cunning spies, cutthroat criminals, and unscrupulous mercenaries roamed unchecked. At every twist and turn, Brock's trust and endurance were pushed to the brink, as uncertainty, treachery, and loyalty became a revolving door of unlikely companions on a journey that transformed into something far greater — an odyssey of discovery and a newfound perspective eclipsing anything he had ever envisioned.

 

Blazing Road to the Perfect Business Card

I received my first box of StarrWriter business cards yesterday – YAY. I opened the package, pulled a card out, looked at it and felt a tinge of disappointment. First thoughts: the logo was flat and the font didn’t capture the personality of the business.

I stared at the card trying to convince myself that it was the perfect example that every business card aspired to be. I mean I’m a professional marketing consultant – shouldn’t everything I do exemplify topflight marketing acumen? If I handed this business card to Don Draper he would immediately fall into a crazed puddle of panic as he receded into the shadows knowing he has met his creative match, right? Unlikely, but I would like to believe that he would give the card a respectable once-over and look at me for a millisecond before sliding it into the inside breast pocket of his $2,000 suit jacket as he turns to get in his limousine and speed off to hook his next big client.

I am in week two of taking StarrWriter full time and like the business cards everything is new. This is the baseline, nothing from which to compare or build. It’s an exciting time as I realize everything is possible…well except at 3 a.m., nothing is possible then. You see that’s what time I've been waking up nearly every day for the past couple weeks in a cold sweat with thoughts of doubt and questions of why did you leave a perfectly good job to risk it on your own? The terror of having your income substantially cut not to mention the seed money donated is coming from said substantially cut income can knock you out of REM like nothing else. But cold sweats lead to hot showers and me getting dressed, feeding the cats and walking the dog just like I always have before heading to work.

I decided to give StarrWriter everything I have because I love to create and help others. Mom and Dad were gifted artists and while their aptitude to draw did not find its way to me I did pick up the art gene as a writer. I’ve done well to make a living with that gift, too. My hope is that applying that gift, along with a few skills attained over the years and a relentless work ethic seared into my soul by my first employer (thanks Dad), will lead to a successful firm that will bring benefit to every business it touches. It will be scary and there will likely be more 3 a.m.’s waking up wondering what the future brings. I will stumble, fail and take wrong turns, but I will turn around, get back on track, achieve, grow and win. If you don’t go out of bounds sometimes you will never know what lies off trail.

And those business cards are growing on me. I will still make changes before ordering the next batch, but that should be the philosophy for everything we do in business and life. Change leads to learning and through learning we grow; may your changes lead to all good things.