Category Archives: Book Reviews

BUTTERFLIES and CHANGE by Wayne T. Dowdy

Book Reviews, My Life as a Free Man, Returning Citizen Success Stories, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , ,

I found the inscription on the medallion shown above in the photo to be inspiring and true: “If nothing ever changed there would be no butterflies.”

Several years ago, I was published in an international magazine and was quoted as having said something like, “I was antisocial until AA turned me into a social butterfly.”

Butterflies are free and so am I!

On April 5, 2021, a doctor called me on the phone and thanked me for a personal magazine/book that I gave her: Essays & More Straight from the Pen. She said it changed her life by allowing her to understand more about how one’s experiences in life shape the person they become (or something along those lines. I’m paraphrasing from memory).

For such a compliment to come from someone as prestigious and intelligent (and pretty) as her, I was moved deeply and more thankful for her call than she probably realized. Knowing how busy she is in her profession and that she was so thoughtful that she took the time from her busy schedule to call me, meant a lot.

She began the conversation by saying she hoped that it was a good time for her to call, and by acknowledging that she knew the day was a special one for me (the last day I used mind-altering substances in 1995). Then she thanked me for my very well written book and for writing openly and honestly about the sensitive content from my past.

When I promised to give her a copy, I asked that she please remember me as the person she met versus the person she reads about inside the book.

I felt honored that she had remembered me as the man she met and was so grateful that she called to thank me for the truthful content inside the pages, a lot of which I am not proud of having done decades before.

People can change the same as butterflies do when metamorphosing from a caterpillar to a beautiful butterfly. Read about the man who did in Essays & More Straight from the Pen.

Essays & More Straight from the Pen by Wayne T. Dowdy

He Never Lost Hope. Hope Was All He Had

Essays and More Straight from the Pen shows the power of change, gives hope to readers wanting a different life.

The well-written essays take readers deep inside the life of the author who overcame circumstances and obstacles that kept him chained to a life of drugs and crime.

The stories inspire and motivate people to not give up or lose hope, and to fight for a new life.

Bank Robber Stories by Jeffrey P. Frye

Book Reviews, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , ,
by Jeffrey P. Frye

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Jeffrey P. Frye never fails to deliver well-written and entertaining stories from his life. His unique background in the legal and illegal professions gives him writing credibility that keeps readers wanting to see what he produces next.

Bank Robber Stories contains humor and a variety of mixed-emotional avenues for readers to experience. A great read for the curious minded about life on the inside of the United States Federal Bureau of Prisons and what might lead a person to change professions from the legal to illegal.

Mr. Frye is now in the process of returning to his natural state before his fall from grace. He will confess to “Not Thinking” if asked, “What was you thinking?” Reading this book proves it!

~ Wayne T. Dowdy, author of UNKNOWN INNOCENCE, and ESSAYS AND MORE STRAIGHT FROM THE PEN.

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INTRODUCTION by Jeffrey P. Frye

It takes a special kind of person to turn their adversities into success; their sadness into joy that’s used to entertain others.

And it takes a person with tenacity and depth to continue to seek the sunshine when all you’ve ever known is the rain. And it takes a person with natural talent to be able to write a story under these conditions that’s captivating and that you don’t want to put down.

Wayne T. Dowdy is such a person, and UNKNOWN INNOCENCE is such a story.

In UNKNOWN INNOCENCE, Dowdy takes the reader into the lives of his protagonists, Bobby and Nicole, and tells the story of how it all went terribly wrong. How the forces of bad luck, helped along by a crooked FBI agent and attorney, conspired to take Bobby behind the walls of the United States Federal Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas. Using a pen along with a vivid and epic imagination, Dowdy draws upon his life in the free world, as well as his nearly three decades of walking the line in some of the roughest federal pens in America.

Moving along at a steady pace, UNKNOWN INNOCENCE tells the story of Bobby’s wrongful conviction. Sent up the river for life without parole, Big Bobby never gives up hope though. The one thing that has eluded him for most of his life is the very thing that turns out to be his salvation. Love. UNKNOWN INNOCENCE is a riveting tale that transcends genres. It’s a mystery and a thriller, with a love story woven through its fabric.

Wayne T. Dowdy is a writer for the masses whose voice has purpose. It tells the World, “No matter what happens to me, I will not give up.” This voice takes the broken pieces of a life and combines it with raw talent to bring forth a beautiful mosaic. It’s a voice that says, no matter how guilty I may be, there is still unknown innocence in each and every one of us.

Jeffrey P. Frye

September 9, 2015

Edgefield, South Carolina

BOOK REVIEW – The Last Confederate Coin

2018, Book Reviews, , , ,

last confederate coin book coverBOOK REVIEW by Wayne T. Dowdy:  THE LAST CONFEDERATE COIN, S.G. Garwood and Dr. Jonathan M. Jackson

Horace Lawson Hunley designed a murderous device during the American Civil War: the H.L. Hunley, one of the first hand-cranked submarines, the very craft that took his life.  The South led the race to create the first hunter-killer submarine.

Authors S.G. Garwood and Dr. Jonathan M. Jackson, capture the reader’s attention with graphic details of America’s bloodiest and most gruesome war, the War Between the States, as they take you into the confines of the H.L. Hunley during its missions.

Historically, on February 17, 1864, the brave men of the H.L. Hunley sunk the U.S.S. Housatonic off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina.  Something went wrong during the process and Lt. Dixon went to the bottom of the ocean with the Hunley and its crew, to lay at rest for 136-years; the vessel did not resurface until August 8, 2000.

The submarine took the lives of thirteen other men before its final voyage in 1864, where it took the lives of its last eight brave men, claiming a total of twenty-one men throughout its brief history; five on its first voyage and eight each on the last two.

Reading the novel and seeing the numerous photos, assists the authors at telling a story about the lives of its main characters and the story behind the H.L. Hunley, most all based on historical facts, with a love story woven into its fabric.

The Last Confederate Coin falls within the historical-fiction category, but there is a lot of truth in this fiction:  A Confederate coin discovered inside the H.L. Hunley tells a story in itself and helped to identify its owner.  That is a fact!

The plot and scenes create a vivid image of what life was like for many of those trapped in the American Civil War, and of those heroic men who lost their lives fighting for a cause, but the authors take the readers deeper than that, below the surface and into the depths of the ocean with those last eight men on the final voyage of the murderous device.

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