Michael Moore
Michael W. Moore is a native of the Birmingham, Alabama metropolitan area and nearby communities. When growing up, he devoted his formative years to escaping outdoors whenever possible to fish, explore the woods, fill empty Mason jars with wriggling creatures, and wade shallow creeks in search of minnows, salamanders, tadpoles, and whatever else couldn’t escape his clutches. He always wondered what was behind the next bend in the creek, how clouds hung together while drifting through a blue sky, and whether he could climb the highest branch of a sycamore tree just to catch one more singing cicada before sundown.
Michael retired in late 2016 from a long career in the health insurance and employee benefits industry. Since his retirement, he has devoted more time to his writing pursuits. This anthology of his poetic works is his third book to be published in the last two years. His two previous books were fiction novels, Twice Upon a Swing in 2019 and The False Detective in 2020.
Michael and his wife Cathy currently live in Hoover, Alabama but enjoy vacations to the mountains, to the beaches along the Gulf coast, and to a nearby lake cabin. They’re especially fond of opportunities to spend more time with friends and family.
A Rebel’s Code, is the story of a treasure hunt where a fabled pot of gold sits like easy pickings at the end of a tantalizing rainbow. But isn’t that always the scenario envisioned by would-be fortune seekers? Don’t they blindly assume they are the lucky ones, the only ones able to unlock the secret doorway and finally lay claim to a lost treasure? Yet, caution beware. Blind eyes see no peril.
The quest by such adventurous soles is not eliminated by the elapse of time. Whether a search is conducted contemporaneously to when a pot of gold is first placed at the rainbow’s end or many years afterward, the desire to find a lost treasure remains alive in the minds of subsequent generations. As the trail grows cold and dusty through the years, what may have been an astonishing truth can turn into mere legend or rumor. Although the cast of characters seeking the gold may change, only a fruitful discovery will end the mystery and write the last chapter of the book.
In A Rebel’s Code, a young Alabamian is one such seeker. He survives his military service during the Civil War and eventually returns home, disabled but full of heart, only to risk everything he holds dear in an effort to improve on what already matters in his life. He believes the trail to a hidden treasure is fresh and reliable. But is losing what he already has by seeking to find it elsewhere, a worthy trade?
A century later, a makeshift team of three treasure hunters have drawn the same conclusion. Yet, for them, their view of the pot of gold is muddled by the hazy passage of a hundred years of time. They don’t understand their view is just a faint glimpse at what might have been. Unless of course, the clues they have stumbled upon are facts that remove the dust and prove otherwise. Or alternatively, leads the trio to the discovery of a valuable artifact no one knew was lost or even existed. Something utterly incomprehensible that, if true, would have shaken the underpinnings of the War itself.
From such sweeping perspectives in time, the wealth chasers believe that fortune favors the diligent and that they, and only them, possess the key to finding the lost treasure. The prize is close at hand. Or is it?
$18.95
This book, Fibs from ol’ Clickety-Clack, captures all of the author’s short fiction works cranked out over the years from the Grind-Rock, the affectionate name he bestowed upon his work station. The writings include short stories and fictionalized reflections with a variety of themes touching on life, family, friendships, coming of age, mystery, and faith.
The volume contains twenty-two, separate, short works of fiction. The collection includes a smattering of humor, flashbacks to the author’s youth, a glimpse into the future, tales of mischief, and a dose of saucy intrigue. Along the way, the array of baffling emotions which dwell within human relationships wiggles its way into the narratives.
The author hopes the short nature of the stories will transport the reader easily from the opening page to the ending page while providing opportunities to reflect on life’s special moments. Enjoy the book.
$18.95
Breadcrumbs to Autumn is a collection of the author’s poetry spanning over a half-century from his early days as a curious, young teenager until his first steps into an autumn awakening. The author’s inquisitive perspective and outlook is far-ranging and on full display in this collection.
Rich with imagery, his poetry contemplates the ever-present natural world, spirituality, discovery, relationships, joy and heartache, recovery, homage, gravity, and optimism for the next journey beyond the horizon. The volume includes personal reflections, innocent wanderings, and a dose of humor scattered across the five decades of writings.
Breadcrumbs to Autumn is organized into five sections, representing each of the decades, and includes a short conclusion. The poems are generally arranged in reverse chronological order, with exceptions, but the looking-backward orientation of the work doesn’t suggest any specific approach to enjoying the book.
The author hopes his poetry touches every reader in a remarkable manner and that the arrangement of the poems and the style of writing make for an easy glide through the verses, like a breezy, roller coaster ride.
$20.00
Darnell W. Dibble III was proud of his peculiar sounding family name yet fully aware it labeled him as an eccentric to his acquaintances. His minor cast of friends found his moniker to keenly match his oddball personality but superbly unfitting for his chosen profession as a private eye. Dibble recognized the name itself didn’t convey any degree of integrity or speak to his tenacity and dedication yet, even though the name suited him as snugly as a high-noon shadow, he was neither eccentric nor inept. At least not so in his own mind.
The False Detective is a chaotic, haphazard whodunit featuring a blundering but good-hearted private eye who accepts the formidable task of solving a decade-old mystery. His tools are but a modicum of experience, an affable demeanor, an intense determination, and valuable hints taken from a mystery novel. Time is of the essence as his elderly client has but a few weeks to live. He must act quickly before no one is left alive who cares about the ancient crime.
$20.00
Twice Upon A Swing explores the strength of family, the bond of friendship, spiritual growth, and the undiscovered courage a man may be called on to demonstrate when unforeseen circumstances and hurdles are tossed into the path of someone desperately seeking to learn more about himself and yearning for answers to the unfathomable depths of life’s mysteries. The manner of the man’s response is the measure of his soul.
$18.95