“Life Is A Journey: Twenty Coming-Of-Age Stories”
“Life Is A Journey: Twenty Coming-Of-Age Stories” is available in paperback and Kindle at Amazon.com.
From author Thomas D. Taylor comes twenty coming-of-age stories that will make you think about life, living, childhood, adulthood, old age, and death.
Taylor sets deep and well-drawn characters against the backdrop of rich and vibrant settings to evoke nostalgia in the reader for times past. If you grew up in the 70s , 80s, and 90s, this book will make you remember those years, and you may relive some of the more joyful moments and dark times in your life, too.
Included herein are the previously published “A Grasshopper Cerebrates Humanity” and the previously published award-winning story “The Interview.”
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Idle No More: A White Man Prays
It has been a long time since I’ve written “Idle No More: A White Man Speaks.” Although we have seen understanding bud and blossom within the minds of the ignorant, and though many more people than ever have come together to speak and protest against injustice, in some respects, things have gotten worse and I am very disappointed.
New laws and new legislation are proposed that would continue to take away the rights of indigenous people, harm their lands, and harm the land that we all share. Misunderstandings fester among those with closed ears and minds. Many people have hurting hearts.
Rather than open my mouth and speak more on these points, I am going to kneel before God and remember Him. Were it not for the fact that He gave us the knowledge to create computers and the internet, and were it not for the fact that He gave me the knowledge to use these things, I would never have been able to speak in the ways which I have spoken, and so many people who have heard me may not have heard me at all.
Were it not for the fact that he gave all of us voices, we could not speak in the ways we have spoken, and no one would have heard.
I am going to thank God for what He has given me and all of us. I am going to ask Him to open my mind so I can understand Him and His plans better. I am going to ask Him to teach me those things which He wants me to know. I am going to ask that He hear the prayers of those who respectfully pray to Him, and more.
If you are so inclined, please join me in praying to God, whether you call this God “God” or “Creator” or “Great Spirit” and when you are done praying with me, add to my prayer those things which you feel are important for God to know. And please feel free to remove anything from this prayer which you feel may give offense to the God you believe in.
God in Heaven,
It is with humility and respect that I open my heart to You and pray to You now.
I thank You for creating me in Your mind’s eye.
I thank You for giving me life.
I thank You for giving me this Earth to live on.
I thank You for all that You have given me.
I thank You for keeping things from me that You do not think I should have, or that I am too irresponsible to manage.
I thank You for being my parent.
I thank You for allowing me to be your child.
I thank You for Your guardianship.
I thank You for Your unconditional love.
I pray that you soften my heart so that my love for You and for my fellow men grows to be more like Your love for all of us.
I thank You for listening to all my prayers.
I thank You for hearing all my prayers.
I thank You for answering them all.
I thank You for teaching me that “no” is an answer.
I thank You for teaching me that no answer now doesn’t mean there will never be an answer later.
I ask that You open my mind.
I ask that You take out my sinful thoughts and put innocence in its place.
I ask that You remove ignorance from my mind and replace it with what you want me to know.
I ask that You help me to see what You want me to see and hear what You want me to hear.
I ask that You cleanse my soul of sins and lift my spirit with Your own.
I ask that you do these things for all those who are equally willing, and that You hear their thoughts and prayers if You are so inclined.
I pray for all of those who are suffering at the hands of men.
I pray for all of those who are suffering under the oppression of evil.
I pray for all of those who do evil, so that they may see the errors of their ways.
I pray for the evil ones themselves, so that they may someday be saved by You.
On behalf of everyone…
I ask that You watch over our mothers.
I ask that You watch over our fathers.
I ask that You watch over our brothers.
I ask that You watch over our sisters.
I ask that You watch over our grandparents, great grandparents, great great grandparents, and so on down the line.
I ask that You watch over our aunts and uncles.
I ask that You watch over our nieces and nephews.
I ask that You watch over our extended families.
I ask that You watch over our friends, acquaintances, and people I don’t know and whom I will never meet.
I ask that You watch over our elders, our community leaders, our elected officials, our appointed officials, and our heads of state.
Make us all recognize that we are Your creations.
Teach us, guide us, help us.
Lead us away from sin, from temptation, from evil.
Help us remember that we are all made in Your image.
Help us remember that when we hurt our fellow men and women, it is an affront to You and Your creations.
Help us remember that when we pollute and scar the Earth, and beat and senselessly slaughter animals, and destroy their habitats, that we disrespect You, Your love for us, and Your creations.
Help us remember that when we close our ears to You we deafen ourselves and make ourselves dumb.
Help us remember that when we defy You, we defile You.
I ask that You hear the prayers of all those who are suffering, and hear the prayers of those who ask for Your help.
I ask that you hear the thanks and praise of all those who offer it, and that You hear my prayer and praise for you today.
Your Will will prevail.
Amen.
Thomas D. Taylor
More projects in the works…
Author Thomas D. Taylor has more literary projects in the works, but as usual, he is unwilling to say just what they are.
“I am starting my final revisions on another book, and work has begun on others. I actually wish I could work faster because the ideas come faster than I can write them out in story and novel form.”
You’ve published horror, science fiction, and nonfiction. Any clues as to what genre this book will be?
“If I publish the one I’m working on now first, it will be in a genre my readers haven’t seen yet. If I set it aside and go with something else, then it might be one of the familiar ones, it all depends.”
Many authors choose a genre and stick with it, and if they write in a second or third genre, they assume a pen name. Why don’t you?
“It never occurred to me to try that, but thanks for suggesting it. I just might do that. 
“
Keep an eye on this blog for further details.
“And thanks for reading!”
Trailer for “Grim Quatrain: Four Tales of Terror”
Find out a little more about Taylor’s “Grim Quatrain: Four Tales of Terror.”
A trailer for Taylor’s Autism book…
Find out why some autistic authors aren’t authors at all. Discover why some people billing themselves as being on the spectrum are lying to you about their diagnosis. Get a glimpse into a book that’s exciting the autism community.
A tralier for the horror books Thomas D. Taylor writes…
Looking to be scared? Looking to be REALLY scared? You will want to keep the nightlight on after you get done reading the works of Thomas D. Taylor. Watch this to see what he’s written….
Autistic Authors, and Autistics and Autism in Literature Now Released!
Autistic Authors, and Autistics and Autism in Literature
“Autistic Authors, and Autistics and Autism in Literature” is currently available in paperback at Amazon.com, and at Amazon.com and as a Kindle file.
Emerging trends suggest that autism is being portrayed in literature less as a diagnosis, and more as a minority lifestyle. Sometimes it is even portrayed as a culture. Autistic factional politics are having a significant effect on autism and literature as well.
Of further concern, much of what is written by “autistics” is actually being written by “self diagnosed” autistics, and no matter who is doing the writing (autistic author or self-diagnosed author), plots, characterization, and other elements, are many times being drawn and presented based on observation of “autistics” with unconfirmed diagnoses in informal venues rather than upon observations of real, diagnosed autistics in realistic or controlled settings.
This book offers some general opinions about the topic of autistic authors, and autistics and autism in literature, and gives a critique and criticism of some specific literary works. Covered are many different forms of literature, including fiction, nonfiction, autobiographical writing, journalism, and blogging.
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