A Day of Reckoning on the Printed Page: Casey Anthony and Social Justice

The skeletal remains of Casey Anthony’s beautiful daughter Caylee were discovered on December 11, 2008, almost five months after the toddler was reported missing by her grandmother...Casey failed to report it. During that time, Casey continued to live a party lifestyle, going to bars and clubs and even getting a "good life" tattoo. She was indicted on charges of first degree murder and faced the death penalty. She entered a plea of not guilty, and on July 5, 2011, the jury found Casey Anthony not guilty of murder and other felony charges.

Some people have been supportive of the mother, but the majority of Americans are angered by this verdict and outraged that Casey Anthony has walked free.

One reason this case hit home with me is my own beautiful five-month old daughter who my wife Denise and I dote on everyday. We came into parenthood at mid-life and our little miracle awes us everyday. We take pride in her small steps of sitting on her own and eating strained peas for the first time. We admire her wide-eyed wonder at everything from the buzzing beehive of activity at the shopping center to the quiet thrill of seeing her own reflection in the mirror. She’s amazing and we are so fortunate.

Which brings me back to Casey Anthony. I have to ask the obvious, how could anyone spend all those weeks going wild with fun while your child is missing? For most of us, our hearts would be breaking wide-open. Life wouldn’t be worth living until our daughter was found.

Every time Caylee’s face flickered on a newscast, my heart reached out to the little girl. It would have before I had my daughter, but now that she's the central part of my life, tears come to my eyes for Caylee. Life shouldn't end at two.

I do what I always do when something like this bothers me. I turn to writing and my two protagonists make up the two sides of my thinking. Gideon Miles, the cool level-headed marshal, would accept the verdict because we live in a country where the law allows Casey to be tried by a group of her peers. He would shake his head in disbelief at the innocent verdict, but, he would think of the words of William Blackstone, "It's better that 10 guilty men go free than one innocent man be wrongly convicted." Miles might even entertain the notion she could be innocent.

Then there is the outlaw marshal, Cash Laramie. A man tired of the guilty walking free. Of the innocent living in fear. He'd bide his time, and then, like a dark knight whose thirst in his soul can only be quenched by righting a wrong, he'd exact a revenge. But he wouldn’t call it vengeance, he would call it justice.

The beauty of being a writer is it can be very therapeutic. When something like this trial gets under my skin and then embeds itself in my head, I have to shake it off by either calling out the injustice or righting the wrong. I’m not sure which marshal—Cash or Miles—will step forward in my next story, but one of them will...and there will be a day of reckoning on the printed page.

African-American Lawmen in the Old West

Shortly after "Miles to Go" appeared in the BEAT to a PULP webzine, I got an e-mail concerning my noir westerns that went like this:

I enjoy your writing and wish you much success, but when I'm reading about your character Gideon Miles, a black lawman in the Old West, it seems forced like you're reinventing the West to kowtow to current sensibilities and trends.

I wrote back with a link and one line that read: Obviously, you've never heard about Bass Reeves.

We've corresponded several times since then, and I was happy to draw attention to the African-American marshal. I asked the e-mailer for persmission to post his words here because I am endlessly fascinated how Bass Reeves, a real American hero, remains overlooked in our country.

It felt good to turn what was on the verge of a negative into a strong positive.

BEAT to a PULP #135: Bigorexia by Glenn Gray

It was a week before the contest, while perched on the toilet, that Erich first noticed the faint spray of oil spitting up from a tiny hole in his skin when he flexed his arm. Like a mini oil well. Probably residual needle hole, he concluded. He swung his arm, elbow bent, fist clenched, bicep peaking out at twenty-nine inches now, and saw the micro-geyser, moistening the skin. He spread the oil around, muscle glistening like polished bronze. He flexed the other arm. Same thing, only the oil shot up a little off center from the bicep peak.

He got off the toilet, stood at the mirror, hit another pose: arms in front, fists balled as if hugging a tree. Held it hard and long. Dang. There it was again.

The supremely original Glenn Gray returns to BTAP with one of his finest stories to date called "Bigorexia."

Next: "Enter the Red Door" and "Through the Rainbow Window" with Sandra Seamans.

Soon: Hilary Davidson's "The Other Man."

The American Zig-Zag

Volume One
Van Reid's picaresque novels about 19th Century Maine have garnered warm reviews (including a New York Times Notable Book of the Year) and loyal fans with their unique mixture of adventure, romance, and laugh-out-loud humor. Now he returns with this inaugural "Zig-Zag" across the Americas - with six of his own short stories that veer geographically from the Portland waterfront to the Chicago stockyards, from the wilds of Manitoba to a lonely chain of islands off the coast of Brazil and ranging in tone from the suspenseful to the comic.

In the grand tradition of 19th century journals, he has recruited talented poets, humorists, and musicians to bring even more weight and variety to the proceedings - and also ten fine artists to illustrate the resulting stories, poems, cartoons, and essays - all with the express purpose of hearkening to an earlier era of American journals that delights and entertains!

Pattinase Reviews My eBook

Thank you, Patti. This is one of the nicest reviews.

Let's Give Away...

Adventures of Cash Laramie and Gideon Miles. My eBook is currently the 3rd most recommended on Amazon. Leave your name and e-mail in the comments section and I will send a Kindle version. No Kindle? I'll send a pdf.

I'll leave this offer open through July 17, 2011.

How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months by John Locke

The first How To (eHow?) book I've read and haven't felt like I wasted my money. And I actually took notes! Recommended.

Amazon link.