Novelist/Books

Is Love Possible the Second Time Around?

Brianna Watson returned home to Mansfield with a single suitcase and an old guitar to make a better life for her and her five-year-old daughter Melissa. Estranged from her own family and seeking reconciliation for an out of wedlock child, she has left Nursing school in Abilene to take a job as a hostess in a friends restaurant. Love was the last thing she was looking to find. Rescue Officer Wesley Pine has settled into a new career in law enforcement after his teaching contract with the high school was not renewed. Despite all efforts otherwise his brief marriage is officially over as are any dreams of having a family. He wishes the holidays would just pass quickly.
Both are broken people with little hope until they unexpectedly crossed paths at OUR PLACE family restaurant a few days before Christmas. Wes’ instinct is to protect Brianna, and something tells him she’s in more trouble than she thinks. Will she feel safe enough to trust him and lean on his strength and find love in the popular first hometown restaurant? When both face their greatest fears and come to terms with their pasts healing may be on the menu. 
 Spend the Holidays in the bedroom Texas town near Dallas-Fort Worth with a heart for family and friends. Based on the real restaurant in Mansfield Texas and written by Stephen Myers who lives in the DFW Metroplex.

Which life will she choose?

Gracie thought she had life planned out in 1925. She hoped to marry the boy turned beau next door, in handsome cowboy and general contractor, Calvin Dent. She also thought she would continue to work in her family’s silent movie theater but never imagined she’d consider an offer with MGM studios as a screenwriter —in California. Calvin planned their lives in Aspermont, but that may be in jeopardy. Her news prompts second thoughts. Is he good enough for her hand?

Lester Marlowe, the banker’s son, has other plans for Gracie. Her nemesis for years has suddenly taken an interest in marrying her in order to use her talents to take over his grandfather’s failing Lone Star Pictures Company in San Antonio. When Gracie balks he decides to use his secret weapon, Robin Fox, to distract Calvin. Gracie never thought her life would come to resemble the Perils of Pauline, a popular chapter serial featuring love and romance through cliffhanger dangers. A “modern” girl, she still wants marriage and a career. Unfortunately, she may have to choose one over the other–but which one?

Her Leading Man in The Stars At Night series is meticulously researched and written by Stephen Myers.

This is the story of Charlie ‘Tuffy’ Hostetter in the West Texas oil boomtown of Odessa Texas and his quest to be a contender as a fighter in the streets, Amateur Golden Gloves and Professional Boxing and a Heavyweight.  His is also the story of growing up with undiagnosed ADHD not discovered until age 40 which explains some of the conflicts he had growing up in a town that thrives on fighters on and off the football fields and in five serious relationships three in marriage followed by divorce.  His is  story of millions of Americans with 3 million more diagnosed each subsequent year and the lack of affordable drugs to live stabler livers with the medical condition.  

Charlie was born the son of a gambler and bookie father, his namesake  originally from Cleveland Ohio who after serving in World War II relocated to Odessa Texas. It was Charles second marriage to Olean, Charlie’s mother in what was her second marriage as well.  She worked as a bookkeeper and bartender for lounges and fraternal order clubs in the city. 

Charlie  never wanted to be what he calls COA Center of Attention.  But he came to the attention of many in his lifetime. He was a fighter but never a bully. In fact he was the anti bully vindicating those who were bullied including his older brother Kenny in elementary to junior high school.  

He learned how to fight by osmosis in moves learned in weekly Wrestling TV Broadcasts of the Western States Sports shows and in person matches promoted by Pat O’Dowdy in the Ector County Coliseum.  Fighting in Odessa was commonplace right of passage for young men. He knew the tough oil boom town for its fighting among friends, teens and adults.  He participated in street fighting to see who was the toughest king of the hill.  He earned a level of respect from his peers but a series of Odessa Police arrests that festered their motivations to take him down.  

By the seventh grade at Nimitz Junior High he played football as many did in preparation as a feeder school for the state championship Permian Panthers football team and was on the team in his 10th grade year.   The Permian Panthers story has been well documented in H.G. Bissinger’s 1990 book FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: A TOWN, A TEAM AND A DREAM, followed by the 2004 Paramout movie and 2006 television series on NBC/Universal and DirecTV.  Charlie was never a star player for the Panthers but knew nearly all players by name, jersey number and sports statistics throughout its glory years. 

But it was at Permian where he knew he had a problem with academics.  In fact, he experienced difficulty both on and off the grid iron field with fatigue by day being unable to sleep well at night and fighting when teased or picked on.  It was at the insistence of the Police Chief and Ector County Sheriff for his father to reel him in and get him involved in Amateur Boxing through the Golden Gloves organization.  He became a boxer involved in competitions state and country wide including qualifiers for the 1980s Olympics.  

By 1980 he turned Pro and with the guidance of Ike Issacs a bail bondsman in Odessa connected to the Golden Gloves and Dallas Boxing Manager Doug Lord turned heavyweight professional.  He trained by day and worked by night as a bouncer at the prestigious Graham Central Station large nightclub where his life took a series of twists and turns.  One undeserved turn was a malicious planned story with local radio news that he was the prime suspect in a 1981 murder of an Odessa eighteen year old woman.  After civil litigation and the arrest of the real suspect two weeks later his name was cleared in all but the minds of some Odessa’s who despite a criminal prosecution of the real suspects left go on Criminal Defense technicalities is still dogged by the rumor he had anything to do with the girls murder 40 plus years ago.

Instead most of the city celebrates his Professional Boxing career fighting top names like Tommy Morrison and George Foreman to name a few.  But Charlie had been fighting a secret battle even he didn’t quite understand.  Not until the age of 40 was he diagnosed with ADHD Attention Deficit Hyperactivity disorder.  He thought everyone had the same thoughts he had where his mind remained active all the time.  But not until medication did he realize what he was missing in a clear and focused mind.  However, it did not last as he could not afford the expensive medication on a daily basis.

Few knew his diagnosis he attempted to hide.  Only his second wife Pam knew of the condition but little could be accomplished to save their marriage.  Charlie would marry and divorce three times in his lifetime bu have two incredibly beautiful and smart daughters who made him a grandfather six times over.  He also had his share of good and bad relationships with women with one who was poison to his boxing career.  His is an interesting story of a fighter who turned his ways for good to make his hometown city proud of his sports career and to make a difference in the daily lives of less fortunate Odessans. Today and for the past several decades he works and lives where he grew up as a boy and man ministering to families unable to pay for groceries and children unable to have basic items that brings smiles to their faces.  A long time Christian he is quick with a word of encouragement to all he comes across sometimes by chapter and verse and continues to help in any way he can with those who need it most.

THEMES:  Sports, Wrestling, Football, Street Fighting, Amateur Boxing, Professional Heavyweight Boxing, Relationships, ADHD, PTSD, Diagnosis and medical issues including expense in drug accessibility, and Christian Walk as a Street Preacher.  All in the land of Friday Night Lights made famous by books, movies and television series.  Intelligent Charlie is a walking encyclopedia of Permian football and players over decades in the oil boomtown where he lives.