Tag Archives: President

The Contract by John W. Howell and Gwen Plano

The CONTRACT between heaven and earth

By John W. Howell & Gwen M. Plano

Thank you, Phil, for inviting us to join you today. We are so excited to be featured on your blog:  The Phil Factor, where sarcasm gets drunk and let’s its hair down. We promise to be on our best behavior and not take any silverware.

Available on Kindle and Paperback

Kindle priced at $0.99 for the introduction.

The CONTRACT is a different story for writers John W. Howell and Gwen M. Plano. For either of them, it is their first attempt at co-authorship. After a year of Hurricane Harvey and other challenges, they have created, what they have termed, an inspirational thriller that bridges heaven and earth.

Here is the blurb:

The earth is threatened with a catastrophic political event which could result in international warfare and destroy all life on the planet. In heaven, a divine council decides that extraordinary measures are essential. They call for an intervention that involves two souls returning to earth. The chosen two sign a contract that they will work to avert the disaster.

Brad Channing, a Navy SEAL, and Sarah O’Brien, a teacher, become heaven’s representatives on earth. The story follows them as they individually and then together face overwhelming obstacles and eventually end up on a strategic Air Force base in California. It is there that they discover a conspiracy to assassinate the President of the United States. The terrorists have a plan for global dominance, and they are determined to complete their mission. Although military leadership appears to have the President’s best interests at heart, it is not clear who can be trusted and who should be feared. The action is rough and tumble as Brad and Sarah try to figure out the culprits for the plot that will turn into a worldwide conflagration unless stopped.

If you enjoy thrillers, this is one with enough twists and adventure to keep you riveted and guessing. If you like your thriller along with a good romance, Brad and Sarah’s initial attraction and eventual love will sustain you as they live out their heavenly and earthly desires.

Here is an excerpt.

The general rose from his chair and walked around the room with his brow furrowed. He looked at Brad as if he didn’t see him. Then he switched the topic of conversation. “Tell me about the chopper. Military?”

“No, sir. Fast, though. Looked like an MD500. I’m not sure, though.”

“A corporate chopper. I’ll see what we can pick up. Now, the plan.”

The general laid out a map of the base on his desk. He circled Quarters twenty-three. “What’s it near, Sailor?”

“It backs up to the ball field.”

“Exactly. Rutherford wants to take out the President and eliminate you as a side benefit. I’m not sure whom he works with, but he has connections. The Agency will handle Bruce; we’ll make sure the President gets protected. Do you feel ready for another assignment, Sailor?”

“Yes, sir.”

“All right. At sunset, an airman will come by for your SUV. He’ll take it to a detonation site, and the team will remove and expend the explosive. They will check your car end to end for any other devices. Then they will return the car to you. Be sure to show the airman the tracking device that you found in the headliner. If it is as you believe, they will put it back into the car so that Bruce suspects nothing.”

Authors Bio.

John began his writing as a full-time occupation after an extensive business career. His specialty is thriller fiction novels, but John also writes poetry and short stories.  His first book, My GRL, introduces the exciting adventures of the book’s central character, John J. Cannon. The second Cannon novel, His Revenge, continues the adventure, while the final book in the trilogy, Our Justice, launched in September 2016. The last, Circumstances of Childhood is a family life thriller story and launched October 2017. All books are available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions.

John lives in Port Aransas, Texas with his wife and their spoiled rescue pets.

John’s other books: Available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/author/johnwhowell

Gwen had a lengthy career in higher education, and it was there that she published her first book, Beyond Boundaries, for students interested in volunteer work in developing countries. After she retired, she wrote her award-winning memoir, Letting Go into Perfect Love. Gwen lives in Branson, Missouri with her husband.

Gwen’s books: Available on Amazon at https://amzn.to/2wdXsrn

I’m Not Pro-Choice! (It’s Not What You Think)

Picture credit: wkm.com

Picture credit: wkm.com

When I’m elected President, or Sexiest Man Alive, whichever comes first, I’m going to create laws that limit choices. If you’ve ever been a parent you know what an agonizing torture it can be when you accidentally give a young child a choice of three or more things.

Parent: Ok Suzie, for lunch would you like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a bologna sandwich, or a live, struggling rat on a fork?

Suzie: I like peanut butter and jelly because the peanut butter is sticky in my mouth but the jelly is slipperier and makes the peanut butter slide down. I kind of want bologna though because it’s fun to say. The rat on a fork is nice because his little feet will be  tickley when he’s going down my throat. Ok, I’ll have soup. What kinds do we have?

Parent: Aaaargh! (Pulls fork out of rat and sticks it in own forehead)

Unfortunately children like Suzie grow up to be adults like the two dolts in front of the Coke machine in the picture above. Earlier this week I found myself behind two such dolts. I love the new Coke machines that have over 100 possible combinations! I love the chance to create all sorts of creative flavor concoctions. Some people, however, should never be given this many choices.

I’m sure the two fully grown gentlemen who found themselves confronted with over 100 possible combinations were as overwhelmed as I might be if the pilot of my plane passed out and I was chosen, because of my blogging expertise, to land the plane while wearing mittens and a blindfold after three glasses of Merlot. (Yeah, that’s just how I roll, bitch)

Apparently the soda machine dolts were pondering this life changing decision as if it were, well, life changing. For them, sadly, it probably was. I became so frustrated waiting that I was tempted to scream at them, “Get out of my way you idiots! You’re not splitting the atom or curing cancer, It’s soda pop for God’s sake! And yes, you obviously should go with the Diet Coke. Morons.” These are the same kind of nimrods who at the bank machine seem as if they’re trying to pull off some complicated multi-step financial maneuver that would result in a hostile takeover of the Swiss banking system, when in reality they’re just trying to check their balance so that they can go to the supermarket and write a paper check for two items while you’re behind them in the express checkout line.

So, obviously when I’m elected President or Sexiest Man Alive, whichever comes first, I will be a benevolent ruler. Here is what I propose: At a very young age everyone will be given an I.Q. test and have their fingerprint taken.  The two pieces of information will be paired in an internet cloud server. Then, in any instance in which humans are allowed choices they will first have to press the fingerprint scanner. The higher your I.Q. the more choices you get. If you take too long to make a decision you’ll be downgraded in the system and have fewer options next time. In general that’s how life works, but now with technology giving everyone lots of choices the dolts are slowing up everything. Why should the rest of us have to suffer?  Don’t worry, if you’re smart enough to read The Phil Factor you’ll have lots of choices.

As always, if you enjoyed #ThePhilFactor I’d love it if you did some of that social media sharing voo doo by hitting one of the buttons below. If you’re in the States I hope you’re having a great holiday weekend! If your elsewhere have a great regular weekend! ~Phil

When I’m Elected President, or Sexiest Man Alive…

When I’m elected President or Sexiest Man Alive, whichever comes first, I’m going to pass a law stating that parking garages can only charge you for the time your car is parked. If you take your ticket when you enter and it takes you 10 minutes to find a spot you shouldn’t be charged for that. I don’t care if they have to put a ticket machine at each parking spot. Also, if the parking garage is so full that you have to park on the roof of it with your car exposed to the elements you shouldn’t have to pay either.

I didn’t have an interview subject for today and this is just sort of an off the cuff post from my phone while I wait for an appointment. Have a great Tuesday!