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- Cordell Logan Series
Jimmy Buffett’s singing voice was hardly world class, but what he lacked in vocal range, he more than made up for in the often brilliant lyrics he penned. He was a big-time popstar famous for his lighthearted, feel-good songs, but behind the cornball, fun-filled, Caribbean-Parrot Heads-Margaritaville schtick, he was a sentimental philosopher and poet par excellence whose words were freighted more often than not with wisdom and inspiration....
As my 40th birthday loomed, my partner proposed that we go somewhere exotic to celebrate. I suggested the notion of a quiet island somewhere with good snorkeling. Our travel agent said she knew the perfect place: Molokai. We’d vacationed in Hawaii many times before, mostly on the Big Island and Kauai, but never Molokai. Small wonder. The island’s biggest claim to fame is that is was once home...
The flight was scheduled for five hours and 26 minutes, nonstop from Los Angeles to Newark. I wanted a window seat because, as they say in aviation, we pilots have enjoyed looking down on everybody else since 1903. But, alas, no such luck. My reservation was last-minute and the flight was full; the only available seat was in the middle, near the back of the plane. Hunkered...
When you’re a pilot, little is more satisfying than properly executing a precision instrument approach. It’s all about focus, situational awareness, and trusting your guidance systems instead of your middle ear when you can’t see where you’re going. You’re descending blindly through the clouds, making small course and altitude corrections to ensure you’re properly tracking the localizer and glideslope signals. Suddenly, the clouds begin to thin, abruptly give...
Some writers are born. Others are made. I’m from the latter camp. Nowhere in my ambitions while growing up was there the notion that one day I might earn my keep via the printed word. I planned on becoming a physician, a heart surgeon, to be more specific—at least that’s what I told adults whenever they asked what I wanted to be when I became one of them....
“Where do you get your ideas?” It’s a standard question writers are asked at conferences where readers and authors get together to celebrate the genre of mystery-thrillers. It’s also a question I never know how to answer. Inspiration is an elusive thing. For me, it defies explanation. Don’t ask me how, but I could be taking a shower, watching TV, eating a burrito, or sleeping, when—bam!— the...