TLBTV: The American Vision – Writing From Personal Experience
By TLB Contributing Author & TLBTV Show Host: Bill Muckler
My guest today … Kirby Jonas has been sprayed by a skunk, eaten a moose’s nose and intentionally started a (nondestructive) cattle stampede to help him describe these experiences in his western novels.
Kirby, the author of twenty-six novels, believes authors have no business writing about things they’ve never experienced, no matter how unpleasant they might be. His books, printed by his own publishing company, Howling Wolf Publishing, have sold hundreds of thousands of copies internationally.
“My name is Kirby Frank Jonas, and yep, it’s my real name. People often tell me they thought it was made up because it sounds so “Western,” but I never even thought it sounded Western. I’m just kind of attached to it and didn’t feel like making up one of those fake sounding ones like Jake Brannigan, Clint McKenna or something.
“I currently reside in Pocatello, Idaho, where twenty years ago I wore the badge of a police officer. Just before that stint, I fought wildfires for the Bureau of Land Management in Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, and New Mexico.”
Kirby Frank Jonas was born in 1965 in Bozeman Montana. He lived along a once-remote road in a rambling vee in the mountains known as Bear Canyon, where cattle range gave way to spruce and fir, and the wild country was forever ingrained in him. It was there he gained his love for the Old West, listening late at night to his daddy tell stories and sing western ballads, and watching television westerns such as Gunsmoke, The Virginian and the Big Valley, and listening to a well-worn long-playing record of Davey Crockett.
Jonas next lived on a remote farm in the middle of Civil War battlefield country near Broad Run, Virginia. That was followed by a move to Shelley, Idaho, where he completed all his school years, wrote his first book (The Tumbleweed) in the sixth grade and his second (The Vigilante) as a senior in high school.
Besides writing novels, Jonas also paints wildlife and the West. He does all his cover art and hundreds of other pieces. He is a songwriter and guitar player and singer of old Western ballads and trail songs. Jonas enjoys the joking title given to him by his friends, “The Renaissance Cowboy.”
After living in Arizona to research his first two books, and traveling through nine countries in Europe, to get his glimpse of the world, Jonas settled permanently in Pocatello. Idaho. He has made a living fighting forest fires for the Bureau of Land Management in five western states, worked for the Idaho Fish and Game Department, been a security guard and a guard for Wells Fargo in Phoenix Arizona. He was employed as a police officer and firefighter for the City of Pocatello and currently works in security. He and his wife, Debbie, have four children, Cheyenne Kaycee, Jacob Talon, Clay Logan, and Matthew Morgan.
Bill Muckler is a long-time contributor is The Liberty Beacon Project and has appeared on numerous TLB radio and TV shows. He was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri; graduated from Christian Brothers College High School (an Army Junior ROTC School) and received a B.A. from the University of Missouri-Columbia. While at Mizzou, he spent two years in Air Force ROTC.
Bill entered the USMC Officer Candidate Course in Quantico, VA upon graduation and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant; spent four and one-half years on active duty, and then eleven years as a Ready Reservist. He holds the permanent rank of Captain and held a Top Secret Security Clearance.
As an entrepreneur, Bill founded Muckler Typographic Corporation in St. Louis, MO. He was the owner and operator of that small business which provided typography services for Ad Agencies, Art Studios, Printers and Lithographers for ten years.
Bill has been a Work Process Management Consultant for 40 years and eventually an owner and director of his consultancy. His firm assessed business operations, conducted management and leadership training, and implemented process solutions as a problem solver in energy, mining, manufacturing, construction, fabrication, assembly, technology, food processing, health care and communications at more than 300 locations over the past 40 years.
Bill has three children: Angela, Christa and Christian; five grandchildren and one great granddaughter. He has lived in St. Louis, Columbia, Ferguson and St. Charles in Missouri. Kaneohe, Oahu, Hawaii. Panama City, Marco Island, St. Augustine and Cocoa, Florida. He has worked in, visited or travelled to 45 states, eleven countries and numerous islands in many seas.
“Where there is no vision, the people perish:” Proverbs 29:18
This work is a reference guide to our republic’s severest threats, and the solutions to save us from internal and external tyranny. Read the manuscript that thousands of great Americans are using for their “Call to Action” to “Roll out the Revolution” Thomas Jefferson called for.
Read more of my “casually sarcastic” articles to discover that I am an equal opportunity critic of all types of anarchy and nonsense. Check out the blog.
Spiritus meus es tu. Ego semper fidelis.
The Gift with the Perfect Message
Something Extra Special for that Extra Special Person
Did you know many of us support inventors, authors, artists and other entrepreneurs through crowdfunding? It’s a wonderful way to help independent creators bring their projects to life.
Did you know that many authors use the names of their family and friends as characters in their books? It is a way to honor and memorialize loved ones.
Do you know that I am writing a new book and need family and friends to help tell the story of the Constitution and other important topics? Did you know that I want to honor you with a part in the narrative?
Do you know that the names of my backers and supporters are on my webpage? Do you know that those backers and supporters will also be acknowledged forever in print in my new book?
Do you know that I would be honored to have your name listed as one of my backers and supporters? Do you know that I want you to be on my team? Did you know how important it is that I hear from you?
Do you know there will be a void in my book and in my heart if you don’t appear in my new 20/20 Vision book? It’s safe and easy to go to my website and pledge $250, $100, or $50 and you’ll get lots of priceless rewards including lots of signed books as gifts to your family and friends who will read your name in the new book. Time is running out. I need your name now!
Finally, an author who brings you solutions, instead of problems.
Americans have lost faith in their overreaching federal government. “We the People” don’t need to be overregulated or have their taxes misspent. Americans are victims of a crumbling economy, high prices and stagnant wages. They view government as bloated and politicians as corrupt.
They do not trust the leadership at any level. They see politicians of both parties as self-centered narcissists whose only objective is re-election. The author is like you, with one principal difference and 20 reasons for optimism. His “Vision” of America is “clear.” It is a vision of the Constitution and America the way it could be, the way it should be. The author’s eyesight is twenty-twenty.
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