Writings
The Mists of Arltunga
(Greencup Books, 2019)
In the heart of the Australian Outback, a ball of flame marks the crash of a Zeppelin into the rim of the Arltunga caldera where rare threnium is harvested. The disaster grounds the gliders towing nets of Belgian lace through the threnium-laden mists. Sought after by the Allies and Germany alike, threnium gives steel astounding tensile strength.
But the Zeppelin’s flames bring more than a momentary halt to production. Ginna MacReedy, the burned but lovely sole survivor of the crash, turns camp life upside down, threatening the double-dealing strategies of the camp’s overseer and pitting two brothers against each other as they grow to love her.
A tale of romance, death, intrigue, chemistry, and flying, set in the Australian Outback between the two great world wars.
“Jones imagines an alternate-history saga that, like its Australian Outback airborne miners, sweeps and glides with the romance of flight. Its hardscrabble fantasy colony is so richly conceived, so lushly peopled, that it feels like God’s honest truth. At heart, it’s a tale of brotherhood and human dignity that rises high above an unforgiving world.”
--Derek Nikitas, author of Pyres, The Long Division, and Extra Life
“A compelling mystery out of the Australian desert, Jones’ proletarian narrative excites the imagination…. Jones delivers a tightly braided narrative and a heroine full of surprises—a woman capable of saving herself. The Mists of Arltunga soars!”
--Julie Hensley, author of Landfall: a Ring of Stories, The Language of Horses, and Viable
Victor T. Vulture
(Berea, 2017)
It was not that Victor T. (for Turkey) Vulture didn’t like meat. It was just that he didn’t like it as much as he liked other things, like pumpkin. This is a coming of age story about Victor, his brother Charles, his Aunt Viola, and the other vultures of the Roost Hill Venue during the time when the rebellious young vultures sought out vegetables to eat. A lesson about The Discipline of Meat was in the offing, and Victor along with his cohorts had to learn the lesson the hard way.
“With antic flying and vegetable kettles coming to Roost Hill, we may never look at vultures the same way again. Beautifully detailed, incredibly charming, and totally delightful. The story of Victor and his family is one of hope, change, and what happens when we let our desires take flight.”
--R. Dean Johnson, author of Delicate Men: Stories
“A story about passions that lead us away from home, away from the good. Joyfully, we can find our way home again.”
--bell hooks, author, poet, and cultural critic
“An engaging incorporation of the biology and behavior of turkey vultures…. A story to share with young readers.”
--Bill Lynch, KY State Wildlife Biologist, Turkey Vulture Behaviorist, and Past President of the Turkey Vulture Society
--Contact Roger to Order a Copy--
"Clouds" - Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, August 2011
Re-released in The Crooked Road, Volume 3: Ellery Queen Presents Stories of Grifters, Gangsters, Hit Men, and Other Career Crooks, ebook, Kindle Edition 2014
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