Book Fair

I just realized that I never reported on the Rosemount Book Fair. It was a great experience meeting other authors and selling books. I sold ten books over the course of a few hours and met some fun and interesting  people. I'm looking forward to another book fair in the fall.

Rosemount Writers Festival and Book Fair.

March 24, 2018 I will be selling my books at the Rosemount Writers Festival and Book Fair. Lorna Landvik will be the keynote speaker at 9 am. Stop by, look around, enjoy Ms. Lanvik's presentation and buy some books!

The introduction to my new book about growing up as an atheist.

Ah, where do I start? Well, okay, I’ll start with this. I am an atheist. You say:  so what, I know there are a few around, and I don’t really talk to them, or meet them for coffee, or golf with them. Maybe you don’t…but maybe you do. You just don’t know it. 

This is all well and good, but all atheists are not created equally.

 I mean that some become atheists as adults and some are brought up from the time they are born as atheists. I am one of the few in the latter category. That makes my story fairly unique.

My father, mother, and grandparents on my father’s side were atheists. And my grandparents on my mother’s side were religious. Very religious!

All of my mother’s brothers, sisters and their children are religious, and have always accepted those of us who are not. I can’t say I ever remember a time when any of my cousins questioned me or expressed concern about my lack of belief in a deity; maybe they thought of doing so but held back. It was a different story among the locals.

It’s kind of funny how the word spreads among kids you play with, and later in life among your coworkers. I never advertised the fact that I was an atheist. The truth of the matter is I made a point of never bringing it up or avoided the subject of religion and god altogether. But it seemed like they always knew. Frequently, when I was an adult in the workplace, there was always at least one adult who wore her religion on her sleeve.  This person would say, “I’m praying for you”.  After stumbling backward a few steps I would recover and say, a little uncomfortably, “Oh, well… thanks”.

This always occurred out of the blue. There was never any apparent reason the person would tell me this, other than to let me know that they would do their best to make it right for me.

In the back of my mind, or maybe it was in the forefront, these out of the blue pronouncements always gnawed at me as to how they found out; talk among others who did know? Or did they really have some otherworldly connection that whispered in their ear the faithful words, “Jeff is an atheist, pray for him”?

Why else would they be praying for me?  I didn’t know and couldn’t ever conceive of another reason they would tell me flat out that they were praying for me.

It also irritated me that they thought I needed the praying. Was it because I didn’t believe in God? Was it because of something I did or didn’t do? Did they genuinely feel sorry for me because of my lack of religious affiliation and thought I was damned to hell? I suspect (because I tend to think the best of people) it was a little of all the above, and they probably felt I was a good, deserving person and they didn’t want anything bad to happen to me.

Without a doubt, these people who prayed for me seemed like good people, and part of me was struck with gratitude that they would take the time to do something they felt was worth it…to help me. But still…it was bothersome. I didn’t need their help and they apparently felt sufficiently concerned to openly announce that they would pray for me—that indeed, I needed their prayers.

To tell the truth, I often thought they could be making better use of their time by not going to church, but instead, just live decent lives, teach their children right from wrong, and treat others decently. In my mind, they didn’t need church, a pastor, prayers, or any kind of weekly meeting to relearn all the lessons that my parents lived, and ably taught me.

From the time of man, before any organized religion, certain rules of behavior needed to be practiced just for communities to coexist: be kind, keep your hands off another person’s partner, teach your children how to survive, help your neighbor, etc. etc. I could go on and on. You could too. Everyone knows the rules and would know them without religion. I am living proof of that.

So what do I want to accomplish via this book? I want to give people a look at the life of this particular atheist and his family-how I grew up, went to college, married, raised children, divorced, remarried and lived a good life without being a Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, a Hebrew, or any other stripe of religion you may think of. Throughout a career as a Speech and Language Pathologist, I taught other people’s children without ever proselytizing about how wonderful atheism was, led them in satanic rituals, drank their blood, or harmed them in any physical or emotional way. I did my job and always treated them professionally and with kindness. In the process, I helped hundreds of children overcome speech and language difficulties they wouldn’t have “grown out of”.

Why? Because I’m a human being who was raised with basic values that have been around forever. My parents did it without religion, or belief in a deity. I accomplished the same with my children (even though I married a Catholic—I’ll explain how that went later). You say it’s impossible! And to you I say, no, not really.

In the following chapters, I’ll lay out my story from childhood to the senior citizen I have become. I think if you continue reading, you’ll find that I’m not so bad. I’ve lived a good life, and in my opinion, raised some of the best children on the planet—all without religion or belief in a god.

Next books

I am currently 11,000 words into a nonfiction book about being brought up in a household where my mother and father were atheists, and grandparents on my father's side were atheists. I'm writing this to dispel notions of atheists as bloodthirsty, immoral people with no values. I am addressing, character of parents, celebration of holidays, dealing with death and treatment of atheists as a minority in this country.

The other book I am busy mapping in my mind will be a Gerald Hodges book based in Vancouver during the 2011 Stanley Cup. Of course it will be fictional.

So two books, one nonfiction about a subject that is fairly unique in American society and the other a purely fictional book that will be a mystery/suspense/thriller type.

Podcast contest

Well, I didn't win, but I came in 5th out of 22 independently published books. Not bad, but I am grateful to all those who voted for my book to be a part of the Podcast. My thanks go out to all of you!

Jeff

Podcast contest

I am involved in a podcast contest where the author who receives the most votes gets a podcast interview. Please go to:  book podcast.com/pol and vote for my book, The Devil's Kettle by Jeffrey Ollman. I am not going to win the contest, but I may get a shoutout if I finish in the top five. Right now I am number 4 out of 22 authors, but a few are close behind. I believe voting closes Friday night, December 15, 2017.

Please vote for my book!

Editorial from Charla White-Words a Plenty

This is not just your ordinary missing person, serial killer, and mystery. Ollman makes it so much more when he keeps throwing in twists that keep you sitting on the edge of your chair with the turn of each page. Just when you think you have it figured out – wham! He does it again. Even with the barrage of twists and turns in the mystery, Ollman keeps the story clear and flowing. The reader never becomes confused about what’s going on - the story flows so well that the reader can do nothing but sit back and wait for the next twist knowing it is coming but not just when or how!