Author: Eric Rice

After decades of working in high-tech software, traveling the world, and seeing different societies I now have enough life experiences to tell this story. A student of history and observer of cause and effect, I believe in the power of the silent majority. We only need to find our voice and return to common sense as the first principle of freedom and liberty.

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Book Availability Announcement

Whatever it Takes to Win

We are pleased to announce Whatever it Takes to Win is now available in hardcover and paperback wherever books are sold online. It is also available in Kindle e-book format on Amazon.com

This is the fourth and final book in the America at the Brink series. It follows the continuing political adventures of United States Senator Nick Turner through election day.

Just as previously, writing more will only reveal spoilers from the prior books. Nick Turner continues his effort to run for President as an independent candidate.

Throughout his campaign, he has made it clear, everyone has a choice. To wake up, stand up, and think for themselves, or let others do it for them, giving their freedom and fate into the hands of those in charge.

I did it. I got this book completed prior to the actual election.

I wrote what has become the four novels in the America at the Brink saga in late 2020 through the summer of 2021, after my retirement. From fall of 2021 until early in 2024, I was convinced to leave my retirement for one last dip into the high tech software business.

Good for the bank account, bad for the literary goal of publishing my ‘edu-fiction’ series. I am worried. Worried that our electorate is a)disgusted, b) disinterested, or more likely c) ignorant and easily manipulated.

Seeing these are the three most likely positions of a majority of voters, I set out to try to help. Not tell folks how to vote or what to think. Instead, to just be curious and involved enough to want to think for themselves.

To not just take as gospel what they hear from their cable news or social media feed. From either side. To actually try to find the information and to be invested enough to understand the consequences of their vote.

These novels are all about describing to the reader that actions have consequences. Some expected, but many more unintended and in most cases unfortunate. Consequences that play out on each of us. Not the ones in power who actually made the incorrect decisions creating these unintended consequences.

No one can rescue us from these. Only we can. We are responsible for who we elect. We are responsible for holding these elected officials accountable. At all levels. US. We can blame folks all we want, but ultimately it is up to us.

We can do our homework. Or we can just assume the bias in the media and news is non-existent. That they have our best interests at heart (they don’t). Those who actually think, know this is not the case. Those who don’t, will reap the consequences of ignorance, becoming willing victims.

These books are all about choice. Yours. And how you should want to be as informed as possible so YOU can make the choice that best helps you, your family, your community, and ultimately your country. Why wouldn’t you want to invest enough time and energy to be informed enough to vote for these reasons?

That is the question. These books were never about telling you how to vote or why. They don’t reference any of the current candidates or even the political parties. They were simply trying to get you to vote for whomever you think is your best choice based on your research and your gut. And to own the consequences of your actions.

This is not the end. Only the first part of this saga. Stay tuned for the next chapter in this saga of a future America, and Nick Turner’s impact on that future.

WST4Y (Wake Up, Stand up and Think for Yourself)

Eric

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Book Availability Announcement

The Cost of Standing Up

We are pleased to announce The Cost of Standing Up is now available in hardcover and paperback wherever books are sold online. It is also available in Kindle e-book format on Amazon.com

This is the third book in the America at the Brink series. It follows the continuing political adventures of United States Senator Nick Turner.

Just as previously, writing more will only reveal spoilers from the prior books. Nick Turner continues his effort to run for President as an independent candidate.

Much like the body fighting an infection, the political machine does not appreciate someone who chooses to not play by the tried and true rules of campaign politics.

The Cost of Standing Up, Nick Turner, Book Three

I have had some major changes in my life recently, once again returning to full retirement from my prior career in high tech.

The good news is it now lets me return full-time to working on writing and continuing the saga of Nick Turner at this key time in our own reality.

As others who have read these books can attest, many of what I though would be a future ‘what if’ scenarios and actions are quickly becoming our own daily events. This is not a good thing.

All I can say is these are not partisan books designed to sway the reader to vote a certain way. They are a fictional story designed to get readers to contemplate our own time and to want think for themselves. To examine issues and make their own decisions, free from the coercion of candidates, propaganda, and media bias.

We are inundated with all three and for many, they want to break free, but are unable to trust or even know what is indeed fact and what is fiction. All we can do, is trust our gut instinct, just as Nick Turner councils. Deep down you know what is right. If it sounds too good to be true, beware.


Enjoy and feel free to let me know what you think.

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Book Availability Announcement

Our Choice: Freedom or Obedience is Now Available

We are pleased to announce Our Choice: Freedom or Obedience is now available in hardcover and paperback wherever books are sold online. It is also available in Kindle e-book format on Amazon.com

This is the second book in the America at the Brink series. It follows the continuing political adventures of United States Senator Nick Turner.

I won’t write any more about the book for fear of spoiling the ending of What Can One Man Do?, the first book in the series.

Nick Turner’s life is about to get a lot more complicated as a result of his efforts to look out for the common people.

For those of you who did not know, I wrote the first novel in a retirement period. Then I went back to work. I am happy to say, I have once again retired. This enables me to bring the next three novels I have written in the series to market. This will round out the first part of America at the Brink. It also means I have the time to do the proper marketing and promotion to try to get the message spread far and wide.

As I said previously, I am writing these books because I believe in their timely message. Our country is woefully unprepared for what lies ahead. We are afraid to stand up to deeds and policies we know are wrong and damaging to our citizens. For fear of being canceled. Imagine if Paul Revere, Sam Adams, John Adams, Dr. Joseph Warren, George Washington and all the others had not stood up to the English King and his totalitarian edicts. Where would we be?

These books are a parable. They look backwards from the 2040’s and tell the ‘story’ of what the next twenty years could look like. In providing this ‘what if’ scenario, my hope is to educate many to what can happen to all of us. If we do not stand together and stop the trajectory of our country. Common sense, debate, and compromise must return, and become the standard of our society again. Or we will no longer have a free society.

While we still have the freedom to choose, we need to use it to choose freedom. Freedom is not easy and requires constant vigilance. But trying to recapture freedom once it is lost, is nearly impossible.

Pick up a copy of this book and if you do, please remember to leave a review. As an independent author, you the reader, are our best way of spreading the word and enabling others to enjoy our work. Thank you so much!

Eric

Also please join our free Substack blog, Eric Rice’s Wake Up, Stand Up and Think for Yourself. Join the conversation on key topics of the day as we strive to have debate, compromise, and move toward the sane center. Where common sense is the only ideology.

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Book Availability Announcement

What Can One Man Do? – Second Edition now available

You learn a lot from your first novel. When I wrote this two years ago, I had thirty-five years to think about the topic. Surprisingly or depressingly, the topic was still relevant today. I published the book because I believed in its message and not because I hoped to make a career out of writing.

As an independent author, you could not choose a more difficult path to supporting yourself. When you are author, editor, publisher, marketer and so on, it is an all consuming task. And not one conducive to fostering the creative juices and focus necessary to churn out meaningful and entertaining fiction.

Thankfully, I was retired for several years and able to bang out not only What Can One Man Do? but also the next three books in the series in one form or another. Then came the call. A new job beckoned, and I reluctantly rejoined the workforce.

The one thing all retirees understand is, you can never have enough retirement savings. Once you start spending it, the water going out the bottom of the bucket is always greater than what is coming in. So, I took advantage of this offer and decided to put a bit more water in the bucket before returning to retirement.

While I was grateful for this opportunity to pad the savings, it coincided with the publishing of my first novel. Sadly, what that meant was I did not have the time to properly promote and market my book. So I did the only thing I could: keep writing. Over the course of the next two years, nearly every night, I wrote and edited what are now the next three novels in the America at the Brink series.

I continued to hone the craft of storytelling. A job that will never be finished. At least I hope not! What it also enabled me to do, was step away from the first novel I had invested so much time and energy into. After awhile, with a dispassionate eye, along with some timely editing advice from a colleague, i revisited the first novel.

In this retrospective edit of the first book, I was able to remove a hundred pages of wonderful, but unnecessary prose. I also learned a lot about the schizophrenic nature of being an independent author. When to take off the author hat, and pull out the editor’s scalpel. To groan as you must cut some of your favorite scenes or dialogue, that while great, do not move the story forward.

It also helps you understand that every chapter, paragraph, sentence, and even word, serves a distinct purpose in moving your story forward. If it does not, it has to go. The result is a better story and growth as a writer. Something we should all be striving for whether it is a novel or an email.

I present to you, the second edition of What Can One Man Do?. With new cover art and in a hardcover edition along with the paperback and Kindle versions. This book is now available everywhere books are sold online. The story is unchanged and the ending the same.

For those of you who purchased the first edition, I thank you. It is my belief the journey is now more enjoyable, suspenseful, and exciting. I am not saying it is worth a second purchase, but maybe convince your library to buy a copy and read the third part of the novel again. For those of you, who are starting with the second edition, you will reap the benefit of fewer words, faster pacing, and a more satisfying and surprising ending. Enjoy.

Eric

Also please join our free Substack blog, Eric Rice’s Wake Up, Stand Up and Think for Yourself. Join the conversation on key topics of the day as we strive to have debate, compromise, and move toward the sane center. Where common sense is the only ideology.

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Blog on current events

Save America: Wake up, Stand up, Think for Yourself

Welcome to Eric Rice’s author site. Hopefully, you have arrived here because you are a fan of our first novel in the America at the Brink saga, “What Can One Man Do?”, or a friend has referred you. In either case, welcome.

I have twin goals in writing these novels. First, I want you, the reader, to be entertained and engaged in how the story progresses. Second, I hope to use this as a parable, pointing out a “what if” scenario of how our future might look based on decisions being made today.

I chose fiction for two reasons as well. The first is because I want to look forward, telling the story of a future America. As a “history” of what happened over the time covered in our saga, from someone who “lived” through these times.

My second reason is a bit more complicated. I wanted to be challenged as a writer. Fiction is much harder to write than non-fiction (let the hate mail begin). There are a ton of non-fiction books on the market by every talking head on every side of the political spectrum. After a while, they are all regurgitating the same set of opinions, railing against every decision and claiming how we are all doomed if we do not agree with them and their suggestions.

I did not want to write yet another of these, especially since I am truly a nobody. No journalism degree, no byline, no TV show, no public service. I am one of the rabble, affected by all the decisions of these elites, just like you. Normal concerned citizens who cannot understand what happened to simple common sense. You are the people I am writing this to entertain and educate.

This site will deal primarily with any events or publishing news as I release future material. If you would like to join the conversation, please subscribe to my companion Substack site, Eric Rice’s Wake up, Stand up, and Think for Yourself, here. You can subscribe for free and if you like the content, join my subscriber side where I will also serialize the new chapters of my novels as they are completed.

And of course, if you have not yet purchased your copy of my book, visit the published works page.

Wake up, Stand up, and Think for Yourself (WST4Y).