Russ Towne's A Grateful Man

I’m offering my latest audiobook titles The Edge of Darkness: 21 Stories That Take You Where Hopes, Dreams and Fears Collide free to the first ten people who take advantage of this offer.

If you enjoyed the Twilight Zone television series and/or the stories of O. Henry, I believe you’ll enjoy these tales. You’ll find mystery, adventure, and romance in unexpected places, mixed with twists of irony and the supernatural.

If you’re interested, please send your email address to me and I’ll send a link and the code you’ll need to unlock your copy.

May your days be filled with blessings.

Russ

One of the simplest but hardest lessons I learned was that the best way to make friends was to be one. 

One day I woke up to the fact that while I had a few buddies, the only friend I had was relocating 1500 miles away. Others I thought were my friends weren’t there for me when I needed them most (or even at all). 

I blamed them, but eventually came to realize I’d been no better friend to them than they’d been to me. I learned it wasn’t about them at all, and never had been. 

Those realizations struck me hard. 

Through trial and error I developed an amazingly simple (but not always easy) way to make a profoundly positive difference in my life:

I identify people whom I believe to be good-hearted and then commit to myself to be the kind of friend to them that I want to have. 

I don’t promise them anything, and many aren’t even aware that I’ve committed to myself to be their friend. I just do it.

Over time, this approach led to my being a friend to many good-hearted men and women. In this way, I’m blessed by an ever-greater number of good-hearted people in my life. 

May your days be filled with blessings.

Russ

My Beloved and I enjoyed an amazing night out at the picturesque Mountain Winery in the hills of Saratoga listening to the remarkable vocal talents of the great Diana Ross. Her voice still sounds beautiful after all these years. She proudly mentioned part-way through her concert that she is 79 years young.

As you can see, her costumes were vibrant and colorful.

Did we have fun? I’ll let the next image provide the answer.

With love and gratitude,

Russ

I love how my Beloved can take a bare patch of ground and turn it into this:

With love and gratitude,

Russ

These beauties remind me of exotic and elegant birds or butterflies in flight, perhaps from an Avatar world.

With love and gratitude,

Russ

I look forward to seeing photos of this most unusual event every year. It has been staged at the same site annually since at least 1826. I think this falls into the “Bubba, hold my beer and watch this” type of crazy adventure. I applaud the zaniness!

(And, no, I have zero desire to risk life and limb chasing the cheese ball.)

With love and gratitude,

Russ

I love patiently planting seeds of kindness in prickly hearts and watching great beauty bloom.

With love and gratitude,

Russ

Not long ago a friend shared a simple lesson with me that has had a profoundly positive impact on my life. When confronted with what at first feels like a chore, we can turn our mindset around simply by replacing the phrase “have to” with “get to.” That Jedi mind trick (actually, an important lesson from 12-step programs) turns what would have been a chore into things to be grateful for.

I’ve used the idea to great effect. Now, even cleaning dog excrement from our backyard becomes the opportunity to focus on all the blessings my family and I receive from the dogs in our lives. The love and gratitude I feel overwhelms and completely replaces what might have felt like a boring and unpleasant chore had I not chosen to focus on “get to” instead of “have to.”

I often see things of great beauty during my frequent poop patrols, and I take some of my best photos during such efforts, including all the images in this post.

With love and gratitude,

Russ

Our daughter Stephanie invited the rest of our local family to visit recently born kids and lambs at Deer Hollow Farm nestled in Rancho San Antonio Park. A good time was had by all.

With love and gratitude,

Russ

I’m proud to announce that I have just released what I believe is my 64th book to date. It’s titled The Edge of Darkness. It’s an anthology of stories in the vein of O. Henry and Twilight Zone. Twists abound. Here’s the book’s blurb:

Hopes, dreams, and fears collide in this spellbinding collection of short stories by bestselling author Russ Towne. Find mystery, adventure, and romance in unexpected places, mixed with twists of irony and the supernatural in the 21 tales compiled from Towne’s previously published collections, The Jagged Edge of Shadows and Shattered Darkness. Included in this collection are:
​​​​​​​
Listen to the Whispers of Your Heart

Shadow

Revelations from a Stranger

A Turn of the Page

Fedderman’s Folly

Skin Deep

Who Are Those People?

One Upmanship

Only Human

When Justice Prevailed

The Invitation

It Had Been So Easy

“Ain’t None of My Business, But …”

Death by Butterfly

The Message

Sticks and Stones

Harmony

Leap Year

It’s All in the Numbers

A Chance to Prove It

The Gift.

The Edge of Darkness and nearly all my books can be found on Amazon.com.