The rental guy handed me the keys and said, "Just go outside and start pushing buttons. You'll find it." No car description. No color. No lot number.
It got worse from there. Then it got better.
jimkeplinger.substack.com/p/i-thought-...
I've added a bit of #FlashFiction to my Substack today. I'd be mighty honored if you gave it a read.
A two-lane highway cutting through a rocky canyon in Utah, viewed from inside a moving car, with mountains closing in on both sides under a pale sky.
I thought I was done with Utah.
Again.
Notes on customer service and being seen.
open.substack.com/pub/jimkepli...
Cover for "The Mrs. Carter Incident," a short story on Substack.
A man who’s bad with names receives a key from a stranger.
He uses it once.
open.substack.com/pub/jimkepli...
I launched a Substack called Unfinished Man.
Fiction and essays from a writer living a non-linear life, written without pretending anything’s finished yet.
It’s live if you want to read along.
"So, what genre is your book?"
"Thriller....er...mystery...er, um...upmarket conspiracy thriller?"
I'm learning there are questions I dread. I have also learned "just read the damn thing" is apparently the wrong answer.
#writing #BookSky
Groovy news: my #FlashFiction “Doors Don’t Whisper” took 1st (Short, Short Story—Military Experience) in the local (Indiana) VA Creative Arts Festival and advances to national judging. Results Jan 2026. A small story about fear, change, and choosing the next door.
#VeteransCreativeArts
It's, this. This is what I should have been doing. Genius!
I do indeed! Handsome gents!
This isn't a safety plan. It's a loyalty test.
And if you're cheering now, remember:
You’re not immune.
You're just next.
#StayAwake #FreedomFirst #AuthoritarianismAlert
This is textbook authoritarianism, American-style.
Wrapped in a flag.
Sold as “safety.”
But make no mistake: once they have this control, they don't hand it back.
It isn’t about fighting crime.
It’s about crushing dissent.
Centralize power.
Arm the enforcers.
Criminalize anyone who objects.
It attacks any effort toward fairness — labeling diversity and inclusion in policing “illegal” and “harmful.”
Translation:
Only one way to police.
Their way.
It gives police more money, more military gear, and legal shields against lawsuits — even if they violate your rights.
If they step over the line, you pay the price.
They get protected.
The order strips local control from cities and towns.
If your mayor wants smarter, fairer policing?
Too bad.
The feds can now bulldoze local decisions — and force aggressive, military-style policing nationwide.
Big move today: A new executive order just dropped, dressed up as "protecting communities."
It’s not.
It’s a raw grab for centralized power — and you need to understand what’s happening.
If you think this new executive order is about making you safer,
I’ve got bad news. [thread follows]
Damn, that's good.
benion Grieving a wasted life At a point in life when there are far too many days behind than ahead, one tends to re-elected in contrast to standing up for the reflect on a life lived. In my lifetime decades greater good? were devoted to protecting America. Sacri A compromised Supreme Court recently fices were made both by myself and my fam- trotted out a shallow token standards of Ily in military service. The tip of the spear: conduct for themselves. Apparently it's Countless weeks over the years were spent not a bribe to accept favors after a deci-sion; only before. Corporations are people? living at the end of a runway on alert with an Really? Whatever happened to Superman's armed B-52 as generations of aviators have motto of "truth, justice, and the American done before and since. way?" The purpose: if required, be airborne Pay-to-play is the theme of the day. Un- in minutes on a one-way trip bringing a challenged and uncontested blatant conflicts nuclear Armageddon to an adversary. Fly: of interest abound. The rule of law is situ- ing the unfriendly skies over North Viet- ational if adhered to at all. America can no nam provided a brief interlude, but overall, longer be trusted. The unbridled pursuit of this long line of silent sentinels stood firm power and wealth driven by unquenchable to protect America by deterring external greed has left service above self and Con- threats to our freedoms and way of life stitutional norms in the dustbin of a quaint across the decades. I was privileged to serve past. with men and women of integrity imbued Recently the VA said exposure to Agent with a sense of service. Orange is the probable cause of the can- I'm truly grateful that the B-52s we flew, which were built tough, were engineered cers I live with. Actually I suspect it's more from yet unspecified sources, which cause on scientific principles and fabricated by experienced, skilled workers rather than military pilots to have significantly higher founded on mere beli…
This letter appeared in the Bloomsburg PA Press Enterprise this morning. I am assured the writer is who he purports to be, an Air Force veteran.
Dear Dems. This is a reminder that Donald Trump rescinded the ethics rules preventing gifts to executive branch employees.
Now would be a good time to propose legislation formalizing the prevention into a law
Time to do things that make him react to you.
apnews.com/article/trum...
Have you seen this? I'm so proud of our Park Rangers. This was no easy feet.
I just read an article about a record setting cricket match. I'm not sure if I've ever read so many words I knew used in sentences I couldn't make any sense of. I clearly have no clue how this game plays.
I feel like I'm deboning a chicken evertime I rip a chapter out of this novel. It's for the best, I don't want the reader to choke on them, but I hate the blood and guts all over the floor. #WritingCommunity #AmEditing
Zippo
"Then I watched him dig up a crumpled pack of cigarettes, spear his mouth with one, strike a match on the counter, after missing twice on his thumb nail, and inhale with a lot of very poor nonchalance that he knew wasn't going over." - Raymond Chandler, "Finger Man."
Mercy, that's masterful. #write
Go go go go go!
Love this one!
Seems legit.
I thought in November I was ready to #query my new manuscript, I was wrong. I clawed it back, took another pass, and now I'm feeling far better about it. Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more! Anyone feeling frisky and wants to make agent introductions, drop a DM, I'd love to chat!