Anyone who visits this site regularly knows that I generally post original content to it a couple times a week and might have wondered why nothing new has appeared in nearly two months! Ironically, the main reason is that throughout much of October and November I was driving around Texas doing signings and other promotional events for Texas Confidential: Sex, Scandal, Murder, and Mayhem in the Lone Star State.
Another drain on my resources was "National Novel Writing Month," an annual creative writing project that challenges participants to write a 50,000 word story between November 1 and November 30 that I decided to participate in this year. So, right in the middle of the book tour for Texas Confidential, I spent a month striving to complete a readable fantasy novel -- and am pleased to report that I succeeded in doing so.
Although I am the author or co-author of 10 non-fiction books, I have never really been keen on events like NaNoWriMo for a variety of reasons, but a number of things prompted me to accept the challenge this year. A major incentive for me was that one of the eleven New Year's resolutions I made for 2011 was to finish a novel by the end of the year and, not being on track to do that, I figured that if I was not going to get one done by the end of November that I sure as hell was not going to get one done in December.
Another incentive was the encouragement of my friend Robert Gruver, who also participated in the NaNoWriMo program this year, and I am proud to say that he also met the challenge and completed a 50,000 word novel during the 30-day writing period.
Swords of Kos: Necropolis is a swords-and-sorcery novel and, in that it does not really tie in with the subjects covered on this site I will not say any more about it other than it is on track for publication and that the first 10,000-or-so words of it appear on my NaNoWriMo page, for anyone who might be interested in reading it. Its imagery, however, does draw heavily on my own travels, particularly throughout the Mediterranean and Texas.
But, now that these latest demanding projects are largely done and out of the way, I am back, and will strive to provide useful and entertaining information and observations on this site throughout 2012!
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Thursday, November 3, 2011
5 Years Ago Today: Janice Vickers Kills Shirley Lindenbaum
CANYON LAKE, TEXAS -- On the night of November 3, 2006, sheriff’s deputies in Comal County, found the barefoot, mangled body of eighty-three-year-old Shirley Lindenbaum near 500 White Oak Drive in the Oaks subdivision of Startzville on the south side of Canyon Lake, about thirty miles north of San Antonio. A resident of the other side of the lake, forty-six-year-old Janice Marie Vickers, claimed to have run over her and then subsequently called 911 around 9:30 p.m.
The Comal County Sherriff’s Office, in conjunction with the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Attorney General’s office, proceeded to conduct a two-year investigation of the incident. That led to the arrest of Vickers in December 2008 and a grand jury in early 2009 that determined she should be charged with intentionally striking Lindenbaum with the intent of killing her. Vickers pleaded not guilty to the charges.
After various delays, Vickers’ murder trial began November 2, 2009, one day short of the three-year anniversary of the killing, in the 207th Judicial District court in New Braunfels, Judge Jack Robison presiding. The entirety of the first day of the trial was devoted to selection of the four-man, eight-woman jury.
Much of the initial proceedings on Tuesday, November 3, 2009, involved personal testimony from witnesses intended to establish the respective characters of both the defendant and the victim. The prosecution also presented crime-scene photos that many of the people present found to be horrific and disturbing. The entire top of Lindenbaum’s head was removed when Vickers ran over it multiple times with her Chevrolet Tahoe, and the victim’s body was so badly contorted that, witnesses testified, her breasts and buttocks were both facing in the same direction.
“I’ll have nightmares for a long time,” Mary Lindenbaum, daughter-in-law of the victim, told me when I spoke with her. Other family members and friends of the slain woman seemed equally shaken by the circumstances of her death.
The Comal County Sherriff’s Office, in conjunction with the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Attorney General’s office, proceeded to conduct a two-year investigation of the incident. That led to the arrest of Vickers in December 2008 and a grand jury in early 2009 that determined she should be charged with intentionally striking Lindenbaum with the intent of killing her. Vickers pleaded not guilty to the charges.
After various delays, Vickers’ murder trial began November 2, 2009, one day short of the three-year anniversary of the killing, in the 207th Judicial District court in New Braunfels, Judge Jack Robison presiding. The entirety of the first day of the trial was devoted to selection of the four-man, eight-woman jury.
Much of the initial proceedings on Tuesday, November 3, 2009, involved personal testimony from witnesses intended to establish the respective characters of both the defendant and the victim. The prosecution also presented crime-scene photos that many of the people present found to be horrific and disturbing. The entire top of Lindenbaum’s head was removed when Vickers ran over it multiple times with her Chevrolet Tahoe, and the victim’s body was so badly contorted that, witnesses testified, her breasts and buttocks were both facing in the same direction.
“I’ll have nightmares for a long time,” Mary Lindenbaum, daughter-in-law of the victim, told me when I spoke with her. Other family members and friends of the slain woman seemed equally shaken by the circumstances of her death.
Events: 'Texas Confidential' Signings
Following are signings and other events involving Texas Confidential Michael O. Varhola. This list will get updated frequently over the coming months, so be sure to keep an eye on it and come out for any events you can make it to!
Nov. 19, 2011 (Saturday), New Braunfels, Texas: Weihnachtsmarkt, Book Signing, 1-4 p.m.
I am excited to be doing a signing at this great annual German-style Christmas fest in historic New Braunfels! In addition to having Texas Confidential on hand, I will also have copies of a number of other books I have written, including Life in Civil War America, Shipwrecks and Lost Treasure: Great Lakes, Ghosthunting Maryland, and Ghosthunting Virginia.
Nov. 19, 2011 (Saturday), New Braunfels, Texas: Weihnachtsmarkt, Book Signing, 1-4 p.m.
I am excited to be doing a signing at this great annual German-style Christmas fest in historic New Braunfels! In addition to having Texas Confidential on hand, I will also have copies of a number of other books I have written, including Life in Civil War America, Shipwrecks and Lost Treasure: Great Lakes, Ghosthunting Maryland, and Ghosthunting Virginia.
Event Report: Blue Willow Bookshop (Houston, Texas)
Monday, October 24, 2011
Field Report: Bandidos MC
This past Saturday, Oct. 22, I was about halfway between San Antonio and Houston on I-10 east while en route to the latter city for a book signing when I saw a group of bikers coming up fast in the left lane. It was not until they were passing me that I realized they were part of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club, one of our local Texas "one percenter" biker gangs. This caught my eye, as much as anything, because the Bandidos are one of the groups I cover in "Gangland Texas," one of the chapters in the "Mayhem" section of Texas Confidential.
There were about two dozen of them and they were moving at about 90 miles per hour and in close formation, two abreast and at tight intervals. Based on what I know of the Bandidos they were likely heavily armed and, if they were on a long run, strung out on methamphetamine or other stimulants. I can only assume that the police give them a wide berth and, if the only obviously illegal thing they are doing is travelling 20 miles over the speed limit simply leave them the hell alone. I can only imagine what would happen if a lone DPF trooper presumed to pull a group of them over. To call them either a club or a gang falls short of an accurate description and it would be much closer to the mark to characterize them as a paramilitary unit.
Established in San Leon, Texas, in 1966, the Bandidos is an outlaw motorcycle gang and organized crime syndicate with an estimated 2,400 members in 90 chapters in the United States. It also has more than a hundred international chapters and numerous support clubs that it uses as fronts for both legal and illegal activities. Its symbol is an obese Mexican bandido brandishing a pistol and machete, and its slogan is “We are the people our parents warned us about.”
Historically, the Bandidos have been active in drug running, prostitution, enforcement, and contract killings, and are believed to have been involved in the attempted assassination of U.S. Attorney James Kerr in San Antonio (called for by drug kingpin Jimmy Chagra, who contracted the hit on federal judge John Wood III, which I cover in “The Crime of the Century,” a chapter in the “Murder” section of my book).
Founder Donald Eugene Chambers ended up serving 11 years in prison for his role in the 1972 murder in El Paso of two drug dealers who sold the Bandidos baking soda on the pretense that it was methamphetamine.
“First, the Bandidos and their old ladies tortured the brothers a few days,” journalist Gary Cartwright wrote in his book Dirty Dealing. “Then they hauled them to an isolated spot in the desert and made them dig a common grave,” where they executed them with a sawed-off shotgun and then buried them.
Violence remained an important part of the Bandidos’ way of life. On August 2004, gang member Richard Merla was convicted for stabbing to death International Boxing Federation super flyweight champion Robert Quiroga.
“I don’t regret it,” Merla said. “I don’t have no remorse. I don’t feel sorry for him and his family. I don’t and I mean that.” This was a bit much even for the Bandidos, and they expelled Merla, who is currently serving his sentence at the Alfred Hughes unit in Gatesville and will likely be released in 2047.
In March 2006, the police in Austin announced that Bandidos were the primary suspects in the slaying of Anthony Benesh, a 44-year-old motorcyclist who had been trying to start a local Hells Angels chapter. He was assassinated with a high-powered rifle during the same weekend as the Bandidos were celebrating the fortieth anniversary of their founding.
Established in San Leon, Texas, in 1966, the Bandidos is an outlaw motorcycle gang and organized crime syndicate with an estimated 2,400 members in 90 chapters in the United States. It also has more than a hundred international chapters and numerous support clubs that it uses as fronts for both legal and illegal activities. Its symbol is an obese Mexican bandido brandishing a pistol and machete, and its slogan is “We are the people our parents warned us about.”
Historically, the Bandidos have been active in drug running, prostitution, enforcement, and contract killings, and are believed to have been involved in the attempted assassination of U.S. Attorney James Kerr in San Antonio (called for by drug kingpin Jimmy Chagra, who contracted the hit on federal judge John Wood III, which I cover in “The Crime of the Century,” a chapter in the “Murder” section of my book).
Founder Donald Eugene Chambers ended up serving 11 years in prison for his role in the 1972 murder in El Paso of two drug dealers who sold the Bandidos baking soda on the pretense that it was methamphetamine.
“First, the Bandidos and their old ladies tortured the brothers a few days,” journalist Gary Cartwright wrote in his book Dirty Dealing. “Then they hauled them to an isolated spot in the desert and made them dig a common grave,” where they executed them with a sawed-off shotgun and then buried them.
“I don’t regret it,” Merla said. “I don’t have no remorse. I don’t feel sorry for him and his family. I don’t and I mean that.” This was a bit much even for the Bandidos, and they expelled Merla, who is currently serving his sentence at the Alfred Hughes unit in Gatesville and will likely be released in 2047.
In March 2006, the police in Austin announced that Bandidos were the primary suspects in the slaying of Anthony Benesh, a 44-year-old motorcyclist who had been trying to start a local Hells Angels chapter. He was assassinated with a high-powered rifle during the same weekend as the Bandidos were celebrating the fortieth anniversary of their founding.
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