A Life Through Books

You’ve worked hard, built a good life, and achieved what you set out to accomplish. So why does something still feel off?

On the surface, everything looks right. But underneath, something is beginning to crack—and no amount of success, performance, or achievement seems to fix it.

Josh Wintermute knows that feeling well. After walking through physical, mental, financial, and spiritual struggles, he came to a life-changing realization: the problem wasn’t just the circumstances—it was the foundation.

In this honest and practical book, Josh walks you through the three foundational areas every life is built on—your heart, your home, and your culture. He helps you uncover what’s broken beneath the surface, do the hard work of restoration, and rebuild on what truly matters.

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All joy wants eternity … wants deep, deep eternity. With this declaration of primordial lust, the patron saint of post-modernity exalts his mania for joy, alongside the unquenchable thirst of the will to power, and, with it, the futile quest for the super-human. The cultural force of this dictum, which has become a commonplace among the literati, still drives the onslaught of thought and behavior, even, and perhaps foremost, among those who remain ignorant of its explicit pronouncement. A prophet is always heard most widely and wrongly, not through his own voice, but through the discordant voices of his wayward disciples. Amid the endless cacophony of copycats, who vainly mimic the grand style of their master, you’re tempted to forget the desperate loneliness of the solitary individual, a hermit in his many hideaways and masks, who, above all else, sought to transmute his solitude into a macho justification for human tenderness.

Late at night, when she is fast asleep, you crawl into bed; and in the midst of the dark, quiet night, you hear rhythmic spasms in her breathing as she dreams. Thoughtlessly, carelessly, inevitably, your mind empties itself so that there is only the sound of her breathing – paradoxically steady and spasmodic. In your own late-night, overwrought, careworn mania, you manage to convince yourself that what you really hear at this moment is the sound of eternity singing. Physiologically, you might interpret this as a mental phantom concocted out of the stresses and strains of a tiring day. But this illusion produces a reality that the mind cannot deny without destroying a part of itself. Loving your mind too much to bear losing even its most illusory fragments, you cannot help but think that these moments are gateways to eternity, that they are not merely the pleasant afterimages you dream up to forget a day of painstaking and tedious work but that they are indeed what you have lived through the day to reach, to grasp and caress, if only for a fleeting instant. Such moments (and not the jobs you do) are the serious work of your life.

 

This book, the third and final one in the eternity trilogy, continues to recount the conspiracy of nowhere and now here that unfolded in "The History of Eternity" and "Passages to Eternity." Read this book, if you will, and follow the adventures of this paradox as it reveals itself in the lives of 36 historical individuals, including Musil, Bloy, Peguy, George Eliot, Kripke, Blake, Nishida Kitaro, Cather, Nagarjuna, Fitzgerald, Bruno, Paz, John Duns Scotus, Mallarmé, Burke, Achebe, Murdoch, Epictetus, St. John of the Cross, Turing, Lispector, Goya, Pirandello, Blanchot, Tennyson, Messiaen, Cantor, O’Connor, Nin, Lowell, Racine, Vidal, Niebuhr, Twain, Derrida, C.S. Lewis and many others.

 

James Winder spent the lion’s share of his career as a mid-level manager and intelligence analyst for the National Security Agency (NSA), where he retired in 2013 after 30 years of service. At NSA, Mr. Winder’s most noteworthy assignment was in 1991-1992, when he served as Assistant Director of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB). During that time, he co-authored a report for President George H.W. Bush on intelligence lessons learned during the first Gulf War and provided extensive research and documentation on a wide range of other matters of great interest to the PFIAB board members. In a special commendation, then Acting PFIAB Chairman, Admiral Bobby Ray Inman, cited Mr. Winder for his “expert advice to the President of the United States” and for his “extremely incisive and timely contributions on some very complex issues.”

During three decades at NSA, Mr. Winder produced three classified, book-length studies, most notably including a comprehensive report on an important subject, which won NSA’s annual Cryptologic Literature Award. He also wrote a wide variety of other in-depth reports on Soviet intelligence, terrorism, and technical threats to U.S. telecommunications.

Mr. Winder is the author of The History of Eternity, a series of philosophic meditations in poetic form, which is, according to Mr. Winder, the cryptic story of his life and the lives of many others. There is – in the history of philosophy or literature – no other work that is akin to it in nature and scope.

 

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Land of Math is a vibrant juvenile picture book that introduces early learners to the building blocks of mathematics through a whimsical narrative centered on the structured realms of Ones, Tens, and Hundreds. The story follows the diligent King Equation as he strives for stability in his kingdom, only to have his plans upended by the playful antics of Prince Addition and Prince Subtraction. When the princes’ magical meddling leads to an overflow of Ones, the king must consult the High Wizard of Ordinals. By utilizing the enchanted Carry-Over and Borrow Rivers, King Equation successfully manages the numerical surplus, teaching readers about place value and operational balance. This delightful adventure blends creative storytelling with academic fundamentals, providing an accessible and engaging way for children to master basic arithmetic and logic.

In the heart of historic Columbus, Wisconsin, Bernie’s Café is more than a place for waffles, bacon, and hot coffee. It is a morning refuge where old friends gather at the same window table to trade jokes, argue over faith and politics, remember the people they have loved, and carry one another through the ordinary aches of aging. Ed Johnson, a Norwegian storyteller with a talent for embellishment, Bill Welcher, a widowed hardware-store owner with more opinions than patience, Grant Belmont, a retired dentist facing fragile health, and Leo Gibson, a minister emeritus whose quiet wisdom steadies them all, have built a brotherhood out of breakfast. Watching over them are Lou, the sharp-tongued waitress whose fierce loyalty hides a difficult past, Marlene, steady and observant, and Bernie himself, the café owner who understands that food can be a form of mercy.

Believing in love and in luck is something Gavin swore he’d never do again -- until he meets Ford.

 

 

“Something wonderful is going to happen today.”

“Were you talking to me?” A fun-sized blonde deliverywoman, no one Ford had met before, juggled her armload of Flowers Fast! boxes to pop out her iPod earbuds.

Ford grinned up at her from where he’d crouched to study the sidewalk perpendicular to the museum service elevator he, and presumably she, was waiting on. “Sorry, no. I wasn’t talking to you. Not that I wouldn’t. Everyone I’ve ever known swears you can’t shut me up for love or money. They’re usually right.”

The deliverywoman looked like she couldn’t decide between aww, cute and running. “You’re a little crazy, aren’t you?”

“So I’m often told.” He’d bet this woman was one heck of a character herself. She’d made some, er, interesting fashion choices involving calf-length striped tights and patchouli hair wax. “I’m Ford.” He offered her a hand from below. “Come down here and check this out.”

“This isn’t some kind of cheesy pick-up line, is it? I’d be flattered, but… okay, wow. From the look on your face, I can answer that one myself. So not a pick-up line. If you were any less into women, you’d be a gastropod.”

Ford laughed. “That’s a new one on me.”

“If the shoe fits. I’m Kayla.”

“Ford.”

“Like the truck?” The deliverywoman crouched beside him. Good. Ford liked her, and her coming along for the ride was an excellent sign. Something wonderful and something unexpected were set to happen today. “You deliver for Rush Plus, right?”

“Packages where you want them to go as fast as you want ‘em to get there. Or as fast as I can pedal.” Ford patted his heavy messenger bag.

“Pleased to meet you. I could use a pick-me-up. Delivering flowers is surprisingly thankless work. What’s this good thing that’s going to happen today?”

“I don’t know yet.” Ford waved up from their spot on the sidewalk at the weird door to the external service elevator and the five floors of refurbished mill-cum-museum it had to sledge its way down at the speed of thick molasses. “It’s complicated. If you’re up for it, there’s time for me to explain.”

“God, tell me about it.” Kayla scowled at the stubborn doors.

Ford had started to feel the burn of his crouch, the solid weight of his body not really best designed for sitting this way, but he could take it a little longer, and he had a good example right in front of him. A penny, less than a foot away on the sidewalk. “Do you believe in magic?”

“Wait, what? Do you mean stage magic? Illusions and that kind of thing?”

“Not exactly.” Ford nudged the penny with the tip of his finger and waggled his eyebrows at her. He liked playing over the top. Made people less nervous of the giant with his crazy talk.

“Ohh, I get it. See a penny, pick it up, and all day long you’ll have good luck?”

“Exactly.” Ford levered the penny off the sidewalk.

“Ugh!”

“Hey, don’t knock it just because it needs a little TLC.” Ford balanced the penny in his palm, where it looked lost and tiny in the breadth and width of his hand. Or, depending on your point of view, safe. Protected. “It’s heads up, even. Extra good luck.”

“Yeah, but where’s the proof?”

“You don’t need proof if you believe. And I do. Because it’s true. This penny means it’s my lucky day.” Ford shifted and winced. His knees had had enough of bearing all his weight. Time to stand. “I need to stand up. Don’t freak out, okay?”

“Why would that tweak me?”

“You’ll see.” Ford stood slowly to give her time to adjust to his size. At six feet nine with a proportionate build that could only be described as solid, he liked to make sure people knew in advance he wasn’t a threat.

Kayla’s eyes widened. She took a step back, then forward, her chin up. “Holy cow. Sorry, just… wow, man. You’re huge.”

“And you’re itty-bitty. I won’t hurt you.”

“A gentle giant, huh?” Kayla studied him with her head tilted to one side. “Okay. I believe you.”

“You’d be surprised how many don’t. Thank you. May I?” Ford took her hand to kiss the back of it.

“Touché, Mister.” Kayla fiddled with a strand of her spiky hair. “So you really, really believe in luck? What about omens and good signs and that kind of thing?”

“Yes, yes, yes, and all of the above, yes. And you don’t, right?”

When Kayla shook her head, a ladder of silver rings running along the outer shells of her ears jingled. All positive signs that pointed toward good fortune. Better and better. “Don’t shun me or anything. I’ve just never seen any proof that all those old wives’ tales are more than just stories.”

Ford grinned broadly at her. He loved it when someone was willing to be convinced. “If it’s proof you want, I can do proof. Prepare to be amazed.”

 

About the Author

A storyteller and a sewist, Will Okati has lived through a few Interesting Times but come out the other side ready to roll. Looking for them? Look for a keyboard or a vintage Singer. They'll be there. They're most often accompanied by their beloved pair of orange-flavored felines: Hobbit (toothless, sweet) and Onion (spicy, known to bounce off the literal ceiling in pursuit of a ladybug).

Will likes to say still waters run deeper than anyone knows, and life -- like storytelling -- is always a work in progress.

 

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Publisher on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok: @changelingpress

 

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This book is their answer.

Mississippi gave Edward and Barbara Blackmon—and the generations before them—a vantage the rest of the nation is only now beginning to feel. What Americans are living through today is not a new reality improvised in real time. It is the same ancient machinery that has always been here.

They spent their lives inside a system built to contain them: segregated schools and courthouses, voting maps drawn to dilute Black power, courtrooms that treated justice as a privilege. Locked as a teenager in a Canton jail during the civil-rights struggle, Edward decided then to become a lawyer so the law could serve as a shield rather than a weapon. He served more than four decades in the Mississippi House of Representatives and helped redraw the state’s political maps, more than doubling Black representation. The National Law Journal twice named him one of the nation’s top ten litigators.

Barbara Blackmon broke barriers of her own. She earned her degree from Jackson State University at nineteen, an MBA from the University of Alabama, a law degree from the University of Mississippi, and an LL.M. in taxation from New York University. She became the first Black woman to represent Madison, Yazoo, and Holmes counties in the Mississippi Senate from a majority-white district, later won the Democratic nomination to run for lieutenant governor, and, with her husband, built a statewide law practice in Canton that took the fight from the Capitol floor to the courtroom.

Two Minds, One Rhythm is the story of how two formidable minds learned to move together toward goals that serve humanity—and why we must unite now to heal a fractured nation before it is too late. This book does not stop at diagnosis. It offers a path forward: work, faith, education, and shared purpose. See the other side without surrendering yours. Rebuild trust. Choose courage over fear. The fractures can still be closed—not if we wait until the rest of the world finishes watching us come apart.

 

Edward Blackmon, Jr. is a nationally recognized trial attorney, former Mississippi State Representative, and longtime advocate for voting rights and equal representation. A graduate of Tougaloo College and The George Washington University Law School, he co-founded Blackmon & Blackmon, PLLC, with his wife and law partner, Barbara, in Canton, Mississippi.

Barbara Blackmon is a trailblazing attorney, former Mississippi State Senator, and Managing Partner of Blackmon & Blackmon, PLLC, the law firm she built with her husband, Edward. She holds degrees from Jackson State University, the University of Alabama, the University of Mississippi School of Law, and New York University, where she earned an LL.M. in Taxation.

In the magical world of Selah, humans, dwarves, caruans, and other remarkable peoples have lived together in peace for generations. But beyond the safety of their kingdoms, an ancient evil has awakened—one determined to divide the nations and conquer the world.