Cornered by Alan Brenham

Cornered
By Alan Brenham
Paperback: 316 pages
Publisher: Black Opal Books (July 13, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1626941386
ISBN-13: 978-1626941380
Author Website: http://www.alanbrenham.com
Genre: Crime/Thriller
About the Author: Alan Brenham is the pen name of Alan Behr, a Texas criminal law attorney and former law enforcement officer.

He was born in upstate New York, in the small Catskill Mountains town of Delhi. He worked as a Texas law enforcement officer for over fourteen years and as a criminal prosecutor and later criminal defense attorney for over twenty-four years. His travels took him from Alaska to Russia, from Norway and Sweden down to Lebanon and Iran plus stops at almost every island in the Caribbean. Today he lives in the Austin, Texas, area with his wife, Lillian.

His first crime novel, Price of Justice, won several awards including best

How to Define Your Life Purpose in Five Minutes Or Less

“He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” ~Friedrich Nietzsche

At his 25th college reunion at Yale, Adam Leipzig was astonished to discover that 80% of his friends were unhappy with their lives. Most of his friends were privileged—highly educated, financially well off, and in positions of power. “Not only did they have the first house and the second house but also the first spouse and the second spouse!”

And yet, they were unhappy with their lives and some of them told Adam:

“I feel as though I’ve wasted my life and I’m halfway through it.”
“I don’t know what my life is all about.”

On the other hand, the remaining 20% were those who had studied subjects like literature, theater and history. They did this not because they thought it would direct them towards a specific job but for the joy of learning. Of

#BringBackOurGirls – Learning from children

I heard this story in my country Nigeria many years ago, and I want to share it with you. When you communicate with children, don’t always assume you know more than them because of their young age. Don’t assume they must always learn from you.

That’s true in most cases, but not so in some cases. You can also learn from them as this story shows. A man was conversing with his 4-year old daughter. Obviously trying to impress Daddy she was learning something in school, she began to recite the kindergarten rhymes they taught her in school.

Daddy did not listen, but one of the rhymes got his attention. She was singing…

“Two little birds… standing on the wall. One named Peter…One named Paul. Oh, fly away Peter…Oh, fly away Paul,” she concluded in excitement clasping her hands. But her father cut short her excitement.

“You are wrong Ngozi,” as he tried to

When Love Takes a Left Turn

Falling in love is easy and fun. The initial experience is usually overwhelmingly exciting as it fills all of our senses. Meeting someone whom we believe is our alter ego, the love of our life, our soul mate, is like living in a dream … a dream of total enjoyment that leads us to believe that we have finally “hit the jackpot.” We may decide to commit, whether formally by marriage or deciding to live together as an exclusive couple. Actually, though, unbeknown to us, down the road it becomes a test. Yes, sometimes love can become a test. It becomes a test of our endurance, strength, devotion and faithfulness. In effect, love takes a right turn. Usually it’s not a turn that we choose to make. It just kind of happens over time as a result of the myriad of experiences that we encounter with the person we’ve

Benjamin Disraeli, novelist and socialite, politician and Prime Minister of the UK

Bill Keeth revels in a north Manchester connection

Readers may recall Benjamin Disraeli’s brief appearance in my debut novel which reads as follows:

“Larry Gilderdale (a bus driver with Manchester Corporation Transport Department) pulls up to let a woman with a kiddy get on at the bus stop outside the Harpurhey Con Club under the disdainful glance of Benjamin Disraeli above the doorway and diagonally across Rochdale Road from Bernard Manning’s World Famous Embassy Club.” ”

Because a figurehead featuring the head of Benjamin Disraeli is set into the apex of the front entrance of Harpurhey Conservative Club, the precise location of which is 746 Rochdale Road, Manchester M9 4BP. Sadly, no name or no pack-drill is in evidence, but I resurrect the matter here in case any student of local history who has previously missed it (as had I until 2005, despite a misspent childhood and youth on the streets of Blackley

Clouds Get In Your Eyes

In the papers recently, there was a story about a couple who married in 2003. They lived in Mysore. When she was pregnant in 2006, she went back to the parents’ home in Bangalore, but refused to return to her husband’s home after the baby was born. She even offered to set up a clinic for him in Bangalore. Finally, she lodged a ‘dowry complaint’ against her husband. So, there was money involved.

This story reminded me of a couple I knew who went through almost exactly the same thing. The only difference is that I don’t know if there was any dowry paid by the girl. I’m no expert on sustaining a relationship, but I know that when this couple was first courting, I sensed that something was horribly wrong with their relationship and I guessed it wouldn’t last. In hindsight, I should have kept this opinion to myself.

When Nature Overtook Silence

One of the things I was afraid of when going for the Art of Joyfulness-Mindful Living Excellence Retreat from 3rd to 5th January 2014 was the requirement that we must be silent and quiet at all times. After all, wasn’t solitary confinement a form of corporeal punishment?

When I mentioned it to our retreat leader, he said something along the lines of, “You may be quiet ‘outside’, but I assure you there’s lots of talking going on inside.” I didn’t dare admit that what he said frightened me even more. After all, there were thoughts, feelings and emotions that I’d buried deep in my psyche and the last thing I wanted was to think about/rehash/analyse them again. Frankly, I was bored with them.

As expected, during that first night, after participating in the ‘letting go’ session, all those buried emotions did emerge. Mercifully, the next session was sleep or what was referred

Of Hauntings, Trickery and the Mind

”

When I told friends that I was going for the Art of Joyfulness-Mindful Living Excellence Retreat from 3rd to 5th January 2014, many asked where this retreat was going to be held. When I told them Gunung Jerai, the collective gasps said it all: you see, Gunung Jerai has a reputation for being haunted. Talismans and prayers were offered for my safety.

Frankly, no one has ever told me the real story about Gunung Jerai. Everyone just says, “It’s haunted.” No one knows who’s haunting it, what happened to make the place haunted or when did it all start.

The cynic in me wonders if this is yet another haunted-tale-discounted-by-logic, much like the one about my grandparent’s house. According to our guests, they would hear the footsteps of a man (they were certain they were never that of a woman) walking up the stairs. He never came all the way up, neither

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