2008-7-22 05:03:00
By JJ Dewey:
When my Dad died he left 15 unpublished books for the family. He only had an eighth grade education so his English was not very good and they needed a lot of editing. I know that his dying wish was that someone from the family would edit his books and get them into a good readable format so people could enjoy them.
I have been working on a couple of his books lately and have found the current one I am working on quite interesting. Despite his lack of grammar skills his stories are very fascinating and really hold your attention. This one I am working on though is particularly interesting to me as it shows my Dad contemplated some of the things that I have.
Here is what he wrote in his autobiography about the book I am working on:
By Ted Dewey
Several years ago, I wrote another yarn which I called "Go With The Wild Wind." I guess you know that I have always been somewhat of an inventor, also a good mechanic, machinist, welder, and all around handy man. I have built power plants that get their energy from the wind, the water and the sun. Nothing big, but something to use when there is nothing else available. I have never been interested in atomic power. Some day, it will blow everything to hell.
Big companies, cooperatives, countries, dictators, gangs, and even churches try and corner the market on everything. Get a monopoly on whatever they have for sale, and make everyone pay through the nose then brainwash the public that their way is the only way. Put the fear of God in them, then they will pay through the nose. Anyhow, that is the conclusion I have come to.
The human race got by fine for a long time before the oil companies changed our method of living. I know, I was there. There is a limited supply of gas and oil, so these greedy, money hungry varmints went all out to corner the market and make everyone believe that this is the only way. Yes, they did away with the wind -- one of the greatest powers on this earth. Man had just began to harness a bit of this huge, friendly, free, source of energy when the oil magnates took over. This, they could control and monopolize, which they did.
About five or six years ago, I was living in Prescott Arizona. (I spent six or seven summers there.) This was about the time that the oil companies created the big shortage, and brainwashed most everyone into thinking that the oil supply was running out. Here is one old man that didn't swallow their line of "BS." What did I do? I got busy. I went back about fifty years in my thinking; back to the days when I built a wind generator that supplied all the power we could use and was free. I got busy and designed a power plant that could easily be the beginning of a design that could supply all the power that man will ever need. I made a bunch of drawings of the thing and took them to a lawyer that I had become acquainted with. I wondered if the thing could be patented.
He took them to a patent attorney in Phoenix, and also to some engineers in that city. Here is what they come up with: To build a working model, make drawings for a patent, and all the other things that were necessary, would cost quite a pile of dough. This I did not have, neither did my friend. I had let him read several of my stories. He thought they were great. He came up with this suggestion. "Write a book about the darn thing. Tell how to build it, and also make it an interesting novel. This won't cost a lot of dough and it could make you plenty. At least give it a try."
So, I got busy. I wrote the story and gave it the name, "Go With The Wild Wind." Later, I changed it to "The Sanctuary." The lawyer read the story and thought it was great. So, the next winter when I got settled in Yuma, I sent the thing to a publisher in New York -- one of the big ones. All winter long I waited for an answer -- none came. Nothing. I finally sent them telegrams and nasty letters.
Finally, I got an answer. They had not received the manuscript. I went to the post office and raised hell. Finally, they found the thing. The publisher had built a new building and had a new address. The manuscript had not been forwarded. It was returned to me. Oh well, there were more publishers, and I would try again. And I did. This time I would send it to a publisher in California, I decided. I found one listed in the "Writer's Market" that looked good. I sent them my only good copy, along with a letter of which I have the copy right here in front of me.
The date on the letter is April 28, 1982. They must have really loved the thing. They still have it and refuse to return my copy. I have written them letters, called them on the phone and give them hell. The only thing I can figure out is they are trying to steal it and its contents. I guess I should sue the hell out of them
Anyhow, I have had a very sad affair with a couple of publishers.
In this novel ("The Sanctuary") I have the inventor of all this wind power hook up with a group of millionaires who are building a sanctuary far back in the mountains of Arizona. There's one hundred of them in the club. Each put up the sum of one million dollars to build an underground shelter, and a huge library that will hold all the good things in life -- including wind machines.
They are convinced that soon atomic bombs will come raining down. "The Valley of Hope," the place is called. They hope to survive.
(End Of Preface)
JJ:
Anyway, since my Dad's book is about a gathering and a unique approach to free energy I thought I would post his book for the group.
He finally settled on "The Valley of Hope" as its title. Keep in mind that the time frame is somewhere around 1980.
Here is the first installment.
Copyright © 2008 by JJ Dewey, All Rights Reserved