Recommended Reading: Erased, a novel by edRogers

Mysteries explored, 

identities briefly assumed

By Moristotle

I agree with Holy Moley, who says on the back cover of Erased:

What a thrill to read Erased! I thought edRogers couldn’t get any more exciting than in his Boystown and Body Count novels, but he’s done it again, and done it even better! Never die, edRogers! Keep on writing!”

I too hope Rogers doesn’t die, and I hope I don’t either, because I so enjoy editing his work. (He began writing Erased while I was editing his fictional biography Jaudon: An American Family.)

As Rogers himself describes this work:

Erased is a gripping story about identity, memories, and some perils of doing your job. When your past disappears, do you disappear too? Follow my characters as they move from one dangerous life to the next.”

Ed Rogers creates stories with a skill I can only marvel at. If you like to read action-packed stories, I urge you to give Erased a try. You can purchase a copy on Amazon.

And after you have read and enjoyed Erased, please do your friends the favor of recommending they read it too.

Copyright © 2026 by Moristotle

Recommended Reading: Jaudon: An American Family, a novel by edRogers

The Jaudons had

what it took

By Moristotle

Here’s what one reader had to say about edRogers’ novel:

The novel Jaudon: An American Family is a history book in which we have a look at the life of two generations of a family as Texas goes from a desolate wasteland to a booming economy of cattle, oil, railroads, and more. The swiftness with which things change is amazing. And the people involved were seldom nice. Jaudon reminds me of Patrick Smith’s A Land Remembered, a great novel about Florida. It puts the reader right into the action.
             —Roger Owens, author of A Killing on a Bridge,
                                         Dancing at the Driftwood Hotel, &
                                  Drinking Kubulis at the Dead Cat Café

Roger Owens’ endorsement means a lot, because he’s as thoughtful a reader as he is a writer.

As the author himself describes Jaudon: An American Family:

This is the story of a family beginning their life after the American Civil War. James Jaudon, a Southern boy in Mississippi, falls in love with an ex-slave named Cassy. After the birth of their son, they and James’ sister flee to Texas, where they endure the hardships of carving out a life in the wild west—from fighting bandits and renegades to suffering racism and other prejudices. James builds a cattle empire, and he and Cassy’s son, Claude Napoleon Jaudon, become two of the richest oilmen in Texas. The Jaudons cast a long shadow across Texas as the story continues through the Spanish-American War, Prohibition, the Great Depression, and World Wars 1 & 2. Members of the Jaudon family were there for it all.

Ed Rogers created this story with heart, because he himself has Jaudon roots in France. If you especially like to read gripping historical fiction, I highly recommend this book. You can purchase a copy on Amazon.

And after you have read and enjoyed Jaudon: An American Family, please do your friends the favor of recommending they read it too. 

Copyright © 2026 by Moristotle

Fiction: I Am a Prayer(Excerpt from the novel)

By Michael Hanson

[Editor’s Note: I Am a Prayer is the author’s latest published novel (Atmosphere Press, November 15, 2022). It is about loss and gifts, and the efforts we make to find meaning in life when tragedy is an inescapable aspect of love. Raymond Shackleford’s journey takes him to a variety of venues — from a dance club to the depths of his own past — but it will be a chance encounter with a stranger that changes everything.] 

My friend Lauren always said, ‘Write the ending you want.’

Announcing My Latest Romance Novel

By Shirley Skufca Hickman

Sometimes a character I’m writing about refuses to leave. In my previous romance novel, The Tangled Web of Love, Priscilla didn’t have a boyfriend. In the sequel, Love Finds a Way, she finds Randall.

    After I narrated their first meeting (see the excerpt below), I found I liked Randall and wanted to continue to write about him: he is illegitimate and poor and can’t pursue Priscilla. Love Finds a Way goes on to discover the two characters’ journey, which becomes the book’s major love story, with many disappointments and a final, romantic ending. Love finds a way.

Excerpt from
Love Finds a Way

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (85) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Saturday,
November 1, 1924,
10:47 PM

Terry Miller and Steve Davis were drunk. They’d been to Miss Lottie’s for the cheap drinks, but they had some money tonight due to Terry’s uncle, and another’s leavings didn’t suit them this night. They were headed to Senegal’s Sumptuous Palace of Delights, to sample some new flesh reported to have arrived recently enough not to smell like old fish.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (84) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Saturday,
November 1, 1924,
8:57 PM

Stuart Police Chief Oren B. Padgett was the second cousin, once removed, of the Padgett brothers over at the Sheriff’s Office, who would later that day be sent to Fort Pierce. He was sitting at a window table in the Victory Hotel finishing his coffee when he saw George Mariot coming out of the grocery across the street.
    George had an awful lot of groceries for just him and his wife Lola, John Ashley’s estranged sister, Padgett thought.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (83) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Friday,
October 31, 1924,
1:30 PM

The top of the telegram read “Postal Telegraph”, followed by the triangular shield of the US Postmaster, then “Commercial Cables.” The recipient was listed as “JAMES MERRITT, SHERIFF, SAINT LUCIE CTY.” The body of the message was straightforward, as telegrams were charged for by the word.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (82) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Friday,
September 5, 1924,
3:43 PM

The payday rush hadn’t really started yet, and Teddy Pendergast had just come on duty as a teller at the Bank of Stuart to service the needs of their customers on the busiest day of the week.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (81) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Sunday,
February 17, 1924,
2:35 PM

The three boats plowed into West End Harbor, having skirted Indian Cay and the shoals off West End Town. They’d just made it, cutting north of the main peninsula and riding the swells back southwest until they were in the shelter of the northern arm of the bay.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (80) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Sunday,
February 10, 1924,
2:00 PM

“Water,” John Ashley said in disgust. “Those sons of bitches sold us water. And for top prices.” He dumped part of the bottle marked “Gordons London Dry Gin” into the brown waters of the South Fork of the Saint Lucie River. He tossed the remainder, bottle and all, and it sank with a tiny splash.
    Hanford Mobley, Tom Maddox and Teddy Miller all looked down in shame. John thought Teddy, hands in pockets, might actually scuff his shoe on the weathered, uneven dock boards. He was the nephew of Tom Miller, the grocer back in Gomez.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (79) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Thursday,
January 10, 1924,
concluded

The dog finally stopped whimpering, the shouting went on, and Red saw something. The army tent had a short wall of interwoven branches about four feet high, and above it he spied a head of black hair, thinning on top. A man sitting up with his back to Red, like from a bunk, who then shouted at someone else to get down.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (78) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Thursday,
January 10, 1924,
5:00 AM

As the column of cars and trucks crawled through the predawn darkness along the raised marl and sand roads heading into Gomez Grant, with water on either side, Red Dedge was skeptical.
    This was the third raid against the Ashleys he’d been on, two with Saint Lucie County John Merritt, who was not one damn bit happy with his latest volunteer. The memory of losing a lawsuit to this young man, or rather buying his way out of it, was too fresh.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (77) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Thursday,
October 7, 1923,
5:30 PM

With belts and cleats, Red Dedge had gone up near the top of a towering cypress, with Rufus, also belted onto the tree, as his second saw man. They gauged the wind, the slight angle of the tree itself, the seemingly insignificant branches high, high up here on the top. Branches that contained much of the water sucked up by these massive swamp giants, tons of it.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (76) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Thursday,
December 15, 1921,
6:00 AM

The Lorelei, piloted solo by Anson “Bo” Stokes, led the Angelica, with Jim White and Alton Davis aboard. The north wind and winter swells buffeted their loaded boats, fetching their bows first up, then sideways and down, enough to make the average man puke his toenails up, or “chum the water” as they said when fishing.
    Their heading was north by northwest, having cruised from Rum Cay in South Bimini due west until clearing the Gulf Stream, then turned north towards the harbor used by the Rice gang. They would enter Jupiter Inlet, then follow the Loxahatchee River deep into the Everglades.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (75) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Tuesday,
May 1, 1923,
5:00 AM

The day dawned clear and sunny, although it had rained hard the night before. Normally Red would have slept well in the rain, but it had the God damn cows bellowing all night. Hell, they bellowed all night every night, and all day every day too, and it was beginnin’ to wear Red’s nerves thin.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (74) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Wednesday,
October 19, 1921,
8:00 AM

Captain J. S. Blitch, Warden of Raiford State Prison, with barely a sip of his second cup of coffee past his lips, was presented by his head of security, George Morford, with a letter from prisoner John Ashley, to his father Joe Ashley, C/O Miller’s Landing, Gomez Grant, Stuart, Florida.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (73) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Monday,
October 17, 1921,
1:00 PM

Frank had been at the engine behind the cargo hold for over three hours, and it was hot. Fucking hot. Ed, the little pussy, was upstairs nursing his busted arm and a bottle of Gordon’s Gin. Little pussy.
    Up there in the cool breeze suckin’ cool gin, while Frank bent wrenches and busted his knuckles over the carburetor on the Sterling with the sun sitting right on his God damn head.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (72) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Monday,
October 17, 1921,
8:00 AM

Ed steered one of the Stoningtons, the one named by its former owners the Honoria Bertrand. The other, previously owned by men presumably less romantic than those of the Honoria, just read “R.L.Frank, T. Kessler” along the bows, and currently floated at the dock back in Manatee Pocket in Stuart.
    The “Honoria Bertrand” had taken all of two days to become the “Horny Bitch,” and soon her name was shortened to the “Horny B.,” just to be mysterious, or so the sniggering brothers told each other.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (71) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Monday,
October 17, 1921,
3:00 AM

Captain J. S. Blitch, Warden of Raiford State Prison, had enjoyed a hearty steak for Sunday dinner, even if it was from last year’s Angus steer culling. They had this freezing business down to a science, and this time of year there was fresh corn from up Tallahassee way, Vidalia Sweet onions from Vidalia Georgia its only self, a mere hundred and fifty or so miles away, and Cherokee tomatoes from North Carolina, in Blitch’s estimation the best God damn tomatoes in the whole wide world.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (70) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Saturday,
September 30, 1922

He could not believe that the Ashley gang had left them alone, even for a few weeks. They’d killed eleven hired gun thugs at Harlan’s fish camp, and Red had heard later that Skeeter and Rosalijo had killed three more earlier at Skeeter’s farm in Jackass Junction.