IN THE WEEDS, Civil Rights

Fifty-five years ago this month, Bull Connor directed the police department of Birmingham, Alabama to sic police dogs on peaceful protesters. He also ordered the fire department to spray protesters with high-pressure hoses. These tactics backfired on Connor – widespread news coverage of these outrages brought public condemnation down on Connor’s head, ensuring the passage of the Civil Rights Act only one year later.

My humorous novel IN THE WEEDS uses a cut-rate Bull Connor in the form of Bobby Ray Pistle, “chief” of Farth’s two-man police force. Pistle’s the sort of man who considers the Klan an upstanding civic organization – he views protagonist Slats Kisov as a Hebraic hippie who prefers the company of minorities to that of…paler folk. The chief also suspects that Slats is smuggling the same weed he’s been smoking, though Pistle’s bulb burns too dimly to find proof. But when the chief’s lusty ex-wife starts cozying up to Slats, buddy, temperatures really get to boiling.

History long ago relegated Connor to his own violent corner. But the only way to discover Bobby Ray Pistle’s fate is to follow one of the buy links listed below.

Amazon buy link: www.amazon.com/Weeds-Mark-Ozeroff/dp/0998427497/ref%3Dsr_1_1?s=book...

Publisher buy link: www.open-bks.com/library/moderns/in-the-weeds/order.html