Bullets for Ballots
Everett Anson
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2005 Emidra Publishing
ISBN: 0972356959

A crazy accident sends a happily married man on a rollercoaster of a ride in grass roots politics & a Jeffersonian militia.

Bullets for Ballots doesn't start out political at all. Steve Jordan is on a flight to Texas for a conference about his computer company, when a sudden mid-air near-collision sends him spiraling into thin air. Miraculously, he lands on a snow-covered mountain, where he struggles for survival, until rescue arrives.

Eventually released from hospital into the waiting arms of his loving wife & children, two of whom are already in college, Steve is interviewed by a religious magazine. He's not sure what he says, & it will be months before the article is published, so he forgets about it, getting on with reuniting with his family, re-organizing his company, & struggling with the reappearance of his highschool sweetheart, who just happens to be a computer whiz like himself.

Naturally, every media outlet wants to hear Steve's story of survival, & soon he becomes a household name, & a national hero. Up on that snowy mountain, to keep himself warm, Steve had first read the Bible his son, Ken, had given him, & then burnt the pages to make a fire. Now he remembers the vow he made, that should he live, he'd do something with his life that would make a difference in others'.

With a presidential election in the offing, political animals & billionaires come a-calling, & all too soon, Steve is swept up in the sound & fury of being the Third Party candidate.

Meanwhile, of course, his marriage is falling apart, & his erstwhile sweetheart has her own agenda. Still, Steve soldiers on, keeping true to his values, even when members of a Jeffersonian militia decide he's exactly the candidate they need. In a terrifying, secret meeting he must face down their leader...

“We are not terrorists!” The colonel shouted “We are patriots fighting an oppressive government. You are a dreamer. You need us.” He held a bullet in front of Steve's face. “One of these is worth a thousand votes. Every senator or congressman we kill tomorrow is one more seat open for the Third Party to fill.” Now it is up to Steve to stop them from attacking Washington.

Even with all the bodyguards & security necessary as a presidential candidate, a bomb tears Steve's life apart, & then, from his past, comes another blow, that not only threatens his candidacy, it puts his marriage in jeopardy.

What a rollercoaster ride!

Bullets for Ballots came off the presses with many a typo intact which a simple Search & Replace would have rectified, however, the tale Everett Anson has to tell is vivid, engaging & quite plausible.
(05/22/05)

Rebecca