Roy M. Griffis

Roy M. Griffis

Storyteller

Interviews n’ stuff

Mothers Day in a nursing home

Mother’s Day this year was spent in a nursing home with my mom. She fell and broke a shoulder last week. Once stabilized, she was moved to a nursing home for rehab.
 
My father has been doing his best to keep mom in her home, comfortable in familiar surroundings, but it may soon exceed his capacity to manage without substantial help. He turns 80 next year.
 
My brother, who lives a mile away, has been heroically pitching in. He visited daily, engaging with my mom and taking her for walks. That may no longer be possible due to a blood pressure problem that causes her to pass out when she stands.
 
My mom spent most of her time sleeping, some

Life in our small East Texas town

4H day is tomorrow, so the kids are walking their animals.

 

This is Kaylee and Waylon the lamb.

 

And then from the other end of our street came Kalan, who was in a play with my son, Cameron.

I don’t know much about goats, but I was pretty sure of this young fellow’s breed.  Anyone who’s read “By the Hands of Men, Book Five: Robert The Wrath of a Righteous Man” learned a bit about that particular breed of goat.

 …

Got a helluva nice review for Book Six

 

 

Can’t I give it more than 5 (stars)?

I read a LOT, probably about one novel per week on average. “By The Hands of Men” is without question the best historical fiction series I have ever read. In these meticulously researched books, the characters quickly come alive to the reader, and soon feel like personal friends. As you read you will share their successes, disappointments, near-death experiences, horror, and satisfactions. They speak in period language, and their values and sense of honor are recognizable in any circumstance. You will truly CARE about them.

Not all of the characters are good people. As the series title hints, all manner of horror and atrocity can come from the hands of …

“Ringside at the Circus of the Fallen” is released today

Ringside at the Circus of the Fallen is the sixth and final volume of the By the Hands of Men series.  Historical fiction by Roy M. Griffis, this epic saga sweeps across four continents in a gripping tale of fate, loss, redemption, and love.

Robert and Charlotte fell in love amid the mud and blood of the Great War, before human duplicity tore them apart.  Two decades and thousands of miles later, fate gives them another chance.  Is the memory of young love enough to make the two weary travelers dare to risk heartbreak once more?

Robert has carried Charlotte in his heart ever since they first met near the front lines in France.  All the long miles he traveled, …

Books Four and Five Released.

By the Hands of Men, Book Four

The Blind Machinery of the World

She saved her friends from a life of imprisonment and escaped to the safety of England, but the shadow of modern fanaticism looms over Britain and the continent.  What future awaits Charlotte when murderous madness stalks Europe?

 

After escaping her enslavement by the Bolsheviks, Charlotte Braninov begins to build a new life in London.  She hoped to leave the insanity of Russia behind with the help of her family of refugees, but a dear friend and benefactor goes missing in France. Journeying to post-war Paris, she once more works as a nurse, confronting disease and danger.  With communist zealots prowling Europe, will peace forever elude Charlotte?…

I greeted the New Year a little unhappy

As, in the middle of my vacation, I caught my annual cold (and that virus was a tenacious bastard, let me tell you).  But, 2019 is gonna be great.

Hint:  New covers.

 

Hint two:  new blurbs.

“The Old World”

A soldier fights for his soul in the trenches of France.  A field hospital nurse battles death every day.  Are duty and honor enough of a reason to go on in the hell of a world at war?

A mere mile from the blood-drenched front lines, Russian refugee and nurse Charlotte Braninov encounters English Lieutenant Robert Fitzgerald, who helps her save the life of another soldier.  Robert’s calm, courtly manner lingers in Charlotte’s mind, a comforting memory amid the deluge

Well, hush my mouth

THE JOHN MILIUS SCREENWRITING AWARD

We are pleased to announce that the winner of the FEATURE FILM category of the TalNexus SmashCut Screenplay Competition will be honored with The John Milius Screenwriting Award.

John Milius is one among the few iconic screenwriters of the last 50 years.

From Robert Duval on the shores of Vietnam “I love the smell of napalm in the morning. Smells like, victory.” in Apocalypse Now, and Clint Eastwood’s “Go ahead, make my day.” as Dirty Harry in Sudden Impact, to that touching moment at the graveside in Saving Private Ryan when former Pvt. Ryan asks, “Did I live a good life?”, Milius is responsible for some of cinema’s most iconic moments as …