Wowsers, friends, this is big! Super-bright light in the freedomista indie writer community, Sarah A. Hoyt, has kindly given top billing in her Sunday Book Promo to my novel, Some Guy Wants to Buy the Fourth of July!

Here’s the link:

https://accordingtohoyt.com/2025/08/31/book-promo-and-vignettes-by-luke-mary-catelli-and-nother-mike-188/

THANKS, Sarah! :~)

Friends, if you love freedom, the American spirit, and darn good reads, please do check out Sarah’s work!

Some Guy is now available on Amazon.com! Click cover image to buy it there.

They call her the Third Assistant Demigoddess of Freedom (which far outranks me!) — Claire Wolfe, author of many highly original and hard-driving books about living free in an increasingly unfree world… now, sadly, all out of print…

But Claire hasn’t receded into complete obscurity. In fact, she’s been an instrumental mentor in the development of Some Guy Wants to Buy the Fourth of July. And now Claire is so pleased with the result that she’s emerged from blissful semi-retirement to send along her honest review of the book. (She had planned to post it on her own blog, but technical issues have arisen, so this is her work-around.) (EDIT: Claire’s blog issues have been addressed, so you can now find her review here.)

Here’s her review in full:

Selling the Fourth of July? Oh, my!

A book review by Claire Wolfe

Some Guy Wants to Buy the Fourth of July: A new novel for all ages by Beth Homicz

Allie Campion of Concordia, Virginia, is beyond thrilled when her own name flashes across the TV screen. She’s just been named as one of 20 finalists in the Friendly Family Freedom Franks’s “What the Fourth of July Means to My Community” essay contest. At 10 years old she’ll be one of the youngest honorees.

The winner – who’ll receive a $25,000 scholarship – is to be announced on national television on the Fourth of July. Meanwhile all 20 young people, each with a parent or guardian, will be treated to an all-expense-paid sightseeing trip to Washington, DC.

Allie and her father Dan (who’s just been fired from his middle-school job for having defended Allie when she wrote a politically incorrect truth about American history that her teacher objected to) set off for the capital.

But what they find there is … not entirely as it should be.

Unexpectedly, event sponsors Fritz and Frieda Friendly have decided to retire and sell their beloved picnic food enterprise. The new owner, FREEDOM Incorporated -- run by one Clyde Warden, MBA CEO, assisted by PR flack Ms. Margaret Minyon -- has already reformulated the Friendly family’s “DEE-licious” hot dogs, burgers, and fries into nauseating, rubbery neon-pink and slime-green horrors.

But FREEDOM, Inc., Warden and Minyon, and a scurvy crew of representators, senatives (see below), activists, and journalists are up to something much worse. And what nefarious deeds they’re planning are for the contest finalists, their friends and relatives, and one unusually articulate (though very grouchy) bald eagle to find out – and foil.

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That’s the setup for the new children’s-young adult-all ages comic-dramatic novel by Beth Homicz, Some Guy Wants to Buy the Fourth of July.

Don’t recognize the name Beth Homicz?

You may know her better as free.and.true, a member of the [Living Freedom] blog’s Commentariat. If you’ve been around as long as I have, you might also recall her as a participant in the infamous Bug-Out Campout back when the late, lamented Claire Files Forums were in their youth. Now Beth has written her first novel, which you can buy via links above and below this review (no commissions to yours truly).

Some Guy Wants to Buy the Fourth of July defies classification. While children and adolescents are its driving force, it’s by no means “merely” a children’s book. Intelligent, well-written, and informative, there’s plenty in it for adults (especially those of libertarian, libertarian-conservative, or MAGA inclinations). It’s a comic novel that takes American liberty and civic values very, very seriously.

As you may have begun to suspect, given my mention of “representators,” “senatives” and an articulate American eagle, Some Guy takes place in a USA that‘s familiar enough, but not quiiiiite the one we inhabit. The president is Sam Adams, for one thing, and not a single child is glued to a cellphone. There’s no possible explanation; just suspend disbelief and go with it.

The book is definitely fun. Beth’s Amazon blurb refers to it as “zany” and “rollicking.” My personal take on it runs more to “whimsical,” “endearing,” “colorful,” or “magically realistic.”

Aside from the aptly named Margaret Minyon and Clyde Warden, characters include Allie’s compatriots and fellow contest finalists: Patty from Pittsburgh; Bonnie from Bonneville, Ohio; Vonique from Vicksburg; Ida of Pocatello, Idaho; Chosovi from Hopiland; Tucker from Texas; and the serious, scholarly Oliver Wendell, Junior, from Wendover, Massachusetts. The names very much set the tone of the tale. These 10-to-13-year-old friends must figure out, and ultimately out-wit and out-fight (with a bit of help from parents and guardians, not to mention the eagle), the shenanigans of grown-ups who are many times more wealthy, connected, powerful, ruthless, and sneaky then they themselves are.

Great inspiration for homeschoolers or for public-schooled children who need an antidote to their learned helplessness and miseducation. But you can see how adults will appreciate the tale, too.

Finally, there’s Lorna. Lorna is a professional tour guide who escorts the 20 contestants and their adult companions around the city and its landmarks. She shows them that the history they may have learned in school is far, far from the whole story and often gives them a short-sighted or distorted view.

Lorna is lovely. (Allie’s dad Dan thinks so, too.)

This is where Beth, the author herself, enters the story. Beth isn’t Lorna and Lorna isn’t Beth. But Beth was a Washington, DC, tour guide in a former life – a darned good one from what I hear. And, like Lorna in the book, she kept her libertarian-leaning politics under wraps while giving students and other tourists little-known information and insights into U.S. history that they might not get anywhere else – insights that might open their eyes and one day turn their minds toward liberty.

Side note: This is where I also enter the story. No, I’m not a character in the book. I was simply one of two manuscript readers (along with Pat Taylor, who helped me in the same way with Hardyville Tales) who read Beth’s first and second drafts of Some Guy. The finished product is entirely Beth’s own; our main function was to (as gently as possible, you understand) kick her sharply in the backside whenever we perceived something wasn’t working its best.

I confess: It’s possible I may have ruined your favorite parts of the book by doing so. The first draft contained many chapters of pure tour commentary by Lorna. Her commentary flowed like a smooth stream on a sunny summer day. It sang. It danced as gracefully as a waltz. It was full of American history that even many history buffs might not know. It was a fount of information about Lincoln, Jefferson, Washington, Mount Vernon, the Capitol building, the Revolution, the War Between the States … Oh, it was glorious. It was beautiful. It was authoritative. It was IMPORTANT. And you could tell it was Beth working her indubitable tour-guide magic.

And me, the mere manuscript reader who hadn’t sweated one drop of blood for this book while Beth had probably sweat enough to fulfill a Red Cross van’s monthly donation quota, I demanded, “Take it out! Lop it off! Slash it! Burn it!”

“Kill your darlings!” I ranted. (That’s writer talk for getting rid of the parts of your writing that you personally love the most, but that are impeding your progress or the progress of your plot.)

And though it must have pained Beth mightily, she did indeed kill her darlings, leaving a few choice bits of tourism and exposition – just enough to enlighten and arouse her readers’ curiosity. She made the story move forward at a gratifyingly energetic pace.

In fact, I must give Beth the kind of credit I’d give to few other writers; between first draft and final, she went from simply having a good idea and strong writing skills to being a real craftsperson, a sharp and entertaining novelist who understands how to create a story, build characters, and make you want to keep turning pages. All kudos to Beth, Allie, Elbridge the eagle, and the whole sterling cast of characters.

But now the world will want to know … where did all those fantastic chapters of Lorna’s history lessons get to? I don’t know, either. Only Beth knows. But I’m hoping Beth set them aside to include in a separate study guide or non-fiction book. I expect we shall see in time.

Meanwhile, use the affiliate links right here on Beth’s site (above and below), or directly to Amazon.com, and get yourself – or your child – or a friend – or your niece or nephew – or somebody a copy of Beth Homicz’s Some Guy Wants to Buy the Fourth of July – and enjoy.

NOTE TO FAITHFUL READERS: I no longer have an Amazon Associates account. Beth does. So if you buy her book here from her site, using her links on this page, you’ll be doing her a double goodness. Thank you.

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Thanks, freedomista sista Claire! And no worries — those darlings are only “mostly dead,” still very much abiding in my files and my head.

In fact, I’ll welcome suggestions from readers on how they’d like to see such material used in future companion titles: workbooks? coloring books? study guide? interactive website? something else? Let me know in the comments!

Read a sneak peek from Some Guy Wants to Buy the Fourth of July.

Buy your copy now on Amazon.com!

Or contact me (windrisebooks [at] proton [dot] me) if you’d like to order autographed copies.

Now available on Amazon.com! Click cover image to buy it there.

From Chapter 5:

... Allie, Patty, Oliver, Bonnie, and Tucker sidled around the platform to where Elbridge the American Bald Eagle still sat in his massive cage. Maybe, Allie said, he would have a clue as to who was behind the selling of such a national tradition as the Fourth of July.

“Huh?” retorted Tucker. “Even if he knows something, how could he tell it to us?”

Allie shrugged. “I don’t know. I just had a feeling that maybe he could talk to us.” She thought for a moment, then added, “I mean, Ms. Lorna did say that you never know what can happen here in Washington, D.C. Anyway, it’s worth a try.”

But they had to wait, since Gina from New Jersey and Crystal from Colorado had rushed up, with their well-heeled mothers, to be the first partakers of a photo opportunity with the eagle. They weren’t quick about it. Gina and Crystal demanded photos singly, and then together, and then with their mothers, and then from different angles and exaggerated poses.

In the meantime, Oliver offered his educated guess about the eagle’s namesake: “Elbridge Gerry (he pronounced the surname with a hard G): once governor of my home state of Massachusetts; merchant and Revolutionary-era patriot; signer of the Declaration of Independence; delegate to the Constitutional Convention; assisted in drafting the Bill of Rights; diplomat; fifth Vice President of the United States. Also known as the dubious inspiration for the derisive term ‘gerry-mander,’ meaning a redrawing of representative district lines in favor of one party or another.”

“Whew,” whistled Tucker, impressed.

When at last the picture-party had moved off, Elbridge looked sideways at Allie and her friends.

Allie came closer to his cage and whispered with careful respect, “Hello, Mr. Elbridge Eagle. Can you talk with us for a minute?”

Elbridge took a moment to consider Allie and her companions shrewdly. Then he seemed to make some kind of a decision, and the intensity of his golden eyes softened just a bit. He muttered, “You want your pictures taken too?”

“Oh, no!” gasped Allie in sudden sympathy for the caged bird. “At least, that’s not why we’re here.”

“Well,” Elbridge asked irascibly, “what do you want, then?”

Tucker, astonished to note that Allie had been right about a talking eagle, replied respectfully: “Firstly, Mr. Elbridge, sir, we’d like to thank you for being here. We’re very glad to see you. I’ve never met an eagle before.”

“You don’t need to thank me,” Elbridge snapped. “It’s not as if I came here of my own free will.”

The five kids looked at one another uncertainly. Even Oliver didn’t quite know how to respond.

In a slightly less bitter tone, Elbridge added, “I only meant: You all are free. I most obviously am not.”

“But you’re free, too, Elbridge!” cried Allie unguardedly. “Goodness, you’re a symbol of freedom!”

“No. Look at me,” said the venerable bird sourly, twitching his cramped, dark-feathered wings. “I was foolish. I let them catch me once, when times were tough for me. I believed what they told me about what a good life they’d give me, and how I wouldn’t have to work hard for it, so I let them put me into this cage, and feed me, and look after me. And now I can’t get out. My wings are too weak now. I couldn’t fly properly even if I did get out of here. Even my eyesight isn’t what it used to be. I’m not free.

“Besides,” added the big eagle with a sudden tinge of rebelliousness, “I don’t want to be anybody’s symbol of anything. Don’t ever let someone make you into a symbol. If you do, you won’t be free.”

If you enjoyed this, you can get your copy at Amazon.com. Or contact WIndrise Books (windrisebooks [at] proton [dot] me) to order signed copies.

First title forthcoming from Windrise Books!

Here’s a cover image. Details to follow shortly on how you can get your copy! Or check my Books page for full details.

Friends, if you’re looking to become an indie author-publisher, do make sure to allow at least a month longer than you expected, for getting all your sweet little duckies into a neat row.

In the post title I referred to a countdown, but that’s not quite accurate, because I don’t have a clear idea yet of when Go Time will actually be!

Whew. I’ll probably write in more detail at some point, when all is squared away at last. For now I’m still waiting on account approval at a big print-on-demand distributor platform, and it’s best not to rile the indie publishing gods…

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