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Let me explain how I got into the writing gig. For years the Maryland Writers Association sponsored a monthly challenge. Each month the MWA published in newspapers around the State, short bios of writers with Maryland connections. These writers could be contemporary or long dead. Included in the bio would be a listing of their significant works, a discussion of their styles and genres and their connection to Maryland. At the end of the article would be a prompt challenging writer to write the first 100 words of a new work based on the particulars of the prompt but written in the style of the recognized writer. Selected 100-word entries would be selected by the MWA and published in the local papers the next month, along with the new bio.
I submitted entries for many years…approximately 70 in total…and usually mine was selected by the MWA and published in my local newspaper. Eventually, the fellow who ran the monthly challenge, Jim Brewster, who was also a small, independent publisher, invited me to expand several of my 100-word story beginnings into completed short stories and he would publish them in anthologies. So, in 2023 I published my first title…” Hillbilly Anthology” …a collection of eight short stories. Then in 2024, I published a second anthology of eight stories…” Where’s That Bastard Owen.”
In 2025, I wanted to try a novel. As I was brainstorming for an idea, I realized that I had a few stories in my published anthologies that had similar characters and narrative stylings and I believed I could use them as the initial building blocks of a novel. It worked great and I eventually wrote my first novel…” Bad Consequence: tales of an Amish samurai” …about a young Amish girl who goes out on her Rumspringa and never returns, being recruited and trained by the NSA, as an assassin. This novel was published by Jim Brewster’s J2B Publishing like my earlier anthologies.
Then in 2026, I decided to write another novel. Again, I had stories in my short story anthologies that coincidentally had tangential plot incidents around the Kennedy assassination. As with my first novel, I repurposed these short stories as building blocks for my new novel. Jim Brewster believed my new novel might not fit the stylings of J2B, which publishes mostly children’s and Christian books. He hooked me up with Austin Camacho. So, on September 1st my new novel… “Coincidence” …dropped. It is an historiographic metafiction novel centered by the assassination of President Johnny F. Kennedy in Dallas in 1963. My metafiction device is an all-knowing narrator who steers the narrative through flas-backs and side-stories that eventually come together in Dallas.
One reviewer referred to my novel as cheeky and that’s probably a good descriptor. I like crisp, amusing dialogue to carry much of the plot. I am not given to flowery prose, or wordy exposition. I shoot for a quick, crisp, good read. I constantly edit with the desire to reduce word count. The Kennedy Assassination details are well-known so I don’t insult my readers by overselling the well-known bits. The historical figures involved in this sad event…JFK, LBJ, Jackie, Aristotle Onassis, RFK, SR, Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio, etc…were all bigger than life. Their journeys and personalities are so incredible that the most believable characters in my novel are the fictional ones. It’s crazy.
Some might believe that I’m a little mean with many of the well-known characters. I don’t agree. These folks were so young, and alive, and vital and frisky that it’s not possible to tell a credible story about this time without capturing that element. I think my novel is actually a Valentine to those people and times. They were fascinating and historical and their warts only serve to put their distinctive selves in high relief. The book is humorous and accurate as to any historical detail not intended to be fictional. Minor historical figures have been given aliases, often the names of friends and relatives of mine. some characters and events have been conflated or tweaked, but the principal history is solid. I am very pleased with the novel.
My next novel, a police procedural to be called “Hardass,” is also going to repurpose a few of my short stories to help build the narrative. I hope to publish it in 2027.
On the eve of President John F. Kennedy’s final trip to Dallas, an irreverent narrator from the Ether begins to reveal the hidden chain of events that history never recorded. Spanning decades and weaving together Hollywood legends, political dynasties, secret affairs, and forgotten tragedies, Coincidence imagines how seemingly unrelated lives become entangled in the most infamous assassination of the twentieth century. From Joseph P. Kennedy and Gloria Swanson to Jackie Kennedy, Mary Pinchot Meyer, and the young Lee Harvey Oswald, every choice, passion, and betrayal sends ripples through time. Behind every headline lies another story, and every story hides a secret long buried. As the strands converge on November 22, 1963, the line between fate and accident begins to blur. Rich in historical detail and provocative speculation, Coincidence asks: was it really coincidence at all?
Enjoy an Excerpt
President Kennedy huddled with Dave Powers and Kenneth O’Donnell in the sixth-floor small conference room. Secret Service agents circled unobtrusively among the men. Vice President Lyndon Johnson orbited the group, along with miscellaneous officials and politicians.
At 8:45, the assembled high muckety-mucks elevatored to the lobby and strolled into the light rain. A large crowd had assembled in the parking lot. A flatbed truck served as a makeshift stage.
After unremarkable remarks by two of the locals, President Kennedy climbed onto the flatbed with a steroid enabled limber, made more uncomfortable by his back brace. He wore no protection against the rain. He spoke without notes.
“There are no faint hearts in Fort Worth, and I appreciate you being here this morning. Mrs. Kennedy is organizing herself. It takes longer, but, of course, she looks better than we do when she does it.”
Kennedy spoke extemporaneously for five minutes congratulating Fort Worth for its contributions to America’s defense and Texas’ efforts on behalf of the Space program. His youth and easy confidence stood in stark contrast to the buttoned-up, old farts who surrounded him atop the flatbed.
The parking lot crowd applauded with, as JFK might say, great vigor. The President smiled, waved and with Dave Power’s discrete assistance eased down from the flatbed. Still on schedule, the posse of politicians, assistants and security strode to the large ballroom of the Texas Hotel for breakfast.
About the Author Jon Ketzner was born in Cumberland, Maryland in the lovely Appalachian foothills. He grew up in Baltimore then graduated from Towson University with a degree in mathematics and went on to a long career as a consulting actuary. For many years, Jon and his family lived in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania before moving back to Cumberland in 1990.
As a recovering actuary and inspired by the Maryland Writers Association’s “Notable Authors” monthly challenges, Jon decided to try his hand at writing and give his left-brain side a rest. He cites as influences: Henry Fielding, Joseph Heller, Gregory McDonald, and Tim Dorsey.
Thank you for featuring COINCIDENCE today.