Randy Camp Being Honored at Buffalo Public Library

 Randy Camp stands with the Library Staff from the Buffalo Erie County Public Library in honor of his novels going into circulation to all of the local branches.

Author details available at GOODREADS http://www.goodreads.com/randolphcamp and at PINTEREST http://pinterest.com/rcstories                                                                                    

 

Wet Matches: A Novel" is an inspiring and uplifting story about five homeless 'throwaway' teens (all HIV positive) getting a second chance at a better life when a young couple on a high school reunion trip rescues them and takes them on a cross-country journey to their new home in sunny California. 'Wet Matches' is about friendships, and it asks the question, "How far would you go for a friend?" Fifteen years of separation didn't stop Crystal from being there for Jalan. What Crystal did for Jalan will inspire us all to take a closer look at our own relationships and friendships...Could you still laugh knowing that death was possibly lurking around the corner? Meet five free-spirited teens: Shelly, Robbie, Josie, Micky and Cole, who will inspire you to enjoy every second of your life. Shelly is pregnant. Robbie plays guitar. Josie's a little confused. Micky likes cars. Cole's a little shy. Some people called them useless. They were told to get out of town. Some people said that they were about as good as wet matches...but Jalan, Crystal and Jack thought otherwise. If you had ever been ridiculed, bullied, mocked...or if someone had ever made you feel like you was good for nothing or worthless then Randolph Randy Camp's award-winning 'Wet Matches: A Novel' is a story for you. Without being preachy-but yet-entertaining, 'Wet Matches' takes a fresh contemporary look at America's ever-increasing youth runaway and teen homeless problems. 'WET MATCHES' is a Quarter-Finals Winner of The Writers Network 14th Annual Screenplay and Fiction Competition.

NEW K.A.N.S.A.S. Dissatisfied with the way the adults are running the nation, a well-organized, underground society of intelligent kids demand the right to vote and to be given their own statehood or else. (The kids believe that voting should be based upon a person’s IQ, not their age.

Synopsis: ‘NEW K.A.N.S.A.S.’ (Kids’ Alliance National Society And Sanctuary): Discouraged with his lack of ability to control his own destiny fueled by his parents’ divorce and already fed up with the way the adults are running the country, a twelve year old boy forms a society to give children the Right to Vote and attempts to establish their own State in which to do it. All hell breaks when the U.S. Government starts to hunt down the leader and his underground network. In the meantime, the secretive children’s society is growing to an unbelievable size and there’s no stopping them now! TAGLINE: “Don’t underestimate the power of kids”
Although I’d originally wrote ‘NEW K.A.N.S.A.S.’ as a live action feature, it could also work as an ANIMATED feature-length movie as well. (The ‘Kansas’ in NEW K.A.N.S.A.S. stands for Kids’ Alliance National Society And Sanctuary)
U.S. Copyright: PAu002651984 (Original Screenplay Draft/ Author: Randolph Camp)
Learn more at AUTHORS DEN http://www.authorsden.com/randolphrcamp and WRITERS NET http://www.writers.net/writers/81919


 ‘NEW K.A.N.S.A.S.’ (Kids’ Alliance National Society And Sanctuary)

Learn more at https://www.amazon.com/author/randolphcamp 

The Beauty of Killing The Monopoly Beast: A Plea For More On Campus Bookstore Competition

                              In order to better serve today’s college students there needs to be an elimination of the single on campus bookstore model and a birth of a new multi-on campus bookstore model. There are great economic benefits to consumers when competition is encouraged and a monopoly is abolished. Ordinarily, a typical college has one retail bookstore on campus. The mammoth Follett Corporation runs the campus bookstore at Erie Community College (ECC), the school in which I currently attend. Additionally, the giant Follett Corporation is the nation’s largest operator of college bookstores and generates $2.7 billion in annual sales. Smartly planting itself on many college campuses across America puts the mighty Follett Corporation at a strategic and economic advantage over any potential bookstore competitors. The incredible cost of college textbooks today is a direct result of having little or no competition within the very lucrative college textbook marketplace.

               Just one of my required textbooks for the Spring 2013 semester at ECC has a price tag of $164! No student in America should be paying such an outlandish price for a textbook, but until there’s enough of an uproar to get our college officials and government representatives to abandon the monopolistic tentacles of the powerful Follett Corporation, these price tags will continue to rise. Inviting and encouraging other retail bookstores to set up shop on campus would definitely cause the college textbook prices to drop significantly. There needs to be a serious demand to get rid of having only one college bookstore on campus.

             The beauty and benefits of dismantling a monopoly is evident in our marketplace today, especially within the telephone industry. In 1974, the Bell System Corporation, commonly known as “Ma Bell”, had $150 billion in assets, $70 billion in revenue, and a million employees.  Clearly, Ma Bell solely controlled the American telephone market with no real competition during this time. With information and backing from the Federal Communications Commission, the U.S. Justice Department had determined that Ma Bell had grown too big and filed an antitrust lawsuit against them under the Sherman Antitrust Act. After years of back and forth litigation, the case was settled and the huge Bell System Corporation agreed to basically break up into 22 smaller companies, sometimes referred to as “baby bells.” Thanks to the Federal government breaking up Ma Bell, our telephone bills today are reasonable and affordable. If Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Cricket didn’t exist, a sole cellular company could charge customers whatever rates they want to. Stopping a monopoly such as Ma Bell creates competition by expanding the market, brings down cost, and helps to lower prices to consumers.

                In my own community I see the economic benefits of fair competition every day. When I’m in the food court at the Main Place Mall in downtown Buffalo, I already know beforehand that, regardless of which food vendor I choose to patronize, I probably won’t be spending over $7 for a quick lunch. To draw and keep customers coming back, Tijuana Taco, Hoagie Brothers, Gino & Joe’s Pizzeria, and Ding How Chinese Express must keep their prices similar to the food vendor next door to them. Nearly every day I pass two gas stations that are almost directly across the street from the other near Bailey Avenue and Langfield Drive. To stay competitive and to ensure that it doesn’t lose customers, FAST TRAC sells its regular unleaded gas at $3.93 per gallon, the same price as WE PUMP YOUR GAS, their rivals directly across the street.

          I hope that my grandkids and the next generation of students will see college textbook prices fall to under $60 per print copy. It would be a wonderful sight to one day see, on the second floor of ECC-City Campus, two or three separate bookstores there, instead of just the one. Although the monopolistic Follett Corporation has turned the college textbook market into a scam and a clever white collar rip off, it’s not too late to destroy this big monopoly beast and revamp the on campus bookstore model into a more competitive and student-friendly model. Let’s get the word out and start this ball rolling. – Randolph Randy Camp    March 2, 2013
Follow Randolph Randy Camp on Twitter @rcstories

Learn More at https://www.amazon.com/author/randolphcamp

One summer. Seven hearts. 29 Dimes. It wasn’t your typical LA summer. No one could’ve predicted what happened that day in Silver Lake. It was a summer of passion, confusion, and growth.
                                                     One hot, crazy summer.
                                                      Seven hungry hearts.
                                                     29 Dimes.
Award-winning, prolific writer Randolph Randy Camp creates a moving, tender love story amid a wild, crazy summer as Teki, Ronnie, Pepe, Brittany, Kalib, Tip, and Valerie each will have an experience that will forever shape and change their young lives.
Valerie has the kind of natural beauty that belongs on magazine covers. All the guys in Silver Lake dream about her. One guy will get lucky this summer and win her heart.
A gifted storyteller, Randolph Randy Camp offers the reader a realistic glimpse of the Los Angeles community of Silver Lake. If you still believe that love can happen to the most unlikely people and love still can be found in the most unusual place, then Randolph Randy Camp’s ’29 Dimes: A Love Story’ is certainly a must-read for you. 
                                       One Summer. Seven Hearts. 29 Dimes. A PERSONAL MESSAGE FROM THE AUTHOR

                            I am aware that the Silver Lake Sunset Junction Street Fair has been discontinued due to permit fee issues, but I hope that readers of this book will rejuvenate and spark a renewed interest and make concrete efforts to bring back the street fair not only in Silver Lake, but in other communities as well.
                           Also, my heart goes out to the Armenian people, especially to those Armenian families who have suffered and sacrificed gravely at the cruel hands of the Turks during the 1915 – 1923 Armenian Genocide period.
                        Lastly, when I ran in the Los Angeles Marathons (two years in a row) and noticed the eclectic, diverse neighborhoods along the 26-mile marathon route, I knew then that one day I would have to write a story with the city itself as a central character. So, finally, here it is…’29 Dimes : A Love Story’.     – Randolph Randy Camp