Part 19: This is the Blog Where I Attempt to List All of Riley Shepard's Pen Names...
Since masks are on everyone's mind around here, what better time to attempt to list all the names my father used throughout his life.
Part 16: Women, a Nudist Lawyer, Colonel Tom Parker, and Hillbillies.
My Dad introduced me to Colonel Tom Parker, telling Parker that it was my 16th birthday."Oh? Sweet sixteen and never been kissed?"
Part 15: Women, Sid Grauman, and Hillbillies.
In 1937 I went to California. I felt the need to explore new possibilities. Sid Grauman saw me perform at a theater and agreed to be my agen
Part 14: Alma Anderson, Riley’s First Wife’s Suicide
When I was a little girl, Dad told me about Alma. He announced, out of the blue, that his first wife committed suicide.
Part 13: A Wedding, A Short Con, and Drifting
Riley started this journal late in life, maybe in the 1980s. With some pages, he begins with his age, then he includes not only personal...
Part 11: Writers, Thinkers, & the Past is Never Dead
In the 1960s and early 70s, my father was writing a series of sex books under the pen name Zachary Quill. The books were classified as porn.
Part 10: Riley's Real Troubles Begin
Reading through the reports from The Eastern Carolina Industrial Training School for Boys, I noticed a dramatic change in tone after the...
Part Nine: "Looking For Good Christian Men Who Have a Strong Interest in Boys..."
I was nervous and had trouble focusing when I entered the Wilson Library to study the place where my Dad was sent when he was a kid.
Part Five: My Father Put A Fake Name on My Birth Certificate & More Fact Checking.
I took a good look at my birth certificate. I wanted to see if my father put his real name down, Riley Shepard. He did not.
Part Two: Rev Riley Shepard, Primitive Baptist, Riley's Grandfather
30 years ago, my father wrote me a letter emphatically explaining that there's no such thing as free will.