Kris Kristofferson has an album called "Feeling Mortal." Kristofferson is releasing it Jan. 29 via his KK Records label, according to the singer/songwriter's website.

Randy Lewis of the Los Angeles Times has a write up about it: "Kris Kristofferson is 'Feeling Mortal': On his latest album, the singer-songwriter stares death straight in the eye — with a sense of humor — and is fine with what he sees there."

Here's an interesting quote from Lewis's write-up, regarding Kristofferson's song, "Ramblin' Jack":

Kristofferson's "Me & Bobby McGee" (which was covered by Janis Joplin) is one of the songs I'd like folks to play at my funeral some day along with Billy Corgan's/Smashing Pumpkins' "Today." Those two songs are my all time favorites, if I had to choose. Maybe if I'm lucky, they'll play a few other songs at my funeral like Stevie Nicks singing "Landslide."

A buddy of mine used to play Kristofferson's songs on guitar. He taught me a deeper appreciation of Kristofferson as a poet/songwriter.

"Feeling Mortal" (which is also a song) sounds like Kristofferson's "lettin' it all out." Check out some of the songs and lyrics, especially "Not in My Name," which I feel all the way. Thanks for writing that Mr. Kristofferson.

I've been feeling mortal myself at least since I broke my leg and ankle on an airborne jump at Fort Benning, Georgia in my 20s. Then going over to Iraq in 2003-2004 gave me a much deeper perspective on mortality than I had before.

Seems like things keep happening that keep making me feel mortal. And I keep thinking about things that make me ever more skeptical of humankind's quest for "immortality."

It's quite a transition from feeling "invincible" when you're younger to coming to terms with your own mortality. Despite everything that's happened, I'm glad I had the chance to think deeply about mortality in my 20s, sooner rather than later.

Life's precious, but so is the transition we call "death," the ultimate reality check.

What makes you feel mortal? What do you think our mortality means?

Leave some comments, and we'll go from there.

Hang on to your guitar strings and get ready for a wild ride. Musicians, music lovers, music historians, Appalachian folklorists, artists of all stripes and all of us who've wrestled with Mephistopheles will be entranced by Jason Jack Miller's novel "The Devil and Preston Black," part of "The Murder Ballads and Whiskey Series," published by Raw Dog Screaming Press. Add to that mix of folks whom this novel will appeal to: Anyone from the Appalachian Mountains and/or the Morgantown/West Virginia/Pennsylvania area.

Morgantown, W.Va. is a perfect setting for Mr. Miller's story featuring struggling musician Preston Black. Morgantown's a place in which many young musicians pass through on tour. It's also a town where young talent engaged in studies at West Virginia University also form their own bands, performing at venues such as 123 Pleasant Street (formerly The Underground Railroad.)

But just as "love" and "hate" can be two sides of the same coin, the flip side of Morgantown is its alter-ego, "Morganhole," an alcohol-fueled bar town mostly filled with people ages 18-22 and over 60 (with not many people in between who are out and about) where you can get hopelessly stuck and/or lost forever dancing with the Devil in your own dreams. Let's just say this version of Morgantown known as "Morganhole" is not always the best spot in life for a musician about to hit 30, who enjoys drink, is still playing covers and still haunting the same bars he's played for nearly 10 years. Preston Black has the talent and the heart of a true songwriter, not a cover musician. He knows deep inside he's got to get his songs to L.A. or Nashville, but someone (or something's) holding him back.

Mr. Miller draws us into the story immediately with Preston's troubled youth, which includes his searching for a father he's never known. Preston's about to turn 27, struggling with a sense of doom and what he believes is the same infamous musicians' "Curse of 27" that struck down Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain and other well-known musicians.

Early in the novel, we meet a mysterious "femme fatale" type character. We also get an unsettling feeling. Even Preston's dreams seem like they're hell-bent on getting him (or telling him something important). And Preston continues to get bizarre text messages from an unknown name/unknown number seemingly from out of nowhere.

The mystery continues to build as Preston meets Jamie Collins, a professor and fellow musician/music historian/archivist/recorder of old-time music. Jamie and Preston connect with a shared love of the deep roots of music. Jamie takes Preston on the road to Davis, West Virginia and later to Pocahontas County, West Virginia, as part of Preston's search for his own roots and quest to find meaning in his life.

Mr. Miller is obviously knowledgeable about traditional Appalachian music, the genealogy of songs, how songs change and grow in different areas, as well as guitar, fiddle, dulcimers and other instruments. The author has included in his novel much information about the West Virginia highlands and central West Virginia, an area that is rich with these old-time Appalachian music traditions. Mr. Miller follows in this tradition of storytelling/folk music.

We feel like we're on the road with Preston, although we initially don't know where his path, full of twists and turns, will lead to. All we know is the road is taking Preston further and further into the Appalachian mountains, where we begin to see telltale signs of superstition, hexes and the like, signs such as SATOR Squares above windows on farms intended to ward off the Devil, and so on.

With "The Devil and Preston Black," the Devil didn't go down to Georgia this time, but he decided to pay a special visit to West Virginia instead. This novel has plenty of conflict (including inner conflict and conflict between the town and the city). It spins a powerful mystery that keeps you turning pages. And most of all, it describes a universe of deep-rooted music that you never want to leave. Mr. Miller hooks you quickly into Preston Black's world, and you don't want the book to end. Reading this novel, you actually begin to hear the music. You feel like you're right there on the stage with Preston, like it's your hands that are on the guitar strings.

If you love guitars, Appalachian folk music and the work of John Lennon, Joe Strummer, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Jerry Garcia, Johnny Cash and other talented musicians/songwriters, then this is the novel for you. Let me also add the book's cover, depicting a guitar with flames in the background, is done by the renowned Hatch Show Print in Nashville, Tennessee. The cover's stunning and worthy to be framed and displayed in its own right. As a work of art, the book makes a great collector's piece for any musician. (Note: I purchased the paper edition of "The Devil and Preston Black" during an early launch party in December at Black Bear Burritos in Morgantown, W.Va.)

Think of "The Devil and Preston Black" like a sheet of music with your name on it. Imagine if you suddenly discovered a lost song that whispers your fate. Would you want to hear the end of it? What would the last lyrics be? Like your life, it's a song that's only partly written, a tune you don't know all the words to. But if you play your cards right, you might just find out whether or not the Devil's real.

As Mr. Miller says in his novel, "Songs connect people to parts of themselves they didn't know they'd lost." You don't want to miss out on hearing this song in full. Put "The Devil and Preston Black" on your turntable, close your eyes and let it play to the end. It'll take you there, I promise you, to those hidden songs of you, to those parts you believed (or hoped) you'd lost, perhaps those pieces you purposefully stuffed between the cushions of your living room couch or tucked away in the closet along with your faded photographs. You'll find those shards again, without a doubt, inside the spellbinding pages of "The Devil and Preston Black."

In "Off Switch," author/Iraq war veteran Kevin E. Lake has written a hard-hitting, page-turner novel that will benefit any veteran or veteran's family, as well as any counselor, professional or person in any walk of life who is dealing with veterans who have deployed to combat zones.

Mr. Lake's novel is much more than a novel. It features numerous practical tips and carefully considered advice that can immediately help families or anyone who knows a veteran.

"Off Switch" involves highly developed, multidimensional characters who are believable and easy to picture.

"Off Switch" centers on Veteran's Affairs (VA) counselor Jennifer Hutton, late 30s, doing her best to help 28-year-old Corey Prine, recently returned to the United States after being deployed to Iraq. We also have Hutton's boyfriend, Rob, a character who was also in the pre-9-11 Army, though not in combat, who we can contrast with Prine.

The most controversial and fascinating character is Jerry Barnes, "Ph.D., Ed.D. and former M.D.," author of "PTSD Nation - The New `ism for a New Generation." We see excerpts from Barnes' "PTSD Nation" interspersed between the action; a book within the novel: "Off Switch." Through the excerpts and conversations with Hutton, Barnes provides key insights into psychology, current events and "good-intentioned" laws/government policy that can quickly backfire.

In his 80s, equipped with the wisdom of age and experience in the medical profession, but not without his faults, Barnes challenges us to think critically; for example, to think beyond the often meaningless, superficial "Support Our Troops" bumper stickers we often see thrown on the bumpers of oil-guzzling pick-up trucks and sport utility vehicles.

Though his methods are unconventional, Barnes challenges Hutton (and "Off Switch" readers) to fully confront questions of what it truly takes to support our men and women who put their lives on the line in combat situations, while also taking into account the lives of their families and society as a whole. Here we find a strong backbone in this novel and one of life's greatest truths: We don't always have easy answers or quick fixes. Plus there's something even tough to think about: Perhaps there are some things that go too far over the line and are beyond repair.

"Off Switch" creatively expands our awareness/ways of thinking about PTSD and other issues that affect all of us. As such, Mr. Lake's work in "Off Switch" is crucial while our nation continues to deal with the massive expense (the true costs that most working people are paying for) and perpetual fallout of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In "Off Switch," Mr. Lake provides a critical examination of the issues and dangers associated with increased (some might say out of control) use of pharmaceuticals (particularly "sleeping pills") among veterans and our military, both overseas and in the United States, as well as the problems of the pharmaceutical industry and other lobbies unduly influencing government checkbooks.

Our "Pill Nation," a subject of concern among thinking people, has become an enormous "Elephant in the Room," and Mr. Lake rightly calls it out for what it is.

Through "Off Switch," Mr. Lake encourages us to look much harder from a military, veteran and civilian perspective at this overarching economic/social issue of pervasive and very powerful legal drugs, "pharmaceuticals," that the nation's "higher ups" go out of their way to distract us from, hide or outright lie about (such as manipulating the reported numbers of suicides among our military: Does the public have a correct and accurate number of suicides or a purposefully inaccurate one?)

We have in Mr. Lake a rare find: A fiction author who offers us not just another war-effects story, but a straightforward, no-holds-barred, inside-view account. This is fiction, but fiction built on a solid foundation reflecting realities faced by many soldiers.

As a veteran of the Iraq war myself, I found many things I could relate to in "Off Switch." It truly captures what it's like to come back to the States and try to make sense of things after being deployed back-to-back to the Middle East. Reading this book made me feel once again that combat-zone/veteran kinship, like I'm not alone in so many of these thoughts I've had. As Mr. Lake so eloquently describes, the combat-zone is not restricted to the desert or the jungle. The combat-zone is also within our own minds.

Those seeking not only a compelling story, but also a deeper understanding of veteran's issues, would do well to read "Off Switch" FIRST before any other novels that may be written perhaps by single-career fiction writers, Hollywood writers or academics who may have done research (not to take anything away from these folks, many of whom are excellent writers), but who have not in fact lived a soldier's life.

In contrast, Mr. Lake is a veteran of the combat zone in Iraq, a place where your life is in danger every moment of every day, where you and your battle buddies are fighting to survive in extreme conditions, such as 130-degrees in full body armor, where the water you drink is sweated out as soon as it goes down your throat. It's a place where an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) can blow up your convoy vehicle at any moment, where mortars land on your outpost at 3 a.m. and snipers lay in wait to pick you off.

These are all examples of things you can never just "get out of your head" after you return "home." Being in combat environments changes you fundamentally and quickly--you are not the same person after deployment that you were before you deployed. These kinds of experiences affect you constantly even if you're not consciously thinking about them, even if you appear to others to be "OK" on the outside.

The hard truth is you can never really return "home" (and conversely you can feel extremely isolated and disconnected from humanity because the people who remained "home" don't feel what you feel or see what you see.) That's one of the hardest realities many are dealing with. For those who've lost their spouses and kids due to deployment, or who don't have a strong support system, this is a gigantic struggle indeed.

Any veteran reading this book can tell instantly that the author has lived the hard life of a soldier who has survived both the combat zone and the return. Mr. Lake's experience shines in every word, and therefore, as a veteran, I consider Mr. Lake's "Off Switch" to be a cut above other fictional accounts out there that propose to talk about veterans or the wars in the Middle East.

I can imagine the many challenges in writing this novel, but we should thank Mr. Lake for his willingness to re-live his own difficult experiences (an obvious requirement of writing a novel such as "Off Switch"). Let's thank this author for sharing his hard-gained knowledge in hopes that others can find help.

Do yourself a favor. Read "Off Switch." Read it now.

- Review by Theodore Webb, author of "Lifeline," "Crucible," "Colossus" and "Inferno," "The STARLING Series"