McCracken Poston Jr.

I wrote a book about a strange murder trial. “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you."-Maya Angelou

[McCracken Poston Jr. @RealZenithMan]

Mugshot of Alvin Ridley, June 30, 1998. Charged with imprisoning his wife in their basement for 27 years, and murdering her in 1997. He was already considered a dangerous malcontent to many, including his own lawyer.
We were all wrong.

[McCracken Poston Jr. @RealZenithMan]

@American1940 Coin holder. Often promotional.

[McCracken Poston Jr. @RealZenithMan]

WE’VE BEEN ROBBED! People who write and perform music would often express what piracy of their work felt like. I know the feeling!
This is the THIRD time this Ringgold, Georgia story has been hit - now this one is for sale in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Whoever “Matthew Bryan” is, if Alvin were here he’d likely be “turning him over to the Lord”, and I would at least feel some satisfaction that justice was coming!
This area of law is definitely not in my wheelhouse. It’s been turned over to the publisher’s lawyers.

[McCracken Poston Jr. @RealZenithMan]

PAPERBACK PUBLICATION DAY!
What a journey! Thank you readers for being a part of it.
Remember, all PAPERBACK orders and sales this week go into the first-week sales calculations. These pics are: a trial week classic, Alvin’s visit to Heritage High three years ago today, and a full box of paperbacks arriving at a store.

[McCracken Poston Jr. @RealZenithMan]

Alvin Ridley was very much alive when I first turned in my manuscript in 2023, and many of us wouldn't trade anything for witnessing him at the hardcover book launches and seeing how his autism diagnosis and the telling of his story lifted him. He lived another year, and I have updated the TRADE PAPERBACK with his last days, last words, and the lasting legacy he left us here.

PREORDERS (basically, purchases in September) will count toward the critical first-week sales, and that computation goes into bestseller status, bookstore decisions, and other things.

SHOP LOCAL FIRST! Book&Barrel and Fern&Feather in Ringgold can get you a signed one, closer to launch day (Sept. 29). But if you would rather it land on your porch, here are some other options:

Amazon:
https://t.co/R5AZqAPleG

Barnes & Noble:
https://t.co/zIU5tvH9I9

https://t.co/t8ypOcyZTy:
https://t.co/LQ3QekmhOP

Books-A-Million:
https://t.co/UD4zF73Chz

Walmart:
https://t.co/K15CmCtJrH

Target:
https://t.co/LIr5HIpVbn

Kensington Publishing:
https://t.co/6bT9Roy8L5

Penguin Random House:
https://t.co/raskJrBcFo

[McCracken Poston Jr. @RealZenithMan]

SEPTEMBER IS UPON US!
LET THE COUNTDOWN TO 09/29/2026 BEGIN!

I submitted the manuscript for the hardcover of this book to my publisher in 2023. Alvin Ridley was very much alive and just getting used to the knowledge that he had spent his whole life with undiagnosed autism. The discovery had reframed the whole story for me and sparked this book. It also transformed Alvin.

But the story didn't end there. Many of you witnessed Alvin being "lifted" by the autism diagnosis and his new understanding of himself. Autism is an information-processing condition. I apologized to Alvin for my part in the "processing" problem, because I was not processing him and he wasn't processing me!

Alvin was the happiest person I knew at the time of his passing, something I never thought I would say about Alvin Ridley.

So, the trade paperback, coming to your store (or to your house) on September 29, 2026, will give final closure on the subject. The last days, the last words, and the lasting legacy of Alvin Ridley.

While I often wish I could have given you the whole story in the hardcover, I wouldn't trade anything for witnessing how this town warmed up to its "TV Repairman" (as Alvin put on his tombstone).

We have a unique opportunity to tell the world this story, now in the less expensive trade paperback format. We also have the opportunity to get "bestseller" status in several forums, such as NYT, USAToday, Amazon, B&N, Books-A-Million, and others.

This is all determined by presales before the end of this month.

I like to use the example of what Savannah did with "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" after achieving bestseller status. If Ringgold, Georgia could just have a fraction of that... imagine!

You can help. Get your Christmas shopping done early! Get your own Alvin Ridley story's conclusion. Get something for that person who has everything in the world but the end of Alvin's story.

PLEASE PREORDER THE PAPERBACK TODAY FROM YOUR LOCAL STORE OR FROM:
AMAZON
https://t.co/9zHnILYYya
BARNES & NOBLE
https://t.co/zIU5tvH9I9
BOOKSHOP (For Independent Bookstores)
https://t.co/hatz18UeUo
BOOKS-A-MILLION
https://t.co/UD4zF73Chz
WALMART
https://t.co/K15CmCtJrH
TARGET
https://t.co/2rZMkF84So
KENSINGTON PUBLISHING
https://t.co/6bT9Roy8L5
PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE
https://t.co/5vsOXbCUHk

And thank you.
McP

[McCracken Poston Jr. @RealZenithMan]

My publisher's parent company is Kensington Publishing Corp. They are giving away 100 free copies of the updated paperback of "Zenith Man: Death, Love, and Redemption in a Georgia Courtroom" (Citadel), with registration starting at 12:01 am, tonight, Saturday, August 29th, and ending on Saturday, September 12th. Thousands sign up for Goodreads Giveaways from all over the country. This one is US ONLY. Let's see how many sign up! Best of luck! And if you don't win, remember it's a paperback - and easier on the pocketbook!

https://t.co/n50IN5d8nr

[McCracken Poston Jr. @RealZenithMan]

Folks around Ringgold, Georgia, mostly tried to stay away from this house. It had rumors swirling around it since the late 1960s, and especially after 1970, when Virginia Ridley "disappeared" from public view. In 1997, her husband Alvin reported she had "stopped breathing" and immediately became a suspect in her death for the flat, emotionless tone. Everyone was dead wrong.
#ZenithManBook #MurderTrial #SouthernGothic
#AutismAwareness #AutismAcceptance

https://t.co/ktQh84tzPv

[McCracken Poston Jr. @RealZenithMan]

I hired a team of goats, sheep, and one big Great Pyrenees to watch over them as they cleaned off the property and found hidden cars on the estate of my former client, former murder trial defendant Alvin Ridley.
#ZenithManBook #Misunderstood #MurderTrial #autismawareness #autismacceptance

https://t.co/LKdwuQ8kEf

[McCracken Poston Jr. @RealZenithMan]

@DAVIDCARROLL3 @lookouts @ChrisCarrollDC Wanda! I’ve got to find my Wanda bobblehead

[McCracken Poston Jr. @RealZenithMan]

@waitmaya 31

[McCracken Poston Jr. @RealZenithMan]

@davidclowery Would that be the Taco Stand? That was my cheap reliable in the 1980s.

[McCracken Poston Jr. @RealZenithMan]

@bluestein I would have loved to have participated in that, having been a thorn in his side who always respected his tenure and abilities, even as I fought with him.

[McCracken Poston Jr. @RealZenithMan]

@bluestein It was quite a place in its original location, but it looks like they nailed it!

[McCracken Poston Jr. @RealZenithMan]

@nobleisawinner Weights for an old clock.

[McCracken Poston Jr. @RealZenithMan]

THE MAGNA CARTA, THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, and ALVIN’S DECLARATION OF FIVE CONSPIRACIES.
Alvin drew this original up during my representation of him when I was trying to get him to focus on the case at hand, his looming murder trial. We fought over its relevance. It’s an elaborate statement connecting a bunch of disconnected and truly impossible-to-connect things and events.
What is wonderful is that Alvin gave up all conspiracies after his autism diagnosis, which lifted him and eased his mind. He began to open up to others, and, as he wrote, he forgave “all who done me wrong”, and later even admitted that it was probably “solid state circuitry” that ended his TV business. And it was true forgiveness, a real miracle to watch unfold as the community warmed to him.
Of these three historic charters, only one can be seen in Ringgold Georgia, at Caffeine Addicts Coffee - 7819 Nashville Street

[McCracken Poston Jr. @RealZenithMan]

@hwinkler4real @PippiTheCat1 16

[McCracken Poston Jr. @RealZenithMan]

Travis Knight, the acclaimed artist now celebrated all over (who did this wonderful art of Alvin Ridley), went to Ringgold High, and as an employee at a Dalton copy center, remembers a specific frequent customer. See this weeks “Livewire” magazine.

In the clean up of Alvin’s shop, house and vehicles, between 2003-2026, I have removed over 240 FULL boxes of Alvin’s copies of petitions, notices, beefs, grievances, objections, and general discontent - copied, but never distributed.
At 500 sheets per ream, that’s 5000 sheets per box. I stopped counting at 240 boxes, it was probably 250. That makes 1,250,000 flyers of protest.

#murdertrial
#ZenithManBook
#SouthernGothic

[McCracken Poston Jr. @RealZenithMan]

@davidclowery @TheBandCracker Where’s Waldo?