Richard W. Wise, Author

The Dawning: 31,000 BC was judged an award-winning finalist in the 2023 by International Book Awards

The Dawning: 31,000 BC. Winner Literary Titan: 2023 Gold Medal

Southwestern France, 31,000 BC:

Ejil and Lada, son and daughter of a Cro-Magnon tribe—on the verge of adulthood—have begun to explore their maturing feelings. They encounter a clan of Neanderthal hunters and they and their Ice Age world are torn apart.

The Dawning tells an age-old—all too familiar—story of deadly struggle and a heart-rending tale of young love—its aspirations, pain, disappointments and triumph.

The Neanderthals, a pale-skinned people occupied Ice Age Europe for three hundred thousand years. Dark-skinned Cro-Magnons, our direct ancestors, appeared forty-five thousand years ago. Five thousand years later, the Neanderthals had disappeared. What happened when our two ancestral peoples came face to face on the ice-bound plains of prehistory?

Follow the gripping tale of two young lovers and the sweeping narrative of ancient cultures in conflict set against the fabulous painted caves of Southwestern France. The Dawning will transport you 33,000 years into our deep past. The Dawning will present you with the evocative, richly detailed, all too human saga, of our earliest ancestors.

WiseGuy: The Author's Blog

STANDBACK & STANDBY: Trump's Obsession with making our dollar weaker feeds inflation:

February 5, 2026

Trump's Obsession with weakening the dollar feeds inflation:

Trump is obsessed with lowering the dollar's value. The dollar index plunged 1.3 percent last Tuesday as a result of administration policies. In an appearance the same day in Urbandale, Iowa, President Trump said the dollar's declining exchange rate was "great."A weaker dollar will eventually translate into increased prices on imported goods adding to inflation. He inherited a 3% inflation rate, currently 2.7%. Prices now are going up. Imported goods are adding an average contribution of 1-2% as a direct result of tariffs and the weakening of the dollar.

Trump's manufacturing boom. As usual Trump's claims are incorrect. Manufacturing which was rising 2023-2024 is currently declining. Manufacturing employment is declining. Part of the problem, Trump's attempt to kill the electric car. He claims 18 trillion dollars in foreign investment in one year.

The real number. One trillion a quarter under Biden with a tiny increase under Trump is closer to four trillion not the inflated number Trump repeatedly claims.

The weakened dollar will soon translate into higher prices for all Americans. Trump campaigned on affordability and bringing down costs though he now claims affordability is a Democratic hoax. With every action it appears that he is making things worse. Why?

Well, when you people your administration with unqualified yes men and women and demand that you work from his inflated numbers, you reap what you sow.

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STANDBACK & STANDBY: Gold, Deficit and Inflation A Double Whammy

February 2, 2026

Gold ingots for sale. Investors look for stability outside the dollar. 70% Up in 2025

THE US DOLLAR DESCENDS INTO THE CRAPPER

Spent 39 years as a goldsmith. Went through a pair of gold price run-ups. Number three is the worst. When the dust clears, the dollar has shrunk just like it did in the 1980s when Nixon floated the dollar against gold and the dollar immediately sank losing more than half its value within a few years.

The gold price has increased by 4X the value when I retired 12 years ago. The price dropped 9% Friday but is up 70% for the year. J. P. Morgan predicts gold over $6,000 per ounce in 2026.

As the deficit expands and the dollar sinks, inflation will increase and the U.S. national checkbook is looking worse and worse. US Treasury Debt Hits $38 Trillion after Spiking by $1 Trillion in 2.5 Months and by $1.8 Trillion since the last Debt Ceiling revision. Hey Elon, what happened to your cuts of waste, fraud and abuse?

Reminds me of the fall of the Soviet Union. They tried to keep up with the U. S. and went bankrupt. What might that forecast about the competition between the U.S. and China? Our current debt equals 120% to 128% of GDP. China's current debt is ~88% to 102% of GDP officially, but may be much higher. Since Trump took office---and much more since his international insult tour at Davos---our allies have been lining up to cut trade deals with China.

Like 2025, 2026 is expected to add 1.8 trillion more to the deficit, not to mention what it will do to the value of U. S. currency. A product, even one assembled in the U. S. with some foreign parts, will endure a double whammy. It will cost more due to the tariffs (Trump's default Flat Tax) and even more with the decline of the dollar. Trump's shortsighted tax cuts to billionaires plus his lavish spending has created an out-of-control deficit that is quickly leading the US down the garden path toward insolvency.

Makes you wonder about the value of the chaos generated by Musk's cuts of to waste, fraud and abuse.

STAY TUNED!

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Redlined, A Novel of Boston

Somebody is trying to burn our

neighborhood down.

Vietnam combat veteran Jedediah Flynt is a young man pursued by his own demons. Like many who grew up in the generation that straddled the late 1950s and the 1960s, Flynt watched as his early expectations were upended in the cultural conflagration that swept America through the early 1970s.

Following a stint in the Marines, Flynt arrived back in the U. S. to find himself hated and reviled for his service, his nights haunted by his experiences in Southeast Asia.

After training in Chicago as a community organizer under the famous Saul Alinsky, Flynt is hired by a coalition of local churches to mobilize the residents of Boston's Jamaica Plain neighborhood into an organization powerful enough to stop the decline.

The major Boston banks have redlined the neighborhood, and the housing market has crashed. Perfectly good homes are abandoned and unsaleable due to a lack of financing. Then those properties are systematically torched. Why? When the charred body of Sandy Morgan, one of his neighborhood organizers, is found in the ashes of one of the torched buildings, Flynt swears to find those responsible and avenge her death.

The key to the arson appears to be the fate of the Southwest Corridor, the six-lane demolished remains of an abandoned section of I-95, which has become a lawless no man's land, cancer eating away at the guts of the neighborhood. With the help of the lovely Alex Jordan, Flynt's idealistic, Harvard-educated researcher, the mystery slowly unravels. Alex discovers that the burned properties are being bought on the cheap by a mysterious corporate entity.

As they dig deeper, Flynt and Alex find themselves in grave danger. After Flynt stops another attempted arson, he reaches out to an old friend, and the action accelerates. Will Flynt, Alex, and a group of local citizens be able to stop the redlining and identify and outwit the mysterious forces trying to destroy an urban neighborhood for their own gain? Buckle up and hold tight as the novel races toward a surprising, bone-rattling conclusion.

Selected Works

The Gemstone Connoisseur

Secrets Of The Gem Trade, The Connoisseur's Guide To Precious Gemstones

Called "One of the world's foremost gemstone connoisseurs," by Gemkey Magazine, Mr. Wise's first book, SECRETS OF THE GEM TRADE, THE CONNOISSEUR'S GUIDE...published in 2003, became both a commercial and critical success and is now considered a classic. The second edition, extensively revised and rewritten with 127 more pages, 11 new chapters, and 161 added photographs appeared in 2016."Richard is a great writer and storyteller. At times he is frank and to the point, while at other times there is playfulness in his writing. Sadly we work in an industry where many view education as a bad thing. Content to believe what others have told them and perpetuate the falsehoods that have existed for generations. This is an industry that is not only secretive but based on trust. Many people have been quite content to put their gains above all else and betray this trust. This industry needs the 'good guys' who are not afraid to tell it how it is. Richard Wise is one of these guys who has made it his mission, based on years of experience, to dispel these untruths and give his readers the tools they need to make informed decisions." --

Geoffrey M Dominy, World Gem Foundation - Gemmology Today Magazine

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