A New York Times Bestseller
The Greatest of Times
The collected memoirs of Paul Klieb and Brittle Ben Brown
Their names are quite familiar but their story is not. The Greatest of Times collects the tales of two cousins paths through life, sometimes together, sometimes apart, always living life to the fullest.
"A+ A literary masterpiece has come from Paul and Bens true life tales. Almost too big to believe!"
- LiteraryLitnay.com
"The Greatest of Times transports you to another time and place, taking you on a roller coaster of emotions, and leaving you begging for more."
- Brooklyn Book Review
"I am a man of facts, a skeptic you could say, and believe me I tried to disprove these two men's stories. I went to bars, hospitals, fishing supply stores, looking for the people and places these men speak of, and to my astonishment, they are all there! It is hard to believe but these men truly have lived a life of wonder. I even met Raul, a creature they refer to as a Glour, who had been kidnapping ear nose and throat doctors, spoke to them too. Raul told me of the time Pick and Brittle he called them, saved his sons sight by fashioning an eye salve out of fruits and insect bellies. This stuff is just too wild! In the search to disprove their tales I ended up creating some of my own, so for that I thank Paul and Ben. This book is a gem!"
- Craig Jeffries, Host of One Note
"Powerful, powerful, powerful"
- Danesh Fowler Karpani, author of The Green Bean Collective
"The expanses of the human heart have never been so clearly captivated than in, The Greatest of Times. I had the pleasure of working with Ben and Paul during the Bulgarian elections many years ago, a story I'm proud to say made this book, and words can not due these men justice. They went door to door with just a pad and a pencil, never having spoken Bulgarian, within the hour they were being invited into a delivery room to celebrate the birth of the first Bulgarian septuplets. They became the god fathers to seven little girls, and I'm amazed to say have been at each off their college graduations. These men are treasures and so are their stories. Do Not Miss This Book!
-Chip Kentington, host of WWNN Tonight and author of Dark Lands a Journalists Journal.
Enjoy Excerpts From The Greatest of Times
I had been traveling for days without seeing a single soul. The grains of sand swam past my face, with each gentle caress, taking with them another piece of my humanity. I was lost, I had given up, a small Arabian black tailed hawk had began to follow me. Doug, I called him. I would say "Doug, what time is it?" "Doug what day is it?" "Doug what kind of beans make the best chili?" But he only had one answer, silence. He would continually say "silence" it was disheartening, until I got close enough to see a tag on his leg with the name of a popular grade school in Cairo and it made a bit more sense. Children at that age can be quite loud. But I digress. I was almost gone, my last sip of water finished the night before, I was done for. I fell to my knees, I looked to my side and there was Doug. He said "Silence" and I let it wash over me, I was at peace. And then I opened my eyes and a shadow had drenched me, I looked up and there was Paul. He said what has now become a famous line but at the time was just a simple introduction, “It's me, Paul”. Now the odds are too unbelievable, that a man I had never met, in a country foreign to both of us, would be a cousin of mine but it is true. Paul saved my life that day. He handed me a jug and I drank the sweetest drink of my life. I have tasted wines and spirits from around the globe, from dark damp cellars to the finest distilleries, none have tasted as sweet as that sip of water, and I owe that to Paul.
-Brittle Ben Brown
On a fact finding mission for the Peruvian government Ben and I were asked to investigate the death of several people in the Herez Jungle. We had traced every path of the Herez so it seemed like an easy task. The terrain was quite familiar, but the case though was truly a mystery. We gave up shortly after arriving. I kid, there was no way we could quit, these people were being abducted from their homes without a trace of evidence, aside from mysterious clumps of hair, greyish brown in color, and coated in an oily substance. The local authorities were stunned, no man or beast they knew of produced such a product from its body, but Ben and I knew what it was almost instantaneously. It was the hair of a Glour, similar to a Yeti, but a bit smaller in size and native to Central and South America. Dangerous fellows if not handled correctly. But easy to find when in a jam, just look for the Heart of Mercy Tree. It's massive and coated in Orange like fruits. Upon finding Raul, the Glour, we knew immediately what was going on. Raul's son was in need of an eye surgery to fix a cornea abrasion, unfortunately all the men he had kidnapped were ear nose and throat doctors. Luckily Ben had picked up a book on eye care while we were in Italy, it was in Italian so I've never quite known how he understood it, but I guess the diagrams helped. Ben created a salve out of fruits and insect bellies, stopped the infection and fashioned a patch out of fresh leathers. Raul was quite pleased with us, letting the doctors go and giving us a rare stone worth a babies fortune. We still have it to this day, the money could never be worth the pure joy it brings us, much like most of the exotic artefacts we collect, it is important to cherish the memories.
-Paul Klieb
Photo by Christopher Barsch
As huge fans of Paul and Ben we obviously framed the press release for their bestselling book.