EXCITING THINGS ARE HAPPENING. THIS IS THE AGE OF CHANGE!
ZOMBIES AND BUTTERFLIES PUBLISHING LLC
Available on Amazon, Audible & iTunes
Literary Titan Review
I went into Zombies & Butterflies expecting a self-help book, and that is largely what it is, but it reads more like a long, earnest conversation about what it means to be alive instead of just functioning. The book explores the idea that many of us move through life emotionally numb, the “zombies,” while real growth comes from becoming aware, compassionate, and fully engaged, the “butterflies.” Through personal stories, philosophical reflection, and moral exhortation, the author argues that healing starts with caring, self-honesty, and conscious choice, and that inner change ripples outward into relationships and communities.
What struck me first was the intensity of the writing. The author does not ease you in. The author opens with vivid, sometimes brutal imagery and then pivots quickly to emotional and spiritual terrain. It can feel overwhelming, but that seems intentional. This is a book that wants to shake you awake. The voice is passionate, almost preacher-like at times, yet rooted in lived experience rather than theory. I found myself alternating between nodding along and needing to pause because the emotional weight was heavy. The war metaphor, in particular, is thoughtful. It turns internal pain into something physical and hard to ignore, like a constant low-grade thunder in the background of everyday life.
As I kept reading, I noticed how much the book relies on stories and analogies rather than instructions. There are no neat lists or tidy frameworks here. Instead, the author circles the same core ideas again and again: caring matters, kindness matters, attention matters. This repetition feels comforting, like returning to a familiar trail. There is sincerity in that insistence. This is not a polished productivity guide or a detached philosophy text. It sits firmly in the spiritual self-help genre, blending memoir, moral reflection, and motivational writing. You can feel how personal these ideas are to the author, how much of the book is a kind of testimony rather than an argument.
Zombies & Butterflies is best suited for readers who are already asking big questions about purpose, kindness, and emotional healing, especially those who feel disconnected or worn down by life. If you enjoy reflective, spiritually inclined self-help books that value feeling over efficiency and meaning over minimalism, this book will likely resonate with you.
Blueink Review
R. Mayhew’s Zombies and Butterflies offers an impassioned argument for readers to think and act from a place of authentic self-knowledge, rather than stumble through life like the walking dead.
Using a pivotal teaching moment from his experience as a buck sergeant in the U.S. Army infantry, lessons from organic chemistry and the laws of nature (e.g., motion and gravity), plus many quotations from ancient and modern personages, the author begs readers, “Don’t be a follower, but rather, be a trailblazer!”
Mayhew explains how society and personal relationships impose rules and preconceptions that impede the work of getting to know and appreciate one’s innate inclinations and beliefs. He expounds on the classic spiritual concept that there are only two forces at work in the Universe: love and fear. By looking deep within and acting with integrity and concern for others, the world can be enlivened by color and positive energy. “Spirituality alone through our collective individual Divine Sovereignty is the only thing that can... infuse us with the interconnectedness of all of creation,” he writes.
This book offers some fresh ways to help readers understand the value of self-knowledge and why to choose love over fear.
Forward Clarion Review
Mysticism, spirituality, popular culture, and science coexist in the brief self-help text Zombies and Butterflies, which prizes notions of interconnectedness.
R. Mayhew’s succinct spiritual self-help book Zombies and Butterflies combines science and faith into its novel recommendations for pursuing harmony.
This brief book urges contemplating the interconnectedness of people, the incredible power of kindness, and the ability to reconcile faith and doubt. It says that people and corporations should take radical responsibility for their actions and inactions, rewriting their narratives to become free instead of remaining in spiritual infancy.
The book includes elements of fiction, creative nonfiction, self-help, spiritual writing, and poetry, defying genre expectations. This work is done in order to comment upon how all of the incorporated philosophies apply to the book’s vision of the inner world of the mind and the soul.
Sequel
I will have a sequel to Zombies and Butterflies available sometime the second half of 2026. It will be based on a true life account of the almost unbelievably turbulent and violent life of a man, a zombie, who later morphed into a butterfly.
As I understand it, folks want to know a little something about the author of a book. I find it difficult to talk about myself but here it goes in no particular order.
I'm a father of five and papa of ten. I retired from the Army. I have a degree in Biology from West Texas A&M and one class short of a degree in Biochemistry. I didn't go back in the fall to complete it because I was accepted to a medical school. Second semester of my second year I flunked the respiratory class, retook it in the summer and failed it again. So much for being a doctor. I own a small business with one of my sons. I've held local public office. I've held various positions in a veterans organization. Currently I'm a commissioner on our counties Veterans Commission. I served as co-chair of health and safety at the regional level with the American Red Cross. Den Leader for the Boy Scouts. Parent Committee for the Girl Scouts. And other stuff.
I love to fly. I love the outdoors; sitting, watching and listening to nature. I love mountain climbing and glacier climbing/traversing in a three man team (although it's been a while). Downhill and cross-country snow skiing. Photography. Metal working, fabricating and welding. Restoring old cars. Reloading and plinking. Cutting and splitting firewood. Swimming. Motorcycle riding. Sitting around a fire enjoying a nice dark cigar with a fresh ground cup of coffee. Above all, my true passion is pondering, contemplating, analyzing and learning about anything and everything. Oh, and writing.
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