Jake Pixley grew up on the mountains and in the creeks around Chester in Crawford County with a set of parents who both believed in hard work.
"My brother and I worked hard even as young boys on our farm, said Pixley. "I went to Mountainburg schools until the 12th grade when I quit to help a family member who struggled with emphysema and went back later got my GED."
It wasn't long after the Pixley got into private security work and found that he loved the field, volunteering for every training program he was offered.
His life experiences as a security agent, combined with an inquisitive, investigative nature has led to the publication of his third book "The Candy Profile".
"The Candy Profile" evolved from an assignment Pixley took at a company with 500 employees in an effort to ascertain which of those employees as making internal threats against the company. While poking around after hours and rummaging around in wastebaskets, he came up on an idea to try and match individuals to the type of candy wrappers he found discarded.
"It was Profiling 101, but it was a new system of profiling," said Pixley. "For example. people who like sour candy above all overs are very sporadic and spontaneous...this person might leave the house to go fishing and end up bowling instead."
As unlikely as it seems, Pixley was able to use the Candy Profile to narrow the list of suspects down to the point that when he called the prime suspect into the office, he essentially confessed on the spot.
"I got the right person and a big part of it was using the new profiling system to eliminate other suspects," said Pixley. "It's all in the book, and I think the system that can can be helpful to law enforcement the future."
While the new book is fiction, it is based in part on the new system of profiling. Pixley says the system is too broad for just one book and is already working on a follow-up, companion piece.
'I use everything possible when considering a story to write...background and experiences are a big part of that combined with a monumental amount of research," said Pixley. "As far as genre is concerned, I prefer fiction or fantasy. I believe the non-fiction of this world is often times so depressing we need a dream to escape too. My
book 'Across the Plane (Tom Carpenter's Journey)' is a good example."
"However; The Candy Profile is breaking new ground for me. It is a fiction story for the most part but it is not a happy little dream. It is an adult only thriller based on the candy profiling system I developed."
Pixley says most people know him for his skills as a woodsman more than for his history as a private security contractor or as a writer.
"I don't talk much about my security past and don't ever brag about my books," said Pixley "As a woodsman, I sometimes teach classes on edible, useful and medicinal plants along with primitive survival skills and trapping."
"I started my writing career as a freelance writer, writing essays for other people. Using a similar layout I used for essays, I wrote my first book."
"The first two books I wrote have had the rights and content sold and are no longer available," said Pixley. "My book Across the Plane (Tom Carpenter's Journey) is in pre-production to becoming a movie. The Candy Profile is designed for movie production if it gets an option. It has a low number of speaking characters and they are all very memorable and unique."
(You can view the trailer for 'Across the Plane (Tom Carpenter's Journey)" by clicking HERE.)
Pixley was the subject of a recent Today in Fort Smith story revealing his recent experience in the Ozark National Forest where he encountered something that he says was, for lack of a better term, a Bigfoot.
"I always thought the idea of 'Bigfoot' was neat but until I saw it from 40-yards away I was certain it wasn't real," said Pixley. Now things are different. I am interested in the subject but not sure if I will write about it but I might."
"Most shockingly, even to me is that I have found “them” on Google Earth and have printed the photos. I heard it best said 'A good photo is a hoax and a blurry photo is something else'. No one can argue about a Google Earth photo. Since the story broke, I have received more than one-hundred messages from different people who had some type of experience or sighting up there but didn't want to go public."
"Part of me thinks I should write a detailed book and another part of me thinks I shouldn't and let these creatures remain hidden. I do believe with all the information I have gathered, including Google Earth, I believe I could be face to face with one on any two-day period while I'm out there in the woods."
So what's next for Pixley?
"The Candy Profile is a large profiling system and too much for one book, said Pixley. "I am currently five chapters into part two. I hope to release it sometime in February 2021."
"A very special friend and incredible actress June Walls and I are collaborating on co-authoring a book based on a screenplay. Covid-19 has us shut down from filming it so hopefully we can write that book as a surprise to both our fans."
Paperback verdions of "The Candy Profile' and "Across the Plane (Tom Carpenter's Journey)" can be purchased on Amazon, Books-A-Million, Barnes & Noble, and Powell's Books in paperback.
For e-book it is available for Kindle or the kindle app.
"Books make great gifts and last forever if taken care of. It is a much better way to expand one's capacity for abstract thought than reading memes on social media," said Pixley.
