OUR BOOKS
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For
the few among many who have ventured this way and settled down—the Mojave
Desert provides a unique and sometimes revealing perspective for their lives.
Indeed for some, Route 66 itself becomes a directional beacon toward their
place in our world. For a selected few of
these selected few, it can also become a much-needed place of respite.
A
sanctuary. A place where hitherto held perceptions are allowed to shift,
sometimes even double-back on themselves. No
longer needed “pasts” are blown away—riding in the rush of a dust-laden Mojave
wind gust. Dispatched to who-knows-where.
A fifth-generation farm boy from
Minnesota writes quirky stories about people and events from the Minnesota
River Valley. The journey takes you through executions, mob lynchings, prohibitionists, gangsters, and the Ku Klux Klan—along with
accounts of slavery and murder trials. The boy, his dad, and his grandfather
tell tales, some laced with blarney, of their ancestors, relatives, and
neighbors. Certain yarns will make you shake your head, some will leave you
teary-eyed, and others will bring a chuckle; you might even laugh out loud.
These are no-holds-barred cornball stories like none other and they’ll leave
you longing for more, even if you’re not from Minnesota. This book has been
certified 97% free of the politically correct virus. You betcha!
Branded a rogue cop by some and hailed
as a hero by many, Jiggy Frisco takes us on a journey from the island of
Manhattan to the Greek island of Chios; a trip that includes mass murder,
carnage and no shortage of violence thanks to his client Miss Jadin
VonTrech—rich, beautiful, bi-sexual, and
certifiably insane. Jiggy’s best friends are hookers—his worst, a long list of lousy life choices—and a surprise.
Who would imagine within this list of commiserations he could also find
redemption....
Against a backdrop of
1960s and 70s Los Angeles, 19-year-old Kate Prescott finds her soul mate in art
student Jack Morrison, a man who understands her yearning to do something
important with her life. Where Kate’s ambitions are vague, Jack’s are razor-sharp:
become a famous artist. They marry, and, as Jack Morrison’s wife, Kate falls
under the spell of the art world and helps Jack realize his dream. However,
social change is afoot in the business world where Kate earns a living, and as
she progresses up the corporate ladder, her own ambitions crystallize: this is
where she belongs. Inevitably, as Jack’s star rises, his priorities clash with
Kate’s. The consequences force Kate to confront the possibility of a life where
she’s no longer Jack Morrison’s wife, and to face the deeper challenge of who
she might truly be.
Iris Apple is like
most teens in the 1950s except for two things: She's the granddaughter of
Boston's most notorious bookie and she suspects her father murdered her mother.
But how can she prove
it? The cat and mouse
game with her father began on her tenth birthday—the day her mother was gunned
down—and tension reigns
through her teen years. They live in her family’s Kenmore Square rooming house,
a haven for Boston’s down and outs and where her motherless drama plays out.
When Iris turns eighteen, she
defies her father and sets out to discover the truth about her mother’s demise.
Teaming up with Madame Charlemagne, a has-been cabaret singer who lives at the
rooming house, Iris learns that a nearby innkeeper holds keys to the puzzle.
Instead, she discovers a web of secrets and transgressions that are entangled
with hers. Mustering all the courage she has, Iris must unravel the dark webs
to bring truth and love into her life.
The Red Rock Inn
& Café, Red Rock City itself, and the inhabitants, visitors, and locations
therein, exist only in author’s imagination. But Red Rock Canyon State Park and the surrounding Mojave Desert terrain are
magnificently real. There is a particularly magical spot on California
Interstate 14 south of Inyokern, where if you stop and take in the sunset over
the Sierra Nevada Range—fanciful tales of love, revenge, and murder come to life.
Luska, the orphaned girl introduced in A Petal in the Wind, begins a new life in Bohemia as Lala
Hafstein, adopted daughter of Jakob and Sarah. It’s 1914; Lala is now a young
woman with one desire—to study art—but her parents won’t let her reside alone
in Prague. She contrives a marriage to her childhood friend and art student
Armin, her father’s wealthy employer’s son; she would be free to join him, and
he could silence gossip about his disinterest in women. Armin agrees, but Lala’s heart is troubled. Both families are thrilled about the
engagement, and now Armin is too—believing they can make the marriage “real.”
Lala is shocked when she uncovers proof Armin and his male classmate are more
than just good friends. But with both families intent on the marriage, and Lala
wearing the heirloom family engagement ring—how can she renege? She’s haunted
by a recurring vision—at her easel wearing her ring, and feeling the warm
embrace of her true beloved, unseen behind her. How could this splendid dream
ever come true? As both families travel to Berlin for Armin’s art show on
August first, a desperate Lala devises a way to change her destiny—but no one
is prepared for the horror that begins that momentous night. As the world
around her plunges into war and fate drops a surprising hint about her
repeating dream, Lala finds she must battle the nightmares of the past, or risk
being set adrift again—like
a petal in the wind.