The Fiction Shelf
Sand Mansions
Norman Gilliland
NEMO Productions
Box 260079, Madison, WI 53726-0079
097150931X $24.95 sandmansions.com
Set in 1876, Sand Mansions is the story of a fugitive gold prospector
whose
poor navigational skills lead him to a wild Florida town. He earns a
bitter
enemy in the ruthless, cunning and manipulative John Howard, and their
clash
brings misfortune to more than one innocent. Corruption at the ballot box,
a
horrific yellow fever epidemic, the crime spree of a black outlaw and his
Irish
priest accessory all make simple survival a difficult prospect at best, in
this
rugged narrative of kindling fierce spirit and earning a place for oneself
The Journey Of The Flame
Walter Nordhoff
Heyday Books
PO Box 9145, Berkeley, CA 94709
1890771589 $14.95 heydaybooks.com
A simply superb reproduction of the 1933 Houghton Mifflin edition of
Walter
Nordhoff's The Journey Of The Flame, this new Heyday Books edition is part
of
their "California Legacy Book" series. On the day of his 104th birthday,
Don
Juan Obrigon tells his life story to assembled relatives and guests. Don
Obrigon describes his travels as a boy of twelve in 1810 when he
accompanied
the Spanish Inspector-General of the Colonies from the souther tip of Baja
California to Monterey. A work of fiction, author Nordhoff brings to life
a
"time lost" tale of adventure and ancient desert lore based on meticulous
research and personal experience. Beautifully written, deftly constructed,
and
enthusiastically recommended reading, The Journey Of The Flame will prove
entertaining and reader engaging to a whole new generation.
Revising Romance
Melanie Dugan
Sumach Press
1415 Bathurst Street, Suite 202, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5R 3H8
1894549341 $16.95 sumachpress.com
Freelance journalist Melanie Dugan presents Revising Romance, an original
novel
about an editor confronted with a terrible dreck of a book from a
widely-reknowned, best-selling author. Saddled with the job of making the
manuscript publishable before the deadline, she works frantically while
striving to distance herself from the author's unwelcome advances. While
fact-checking the novel, she meets a local antiquarian bookseller and
learns
that romance truly isn't dead. A heartwarming, amusing, and sometimes
downright
***y story of the suprising elements that permeate the bond between two
people.
Welsh Rabbit
Douglas Carstens
Carstens Press
PO Box 55, Tipp City, OH 45371
0975538209 $12.95 www.amazon.com
Welsh Rabbit is a novel of two opposites struggling to get along. A
grizzled
veteran cop stripped of his sergeant stripes for unauthorized pursuit,
struggling to last two more years so he can collect his pension and
retire,
must train an unusual rookie - a middle-aged, married woman and former
psychologist seeking the meaning of life through a career ****ft. The harsh
pressures and sometimes deadly requirements of their mutual job to serve
and
protect place a strain on their partner****p, but when lives hang in they
balance there is little leeway or forgiveness for mutual abrasions. A
compelling novel of learning polar opposites who must learn to surpass
their
personal differences.
Misadventures & Merfolk
Kelly Reno
Reeds Press
PO Box 701, Montrose, CA 91021
1891437011 $14.95 www.Mer-folk.com
Misadventures & Merfolk is an inventive novel about a travel writer who
visits
the British Isles and finds a seaside town teetering on the edge of
insanity.
Enchanted by a local mermaid impersonater, nearly killed in a bizarre
mating
ritual, solicited to give an organ donation by the neighborhood church, he
resolves to expose the whole truth about the bizarre town for good or ill.
A
wry and adventurous story of bizarre but all too human community.
Storm Force To Narvik
Alexander Fullerton
McBooks Press
520 North Meadow St., Ithaca, NY 14850
www.mcbooks.com
1590130928 $13.95 1-888-266-5711
Book one of the Nicholas Everard World War II saga, Storm Force To Narvik
is an
action-packed military novel about a British captain whose destroyer is
crippeled by Nazi gunfire in the German invasion of Norway. As he strives
to
repair his hidden ****p in a remote fjord, he does not know that his son is
part
of an Allied naval flotilla converging on Norway, and the two of them will
combine forces in a lethal battle to come. Suspenseful, high-stakes
tension is
the hallmark of this gripping saga about human drive and determination
under
the most harrowing of conditions.
Cookie Lily
Mary Troy
Southern Methodist University Press
Texas A&M University Press, dist.
Box 750414, Dallas, TX 75275-0415
0870744917 $22.50 1-800-826-8911
Cookie Lily is a collection of nine short stories and one novella by Mary
Troy
set in Hawaii. The characters are all women of mixed ethnicity (Japanese,
Chinese, ****tuguese; White; Filipino) and of mixed identity (Hawaiian
locals,
transplants, and an expatriate) who find themselves struggling to succeed
in
their daily lives against a sometimes deceptive backdrop of a pacific
island
paradise. From luaus for hire to forays into hostess bars and hotel rooms,
senior beauty contests, beach-side hot dog stands, and a start-up cookie
business, these are engaging tales of how women endure, deal with, and
overcome
their "problems in paradise". The deftly written and highly recommended
tales
comprising this outstanding anthology include: Luau; The Most Beautiful
Girls
in the World; Island Entertainment; Group Home; Happy Birthday Gerald
Meatloaf;
Beach Dogs; Falling in Love; Fantasy; Talk Story; and the title piece,
Cookie
Lilly.
Bay Of One Hundred Fires
J. Lanier Yeates
Brazos Valley Press
PO Box 215, Calvert, TX 77837-0215
097268221X $24.95 www.brazosvalleypress.com
Bay Of One Hundred Fires is a "what if" novel should Saddam Hussein have
had
and employed the weapons of mass destruction that the U.S. and its allies
thought he had prior to the American invasion that toppled the despot from
his
absolute control of Iraq. At the heart of this riveting story are Juan
Navarro,
his sister Mariisa, and his father Salvador, a family of poor Cubans who
find
themselves swept up into the struggle between the American navy and a
global
terror network. Another key protagonists are a young Navy lieutenant
commander,
maverick CIA analysts, a self-made oil explorer, a nuclear-powered
guided-missile cruiser skipper by the name of Hoss Mueller, an aging
Communist
dictator, rogue scientists with special training, and genocidal, suicidal
fanatics funded by Middle Eastern oil money. Bay Of One Hundred Fires
could be
a story ripped from the pages of any contem****ary newspaper. This is the
kind
of "can't put it down" action/adventure/suspense novel of which block
buster
movies are made!
Karma On Tap
R. B. Wilcox
Infinity Publi****ng.com
519 West Lancaster Avenue, Haverford, PA 194041-1413
0741420651 $13.95 www.amazon.com
Karma On Tap: The Online Buddhist Revolution is a novel that uses
narrative
structure to showcase how the digital revolution is changing the world,
allowing the spread of the peaceful philosophy of Buddhism as a message of
hope
in an era when multinational cor****ations dominate human governments and
daily
life. Originating from the simple question "What if you could go online
and see
your karma real-time?", Karma On Tap follows the struggle of individuals
in
search of an ethical, compassionate, and non-violent existence. A moving
narrative of the best and brightest that humanity is capable of in spite
of the
greed and negative influences that cause people to lose their way.
Grave Convictions
William Pillow
Gate Way Publishers
2801 Redwood Parkway, #219, Vallejo, CA 94591
0975264516 $14.95 1-888-436-7396
Strongly recommended reading, Grave Convictions is an original novel that
combines a fictional murder mystery with concepts of reincarnation drawn
from
real-life experiences of survivors near-death experiences and other
paranormal
phenomena. Clues from beyond the grave convict a killer and cause the
townspeople of Denton, Kentucky to question the finality of death. When
three
teenagers disappear without a trace, one of the missing teen's newborn
brother
has fearful nightmares and recalls things only his dead brother would
know. The
parents attach no significance to this until the boy becomes terrified of
a
local handyman and his mother reads a book on reincarnated children. She
contacts the books' author and learns that her son may in fact be his
reincarnated brother. With that, she sets out to lean the truth about her
first
son's disappearance. Grave Convictions is a work of deftly written
fiction, but
it also provides within the context of a riveting story, timely advice for
improving the reader's own life as well as the lives of others.
A Stand Yet Taken
Randy Farnsworth
PublishAmerica
PO Box 151, Frederick, MD 21705-0151
1413720714 $19.95 www.publishamerica.com
After escaping the hassles of western society, Logan Pierce grew
comfortable
with his unencumbered life in a forgotten village deep in the Borneo
rainforest. But trouble still found him in the form of a clash between
peaceful
villagers, a deadly ancient disease, and an fanatical mob of well-armed
terrorists. Logan must choose between fighting a battle he wants nothing
to do
with, or once again fading into anonymity. As the looming conflict appears
increasingly hopeless, will Logan finally take a stand? In his deftly
written
novel, author Randy Farnsworth also reflects his considerable expertise as
a
scholar of Asian history and culture in this riveting novel. Highly
recommended
for community library collections, A Stand Yet Taken is one of those works
of
realistic fiction that holds the reader's rapt attention from first page
to
last.
Revising Romance
Melanie Dugan
Sumach Press
1415 Bathurst Street, Suite 202, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5R 3H8
1894549341 $16.95 www.sumachpress.com
Freelance journalist Melanie Dugan presents Revising Romance, an original
novel
about an editor confronted with a terrible dreck of a book from a
widely-reknowned, best-selling author. Saddled with the job of making the
manuscript publishable before the deadline, she works frantically while
striving to distance herself from the author's unwelcome advances. While
fact-checking the novel, she meets a local antiquarian bookseller and
learns
that romance truly isn't dead. A heartwarming, amusing, and sometimes
downright
***y story of the suprising elements that permeate the bond between two
people.
Sand Mansions
Norman Gilliland
NEMO Productions
PO Box 260079, Madison, WI 53726-0079
097150931X $24.95 www.sandmansions.com
Set in 1876, Sand Mansions is a novel of a fugitive gold prospector whose
poor
navigational skills lead him to a wild Florida town. He earns a bitter
enemy in
the ruthless, cunning and manipulative John Howard, and their clash brings
misfortune to more than one innocent. Corruption at the ballot box, a
horrific
yellow fever epidemic, the crime spree of a black outlaw and his Irish
priest
accessory all make simple survival a difficult prospect at best, in this
rugged
narrative of kindling fierce spirit and earning a place for oneself
The Bend In The River
Susan Gibbs
Hawkshadow Publi****ng Company
34481 Heartsworth Lane, Sterling Heights, MI 48312
097146670X $19.95 www.hawkshadowpubli****ng.com
Set in 1877 Kansas, The Bend in the River is an emotional novel about a
young
woman's tragic loss of her parents, and her whilwind romance with a
mixed-blood
Cheyenne warrior who saves her from certain death amidst a freak autumn
blizzard. Together, the unlikely couple try to build a life for
themselves, yet
their marriage prompts prejudice and even attempted murder from the
intolerant
frontier community, forcing her and her husband to flee together.
Emotionally
distraught yet armed with the will to survive, the heroine of the novel is
a
complex character who carries this tale of transition from girlhood to
womanhood with pride and determination. A sweeping yet wistful romantic
novel.
Tall Trees Tall People
Rex Southwell
Pleasant Word
PO Box 428, Enumclaw, WA 98022
1414101996 $20.99
Set in Michigan during early summer of 1906, Tall Trees Tall People: A
Family's
Struggle To Stand While Virgin Timber Falls is a novel based heavily on a
true
story - the lives, struggles, and aspirations of the author's own parents,
as
remembered from conversations and supplemented with extensive research on
what
life was like during the heyday of railroads and virgin timber harvests.
This
saga of strong-willed people risking health, life, and limb to earn a
living
without assistance and carve out a place for themselves is now available
in
paperback. Tall Trees Tall People does not endorse nor condemn the
consumption
of virgin timber to fuel the Industrial Age, but rather it focuses on
giving as
accurate a ****trait as possible of individuals such as a boy made ward of
the
state in the wake of a broken marriage, and his tumultuous relation****p
with
his estranged father after he turns eighteen. A compelling saga especially
recommended for its vivid ****trayal of a bygone era.
Inspired By The Devil
Joseph M. Luguya
Original Books
14404 Innsbruck Court, Silver Spring, MD 20906
0971330913 $56.00 www.luguya.com
Now in its second revised edition, Inspired by the Devil: Part 1 - The
Gospel
According to "Judas Iscariot" is a novel about the Devil's desire to claim
his
due, and one man's journey to Hell and back. Christian Mjomba, a married
man
expecting a child rising business star in Tanzania, seeks refuge by
revisiting
his days as a member of a seminary brotherhood, and the disputed thesis he
once
wrote on "Original Virtue" that is in fact a sharp criticism of human
spirituality in general and Christianity in particular, from an African
point
of view. As one event races to another, Mjomba is horrified to see what
the
Devil would do with Mjomba's own works, not to mention his soul. Hellishly
delicious, Inspired by the Devil is a worthy contemplation of good and
evil,
and highly recommended reading for its insights on humanity, its wordplay,
and
sheer devilish delight.
Essence
Glenn Woods
High Country Publishers, Ltd.
197 New Market Center, #135, Boone, NC 28607
1932158588 $16.95 www.highcountrypublishers.com
Essence: This Child Ghost Wants To Tell You Her Story is an engaging
original
novel featuring a most unusual protagonist - a child ghost Luzette, only
eleven
years old during the Civil War era when a stray bullet claimed her life.
After
her death she witnesses changes in the house, people coming and going, the
world about her evolving and the regrets of other spirits. A poignant,
emotional tale of the complex landscape beyond the veil, Essence is a
novel
that demands the reader's attention to the very last page.
Godiva
David Rose
Whitaker House
30 Hunt Valley Circle, New Kensington, PA 15068
0883680289 $22.99
Godiva is an elaborate debut novel by David Rose, veteran film producer,
Emmy
award winner and developer of more than 40 screenplays. Set in England
during
the 11th century, Godiva tells of a young girl witness to horror as Viking
legions raid and conquer her homeland. Though she manages to settle down
and
find love, the threat of the terrible enemy's destructive return looms
ever
closer. Her desire to protect her home and her people could cost Godiva
her
faith, or even her very soul. A lush, romantic, sweeping saga centered
upon a
brilliant and strong-willed heroine.
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