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Dead Low Winter

Late January of 1978. Football season is over; the lights from all of the Christmas trees are out. Full-time cabdriver, sometime card shark Keith Waverly is feeling good driving two exotic dancers to work. But his mood turns sour when he witnesses the violent abduction of a local street hustler. Later, when the man is found with his head ventilated by bullet holes, Waverly is dragged into a world of high-rolling gamblers, crooked politicians, sex, drugs, violence and really bad weather, with only his wits and his new girlfriend to pull him out.

Sands Point - Memoirs of a Money Trader

B.K. Smith

These are the new go-go years, the eighties, and money is plentiful—custom-made designer clothes, champagne cocktails at Windows on the World, limousines lined up in front of the trendiest restaurants and private clubs along Park Avenue. The WTC is a beacon and venue for money traders. The US dollar is strong and cash, as always, is king. It is a decade of fast cars, fast markets, and fast talkers. And then the music stops. The yield curve is inverted, S&Ls are insolvent, OPEC is a dangerous cabal, Petrodollars and Eurodollars are flooding the financial markets, and countries are defaulting on loans. Billions of dollars disappear from the Vatican Bank, and the bank chairman, Roberto Calvi, is found "suicided" under the Blackfriars Bridge in London in 1982. Meg is an aspiring actress, married to Dick, a struggling director. They live over a deli in a walk-up tenement on the eastside. What she dreams of is being married to a filthy rich man and shopping at couture salons on Madison Ave. Becky is writing a novel, living in Sands Point on Long Island, married to Kevin, a successful money market broker on Wall Street pre-9/11. She has everything a woman could want, except love. Alex is a middle-aged playboy who owns several businesses in town, drives a sports car and fantasizes about both of these women—but he's married. They are all married. None happily. Is money the cause of all unhappiness—too little, too much, never enough—and is it the root of all evil? Meg, Becky, and Alex never suspect what is really going on and where they will ultimately end up. Can money manipulate their destinies? Or, is it fate? A novel of fast money, easy money, love, sex, betrayal, international scandal, embezzlement, and murder. A modern story of the profound and deadly effects of deception.

Twenty Unusual Short Stories

Dr. Donald D. Hook

A book of short stories should well suit the busy American with 30 minutes here and there throughout the day and at bedtime. Such a book is especially appropriate for older readers whose short-term memory will not be challenged. The stories may be read in any order; many of the titles give a hint as to the content. Like all fiction, these short stories are the resultant brew of the experiences of a lifetime. There is truth to be discovered here, coupled with signs pointing to the future as well as to the past. After all, many would agree that time is a sort of loop. Additional bonuses are a dollop or so of humor and a better understanding of unusual human behavior.

Close to the Edge Down By the River

R.L. Sterup

Complex, densely textured literary novel, constructed somewhat loosely around a tornado, a mountain lion attack, and several alternative potentialities, set in Cathar County, Nebraska sometime in the recent past, or perhaps the present, or perhaps the future, rich in biblical allusions and many a pop-cultural reference not to mention the scientific method. Alternatively humorous, heartbreaking, and profound. Featuring characters named Faith and Arch and A. Jacks and Parrish and May and Hanratty and Helen and Horton, and others too numerous to mention, none of whom are less real than any other reality. Faith seeks recovery of a twin son apparently captured by a big cat. Arch seeks to tune in an elusive frequency. A. Jacks seeks to re-construct a Valhalla collapsed by a cyclone. Parish seeks spiritual deliverance in a coming apocalypse. A two-million dollar accidental death insurance policy hands in the balance. Stream of consciousness constructs a beginning, a middle and an end.

A Family Thing

Randy Beal

"Jacob. Would you be a dear and run out and bring your pregnant wife some chocolate cake? Pretty please?" Jake's wife Rachel is "in a family way" with their first child and Jake isn't quite sure what to make of the increasing demands it places on him. "Chocolate cake in the middle of the night? Really?" Despite the excitement of welcoming a newborn and the first grandchild in the family, Jake is still figuring out his own lot in life. Would he be a good provider, a good disciplinarian, a good role model, a good dad? Living life in his head is both a blessing and a curse. Only by tapping into the legacy and lunacy of his family will he come to terms with his new role.

Chronicles of Connor: Zombie Rising

Eric Wynn

The Chronicles of Connor: Zombie Rising, follows the adventures of Connor as he discovers that the world as he knows it, is in grave danger from a zombie apocalypse. In an effort to prevent the zombie apocalypse, the government has formed a secret organization to combat the threat. Connor accidentally encounters the leader of this organization and when the kindly Professor Saint Graham saves Connor's life, Connor decides to enlist in this secret organization. Connor soon discovers that the world is much different than he ever knew it to be. Not only do zombies exist in the world, but many other creatures both good and bad. Connor soon embarks on a series of adventures with his new friends and the world as he knows it will never be the same! The Chronicles of Connor: Zombie Rising (screenplay adaption) won first prize at the 2013 Louisiana Science Fiction Film and Costume Festival.

The Stone of Shadows

R. A. Finley

Trouble comes this day… When Thia McDaniel's great aunt Lettie sends her a polished crystal sphere and tells her to protect it at all costs, naturally she has some concerns…about the elderly woman's sanity. What else is she to think? Lettie is convinced the innocuous stone holds an otherworldly power which dangerous people will stop at nothing to get. Unfortunately, Lettie is perfectly sane, and Thia finds herself caught up in a world beyond her imagining. A world of myth and magic, where a secret society seems to hold all the answers, an ancient sorcerer wants her dead, and an enigmatic charmer is either the last man she should trust—or the only one she can.

Ghost Orchid

B. W. Wrighthard

The Green Box

James F. Murphy, Jr.

77-year-old Bill Sullivan, on a whim, drove through Newton, Mass. and stopped at Boyd Park to visit the Green Box. It was there, while WWII raged in Europe and the Pacific, that Sully and his friends waited eagerly for the park instructor to open the Green Box to the treasures of baseballs, gloves, bats, board games and a vast assortment of gems. The Green Box was the meeting place where lessons were learned about prejudice, justice, life, death and the pain of first love lost.

Sand and Gravel

Clara JD Stites

Sand and Gravel is a dramatic and engaging novel about three generations as they struggle to protect—and finally—give new life to a farm that has been in the family for generations. Amos, Caroline's husband, feels his only option to caring for his family is to sell the sand and gravel off of the farm, defacing the land and disrupting the family in the process. All of the children flee the desolation but when Sarah returns at age 50, she finds a way to bond the family and conserve the land for future generations. The restoration of old buildings is is accurately portrayed and the conservation of the land takes on a whole new aspect. Wonderful, memorable characters in a family dilemma that all readers can relate to.