War Ends, Love Endures

The lives and stories of two WWII veterans and their baby boomer children show that love and marriage are able not only to endure but can thrive in shared happiness.

Ron and Crystal’s anecdotes of humorous and moving childhood incidents, coming of age stories, falling in love moments, wartime separation, and cultural differences are as entertaining as they are practical. Among the more somber yet crucial memories are witness accounts and records of victims of the Holocaust. “We will never forget.” The varied stories and examples in 150 Years of Marriage are not only interesting but provide insights and models for all.

To the characters in this book “till death do us part” is not a quaint saying associated with traditional marriage. It is a commitment that creates strong bonds holding a family together through thick and thin. It enables them to share happiness where whole family joy is greater than the sum of its parts. Laugh, cry, think, learn, and be inspired for your own life and the lives of those you love.

In this third book of the Montaland series Rose is an untouchable princess in the mountain world’s kingdom of Yospaldo, which means she will have to marry the highest bidder.

To avoid her fate, Rose makes herself ugly, but her disguise is unexpectedly blown. She escapes up a mountain, walking in a stream while the castle dogs hunt for her scent. Her feet are torn and inflamed before the dogs are killed by the high mountain wedewolves, but when the eerie wedewolf wails rise on her trail, she races through the trees in panic.

Hearing the wails, Benk knows the wedewolves are chasing someone. He finds Rose and brings her down the mountain to a deserted cabin, but he doesn’t know what to make of her. For one thing, she stinks worse every day but refuses to wash. For another, she hisses like a cat whenever he comes near her hurt feet. They need to get to Benk’s boat so that he can take her to a healer, but there are wedewolves on the porch!

Benk is the most famous scout Montaland has ever known, but will even he figure out what to do?

It’s a beautiful summer day in the state of Maine and when Jaxson looks out his window at his tree fort, he expects to see a chickadee, a deer, a bear, or maybe even an American eagle, but what he does see gives him a big, blue shock!

It’s a moose! And it’s blue!

But the REAL surprise comes when Jaxson asks WHY the moose is blue!

As a sophomore in college, it is time for her to pick a major, but she doesn’t know what to choose. Everything she dreamed her future would be has been taken away from her, including her faith in God. Caroline meets Connor Taylor, someone who can relate to her pain more than she can imagine. Caroline doesn’t understand how he can still believe in God with all he has gone through.

With the help of an abused horse and Connor, can Caroline learn to use the past as a steppingstone towards the future? Can she rediscover her faith in God and the purpose He has for her? Or will the pain of the past and the fear of moving on be more than she can handle?

It turns out that kind, humble and nonpartisan can work in Washington, just reach beyond the Beltway.

An apolitical academic, an unknown, is appointed to the White House to advise the administration on STEM education, a topic absent of interest by the president. Until that is, fans begin to accumulate and momentum builds. A hire of disinterested necessity—merely an act of compliance with Congress—becomes a pivotal character triangulated between a workforce-focused West Wing, federal agencies fiercely guarding their independence, and a national groundswell—indeed an emerging movement—desperate for a North Star.

This modern-day Gulliver's Travels in Bureaucracyland begins benignly enough. America’s education systems must respond to the needs of industry, and thus the economy, and produce more scientists, technologists, engineers, mathematicians, and related professionals Congress declared in 2010. The White House’s science and technology policy office was assigned to write a strategic plan and update it every five years. The first came out in 2013, due to expire in 2018. The Trump administration was on the hook, but as of 2017, it was on no one’s radar.

Under pressure and getting heat from Capitol Hill, the administration rolodexed who’s whom in STEM and recruited a state servant for the federal chore. Short on time, oblivious to political polarity, unbound to beltway traditions, and unfazed by saboteurs, the Midwesterner blazed new trails for how D.C. can work in setting education policy.

A veteran police chief’s hard-won lessons on leading yourself, leading others, and leading an organization.

Essential Leadership Lessons from the Thin Blue Line is just that—lessons learned the old-fashioned way through trial and error, studying, hard work, and experience while on our nation’s front lines to serve and protect. Dean Crisp spent decades leading people where a single misstep could cost a life. Faced with the daily challenges of a police chief, Dean threw himself into learning all he could about effective leadership and applying those lessons in his departments. He shares those hard-won lessons in this book.

Dean lays the book out into three key sections that build on each other to help you become a better leader: Leading Yourself, Leading Others, Leading the Organization. Dean’s approach to leadership is built on his concept of Diamond Leadership, a four-point method that creates a self-perpetuating synergy for positive change. Dean has taught this method in elite conferences to countless rising leaders, and now he brings it to you.

Built on the success of Dean’s debut leadership book, Leadership Lessons from the Thin Blue Line, this new release features a revised approach to the curriculum, expanded information, and a streamlined formula to develop the leader within you.

Essential Leadership Lessons from the Thin Blue Line uses personal anecdotes to drive home the human element of leadership and will connect with you at any point on your journey to becoming a significant leader.

An intertwining tale of love, laughter, heartbreak, and the roots of strong Southern women

Pauline Smith, a retired insurance processor, is comfortable in her habits and her home. She is a born worrier with strong opinions and believes in family taking care of family. When her mother is injured in a fall, Pauline and her sister Perk must move Mama from their childhood home in Roanoke, Virginia to an assisted living complex in Richmond, where they live. As she is confronted with her mother’s frail health, Pauline struggles to confront her own fear of death and the grief she’s harbored since her father died when she was a child.

Family Weave’s richly voiced characters tell of ordinary lives with extraordinary humor and tragedy, weaving us in and out of family history, showing us how not only to survive, but how to celebrate life.

Capitalizing on a peaceful protest for Native American rights, a small, extremist militia swiftly seizes Alcatraz Island and holds more than 200 people hostage. Their demand: return all lands taken from Native American tribes through broken treaties, or an armada of drones will render the San Francisco Bay Area a glowing ruin, uninhabitable for decades.

Former Mossad assassin Danya Biton and her friend Toby Riddle are thrown headlong into the conflict. As the authorities debate the cost of acquiescing to the demands versus the loss of civilian lives, Danya—on the run from agencies on both sides of the Atlantic—offers the only hope for rescuing the hostages and preventing an unprecedented disaster... but she may have to sacrifice herself to save the others.

Fans of Jon Land's Caitlin Strong series and of James Rollin's Seichan will identify with and devour the Danya Biton series.

Maddie Arnette has built her whole life around the narrative that her father murdered her mother. When a woman in the grocery store claims that Maddie’s father did not kill her mother, the revelation forces the journalist toward a reckoning. Is it possible that her father has sat in prison for almost forty years for a crime he did not commit? And if he didn’t do it, who did?

"An empathetic examination of friendship and how it can change one's life." – Kirkus Reviews

A chance encounter in a Chicago park between inquisitive 4-year-old Mary and the eccentric Mildred begins a lifelong, unconventional friendship. Despite her mother’s admonishment not to engage with Mildred, Mary finds herself drawn to the kind “Bird Lady.”

Impressed by Mary’s independence and creativity, Mildred shares the lessons of her gilded life and becomes a mentor for Mary. In their moments together, Mildred teaches Mary about courtship, manners, ethics, art, culture, and life’s little luxuries. Through the twists and turns of Mary’s life, Mildred’s influence is felt time and again, like a gentle beacon guiding Mary toward her true passion.

A rare sighting of a Waffle boy sends young Pancake Jake on a quest in Breakfast Land: he wants to make friends with the Waffles who have long been the enemies of the Pancakes. With courage and kindness, Jake discovers a long-lost recipe that proves Pancakes and Waffles are actually made of the same ingredients.

The charming illustrations and playful text make for a fun read that will encourage important conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Some of the best voices in thriller fiction today are fans of the Peter Savage novels. "I would follow Peter Savage into any firefight," says James Rollins, New York Times bestselling international thriller writer. "Edlund is right at home with his bestselling brethren, Brad Thor and Brad Taylor," lauds Jon Land, USA Today bestselling author of the Caitlin Strong series.

The Peter Savage series by USA TODAY bestselling, award-winning author Dave Edlund has taken readers around the world to unearth dangerous secrets in the East China Sea, stop a biological holocaust, and avert a deadly political coup. Now, read Books 5-7 in a convenient anthology before Unforgiving Savage debuts on October 26, 2021.

GUARDING SAVAGE

Summoned to Brunei, Peter unearths dangerous secrets that threaten the security of the US Navy.

"Guarding Savage is a near-perfect international thriller" –Foreword Reviews

LETHAL SAVAGE

As the minutes count down to a biological holocaust, Peter presents the only chance to save an unwitting civilian population.

"plenty of heart-racing action" –San Francisco Book Review

VALIANT SAVAGE

With his faithful canine companion, Peter crisscrosses the northwest in a race against time to avert a political coup the likes of which haven’t been witnessed since the Lincoln assassination plot.

"Action-packed doesn’t begin to describe this exciting entry in the Savage series." –Paul Kemprecos, New York Times best-selling author

"A sincere tribute to professionals who do not always receive the recognition and support they deserve, Stewards of Humanity is a memoir about healing through—and from—humanitarian work." —Foreword Reviews

When the world turns away from the horrors of war, genocide, famine, and natural disasters, the stewards of humanity run toward the suffering. They stand as a thin line between life and death for thousands of people who will never know their stories. These stewards are neither heroes nor saints—they are ordinary people with ordinary struggles who rise to extraordinary challenges. They are beacons of light in the darkness of humanitarian crisis.

With an unflinching view into some of the worst humanitarian crises of our lifetime, author Robert Macpherson—US Marine combat veteran turned aid worker—tells the stories of the men and women who have courageously confronted evil and injustice from Somalia to Bosnia, Rwanda, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Throughout his narrative, Robert challenges us to consider our place in humanity and our own role as stewards.

"The Moscow Affair is a thoroughly entertaining and unforgettable thriller punctuated by smart dialog, richly crafted scenes, and a topical plot." –Dave Edlund, USA Today bestselling author of Valiant Savage

In this fast-paced mystery, P.I. Nicole Graves agrees to an unusual, short-term assignment working for MI6 in Russia. It sounds straightforward, even pleasant: a two-week luxury riverboat cruise on the Volga, observing a group of fellow passengers and filing a daily report on their activities. It's simple enough, except for one caveat: No matter what these people do, she’s to tell her handler at MI6—no one else, especially not the Russian police. When one of the riverboat passengers winds up dead, Nicole realizes this assignment was anything but straightforward.

Soon, Nicole is immersed in a high-stakes game of murder and espionage where trusting a stranger can be as deadly as a bullet.

"Nicole Graves is the best fictional sleuth to come down the pike since Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone." –Laura Levine, bestselling author of the Jaine Austen Mysteries

The Nicole Graves Mysteries have been compared to the mysteries of Mary Higgins Clark and praised for contributing to the "women-driven mystery field with panache" (Foreword Reviews) as well as for their "hold-onto-the-bar roller coaster" plots (RT Book Reviews).

Kirkus Reviews concluded, "Boyarsky's weightless complications expertly combine menace with bling, making the heroine's adventures both nightmarish and dreamy." And Foreword Reviews has fallen for the "tough and likable protagonist Nicole Graves" while Midwest Book Review praises the "exquisite tension" throughout the plot.

Each book in the Nicole Graves Mysteries is written as a stand-alone. Readers do not need to read every book in the series to follow along.

It’s February 1942. War grips the world. Asian hate runs rampant, and New Orleans is a dangerous place for Chinese-English scientist Thomas Ling as he collides with self-proclaimed psychic Beatrix Patterson. She's a good liar with an excellent memory, which in truth is her only gift—well, that and conning the well-heeled out of their money and secrets.

Hired by the US Army to use her connections to expose Nazi saboteurs and sympathizers, Beatrix recruits the reluctant Thomas. Together, they pit their skills against a government conspiracy, terrorist cells, kidnappings, and murderous plots. As Beatrix grapples with the truth of her own past, she must come to terms with her ruse. Exposing the Nazi war machine about to invade the country could cost Beatrix everything she's worked so hard to build. But the information she and Thomas uncover could change the outcome of the war.

The question remains: will anyone believe a liar and a suspected traitor?

Trouble has a way of finding Blanche Murninghan...

When Blanche “Bang” Murninghan visits an exhibit of ancient Mayan ruins in Mexico City, she sees that all is not ancient. One of the mummies has a pink hair clip embedded in its hay-like do, and the texture of the skin is not quite right.

Blanche, a part-time journalist, starts to dig for answers and gets tangled in the mystery of the mummy at the Palacio Nacional.

Her cousin and traveling companion, Haasi Hakla, aids and abets—and puts the reins on Blanche. All the while, the two eat and drink their way across the city, following one hunch after another with a cast of colorful characters that include a prescient elderly chilanga, an amiable overworked detective, and a stunning doctor of shady deeds.

The cousins are willing to risk kidnapping and attempted murder to get at the truth—but first, Blanche stops for another excellent beer and Haasi delights in one more taco al pastor.

Trouble Down Mexico Way is the second book in the Blanche Murninghan cozy mystery series. Each of the books can be read as a stand-alone. Foreword Reviews is in love with the "spunky heroine" and Kirkus Reviews says, "There’s a reason Blanche Murninghan’s cousin Jack calls her 'Bang.' When she gets mad, it’s an event to rival a Santa Maria Island sunset—and it happens about as often."

Fans of Jana Deleon's Miss Fortune Mystery series and Tonya Kappes A Camper and Criminals Cozy series will fall hard for the colorful characters and exciting misadventures in the Blanche Murningnan Mysteries.

Paul Dodge is no stranger to the dark side of crime. As a parole agent and a member of the local Sex Crimes Task Force, he knows what depravity lies in the shadows. But when an investigation into a local sexual predator leads him to a photo of a judge’s daughter and another young girl ends up dead, Dodge quickly realizes he doesn’t know who to trust.

In the most dangerous case of his career, Dodge races to detangle a growing web of lies and corruption. His life and career are both on the line in this high-stakes case, and a single misstep could end them both.

Peter wants nothing more than to settle into a normal life with his fiancée, Kate Simpson. But the Fates seems to have other plans as he finds himself in a deadly confrontation with North Korean agents intent on stealing his latest invention; a pulsed energy weapon that promises to revolutionize small arms technology and upend the international balance of power.

After suffering a heartbreaking loss at the hands of the North Koreans, Peter is devastated. Vowing retribution, he has only one option. With his faithful companion Diesel by his side, Peter must retreat to a remote section of Idaho wilderness known as the Zone of Death—a large, uninhabited tract of Federal land where one can literally get away with murder.

Somehow, he must entice the North Korean assassins to follow him. There Peter will need all his skills as a hunter to kill… or be killed.

A journey in defying cancer

In this story about her harrowing battle with a rare, aggressive form of breast cancer, Dr. Julia Burns encourages readers to take charge of their own health by seeking multiple medical opinions and fighting for a treatment plan that meets their emotional and spiritual needs as well as their physical needs.

Chapter by chapter Julia shares lessons learned from her own journey through cancer. The numbers were abysmal: her odds of survival were so low some wondered why she should even bother fighting. Julia didn't care what the numbers said—she defied the odds and found a path where few had dared to look.

Julia Burns inspires others who face seemingly insurmountable challenges to take heart, to advocate for themselves, and to pursue the path that makes them feel well and whole—no matter the odds.

The narratives we recall and experience through the journey of life truly represent a gift from the Good Lord Above. While both love and loss may not always be perceived as blessings, they embody our existence as human beings with a soul meant for eternal purposes. This fourth major culmination of poetry by James L. Cartee, III vividly illustrates the emotions of personal setbacks, valleys of despair, and triumphant celebrations.

Whether a devout Christian or just someone who enjoys a good read for inner reflection and growth, this collection will both inspire and challenge you as a person. While some consider poetry as a form of expression to be a fading art, All His Gifts: Life, Love, Loss reminds readers what it means to be human. Light breaks through the darkness. When we fall down, we stand back up. Love arrives when least expected. Poetry flourishes within us as life stories unfold, and these verses will convincingly show that poetry is alive and well in this modern age, perhaps more now than ever before. Enjoy the many gifts that life, love, and loss often bring us!