Songs for the Forgotten: A Psychiatrist's Record offers a strong practical component also, providing information about trauma and healing. [...] You'll be inspired and renewed after reading this important work." –Steve Pemberton, acclaimed speaker, advocate, and bestselling author of A Chance in the World

Combines pivotal moments from Julia Burns’s Southern upbringing in the 1970s with case histories accumulated through three decades of treating psychiatric patients, particularly those drowning in the cultural epidemic of child abuse. This book is her journal of rupture and return.

The reader will follow the author’s hard-won reconciliation. In telling panoply of stories, including her own, Burns argues for the interconnectedness of humanity: when one child is hurt, our humanity is violated, and we are all responsible for undoing that damage. If no one steps up to save children, to show them they are worth saving, the cycle of abuse will continue.

Songs for the Forgotten offers a strong practical component, providing information about trauma and healing. Burns illustrates how hope and wholeness can come from remembrance and telling.

"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.

One Woman's Journey of Advocacy, Faith, and Positivity

“You only have three to five years to live.”

On the day she was diagnosed with HIV and thrust from the confines of her suburban mom bubble into the scary and unpredictable world of AIDS, Julie promptly found herself fighting for her life and rights amidst a disease she never imagined would hijack her future.

With three young children, her family began making every effort to create lasting memories while simultaneously managing the debilitating side effects of early meds. They hid her illness for four years, fearing her children would suffer stigma and discrimination often experienced in the early days of the disease.

Her diagnosis began a path of advocacy, faith, and positivity despite her life’s detour. Now, Julie advocates for better healthcare outcomes for women through the personal stories and reflections from her life. Her health journey creates space for those walking through their own family or medical crises to be seen and supported.

The caregiver’s journey is often bittersweet, combining feelings of exhaustion, reflection, love, frustration, delight, shock, connection, and loneliness. Many caregivers understandably feel overwhelmed and find themselves wishing for someone to take their hand and guide them on their twisting and emotional journey. Take My Hand is that guide.

Written by Tia Amdurer, a Licensed Professional Counselor with a professional background in hospice, bereavement, and loss, Take My Hand is divided into chapters that serve as a practical resource while you navigate different aspects of caring for a loved one in their final years.

Interspersed with the educational chapters are insightful, witty, and heartfelt commentaries from a caregiver’s perspective. Pages for note taking and journaling are formatted to encourage self-reflection along the way.

Mogadiscio was not always the sprawling jerry-built urban landscape we see today. Until 1991, when the government fell and clan militias, in a civil war, reduced it to rubble, Mogadiscio was a lovely, vibrant city. Tales of Mogadiscio describes a time, during the 1960s, when Mogadiscio was the capital and center of a newly independent Somali Republic. The stories portray individuals and the city’s various communities. Mogadiscio is observed and reflected upon by the author, who lived among its people and loved the city.

“Mike Huff addresses a serious issue in the basketball culture changing from an emphasis on the team to an increased focus on the individual. He calls coaches to lead the way in returning the focus where it belongs, which is on the team first. Teamwork: Rediscovering the Essence of Basketball will help any coach who is interested in teaching the game of basketball and important life lessons through basketball.”
– Mike Kryzyzewski, Head Coach, Duke University Basketball

Basketball was originally designed to be a team game, but today’s players are growing up in a culture that focuses on the individual. In Teamwork, Mike Huff calls coaches and athletes to return to basketball’s essence, by focusing on The 7 Essentials of Teamwork:

• communication
• leadership
• humility
• roles
• team spirit
• a winning attitude
• collective responsibility

The lessons in this book will enable coaches to teach life lessons that help players become winners on and off the court.

Much evidence from both sides of the Pacific indicates that people from Asia reached America at very early dates. It also appears that at least occasional trips were made back to Asia.

This book, by Hendon M. Harris, Jr. and edited by Charlotte Rees, explores some of the early Asian accounts about voyages to a beautiful land to their east called Fu Sang. It explains how that trip was possible. Included are photos of an ancient Asian world map that show the location of the fabled Fu Sang -right where America should be.

Everyone is innocent until proven guilty, or so they say.

P.I. Nicole Graves arrives early at work, just as Los Angeles is hit with “the Big One,” a long-predicted, devastating earthquake. When the building stops shaking, Nicole finds Jerry, her boss, in his office dying of a gunshot wound. It appears to be suicide.

Nicole is shocked to learn that the police have decided Jerry’s death was murder and even more shocked that she’s their only suspect when there’s no shortage of people with motives. And there’s the question of why the detectives are pursuing this one case when all city workers, including the police, are in an all-out search and rescue operation for survivors. All she can do is evade capture long enough to prove her innocence and catch the real culprit.

Nancy Boyarsky's writing has been praised as "well-crafted, tautly-written" by James Lilliefors, author of the Amy Hunter novels The Psalmist and The Tempest, and "thoroughly entertaining and unforgettable" by Dave Edlund, USA TODAY bestselling author of the Peter Savage Novels.

"Like John le Carre, Boyarsky portrays a world of espionage that’s more grit than glamour and where it can be a struggle to distinguish the good guys from the bad. A real page-turner with a satisfying resolution." –Mally Becker, author of The Turncoat’s Widow (Praise for The Moscow Affair, Nicole Graves Book 6)

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.

In his quest to become an Immortal, Elathan seeks the Emerald Crown of the World, which holds a magic so ancient and powerful that its been hidden from all realms. As Earth’s rightful Protector, only Brendan stands a chance to stop the golden god, to save the Earth and her inhabitants. But when Brendan falls under a curse that poisons his mind, Lizzie, Dorian, Frank, and their friends must band together to save him while Elathan grows in power.

"In his beautiful new book, Milton Brasher-Cunningham shares arresting thoughts on grief, grace, and gratitude. He claims that we are all shaped by our sorrows and generously tells his own stories of loss. All the while, he leads us toward hope. The Color of Together is both poetic and instructive, relatable and deeply philosophical. It awakened my heart to read this book; I hope it will do the same for you."
– Jennifer Grant, author of A Little Blue Bottle

When his father died, Milton learned that grief was a primary color of life. That truth is as old as the human story, but was new to him. The Color of Together explores the metaphor more fully, looking at the primary colors of life, which he names as grief, grace, and gratitude, and then expanding the palette to describe some of the other hues that make us human.

The book is a conversation between his personal stories, authors who have been mentors from the page, biblical accounts, and a variety of metaphors that allow us to see the colors of life in different lights and contexts. It is a story that started in grief and continues in hope.

Missing women, a disbanded cult, and a dodgy inheritance put Beatrix Patterson to the test.

Beatrix Patterson wanted to spend a morning organizing her thoughts over a nice cup of coffee and the local newspaper. But her carefully curated day is quickly interrupted when a friend of a friend asks for her help. Their friend is dead, and he wants to make sure there's no foul play. Cases keep piling in, as another family friend seeks his wife. Then a body is found at the base of local cliffs with no one to claim her.

Beatrix is good at finding things—people, the truth, missing evidence. As more Jane Does appear at the base of the cliff, each with similar ceremonial markings, Beatrix grows more passionate.

The deeper she digs, the less the pieces fit together. From a strange, disbanded cult to the drag queen desperate to claim an inheritance, Beatrix is soon stretched thin.

Surrounded by new neighbors with shadowed pasts, she has to wonder: will anyone believe her?

This historical mystery novel is packed with intrigue and beauty, set four years after World War II ends. Follow familiar characters Beatrix Patterson and Thomas Ling as they settle into a new life in Santa Barbara, California. The Finder is the second book in the Beatrix Patterson novels, however, each book can be read as a stand-alone or in order of publication.

 "Their Faces Shone is a riveting, candid and thought-provoking account of one's family journey through fostering. -Erica C. Witsell, award-winning author of the novel Give

“I need help,” I whispered, not sure if I was talking to myself or to God. “I don’t want to let her go.” 

After her daughter was born, Kate Rademacher desperately wanted another child, but her husband did not. Following years of negotiation, the couple decided to become foster parents. What began as an uneasy compromise turned into an authentic calling and a deep love for their two-year-old foster daughter. When the girl transitioned back to her biological family, Kate thought she had learned the lesson in loving and letting go. But when an unexpected crisis occurred, Kate realized the lessons in how to love, accept, surrender, and forgive were only just beginning.

In this poignant story, the author explores the question of where family begins and ends, and how things change when we invite strangers—with complicated stories and baggage—into our lives. For people who have considered becoming foster parents, many worry about the emotional risks involved. Before Rademacher’s foster daughter arrived, she shared these concerns; she was deeply afraid of the heartbreak that seemed likely, and she worried that fostering could threaten her own family’s peace.

Rademacher’s story is an insightful and ultimately hopeful examination of whether it’s possible to love and let go without bitterness. With self-effacing humor and honesty, Rademacher describes how the experience of fostering impacted her marriage and her biological daughter and changed their lives forever.

"Chavez is an exciting new voice in our LGBTQ and Latinx literary community.” –Emanuel Xavier, author and activist

In this semi-autobiographical novel set in mid 20th century Cuba, Lorenzo Chavez reveals the moving story of a boy determined to stay true to who he is and find happiness against all odds.

Told in a series of first-person vignettes, Martín's story covers a wide swath of the Cuban landscape and people, taking us from the lush greens and fertile soils of the countryside to the dark underbelly of a Havana as full of depravity as it is neon lights.

After suffering a series of heartbreaking abuses, Martín struggles to find his way and claim his identity as a young gay man in an impoverished neighborhood. When the Revolution slowly begins to claim everything Martín holds dear, he takes a desperate leap of faith—one that could cost him his life.

Martín's coming of age story is one of courage and the rebirth of a brave young man who refuses to hide his light.

This novel is perfect for fans of Achy Obejas, Cristina Garcia, and Carmen Maria Machado.

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?

"Full of page-by-page surprises" – Kirkus Reviews

When Nicole Graves arranges a summer-long swap of her Los Angeles condo for a London couple’s house, she thinks it’s the perfect arrangement. She’s always dreamed of seeing the real London; she’s also hopeful the time away with her husband Brad will be good for their troubled marriage. But things don’t turn out the way Nicole expects: The Londoners fail to arrive in L.A. and appear to be missing. Then people begin following Nicole and making threats, demanding information she doesn’t have. Soon, Nicole realizes she’s in serious trouble––but she can’t get Brad or the police to believe her. When the confrontations turn deadly, Nicole must either solve the case or become the next victim.

Just when the world thought Oscar Pistorius’ meteoric rise to Olympic glory and international celebrity had terminated abysmally in prison, Brent Willock’s scientific perspective reopens this gripping narrative for an astonishing re-view.

Oscar’s spectacular assent to fame ground to a screeching halt in the wee hours of Valentine’s Day, 2013. Hearing a sound emanating from his bathroom, he grabbed his pistol and he stumbled to the washroom, screaming at the intruders to leave. Fearing someone was about to emerge to harm him and his girlfriend, Reeva, he fired four bullets into the toilet chamber. Soon he realized he had killed his lover. Horrified, he summoned the authorities. The investigating detective believed this was yet another case of an escalating argument where the man murdered his partner. World opinion is split. Some believe Oscar. Others are convinced he committed a despicable crime of passion.

"Valiant Savage is a pulse-pounding action thriller that’s anchored by its charming everyman hero and a fascinating historical mystery."
– Foreword Reviews

The Cascadia Independence Movement, a radical political group, aspires to succeed where others have failed and split off the Pacific Northwest as an independent nation. With a sympathetic politician occupying the seat of president pro tempore of the Senate, CIM hatches a daring plan.

Eliminating the President, Vice President, and Speaker of the House in a coordinated attack would be difficult enough, but to do so and get away with the crimes would border on the impossible. They plot to frame the commander of The Strategic Global Intervention Team, James Nicolaou, for the murders and steal a revolutionary weapon under development by Peter Savage, which will assure success.

With Commander Nicolaou missing and the subject of a nationwide dragnet with orders to shoot to kill. With his faithful canine companion, Peter crisscrosses the northwest in a race against time to save his friend and avert a political coup the likes of which haven’t been witnessed since the Lincoln assassination plot.

Inspired by his immigrant physician mother, who surmounted multiple obstacles in her forty-five year-career, Dr. Friedman worked through a twenty-year battle with depression to realize the life-saving power of committing himself to love, spirit, and service. This story of his personal journey toward wholeness offers thoughtful advice for those who suffer and encouragement for those aspiring to careers in the healing arts.

Where Spirit Touches Matter: A journey toward wholeness is a book about health, healing, and hope by a physician who has spent more than thirty-five years helping patients find relief from pain and suffering.

Dr. Friedman writes: "On a journey to Tibet, while circling what is widely considered the holiest mountain on Earth, Mount Kailash, which sources the five great rivers of Asia with its runoff, I heard the myth that one of the rivers, the Saraswati, existed only in nonmaterial form. In this form, it contributed a spiritual and vitalistic energy to the holy Ganges, which arises at the convergence of four rivers in the Himalayan region of India.

"Eight years later, on my last journey to India, I stood in front of the gorge where the Saraswati River originates, and I wept. I wept because I saw that the nonmaterial had become material, and that the chasm between the mythological and the physically real had been bridged. This is the meeting place of spirit and matter that I have pursued in endless forms throughout my life.

"This book chronicles a sampling of my experiences of that space between. It honors the continuously moving stream running through all of time and space, filled wholly with the presence of a loving consciousness. I am grateful to have been a participant in the flow of that stream and to have been given the opportunity to return whatever love I can into that current."

Growing up in the suburbs in the 1950s was a completely different experience than growing up after the year 2000. Just about everything was self-created and directed. From a very early age, we left our house right after breakfast and would return in time for supper. No parent or adult told us what to do to occupy our time. Mostly, they told us what not to do and we paid little attention to that advice.

Each new adventure took us to its logical or illogical conclusion. Sometimes a lesson was learned, more often than not the hard way. This is a journey through those experiences, many of which are not repeatable today.

Growing up is mental, and growing older is physical. Both form integral parts of the experiential library. Whether in the late 1800s, the mid-1950s or now, it is the best time to be alive in an ever-changing world.

Join C.M. Rip Cunningham in his recollections of what it means to grow up in an ever-shifting environment, supplemented by excerpts from As the Twig is Bent by Dr. John H. Cunningham.

An elderly mother, an aging son, and life’s final journey
"Winter Stars is a gift — a modern classic of frontier literature documenting the uncertain journey into the country of caregiving." –Michael J. Fox.

Dave Iverson was a busy broadcast journalist recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease when he decided to do something he’d never quite imagined: He moved in to take care of his 95-year-old mom. Winter Stars is the moving story of their ten-year caregiving journey.

"The resulting memoir is a love story you won't soon forget," writes Elizabeth Farnsworth, former chief correspondent for The PBS NewsHour and author of A Train Through Time.

By the end of this decade, 74 million Americans will be over the age of 65, including every member of the Baby Boom generation. The pandemic prompted more Americans to consider caring for their parents at home, but as Iverson learned, the gritty, life-changing reality caregiving delivers requires more than good intentions. He didn’t know that his mom’s dementia would pose more challenges than his Parkinson’s. He didn’t know he’d be capable of getting so angry. He didn’t know that becoming a caregiver means experiencing love and loss, anger and insight—usually when exhausted and often on the same day. And he didn’t know that moving in with his mom would challenge and change him more than any other life experience.

"A deeply moving memoir, Winter Stars is still more than that — it is a guide to finding the help we all need, in one way or another, as life poses new and different challenges," praises Ron Elving, Senior Editor and Correspondent, NPR

For the vast number of families who are confronting —or will soon confront—a caregiving journey, Winter Stars offers an intimate, unvarnished portrait of the challenges, choices, and life lessons that lie ahead.

"Honest, comforting, and true, Winter Stars is a testament to the power of family love," says Ann Packer, best-selling author of The Dive from Clausen’s Pier and Songs Without Words.

Jacob Hart has always been convinced there is an answer to any problem. That belief propelled him to a successful engineering career at corporate giant, GoldOrb Diversified. But following an abrupt retirement and his wife's untimely death, Jacob suffers an existential crisis. The man who once believed that anything could be solved becomes all consumed with uncovering the role of a higher power in his seemingly crumbling world. Plagued with prophetic visions, he travels to Lake Paradise in pursuit of his coveted answer to life's mysteries.

Joined in his quest by a kind Rabbi who has lost his faith, an unruly Ivy League professor, and the powerful CEO of GoldOrb, Jacob enters into a philosophical pursuit for the ages. But the troubles of the real world follow the friends to paradise, and soon they are ensnared in a high stakes political scandal that threatens to destroy everything.

The Overexamined Life of Jacob Hart tests the bonds of friendship, family, and country and infuses existential questions from time immemorial with modernity, intrigue, and sheer excitement.

In 1966, an all-black basketball team from the University of Texas El Paso (then Texas Western University) defeated an all-white team from the University of Kentucky to win the NCAA championship in a game that has become famous as a civil rights milestone. A closer inspection of the events leading to that momentous game reveals the unlikely circumstances that made a way for those two teams to walk onto that court.

Travel back in time to 1960s North Carolina, Kentucky, and Texas to unravel the remarkable truth behind the teams involved in the famous 1966 final four, and see how one man's absence changed history and paved the way for desegregation and civil rights progress.

This new look at basketball's impact on American history shows how supposedly minor events can have significant historical consequences.

This ancient Ojibway legend predates contact with European settlers, but the drummer boy and the people he meets at the end of his journey couldn’t be more familiar to modern culture.

When the orphaned Anung sets out on his vision quest, he sees clearly that his purpose in life is to find the greatest chief of all and tell him of the many acts of kindness the mothers and fathers of the village have given to Anung.

When the people of his village learn of the vision, they are proud of him. For every man of the village loves Anung as his son. Every woman is his mother. They believe Gitche Manitou, the great creator, has chosen their son for a special journey.

In his quest to find the greatest chief, Anung travels through the 13 tribes of the First Nations, across forests, plains, water, and desert. Along the way, he is accompanied by Turtle, the interpreter of all languages. He finds friends in the most unlikely of places––a squirrel’s nest, a mother bear’s den, and a city filled with people from every tribe. At each stop, Anung and his drum sing of his mothers and fathers and his quest to meet the greatest chief.

What Anung finds at the end of his journey will both surprise and thrill readers of all ages. This ancient legend, told in the beautifully poetic style of Carl Nordgren, begs to be read aloud and savored.