The Gift of Hope

Life as a survivor is far more than just cancer and treatment, life or death.

It is a battle for your sanity, a search for power, a dedication to hope, and an attempt to live whatever time ends up being allotted without succumbing to fear.

The Gift of Hope is the intersection of that survival with what it means to be a mother and doctor in these challenging and ever-changing times.

Within that journey lies the meaning of perseverance, the worthiness of the fight, and the difference that love makes.

The Incorrigible Rogue

Rochdale, Lancashire, England, 1885.

Martha Anne Ashworth is in trouble in school, once again. The precocious and gifted 10 year old daughter of mill owner John Ashworth has, for the umpteenth time, tried school and parental patience and now legal authority with her quick wit, sharp tongue, impudent defiance, and certain determined independence. With her mother dying, and her father drowning his woes in whisky, young Martha Anne’s wildness leads to her eventual arrest as an Incorrigible Rogue; all seems to be spiraling out of control until an uncanny friendship with the village wise woman, Betty Nuppy, helps guide Martha Anne on a path to salvation, if not, at least, redemption.

The Islands Are Not Lonely

Many people are living lonely. But as the islands under the rocking sea are connected, we who suffer are also connected to each other if we look into each other more deeply. This poetry is the fruit of an effort to make you feel connected.

The Last Ones

In the chilling depths of The Last Ones, six individuals, burdened with a sinister curse since birth, find themselves entangled in a malevolent game of life and death. Trapped in a twisted labyrinth of deadly challenges, their survival hinges on one crucial element: love.

As the enigmatic puzzle of their cursed existence unfolds, the bonds they forge become their only hope. In a race against time, they must navigate treacherous trials where victory guarantees life, while defeat offers no escape but a gruesome demise.

Together, they must unravel the dark mysteries behind their individual curses, discovering the hidden connections that bind them and the shared secrets that hold the key to their salvation.

Can love becomes the ultimate weapon against the insidious forces which seek to claim their souls?

The Last Vanishing Point

2013

Olivia discovers letters and a painting by her uncle William, an artist and WWII bombardier who vanished after being shot down over France just before D-Day. Inexplicably compelled, Olivia begins a personal quest to discover William’s fate.

1943

William says goodbye to his new wife, Maddie, a concert pianist in New York City, and joins the RAF to battle the Nazis in occupied Europe. He quickly comes to regret the death and devastation wrought by his bombing missions, in sharp contrast to his times on leave, painting landscapes of the English countryside. Unexpectedly, William is recruited as an agent for the Special Operations Executive by a mysterious woman at a manor in the Cotswolds and leaves for the Scottish Highlands. Based on her family connections with the Underground, Maddie embarks on her own treacherous journey that leads her to join the French Resistance in Paris.

The Last Vanishing Point is a compelling love story of mystery and intrigue, and of how the power of art and the enduring bonds of family can heal trauma and loss. The reader is transported through historical details and the author’s cinematic writing style will take you to another time and place where a heartfelt and timeless story unfolds.

The Little Worry Warts

What if a little lightning bug loses her light? What happens when a horsefly lands in a giant web? Do bumblebees lose their stings?

This book addresses the what ifs of life for everyone!

Lexi, Horace, Bella and Gus teach worriers to focus on the positive aspects of life and their friendships in a way that only The Little Worry Warts can.

The Lord’s Prayer – Tidbits from Its Extraordinary History

Engross yourself in an intimate exploration of the Gospel and researched details of the relationship between Jesus and His family, especially the startling specificity concerning His mother. Discover how Jesus’ stepbrothers fostered the founding of the new religion. Enjoy learning how Jesus’ heritage, Palestinian lifestyle, and politics influenced His ministry. Get surprised by how prayers from antiquity determined Jesus’ teachings. Become knowledgeable about the religious and personal importance of the terms and phrases in the Lord’s Prayer. See how the prayer remained the same throughout changes in language. Also read how the Jewish Brethren and Gentile Christians struggled to reach agreement on how best to worship under Jesus’ new life instructions. While thousands of interpretations of the Lord’s Prayer and its profound implications for the Christian religion have been published, there has never been a book this unique, or unusual, in its offerings.

The Loura Lure

Dr. Shamus Bergin lands a coveted position of Staff Psychologist in the Secure Treatment Unit of a mental hospital right out of school. He is soon vexed by an amnesiac patient who defies clinical diagnosis and whom every other doctor has written off. Inconsistencies about the man’s origins intersect with Shamus’s own doubts that the patient even belongs in an institution.

As his own investigation continues to be met with redacted files and evasion from governmental agencies, the doctor-patient relationship suddenly undergoes a radical shift. The patient discloses that he has time travelled from a forgotten Age of Loura to seek help from modern day members of The Sacred Order of Keepers to find the last living angel. Only the angel can turn the tide in the ultimate struggle between good and evil in this deliberately erased timeline 20,000 years in the past. With his parents tragically lost in a boating accident a decade earlier, Shamus must turn to his one true friend, Dr. John Browse, to make sense of the voices within which are calling him to action.

With career and grip on sanity at stake, Shamus must decide whether he has succumbed to the delusions of a sick mind or whether he should take a leap of faith and help the man achieve his mission.

The Messengers

After numerous negotiations the Indigenous still remained scattered throughout the wilds of Northern Ontario, Canada. In spite of treacherously cold conditions, they remained steadfast to the land, refusing to give up their lifestyle while trying to survive from Mother Nature’s unpredictable temperament. Captain Jesse Burn’s illegitimate son was among them. Father and son, a pair of strong-willed rival enemies, co-existed in a strange and deadly kinship while getting caught up in a changing way of life that neither would accept.

It was during November 1898. when Jesse had received his orders as a dedicated, respected officer in the Armed Forces. He had a job to fulfill regardless of the number of lives lost during the process. After Colonel McEwan shook Jesse’s hand and walked out, Jesse stared at the closed door for a long time. He glanced at the document containing the list of names he was to apprehend, knowing that most of those men would rather die in battle than be taken alive. Jesse scanned further down the list and suddenly froze. He opened his desk drawer and pulled out a bottle of whiskey hidden near the back. After many swallows, he leaned back in his chair; his eyes were pools of liquid blue. His son’s name was on that list. 

The Monster Under My Bed

Could there be a monster living under your bed? Some may say yes and that belief is fed. Others may say no, and that is so. We know there are no real monsters, but there may be spiders and other creepy crawlers. They can be viewed as monsters too, but right now, we are not talking about those kinds of monsters. Even though there may not be a literal monster living under your bed, there could be a monster that you make up in your head. A monster that you feel is real, and no one can tell you anything different. Is that you? What if I told you that it really isn't a monster, but something or someone that you actually love, value and appreciate? What if it is a monster that needs to be discovered? Join me on this discovery to learn about the monster living under the bed.

The Mysterious Affair at the Met

A favorite destination—even for New Yorkers—is the venerable Metropolitan Museum of Art. On this particular day, “the Met,” as generally known, experiences an unusually large number of visitors. Visitors have their choice of viewing over two million works of art spanning five millennia of cultures worldwide. But some among them are up to something more sinister.

At one point, the Met’s surveillance cameras’ lenses capture “a mysterious-looking couple” amid the many visitors strolling about the many galleries. The pair is dripping wet in their matching taupe Burberry trench coats. Just as the two of them walk past Soleil dans le Ciel de Saint-Paul, a masterpiece of Marc Chagall, a large tourist group—who, oddly enough, all are wearing distinctive red-and-white-striped vinyl raincoats—converges around them. But it is what happens next that baffles the museum’s surveillance crew. After “the mysterious-looking couple” pulls off their prank, they and the large tourist group walk out of that particular camera’s range, becoming submerged elsewhere in the interminable galleries of the gigantic museum.

But when a docent notices “something strange” with Chagall’s Soleil dans le Ciel de Saint-Paul, in short order, the museum-goers inside the Chagall gallery hear “High Alert!” and watch in horror as a heavy metal grille drops down from the ceiling to the floor, effectively locking them inside the gallery.

And thus began what later came to be called The Mysterious Affair at the Met.

The National Debt and Our Grandchildren: Should We Worry?

Throughout our history Americans have embraced the myth that our national debt is immoral and destructive.

This deeply rooted belief goes back to our Founding Fathers: Jefferson excoriated debt as “the greatest of dangers to be feared.” Andrew Jackson demonized debt as “a national curse.” Current political leaders continue to endorse this negative view of our national debt. Obama said that incurring debt was “irresponsible” and “unpatriotic.” John McCain condemned it as “generational theft.”

In this book, the prize-winning economics professor Arthur Benavie, demonstrates in clear and non-technical language that belief in this myth has repeatedly blocked our federal government from creating jobs and investing in our children’s future.

Benavie describes the many occasions, including from the administrations of FDR to Obama, where our leaders were faced with severe political retribution at the mere suggestion that their policies would increase the national debt.

Belief in this myth presents a continuing danger to the wellbeing of our children and grandchildren. Benavie examines several ways to disempower it.