Life on Ice

Ever wonder what life is like on a touring ice-skating show? How many people travel with the show, how do you pack two fifty-pound suitcases with a year’s worth of clothes, shoes, and supplies? Do you pay your own hotel and transportation? Speaking of pay, what do they pay? How do you cook in a hotel room? And who is hooking up with whom? This semi autobiography is a humorous look into the world of a traveling show about how to live this type of life on the road. It is a coming-of-age story where quirky characters become family, fall into and out of bed—I mean love—go on adventures, and grow up.

Love Bites...Sometimes

Imagine a night out celebrating a friend’s birthday, hopping from bar to bar, when you bump into someone, and not just anyone. The moment you lock eyes, you’re convinced he’s the one. What happens next?

When you encounter him again, would you seize the opportunity, even after discovering he’s not what he seems? He has a secret, cleverly hidden in plain sight. Do you take the plunge into this uncertain romance, or cautiously test the waters?

Fairy-tale love stories are often fraught with obstacles before the ‘happily ever after.’ This is the beginning of my journey with Bryce, a mesmerizing dark brunette with piercing green eyes and a smile that can stop time. Love can bite, and sometimes you want to bite back. But every bite has its price. Are you willing to pay it?

Dive into a love story that’s as thrilling as it is mysterious. The question isn’t just whether love conquers all, but whether you’re willing to pay love’s toll.

M.A.X.X.

Marie Winterfield founded and directed the S.N.O.W. agency, a group of advanced investigative search and rescue specialists, is world renowned for cracking the toughest cases. When a massive power outage in New York City compromises the FBI, CIA, and NASA; Marie takes on her hardest case ever; taking on a top-secret agency that was believed to be shut down, but has actually gone global, kidnapping, killing, and framing innocent people for crimes they did not commit.

When things get out of hand and people start dying, Marie realizes that even her closest friends and colleagues have been corrupted, and her enemies are everywhere. She isn’t safe at home, at work, she isn’t safe… anywhere. Can Marie stop this group of computer criminal masterminds before it is to late or are they even the real enemy? Hold tight in this nonstop futuristic thriller with all the twists and turns that come with it.

Magda by the River

Angela Young’s novel, Magda by the River centers on the captivating journey of Magdalene, known affectionately as Magda. Feeling suffocated by the monotony of her small village life, weary of battling societal expectations, and yearning for acceptance, Magda longs for change. Her life takes an exciting turn when she joins a traveling troupe of performers, where she forges deep friendships that open her eyes to the possibilities and ‘more’ she has been seeking.

However, the most significant journey in Magda’s life is the introspective one. It’s a path that leads her to a profound understanding of her identity and self-acceptance, making Magda by the River not just a story of adventure, but also a tale of personal discovery and growth.

Manifesting Memories

What does a memory look like? Often it will appear personal and sacred because we have created it ourselves with every sensual focus we brought to our experience. Then, we sprinkle our thoughts and perspectives on it. A memory will reconnect us to the past for a  reimagining, a review, and a reframing. It will end up looking very much like who we are.

I hope the stories on these pages will entice you to return home to your own memories. Will you be stirred by how your memories have shaped you? Do they help reveal to you how unique you are? How have you chosen to be in life because of your memories? Reflecting on our memories may reveal how we truly belong to ourselves and to one another.

Enjoy the journey,

 Darlene

Mourning Bands On

Mourning Bands On is an accessible journey into the hypersensitive world of today’s American law enforcement. The reader is brought into the law enforcement world through an introduction to the history, function, and development of the American police model. With an understanding of policing’s role in American society, the reader is then immersed into the raucous and contentious cultural upheaval which American policing is currently experiencing.

Using well-known examples, the reader is challenged to consider how American culture is affected by critical incidents and the portrayal of those events in our media intensive world. The reader will review the cases in the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd, as well as others. The cases are presented as a narrative of events supported by the findings and legal conclusions of the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation. Each incident is reviewed with a view of how the incident effected American society and brought change to American culture and thus policing.

The reader will experience how American policing has changed through legislative, societal, and cultural pressure resulting from the reviewed critical incidents. With an appetite for more, the reader is encouraged to further explore the relationship between societal norms and American policing.

The work concludes with a final challenge to the reader. How do we, as a society, reform American policing to move forward after this unprecedented period of cultural change? The author offers several possible reforms to enact, what can you add to the conversation?

Murder and the Fairchild Legacy

When billionaire Houston socialite Richard Fairchild is found dead under suspicious circumstances, his wife Mariah refuses to accept the police verdict of suicide. Desperate for answers, she recruits small-town radio owners Delilah Morgan and Norma Davis to investigate. She offers the struggling entrepreneurs compensation they can’t refuse – $20,000 each, a bailout for their failing station, and an all-expenses paid trip to Mariah’s Hill Country resort.

At first reluctant, Delilah and Norma soon find themselves embroiled in the glitzy Houston elite circles the Fairchilds inhabited. With a list of suspects who had motive to kill Richard, the duo follow a trail of lies, affairs, and shady business deals. The stakes grow ever higher as it becomes clear the Fairchild legacy – and their own lives – are in danger. From Texas hill country horse ranches to slick Houston high-rises, Delilah and Norma uncover adultery, blackmail, rivalry… and murder. But will the radio sleuths solve the mystery before the killer silences them too?

New Horizons

With the coming of the new school year and twice as many, Braidenhurst Academy finds they need to increase their staff. Among them you will meet Miranda and Otter who come from different backgrounds and challenges. Some of the students have their own problems and must adapt to their new environment. A friend returns with a quest to find and rescue children who have been taken by slavers. This will stretch Tam Slickery’s network of informants to the max. The adventure never stops, and you won’t want to miss any of it. Open this book and start reading.

No Borders for Truth

Two disparate souls, a young Iranian woman with a promising nursing career, and an American collegiate athlete seeking a career in the intelligence field, meet by happenstance. Realizing their mutual passion to serve others, the two connect intellectually and romantically, not knowing they are both connected to secrets that will force their worlds to collide and reveal truths unknown to not only both of them, but also the world. 

No Borders for Truth explores love and loss within family and country, and the richness of the great people of the enduring nations of Iran and America. Through the characters of Richard Holmes and Shideh Ghasemi, the reader peers through a window of real people sharing human commonalities despite culture differences, transcending current stereotypes and biased cultural assumptions. 

On a Pilgrimage with Augustine’s Confessions

In his ground-breaking work The Confessions, Augustine of Hippo (AD 343-430), a prominent theologian and philosopher of early Christianity, paved the way for self-disclosure and the art of writing one’s life story. In On a Pilgrimage with Augustine’s Confessions, Dr. Blom delves into Augustine’s role as both protagonist and reflective narrator, portraying him as Christianity’s original existential hero.

Blom draws parallels between Augustine’s journey and that of the wanton prodigal son, viewing Augustine’s address to God as the voice of an ‘everyday man’ struggling to find his way home – a spiritual homecoming. By masterfully weaving together Jungian archetypal psychology, mythology, biblical interpretations, and autobiography, Blom invites the reader to embark on a captivating journey that bridges the gap between Augustine’s musings and meditations from the fifth century and the present day.

On a Pilgrimage with Augustine’s Confessions offers a fresh perspective on a timeless classic, making it an essential read for anyone seeking to explore the depths of the human soul and the enduring relevance of Augustine’s wisdom.

Reflections Before the Blessed Sacrament

Kneeling before Jesus in the tabernacle or being exposed on the altar is a magnificent gift of God. Aware of our sinfulness and the need to draw ever closer to Jesus, who did so much for us, we hope to show Him during these few minutes of prayer how much we love Him. However, being human, and despite our intent to focus on Him and nothing else, we often find our minds wandering or distracted only to suddenly realize we forgot where we were and what we wanted to do.

One way of trying to maintain our attention solely on Jesus is to use a reflection prepared ahead of time in a devotional book. In this humble book you will find a series of reflections, homilies given by the author over the years, to help you to offer yourself more fully every day, and especially when you are in Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist.

Revelations

From 1846 to the present day, the Vatican has maintained quite the same message brought forth from Heaven by different messengers across time and across vast distances and continents. This message echoes the gravest of admonitions and calls mankind to convert and find refuge through the knowledge of the truth, which today threatens the very basis of world peace...

Today, in 2022, the message of La Salette, La Fraudais, Tilly, Fatima, Garabandal, Akita and Medjugorje, and their secrets take a meaning of the greatest importance, as the admonitions brought forth by the Blessed Virgin Mary warn of a cataclysmic global disaster which has now become imminent. The Church’s apprehension of frightening the masses, inspired inaction and Rome’s decision to silence – founded more on fear than on caution – led millions of faithful to the darkness of ignorance and, therefore, to a lack of necessary conversion, prayers and intercession for peace. This book proposes unveiling the light and, thus, asking humanity to respond to the call of a warm and loving mother who merely seeks the salvation of her children.