Death Among the Pines

BJ Gleeson is sitting at a South Jersey bar with his new girlfriend when an old woman totters in and sits down next to them. Crying and mumbling, she opens a small box to show a bloodied severed finger. “It’s my daughter!” she sobs.

Follow Gleeson, a divorced family man and washed up baseball player turned teacher and amateur detective, as this event catapults him into a labyrinth of bizarre murders (which could be historical, gang related, or cult based) in the middle of a cold winter in the New Jersey Pine Barrens at the turn of the 21^st Century.

Watch as this complex and troubled man uses his historical savvy to point toward the solution of several vicious and bloody murders that have all occurred between the dawning of the new millennium and Easter of 2000.

Deseret: A Defense and a Refuge

In this tale, people scattered throughout the world are woven together in the valleys of the Rocky Mountains. Forty years after Napoleon’s defeat, the development of modern warfare on the Crimean Peninsula sends reverberations across the globe, alerting all of the growth in technology, the precursor of the US Civil War in weapons and tactics, as well as the needs of multitudes of dispossessed and underrepresented. The shrinking planet is growing crowded. The bumping into one another becomes increasingly violent. Women and men stand to be counted, molded of numerous talents and abilities, striving for relief and equality, demanding rights and opportunity. Slavery, reservations, women’s suffrage, polygamy, and Manifest Destiny are swirled into the murky vat of the United States. Protesting members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known derisively as Mormons, are challenged over religious freedom. Despite the continued criticism heaped upon them for their unique doctrines, missionary work and its effects spread throughout the nation and the earth.

The 1850s see the homeland of Deseret plowing against Bloody Kansas, Buchannan’s Blunder, Mountain Meadows, the Sevastopol Policy, the Pony Express, and the Transcontinental Telegraph. These ventures combine with similar troubles and shove the nation into the red-hot furnace of civil war.

Destinies

Young, beautiful, and hardworking, Nina Iorizzo discovers her quiet world has been turned on its head after coming in contact with mobster Santangelo Furri. She must find the strength to approach her sudden threat head-on.

Santangelo Furri, the cunning and ruthless soldier-turned-boss overnight, must face new challenges from rival factions while balancing his own “real” family.

Lastly, Tommy Roberts, a successful attorney and proud father, soon discovers that his paternal father is really Santangelo Furri—the head of the mafia.

Each of their own actions creates a domino effect with shattering repercussions.

“Nick Christophers is an exceptional writer. He was the editor of my publication Mob Candy Magazine and proved to be an encyclopedia of knowledge when it came to the mob. Even though this is fictional he has the know-how about the mob to make the story feel like it’s factual.”

• — Frank Di Matteo, Publisher of Mob Candy Magazine

“This was a terrific read. And I am not a reader of books but scripts and I enjoyed this. Nick has the know-how of the mob and was able to produce a fictional story around that world. The ending leaves you wanting to know what happens next.”

• — Sean King, Film director of web stories “Brooklyn Ties”

“Nick knows a hell of a lot about writing and the Mafia. He’s written for my blog, Cosa Nostra News. I couldn’t wait to read Nick’s novel. I am glad I did and so will you.”

• — Ed Scarpo, publisher of Cosa Nostra News

Detective Ray Shields and the Mountain of Trial

Ray Shields isn’t your average private eye. He’s a little more like your traditional gumshoe than most, and in his line of work, being dedicated to the job is a good thing. Laura is his secretary and, as far as Ray is concerned, she is the best one he’s ever had. She’s never late to work, she keeps his affairs in order, and most importantly, she always has the coffee brewing. Then there’s Eddie, Ray’s partner. He’s a dedicated alcoholic with a troubled past, but he doesn’t let that affect his work. Together, the trio make up the Ray Shields Detective Agency, and the only thing separating the R.S.D.A. from the competition is a rusty chain-link fence.

But everything is about to change…

One day, after receiving a mysterious envelope in the mail, Ray, Laura, and Eddie find themselves thrust into the heart of an ancient prophecy that places them all in danger and unravels a secret about Laura that’s long been hidden.

Together, the R.S.D.A., with the help of a few made friends along the way, will face a myriad of mythical monsters, hunt for a magical relic powerful enough to stop a maddened cultist, and traverse the arid Atacama Desert to fight an ancient evil. Saving the world is all in a day’s work for the Ray Shields Detective Agency.

Developing Practical Wisdom

Many people recognize wisdom as an important ideal, but the subject is rarely studied in public education or widely understood outside academia. Drawing from historical and contemporary research in psychology, philosophy, and education, Developing Practical Wisdom describes, in language accessible to any thoughtful reader, how people can intentionally learn to become wiser. The narrative provides a comprehensive set of pedagogical tools, including theories and practices, for developing deeply coherent perspectives on the world and the people in it. It explains how to cultivate coherent thinking and apply moral principles in daily life.

Discover the Matrix

The most dangerous move in business is the failure to see the space between. What's the greatest crisis among Leaders today? According to Harvard Business Review (Apr 2020), leaders are living in crisis with no modern-day precedent. Governments, corporations, hospitals, schools, and other organizations need now, more than ever, are "real leaders" people who "help us overcome the limitations of our own individual laziness and selfishness and weakness and fear and get us to do better, harder things than we can get ourselves to do on our own."

Like most, real leaders are not born; having the ability to help others see the space between is not written into their genetic code. Many leaders are forged in crisis. Prime Minister Winston Churchill encouraged his people to keep the faith: "We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire. Neither the sudden shock of battle, nor the long-drawn trials of vigilance and exertion will wear us down. Give us the tools, and we will finish the job."

This book provides today's leaders with the tools to get the job done; the skills to see the space between. Challenging conventional wisdom, self-imposed limitations, and abstract obstacles, global business coach and leading keynote speaker Angela Cusack dares you to Discover the Matrix.

Don Harris Oben: In Search of a Future

This book chronicles the captivating journey of Don, who as a young boy used to listen with rapt attention to the fascinating stories his father told about his travels in colonial Nigeria. These tales invoke in little Don a burning desire to one day undertake his own voyage of discovery, to broaden his horizons beyond the familiar.

So Don sets out into the unknown at the tender age of 14, quickly realizing that expanding one’s worldview is no one-time event. Rather, it is a lifelong process full of twists, turns, and unexpected revelations about places, peoples, and even himself. As Don navigates a complex and often bewildering world, we walk alongside him through monumental challenges, missed opportunities and connections made.

With a wife and five third-culture kids in tow, Don’s pursuit to continually push boundaries and search for a brighter future proves as epic and demanding as that of history’s great exploratory figures. His tireless voyage makes us reflect on what it means to have an inquisitive mind, confront hardship, and leave behind footprints that point others to higher horizons long after we are gone.

Doodle and Doggo go to the Moon

Traveling to the moon is a monumental challenge. Doodle knows he will need a crew ready for the task. Will Doggo come along for the ride? Who else will he bring on this epic voyage? What will they discover about this faraway place that occupies the night sky? Will Doodles illustrations and imagination rocket him and his team into space and be back in time for dinner? Join Doodle and Doggo on an adventure they won’t soon forget!

Doodle Town

Doodles stream freely through the act of a dream and all form of creativity will arise along the path. This is the way of creative abandon. This is where the joy becomes magic, roaming free to build that joy into form. And this is where wishes can appear in tandem with the dreams.

Doodle Town arises this way when a small, irritated boy falls to sleep after failing to find the gift of joy through sketches made from a pen. But as he falls asleep, his wishes take shape in magical ways that delight us all. Whimsy takes its form and dreams just come to be.

It would seem that as frustration pulls up all the stops, where following our dreams will often bring in success. Life will bustle with wonder, color, and vibrant form as frustrations fades away.

Here in Doodle, that’s the way things go. Magic hinges on mental abandon.

So, journey along through your dreams and you’ll surely find your way.

Double Star

This story is set in Germany at the start of the First World War and follows Klaus, a quiet astronomer of Jewish background, who spends his time with a telescope in an observatory on the edge of town. There he meets an independent young woman from a well-to-do background whose desire for a career of her own leads her to work on the laboratory’s microscope.

Their different backgrounds clash even as the world is changing around them. Ulla is forced to keep her work secret from her socially ambitious mother to whom status and the old ways are prized above all. Her father encourages Ulla to help him in his quest to find a cure for a deadly disease. However, he has a secret of his own which also threatens the stability of their family.

As their relationship grows and Ulla and Klaus share their scientific discoveries, unforeseen events force them to make choices which will have far-reaching consequences for both them and their families.

Dream in a Suitcase

Dream in a Suitcase unravels a fast-paced journey of survival, resilience, and the power of love. It is the first English language memoir of a female Romanian-American survivor of the worst communist dictatorship behind the Iron Curtain.

The story offers a rich multicultural mosaic of a life divided not only between two cultures and languages, that of the heroine’s native Romania and her adoptive US but also between Chicago's urban culture and that of a small town in Virginia marked by a heavy confederate history. This book is deeply relevant for our times as it offers an opportunity for American-born audiences to develop a deeper understanding for all those who arrived in this country as refugees in search of freedom, peace, and different versions of the American Dream.

Endorsements:

“An extraordinary memoir of fortitude and freedom, a narrative that is vibrant and lyrical. Radulescu takes us from Romania's dark dictatorial past to the world of literature and beauty, back to the landscapes of her beloved native country, then to her new home in America, and always to the geography of the earth. This is an extraordinary read and a covenant to the power of truth and words.”

Marjorie Agosin, award-winning author of I Lived on Butterfly Hill.

“Domnica Radulescu is a courageous writer. Dream in a Suitcase, like her other novels, is a breathless read.”

Andrei Codrescu, NPR commentator, award-winning poet, and filmmaker.

Dream the Green

Every night five brightly colored sheep called Red, Blue, Green, Yellow and Pink help Ruby fall asleep.

But tonight, it seems Green is in trouble, and it is Ruby’s turn to help them this time. Green is fading away, and only Ruby has the key to saving Green!

The sheep and with the help of hidden forces reveal to Ruby the secret and everything she needs to save Green.