Trouble Rumbles at Dawn

Welcome to the tranquil yet precarious town of Indigo Flats, nestled in the vast expanse of west Texas. Its peaceful façade shatters when a prominent businessman is brutally murdered, unearthing a cache of guns and drugs that send shockwaves through the region, putting the feared Mexican Ortega Cartel on high alert. However, the stakes intensify exponentially when a second murder rocks the town—a member of the cartel’s own family falls victim, igniting a relentless race against time for determined Detective Sharon Case.

With the relentless cartel crossing the border into Indigo Flats, Detective Case finds herself thrust into a perilous battle on multiple fronts. She must navigate the treacherous landscape of solving the murders while combating the vicious intruders and scrambling to safeguard her own family. As the clock ticks relentlessly, the line between right and wrong blurs, forcing Detective Case to make harrowing choices to uphold justice and protect all that she holds dear.

Tubby Tilda Tooth Fairy

She is not your average girl fairy. She is an ill-tempered, funny, and red-headed young feminist. If you keep an eye open, she will try to get you to fall asleep. She is not good at waiting, so you better not be awake when she comes around.

Tulip for Tebeau

Pioneers and their schools have long had a mutually beneficial bond. This symbiosis was eloquently articulated by a Duke University resident, Broadbent, at the dedication ceremony for the Samuel DuBose Cook Center for Social Equity: “You have led a remarkable life and we are today annexing your name to the fame of this school. Some might say we are honoring you by naming the Center after you, but everyone knows the truth - we are honoring ourselves and this Center by appropriating your enduring legacy.”

Cook, a distinguished political scientist, made history in 1966 as the first Black professor to receive tenure at a predominantly White southern university in the United States. By affiliating themselves with his pioneering work, schools like Duke aim to share in the honor and social capital of civil rights icons. Yet as Broadbent suggests, the true beneficiaries of such naming opportunities are arguably the institutions themselves.

Tusk

This story opens with the unfolding tragedy of a young woman coming to Alaska in 1957. Her life is marked with the birth of three children from three separate men - one who is her husband, one who takes her by force, and a third who becomes her common law husband in the wild north. In such a short period of time, Ella G dies a tragic death, but her children become the protagonists of the emerging story. Their characters are developed separately, and through their outrageous Alaskan trials, they ultimately meet at the 25th anniversary of their mother’s death at a graveyard in Anchorage.

This book centers on the gold in the Alaskan hills, its mining and claim jumping, the rivalry between the antagonist (McKenzie) and the protagonist (Cayote) resulting in substantial violence – multiple gunfights, fist fights, arson, car crashes, and so forth. Ultimately, the protagonist loses his life in a plane crash exploring the mystery of the book (which will not be revealed here). The children have, however, gone their own way – RT becoming a politician, Bethra a criminal defense attorney, and Ernie a gold and ivory smuggler. They find a huge cache of gold in the midst of this adventure which is lost, stolen, found, and relocated, and in the middle of this they come upon a cache of woolly mammoth tusks. The remainder of this story concerns itself with smuggling these tusks out of Alaska to exchange them for weapons. While the vulgar culture, the street violence, and the crass relationships are the center of the story, the tusk found in the wild is the thing upon which it all centers.

Twelve Days of Christmas Stories

Each year, Christmas is advertised as a wonderful time for children. I know it was for me as I was growing up, but, at some point, the magic seemed to wear off. I didn't want it to, but there it was. As I grew older, this one thought stayed in my mind and just got stronger the closer it got to each and every Christmas. What kind of stories could I write that would keep young people and adults excited about Christmas? Sure, there were stories for children that demonstrated the magic of Santa, but what about the rest of us? Should we have to give up the joy of Christmas just because we are too "old" for it? Early on, I tried to figure out what kinds of stories would be appropriate for the 18 and above crowd. Through trial and error, the stories included in Twelve Days of Christmas Stories finally met my criteria. These stories could just as easily be real life for those invested in finding and enjoying the Christmas spirit.

To add to the fun, the dialogue in each story is such that it could be read as a play, with characters that come alive as the reader shares each story with his or her own family. Mama's Night Out is one of those stories that has many voices. There is a private eye, a lady in red, some elves, and many more surprises. I hope you enjoy reading all twelve stories to your family and friends this Christmas season and beyond.

Two Arms and Ten Fingers

The fifth-century philosopher Plato was a beloved student of the great philosopher Socrates. In his Allegory of the Cave, Plato reasoned that one is presented with an incredibly distorted view of reality until released from deception by being placed in a clear-eyed position to see absolute truth.

As our lives unfold and present us with various issues requiring decisions, our character matters. Yet, sometimes people choose deceit rather than sound, principled reasoning, and the truth of their deception is never discovered.

In Two Arms and Ten Fingers, three well-respected professionals choose to create a distorted view of reality for their personal gain, only to experience the consequences of their actions. The truth, most times, has a strange habit of coming to light; however, “deceit can be beautiful – just depends on who benefits.”

In Two Arms and Ten Fingers, a doctor, a mortician, and a lawyer make life-changing decisions and share the consequences. Follow their journey from darkness to possible enlightenment.

Tyler Goes to School

Tyler faces the first-day jitters with more on his mind than most. His wheelchair sets him apart in a world of footsteps.

But as the school doors loom ahead, will Tyler let his nerves steer his day, or can his boundless imagination propel him toward an unexpected journey?

Join Tyler as he navigates the hallways and hearts of his new school, discovering that the wheels of courage and creativity can roll over any obstacle.

Undertow

Red grows up in the rarefied world of a privileged Manhattan childhood: a world of uniformed doormen, private schools, and elegant townhouses. This is also the world of the 1960s, when societal conflicts are disrupting previously accepted patterns of American life.

As author John F. Reinus reveals through richly detailed observation, there’s a powerful current beneath the surface, and the presumed advantages of his birthright come at a heavy cost, one that is amplified by the sorrow of an unacknowledged love.

The author weaves a tapestry of minute details, as seen in Red’s journey from childhood to adulthood, inviting us to compare what’s on the surface of our own lives to the hidden forces that shape us.

Unraveling Taboo: Love's Unexpected Pathways

In a world where sexuality, love, greed, and money take on new meanings, and death lurks around every corner, a captivating story unfolds. Father, a sophisticated and wealthy 60-year-old man, and his 34-year-old son both find themselves enamored with a stunning 27-year-old single woman. Initially, she becomes the lover of the father, a known adventurer with a penchant for beautiful, young women. However, when she meets his son, she falls deeply in love and marries him, perhaps driven by financial motives.

The tycoon, her ex-lover and now father-in-law, cannot and will not relinquish his love for her. He insists on continuing their intimate relationship, even resorting to pressure and ultimatums when she objects. Despite the husband’s suspicions, it is the wife herself who reveals the shocking truth: she has been regularly sleeping with his father, both before and after their marriage.

A war erupts between the three, as life teaches us to smile through the tears. Who do you think will be the first to die? Or is the human being simply a poor customer of life? Life on earth is a journey filled with people we encounter in all seasons. Some accompany us, while others remain behind. Those who stay with us will witness our happiness, smiles, sadness, and ultimately, our death. In a world that is absurd, full of wonders, and where death is ever-present, life is riddled with disappointment. We always need that breath of air to outlet our emotions, to breathe heavily and calm ourselves down.

‘There is no such thing as one hundred percent security in this life; there are always unforeseen events. Living is an art, and dying is an art as well.’

Venus - A Point of Expression

The monsoon rains come to our desert in the summer, when the temperature is highest. The winds shift to the SE, bringing moisture from both the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf of California. The rains come as huge, black, thunder storms over the mountains, driven by vivid lightning and high winds. It also provides a magical drop in temperature. The magnificent odor of the desert after a rain is a rich, organic experience.

After the storm I sit on my patio, in the cool fall of night – watching the shadows changing on the mountains as the sun declines. Recently, after such a storm, the sun is dying in various shades of ocher and vermillion… The crescent moon rises, and the planet Venus soon follows. Venus is a bright diamond in the now black sky. I write in my notebook: Venus is a Bright Point of Expression in the Sky. Thus, a poem is born.

Victims and Perpetrators

Dive into the mischievous world of Victims and Perpetrators: Light Verse Judgement on the Criminally Inclined, where the lines between lawbreakers and law enforcers blur in the most whimsical ways. Through the masterful pen of John Gentry, a humorist poet with a penchant for the peculiar, this collection of poems invites readers on a rollicking journey through the underbelly of society, all from the safety of their armchairs.

From the tale of Felony Fred, whose criminal escapades are as endearing as they are egregious, to the saga of a hapless diner in Hard Rock, Idaho, Gentry crafts a universe where crime does indeed pay – in laughter and wit. Each poem is a vignette, a snapshot of life on the other side of the law, told with a twinkle in the eye and a tip of the hat to the absurd.

So, whether you’re a seasoned criminal mastermind looking to take a break from your nefarious activities, or a law-abiding citizen with a love for the lyrical, Victims and Perpetrators offers something for everyone. It’s a reminder that, in the end, we’re all just characters in the grand, ridiculous story of life – some of us just have better alibis than others.

Vivian Porcupine

Do you ever wish you had brown hair instead of blond, blue eyes instead of green, or were shorter instead of taller?

Vivian thought she wanted to change something about herself, so she gave her quills to all of her friends. They were all very creative when they put them to use. Some used them for a favorite hobby, some were used in sports, some for cleaning and gardening and others used them for their favorite pastime.

It made Vivian happy that her friends could use the quills, but she also had to make herself feel happy. She changed back to the Vivian that she loved and was most comfortable. She even looked like a porcupine again!