All Told

Imagine being an “other woman”, and then finding out that you’re not the only one. There have been many other women, before you and even standing alongside you right now. Jack learned early that one is never enough. Each chapter tells the experience of someone affected by Jack’s trysts. Some of the women are married, some single, some divorced. The ages vary as Jack grows older. Then the reach goes further, to the ripple effect of hurt caused by infidelity. There is an adult son Jack never knew he fathered. There’s also a bartender on the cusp of meeting the woman of his dreams, only to have Jack whisk her away by saying just the right thing. And there is a doctor who is shocked by Jack’s abandonment of her patient, one of the ‘other women’ with breast cancer. There are the first two wives, who run into each other thirty years after the first was replaced by the second. And there is the third wife, who is still married to Jack. Jack’s mother also speaks, at the beginning and the end. All Told tells more than the story of infidelity. It goes beyond the typical triangle of husband, wife, and lover. As the stories grow and involvements become more interconnected and convoluted, the question of who is cheating on who and why becomes more difficult to answer. Each chapter reveals another secret. But every secret has two sides, and in some cases, even more than that.

Barefoot Boarders - Book 1

Behold a Pale Horse

“And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him” (Revelations 6:8, KJV). One man would blaze such a path of death and destruction across the western frontier that he would be forever associated with this passage. Disowned by his family, betrayed by his commanding officer, and framed for atrocities he did not commit, he was branded a murderer and a traitor. Living life on the run and forced to kill those who would take his freedom and his life, he nevertheless fought to defend, and sometimes avenge, those who could not do so themselves. Labelled a monster by most, he was considered a hero by some. In time his name would be lost to history, but he would live on in legend, known only as the Pale Rider. This is how his story begins.

Christmas Witch, The Gift of the Angels

Jessica Winters is an awkward teen. She always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and bad things happen. Bullied by other kids for her appearance, she clings to the few friends she has. Nick Claus has always been protective of Jessica. Since she arrived on campus and Nick’s archenemy started to pick on her, Nick had her back. There was something else that tied these two together. They quickly discovered the reason they were at Breyerton Academy together may be more than just a coincidence. When evil arrives at the school, the truth is revealed. Forget everything you think you know about Santa Claus; this changes everything.

Coal Valley Silk

Coal Valley Silk is based on true events characterizing a young boy growing up in the productive coal-mining town of Coal Valley, Alabama. He bares for a lifetime the undue reproach for his family’s biased and schismatic genealogy, and also imparts the means by which the brilliant youngster works out his own salvation through agonizing years following life’s poisonous inflections. Historical facts confirm the mining town Coal Valley’s bye-gone era that now is oblivious to present day generations.

Corridors of Time

44-year-old Harmonie Blake visits her mother only to discover her dead. Distraught at the loss of her only remaining family member, she begins the arduous task of sorting out her mother’s affairs and coping with her grief. The more she digs into her mother’s tumultuous past, the more she realizes how little her mother shared. She follows one clue and traces her mother’s life when she served in the British Army in the London Theatre of War. Through Harmonie’s narrative, the story turns to the war-torn streets of London. There, Helen’s relationships change her life. Would her sense of independence and courage be enough for her to survive failed romances, danger, and death—and Helen’s attempts to shed her Cockney roots and family secrets for a better life? Can Harmonie connect to the real spirit of her mother—and will she find peace in finally letting go of a woman she has only just begun to understand?

Digital

Two hackers are involved in cyberattacks in two different geographical locations. Shaun Wilson, an FBI agent, has his work cut out for him. He has been recently assigned to the Cyber Crime Unit, only to find out that he is a victim with no privacy at home; especially when he shares his intimate moments with his lovely wife, Carol. Enrique Hernandez, who lives in New York City and hacks for monetary gain, finds himself in the home of Shaun Wilson, among other things. Mark Sandler, who lives in Miami, slows down, intercepts, manipulates, interrupts, or shuts down PCs, laptops, tablets, and smartphones, just to cause mayhem. Meanwhile, Xeron’s location is unknown. Although he runs an underground operation, he sells everything unimaginable from firearms to drugs laced with fentanyl, bringing in well over $2 million a month. Agent Shaun Wilson must follow departmental guidelines and protocol without violating anyone’s constitutional rights. Time isn’t on his side and, before it’s over, the law may not be on his side either. Simply put, he must work fast. His job will never be over until he brings the evildoers to justice. The cat and mouse games seem to never end. Agent Shaun Wilson discovers that he is not in a battle, but at war: in Cyberspace.

Eximius

Kidnapped OR Rescued Opportunity OR Trap Lies OR Truth Love OR Lust Stay OR Go Victoria’s captives refused to talk face to face and only communicated with a grey notebook passed through the wall. She was treated better than she had been her entire life, and Victoria needed that more than anyone could know. Would she be able to trust enough to take this opportunity and continue this lavish life or chose to leave it all behind, keeping her sanity and self-worth intact? Fighting melancholy, Sabastian needed something new and becoming a part-owner of the lucrative company that is Eximius, was his way out of his stupor. However, the ethereal creature that was Victoria, completely stumped him as she continues to break his unwavering self-control. If he cannot get through this simple task, he would lose everything, but that may be a sacrifice he is willing to make, to be able to keep Victoria for himself. Sabastian finds himself falling in love, in a place where love is forbidden. Will she be the key to a better life or would she be the cause of Sabastian’s downfall? Or will the decision be taken away from him indefinitely?

Finding the Bones

Finding the Bones is a dark romance set against the youth rebellion and revolutionary violence of the 1910s—an era not unlike 1960s’ America—where idealistic young men and women seek to create a more just society but often fall victim to retribution or disillusionment. Charlie Everett, a journalist on the make, and Olivia St. James, an ardent feminist and journalist in her own right, find themselves caught in a deadly embrace from which neither can escape. “A fine, sophisticated historical novel from author Avery Russell in which she draws from her family history, especially the life of her journalist father who is Charlie Everett in the novel; her father’s first wife portrayed as Olivia St. James; and their mutual friend Maurice Hadley, in real life the early abstract painter Marsden Hartley. Russell’s omniscient narrator moves deftly among her substantial cast of characters, showing us the lives of bohemians and expatriates of pre-World War I and beyond. If there is any symbol of the partially thwarted lives that the central characters endure, it is in Hartley’s poem ‘Finding the Bones,’ which provides the title for the book, where the bones of a dead bird are found with its wings still on and its feathers attached, the last vestiges of a life and an ardor Charlie himself experienced among the bones he hid from everyone. ‘Fixed were the wings,’ Hartley wrote; now they are stiffened, and life has moved on to a ‘fresh history of stifled things.’” — Townsend Ludington, author of Marsden Hartley: The Biography of an American Artist (1992) and Seeking the Spiritual: The Paintings of Marsden Hartley (1998); Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English and American Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

First Active Shooter

Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, life doesn’t go the way we want. We either roll with the punches or go down and never get up. At a young age, Miles had his future all planned out. So when his life started to spin out of control, he accepted the inevitable and kept his eye on his dream. The one constant in his life was the truth. Miles would never lie. Helping those in need and living honestly were values ingrained in him by his late father. But when life and death decisions have to be made, only the smart and strong survive. Like a cornered animal, Miles fights fiercely for his loved ones and their future. In a dramatic turn of events, Miles reluctantly becomes implicated in the First Active Shooter.

Footsteps on Other Shores

Take a series of journeys to other worlds: some close in space and time, others so far removed that they may not be in the same universe. Habitat: What happens when two old friends fight over ways to save people on Earth from the effects of global warming by creating habitats in space? When the two men, now rivals, must work together to save their respective projects, can they put aside their differences? Dragon Redux: How did dragons appear on Earth? Will they be our friends? Or will humans just be food? Castle Erehwon: in which a young prince comes of age and must confront his destiny by going through the Door, leaving behind a family in crisis. Will he go alone? Where will he end up? Prism of Lost Leng: When a man comes back to his fiancé after years of travel with no communication, what did he find? Does it have anything to do with the outré sculptures she has been producing?

For This I am Grateful

I remember going home to an empty house to try to digest my doctor's news, "You have vascular dementia." I thought to myself, I'm only 55 and I'm already a widow, the worst thing that could ever happen to me. But during my career working in Dementia Care, my co-workers and I had always felt that getting any type of dementia diagnosis would be the worst news a person could receive. Having witnessed the progression in so many people, I knew being a widow was nothing compared to what I was going to have to face. I soon discovered those past experiences would, in fact, help me forge through the coming losses.The diagnosis itself was not the worst of it, finding no help or resources was. I had to try to figure out 'what's next' on my own. I got my affairs in order, and came to terms with the fact that my career and the life I had known both were gone. I gave up my home, my car, my ability to drive, my hopes, and my dreams. Yet a stubborn streak remained in me. I decided, 'I'm not done yet,' and made it my new motto. Then I set out to find help, to find my new self. My search led me to Dementia Alliance International. At DAI, I found hope and purpose; this was life-changing and life-saving. I stepped onto a path of a whole new understanding of dementia, advocating, speaking engagements, and learning that life can be beautiful, even with dementia.