The Idling Bulldozer and Other Paddling Adventures

What is That Glowing Screen?

Welcome to My Life

Twelve-year-old Victoria thought changing schools would be the hardest part of her year. Moving away from everything familiar was tough enough for someone who sits in the same spot on the bus every day and panics at family gatherings. But when she catches the eye of her crush, her world transforms in ways she never expected.

For a moment, life seems perfect. But middle school can turn on a dime. As Victoria navigates first love, shifting friendships, and mounting anxiety, her carefully ordered world begins to unravel. When darkness threatens to overwhelm her, she’ll need to find strength she never knew she had – and learn that sometimes the bravest thing you can do is ask for help.

A debut novella based on a true story about anxiety, friendship, first love, and finding your voice when it feels like the whole world has gone quiet.

Scare Record

In the 1970s, a comic book ad promised a chilling record: sold alongside Sea Monkeys and a towering “you control it” Monster Ghost. These novelty ads were often more thrilling than the cheap trinkets they sold, and wise parents spared their children the inevitable disappointment.

But this ad was different. Its eerie artwork hinted at something far more sinister, and for $1.25, buyers got more than they bargained for. The mysterious Gayle House, the company behind it, vanished without a trace. Was it just another gimmick, or something cursed?

For 50 years, parents’ skepticism may have saved us. Or did it?

The Right Oath

What will you do for the person you care about most? How about what you’ll be willing to sacrifice to make amends? Gabriel Ern has committed himself to a troubled life all for the sake of one person. What it ultimately leads to is more tragedy than he has already experienced. He finds himself haunted by his own actions, all done with the best intentions, and is continuously haunted while awake with a girl named Raven he lives at home with. Gabriel wants to do what is right; he wants to feel he is doing the best he can. Instead, the sins he commits only pile up, and the only means of escape is through the truth, which would cost him dearly. For Gabriel, the question isn’t how far he will go, it’s now how much further in the hole he will bury himself in.

Something S'More

Meet Gilbert, the fluffiest marshmallow with the biggest dreams! Tired of being squished at the bottom of the bag, Gilbert dreams of becoming ‘something s’more.’ But when he learns what being a s’more really means, his adventure takes a hilarious twist!

Packed with giggles, surprises, and a dollop of marshmallow mischief, Something S’more will warm your heart and tickle your taste buds.

Join Gilbert as he bounces into a world of fun, friendship, and unexpected discoveries!

The Nightingale Sings

On the Greek island of Lesbos, in the seventh century BCE, a young lyric poet hones her craft while navigating the world of love, loss, friendship and sex, after having suffered years of abuse by a member of her father’s household. After a series of attempts at a healthy relationship, all the while struggling with the effects of post-traumatic stress and profound grief, she is forced to leave her home for a faraway land across the sea. There she would make a name for herself as an artist that would spread all across the Mediterranean, continuing her search for love and friendship, and trying to raise her only child in a safe and nurturing environment – until her whole world is suddenly upended.

The Nightingale Sings is an imaginary tale of what might have been in the life of the historical Sappho of Lesbos, whose artistry would lead to her becoming one of the most revered poets of the ancient world, and would still be cherished today – more than two and a half thousand years after her death.

And so, the story begins with a simple celebration.

A birthday party for a nine-year-old girl…

The Clara Conjecture

The Clara Conjecture is a new interpretation of historical facts. In 1938 Germany occupied Austria. Professor Lise Meitner, no longer shielded by her Austrian passport from measures against Jews, was fired. An equal of Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein, she had led the world’s best theoretical physics institute for nearly 30 years. In Berlin she designed the experiment that would split the uranium atom to produce energy. Before it could be executed she fled to Sweden. Without the ability to continue her research, impoverished, fearing for her relatives in the Nazi Reich, she became depressed.

In the tiny community of women scientists in Stockholm she met a psychoanalyst, the Canadian Dr. Leone McGregor Hellstedt (alter ego “Clara”), who rescued Lise with psychotherapy and money. When her German colleagues performed Lise’s experiment, they asked her to explain the result: she did, in terms of Einstein’s E=mc², and called the new phenomenon “nuclear fission” in her article for Nature. Early in 1939 physicists everywhere grasped the menace of nuclear energy. From her former colleagues and students Lise received information about the Nazi atomic bomb program and relayed it to Clara, who then informed Allied spies including William Stephenson (“Intrepid”) of British Security Coordination and Ian Fleming of British Naval Intelligence.

Informed by this detailed knowledge of Nazi atomic bomb initiatives, the Allies were able to efficiently sabotage facilities, kill key personnel, deny resources, and thus cripple the German program that had begun more than two years before the Manhattan Project.

Full of Grace and Mischief

From the moment they meet at a Catholic summer camp in Savannah, Georgia, Mary Margaret and Theresa, polar opposites, become inseparable. Each summer, they embark on wild adventures, exploring waterways, pulling pranks, and challenging boys to daring contests. But one prank too many gets them banned from camp, and the nuns can’t shield them from the real world forever. As tragedy strikes, their friendship is forged in both joy and hardship.

The girls carry their bond to the beaches of Tybee and through the trials of a Catholic high school, where they face bullies, first romances, loss, and heartbreak. As their lives begin to diverge, Mary Margaret and Theresa struggle to hold onto the friendship that once seemed unbreakable. Can they find a way to salvage their connection as they enter the unpredictable world of adulthood?

The first in a generational trilogy, Full of Grace and Mischief vividly captures the coming-of-age experiences of two young women in the Deep South, celebrating their resilience and the enduring strength of friendship.

The Loura Lure – Book 2

Dr. Shamus Bergin and his former patient Erladoch Dunbar have leapt into a time portal hurtling them backwards 20,000 years to Loura, a time and place erased from history. Before the seas rose up to separate Ireland and the British Isles from the rest of Europe, the Kingdoms of Loura thrived in peace.

Much has changed since Erladoch’s departure four years earlier. Enilorac, the Evil King of Treborg has already begun his invasion. He has come looking for the last Angel’s Itavo stone. If found, Enilorac will use it to open the gates of Hell and usher in the end of times.

Having accepted that his parents were descended from the Sacred Order of Keepers, Shamus must find his place amongst this army of part-human, part-angel warriors in their struggle to repel the encroaching darkness. Can this man of science come to terms with a world filled with magic, or will he lose his sanity in the presence of so many emerging voices seeking to direct his Will? These voices, whispers from the past and echoes of future battles, threaten to overwhelm him.

Burdened with so much, the answers he seeks may lie in the hands of a woman he has never met. He doesn’t know her, but her call grows stronger in his mind with every passing danger. With the weight of obligation crushing down on him, he must have faith that his allegiances will hold and that not all paths laid before him will ultimately yield the same destiny.

Conflict & Peace: At Home with Jesus

Those of Christian faith and those without all carry personalized perceptions about Jesus of Nazareth – some form of god and/or man who sojourned briefly on earth 20 centuries ago. Perspectives vary wildly. But few, whether of Christian or non-Christian persuasion, feel comfortable characterizing this Jesus as one who brashly declares that he came not to bring peace on earth… but rather division.

In this book, author Eric Hovee traces a seemingly never-ending Christian dialogue and practice that may espouse peace but often engages in conflict. The author explores this interplay through the lives, beliefs, and practices of 12 pioneers who helped shape Christianity as it has been handed down to us today. We begin with the contrasting perspectives of the four gospel writers – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – and continue with pivotal, yet sometimes conflicted, early church leaders such as Paul, James, Peter, Thomas, and Mary Magdalene. The journey then skips forward three centuries to the Roman Emperor Constantine, who sought to marry church and state, before moving another millennium ahead to Martin Luther, who sought to radically reform it all, and finally circles back to our starting point: Jesus, as the one who intended it all.

How best to experience conflict, and yet find peace? Every day and through every phase of human existence, there is an opportunity for resolution and partnership, in step and at home with Jesus. We seek a Jesus who consistently demonstrates that, just when we think we have the answers, new questions arise. When we feel we’ve run the race, we find we’ve only just begun.

Milo

When Milo, a small mouse from New York City, meets Francesco, a chef at The Tall Skies Restaurant inside the World Trade Center, an unexpected friendship begins to bloom.

Milo is drawn to the bountiful food Francesco leaves behind, making frequent visits to the restaurant. Though he has explored many other places in the city, something always brings him back. More than just the food, it is Francesco’s warm and welcoming nature that makes Milo feel at home.

By day, Milo scurries through the streets of Manhattan, exploring the city and keeping his belly full, all thanks to Francesco. But one fateful day, on September 11, 2001, in downtown Manhattan, Milo’s world changes forever.