Humanity in Trouble and Our Failure to Act

Mankind is on a crash course with destiny and doesn’t seem to have a clue! We are witnessing rapidly accelerating global warming of our own making that could potentially result in species extinctions, including our own. Witness widespread signs of the impending disaster including super storms, record drought, floods, forest fires and climate refugees. Dangerous nuclear saber rattling by Russia and North Korea is on the upswing and the Russian invasion of Ukraine threatens to expand to Western Europe. The increasing number of fascist, autocratic, dictator-run states such as China, North Korea, Turkey, and Brazil are snuffing individual freedoms, denying social justice and fanning the flames of global conflict.  The world’s population is rapidly approaching eight billion and is well past the point of Earth’s ability to sustain us. Crushing poverty, starvation, and dozens of militarized religious and ethnic conflicts. We have polluted our planet with toxic chemicals, oil spills, reckless dumping of trash on land and sea, contaminating the oceans with fish and fowl killing plastic waste.

This book is the result of overwhelming outrage and disappointment with our species, our failure to adequately address worldwide problems that threaten our very existence. We (if there is a ‘we’) should be embarrassed and ashamed. Nature has endowed us with near perfect bodies and amazing brains and for the most part we squander our evolutionary inheritance. And the greatest gift of all, consciousness, is under-developed in most of us. In this collection of essays, the author offers insights into the human condition, the reasons we have run afoul of the natural order, along solutions to alleviate human suffering on an individual and global scale plus some playful jabs at our human folly.

Christina’s War

Growing up on a poor farm in Missouri and learning how to sing opera from her war-scarred father, young Christina Cross has no idea the powerful forces of good and evil, of music and war, will one day pull her into the maelstrom of the Second World War, compelling her to make life-or-death-decisions about who she is fighting for and the price she is willing to pay.

Like a masterful opera, Christina’s War deftly transports the reader to early 1940s Paris where Christina and her sister, Nicollet, are sent by their father to live a better life with their Grandfather, Philippe Pétain. Philippe, eager to please the Nazi regime, envisions Christina’s exquisite voice as a means to entertain Hitler and his officers. Yet, unbeknownst to him, Christina’s heart belongs not just to music but to Laurent Gauvion Saint-Cyr, the charismatic leader of the French Underground who had recruited her into the resistance.

When she defiantly refuses to sing, setting Hitler’s fury aflame, Nicollet becomes a pawn in a dangerous game of power and retribution. Now, Laurent must not only fight for their country’s freedom but race against time to save the two sisters from the clutches of a malevolent Nazi officer who revels in torture.

Tamara’s Gift

Tamara’s Gift, the enthralling sequel to Kennedy’s Ghosts, unfolds six decades later, tracing the extraordinary journey of a baby girl left at an orphanage doorstep, humorously claimed by the matron to be delivered by a ‘stork.’ This whimsical tale harbors a grain of truth as this enigmatic girl blossoms into a formidable force of modern times, spearheading a revolutionary paradigm of A.I. interfacing technology and beyond. But who is she? Possessing an intellect that’s off the charts and a mysterious celestial connection, could she be a harbinger of more global unrest or the key to long-awaited peace?

As the saga unfolds, weaving in characters and descendants from the first book, it challenges our notions of humanity’s place in the cosmic tapestry. From America to China and back, Tamara’s odyssey unfolds towards a sinister, yet enigmatic climax, seemingly guided by higher beings striving to steer humanity away from a precipice of annihilation. The uncovering of her genetic lineage unsettles the geopolitical balance, igniting a tussle between the forces of darkness and light.

Dancing with the Devil

In a desolate stretch of highway on the southwest side of Chicago, a young blonde woman known only as ‘Mary’ has been haunting the living for decades. From police officers to cab drivers, and from airline pilots to curious teens, many have reported chilling encounters with her. But there’s a twist: Mary has been dead and buried since 1936. Why does her restless spirit persist in making such frequent appearances even nearly a century later? Trapped in a web of dangerous political intrigue in life, what is it that Mary so desperately seeks in the afterlife? Why can’t she find eternal peace? As the sightings continue to unfold, this gripping tale unravels the mystery behind Mary’s ceaseless wanderings on this lonely, otherworldly expanse of Chicago roadway.

Sun-Kissed Mountains of Home

Heiress Miranda Howarth-Dunn longs for the things money can’t buy. Orphaned and raised by servants, Miranda seeks comfort and companionship at a riding academy. Inspired by her friend whose disabled brother wished to ride, Miranda envisions creating an equine therapeutic program that gives patients and their families opportunities to ride together. All she needs is a genuine cattle ranch to make her dreams come true.

Ethan Baldwin, a fourth-generation of throw-back cowboys, values doing things the old way. He finds his family ranch and land of his ancestors, under constant threat. The unpredictable nature of the cattle industry tests the financial stability of all the ranches surrounding the small community of Rambletap Springs, MO, including the Baldwin’s ranch, Alma Soñada. Though it could secure the finances, the last thing Ethan wants is for his parents to bring tourists to the ranch for some riding program.

Sun-Kissed Mountains of Home brings together two adversaries who, despite their opposite goals and different backgrounds, find mutual understanding as they work together around horses. Learning to communicate using animals as an example, Miranda and Ethan travel on parallel paths seeking a way to bridge the gap created by their differences. Forced into a dangerous situation, they rely on their spiritual connections to the energies around them to cope. Can the ghosts of legends and lore with whom Miranda and Ethan feel a connection be their common ground? Will they discover they might be kindred spirits after all?

Time to Spread Wings

The heroes of this magic book were born special: fate gave them wings. And, like any gift from above, these wings determined the destiny of the four friends forever – to be the first to help people in trouble. The heroes act as a team of desperate rescuers, ready for anything and risking their lives for others. Time to Spread Wings is the first book in a trilogy. A stormy whirlwind of events brings the main character Gela either to the high-mountainous Pamir or to the tropical Dominican Republic. She will have to believe in herself, find true friends and go through the difficult path to fight evil.

The fabulous trilogy of adventures of Gela and her friends is an attempt by the young author Gala Dominic to remind the world of the most important things for every person: courage and bravery, friendship and mutualism, kindness, and bright goals. Each of the three books written in the fantasy genre reflects the true values of real people, as it to a great extent resonates with events from the writer’s life.

Below

Drawing inspiration from a chilling, real-life enigma of an airline crash in the Gulf of Mexico, this thriller plunges deep into the heart of the southern U.S.

What dark secrets did the passenger on the ill-fated flight harbor, and what unspeakable terror was he transporting?

Dive into a tale where every twist beckons a haunting question, pulling you deeper into the mystery.

An Irishman’s Story of Survival

Every life is a tapestry of challenges, with resilience as its weft and weave. Amidst the torrent of trials that threaten to engulf one’s spirit, there stand the unyielding souls who, with a spark of defiance in their eyes, dare to face the tempest and emerge on the other side. They are the survivors, the dauntless hearts who tread the rocky path with an unwavering resolve.

Kevin O’Donnell is a beacon of such indomitable spirit, grappling with life’s relentless waves that seek to subdue him. In the turbulent era of mid-20th century, the world could be a harsh, unforgiving place for a young Irish lad. Yet, within Kevin lies a burning desire to carve out his niche, to transcend the barriers that life hurls his way and grasp the reins of a fulfilling existence.

Can his resolute will and earnest endeavor outshine the adversities that loom? Can he navigate the maelstrom and anchor himself to the shores of a prosperous life? Traverse the chapters of his journey within these pages, and unveil the saga of a young man’s undying spirit amidst the trials of time. Through Kevin’s eyes, explore a testament to the enduring human spirit that resonates with every beating heart that refuses to yield to life’s storms.

House Ravenin - The Folded Path

The world is always changing, each step uncertain as the old ways and the new collide in a struggle for supremacy. Yet even the most well-paced paths sometimes turn in odd directions, the rumble of discontent along the western border leading to bloody clashes against the advancing world slowly encroaching upon the once open wilds.

As Crissone lies in flames and the tenuous peace between elven and human people threatens to collapse, the slaves taken in from the attack and sold to the estates are not what they seem to be.

It is here beneath the roof of House Ravenin that the lives of all hang in the balance, the arcing destinies of singular lives quietly merging together to decide the fate of an unsuspecting people. Each has their own part to play out, the Folded Path watchful upon all who grace its stones.

As poisonous secrets are revealed and true natures rise to the surface, careful hands begin to unravel a deadly mystery in hopes of staving off a greater, more sinister threat.

Irrevocable Acts

After spending a day at the Oregon zoo with 5-year old Gracie, Anna Sanders reaches a decision: she will risk anything and everything to give her daughter and her granddaughter the chance of a livable future.

But first she has to come to terms with her past. She reaches out to two childhood friends who she was in college with: Mac, a hard-drinking, pot-smoking professor of physics and climatology in Wisconsin, and Danny, an introverted college dropout working as a landscaper in Arizona. She asks to set up a meeting with them, and while both men fear such a reunion will wake the sleeping dragons of their collective history, old loyalties, and old fears, propel them forward.

In a desert house in Four Corners, New Mexico, the three come together for the first time in nineteen years. There, they reconnect, open old wounds and reveal deep secrets that shaped their pasts and will transform their futures in ways none of them could have imagined.

Gen. Park Chung-Hee and South Korea’s Han River Miracle

Gen. Park Chung-Hee was born to a poor family in rural Korea when Japan ruled the nation as a colony. After teaching at a rural elementary school for three years, he studied at three different military academies to become an army officer in the liberated Korea. Although he encountered a career-threatening crisis right before the outbreak of the Korean War, he returned to the service and served many key staff positions during the war and important command positions after the war with devoted professionalism. When the nation drifted rudderless in the 1960s, he led the military revolution as the last resort. Hence forth he headed the government that was steadfastly focused on rebuilding the nation. His administration laid the extensive, future-oriented foundation for the nation’s industrial development and advanced defense capability. Gen. Park lived his life aligned with, to the letter, his personal motto: ‘My Whole Life to Fatherland.’

Into the Attic Darkly

Tom and Eddie are two young brothers, sons of Dan and Ellen Biggs – a high-powered attorney and his socialite wife – who head a dysfunctional family cobbled together by deceit and a thirst for success. Dulcie is their nanny, a young woman hired to take charge of the two boys, especially Eddie whose behavior is unpredictable at best.

After Eddie is sent away following an exceptionally violent outburst, Ellen falls desperately ill, prompting Dulcie to move into the house at Dan’s request. The two begin a torrid affair, but when Dan turns up dead, Tom is arrested for the murder after he is seen hiding evidence.

Refusing to finger who he believes is the real killer, Tom is brought to trial. But as the drama unfolds, the identity of the murderer becomes increasingly unclear, even to Tom who is left to fear for his own life. It is in the attic where all scores are settled, and so is the killer’s identity… once and for all.