The Web

If you think you’re too small to make a difference, you haven’t spent a night with a mosquito.

Mr Solomon had once heard this proverb, but to truly understand it, he had to hear something else: her buzzing.

The relentless sound of a mosquito's wings that mercilessly filled his nights.

Night after night, buzz after buzz, he found himself caught in an unusual battle. Forced to stay awake, he spent his nights chasing the unbearable, high-pitched whistles in the darkness.

She was determined to suck his blood. He refused to surrender.

She did not give up. He did not yield.

Until one night…

Shoes to Kill

Shoes to Kill is about the case of a media mogul found murdered at the home of one of the nation’s leading college basketball coaches during a nationally televised game. It plays on the State’s and South’s obsession with college sports, particularly basketball and football.The protagonist, Detective Hatchell Breeze, seeking retribution for a previously botched and forgotten case involving the university football team, enthusiastically takes on the investigation and an inevitable confrontation with the powerful players of the state university once again.This leads him to prostitution, illegal drugs, errant boosters, big business, university stonewalling, and the prominent men and women of college sports. As he tries to connect the two cases, he is reminded of his own bitter history with the university, forever embedded in his mind as his own life spins out of control.

Possibility Pig and the Roller Skates

Possibility’s birthday gift was a pair of skates

And he put them on with uncontrollable haste

But do you think pigs can skate like you and me?

Who knows? You will just have to wait and see

He skated into the bathroom and down the hall

Past the kitchen and into a wall

So his mom sent him outside to roller skate

Where he would find nothing to break

But was she right or was she wrong?

You can find out if you follow along

Little Bird Park

In this age of artificial intelligence and handheld devices, we can lose touch with the natural world, and yet nature is an essential source of quiet comfort, beauty, and serenity. We can easily fail to hear the charm of a bird’s song or the calmness of a babbling brook. Much can be said for seeking a gentler life. We need look no further than to nature. It is our home.

Connecting with nature can be as spontaneous and simple as a chance encounter with an inquisitive chickadee in a neighborhood park. In this short story, young readers may see themselves in Kevin as he discovers nature’s wonder and the way home.

Missing Beth, Missing Out

Beth and Joni are best friends. But when Joni realizes how much her friend is able to do (and have) that she cannot, Joni becomes angry at the unfairness of it all. In this heart-warming story, Joni and her mother help us navigate through one of life’s most common struggles.

Playlists

Music is something that, especially today, forms the background of our lives. We hear it daily. We feel it weaving the tapestry that we live our lives upon. In this collection of poetry and prose, author E. P. Jordan explores how the music she listened to in certain years of her life impacted the art that she created. As you read this collection, you will go on multiple journeys with the author, and will be invited yourself to examine your life through the lens of the music that has been with you along the way.

So Human

What if a single conversation could change everything you believe about yourself and the world? For Lana, that moment arrives when she encounters a man who is both a profound mystery and a catalyst for a journey she never expected. He opens her eyes to a reality where danger lurks behind every corner and the very nature of their existence is in question.

As Lana is drawn deeper into his world, she is forced to abandon her sense of reality and dive into the depths of the human condition. Their developing bond is a fragile lifeline in a story tangled with risk and uncertainty. It is through their shared journey that Lana begins to learn the invaluable lesson of connection and the transformative power of empathy. So Human is more than a story; it’s a dual narrative of discovery, revealing the quiet, beautiful truths that define us all.

Eyes Shut, Mouth Closed

This is the true story of my two-year journey to escape Vietnam, seven years after the end of the Vietnam War. At just nine years old, I was a naive village boy, knowing little beyond the only home I had ever known. Along with 27 others—including my father and older sister—I set sail on a small, overcrowded fishing boat, embarking on a perilous voyage that would ultimately lead me to America. The journey was marked by immense hardship, uncertainty, and sacrifice.

Our family was torn apart. My mother and two younger siblings remained in Vietnam, separated from us for 15 long years before we were finally reunited. The pain of that separation shaped me in ways I could never have imagined. Though I did not endure it alone, I learned to transform hardship into resilience, using each challenge as a stepping stone toward a better future. Along the way, strangers—some of whom I will never forget—offered help in ways I could never have expected.

My father’s courageous decision to flee with my sister and me was driven by hope—a belief in the promise of greater opportunities and a brighter future. But even after reaching America, our struggles were far from over. We battled language barriers, cultural isolation, and economic hardship, fighting to rebuild our lives from nothing. And after years of longing, we finally pieced our family back together.

I invite you to join me on this journey—a story of perseverance, hope, and the unbreakable human spirit. Through these pages, I seek to honor the voices of the countless Vietnamese "boat people" who perished at sea, never reaching their destination.

In sharing my experiences, I hope to inspire others to keep moving forward, to grow stronger with each challenge, and to uplift those who can no longer speak for themselves. No matter the obstacles, we must press on, turning pain into purpose and hardship into hope.

My Roots, My Self

Clutching a childhood photo to her heart, Jenny asks, ‘Who is the real me?’ before setting off to find the parents who abandoned her. Centuries earlier, Macuya channels the courageous spirit of his father to survive being kidnapped into a hostile world.

Thus begins My Roots, My Self, a gripping historical novel intertwining two epic journeys from 1975 Minnesota to the blood-soaked origins of the Italian Mafia and Spanish Inquisition. A fresh and engaging story about a dual search for self-identity: one character searching back to remove the stains of her crime family, the other striving ahead to forge a family legacy in a racist society.

Jenny’s search starts in Boston, where the FBI detains her after an ill-fated meeting with members of the Anguilo crime family, people of her blood. Threatened but determined, she heads to Sicily and meets a mercurial genealogist who unlocks the secrets of her lineage and her path to freedom.

Macuya, a native of the West Indies, is torn from home and family by Columbus and taken to Spain, where Queen Isabella adopts him as a mascot. Later freed with a baron’s title, he secretly marries Beka, the Jewish love of his life. Together, they move from country to country to escape being burned at the stake.

With six centuries of separation, the reader is plucked from the now and wrenched into the mysteries of the past as both characters struggle forward to find the freedom to honor their true selves.

My Roots, My Self will appeal to fans who were enthralled with the search for faith and home in Scherman’s The Mapmaker’s Daughter, who cherished the journey of self-discovery in Shapiro’s Inheritance and loved the historical intrigue of Cornick’s The Winter Garden.

“I received an advance copy of My Roots, My Self and wow what an emotional ride. Jenny’s struggle to understand where she came from hit me hard; it made me think about my own family stories and what’s been passed down to me. I loved how the book shifted between her story and Macuya’s in 1492. At first, I didn’t see how the two connected, but by the end, it all came together beautifully. This is one of those books that stays with you long after you close it.”

– Abraham Alejandro, Member, Oprah’s Book Club.

“I was lucky enough to get a copy of My Roots, My Self, and I have to say, it’s one of the most unique family sagas I’ve read. I loved the cultural details, the Slovenian pastries, the Taino rituals, the Boston immigrant neighborhoods; they made the story feel alive. Jenny was such a relatable character: restless, a little lost, but determined. And Macuya’s chapters absolutely broke my heart. If you enjoy books about family secrets, ancestry, and identity, this is a must-read.”

– Betty Burgess, What’s the Name of the Book? Book Club.

Barb Wire Bible

Morgan Maguire ranched with her family along the highline between Montana and Canada. She worked with her father providing guide services for hunters and also assisted the Sheriff’s Search and Rescue as a tracker to apprehend criminals and return the lost to their loved ones. This cowgirl spent many years learning to cope with the Irish legacy of ‘second sight’ with the help of her mentor Charlie Many Dreams, a Blackfeet medicine man. Her peaceful world was torn apart when the drug dealer she was tracking shot her longtime friend, who was riding for the Blackfeet Tribal Police. Swearing to find this killer, her quest brings her into the steel and cement canyons of New York to obtain justice. A place as alien as the moon to her.

The Search for Julia Garcia

A college student vanishes. Julia Garcia was last seen at a lakeside cottage on Seneca Lake, where she spent a weekend with friends. The routine police search comes up empty. Desperate, her parents turn to Frank Harris, a New York private detective, who takes the case, even though he doubts he’ll break even.

Harris suspects the police didn’t dig deep enough. But his decision to help isn’t purely professional. Having grown up in the Finger Lakes region, the case draws him back to his family. Yet both the search for Julia and his homecoming prove far more complicated than he anticipated.

As Frank follows Julia’s trail, he faces resistance from potential witnesses, including her new boyfriend and his wealthy family. It takes Frank time to grasp the background of Julia’s disappearance, namely the violent struggle between competing drug cartels. Was Julia abducted by gang members? Is she still alive?

Meanwhile, Frank’s return to his family gets him involved in the marital problems of his older sister for which he is unprepared.

Red Wolf and the Summer Flower

A thousand years ago, two Cherokee teenagers were forced to endure hardship, danger, peril, natural and unnatural disasters, and scorn for simply being teenagers.

They lived in an unforgiving world run by a harsh and dictatorial society but still managed to find meaning in their lives. They found that a good friendship provides strength, and loyalty to one’s friend ensures survival. Then, through a series of unfortunate circumstances, they learned that they had what it takes to be an adult.

This is a story about one short summertime in the lives of a boy called Red Wolf and a girl named Summer Flower.