Somewhere April Is Singing

There are fourteen new stories in this collection. The characters don’t repeat. Each story is singular and unique. The author has endeavored to portray the characters as people you would meet and know in any typical Southern town.

The Reckoning is about a man who drowned in somewhat questionable circumstances. He was not a nice man! Two individuals could possibly have done this. At the time of the death, they didn’t know each other. Now they have become close friends. And they have discussed the circumstances of his death.

A Rose by Any Other Name is about a brilliant young woman who designs a business plan. To establish this business, she selects a man who is aptly qualified, but he’s also married. She designs a romantic weekend to recruit him and happens to fall in love with him. The wife is there for that holiday trip, but that doesn’t dissuade the sweet, clever Rose from executing her plan.

Somewhere April Is Singing about Fred Arnold, a retired military veteran who locates a high school sweetheart he hasn’t seen in more than thirty years. Her name is April, and he’s been in love with her all those years. They only had a short time together, and he discovers too late that she loved him also.

Pride Goeth Before a Fall portrays Harry Fitzgerald, a man who is handsome, accomplished, and prideful. He’s also a reckless womanizer who mistreats women. When he’s dumped by his wife and asks for an explanation, he’s quoted a verse from the Bible: Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goeth before a fall.”

There are ten more of these stories in this collection, including one of the author’s favorites, written in memory of a childhood friend who was more than courageous: Take A Walk with Sidney.

Fate's Fate

In a city wounded by a supernatural event lives a forgotten child who was born without a heart. He does not sleep. And he has no need to eat or breathe, a condition shared by everyone who also sustained his loss.

Visions overshadow and illuminate his path, a labyrinthine journey he hopes will guide him to a worthy purpose, a surrogate family, and a notion of home.

He is not alone. A woman reclaims herself in the wilds. And she becomes an agent of the transformation that restored her through the infusion of a tribal elder’s ghost.

Others are not so fortunate. Their loss exerts an implosive gravity that devours them. Yet there is reprieve in death, that divine broker of release.

Nature is an alchemical presence throughout, transmuting horror and trauma into harmony and belonging. And transcendence flows like a rejuvenative stream through the dystopian constructs of the world herein.

Til Debt Do Us Part

The book, Til Debt Do Us Part, is the story of the Banburys’ journey from Wales, England, to the U.S.A. to make their fortune on Wall Street. Hard work and honest integrity are on their side, and they move among the upper echelons of society.

However, this utopia is short-lived when a genius stockbroker comes onto the scene and swindles many prosperous clients out of their fortunes, including Daf Banbury. This is a financial crisis, and the genius broker suddenly disappears.

There is prison following, but an eventual release of Daf for exemplary behavior. Daf enlists in the army and is sent to fight in Vietnam. His son Clive follows him soon after. Daf pays the ultimate price in warfare.

Meanwhile, the family is scattered across the globe, and all are successful. A Purple Heart is given in memory of Daf. J. R., the genius broker who suddenly surfaced from nowhere. Financial restitution is made at great danger.

Enid Catrine, Daf’s wife, closes the saga by sharing a guarded secret with Clive, her son.

Bloodtrue, Blood See It Through

Daytime was fine. Just a mother and daughter, getting by. But when the little one went to sleep, the nights got long and lonely.

Her stepdad always told her she didn’t need anyone but Angie, her roommate at the time. Easy for him to say, with his own wife right there beside him.

Life played a cruel joke. She didn’t know anyone who could’ve played the hand she was dealt. Pick one person over another and suddenly you’re an outcast. No shoulder to cry on.

The trials and tribulations made her stronger—but God, it took everything. She went to depths most people never see. Held onto her sanity by a thread. If it weren’t for the kids, she says she’d be writing this from a padded cell.

Years and understanding and a whole lot of hard-won knowledge got her here. Close friends and relatives saw it all happen. Now she’s asking for a few more people to witness it—you.

So read the book. She enjoyed writing it. Maybe you’ll find something in it too.

Long Green

This book is about a New Yorker, Kob Hansen, whose parents were both born in Kentucky, though he had only visited as a child with his grandmother to bury them both after a tragic murder suicide. Yet, while teaching part-time at Columbia, he falls for a graduate student who is from Kentucky. They fall in love and decide to get married, and she talks him into returning to her hometown for the wedding and to live. There, things go awry as he learns about his own family and hers—his family poor Norwegian miners while hers rich Bluegrass elite.Meanwhile, Kob encounters a man known simply as Long Green, an old hermit who did twenty years for murder who, after his release, is shunned by the people of the county. The man he murdered thirty years before, Kob soon comes to believe to be his own grandfather, or so he thinks, until he begins to believe Long Green (Labe Cornett) may be his real grandfather.This changes his entire picture of his life and upbringing, all among the Southern culture and mindset of native Kentuckians.

Song of the Summer Jazzman

Wilson Patch, a conventional upper-middle-class man from New Jersey, changed in college. He developed an ill-conceived dream of moving to California, living on the beach, and never owning an alarm clock. His dream gradually evaporates as forces he cannot control draw him back to New Jersey and New York City.

Along the way, he meets Lisa, Slade, and Grace, all of whom figure prominently in the novel. Wilson’s life gravitates eventually from fantasy back into reality.

He eventually travels to California, but via airliner on a business trip. This is about the disintegration of Wilson’s dream.

The Presidential Doughnut Hole

The Presidential Doughnut Hole is a fictional account of a U.S. presidential election in which the nation is suddenly faced with a tragedy that leads to a political crisis not addressed by the Constitution and its amendments. The story details the political maneuvering and intrigue of four individuals, all competing for the highest office in the land. Their campaigns are affected by unexpected world events and become the target of plots by unscrupulous outsiders wishing to affect the election's outcome. All three branches of the nation's government—executive, judicial, and legislative—become enmeshed in a political process never before imagined. This book is a cautionary tale of a crisis this country may one day face if our elected officials do not plug this presidential doughnut hole in our Constitution.

Those She Left Behind

When Jaime Springer’s act of loyalty to her volatile boss, Richard Kingston, results in a harrowing assault, she keeps the trauma hidden, fearing for her job and her future as a single mother. Years later, Richard’s death reveals a shocking secret about his health, forcing Jaime to confront the possibility of her own illness and the potential devastation for her young daughter, Hope. An unexpected alliance forms when the brilliant Krystal Thomas takes over Richard’s position, becoming Jaime’s boss, confidante, and staunchest ally. As Jaime’s health declines, their friendship deepens, navigating a challenging legal fight, newfound love for Krystal, and the ultimate question of who will care for Hope.

Father Tom’s Penance

Tag along with Father Thomas Flannery on his circuit ride as he wends his way through western Kentucky and Tennessee in 1948. Listen to his deeply meaningful and moving sermons. Eavesdrop on the sanctity of the confessional as he listens carefully to the penitent. He pronounces absolution and assigns very appropriate penance to each contrite sinner.

Meet some of his old friends along the way and the new friends he makes on the journey in his old Model A Ford.

Father Tom struggles with his personal weaknesses and his past and learns much about the forgiveness Christ offers us. He also learns about true maturity and how one can find it.

He wrestles with great mysteries as a good theologian would and even questions Church doctrine. His compassion, faith, sense of humor, and work ethic help make him a great priest.

Explore with Father Tom the magic of memories, dreams, and fantasies. Enjoy this nostalgic trip back to yesteryear, when life seemed to be more simple—but it really wasn’t!

Good Friends Are Forever

Age is not a number but rather an attitude. Imagine, if you dare, what might occur when four men (F Bomb, Mad Dog, Cujo, and Oppie) who have known each other since the first day of kindergarten decide to attend a weeklong summer camp in upstate New York. Camp Pheidippides was specifically created for men and women seventy years and older.To say “expect the unexpected” would be an understatement. The best advice is simply, “Saddle up and enjoy the crazy ride!”

Curtain Call

Frederica Jones divorced her husband of 27 years and moved from Manhattan to Melbourne Beach, Florida, for a new and exhilarating lease on life. Then she learned that her lifelong friend, Lea Gagnon, was newly widowed in Quebec, Canada, where she had spent her married life and had recently been diagnosed with dementia.Throughout the novel she battles the question of how much she is willing to sacrifice of her own remaining life for the comfort and solace of her beloved friend. What do we owe those we love who are felled by this most horrible disease?Frederica steps into Lea’s life as Lea’s sister forfeits that responsibility, and she is left with untangling a legal mystery centering on Oliver Gagnon, Lea’s stepson, who appears to have full legal control of Lea’s life.Frederica will have to go to Quebec, Canada, to confront Oliver Gagnon. That is where the novel truly begins.

The Athlete

A novel about a young Amish man who may be the greatest natural athlete ever. He is discovered by a disgraced former major league baseball player who introduces him to others in Major League Baseball management to start him on his way. But the player wants to protect his identity and shield his community from this effort to play professional sports. An assumed name is used. His exploits become legendary, first in baseball and then as he migrates to football and later basketball. He learns lessons about modern fame and riches while also learning lessons about intrigue and betrayal. As successful as he becomes, he struggles over a decision about what he really wants for his life and for those he loves. While the public tries to learn who this mystery athlete really is, he is led to make a stark choice about his future.