The Image Maker

In 1860, just a year after Drake’s historic first oil well, photographer John Mather arrived in Titusville, Pennsylvania, determined to capture the burgeoning oilfields, one glass negative at a time. From his makeshift darkrooms – one on a creek barge, another strapped to his wagon – he risked life and limb to preserve the history of the nascent petroleum industry.

General Charles Miller, alongside his wife, Adelaide, tirelessly cultivated relationships with the titans of this new era, becoming a major player himself. Even Andrew Carnegie took notice, only to withdraw when Miller’s personal indiscretions threatened his reputation.

Former cavalryman Patrick Boyle, a natural storyteller, chronicled the region’s explosive growth as editor of the Oil City Derrick. His experience as a roustabout in the oil fields and later as a daring oil scout after the Civil War made him uniquely suited to report on this worldwide source of oil production statistics and news.

Through the eyes of John, Patrick, and Charles – their families and their stories – a vivid portrait emerges of the oil boom and life in late 19th-century America. This is the story of how a rough-and-tumble stretch of Oil Creek in rural Pennsylvania fueled the world’s oil lamps, machinery, trains, and, eventually, automobiles.

The Eye of Sicily

The year is 1895, and poverty is sweeping through Sicily, bringing a wave of la miseria to its people. Letters from America summon two Sicilian families to the shores of a distant land, but they soon discover that everything comes at a cost.

Time is running out for Giuseppe LoPinto, a victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Out of options, his dire circumstances drive him to join the mass exodus of Sicilians from their beloved island. With a heavy heart, Giuseppe accepts an invitation to America. He embarks on an arduous journey, accompanied by his younger brother, Giacomo, to the bustling streets of Detroit.

A hundred miles away, on the eastern tip of Sicily, Vincenza Catalano blames a different letter from America for turning her life upside down. Forced to leave the scenic coastal city of Messina, she must put all her dreams for the future on hold. Aboard the steamship Giava, the Catalano family crosses paths with the LoPinto brothers from Termini Imerese. Vincenza, with her fiery spirit and determination, leaves a lasting impression on the younger brother, Giacomo. Defying her family’s wishes, she challenges the cultural limitations placed on women and confides her deepest secrets to him.

Arriving in Detroit during the dark era of the late nineteenth century, the Catalano and LoPinto families face ethnic prejudices, language barriers, and extortion threats from the notorious Black Hand. The bond between Giacomo and Vincenza grows stronger as they strive to find a sense of self in their new homeland, battling the perils of a dangerous time period. Inspired by true historical events, the young Sicilians soon realize that the luster of the American Dream is fading. Will they ultimately risk everything to achieve their dreams?

A Glutton for Punishment

Amidst the divisiveness of the latter stages which the 2020 pandemic presented in society, concerned citizen Alex Domingue takes it upon himself to become involved in local politics and affect positive change in his community. As a corporate professional, veteran, and well-educated man, Alex has developed an extensive resume of working with many people from different backgrounds and points of view to accomplish critical missions. He feels uniquely qualified to move the needle towards a better future.

What awaits him, however, are multiple ongoing political turf wars. As it becomes evident that local politics are no less combative than national affairs, Alex quickly learns that his fellow Republican candidate (Sam Demonikov) for the Board of Education is in the midst of a vengeance escapade towards several for whom he holds violent disdain.

Alex must navigate increasingly dangerous issues. Through hostile disagreements, threats to his safety, and eventual attempts on his life, Alex learns that apparent villains are decent. Apparent heroes are narcissistic villains. In the face of grave danger, he must make bold decisions which do nothing to appease violent opposition from those who were once his partners. The extremes of both sides, including his own as he would learn, threaten the opportunity for rational solutions.

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.

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…

Nauvoo: A City Set on a Hill

Brigham Young was the American Moses who led pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. Colonizing vast tracks of the arid West, they made the deserts bloom. Few know of the beginnings and the crucibles forced upon early Mormons. And what of the drivings in the east and Missouri? What of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, and new revelations from God, spreading across two continents, energizing thousands to leave their homes to build Zion, gathering to Nauvoo for the end of times? 1842 was an axial year. In England, Queen Victoria oversaw the industrial revolution that enriched some but unemployed millions. In America, people wrestled with slavery, Manifest Destiny, relocation of Native Americans, and religious awakening. Principled men and women rose to proclaim their vision, sacrificing reputations, lives, and wealth on the altar of convenience. Milena Stuart and her brother Diomedes were captured in the net of dreams, choosing to immigrate for opposing reasons, witnessing for themselves the turbulence erupting on the broad frontier. Would God allow this Camp of Israel to be driven from the States or would divine protection be manifest? Would that providence come in a timely fashion or in the form of isolating rag-tag refugees from the growing inferno that would soon consume the nation in the Civil War? Nauvoo is a victorious tale of joy and hope, fear and despair, sinners and saints. And the story goes on.

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

When Life Hands You Lemons

Marauding lions threatening the safety of early settlers in Rhodesia travelling by ox wagon were the order of the day.

Emma Bartlett, a young, petulant lady of aristocratic birth, followed Harold Watson, second son of the Earl of Adiston, whom she loved, when he left England to settle in Rhodesia.

Emma had to face hardship and trauma, but she was destined to become a formidable woman of strong character setting an example to the generations who followed.

Walking a Duck in L.A.

Secrets! Secrets! Secrets!

Jolene Hartman, a young girl walking a duck in L. A., has a secret she’s unable to share as she grows up during the turbulent 1930s and l940s on the fringes of Hollywood. Despite an unusual and troubling relationship with her parents, Jolene finds wonder and delight in constant adventures as she seeks God and love.

Join Jolene as she grows up with unique relatives, fascinating friends from many cultures, and her pet duck, Oscar.

In this inspirational novel based on a true story, at age 55 in 1985, thinking she has it all; a happy marriage, kids, and a glamorous career, Jolene is stunned to find she needs therapy when demons from her childhood surface, and she seeks treatment.

As Jolene’s sessions in treatment bring clarity, the author hopes they may also open doors to some of your secrets.

Victoria Ward and the Gilded Age of the Hawaiian Kingdom

1889, Iolani Palace, O‘ahu: The majestic Hawaiian Kingdom teeters on the brink of oblivion. At its heart stands Victoria Ward, a woman of royal Hawaiian blood, bound by her lineage and duty. Armed with vast lands, ancient cultural rituals, and the unwavering loyalty of her villagers, she becomes the beacon of hope for a nation under threat.

But as the sands of time flow, will Victoria’s efforts prove enough to salvage the once-glorious realm she cherishes? Her legacy echoes through generations, influencing descendants who remain fiercely devoted to their roots.

Decades later, an invaluable treasure, left behind by Victoria, is discovered by her kin. Could this discovery be the key to resurrecting the splendor of the Gilded Age of the Hawaiian Kingdom? Join the journey across eras, where history and destiny intertwine, and the past might just shape the future.

Twelve Days of Christmas Stories

Each year, Christmas is advertised as a wonderful time for children. I know it was for me as I was growing up, but, at some point, the magic seemed to wear off. I didn't want it to, but there it was. As I grew older, this one thought stayed in my mind and just got stronger the closer it got to each and every Christmas. What kind of stories could I write that would keep young people and adults excited about Christmas? Sure, there were stories for children that demonstrated the magic of Santa, but what about the rest of us? Should we have to give up the joy of Christmas just because we are too "old" for it? Early on, I tried to figure out what kinds of stories would be appropriate for the 18 and above crowd. Through trial and error, the stories included in Twelve Days of Christmas Stories finally met my criteria. These stories could just as easily be real life for those invested in finding and enjoying the Christmas spirit.

To add to the fun, the dialogue in each story is such that it could be read as a play, with characters that come alive as the reader shares each story with his or her own family. Mama's Night Out is one of those stories that has many voices. There is a private eye, a lady in red, some elves, and many more surprises. I hope you enjoy reading all twelve stories to your family and friends this Christmas season and beyond.

Tusk

This story opens with the unfolding tragedy of a young woman coming to Alaska in 1957. Her life is marked with the birth of three children from three separate men - one who is her husband, one who takes her by force, and a third who becomes her common law husband in the wild north. In such a short period of time, Ella G dies a tragic death, but her children become the protagonists of the emerging story. Their characters are developed separately, and through their outrageous Alaskan trials, they ultimately meet at the 25th anniversary of their mother’s death at a graveyard in Anchorage.

This book centers on the gold in the Alaskan hills, its mining and claim jumping, the rivalry between the antagonist (McKenzie) and the protagonist (Cayote) resulting in substantial violence – multiple gunfights, fist fights, arson, car crashes, and so forth. Ultimately, the protagonist loses his life in a plane crash exploring the mystery of the book (which will not be revealed here). The children have, however, gone their own way – RT becoming a politician, Bethra a criminal defense attorney, and Ernie a gold and ivory smuggler. They find a huge cache of gold in the midst of this adventure which is lost, stolen, found, and relocated, and in the middle of this they come upon a cache of woolly mammoth tusks. The remainder of this story concerns itself with smuggling these tusks out of Alaska to exchange them for weapons. While the vulgar culture, the street violence, and the crass relationships are the center of the story, the tusk found in the wild is the thing upon which it all centers.