Victims and Perpetrators

Dive into the mischievous world of Victims and Perpetrators: Light Verse Judgement on the Criminally Inclined, where the lines between lawbreakers and law enforcers blur in the most whimsical ways. Through the masterful pen of John Gentry, a humorist poet with a penchant for the peculiar, this collection of poems invites readers on a rollicking journey through the underbelly of society, all from the safety of their armchairs.

From the tale of Felony Fred, whose criminal escapades are as endearing as they are egregious, to the saga of a hapless diner in Hard Rock, Idaho, Gentry crafts a universe where crime does indeed pay – in laughter and wit. Each poem is a vignette, a snapshot of life on the other side of the law, told with a twinkle in the eye and a tip of the hat to the absurd.

So, whether you’re a seasoned criminal mastermind looking to take a break from your nefarious activities, or a law-abiding citizen with a love for the lyrical, Victims and Perpetrators offers something for everyone. It’s a reminder that, in the end, we’re all just characters in the grand, ridiculous story of life – some of us just have better alibis than others.

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.

We Are All Equal in Ink

The day after his retirement, Chris suffered a haemorrhagic stroke that paralyzed the right side of his body. The language area of his brain was the most affected, depriving him of speech. To regain his most valued skill – to express himself with the written and spoken word – he had to begin again, re-learning words and their meanings, and to write using his left hand. His urge to use language as before was so strong that he was able to recover little by little what the stroke had cruelly taken away. It took two years until his abilities improved enough to be seated in his wheelchair to read and write. He never felt impeded by his disability. With a tape recorder, a notebook, and a typewriter, Chris picked up where he had left off – his inspiration awakened anew.

We The People

Joanne S. Duffin’s poetry is a captivating fusion of the personal and the universal, delving into the depths of the human experience. Her verses touch upon matters of the heart, offer insightful observations of the world, and fearlessly tackle the pressing issues of our time, both within the United States of America and on a global scale.

As you turn the pages, you’ll find yourself immersed in the wonders and interpretations of the natural world, the joys of family, the treasure of discovered love, the journey of self-discovery, philosophical musings, political commentary, patriotic reflections, and the pursuit of justice. Duffin’s poetry also explores the complexities of friendship, the pain of loss, and the inevitability of death.

This groundbreaking work of fiction will captivate your mind as you traverse space and time alongside the author, who fearlessly delves into the very essence of self-expression. Throughout her poetry, Duffin never loses sight of the profound impact and influence of the past, acknowledging the experiences that have shaped her as both a writer and a human being.

Embark on this transformative literary journey with Joanne S. Duffin, and allow her unique voice to guide you through a landscape of beauty, understanding, and introspection, as her thoughts and words weave a tapestry of the human condition.

What Death Revealed

In a tale that spans two disparate worlds within one city, this gripping novel dives deep into the divide between the glistening capital of the Free World and its neglected districts, home to 700,000 citizens mostly of color. Eight years after the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. sparked riots that shattered the city’s core, the scars of racial fury and systemic injustice remain as evident as ever.

Amid this backdrop of crime and burnt-out neighborhoods, Jimmy McFarland, an earnest young District Attorney, stumbles upon evidence of corruption tied to a six-billion-dollar Metro subway project aimed at reconnecting the city’s fractured communities. Though clearly a matter for the FBI, McFarland embarks on a rogue investigation. In doing so, he crosses paths with Larry Williams, a black police sergeant whose rough exterior belies his own complicated relationship with justice and morality.

Walking a precarious line between courage and recklessness, McFarland and Williams form an uneasy alliance. Fueled by McFarland’s idealistic pursuit of justice and Williams’ pragmatic understanding of its rarity, the duo confronts a daunting array of racism, corruption, and murder. As they untangle a web of powerful players who thought they were untouchable, the question remains: Can they navigate the system’s deep-rooted flaws to achieve some measure of justice?

“With characters that you won’t forget, an important story that keeps pages turning fast, and gritty detail that says the author knows whereof he writes, Lash’s novel is definitely not to be missed. If he can tell a tale this good, it is a mystery why he was spending time running a premier environmental organization and being an innovative college president. First rate.”
– Gus Speth, author of Let Your Tears Water the Earth and other books.

“Jonathan Lash has given us a perfectly written, perfectly paced, and completely absorbing inside view of how prosecutors and police actually solve crimes, all set in the turbulent days in Washington following Martin Luther King’s assassination and Nixon’s downfall.  Lash’s tale is one of justice triumphant against great political odds, a message that many a reader will welcome today.”
– Gary Milhollin, President, Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control.

“What a great read! Jonathan Lash uses his background as a white prosecutor in Chocolate City (Washington, DC) to weave an engrossing tale of murder, corruptions, racial conflict, and love. The Black DC cop and white AUSA who are the story’s principal heroes will stay with you, and those familiar with DC will find a bonus in the varied references to landmark shops, restaurants, and venues in the District.”
– Florence Wagman Roisman, William F. Harvey Professor of Law at Indiana University.

When Darkness Reigned

A long time has passed since the ‘High Kingdom’ brazenly executed its campaign of genocide and ruthlessly slaughtered the majority of their people in the hope of finding a child with a secret.

Fortunately for those resourceful enough to survive under the dark reign, an underground network of interconnected factions have been plotting an uprising for some time and they have a secret of their own.

When the Stars Aligned

On a fate-laced evening at 7:30 pm, the three cornerstone figures in Malita’s life found her crossing their minds, yet none were present to shield her from Bruce’s malevolent grasp. Amidst grappling with the void left by her father’s absence, Malita’s world plunges into a deeper abyss when a supposed guardian from her family cruelly betrays her trust. This grave violation leaves her wrestling with shame, betrayal, and a tenuous relationship with her mother, all while battling against the engulfing tides of self-pity.

But Malita, with a spirit unyielding, musters the bravery to face the harsh truth of her fractured family and rejects the dark labels it threatens to affix on her. Embarking on a piecemeal journey, she strives to restore the shards of her destiny. In her quest for healing, the realms of forgiveness and purpose unfold before her, offering a glimpse of hope amidst despair. Malita chooses not merely to exist in the shadows of her past, but to seize the full essence of life’s offerings, demonstrating a resilient pursuit of healing and reclaiming her rightful place in the world. When the Stars Aligned isn’t just a narrative of survival, but a profound testament to the indomitable spirit of recovery and self-redemption.

White's Novel

White’s tale is about most of us: we come and go from the world without really, at any stage, trying to affect or change it, despite dreaming of what we would do if we had the chance. White has that chance. White’s Novel is about what happens as a result of him taking that chance. And, in the end, is he really so very different than the rest of us? He thinks he is!

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.

Pickett's Dream

When smart and beautiful Athena Van Fleet attends her sister’s wedding, she encounters John Pickett, the officiating priest whom she knew as a student in college. Now married to tennis star, Ted Talbot, who is retired with an injured knee, she moves to Newport when her husband is named President of the Tennis Hall of Fame. Smitten by Pickett, Athena uses her sway as the daughter of a bishop to secure the young priest an improbable call as rector of the wealthy Newport parish. As Ted begins to sense Athena’s enchantment, he jealously makes Pickett his prey. Then unaccountably, the penniless priest becomes proprietor of Rosecliff mansion—igniting rumors up and down the Eastern Seaboard that the priest is a tycoon or a drug lord. Narrator Brooke Adams, feeling like a “bystander implicated at the scene of the crime,” watches as Pickett’s incredible scheme is unraveled to an unintended end. From the sad abandoned mill towns of industrial New England to the hunt fields and ballrooms of Newport, from an aged acolyte in rural Massachusetts to pretentious Park Avenue bishops, and from the shining spectacle of the Champs-Élysées to the elusive Bishop’s House in Providence, Pickett’s Dream is borne from the Yuppie Go-Go 80’s to the mean streets of our time, and the innocence of a heretical dreamer to the world we find ourselves in.

Raven

In mid-1943, at the behest of their Japanese allies, the Germans send their best agent, Johann Schmidt, code name “RAVEN”, to sabotage the U.S. Navy’s torpedo factory in Newport, Rhode Island. Cunning, intelligent, resourceful, and utterly ruthless, Schmidt arrives off the Rhode Island coast by German U-boat, seemingly undetected. The agent then succeeds in getting on to the Newport Navy Base and finds employment there. This aids Schmidt in discovering the location of the Navy’s bulk explosives storage site: Rose Island, located in the middle of the Eastern Passage of Narragansett Bay, one mile west of Newport. However, through cooperation between the British Intelligence Service MI6 and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and aided by a stroke of luck, RAVEN’s arrival is discovered. The FBI assigns one of their best counterespionage agents, Brian Weeple, to track down and capture and/or eliminate the saboteur. But Schmidt is not who everyone assumes him to be, significantly complicating the search. Will Schmidt’s secret identity be discovered, and can RAVEN be caught and stopped before the assignment is carried out?

What These Eyes Have Seen

In this collection of fourteen short stories, you will meet people you know in your own family or from down the street where you live. They all find themselves involved in things they did not expect or want or even dream about. In one story, savor the moment as a son watches his traveling-salesman father create a unique exchange for sandwiches and cokes. In another story, a volunteer soccer coach/dad receives a compliment that makes him reflect on his life. In other stories, you will watch a son find a way to shape his own life, a major league catcher who may finally get caught, two stories about soldiers who discover that the end result of a firefight is not always as it appears on the silver screen, and another story about a soldier who passes along his family’s perfect use for eggs. Then there is the killer with a soft spot. You didn’t know he was out there, did you? As you read these stories, you may smile, you may get angry, you may shed a tear, but one thing is for certain, you will remember these characters.