The Humanity of Emotion

The Humanity of Emotion is an anthology of poems that explores human emotion through metaphor and personification. By envisioning emotions as representative of a variety of human experiences, the many facets of feelings are acknowledged, welcomed, and understood. Whether connecting with anger, grief, joy, or acceptance, each poem in this collection brings these specific nuances to life. When emotions are experienced in new ways, we can accept new parts of our heart and welcome all parts of ourselves back home.

The Incorrigible Rogue

Rochdale, Lancashire, England, 1885.

Martha Anne Ashworth is in trouble in school, once again. The precocious and gifted 10 year old daughter of mill owner John Ashworth has, for the umpteenth time, tried school and parental patience and now legal authority with her quick wit, sharp tongue, impudent defiance, and certain determined independence. With her mother dying, and her father drowning his woes in whisky, young Martha Anne’s wildness leads to her eventual arrest as an Incorrigible Rogue; all seems to be spiraling out of control until an uncanny friendship with the village wise woman, Betty Nuppy, helps guide Martha Anne on a path to salvation, if not, at least, redemption.

The Jungle Entrepreneurs

Allen and Franco are two young entrepreneurs coasting their last year of Business School in New York. Feeling drained and uninspired by the pressures of success, they take on an expected journey to the jungle of Costa Rica, where they will do what they can to make a business out of an old, abandoned property, submerged in local rumors.

Once surrounded by the power of the place, they unravel an unexpected family history, which will take them on a wild and spiritual inner journey. The struggles of arduous work and lack of resources will shape these men’s partnership, new friendships, and the way they each understand their lives.

In this intimate tale, N.V. Parks takes us on a unique spiritual journey, a rite of healing and transformation into adulthood, unraveling a new meaning of happiness and success, while soaking in the magnificent beauty of Ostional Wildlife Refuge.

The Land of Bondage

The tranquil dawn of April 20, 1997, in the blossoming town of Cambridge Springs, PA, unexpectedly veers into the precipice of a global cataclysm. World peace teeters on the edge as a confrontation unfolds between a Soviet nuclear submarine and a U.S. vessel in the chilly waters off Alaska’s coast, a moment in history that threatens to plummet humanity into a nightmarish abyss.

On this fateful morning, Ben Forsythe, the esteemed mayor of Cambridge Springs, orchestrates a delightful lawn party at his elegant estate, hosting the town’s dignitaries. While his wife is away in Philadelphia, a myriad of guests, including the endearing yet cantankerous Shuler Whitfield, grace the event. Unbeknownst to them, this idyllic gathering is but the calm before a storm of apocalyptic proportions.

A few hours hence, Ben finds himself awakened amidst the ruins of his once grand abode, the echoes of a fiery cataclysm reverberating through the charred remains of his haven. The ghastly spectacle of devastation unveils itself as he steps into a world mourning the loss of life, his guests and housekeeper now mere memories amidst the ashes. The sorrow-laden trees and the silence of the land accompany Ben’s desperate gaze as he scans the horizon, a solitary figure yearning for a sign of humanity amidst the gloom.

With a heart heavy yet undeterred, Ben embarks on an odyssey of survival in a world unhinged from its yesteryears of peace. The Land of Bondage unfolds a chilling narrative of a nuclear showdown between the Soviet Union and the U.S., painting a stark yet compelling tale that mirrors the looming fears of a world on the brink. Readers traversing through this haunting narrative will find themselves entwined with a dire prophecy, a harrowing reminder of a path that must never be tread.

The Last Ones

In the chilling depths of The Last Ones, six individuals, burdened with a sinister curse since birth, find themselves entangled in a malevolent game of life and death. Trapped in a twisted labyrinth of deadly challenges, their survival hinges on one crucial element: love.

As the enigmatic puzzle of their cursed existence unfolds, the bonds they forge become their only hope. In a race against time, they must navigate treacherous trials where victory guarantees life, while defeat offers no escape but a gruesome demise.

Together, they must unravel the dark mysteries behind their individual curses, discovering the hidden connections that bind them and the shared secrets that hold the key to their salvation.

Can love becomes the ultimate weapon against the insidious forces which seek to claim their souls?

The Last Trip

Six years after a devastating trip shattered his world, Samuel journeys back to a place he once called home. The familiar surroundings now feel foreign, haunted by the echoes of a long-gone happiness. A flicker of truth ignites a relentless pursuit for answers. As he delves deeper, the line between memory and reality blurs. Will Samuel find the solace he craves, or will the unearthed truth bury him even deeper in the wreckage of the past?

The Last True Blonde

Every summer, hordes of Ernest Hemingway lookalikes swarm Key West to compete on Papa’s birthday.

This summer, one of them is a killer.

When a vacationing family discovers the headless corpse of a Key West party girl, the case falls to Monroe County homicide detective Jack Dodge. A third-generation conch and Key West native, Dodge has been on an extended lost weekend aboard his dilapidated houseboat the Jackie Oh! since his lover was brutally slain in a botched drug bust. He’s the best there is, but these days the only dead body Dodge wants any part of is his own.

As the body count climbs, nervous merchants pressure Dodge’s cocky young Key West Police Department counterpart Rick Michaels to hastily solve the case in the press before the big-money weekend slips through their fingers. Everyone’s happy with Rick’s quick fix except Dodge, whose conch instincts lead him to the mysterious Wilde sisters and their exotic discotheque where anything goes… even murder.

The Last True Blonde takes you inside the exotic world of after-hours Key West, where quick-money schemes, rum-soaked ambition and insatiable sexual hungers combine for an explosive 110-proof mystery.

The Last Vanishing Point

2013

Olivia discovers letters and a painting by her uncle William, an artist and WWII bombardier who vanished after being shot down over France just before D-Day. Inexplicably compelled, Olivia begins a personal quest to discover William’s fate.

1943

William says goodbye to his new wife, Maddie, a concert pianist in New York City, and joins the RAF to battle the Nazis in occupied Europe. He quickly comes to regret the death and devastation wrought by his bombing missions, in sharp contrast to his times on leave, painting landscapes of the English countryside. Unexpectedly, William is recruited as an agent for the Special Operations Executive by a mysterious woman at a manor in the Cotswolds and leaves for the Scottish Highlands. Based on her family connections with the Underground, Maddie embarks on her own treacherous journey that leads her to join the French Resistance in Paris.

The Last Vanishing Point is a compelling love story of mystery and intrigue, and of how the power of art and the enduring bonds of family can heal trauma and loss. The reader is transported through historical details and the author’s cinematic writing style will take you to another time and place where a heartfelt and timeless story unfolds.

The Liberation of Oliver Rook

Oliver Eastmund’s life is hell. He is married to Mona who makes him and his children miserable, yet nothing can stop her or help Oliver and their two children, Gavin and Gwendolyn. Mona’s cruelty is relentless, and just when you think she has done her worst, she reaches a new level of malice.

The courts, police, child-welfare authorities, and mental-health systems fail Oliver and his attempts at protecting his children, himself, and even Mona. He makes his wife a promise: “When the children are gone and our debts are paid, I will leave you,” which seems to him the worst thing he can do to someone with her mental instability.

But he is wrong. He discovers that he is capable of far worse. He moves away, changes his name, yet must go back to find deliverance from his guilt. As Winston Churchill said, “If you are going through hell, keep going.” This is what Oliver Rook must do.

The Longest Road

This autobiography depicted in a collection of poetry and non-fiction, is about love and pain beyond one’s own comprehension. It is about waiting for God, and the quiet moments after prayer. It is prayer. This book searches the soul of the author as she longs and questions the mysteries of loving another person, of loss, and a reality that lacks understanding. This is her pain speaking to her in images that sometimes seem as if it is resting in another dimension, because these words wouldn’t be what they are if the pain and longing were easily comprehensible. Discover all that the author has discovered in these words written over the course of seven years.

The Lost Words

From the gritty streets of Boston, Massachusetts to the warm and secure blankets that wrap up his children at night, John Cole has provided us with a collection of stories and prose that capture the essence of everyday working-class life.

From young adulthood to fatherhood, John Cole uses his own words to paint vivid emotional pictures of the blue-collar realism that exists for most of us during the earlier stages of the twenty-first century.

The weight of his words and the significance of his stories are delicate and powerful, and readers will handle these stories with the care and gentle reserve they ask for.

The Loura Lure

Dr. Shamus Bergin lands a coveted position of Staff Psychologist in the Secure Treatment Unit of a mental hospital right out of school. He is soon vexed by an amnesiac patient who defies clinical diagnosis and whom every other doctor has written off. Inconsistencies about the man’s origins intersect with Shamus’s own doubts that the patient even belongs in an institution.

As his own investigation continues to be met with redacted files and evasion from governmental agencies, the doctor-patient relationship suddenly undergoes a radical shift. The patient discloses that he has time travelled from a forgotten Age of Loura to seek help from modern day members of The Sacred Order of Keepers to find the last living angel. Only the angel can turn the tide in the ultimate struggle between good and evil in this deliberately erased timeline 20,000 years in the past. With his parents tragically lost in a boating accident a decade earlier, Shamus must turn to his one true friend, Dr. John Browse, to make sense of the voices within which are calling him to action.

With career and grip on sanity at stake, Shamus must decide whether he has succumbed to the delusions of a sick mind or whether he should take a leap of faith and help the man achieve his mission.