An Accusing Finger

A man’s violent, early-morning death on the freezing pavement of a west-end convenience store parking lot in Canada’s capital city appears at first to be just another random act of gang violence. But is it?

The dead man has no identification, and his associate has mysteriously vanished. One of the victim’s fingerprints is linked to the unsolved murder of a young woman more than twenty years earlier. When Inspector Matt Armitage begins investigating the cold case, he uncovers a second, identical, unsolved murder. This one took place years later, in another city, in another country. As he works to close the case, Armitage discovers that cutting through red tape can cause serious, self-inflicted wounds.

Even if he were not a police officer, Inspector Matt Armitage of the Ottawa Police Service would be an imposing figure. He stands seventy-six inches tall in his dress socks, with a big-boned athletic frame, a thick shock of dark hair, and intense, piercing eyes the colour of Antarctic ice. He has an unblemished service record, but Armitage will probably never be promoted. His bosses believe he has one unforgivable flaw: he puts people first. He is a cop’s cop, operating in a milieu that rewards careerism and mediocrity, and punishes anyone who threatens the system’s status quo or the self-interest of the top brass.

An Accusing Finger was a Chanticleer Clue Awards finalist.

Black Swan Shock

Marla Case, an elite Olympic-bound athlete, finds her devotion to competition fading and chooses to step away. She considers becoming a medical responder and learns about the profession from a paramedic friend. Before committing to the rescue service, Marla accompanies her mother on an academic tour that ends abruptly when a massive earthquake strikes. The athlete reacts to save victims with her physical skills and newly acquired understanding of some emergency medical actions. She becomes a beacon of hope for the citizens of St. Louis, Missouri. However, personal tragedy affects Marla, as well, and she struggles to find catharsis herself. Black Swan Shock is the second book in Vettori’s Black Swan trilogy, although each of the three books can be read independently.

The first novel, Black Swan Impact, is a sci-fi political thriller that takes place in 2113. Having recovered from the devastation of World War III and reaching new scientific advancements, people believe only prosperity lies ahead until an emerging deadly pandemic threatens all of humanity. Dr. Syia (Sī-yuh) Case, National Institutes of Health Director of Epidemiology, is invited to advise US President Daniel Piper and the White House Crisis Action Team to try to mitigate the threat. Actions required to protect US citizens from the lethal virus become increasingly challenging. However, when Piper steers the country toward questionable courses, Dr. Case and the strident voices on the task force find there is more than a virulent virus to fight.

Black Swan Terror will round out the series.

Every Bad Thing

This dark and deeply moving novel from Shannon Gill Burnett follows the life of Danielle Smith, a woman from Green Bay, Wisconsin. From her childhood through her college years at Northwestern, to marriage, motherhood, and eventually a suicide attempt, Danielle's story is both heart-wrenching and raw.

After her attempt to take her life fails, Danielle is faced with a powerful revelation. Why should she be the one to go, when she has done nothing wrong? Her husband of twenty years announces he is leaving her to start a new life with his pregnant paralegal. Danielle, who gave up her career, her dreams, her figure, and her identity for her family, is left with nothing but questions.

Every Bad Thing explores what happens when a woman, hanging on by a thread, finally reaches her breaking point. What happens to any of us when we simply cannot hold on any longer?

The novel takes an unflinching look at revenge, mania, and the final act of desperation. It explores the complexity of human decisions, asking who is right, who is wrong, and what truly drives people to the edge.

Written with compassion and psychological insight, Every Bad Thing delves into the debate of nature versus nurture and the origins of our darkest choices. Through Danielle’s unraveling and her unexpected path of violence, the story brings her full circle to a place she never imagined she could reach.

Take a gripping and emotional journey with Danielle Smith. You may be terrified in one moment and cheering for her in the next. Discover the brutal beauty and haunting truth at the heart of Every Bad Thing.

A Soldier's Prerogative and Other Short Stories

A series of short stories that, in different situations, present characters facing unexpected challenges in unexpected circumstances.The different behaviour of two white men invited to a Navajo peyote church.An elderly man and a youth canoe for many years on Montana’s rivers, until the older man is no longer able to continue.A young college student, unfamiliar with Mexico, creates a disaster.A soldier in World War II is faced with a decision that cannot be ordered by his senior officer.A young man is introduced to his girlfriend’s father and finds himself searching for a dry place to sleep.A man questioning the value of life on a Grand Canyon hike finds himself in a life-or-death position.An art lover gets a chance for a fictional conversation with Vincent van Gogh.

Freedom Runner

Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to be a nurse. It has now been so many years since I started being a registered nurse/BSN. I am getting close to retirement, but I still have a love of taking care of my patients. I usually work 3-4 days a week. I am presently working through the state of Michigan, which has the highest rate of neonatal and maternal deaths. I take care of pregnant women and babies.

During my spare time, I write novels and short stories. I play with our cats and a dog. I have four children and a granddaughter. I love taking them places, baking cookies, and watching movies.

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…

Stories, Poems, and Secrets Beneath the Waterfall

Some call the Army Residence Community an “old soldiers’ home on steroids.” It is an unusual residence for veterans, spouses, and civil servants, some arriving here before they can draw social security. Most residents are active, referring to themselves as “inmates” (those who live in the Highrise) or “street people” (those living in Legacy cottages, or Lakeside homes). For the most part, they willingly revealed their secrets as did Count Rostov, “The Gentleman in Moscow,” living in The Metropol. Resident writers may have altered names and embellished some stories, creating a mixture of fact and fiction, but in truth ‘life is how we tell it.’ This is not a daily diary of events at a retirement home, as penned by Hendrik Groen in The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen. Groen spoke of “weak tea and potted geraniums, exasperated by the indignities of aging…” and did not inspire this collection of stories.

These are stories of people who lived a life of service. There are more stories to be told by retirees and centenarians living among us, waiting to be discovered if only we listen.

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.

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.

Scribbles

Scribbles is a collection of poems written to express feelings that come with intense love, anger, betrayal, trauma, confusion, trust, and worry, and to help make sense of things.

Its goal is to shine a light on some thoughts and feelings one may be having when experiencing the worry for a friend’s death, death of a lover, falling in love, or being betrayed, or being abused, trying to figure out one’s own mind, or feeling as though one has lost their mind.

It is gritty and emotional, even lurid at times, but serves its purpose of letting out what cannot be contained.

Art and Poetry by Pollock

Life was smooth sailing and quite normal up until my mom Janis was killed in a car accident heading from Santa Cruz California to Carmel when I was 11 years old. After her death, life changed drastically from a nice gentle breeze to a category five tornado; an inferno of drugs, lies and alibis. Let’s just say… No more smooth sailing. When the dust began to settle at the age of 24, I enlisted in the United States Navy and set sail for a better life and once again it was smooth sailing.

Here are some of my experiences, thoughts, and photographs of my artwork which I use as a way to process my childhood traumas.

Processing as I stack stones and transfer the negative energy into a beautiful piece of work giving it life; it lives then eventually dies, taking the negative energy with it.

I hope you feel something from these pages within.

Thought Prints

“Birthed in a month, on a day, somewhere in time. Somewhere in history.

Somewhere in my past, I didn’t exist… But I was to be.”

“When I look back in time, exploring my mind, I realize I didn’t glance…

But I was to see…”

– from “A Letter to Myself.”

With intensity and emotion, Thought Prints reels the reader in instantly! Anyone who has the pleasure of reading this compilation of poems will surely find magic. A collection of poetry with a story to tell!