Death Among the Pines

BJ Gleeson is sitting at a South Jersey bar with his new girlfriend when an old woman totters in and sits down next to them. Crying and mumbling, she opens a small box to show a bloodied severed finger. “It’s my daughter!” she sobs.

Follow Gleeson, a divorced family man and washed up baseball player turned teacher and amateur detective, as this event catapults him into a labyrinth of bizarre murders (which could be historical, gang related, or cult based) in the middle of a cold winter in the New Jersey Pine Barrens at the turn of the 21^st Century.

Watch as this complex and troubled man uses his historical savvy to point toward the solution of several vicious and bloody murders that have all occurred between the dawning of the new millennium and Easter of 2000.

Deseret: A Defense and a Refuge

In this tale, people scattered throughout the world are woven together in the valleys of the Rocky Mountains. Forty years after Napoleon’s defeat, the development of modern warfare on the Crimean Peninsula sends reverberations across the globe, alerting all of the growth in technology, the precursor of the US Civil War in weapons and tactics, as well as the needs of multitudes of dispossessed and underrepresented. The shrinking planet is growing crowded. The bumping into one another becomes increasingly violent. Women and men stand to be counted, molded of numerous talents and abilities, striving for relief and equality, demanding rights and opportunity. Slavery, reservations, women’s suffrage, polygamy, and Manifest Destiny are swirled into the murky vat of the United States. Protesting members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known derisively as Mormons, are challenged over religious freedom. Despite the continued criticism heaped upon them for their unique doctrines, missionary work and its effects spread throughout the nation and the earth.

The 1850s see the homeland of Deseret plowing against Bloody Kansas, Buchannan’s Blunder, Mountain Meadows, the Sevastopol Policy, the Pony Express, and the Transcontinental Telegraph. These ventures combine with similar troubles and shove the nation into the red-hot furnace of civil war.

Destinies

Young, beautiful, and hardworking, Nina Iorizzo discovers her quiet world has been turned on its head after coming in contact with mobster Santangelo Furri. She must find the strength to approach her sudden threat head-on.

Santangelo Furri, the cunning and ruthless soldier-turned-boss overnight, must face new challenges from rival factions while balancing his own “real” family.

Lastly, Tommy Roberts, a successful attorney and proud father, soon discovers that his paternal father is really Santangelo Furri—the head of the mafia.

Each of their own actions creates a domino effect with shattering repercussions.

“Nick Christophers is an exceptional writer. He was the editor of my publication Mob Candy Magazine and proved to be an encyclopedia of knowledge when it came to the mob. Even though this is fictional he has the know-how about the mob to make the story feel like it’s factual.”

• — Frank Di Matteo, Publisher of Mob Candy Magazine

“This was a terrific read. And I am not a reader of books but scripts and I enjoyed this. Nick has the know-how of the mob and was able to produce a fictional story around that world. The ending leaves you wanting to know what happens next.”

• — Sean King, Film director of web stories “Brooklyn Ties”

“Nick knows a hell of a lot about writing and the Mafia. He’s written for my blog, Cosa Nostra News. I couldn’t wait to read Nick’s novel. I am glad I did and so will you.”

• — Ed Scarpo, publisher of Cosa Nostra News

Detective Ray Shields and the Mountain of Trial

Ray Shields isn’t your average private eye. He’s a little more like your traditional gumshoe than most, and in his line of work, being dedicated to the job is a good thing. Laura is his secretary and, as far as Ray is concerned, she is the best one he’s ever had. She’s never late to work, she keeps his affairs in order, and most importantly, she always has the coffee brewing. Then there’s Eddie, Ray’s partner. He’s a dedicated alcoholic with a troubled past, but he doesn’t let that affect his work. Together, the trio make up the Ray Shields Detective Agency, and the only thing separating the R.S.D.A. from the competition is a rusty chain-link fence.

But everything is about to change…

One day, after receiving a mysterious envelope in the mail, Ray, Laura, and Eddie find themselves thrust into the heart of an ancient prophecy that places them all in danger and unravels a secret about Laura that’s long been hidden.

Together, the R.S.D.A., with the help of a few made friends along the way, will face a myriad of mythical monsters, hunt for a magical relic powerful enough to stop a maddened cultist, and traverse the arid Atacama Desert to fight an ancient evil. Saving the world is all in a day’s work for the Ray Shields Detective Agency.

Difficult Days

In Difficult Days, Rosemary McComb is a debutante from New Orleans who finds herself caught up in a fight for equality when she falls in love with a black professor from Boston. Threatened by the KKK, who are determined to see the professor dead, Rosemary and her friends must find a way to continue their fight for justice even as they face great danger. As tensions rise and the stakes become higher, Rosemary must decide how far she is willing to go to protect the man she loves and the causes she believes in. With the fate of both the professor and the fight for equality on the line, Difficult Days is a heart-wrenching and powerful tale of love and activism in the face of hatred and oppression.

Distinctive Tendencies

Daniel, Son of Richard Walbreck is born from Beatrice Meadows. Her family history pure evil. In an attempt to carry on a family war dating back to the 1800s, Beatrice introduces her son to Henry Faustino. A man related to blood liners with satanic agendas and dreams of worldwide domination. This is the second book of the ‘First Culling’ trilogy.

Double Star

This story is set in Germany at the start of the First World War and follows Klaus, a quiet astronomer of Jewish background, who spends his time with a telescope in an observatory on the edge of town. There he meets an independent young woman from a well-to-do background whose desire for a career of her own leads her to work on the laboratory’s microscope.

Their different backgrounds clash even as the world is changing around them. Ulla is forced to keep her work secret from her socially ambitious mother to whom status and the old ways are prized above all. Her father encourages Ulla to help him in his quest to find a cure for a deadly disease. However, he has a secret of his own which also threatens the stability of their family.

As their relationship grows and Ulla and Klaus share their scientific discoveries, unforeseen events force them to make choices which will have far-reaching consequences for both them and their families.

Dragons of Lanila

Lanila was a beautiful and colorful world; it had so much life everywhere you looked. Like most places, it also had its shadows that tried to fight back but with little effort you see this world was protected by men and dragons who fought together to keep the peace. After so many cycles feeling safe from any harm or danger, it rose. This was darkness with powers they had never seen. It forced them into a fight they would not win and all would be lost. Those that could, fled never looking back. After some time, they called themselves the Farlands, the survivors of the Great Battle. They prayed to the Elders for a change then one day it seems to have been answered. For a word began to spread of these two powers that could stand up against this darkness, one’s mind so strong and another with strength never seen. It was said they would become one and give Lanila what it’s been needing… Hope.

Driving Without Lights and Other Stories

Open any door of a house along a dead-end street on Santa Barbara’s West Side and you’ll find lives full of desire, rage, loss, joy, and chaos. This collection tells their stories including The Opera Singer who practices more than her afternoon scales; the boyhood friends who build A Bridge Between Trees that brings tragedy and triumph; The Japanese Wife who struggles to raise a mentally disabled child at a time when they were shunned and labeled; a black couple who try to find A Better Neighborhood; a stressed-out lawyer riding his own personal Midnight Tornado; The Cabinetmaker trying to reach out to a neglected boy; and four young men Driving Without Lights into their uncertain futures. These 17 tales are written from the points of view of the young and old, the moral and questionable, from white-bread Americans and people of color. These are glimpses into lives both compelling and revealing.

Dropped Calls

Dropped Calls will ring like a lost phone and have you scrambling to pick up the call. Should water, food, and even the air we breathe become threatened? Providence assembles at the bugler’s call. When democracy is under threat from our collective complacency, these words shall find meaning in the screaming echoes of two centuries past “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty”.

In this work of fiction, the resonance of truth should challenge the reader’s sagacity so that each person becomes the keystone to the solution. Just like Siddhartha, to read it once is a revelation, and immersed deep in its pages, understanding and enlightenment may develop.

Perhaps some of the people and places in this book are familiar to you. Imagine the events that unfold happening to your loved ones, in your backyard, or on your watch. Prudence necessitates reading Dropped Calls as an act of prevention and a pathway to compassion.

Earth's Princess

All this time Rika thought she was an unwanted child. She keeps moving around to avoid people suspicious about her immortal age and also from her stalkers. But later on, her life turned 180 degrees after learning the truth that had been hidden for so long. Especially when she meets the person that she hates the most and turns out to be her fiancé.

Elvis Never Left the Building

What happens to a man when he is compelled to accomplish something for someone he loved dearly? What if he discovers not only himself, but also awakens the spirit?

Imagine that he finds what it’s like to bring to life heroes and legends, loved and gone. A person who you want to see again! If only...