Books
A Stewed Observation : Karen C. Whalen
A Stewed Observation
A Stewed Observation is the fourth book in a culinary cozy mystery series.
In Stewed, the Gourmet Dinner Club travels to Ireland to enjoy Irish cuisine while staying at a medieval, ivy-covered castle.
Jane hopes Dale will ask her to marry him at this romantic dream destination. But her plans are put on hold when the elderly owner of the castle becomes violent, one of the club members tries to restrain him, and he collapses and dies. The police believe the mysterious death is murder and begin to suspect one of the club’s members.
Dale leaves for home on a business emergency, and as the lone single gal in the club full of couples, Jane is thrown into the company of the handsome Irishman who stands to inherit the castle. Jane must prove her friends innocent by solving the crime.
The gourmet dinner club wanted a vacation. Instead, they’re trapped in the middle of a murder mystery, while Jane uncovers which one of the sweet-tempered Irish could be a callous killer.
Book Links
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Amazon Author Page
On Amazon
Writs of Madness : Jeffrey Valdes
Writs of Madness: Poems from Insanity
“Writs of Madness: Poems from Insanity” is a collection of poems I wrote over the ten years I have suffered so far with bipolar paranoid schizophrenia.
The collection is organized beginning with the most recently written poems done in a more lucid state of mind and gradually progress to writings that more accurately reflect a psychotic, hallucinating mind. The poems are left as raw and unedited as possible, so as to provide a quality image of the inner workings of a mentally ill mind-frame.
Some of the poems, at times, can be rather graphic and somewhat disturbing. As the reader progresses through the book, they will notice a change in writing style several times, as some poems reflect dreams, hallucinations, and the impact of psychosis. The writings get more and more unstable as the book progresses, but continue to provide an entertaining, insightful view of the soul and mind of the author.
This collection chronicles that past ten years of the author’s life, who has always wanted to be an artist to some degree. The notion of creating something from nothing is very appealing and has driven the impulse to write down the stylized dreams that occur with immense frequency every night. During several periods of reading this poetry, the reader will encounter how the author coped with hallucinations, depression, mania, self-harm, and other toxic behavior.
There are no notes or commentary in this book save for the introduction. The author wished that the poems spoke for themselves, and he invites the reader to attempt to distinguish between lucid periods and truly psychotic moments. This is the second book published by this author; the first being a memoir of the author’s experience with mental illness. This first book includes the detailed story of the author’s experiences and also contains more in-depth short stories that sprang out of the author’s illness. It can be found on the author’s page.
Book Links
On Amazon
Placenta Praevia : Lyn lopez
Placenta Praevia: Chronicles of Baby Cait
This is a relatively true and funny account of Baby Cait’s tortures meted out upon an unsuspecting first-time mom, Lyn. Lyn fumbles her way as a parent through the first 24 months of Cait’s life, literally via a comedy of errors. For the first time in her life, Lyn cannot control the narrative. She therefore becomes frustrated and is perturbed that she cannot master what is probably the most important job of her life.
Have you always been pretty damned good at what you do? Always poised, brimming with confidence and zeal? Only to flunk big time at what you thought was the most natural role in the world, (a mother)?.Did you give birth and then realized that your maternal instincts have remained woefully, bloody dormant? Have you been bested by your baby?
Join Lyn and her daughter Cait, as they both attempt to navigate their way along an intertwined journey – getting to understand each other and helping Cait (and Lyn) to grow up. While Cait goes through the major markers from a newborn, to a bouncy baby, into a toddler, Lyn struggles to find her rudder as a parent against Cait’s mutinies. These capers turn into rather comical scenes when Lyn tries to apply corporate logic and structure in what she deems to be hostile territory, ie in baby’s world.
Finally, we see, with time, Lyn appears to pull though the crisis, largely unscathed. She even begins to outwit Caitlyn. She slowly takes back the captaincy. As they both become less tempestuous, Lyn begins to enjoy the relationship with Caitlyn. In the end, loves conquers all challenges.
The Grid Warrior : KC Martin
The Grid Warrior
It is the year 2031 and computing is at a stage where players use reality suits in order to physically enter the gaming world.
Paul Wilson and his brother Simon are research professors at Portsmouth University and gaming is not just their job, but their life. Their lives have been dedicated to creating this technology but when a transition between the real world and the gaming world for Paul goes disastrously wrong, their lives are changed forever, and a desperate fight for survival begins.
Improvise, Adapt and Overcome : Andrew Erich
Improvise, Adapt and Overcome: A Dysfunctional Veteran’s Guide to PTSD
What is written within, is an accounting of the effects of PTSD on my family.
It is a tale of our struggles, our pain, our search for understanding and the lessons we have learned. It shares our story, the victories and the defeats (the numbers of which are countless) and how we live and learn together every day in order to make our life, as a family, a little bit more bearable. It contains hope, humor and compassion.
It provides a list of strategies that we have used to make our family stronger.
It is our story: Real and Raw.
Book Links
On Amazon
Benny Learns a Lesson : J. F. Prieto
Benny Learns a Lesson
Benny hopes that his aunt falls in love with his frog friend, but can it really be that simple?
A heartwarming story about friendship, and learning from our mistakes.
Best enjoyed by children between ages 4 and 7.
Book Links
Website
Pinterest
Goodreads
Amazon Author Page
On Amazon
Chinawoman’s Chance : James Musgrave
Chinawoman’s Chance: Portia of the Pacific Historical Mysteries (Volume 1)
Before there was #metoo there was Clara Shortridge Foltz. She fought for and gained women’s rights before women could vote, make contracts, or have any control over their own bodies as sexual beings.
Now you can see how it was in California before civil rights became an issue for anyone but males. Clara Shortridge Foltz, Esq. is the first woman admitted to the State Bar of California. It is 1884 in San Francisco’s Chinatown.
This is the first murder case in which Clara must defend her Chinese client in court. After she loses her murder trial in a male-dominated, racist kangaroo courtroom, she must then trap the real killer. Captain Isaiah Lees assists her and teaches her the methods of street detective work.
Will her young client be hanged before she can trap the real killer?
Book Links
Website
Facebook (book)
Facebook (publisher)
Twitter
Amazon Author Page
On Amazon
The Nevalys Saga: Elizabeth : Marek Olejarz
The Nevalys Saga: Elizabeth
The first chapter of the Nevalys Saga is a thrilling contemporary adventure novel that combines science fiction and fantasy elements in one engaging storyline.
In 1682 England, before publishing his famous Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, Isaac Newton asked one of his disciples to explore a theory about the origins of all physical forces around us, including gravity, time and sound.
Unfortunately, this scientist was killed before sharing the result of his surprising research. Before dying, he left his young daughter, Elizabeth, the secret of this discovery hidden inside a mysterious package…
Three centuries later, in 2018, a student, Mikael, became against his will a scientific experiment directly related to this enigmatic discovery in the past.
Chased by a formidable adversary and assisted by Anna, Mikael will have to unravel the mystery of his surgery.
Follow Elizabeth and Mikael over two time periods and across oceans in this first book written by Marek Olejarz.
Book Links
Website
Facebook
Linkedin
Amazon Author Page
On Amazon
The Big Little Rainbow : Gordon D. Tucker
The Big Little Rainbow
Mark’s happiness quickly turns to fear when he is approached by two bullies. That all changes when a new friend arrives to help Mark…and to help the bullies?
A children’s book for all ages.
The Big Little Rainbow is a charmingly-written and beautifully-illustrated story about a special little rainbow who speaks to the child in all of us. It helps us understand that when we embrace and value our differences, we have the magic to stop senseless acts like bullying and discrimination.
The Big Little Rainbow encourages us all to imagine a world without war and a world filled with acceptance and inclusion.
The story’s message is heart-warming and inspiring. It helps us realize that just as different colors come together to create a beautiful rainbow, we can work side-by-side and embrace our differences to create a happier world.
Snuggle up with your little ones tonight and make The Big Little Rainbow your special bedtime story. Let them bring the positive, inspiring messages of the Big Little Rainbow into their dreams.
Acts of kindness today makes a happier world tomorrow.
Book Links
Facebook
Twitter
On Amazon
High Time : Tony Whelpton
High Time
High Time is essentially a story of the problems faced by a mixed-race married couple and their children, and of the long quest to repair the links broken many years earlier by a family dispute.
Eight year old Ruth Reid has a major preoccupation in her life, summed up by the question she keeps asking her mother, and which her mother never answers: ‘Why don’t I have a grandma or a grandad? All my friends at school do!’
Why doesn’t Ruth’s mother answer? Partly because she thinks Ruth is too young to be told, partly because she is afraid that the answer will reopen old wounds in her heart.
Ruth’s mother, Susan, is a white working-class girl from Nottingham, who ran away to London with her boyfriend Courtney, a black immigrant from Jamaica, after constant rows with her parents, and after Courtney was assaulted in what the national newspapers termed the ‘Nottingham Race Riots’ in 1958.
But Ruth has to wait until she is an adult herself to find out the truth, and vows that one day she will be reunited with her lost grandparents.
In 1986 Ruth and her husband move to Nottingham with their little girl Emily, and as a fortuitous consequence of arranging a Christmas party with a visiting Father Christmas, her dream is finally realised. Her story is complex and captivating, and, despite some serious setbacks on the way, is ultimately resoundingly successful.
Book Links
Website
Facebook
Twitter
On Amazon UK
On Amazon