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Helen Bonaparte

by Sarah D'Stair

Middle-aged, middling academic Helen Bonaparte has left her husband and children at home for a week-long Italian group tour with strangers. Happy with her home life, but needing self-renewal, she intends to sulk in the corners of buses and museums for a week, indulging in great art but scowling the rest of the world away.

Until, that is, she meets Marieke, the tour guide, who becomes the object of erotic fantasies Helen didn't even know she had. As each day passes, Helen's home ... more

The Book of Izzy

by Ben Gonshor

Izzy’s a writer at wit’s end in life, with love, and on the verge of a complete breakdown with his career in wedding planning. Following an encounter with a mysterious bird seemingly visible only to him, he soon finds himself agreeing to take on the leading role in an amateur production of the greatest play in all of the Yiddish theatre: The Dybbuk, a gothic tale of destiny, possession and the triumph of love over all. But when the play’s director dies suddenly and the theatre is threatened with... more

Wreck and Return

by Tom Kranz

Griffin Ambrose’s passion is being a volunteer EMT in his New Jersey town. But his paycheck is his full time job across the river in a New York newsroom. The commuting grind, the 24/7 stresses and the push-pull of the two worlds weigh heavily on him. Self-medication is the easy solution until it starts to get in the way of everything that matters. A disastrous ambulance transport, a dead patient and injured responders change everything. His exile from EMS is complete. He loses his job, ... more

I Thought I Knew

by Melissa Trombetta

It’s 1995 in Upstate New York, and Nicole Doherty is days away from her college graduation— that is, if she graduates—ready to move into her own apartment and start a new job in a prestigious accounting firm when an unseen assailant attacks her, only steps away from the safety of her dorm, changing her forever. Nicole is desperate to move on, vowing never to tell anyone what happened to her, but her past continues to follow her and pull her back. She’s forced to relearn how to trust herself... more

Hazardous Lies

by Greenleaf Book Group

A loud blast in the early morning shakes a neighborhood and alarms a community. An unthinkable tragedy has occurred: an explosion at a chemical plant has left workers dead and the son of a state senator missing. Plant management, emboldened by powerful political allies, scrambles to hide the real cause. It’s up to Jon Barrett, a new investigator for the government, to discover the truth. Haunted by his role in an earlier fatal accident, he struggles to find the courage to fight for answers. A... more

The Mender

by Jennifer Marchman

Mender EVA, a true believer in the cult of LUX LIBERA, has dedicated her life to merging the multiverse’s reality into the one True timeline. Partnered with fellow assassin TOPHE, she travels through time and space to complete missions for her organization, often thwarting the good deeds of history’s heroes. Highly skilled in martial arts, culture, and languages, Eva and Tophe boast an unblemished record of success and hope to be promoted to new leadership positions. Tasked with a new mission, E... more

Homing

by Marc L. Carrier

A man must repatriate his dementia stricken father from his trailer court in Florida back to Montreal. After a disastrous dementia fueled encounter at Miami International airport, the pair must make the trip in the father's vintage Chrysler. See it as a dysfunctional road trip!

Private Cummings

by Pete McGinty

A man and a boy whose lives unexpectedly connect are impacted in improbable ways. Private Hank Cummings didn’t ask for the fate that befell him during his service in WWll. Saving the lives of three men from the burning wreckage of a B-29 left him a hero, albeit scarred and disabled. But when his personal secret was revealed, he recoiled into a life of seclusion and solitude for much of his adulthood. Never losing his spirit and will to endure, he persevered through his hardships, finding... more

Gunmetal Ridge

by Jeffrey C Morris

A chance encounter between a young adult and an aged World War II veteran in a senior care center on the winter solstice in 2018 leads to an unusual friendship between the two men. The older man recounts his war memories to the younger man over the course of the next three days, and in the process, comes to grips with a memory of his service, and the ramifications that ensued, that has haunted the veteran for over seventy years.

Street

by Alyssa D. Metcalfe

1970s New York City is borderline bankrupt. Police departments, public schools and other municipalities are struggling under massive layoffs, buildings are abandoned, and the streets are rife with crime and drugs. For Johnny Alvarez, a precocious young runaway, the decay and lawlessness offer camouflage and opportunity. He squats in an empty apartment in a derelict Washington Heights tenement and gathers a gang of streetwise kids, most of whom struggle with their own issues. Johnny is haunted by... more

Raise the Wind

by Sarah Shaw

1772: Across the globe people struggle for freedom and justice against the stranglehold of entrenched wealth and power. New knowledge and inventions are changing the world at a breathtaking pace, upsetting the old order even as new notions of equality and human rights seize the public conscience. In this world turned upside down young bride Emily McFarland finds herself far from home and safety, living on disputed land in Colonial Georgia while Zoeth Sinclair struggles to keep his fledgling ... more

A China Farewell

by May Hsu

Born in China during a quiet space between Civil War clashes and the Second Sino-Japanese war, Tsai Zongshi was taught that the love and loyalty of family can overcome any conflict.

But when the Communist Party finally claims victory and rises to power at the same time that Zongshi reaches adulthood, he finds himself uncertain as to where he belongs in the new world order.

Assailed by the Party and distanced from his parents, Zongshi wonders whether he will surviv... more

Scorpius

by Monty Ryan

In the Roman Empire, where chariot racing reigns as the deadliest and most popular sport, an epic tale unfolds. Tethered to four horses, racing at breakneck speeds in fragile chariots, men risk everything for the hope of fame and glory. Orphaned young slave boys in the Empire like Scorpius have few other options to free themselves from bondage, and through a chance encounter the child enters the lucrative and perilous contests to gamble his life on victory. As he hones his skills, the stakes sky... more

The Cardinal and the Crook

by Sal Tocco

On a damp, dreary evening a young unwed mother abandons her two infant sons. The twin brothers, James and John, are adopted by a loving and nurturing father. As they grow older, their distinct personalities become more evident and each chooses a divergent path. Despite impassioned pleading from his brother, James makes a fateful choice which results in deadly consequences. John enters the priesthood and years later, upon learning of his elevation to cardinal, reflects—through a series o... more

To Unshakable Bliss: A Techie's Adventure

by Serene Rishi

We embark on life’s journeys, bursting with dreams and ambitions destined for greatness. With each hard-won peak, the expected bliss proves fleeting. New milestones pass, achievements accumulate, and yet, lasting happiness dangles just out of reach before the next desire hijacks its hope. How does anyone find enduring fulfillment impervious to life's unpredictable turbulences in our fast-paced modern times? This philosophical novel chronicles a Silicon Valley technologist, Qayum, whose tumult... more

Porgy & Bess in New York - The Sequel

by Denisha Hardeman, Harold Goldberg, Frada Goldberg

Our story tells how Porgy, a crippled Black beggar in Charleston's Catfish Row, learns that the love of his life, Bess, has been drugged and taken to New York by Sportin’ Life. Porgy is determined to rescue her, and must overcome immense obstacles to get to New York to find her. In her cocaine haze, Bess yearns for Porgy but feels helplessly dependent on Sportin' Life. From his illegal businesses Sportin’ Life has become a wealthy patron of the artists and writers of the Harlem Renaissance. W... more

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