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Books written by our Guest Authors
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Disaster and Triumph: Sacramento Women, Gold Rush Through the Civil War
Genre: Nonfiction
A thoroughly engaging history of chaotic times, told from the viewpoint of pioneer women who survived major fires, devastating floods, and other disasters, while lending their talents and energies to the development of California’s enduring capital city.
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On Thin Ice: short stories of life and dating after 50
Genre: Short Stories
Written as twelve interconnected stories, this book follows the life and relationships of boomer and immigrant Adrienne from Europe to Western Canada. It shares her discovery of passion and ecstasy in her twenties during the late sixties, her first broken heart, her divorce, her first online dating experiences in her fifties, and so much more.
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Confessions of a Corporate Slut
Genre: Fiction
Roberta conquers a bare-knuckle, male-dominated industry and achieves unparalleled success as an overachieving sales pro, entrepreneur, and corporate manager. But when Roberta decides to give it all up for love, she is oblivious to the astronomical losses she will sustain—including pride, self-esteem and money—the tradeoff she makes to help her CEO husband push his manufacturing company to the pinnacle of its industry.
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Charity Begins At Home
Genre: Traditional Regency
Competent, compassionate, cautious Charity would make the perfect wife. Everyone says so. But Charity wants to be more than the perfect wife. She wants to be beloved. Against the backdrop of a village fete, nobleman and artist Tristan Hale must prove to her that he desires her as much as he esteems her.
Gwen’s Ghost (co-author Lynn Kerstan)
Genre: Paranormal Regency
A swashbuckling, amoral 18th Century rake cut down in a duel at age 27 by a ricocheting bullet fired by a cuckolded husband, Valerian Caine leaps at the chance to regain his human form. But he has to end the 100-year-old family feud launched by that fatal duel and ensure the happiness of the Caine and Sevaric descendants, including the obstinately unhappy and acerbic Gwen Sevaric.
Poetic Justice
Genre: Traditional Regency
A play manuscript written in Shakespeare’s own hand! Standing between John Dryden, a rare-books dealer, and this prize is an obsessed librarian who wants to destroy it… and the heiress who can lead him to it, but only if he’s willing to risk his life, his freedom, and his loner’s heart.
The Reluctant Lady
Genre: Traditional Regency
Is there such a thing as a platonic friendship between a man and a woman? The rakish Earl of Tressilian and virtuous Lady Killeaven are determined to prove it’s true. In decadent Regency London, of course, their friendship proves more scandalous than any affair. And Tressilian, after years of being “just friends,” is starting to wonder if that is, indeed, all he wants to be.
Royal Renegade
Genre: Traditional Regency
In 1811, the Prince has just become Regent, and Napoleon has just started his secret plans to invade Russia. Tatiana, the long-forgotten princess in the Winter Palace, becomes the unwilling pawn to further all their aims. But on the way to her royal marriage, she finds love—with Devlyn, the handsome soldier sent to protect her on her voyage.
The Year She Fell
Genre: Fiction
Confronted by a young man armed with a birth certificate mistakenly naming her as his mother, Ellen Wakefield O’Connor quickly sorts out the truth: his birth mother listed Ellen on the certificate to cover up her own identity, but also because the birth father is Ellen’s troubled husband, Tom. The secrets of the past soon engulf Ellen, Tom, and everyone they love.
The Power Of Point Of View: Make Your Story Come To Life
Genre: Nonfiction
Point of view isn’t just an element of storytelling. It’s the character voice you can hear as clearly as your own. It’s the unique worldview that intrigues readers, persuading them to empathize with your characters and invest in their tale. It’s the masterful concealing and revealing of detail that keeps pages turning and plots fresh. It’s the hidden agenda that makes narrators complicated and compelling.
The Story Within Plot Guide
Genre: Nonfiction
Whether you’re a character-driven writer in search of a plot or a plot-driven writer in search of characters, this is the book you’ve been waiting for. It will help you explore your own story and connect your plot directly to your characters, and vice versa. Using the exercises, you’ll be working towards a more vivid and coherent plot, and vital and active characters.
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On Dark Shores: The Lady
Genre: Fantasy Series (Book 1)
Trapped in fear and poverty after the death of her parents, the thief Nereia will go to desperate lengths to protect her beautiful younger sister from the brutality of Copeland the moneylender. No one has dared to attempt escape before; the whole of Scarlock trembles in his grasp. Only Nereia’s cunning and some unlooked-for help give her hope.
On Dark Shores 2: The Other Nereia
Genre: Fantasy Series (Book 2)
Nereia is faced by a frightening choice. Copeland is getting dangerously unpredictable. And in the blind darkness of the sea-caves under the cliff, Blakey is about to make the acquaintance of the Archangel…. As a sequel to On Dark Shores 1: The Lady, this novella starts with chapter 7 and is gritty and gripping with a rich tapestry of characters and darkly evocative setting. Content contains violence and drug-use.
Parallels: The Black-Eyed Susan (Accompanying short story to the On Dark Shores series) is available free.
JA Clement has also contributed a story to Christmas Lites, an anthology of 26 short stories, featuring Santa, small children, zombies, werewolves, ghosts, and much, much more, by writers from the Creative Reviews group. All proceeds of this book will be donated to the NCADV – National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. More information about this project can be found at 3…2…1… Switch on the Christmas Lites!
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WJ Smith, aka Hugh Centerville
Bobby Slater’s World
Genre: Paranormal Fiction
Summer, 1964, and 13 year old Bobby Slater, one of those rich summer kids up on Baker Lake, meets a local girl, an Indian cutie, and it’s bliss except the girl is fickle. Sometimes she’s sweet and funny, sometimes not, and it’s because she’s living with a 150 year old curse. Bobby will fight the curse, but can he break down the barrier that divides the summer people from the locals? Can he bring them all together to save the girl?
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Retired NOT Expired
Genre: Humorous Short Stories, Nonfiction
A humorous satire of Eda Suzanne’s successful journey from classroom teacher to retiree. Friends warned her she would be a nobody without her job if she dared to retire. However, her hilarious vignettes dealing with the invisible genie that turns her cool home into a sauna, sibling rivalry at sixty, and what it’s like being part of the first truly bionic generation proves that life is anything but dull for retirees with a well programmed GPS for their new life.
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Each Angel Burns
Genre: Women’s Fiction, Romance
The story of three people in their fifties facing crises in their lives: Gabe, the good husband and father, his best friend, Peter, the faithful priest, and Maggie, the sculptor who loves them both.
The Old Mermaid’s Tale
Genre: Women’s Fiction, Romance
An unconventional romance set against the background of the maritime legends and sea lore of the Great Lakes about a romantic young woman who goes looking for a dream in the 1960s and discovers a life-long passion.
My Last Romance and other passions
Genre: Romance, Short Stories
A collection of eight stories about the wonder of discovering love – for people of all ages from girlhood to a former Big Band chanteuse in her sixties.
Fry Bacon. Add Onions
Genre: Nonfiction, Cookbook/Memoir
A combination memoir and family cookbook of 30 posts with nearly 400 recipes collected from family and friends of the author’s “mostly Pennsylvania Dutch” family.
The Mermaid Shawl & other Beauties: Shawls, Cocoons & Wraps
Genre: Nonfiction, Crafts & Hobbies
A collection of original knitted lace designs.
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Threads: The Reincarnation of Anne Boleyn
Genre: Literary, Historical Fantasy-Paranormal, Visionary
In Threads, Anne reviews her life, and several previous lifetimes, and learns about the true depth of her relationship with Henry VIII. Furthermore, she has been given a hard task: to forgive him.
Hang On
Genre: General Fiction, Women’s Fiction
In 1973 “crazy” Holly unexpectedly falls in love with Trevor, a roadie for a famous English rock band. From the moment they meet, dreams of marriage, children, and a normal life are suddenly – finally – within Holly’s grasp. Trevor takes her with him on tour and introduces her to the very un-normal backstage world of Rock and Roll. When she steps onto the band bus, she walks into a colorful, exciting adventure in a world completely different from the life that awaits her back home, where she works at a low-paying job and sleeps to escape the hunger.
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Easy Innocence
Genre: Crime Fiction Thriller
When Sara Long is found bludgeoned to death, it’s easy to blame the man with the bat. But Georgia Davis, former cop and newly-minted PI hired by the accused’s sister, finds hints of a much darker answer. It seems the privileged, preppy schoolgirls on Chicago’s North Shore have learned just how much their innocence is worth.
Doubleback
Genre: Crime Fiction Thriller
When little Molly Messenger is kidnapped, a family friend turns to amateur sleuth Ellie Foreman. Out of her depth, Ellie brings in Chicago PI Georgia Davis, only to have the girl reappear unharmed. After the suspicious death of Molly’s bank manager mother, the trail leads to a paramilitary training camp connected to the bank.
Set The Night On Fire
Genre: Thriller
“A top-rate thriller tapping into the antiwar protests of the 1960s… A jazzy fusion of past and present, Hellman’s insightful, politically charged whodunit explores a fascinating period in American history.” –Publishers Weekly.
An Eye For Murder
Genre: Mystery, Series #1
After taking on a new assignment to produce a campaign video for GOP Senate candidate Marian Iverson, Ellie Forman, a recently divorced suburban mom, uncovers coincidences too startling to ignore. Soon Ellie is digging into a legacy of money and murder dating back to WWII and the Holocaust.
A Picture of Guilt
Genre: Mystery, Series #2
Ellie Forman, divorced mother and producer of documentaries and training films, belatedly realizes that outtakes on one of her features may furnish an alibi for a Chicago dock worker about to go on trial for the brutal murder of his girlfriend.
An Image of Death
Genre: Mystery, Series #3
Ellie Foreman’s receipt of a hand-delivered, unmarked surveillance videotape, apparently showing the cold-blooded murder of a young woman, ensures she gets involved in the police hunt for the woman’s killer, if only at the fringes.
A Shot to Die For
Genre: Mystery, Series #4
Ellie Forman is at a rest stop near Lake Geneva, Wis., when an apparently random shooting snuffs out Daria Flynn, a young woman with whom she’d just been talking. But the shooting turns out to have deep roots that lead back to Lake Geneva and the resort where Ellie had been filming.
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Husbands and Lovers
Genre: Contemporary Women’s Fiction, Romance
Spanning the years from the sullen 70’s to the exuberant 80’s, Husbands and Lovers begins with a gift: a beautiful bracelet in a Tiffany bag and ends with a confrontation between a husband, his wife and the man he believes is her lover. This time the Tiffany bag contains a gun…
Love and Money
Genre: Contemporary Women’s Fiction, Romantic Suspense
Deedee Dahlen and Lana Bantry…rich girl and socialite, poor girl and outcast. Sisters and strangers, they share a father but not an inheritance, a lover but not a commitment. They do not know of each other’s existence and might never have met until their worlds collide when fate — and murder — bring them face to face.
Decades
Genre: Women’s Fiction, Romance
Evelyn, Barbara, Joy—Three modern women, their attitudes formed by three tumultuous decades, bound together by their passion for one self-made man. Nat Baum was ambitious and duplicitous, a doting father and uncertain husband, the ambitious renegade whose boundaries were defined only by the limits of his own imagination.
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With A Dream (Book One: Beyond The Bridge)
Genre: Fiction
Spanning 1966-1971, Book One of this trilogy follows the lives of guitar icon Gordon Hammond, his band, and the people inextricably linked to them through music and fame, as Gordon’s talent and the band’s innovative sound skyrocket them to the top of the charts in Swinging London at the height of the British Invasion.
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The Templar Concordat
Genre: Political/Religious Thriller
When the Hashashin steal what the Vatican doesn’t even know it has, the infallible decrees of two Twelfth Century popes and three kings catapult the bigotry, bias, and religious blood baths of the Third Crusade straight into the Twenty-First Century.
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Husbands May Come and Go but Friends are Forever
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Elizabeth Reilly-Hayden wants only to maintain the status quo: her long-term significant other, her job, and her friends—five feisty women she first met in high school. But when the three anchors that have kept her moored are ripped away, Liz learns how disappointment and grief can bloom into healing and hope.
Lee Sinclair
Dee Ernst
Sharon Tillotson
Lynn Schneider
Sandra Nachlinger
