Dog is Little Cat’s best friend…but soon she realizes that SHE may not be Dog’s best friend. Is she being LEFT OUT? What is so special about Mr. Fuzzby? He can’t possibly be a better friend than Little Cat… right?

Little Cat sets out on a mission to learn what makes Mr. Fuzzby tick. But what she discovers will surprise children and parents alike!

With relatable, child-like animal characters and comical illustrations, Little Cat Feels Left Out will engage and elate even the of youngest readers. Be prepared to read it again… and again!

Created by a mother and former teacher, this book quietly delves into the complex emotions of being a friend and feeling left out. While laughing at Little Cat’s antics, readers will make connections between choice and forgiveness in creating and maintaining real life friendships.

Targeted Age Group:: 4-8

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
After writing my first book, “Little Cat Needs Space,” I had several fantastic conversations “what if” conversations with elementary students. One student got very excited about the idea of Mr. Fuzzby taking over the storyline and another student thought Little Cat and Mr. Fuzzby should pair up. I decided the two storylines together could create a nice tension and illustrate a common connection: Feeling Left Out. I say “feeling” because Little Cat— like all of us— has a choice how she responds to that feeling. No one should ever stay feeling left out… but within that we all have choices that we can make.

How Did You Come up With Your Characters?
I am an huge animal lover… cats are probably my favorite. So it was no surprise to family and friends that my characters were animals. My characters were based primarily off our own house pets. Little Cat is actually modeled after our black rotund house cat, Mia who befriended our old harlequin colored Great Dane, Rembrandt. Mr. Fuzzby is based off my favorite stuffed animal as a kid— a pink cat called “Pinky.” Most children have a favorite toy or stuffed animal they carried with them everywhere… even to college, right? I wanted my characters be be child-like and quirky in their own ways. Just like (most of) us!

Book Sample
Dog and Little Cat are the very best of friends. And one really great friend is all Little Cat really needs. But could it be that Dog feels he needs more than one friend?

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There is sunshine after the rain!

Daryl Philips discovered that the sun will shine again after unexpectedly losing the love of his life right after the birth of their daughter. During the worst of his personal storm, Darryl was ready to give in to his grief. His father stepped up and showed his son just how resilient he is.

Melvin Philips showed the world the true definition of the word father. He helped his son discover that the sun really does shine after the rain pours down…and if you are really lucky, you will get to witness the miracle of a rainbow.

When Melvin falls ill, Daryl realizes that it is his turn to step up. It is time for him to be there for the man who was always there for him.

With a little help from his friends, will Daryl be able to help Melvin realize a long forgotten dream?

Targeted Age Group:: 18+

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
The prequel to this story ~ After the Rain ~ was a Father's Day gift for my husband. I wanted to do something special to honor him and his father. After the story was finished, I realized that these characters weren't done telling their story. I was excited when presented the opportunity to join in on the soda shop series and knew it would be a perfect place for the rest of Darryl and Melvin Phillips' story.

How Did You Come up With Your Characters?
Melvin Phillips was inspired by my father-in-law. Darryl Phillips was inspired by husband. Sandra was inspired by my mother-in-law.

Book Sample
Chapter Two
Darryl
“Dad?” I called out as I walked into the house that I grew up in. These familiar walls were filled with so many memories. My life was displayed on the wall in the living room in color and in chronological order. I couldn’t imagine raising my own family anyplace else. Looking around at my family history displayed on the walls, I couldn’t help the smile that pulled at my lips when my eyes fell on a picture of me and my dad working in the garage together. Walking past the snapshot of time, my hand instinctively went to the smooth wooden frame that housed the picture.
“Shh! He’s sleeping,” my step-mother whispered as she walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. I noticed a look of concern had settled on her beautiful face. Sitting down in my dad’s favorite chair and pulling his old, tattered blanket up over her legs, she looked over at me with a sad smile.
“The old man’s sick, isn’t he?” I inquired as I sat down in the chair next to her. A familiar feeling of dread washed over me as I waited with bated breath for her to answer. I wasn’t ready to lose him too.
“I don’t know,” Sandra admitted as she let her head fall back and rest on the cushion of the old chair. Memories of my dad sitting in that chair while my mother was sitting in the one right next to it with smiles on their faces and love for each other in their hearts flashed through my mind. I couldn’t help the smile that pulled at my lips. They were perfect for each other and, as much as I loved Sandra, I wished that mother didn’t have to leave us like she did. I knew that she didn’t want to go. She fought a valiant battle, but in the end cancer won.
“Have you talked to Doc Wilkes?” I asked as my smile faded, afraid of what was coming next.
Lifting her head to meet my gaze, “I have.” The rise of and fall of her chest as she inhaled and exhaled was hypnotizing.
“And?” I asked, needing and afraid to know what was going on with my father.
“You know that Doc Wilkes would not tell me anything that your father didn’t want me to know.”
“But you’re his wife,” I whined. I knew I sounded just like a little boy, but if there was something bad going on my dad would not want us to know about it. He would do anything he could to protect us.
Sitting up in her chair and taking a deep breath, Sandra reached out a hand and grabbed mine. The look on her face was one of fear mixed with love. It was the same look that my dad had when he had told me about my mother. It was also the same look he had on his face when he walked into the hospital nursery and broke the news about my first wife. Taking a deep breath, “You’re going to have to talk to your father.” The defeat that had settled over Sandra confirmed my worst fears.
“Not again.” The worlds tumbled from my lips as the tears started to fall down my face. I was not ready to lose the man that had always been there for me.

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HOW WOULD YOUR LIFE AND BUSINESS BE DIFFERENT IF YOU COULD MULTIPLY YOUR SALES AND INCREASE YOUR PRICES IN THE NEXT 30 DAYS

Discover the secret branding experts don’t want you to know.

More than 4 years of research, 34 entrepreneurs interviewed, $30,000 invested, hundreds of enemies made along the way, 1 attempted lynching, barred from the lucrative circle of ‘experts’… All this just to be able to share the best kept secrets of the branding world with you, secrets that will enable you to build your brand for much less money than you think.

Targeted Age Group:: 20-55

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
I wanted to help small business and entrepreneurs to create their brands with very little money.

Book Sample
1.1. The idea.

The idea behind writing this book came to me in 2012 when, during one of my MBA classes at the University of Alicante, Fernando Olivares, professor of Business Image and Identity, was explaining the various branding strategies employed by businesses and how some of these strategies were generally reserved for companies with an annual turnover of $40m or more.

Forty millions! Were all of the students sitting in that hall with me really aspiring to – or able to – manage a business of such proportions? It was even more absurd given that, with the economic status we all found ourselves in at the time, it would be enough of a miracle if those self-same businesses employed us as cashiers, shelf stackers or interns.

My own personal reason for studying the MBA was to arm myself with all of the tools necessary to realize my own projects (which were and are numerous and varied), with the aim of increasing their chances of success.

Did Fernando mean that managing our own identities would have to be left till later? That us entrepreneurs needn’t worry about the image projected by our company at first, or that branding was only something for big business?

Of course not! And I knew as much. From the moment I began my journey as an entrepreneur back in 2004, I have come across a variety of tools and learned numerous strategies that aren’t taught on any MBA – for many reasons that I won’t go into here, as they would take up a whole other book – which allow any entrepreneur to create a great brand regardless of their annual turnover.

Based on my own personal experiences, I decided to carry out some research, which lasted for over 4 years and which I currently still add to and update, with the aim of discovering new and/or better ways to manage each and every aspect of building a great brand at a low, low price, if not for free.

I hope that everything I have discovered during my research, and which is captured here in this book, is as fascinating for you as it has been for me. I hope it spurs you on and above all, helps you to create a powerful brand that takes you a few steps closer to realizing your business dreams.

1.2. The research.

To give you a bit of background and show you how I went about performing this research, which led me to discover how to create a low cost brand, I’d like to explain the 4 steps that made up the process:

A. Reviewing books.
B. Interviewing entrepreneurs.
C. Attending events about branding.
D. Google searches.

A. Reviewing books.
The first step in my research was to find out if there were already any books dealing with the topic I wanted to address.

However, all of the books I found on branding were purely theoretical, written only with big business in mind (even when their titles suggested otherwise) and aimed at either students of the subject or branding professionals.

In my opinion one of the reasons for this is the lack of importance which, until now, has been attached to brand management in terms of the global success of a business, and because branding has generally been a subject dealt with only in university circles.

The boom of entrepreneurship, the ease of creating a startup thanks to the Internet, and the endless technological tools available to us make it necessary – now more than ever – for brands to stand out ahead of their competitors.

In this context, creating a powerful brand becomes a necessity for entrepreneurs, independent professionals and SMEs.

If you’d like to learn more about the history of branding, delve into its terminology, or discover new theories proposed by self-proclaimed “branding gurus”, you will easily find 100s of books on the subject. However, if you’re a business person or entrepreneur and what really interests you is creating your brand without investing vast sums of money, then this is the book for you.

B. Interviewing entrepreneurs.
The next step was to search for businesses and entrepreneurs who fulfilled one sole requirement: having created a recognized brand on limited economic resources.

When it came to choosing my interviewees, I searched among the winners and participants of various competitions for young entrepreneurs organized and held on an international scale over previous years.

Once I’d chosen them, I would get in touch to explain my project and request a face to face interview, or via video conference, and most of them were happy to oblige.

I have to admit that I really enjoyed these interviews and I met some wonderful people with whom, surprisingly, I had more in common than many of my lifelong friends.

As I completed the interviews, I realized that although each interviewee posed themselves as “low cost”, that wasn’t always strictly the truth. In fact less than 10% of the entrepreneurs I interviewed met the requirements I had set out, while the rest in reality had considerably more equity at their disposal: some because they were from a rich family, others because they already owned other businesses, others still because they had sought external investment. None of this diminishes their merit in the slightest, but they were sadly no longer useful to my research as they didn’t fit in with the type of entrepreneur – the profile – that I was looking for. Given they had sufficient money to back them, why would they waste time searching for low cost strategies and tools? To illustrate with a couple examples: one of these “entrepreneurs” had spent more on the design of his logo ($2,000), and another on registering his brand ($1,000) than I propose to spend on the entire branding strategy, including, among other things, logo design and trademark registration.

Although I was able to take away more or less valuable lessons from each company interviewed, I saw with my own eyes that the businesses that had strong financial backing did things very differently from those whose budget was closer to $0. The latter are the ones that, without a doubt, afforded me the most relevant information with which to craft my book.

During the course of these interviews, I discovered a strange thing that helped me understand why nobody had written this book until now. Among those entrepreneurs that had created their brand using very limited resources, there were very few willing to disclose their “secrets”, attributing much of their success to these.

An example of this is outlined below, and came up in the first interview I carried out:

– No way, not without a confidentiality agreement. I would be grateful if you would abstain from recording the interview. I’m sure we’re not the only ones to request as much.
– In fact – I replied – my colleagues have met with the Head of Communications from companies such as BBVA and Inditex, and they had no such issues.
– Of course not, such large companies have no issue with sharing how they do what they do, because no one can afford to copy them and compete with them. But our know-how is our most valued resource, and we have no plans to share it – he concluded –

C. Attending events on branding.
The third step in my research was aimed at amassing the largest number of useful tools mentioned at any events or training activities on branding.

During the course of my investigations I became virtually addicted to these types of event and I attended every course, workshop, conference, etc. on branding, as well as other related topics, that I could find, and which I deemed enriching for my research and book.

As with the interviews of entrepreneurs, I genuinely enjoyed these events, meeting incredible people and forging solid friendships, sharing my concerns and being made to feel slightly more normal in a world which, until this point, seemed to be completely up against me. If you’re an entrepreneur and you’re frustrated that your family and friends don’t see things your way, and think that you’re a bit weird, then you’ll take to such events like a duck to water.

Unfortunately, I would have to say this was the main benefit of attending so many of these events, because even though you come away from some of them with a few tools or strategies to help you manage your brand more efficiently, many of them (especially the free ones) have an entirely different agenda.

I was to discover that such events are used by branding agencies and professionals as an excellent means of acquiring new clients. Which in principle is fine, if it weren’t for the fact that to gain as many new clients as possible, it’s vital to ensure the attendees don’t learn too much, or anything at all, during the event itself. The most common formula is to present some strategies, actions or tasks required to create a successful brand (SEO, social media etc.) in such a complicated, technical way that you arrive at the logical conclusion that the best thing to do would be to contract the services of a professional instead of doing things for yourself!

I’m not criticizing the recommendation that certain things are best left to the experts. I wholeheartedly agree with that. Good brand management does not require you to learn to do everything yourself, not even close. What I’m criticizing here is that, if the idea behind these events isn’t to teach something, they shouldn’t be presented as training sessions where you can “learn to…”, “find out all you need to know about…” and other common ways of describing the supposed benefits of attending such activities.

Although this seemed pretty obvious to me by that point, I decided to check one final time. To this end, I got in touch with the organizers of a few conferences (both free and paying), offering myself as an expert speaker on branding and indicating that I was in the process of finalizing my book on the very subject. All of the organizers welcomed my proposal with open arms – at least to begin with. Unfortunately, further down the line when I hinted I would comment on and analyze the tools I’ll be teaching you to use in this book, I was quickly, and fairly rudely, ruled out as a speaker.

The phrase used by one of the organizers to justify his rejection of my participation only serves to confirm my theory about the aims of many of these training events: “We’re not going to just let you go out there and shoot us in the foot”.

D. Google searches.
As you already know, Google is the most well known, most frequently used search engine in the world. That’s why the 4th step in my research was to exploit Mr. Google to ensure I was leaving no stone unturned.

With time to spend, and knowing where and how to search, Google can provide you with various strategies, tricks and tools which will help you manage your brand in a much more efficient way.

If that wasn’t enough, in my particular case Google proved to be not only an excellent means of discovering tricks and tools which would never make it through the selection process at branding events or a publishing company’s strict criteria, but also helped me to discover that (thanks to Google Alerts) a group of designers and programmers were getting organized to, and I quote, “FIND AND LYNCH ME”.

Turns out that, as I’ve already said, not everyone is happy about me spilling the secrets that I’m sharing in this book.

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The year is 1893. Rosie Weston, fireman, is working on an overnight passenger train to the World’s Fair. Her routine shift has turned into a nightmare, beginning with a peculiar trunk in the baggage car. Worse, a passenger has gone missing. Can Rosie discover the truth behind the cargo before more passengers go missing?

Strange Happenings is a series of short stories set in an alternate timeline, where science and the unknown mix. Much like a penny dreadful, each story is meant to be enjoyed in a single sitting.

Something Happened on the Way to the World’s Fair is the first installment of Strange Happenings.

Targeted Age Group:: Adult

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
I have a love of monster movies, Nikola Tesla, Gothic tropes, and female leads. I combined all of these elements into a fun, fast-paced short story that leads into a penny dreadful-style serial.

How Did You Come up With Your Characters?
This doesn't happen to me very often as a writer, because I'm a plotter, but my characters seemed to take on a life of their own as I was working on my outline. It was more like the characters told me who they were than me forming them.

Book Sample
The firebox flames danced on Rosie Weston's skin, highlighting white and bronze vitiligo as she shoveled in one last load of coal. The steam engine was hungry, demanding more fuel in the pelting rain. Rosie hung the shovel by the coal pile and stretched her burning muscles.
"That should do until the last stretch to Chicago."
Honora Quaman grunted in response, eyes fixed on the locomotive's gauges. She was the engineer Rosie was apprenticing under. To Rosie's dismay, the wiry crone kept to herself.
Undaunted, Rosie tried again. "Are you staying for the Fair?"
"No. Too much work to do."
Rosie settled in her rear-facing window seat and fished her leather logbook out from under the chair. A colorful flyer for the World's Fair served as a bookmark. It highlighted details for a spectacular opening ceremony and demonstrations from Nikola Tesla. Rosie turned to the marked page and sketched schematics for the coal-shoveling device she was building in her head.
"Are you writing in your diary again?"
"It's a logbook!"
Honora snorted. "Whatever you say."
Rosie was deep into her sketch when a yellow lantern signaled in her peripheral vision. It was then Rosie realized all the passenger cars were dark. Even during the night a few should have been lit for safety.
Rosie jumped up, knocking her logbook to the floor. Grateful her coal-stained cheeks hid her blush, she stashed it in the back pocket of her coveralls. "Patrick's signaling me. It's the lights again. Are you set here?"
"I've got this." Honora turned to Rosie, scowling. "Those damn lights are more trouble than they're worth. Passengers are too pampered these days. Electric lights for overnight trains. Ridiculous."
"Careful, or you'll be starting your stories with, 'back in my day.' Don't you like being able to see? It could be so much worse. Remember the belt system?" Rosie shuddered. "It was so unreliable."
Honora rolled her eyes. She went back to the front of the cab. "Don't forget your tools and come back quickly. There's a sharp turn in 45. I'll need extra eyes."
"I forgot once." Rosie muttered, but she double-checked her tool belt before jotting down the time in her logbook. 1:16 am.
Outside, Rosie scaled the tender with ease, mindful of her kerosene lantern. A few years as brakeman gave her all the practice she needed to fearlessly scramble over moving trains in any weather. Still, she envied Honora, who was warm and dry in the cab. By the time Rosie was in the darkened baggage car, she was soaked. A third of the car served as the mechanical room, while the rest stored luggage and the railway workers' personal effects. Rosie hesitated before grabbing a towel in her locker and drying off as best as she could. The coal dust combined with rain left the towel patterned light and dark like her skin.
Moving to the mechanical side, Rosie quickly spotted a loose terminal on the transformer. She turned off the huge circuit breaker and set about tightening the terminal by the lamplight. With another throw of the breaker switch, the Tesla coil crackled to life. White-blue electricity sparked around the machine, bathing everything in the car with an eerie glow. The light bulbs on the cargo side of the car lit up. Rosie smiled, satisfied with her work.
A thud sounded over the humming Tesla coil made Rosie jump. She hopped over the low barrier separating the cargo from the generator. It was normal for trunks to shift as the train barreled down the tracks. Because of the fair, though, the cargo this trip was markedly different than usual. Machines and gadgets were carefully wedged between stacks of steamer trunks. She wondered if some of them were for demonstrations.
A trunk caught Rosie's eye. It stuck out at an odd angle from the rows of cargo, and a chain coiled around its middle. The large padlock in the center piqued Rosie's curiosity. She crept towards the trunk. Was it always this crooked? Aside from the heavy chain, the trunk looked no different from any of the others stuffed in the baggage car.
Rosie kneeled next to the trunk. She was careful not to touch it with her coal-stained hands and pressed her ear to the top of it. She shrunk back immediately. The trunk was freezing. She leaned forward to examine it more closely when pounding on the car door closest to the passenger cars made Rosie jump a second time. She scurried away from the trunk.
Rosie slid the door open a fraction of an inch. Outside, the wind whipped around the train.
A woman wearing a burgundy cloak stood at the door, fist poised to knock again. Thin wire spectacles slid down her beaky nose. The howling wind tried but couldn’t drown her voice entirely. "I know passengers aren't permitted in the baggage car, but I'm worried about my equipment. It's delicate. Please let me in."
Rosie hesitated. There was another crack of thunder.
"Please, it'll only take a moment. I'll be ruined if it's damaged."
Rosie stepped back and slid the door open. "Be quick about it." Honora would be furious if she knew.

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What would you do if you were a homosexual in a country where being gay is severely frowned upon and considered a taboo? What is the ultimate price to pay if you were different, gay?

Lagos playboy, son of an ex-beauty Queen; and sole heir to the Johnson fortune, Henry Johnson, is facing a stunning controversy because of his sexual orientation . . . He loves men, yet the thought disgusts him and throws him into turmoil, that is, until he encounters Phoenix, a bisexual male stripper and prostitute who is wildly ambitious and will do anything to climb the social ladder. Phoenix is the one man that opens his eyes to the taste of the forbidden fruit, to what it feels like to hold another man, to kiss another man, and to bed another man.

One taste of the forbidden gay fruit and Henry knows he’s trapped. Trapped between Society’s expectations, his duty to his family, and his hidden love of men. Set against the backdrop of a sprawling, decadent Lagos City, and from there to the outer edges of Eastern Nigeria, where being gay is unimaginable, a gay romance unthinkable, the consequences of being caught frighteningly debilitating and cripplingly suicidal, Behind Closed Doors is a story of hidden passions that take hold in the dark where same sex love thrives.

Henry will be forced to look deep within himself to unearth the man beneath, to make the toughest decisions of his life as it concerns Phoenix, a young man whose destiny becomes irremovably entwined in his. He will have to question everything he holds dear, everything Society has taught him. He will be forced to question his very existence.

Targeted Age Group:: 18+

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
I am Nigerian. I live and work in Nigeria. I have seen effeminate men hated upon in Nigeria and misrepresented in the media. I am a feminine guy myself, and I felt the need to tell a long story from the perspective of a feminine man living in Nigeria. I wanted people to see what it means for someone to be a feminine man in Nigeria and perceived as gay and how that can affect every facet of that person's character. So Behind Closed Doors was born.

How Did You Come up With Your Characters?
I just had them in my head: who they are and how I needed to present them for the narrative in the novel and I went with that.

Book Sample
As the years swept by, Henry Johnson continued to slip silently but surely into the deep pit of despair that had been dug for him the moment he drew away from Phoenix. He was alone in this, not that his family would have noticed, for Rosalie was interested in nothing else except keeping her stunning self more stunning and fresh, and she went at this with a sacred dedication; there was no fitness routine that she was alien to, no beauty secret she wasn’t privy to, and no antics she didn’t employ just to deceive the world as to her age, even going as far as demanding that her grandchildren called her by her name.

As for Fiona, she had gotten admission into the University of Lagos in 2005 to study accounting, so she lived in a one-bedroom flat at Akoka, Yaba, close to the campus five days a week, while she was always home during the weekends to be with the family. Her first set of twins were left in the care of the faithful Mrs. Oyono, the woman who had raised even Henry himself. Two years later, when she felt that the younger twins were old enough to be away from her, she left them too, and then she pursued her studies with zeal, and why won’t she? She had little troubles because she was never short for cash.

Henry felt all that was happening around him like a spectator, and he was desperately dying inside. He had thought that the thing he’d had with Phoenix was nothing more than a phase in his life, but it had turned out to be much more, and it was killing him. He missed his lover with each passing minute, each passing day. Every stunning male face he met reminded him of Phoenix, every light brown skin he saw made him to remember that firm skin and the taut muscles, and he then knew the meaning of heartbreak. He now understood what it really meant when someone was said to have died of heartbreak. He had been mourning the loss of his lover from that moment he had walked away at that police station, and there seemed to be no end in sight for him.

There were ways he could have tried to get back into the game, for Phoenix had taught him. ‘It’s all in the eyes and in the body language,’ Phoenix had told him once. ‘You should know when a guy is interested in you. It doesn’t matter how masculine he is, or how much he tries to tell the world that he hates homos; it always shows. The eyes will always betray them; it shows in the look, in that knowing look he gives to you maybe when you pass him on the street, or when you’re together. Or it could be when you’re shopping in the market, but it is that look that will always betray him.

‘Then there is the body language, the way he prunes and displays his maleness when you’re around him. He may not even understand what is happening to him, but the point is that you can always know a homo when you see him. That is the essence of it. You will have to learn to know them, but please know that being a feminine guy doesn’t make a man gay.’

And they had laughed about it then, but he knew that Phoenix was right with what he had said and how he had said it. And the stab of desire he’d always felt, particularly with Fiona away, made him wish he could just go out and cruise for men to fuck.

One day, he researched on the gay issue with his latest camera phone, and then he called a Dr. Stevens, an American psychologist who had a lot of interest in human sexuality and who was currently staying at the Eko Hotel and Suites for a conference. He had already emailed the doctor about the issue of his sexuality using an untraceable Hotmail address, and the man had responded, telling him to call.

‘Ah, yes, Mr. Brown,’ the doctor said in a crisp American accent. ‘Your email interested me no end. So you’re gay.’

‘Yes. I don’t know what or who triggered it, or why, but I feel very attracted to men; I always have been.’

‘Let me ask you a very simple question, and please give an honest answer. When you were still growing up, did you ever have any encounter with men or other boys?’

‘No man ever had any sexual contact with me when I was growing up; I mean, nobody could dare to try such with me.’

‘Have you acted on those tendencies of yours, Mr. Brown?’

Henry could not prevent a small laugh from bursting forth from his lips. ‘Why, yes; many times. There was this guy I hit it off with perfectly, and I had sex with him a lot. I even think I love him very much.’

‘How old are you, Mr. Brown?’

‘I turned thirty a few months ago. Before you ask any further questions, let me tell you something about my life. I am married, and I have four kids－ two sets of twins; I love all the things that a man is supposed to love, and I do all that a man is supposed to do in his spare time like watch football or play tennis and lift weights with my friends. But in spite of all these, I am gay. Why am I gay, Doctor?’

There was a short pause at the other end of the line, and then the Doctor said coolly, ‘What you have is a case of what we in the medical profession call congenital homosexuality. In some cases, a man’s homosexuality may be determined by environmental factors, but in your own case, you were born gay. And you would like to stop being gay; that is why you wanted to talk to me, isn’t it?’

Henry sighed at the accuracy of the man’s thoughts. ‘Yes.’

‘Mr. Brown, please allow me to tell you this, and I wish to emphasize this to you very well. Homosexuality is not a disease, neither is it a disorder; that much any researcher can tell you of. For you to wish to cure yourself of it is something you may find very hard to do; in fact, it is impossible. Why do some people like vanilla ice cream and others like chocolate? Why do some men like only blond women and some women prefer only feminine men? Why are some men and women attracted to only those of the same sex? There are no straight answers, Mr. Brown; I want you to know that.’

They talked for some moments more, and then Henry hung up. And it was after that conversation with the man that Henry became alive again. That was when he learnt to enjoy the day and also to appreciate the beauty of VI which he had always taken for granted. He now knew that he was not a freak of nature, that there was nothing for him to do about who and what he was. He was a normal young man, and the only difference between him and the others lay in the fact that they liked pussy and he liked cock, so there was nothing to be done about it.

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This collection includes gonzo journalism, flash fiction, creative nonfiction, horror, erotica, and slipstream. Check out the indoor Christmas tree that avoids giving up the ghost and grows roots. Don’t miss the ghost Olga who appears in the sauna and the strange tale of the Vista Inn. The award-winning creative nonfiction pieces focus on the true story adventures of the writer’s Hawaiian grandmother and teenage Hansen’s Disease patients forced to live at the Kalaupapa Colony on Moloka’i. Reoccurring characters help unify the book. This title is a great primer for would-be writers because it offers a multi-genre overview of literature.

Targeted Age Group:: 18+

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
The selected stories were written and published in literary reviews and university magazines worldwide over the past decade. The inspiration came mostly from traveling overseas during teaching assignments and the desire to capture new surroundings and people. Consider the pieces as snapshots.

How Did You Come up With Your Characters?
My characters are rooted in family members and strangers who fascinate me. I suppose you could say I rely on a vignette approach when jotting down observations at busy places like coffee shops, airports, and train stations.

Book Sample
LAWS OF ATTRACTION

SHE LOVED HIM because he worshipped her. Her style of love operated more out of loyalty than attraction, the way an owner is loyal to a dog that fawns and slobbers. Sex with him was tolerable. It did excite her that he’d abandoned his wife and three children to be with her. She used his worship as a platform to support her movie star ambitions, even though she was over forty and had never been on film except unaccredited roles as waitresses, hookers, and faces in the mob. She ached to be famous. He knew her passion and gave her foot rubs whenever she felt blue. She left him for an actor half her age she swore was the second coming of Tom Cruise.

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Tommy inherited a broken legacy. His great-grandfather was to blame for the derailing of a train–The Daylight–which took over one hundred lives. But, Tommy doesn’t believe this infamy is the whole story, and he has made it his goal to solve the mystery. But, how far will he go in the past, and what will he lose to find the truth?

Targeted Age Group:: 15-18

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
I love historical fiction and writing from a historical perspective because of its richness and applicability to the events and struggles of the present. The Daylight incapsulates the struggle that we all face–how to be brave when we are afraid and how to restore relationships that appear broken. I took these themes and applied them to one of my three year old's favorite pastimes–playing with trains. I pulled from stories like Murder on the Orient Express and the Hardy Boys to create a mystery that is character driven and (hopefully) compelling.

How Did You Come up With Your Characters?
I create all of my characters based off of my own self in some way. Thus, the two main characters–boys becoming young men–experience the same struggles and weaknesses that I often faced at their age. I have a saying–that if an author writes from themselves, they will never run out of material. For the main characters, this is certainly true. The third primary character I pulled from my faith. Although outright stated, this character is the Christological character in the story–the one who sacrifices himself for the sake of others.

Book Sample
Tommy's flashlight illuminated the path in front of him as he approached the edge of the woods. The darkness pressed in upon him from all sides, and the humidity clung to his skin like cobwebs. His heart pounded in his ears, and sticky sweat blazed a path down his spine.
Tommy hesitated a split second as he glanced behind him. The sound of chirping echoed with his heart pounding in his ears. Nobody knew he was here. Tommy felt a little guilty about the lie he had told his parents, but if he found what he was looking for, then it would all be worth it in the end. His excitement fluttered in his stomach. What if he found another piece of the train? What if he found the entire Engine!?
Tommy lingered on the thought of finally finding the long-lost train for a moment and let the anticipation build before he readjusted his backpack and headed towards the edge of the woods. Somewhere, an owl hooted as if commenting on the frail boy walking towards woods thick with darkness. As Tommy walked, he hardened his nerves and convinced himself that he was doing the right thing. There was no way he could wait until morning to find the rest of The Daylight. It was now or never.
"Where do you think you're going?" A voice cut through the night noises and caused Tommy's heart to leap to his throat. He spun around and raised the flashlight. The beam cut across the gloom and struck Sam in the face. He covered his eyes as a scowl crossed his lips. "Yo! Cut it out." Tommy's confusion melted into annoyance.
"Why are you here?" He asked. Tommy moved the beam to Sam's feet.
"Because I know you too well," Sam said as he lowered his hands.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"That I figured you'd show up in pitch-black darkness to find your greatest fantasy," he said sarcastically. Tommy wasn't impressed.
"Go home, Sam. I do this alone."
"Right, He-Man. And let you get eaten by bears? No, thanks."
"I can take care of myself," Tommy replied though he knew that against a bear, he was dead meat. "Besides—whatever happened to you telling me to stop pretending we'll be best buds in the morning?" Tommy meant for the remark to be a jab but still felt the pain tremble through him. For a second, Sam was silent.
"Well, it's still your birthday."
"Right. And the best present you can give me is you going home to your new friends."
"No can do, amigo. Besides, I'm a little curious, too. You were right about the location of the Engine, and I kinda want to find the rest of it." Tommy's eyes narrowed. He couldn't tell if Sam was lying or not.
"You got a flashlight?" Sam clicked one on just beneath his chin. "Good. Follow me," he said as he turned with a flourish.
Tommy walked many paces ahead of Sam. His footsteps were muffled. The beam from his flashlight bounced with each step. He didn't dare look backward at Sam to make sure he was following. Instead, he focused on the clues he'd gathered so far as his flashlight traced the trees in front of him. The beam scurried across the ground in search of obstacles.
Tommy reflected on the conversation he'd had with his grandpa. His grandfather's words and sincerity rang in his head. He believed that Thomas James Rice had been an honest man, one who could not have been responsible for the train wreck and the subsequent loss of over a hundred lives. Tommy had to prove to his grandpa that this was true, and the only way he could do it was by finding the wreckage as soon as possible.
But, what was he hoping to find? Tommy hoped to find the entire Engine. The Engine would have been the first car to derail, dragging down the rest of The Daylight off the tracks as it plummeted off Pit River Bridge. Tommy had done enough reading to know that a shattered axle, or a destroyed break, or any number of flaws in The Daylight could easily be the reason why this happened. If Tommy could at least find the Engine tonight, then he could come back out in the morning and clear his great-grandfather's name for good.
Before long, the flashlight bounced off of his previous find. Tommy had leaned it up against a tree trunk to make it easier to see. The light rebounded off of the glass despite it being dirty and tarnished. He bent down and picked it up, examining it to make sure it was indeed a headlamp. Without a doubt, it matched the images he'd seen in the books.
"Do you think it belonged to another train?" Sam asked as he drew up next to Tommy. Tommy shook his head as annoyance soaked his tongue.
"Because there's many of those around here, right?"
"Just a thought, Tommy. No need to be rude," Sam said softly. Tommy ignored him.
"The Engine is close. Look for anything that gleams or is sticking out at an odd angle," he offered as his beam arched through the foliage. Tommy peered through the night, which had settled in like soot. The trees were thick, here, and he was sure behind any one of the clumps of entwined canopies was where the Engine was hiding. Maybe it was even on the other side of the massive hill just in front of him. His beam roamed through the woods, pausing as he planned how to get into the tangled trees.
A twig snapped somewhere behind him. Tommy and Sam whipped their flashlights around. Tommy's heart beat madly in his chest.
"What was that?" Sam asked. Tommy could hear the edge of fear in his voice.
"I don't know. An animal?" Nothing stirred except the wind. Chills ran up and down Tommy's spine as goosebumps broke out on his skin.
He should have waited until morning.
A crunching noise caused Tommy to spin his gaze around. The trees swayed in the wind, and his flashlight was smothered by the thick undergrowth as it moved. His eyes saw life in the trees. He swallowed a lump that had formed in his throat.
"Tommy?"
"Maybe being out this late without telling anyone where he was wasn't such a good idea," he said as his hands shook. He had been too hasty. "Let's go home and come back tomorrow."
"Yeah. Good thinking." Tommy turned around and started to retrace his steps.
A low, rolling sound filled the woods. The two boys froze as fear rooted them in place.
"What was that!?"
Tommy's forehead creased together in confusion. The noise sounded familiar to Tommy, but he didn't understand what could be making the sound in the woods. He was at least a mile from the closest neighborhood. A sudden hiss of escaping air made both of them jump.
"I don't like this, Tommy. We need to go," Sam said persistently.
Suddenly, a blinding light broke through the trees. The sudden appearance of the brilliant white glow made them shield their eyes. The air grew sickly warm as the light heated up the night. For a second, Tommy thought it was a searchlight. It was so bright it burned into his corneas until spots danced in front of his vision.
"Hello?"
Nothing stirred. Only the light accompanied the two boys in the night. Its beam cut through the darkness and exposed the world around him. Tommy still could not see where it was coming from.
"Is anybody there?"
"Maybe it's the cops," Sam whispered. Tommy felt a spike of dread stab into him. "We know we're not supposed to be out here, but we got lost. If you can just show us the way out of here, we'll just leave," Sam offered.
For a handful of seconds, there was no response.
A noise erupted throughout the woods. The noise shook Tommy to the core, and he flinched as the trees around him quivered. His mind churned as he recognized the sound. It was impossible. It couldn't be. Especially not this deep in the woods. No, he was probably so hyped up on cake and soda that his mind was playing tricks on him.
"Sam?" Tommy's mouth was dry, and the word barely came out.
"Yeah?" Sam echoed unsteadily.
A tree branch cracked like gunfire.
"Run!"
Both boys whipped around and stumbled headlong in the opposite direction of the ambient light. Tommy didn't have time to think as regret and terror washed over him. Desperation moved his legs, but his feet felt like they were weighed down with cement. The train began to move forward towards them, carving out a path through hapless undergrowth. Trees were swept aside like they were blades of grass. Stones turned over in the wake of the colossal machine.
The train horn ripped through the night like an animal's hungry howl.
Tommy stumbled as a root snagged his foot. Pain shot through his hands and radiated up to his elbows as his arms took the brunt of the fall. Another ear-splitting horn slammed into him. Tommy's throat tightened as he glanced back over his shoulder at the widening beam of light.
"Get up!" Sam shouted as he pulled Tommy to his feet like he was a bundle of twigs. Tommy pushed Sam forward, and the two of them continued to flee. Tommy couldn't breathe. Branches slashed at him in the dark. Anxiety gripped his chest and smothered his heart. A tree fell with a deafening crash. He felt the shudder of its weight roll through the ground and into his legs. A branch stabbed into his shoulder as fiery pain tumbled from his lips, and hot, sticky blood seeped down his arm.
"Over there!" Sam shouted as he pointed. Tommy couldn't see what he was pointing towards but followed none the less. The chug, chug, chug sound of the train was thunderous in his ears. He could feel the steam on his skin like sticky cobwebs.
"We gotta go up!" Sam shouted over the cacophony. Tommy watched as he scrambled up a boulder. Before going too high, Sam turned around and extended his arm. "Take my hand!" Tommy froze. The well of anxiety was overflowing in his chest. His eyes darted to his left, but the undergrowth was a dense fabric. "Tommy! Come on!" Sam begged. Tommy stared upward at the massive boulder, knowing that it was his only escape. Beads of sweat stung his eyes as Tommy whipped his body around, searching for another route.
But it was too late. The smell of burning coal filled Tommy's nostrils as thick steam curled around him. The train loomed in front of him like a hungry lion. Tommy held his hands in front of his face and cried into the night as the light enveloped him.

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This book intends to transform your life and the people closest to you by using the life-changing power of gratitude.
Gratitude encourages positive feelings, like hope, love, joy, and compassion, and melts away anger, bitterness, and fear almost without effort.

Targeted Age Group:: All ages

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
My desire is to encourage people to create the life they want and to give them the resources and tools to make it happen.
I have written books of knowledge, courage, inspiration, and revelations so that anyone can experience them quickly and easily.
I write about positive methods, positive emotions, and happiness.
My message is simple but powerful: Appreciate all the good you have in your life.

Book Sample
Chapter 3: The Effect of Gratitude on your Body and Health

If you have never really paid attention to the things that make you feel thankful, now is the time. Experts have confirmed that gratitude doesn't just help the mind to be healthier; it also has many other incredible benefits on your body and your health generally. The health benefits of gratitude are both psychological and physical.
As I have already talked about the impact it has on your mental health, let's find out how it affects your body physically.
Did you know that feeling or expressing gratitude prevents increased blood pressure and minimizes the risk of developing heart problems? It also strengthens the immune system and enhances your cognitive functions, making it possible for you to think more clearly. How does this happen?
When you experience emotions such as anger, anxiety, or frustration regularly, your heart starts beating in a more erratic pattern, and your brain acknowledges this as a state of stress.
This creates an unharmonized state, increasing the risk of developing heart problems and high blood pressure.
However, when you feel emotions such as happiness, care, and love regularly, your brain remains in a synchronized and relaxed state, which improves hormonal balance function, immune functions, and even reduces your risk of disease.
It may be difficult to believe, but gratitude also decreases pain levels. You may be wondering how saying thank you or appreciating kind gestures can ease pain, but it's true.
Research has confirmed that gratitude alleviates pain. In a study where patients with different pain levels were given a gratitude journal to keep, more than 10 percent of the patients reported that their pain levels decreased significantly. Some also reported a decrease in disease symptoms. Many experts believe this could be the result of the release of dopamine.
Saying thank you also helps you sleep better. Several studies have shown that gratitude improves the quality of sleep, reduces the amount of time it takes to fall asleep, and increases the length of sleep.
Sleep is one of the most critical functions of the human body, and like I mentioned, this function is regulated by the hypothalamus. Since the hypothalamus is a part of the limbic system, and gratitude is known to activate it, expressing gratitude makes it easier to sleep more naturally and healthily.
Of course, when the quality of your sleep improves, it naturally impacts your health as a whole. Sleep affects many bodily functions, and getting enough sleep can help manage stress, anxiety, pain, and depression. It also strengthens the immune system, making you healthier overall.
Gratitude even affects the nervous system in the right way. Naturally, improved quality of sleep means you get to be in a more relaxed state. This means that saying "thank you" can help decrease your cortisol levels, making you less susceptible to stress triggers.
A show of gratitude can even motivate you to want to live a healthier life. Appreciating everything in your life – good or bad – pushes you to eat more healthily and exercise regularly.
Finally, gratitude boosts body energy and increases vitality. It shouldn't come as a surprise, considering the different positive effects it has on the body. Feeling grateful increases optimism and other positive emotions, and this, in turn, boosts the energy and vitality levels.
Grateful people always stay in a constant state of high energy, and they are happier, healthier, and more relaxed than people who rarely express thankfulness.
A better mind and better health naturally contribute to a longer life. So, ultimately, you can say that gratitude increases human lifespan.
It doesn't matter whether the effects of gratitude on the mind and body are the result of positivity or a response ignited by the influx of dopamine; the obvious thing is that gratitude has numerous health benefits – mentally and physically. Be thankful for Vitamin G!
Take it often and soon you will start finding all the extraordinary things that happen in your everyday life. It takes only a couple of minutes every so often to start appreciating the beautiful events and things happening close by. You will be surprised to find so many wonders around you!

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Are you tired, overwhelmed, and searching for the ever elusive “work-life balance”? You want an extraordinary, fulfilling career and you want to be an extraordinary, present mom—without sacrificing either.

How do moms who want to climb the career ladder and at the same time want to be present and amazing for their families do it? How do they stay happy, healthy, and not consistently stressed out to the max? How do they maintain friendships and relationships? How do they “do it all” without overwhelm and without guilt? How do they maintain balance?

Secrets of Supermom: How Extraordinary Moms Succeed at Work and Home and How You Can Too! provides the secrets you need to have both the career and family of your dreams.

Through bite-sized chapters and quick tips, you will learn how extraordinary moms succeed in their careers and with their family with inspiring stories, easy exercises and fast, how-to steps. You will learn:

-Why perfect balance is a lie
-The 4 key secrets every working mom must know
-How to prioritize your mind and your body for highest energy and success
-The critical skills to create a life you love at work, at home, and everywhere in between

Whether you want to get more done, conquer a big goal, increase your happiness and confidence, or become your very best self, the secrets in this book can help you achieve it. You want to feel like you are serving your family, serving your team, and serving yourself all in the best way you know how. Without guilt. Without apology.

You can be extraordinary in your career and an extraordinary mom.

You want it all. You can have it.

Targeted Age Group:: Adult

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
After many years of friends and family members asking, "How do you do it all?" I decided to share all my secrets, big and small, in Secrets of Supermom. Every day I feel successful, fulfilled, productive and happy. I can't wait to help other busy, overwhelmed moms feel the same.

Book Sample
Introduction: The Supermom Is Dead

supermom (n.)
su·per·mom | \ ˈsü-pər-ˌmäm \
: an exemplary mother
: a woman who performs the traditional duties of housekeeping and child-rearing while also having a full-time job
—Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary

“The supermom is dead,” they said.

“You don’t have to do everything.”

“You can have a happy family or a big career; you are going to need to choose,” they said.

“No one does it all anymore.”

“But, seriously, how do you do it all?” they asked.

Ah-ha! The real question. How do moms who want to climb the career ladder and at the same time want to be present and amazing for their families do it? How do they stay happy, healthy, and not consistently stressed out to the max? How do they maintain friendships and relationships? How do they “do it all” without overwhelm and without guilt? How do they maintain balance?

Hi! I’m Lori, and I am a supermom.

Eleven years ago in the midst of weekly travel and climbing the career ladder fast-track, I became a mom. Fast forward to today, and I am a forty-year-old, married mom of four. I have a successful career in corporate America, a husband who travels weekly, and still have time for family and friends. I have been the President of the Parent Teacher Student Association at our kids’ school, run a fulfilling side business as a newborn and family photographer, and volunteer.

“Who are you?” they asked. “How can you possibly do all this and still be happy? How are you not just completely burned out? How do you always have so much energy?”

For a long time, I would laugh, maybe even a little embarrassed, and just say, “I don’t know,” or “I just do it, I guess.” I always thought that I was just doing what everyone else was doing.

I come from a long line of working women. My Grandma Marylou worked for sixteen years at Western Electric at a time when most women were stay-at-home moms. My Ahmah Betty—seriously, never call her “Grandma”—was a hospital and traveling nurse for over forty-five years. My mom went to dental hygiene school while pregnant with me and has been a dental hygienist for over forty years.

I remember other moms always being blown away by my mom. They couldn’t believe that she worked and kept a spotless house. She did laundry every day. She cooked dinner every night. She always wore makeup (still does) and always looked gorgeous (still does). She took us to soccer practice and dance lessons and school activities. She made quilts and taught us to paint and make earrings. It was like she had unending energy. I really did learn from the best.

I have come to realize that those friends really meant the question: What was I doing differently that no one else was doing? How was I calm (mostly), happy (99% of the time), and still slaying the dragons of everyday life? How was I getting so much done on a consistent basis? What in the world was I doing?

I realized that these “tricks” of everyday life I learned along the way didn’t just come easily to everyone. Moms were not continuously adding to their arsenal of tools. They were instead adding responsibilities without the tools to handle them—and they were drowning.

Year to year, we seem to encounter pendulum swings. Society fluctuates back and forth. Moms are pressured to do everything and be everything. Next, moms should not do everything but should sacrifice. What about those of us that don’t want to sacrifice? We don’t need to do and be everything, but we do want it all. I want to be an extraordinary, career-driven woman, and I want to be an extraordinary, present mom. To top it off, I want to be the best at both. I have worked hard to gain the skills to be great at my career and the skills to be an amazing mom.

The biggest secret is that perfect balance is a lie. We are all looking for work-life balance. In surveying and interviewing nearly two hundred moms for this book, over 40% said they couldn’t seem to figure out balance. Do you know why? It does not exist. You will never be perfectly balanced between work and home and relationships and friends and family and…you name it. What you will learn is how to feel like you are giving your best to your job, your best at home, and your best to everything else. You will learn to take care of yourself. You will learn to put first things first and let go of guilt. This is true balance.

Do you want to be a better mom, better at your career, better at feeling balanced, and better at avoiding burnout? I am excited to share this book with you. It includes tangible tools and secrets that I have personally used to make my life at work and at home stronger, better, and more successful. In many cases, the skills that make me great at my job also make me a great mom, and the skills that make me a great mom also make me great at my job. I have backed it up with stories and even with a little bit of research that shows what I have picked up along the way actually works.

This book is my way of saving supermom. I see you. You want a career or a business or a side hustle. At the same time, you want to be available, happy, and a role model to your kids. You want to feel like you are serving your family, serving your team, and serving yourself all in the best way you know how. Without guilt. Without apology.

You want it all. You can have it. I can show you how.

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Aerodynamic Drag is a collection of poetry and short fiction by award winning poet M. A. Dubbs. Aerodynamic Drag explores themes of sexuality, religion, mental illness, and nihilism. Dubbs’ writing is vivid and evocative, encasing the duality of beauty and brutality of life.

Targeted Age Group:: 20s

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
Over the years I have published poetry and short fiction in literary magazines and wanted to compile my work into a single collection. Much of my work is inspired by my own journey and experiences throughout my life and I wanted to share this exploration of my identity with others. The act of writing also brings healing and understanding to myself.

How Did You Come up With Your Characters?
I am often inspired to create characters based on events or news that I come across. The narrators of the poems can vary from a child's perspective to animals or objects. With my poetry I often use first person and then explore their reactions to situations. I do a lot of research on psychology and history to give my characters depth and realism.

Book Sample
“Indiana Night”

A ring of smoke pushes out
of a bar, surrounding my car, the stop
sign, the street. The smell of cigarettes soaks
into brick and splintered concrete.
A bum squats on the ground near the road,
metal light reflecting like liquid
on his face: someone’s grandpa
in a worn armed forces sweatshirt.

In his eyes,
on this street,
are the flames.
Stones crackling in the fire:
yellow heat, orange rocks, red steel
Gun in his claws, he low crawls
as the warmth surrounds
his body, torso absorbing
dry heat. Retreating, he squeezes
through a door frame, osmosis.
Bullets infiltrate the building and blood
percolates the cracked tile around him,
smell of burnout choking his lungs, M16 groaning
like cannons, filling his ears with martial music,
a battle trance.

He crouches against the bar wall, filtering
this black Indiana night. Marlboro pressed
between his lips, a permanent sacrament,
he breathes out smoke from his nose.

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Have you read this book? Tell us what you thought! All information was provided by the author and not edited by us. This is so you get to know the author better.

When Nylah Diamond, a young psychiatry student, becomes aware of a new case study, she becomes obsessed with it.

Something about it intrigues her.

She wants to know about every detail, every statement, every piece of evidence and everyone involved.

Someone else wants it left in the past.

​She becomes determined to help piece together everything that has seemingly been hidden and scattered everywhere for so long.
​
Things that were meant to stay scattered and hidden. Something does not make sense.

Some things from childhood stick with you forever. Small things, big things, what seem like such insignificant things, change things. Change people.

If Nylah does not let sleeping dogs lie, she may be the next to get bitten.

​All of the things you think do not matter, matter most. What you think matters most may mean nothing at all. People are animals. Savages. It is a concrete jungle out there. Something as small as a snake in the grass or a spider in a tree can take down a lion, the king of the jungle.
​
© Copyright 2014-2021
Room With A View Productions/M.O. LeClair.
All rights reserved.

Targeted Age Group:: This book is geared toward those eighteen and over. I don't believe there to be a maximum age limit.

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
The name of my debut book is ‘Concrete Jungle,’ and its inspiration is the jungle we live in every day. The world. People are animals. Some are savages. Some are butterflies. It’s a dog-eat-dog world. My different experiences with all sorts of people are what have been its main inspiration.

How Did You Come up With Your Characters?
The characters in my novel are all based on animals. Each character is inspired by a different animal in the jungle and acts as such.

Book Sample
I step out of the shower. I feel the fluffy mat beneath my feet. It tickles my toes. I head to my bedroom and swing open my closet door. I hear the muffled scream of my guest. The thumping of her tied up body can be felt on the floor. She was trying to speak. Probably something along the lines of, 'You don't have to do this. I won't tell anyone. Please let me go. Why are you doing this?' They always want to know why. Why? I can't be bothered with why. I have places to be. I drop my tie, and it lands on her forehead. I pick it up. I ignore her, and shut the closet door in her face and walk away.

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Book is Bargain Priced starting 02/23/2021 and ending 02/27/2021. Check the price on the book before you purchase it, prices can change without notice.

About the book:

When Hani, an Egyptian diplomat under Akhenaten, is sent to investigate the murder of a useful bandit leader in Syria, he encounters corruption, tangled relationships, and yet more murder. His investigation is complicated by the new king’s religious reforms, which have struck Hani’s own family to the core. Hani’s mission is to amass enough evidence for his superiors to prosecute the wrongdoers despite the king’s protection—but not just every superior can be trusted. And maybe not even the king!

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About Featured Book: Enchanted Kingdoms by J.A. Culican

Old tales: New twist

The stories you loved as a child have been twisted into wildly addictive tales that will bewitch you as an adult: enchanted castles, spellbinding magic, handsome princes, beautiful princesses, and as many happily-ever-afters as your heart desires.

Cherish this mesmerizing set of 22 classic tales retold by a collection of best-selling and award-winning authors. Each novel-length story features a different take on your favorite fairytale.

Your every fantasy will come to life in ways you could never have imagined, packed full of heart-wrenching romance, gripping adventure, and magic that will weave you in its spell.

Here are the authors and stories they retold:
Alice in Wonderland by J. A. Armitage and J.A. Culican
Cinderella by Kimbra Swain
Snow White and Rose Red by Eileen Mueller and A.J. Ponder
Beauty and the Beast by Beth Hale
Aladdin by Zara Quentin
Rumpelstiltskin by Craig Halloran
Sleeping Beauty by Stacey O’Neale
Wizard of Oz by Amanda Marin
Snow White and the Seven Dwarves by Lacy Sheridan
Red Riding Hood by May Dawson Rapunzel by Anne Stryker
Robin Hood by Jacque Stevens
Little Match Girl by Lee Ann Ward
The Snow Queen by Laura Burton and Jessie Cal
Little Mermaid by Nadira Golde
The Pied Piper by Alice Ivinya
Mulan by Charlotte Daniels and Charlie Daniels
The Girl without Hands by Daphne Moore
Nix of the Mill Pond by Astrid V.J
Thumbelina by Robin D. Mahle and Elle Madison

All proceeds benefit Puzzle Peace United, a children's autism charity.

This Fantasy book is available in these Formats: eBook

Buy Book Here.