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“A complex and ambitious adventure for lovers of ancient historical romance.”- KIRKUS REVIEWS “Collins’s piercing exploration of faith, sacrifice, and redemption gives this epic love story an intricate depth often missing in similar titles.” BOOK LIFE by PUBLISHERS WEEKLY Rome, 268 AD In an age of tyranny and turmoil, an eternal love story ignites a revolution. Valentine, a once-fearsome warrior reborn from the brink of death, sheds his violent past for a new destiny inspired by his blind lover, Agatha. Amidst the ruthless rule of a merciless emperor, Valentine undertakes a clandestine mission: to unite lovers in secret ceremonies, defying imperial decrees that threaten to obliterate the Christian faith. As Valentine’s covert acts of defiance grow bolder, he challenges the tyrannical order, planting the seeds for a celebration of love that will echo through the ages—becoming the foundation of what we now cherish as Valentine’s Day. The Legend of Valentine is an epic tale of love, war, faith, and rebellion. Against the backdrop of an empire in chaos, this gripping saga invites readers into a world where love defies all odds, heroes rise from the shadows, and the undying spirit of hope shines through the darkest times. Are there any limits to what one man will endure for his true love? -
Benno Neuburger, a modest land investor from Munich and Anna Einstein daughter of a cattle dealer from Laupheim, marry in 1907. They begin their lives together with great hope. It is a relatively prosperous time and a very optimistic one for German Jews who are enjoying a social renaissance in the industrializing, urbanizing rising star that is Germany. It’s not clear that this good fortune might begin to unravel. Even as news of an assassination in an “obscure” Balkan corner of the continent passes like a cold wind through Munich on a warm beer-garden July day, people shudder but feel no great alarm. Yet what follows is a war provoked by inter-colonialist competition. It is prolonged and bloody, giving way to German defeat, revolution, a brief socialist interlude in Munich, a merciless counter revolution, and the pitiless demagoguery of defeated generals. So marks the commencement of an era of nearly relentless distress and turmoil for Germany. The lives of Benno and Anna and their extended families are amid this swirl—trying to make a life as they struggle to survive, as they cling to the hope of a peaceful resolution to crisis. But to no avail. Munich becomes the epicenter of German fascism fed by nationalist resentment and racial madness – an offspring of European rivalries and colonialism. In the 1920s the brown shirts of Germany’s former African colonial army become the uniform of a domestic legion of terror. In the 1920s Benno, Anna and their children live as close neighbors to the demagogue who will become the Nazi leader. A slow-moving horror show envelops them in the years that follow. In the 1930s and 1940s: Emigrating children, a pogrom, a new war, evictions, “resettlement” via a train ride east . . . desperate acts of resistance, arrest, trial – as the holocaust plays out— all up close and personal: A human story told through the voices of those who lived it. -
Discover the surprising literary and poetic history of the RMS Titanic! Imagine getting the inside, behind the scenes story of the Titanic tragedy written by those who did not survive - but whose poetry and short accounts of the moments leading up to the Titanic sinking did. "If you love poetry, history, and feeling like Indiana Jones, read this book now." 5 Stars from Erin Nicole Cochran for Readers' Favorite The time has finally come to share the World Codex' revelations with the public at large. Codex SE is a concerted work of dedicated people who have worked tirelessly to bring this literary publication to the world stage. My connection to Titanic, through my great-grandfather's experience, has played an essential role as to who I am, cultivating an awareness of the importance of art as it inspires the better nature of humanity - through life's inevitable turmoil and even disaster. Discover unpublished poems and prose by historical figures including Albert Einstein, George Bernard Shaw, Edgar Allan Poe, Sylvia Barrett, Herman Holmes, Robert Wolcott, and many more. -
Befriending China tells the story of China's current effort to "open up" to a flood of visitors, as part of a campaign of "People-To-People Peacemaking." The story is partially based on three visits to China from late 2023 through late 2024. It describes the impressive achievements China has made in infrastructure, education, health care, and poverty alleviation. It includes an in-depth eye-witness account of visiting Xinjiang, debunking official rumors in the US of abuse of the Uyghur population there. It also highlights exciting tourism opportunities, with closeup looks at the mountainous Guizhou and Shanxi provinces, and the amazing "megacities" of Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing, Hangzhou and Suzhou. It includes a preface by Carlos Martinez, editor of the Friends of Socialist China website. It also examines China's democratic system, and its successful foreign policy based on common prosperity and a shared future. Finally, it details ongoing US efforts to slander China and prepare for war against it, arguing that China is not our enemy. -
New Orleans native Mademoiselle Francesca Dumas is a kept woman. At age eighteen in the second year of the American Civil War, she is the concubine of a rich New Orleans banker, Joachim Buisson. Born a quadroon, Francesca leads a sheltered life of elegant jewels, gowns, lace, and lavish balls—until a bullet shatters her dream world.
An assassin murders “her man” as Francesca stood beside him among a throng gathered atop a Mississippi River levee on April 25, 1862. Bowed by Joachim’s body, rain-soaked and blood-spattered, she vows revenge. Francesca’s passionate desire for retribution drives her into a new life as a sleuth.
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Imagine Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test meets Murder, She Wrote.
One part hippies grooving on the waterfront and fighting the man, one part murder mystery.It’s the 1970s, and the “houseboat wars” erupt in Sausalito on the site of Marinship, the abandoned World War II shipyard. Hippies and squatters are living free and easy on houseboats in a ramshackle shantytown, and greedy developers are determined to evict them and build new docks to attract affluent residents.
The counterculture is in full flower and the houseboaters, fearing their community will be destroyed, resist eviction with street theater, civil disobedience, monkeywrenching, and more. Like climbing into dinghies and pushing away police boats with oars. Like sinking a barge to block a pile driver. All in front of TV cameras!
Then, someone gets stabbed.
Pirates of Sausalito is fiction, but inspired by true events. As Larry Clinton, former president of the Sausalito Historical Society, said, “If it didn't happen exactly this way, it could have.”
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Follow the paths of Sarah and Will (or Sam) as they tell their stories of trust, secrets, and betrayal on the frontier in the old West. Their pioneer spirit helped to fuel the expansion into the Western territories of the United States. The two are historically on their separate journeys, yet they remain intimately connected. Through the fictionalized Western frontier tale of Sam and Sarah, the author, Beverly Scott, was inspired to reveal rumored secrets from her family history. In 1878, Will is on the run after killing a man in a barroom gunfight. He escapes the Texas Rangers by joining a cattle drive as a cook headed to Dodge City. He struggles with the dilemma of saving his life or attempting to return to his pregnant wife and five children. Just when he thinks he might be able to return home, he is confronted by a bounty hunter who captures him and plans to return him to Fort Worth, Texas to be hanged. Although Will changes his name to Sam, he remains an irresponsible, lonely and untrustworthy man on the dodge from the law who abandons the women he loves. He ultimately seeks redemption and marries Sarah. In 1911, Sarah, a pioneer woman and a widow with five children, struggles to find the inner strength to overcome betrayal, loneliness, fears, and self-doubt. Her husband, Sam, thirty years her senior, died with a mysterious and defiant declaration, “I won’t answer!”. Despite poverty and a crippling illness, she draws on her pioneer spirit to hold her family together and return to Nebraska to be near her parents and siblings. When Sarah returns to Nebraska she receives staggering news which complicates her efforts to support her children. She is shocked, angry and emotionally devastated. Since she is attempting to establish herself in the community as a teacher, she believes she must keep her secret even from her own family. Will Sarah find forgiveness in her heart and the resolve to accept her new life alone?
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Sale!
Navigating the stormy seas of the 1960s wasn't easy, especially if Vietnam was on your horizon. Ignoring his 2-S selective service deferment, Conor Patrick McKall volunteers for the draft, and Uncle Sam promptly deposits him in the Big Green Machine. Six months later McKall is walking point in jungles, rice paddies, and rubber plantations. In nine short months, he's made an infantry squad leader responsible for a dozen other grunts. In the "boonies," life is lived one day at a time. Joining McKall's squad is Jack "Red" Sheridan whose near-death encounter with a black panther presents challenges to his credibility from other members of Lima Platoon. When McKall stands with Sheridan, an unbreakable bond develops. They meet Red Cross Donut Dollies and together experience the infamous Black Virgin Mountain where the good guys control the top and the bad guys the rest. Escaping Vietnam for a handful of days on R&R in Sydney, Conor experiences Aussie hospitality and the attention of a green-eyed beauty who offers him a chance to escape the war. Loyal to his oath and to his men, Sergeant McKall barely has time to supplant the fading scent of Chanel before he and his squad must face their determined and deadly adversaries. The arbitrary gauntlet of Vietnam offers no guarantees. -
Sins, Tragedies, and Other Things That Make Us Human is a collection of five thought-provoking short stories that blend historical fiction, dark humor, and contemporary drama. Each tale holds a mirror to society, exposing the shadows we often choose to ignore. Unflinching and unsettling, this book is not for the faint of heart—but for those willing to confront the darker side of humankind. -
Four teenagers and a feral cat navigate life in Gorbachev’s USSR, in this tragicomedy set against a backdrop of civilizations in decline. The Girl in the Water has launched the award-winning series Next Year’s Snow, a multigenerational saga about innocence, survival, oppression, and choice at the flashpoints of a madly fractured world.
At the centre of this debut is Nadia, a Soviet girl who witnesses her friend’s near-drowning on a remote northern beach. Nadia is an abstract thinker coming to terms with the harsh realities around her. She is a bookworm, a prankster, a wanderer, and a note-taker. She sees people gambling with life and soul for little apparent gain and wonders what she can do to make a difference. Progressively, her life is pulled apart by her family’s migration to Ukraine, a dubious courtship, the Chernobyl disaster, police surveillance, and an Afghan war.
As Nadia comes of age, she finds that the bonds of family and friendship create an inseparable fate: to rescue one another or to drown.
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It is 1827 and Sarah Seely DeWitt finds herself at the center of Texas history in its earliest and bloodiest period. Sarah's journey from St. Louis to Texas catches her up in a love triangle, forces her into a struggle for her family's survival, and pitches her headlong into the whirlwind of war. Based on actual events leading up to the 1836 Texas Revolution, The Empresario's Wife chronicles the struggles of a young American Everywoman and the events that change her and the nation forever.
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What happens when you drop an agnostic Jewish surgeon in a century-old Catholic hospital, where the doctor meets dogma and falls for the CEO? A nun, for God’s sake. Dr. Martin Fischer, a white-coated Quixote, tilts his scalpel at the bloated underbelly of U.S. healthcare and fights for his patients. His only weapons are surgical skill and a pesky sense of righteous indignation that’s driving everyone nuts—including Marty. As he takes on a callous multi-billion-dollar medical corporation, a mercenary surgical group, and the thoroughly corrupt CFO of St. Salacious, an unplanned pregnancy threatens to excommunicate the entire hospital. Can they really do that? It’s either stress or God who intervenes. Did Jesus just wink at him from the cross?
