Category Archives: Books

Did You Ever See A Horse Go By

Books, Frank DeFranceso BooksLeave a comment

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In Did You Ever See A Horse Go By? new author Frank DeFrancesco invites the reader into his personal tug-of-war and ultimate triumph over the psychological and sociological restraints that immobilized him for half a lifetime.

The author uses biographical events, old letters, unpolished poetry, and excerpts from his journals along with a few fictional composites to recreate memories and moods.

DeFrancesco pokes fun at his own naiveté, self-doubts, and Catholic guilt, as well as clueless therapists, Rome adventures, Woodstock, discos, and “dead Bob” to weave a compelling story that balances seriousness and sadness with humor and joy.

“While I’m not sure the world really needs another coming out story,” DeFrancesco says, “I feel deeply the need to tell it.”

Click on the book cover to order your copy of Frank DeFrancesco’s memoir, “Did You Ever See A Horse Go By?”

Also available at

Amazon.com

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Frank

Frank can be reached at fdef@sbcglobal.net

Frank blogs at http://reluctantrebel.blogspot.com/

The Art of Chinese Brush Painting

Books, Judy Giguere BooksLeave a comment

By Judy Giguere

The Art of Chinese Brush Painting can serve as an introduction to and a history of an art form many Westerners know little about. But beyond that it can present a manual on how to begin, on the supplies that are needed as well as the nomenclature and the techniques.

 

Available from the following:

Amazon.com

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Judy can be reached at giguerejudy01@gmail.com

 

Freeing the Magician

Books, Dawn Leger BooksLeave a comment

By Dawn Leger

The second book in the Cassie Thornton mystery series finds Cassie helping her friend Michael unravel an old family secret in his mother’s attic, while her own past continues to encroach on the new life she’s trying to establish in New York City. Sparks fly between Detective Friday and Cassie when she starts researching two mysterious sisters.
The presence of Cassie’s “husband” complicates her growing relationship with Detective Friday as the Gypsies come to town, and Cassie reaches for her deck of Tarot cards for guidance when life gets complicated. It’s a fast-paced, bumpy ride, but whether she’s sorting old papers in Massachusetts or dealing with a cat-napping in Manhattan, you can trust Cassie to have a snappy retort and a whole lot of moxie when it’s needed.

Available from the following:

Amazon.com

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Dawn can be reached at drdawn2013@gmail.com

Dawn’s website is http://dawnleger.com/

Flood Moon

Books, Chuck Radda BooksLeave a comment

 

When Horace Greeley advised Americans to “Go West!” a century and a half ago, it’s doubtful he envisioned someone like Calvin Hopper. Greeley’s advice was full of promise and optimism; Hopper, who has lived and breathed the East all his life, wants only a place to escape.

Fifty years old and adrift, Hopper is trying to shed the remnants of a relationship that has collapsed for the second and final time. He envisions the West as a place in which to disappear; and Sage, Montana, becomes the way station on a journey whose endpoint he hasn’t really considered.

Sage is isolated by both weather and topography, but despite its sleepy appearance and a smattering of old-west kitsch, it hides a multitude of secrets, many of which extend well beyond its borders and involve residents who, like Hopper, have sought solitude but failed.

As he becomes enmeshed in the life of the town and sees the possibility of starting over,  he uncovers more about its past. Soon isolation is no longer an option: unless Cal Hopper can expose those secrets, his own life may end in the place where he sought a new beginning.

Also available at Amazon:

Amazon.com

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 Chuck

Chuck can also be reached by email at chuckradda@gmail.com

Chuck can also be found at his website: chuckradda.com

Embracing the Fool

Books, Dawn Leger BooksLeave a comment

By Dawn Leger

Prof. Cassie (Cassandra) Thornton’s mother left the family when her daughter was just 8 years old to return to the Gypsy life in Europe. In the first book of the series, “Embracing the Fool,” Cassie is starting her second year in a teaching position at New York University, trying to live a quiet academic life in a new city. She has secrets, but she is innocent of the murder she stumbles upon in the opening scene. Cassie is funny and fresh. Her give-and-take with NYPD Detective Tyler Friday is priceless, and their relationship takes off when Cassie’s past comes knocking on the door in book two, “Freeing the Magician.” The series is quick and fast-paced, with a bit of romance stirred in and a soupçon of the exotic when Cassie allows herself to test the skills she has inherited from her mother.

Available at the following:

Amazon.com

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Dawn can be reached at dawnleger@comcast.net

Dawn’s website is http://dawnleger.com/

Eagle Scouting

Books, Dawn Leger BooksLeave a comment

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Dawn Leger’s new novel, Eagle Scouting, is now available for purchase. Click on the book below to order your copy today!

On September 11, 2001, the entire country was swept up in feelings that were unfamiliar after the first attack on its land since Pearl Harbor. From cities to small towns, National Guardsmen patrolled armories and “foreigners” were looked at with more animosity than ever. Along the Connecticut shore, in the small fictional town of Jerome, the looming naval base and its adjacent shipyard were not immune to this atmosphere of fear and suspicion, especially after a man was discovered murdered in a gruesome manner, tied to a bed in a Main Street apartment. Although dismissed as a sex-related killing by the local police, the victim’s sister was certain that the death was related to the terrorist acts that had taken place the same day the body was discovered. Both Clara Quiñones and her brother Raoul were trained FBI officers, and he was still on the job in Jerome, seeking the source of a gun-running outfit operating near the naval base. Clara’s search for the truth about his murder alternates with chapters describing Raoul’s discovery of a group of terrorists organizing an attack on New York City.

The fast pace of the two stories takes readers inside the minds of the terrorists, and uncovers the seamy underbelly of life in the shadow of a defense monolith. Interspersed with memories of growing up Hispanic in a transient town, looking after a beloved baby brother and trying to make her own mark on the world, Clara’s journey for truth and vindication takes her deep into the heart of what it means to be good, to be right, and to get justice.

Also available at Amazon:

Amazon.com

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Dawn can be reached at dawnleger@comcast.net

Dawn’s website is http://dawnleger.com/

 

Dark Time

Books, Chuck Radda BooksLeave a comment

 

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Chuck Radda presents his new novel, Dark Time, available as a trade paperback or ebook. Here’s a summary from the book jacket:

A woman survives the dramatic crash-landing of an airplane on the Hudson River, only to disappear into thin air. Her husband begins a journey to find her that leads him hundreds of miles from home, to uncover her secrets in the desolate tundra of northern Canada.

In his debut novel, Chuck Radda takes readers deep into the new territory of Nunavut, where Martin Wilkes struggles to come to terms with the truth about his wife, his marriage, and ultimately, the meaning of his life.

With a wide-ranging cast of characters that includes a cranky detective, a psychic Inuit, a daredevil pilot, and some uptight suburbanites, Radda captures the desperation of a man teetering on the brink of losing everything he holds dear.

Also available at Amazon:

Amazon.com

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 Chuck

Chuck can also be reached by email at chuckradda@gmail.com

Chuck can also be found at his website: chuckradda.com

Absolute Truth

Books, Chuck Radda BooksLeave a comment

Chuck Radda presents his second novel, Absolute Truth, available as a trade paperback or ebook. Here’s a summary from the book jacket:

Brutal murders on successive nights have shocked the small town of Drayton. In their aftermath two young women are dead, two anguished families will confront a shattering loss, and residents must face the possibility that a serial killer lives among them.

To Brianna Cooper, a reporter for the Drayton Courier, even such horrific crimes would ordinarily mean little more than an assignment; but because the first victim was a friend, Brianna feels a greater personal involvement. Unfortunately, her reputation as a journalist is spotty at best: she cuts corners when it suits her, and at least once has embarrassed herself and the Courier with her nonchalant approach and indifferent attitude.

Brianna Cooper believes she can do better—can gather facts and verify sources, seek the truth and report it, play her role with a new independence. She doesn’t realize that simply doing her job may well have consequences she could never have anticipated, and that the absolute truth can present its own dangers.

 

Also available at Amazon:

Amazon.com

FastPencil.com

 Chuck

Chuck can also be reached by email at chuckradda@gmail.com

Chuck can also be found at his website: chuckradda.com