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In this, the debut novel from creative mind Teel McClanahan III, we follow the stories of a young man trying to write his own debut novel. Faced with the added challenge of trying to complete a novel in only one month, he pours himself literally into the process. But are his attempts at fiction hitting a little too close to home? As he tries to live on one side and write on the other, he finds that the line between imagination and reality may not exist at all.
Will he finish his novel in time? Will he end up with the woman of his dreams? Will he choose to anchor himself in reality, or lose himself in his own fiction? And which of these would really be the better outcome?
Contains some mature content.
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Harriet Bishop, Doctoral student at Dartmouth, discovers odd behavior in the price of coffee on world exchanges. She suspects someone’s illegally cornering the market. But instead of notifying the authorities, she has a unique response that draws her into a firestorm of thrilling action. From the White Mountains of New Hampshire, to the beaches of Brazil, ‘Etty’ tries to stay alive.
“What is your name, son?” Clorice asked sincerely.
“Ernesto, Mr. Clorice. The President did not appreciate your condescending tone tonight. You should take more care. He is a powerful man.”
They stopped to lean on a section of rail. “But I know a young girl who has him doing anything she wants. What power is there in that?” Clorice and Milpeau laughed together.
Ernesto objected. “Your lack of respect is repulsive.” He puffed hard on the glowing cigar. Clorice returned a mocking smile to Ernesto’s taut frown.
Milpeau stepped back from the railing and moved behind the guard. He reached into his side pocket to grip a tobacco aerator, a foot long thin metal shaft with a handle at one end and a pin-sharp point at the other. While the guard looked down to tap the ash from his cigar, Milpeau felt the debilitating force of Clorice’s stare and knew what he must do.
– Excerpt
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John Fitzgerald McKnight, born into an unsympathetic Catholic family on the day JFK was assassinated, is a highly educated, multi-lingual, classical composer with a charming, sarcastic wit and a love of women. Right after college, he was tagged as “potentially brilliant” when his piano concerto premiered in New York City. Since that time, he has been quite successful in remaining undiscovered and consistently “unbrilliant.” John is left slogging through meaningless jobs in LA trying to figure out how he fits into the world of music, love and contentment.
While working as a temp at a law firm, he meets optimistic Elizabeth, a sexy entertainment attorney climbing the ladder of success. Together they party their way through Hollywood’s booze-drenched television elite, rubbing elbows with the unsavory rich. Elizabeth is a believer in John’s talents and abilities and enthusiastically puts her foot in his ass to jump-start his career. In a desperate attempt to end his cycle of meaningless, low paying jobs, John asks Elizabeth for an introduction to the world of television music. Although John knows it is beneath his talents to work in this arena, he dives in, only to be bitch slapped by the all-knowing producers. Burnt bridge after burnt bridge leaves John and Elizabeth’s relationship at an impasse. John believes she’s the girl of his dreams, but can’t stop himself from ruining everything and driving Elizabeth away.
John handles this by doing what any decent, insecure, melodramatic artist would do. He stays in his Van Nuys apartment for a full year without ever leaving. He becomes a modern day Robinson Crusoe surviving by sheer cunning. He runs out of money, sells off his prized possessions to the Chinese food delivery guy, discovers a taste for mustard, caper and Cocoa Puff sandwiches, shaves his balls and listens to the music that has made him who he is. But not all is wasted. Wisely, John spends this quality alone time in a vodka soup pot cloud, contemplating string theory, early childhood traumas, and the smell of old lady piano teachers. A lifelong oath to never whore out his musical talents ends when he plays piano for the elderly woman next door – for pizza.
John barely hangs on but after a very sexy, romantic dinner with a pair of Elizabeth’s panties, she inadvertently left behind, he finds his muse again and begins to write. But it ain’t all pansies and poodles. In a moment of desperation, he steals the electricity, telephone and cable tv from his neighbor and a fire subsequently starts in the apartment building. As everyone and everything stands before the grim reaper, John, in his final breaths of smoke clogged air, finally manages to grasp one small part of the puzzle called “life.”
Brilliant, disturbed, mesmerizing, hilarious, and brutally f**ked up. The entire Hollywood enchilada. What’s a creative soul to do when confronted by the entire freaking weight of the universe, not to mention his own missteps?
This sharp satiric book by Scooter Pietsch is as fresh and compelling as it is dark and kinky. At times I couldn’t believe where this author goes, but I couldn’t put it down. I’m glad it’s available on Kindle.
– Jerrilyn Farmer, Amazon.com
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Don’t mistake WRECKTORY for a religious book! It is the story of Father Frank Beckett and his forty-three years at the inner-city church of Saint Timothy. Frank has a president of his parish council who is determined to oust him; a housekeeper who does not know how to clean or cook, but is great at solving real-life murders; and a female parishioner for whom Frank has special affection. He has a mother who tries to use her influence to get him made bishop; a half-sister who is on trial for killing her lover; two gay parishioners who want him to officiate at their wedding; and a Juliet in a high school Shakespearean production he is directing who is sure she’s dying. As he nears the end of his career, Frank finds he is about to pass the clerical baton to a young priest who wears a ponytail, drives a motorcycle, and doesn’t have time to bother with church red tape and traditions…
Tales from the Wrecktory is a wonderful book to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon with. The characters are convincing and well developed and Father Frank Beckett is the compassionate pastor we are all looking for. In this collection of heart felt stories the priest follows that small voice within which doesn’t always please his congregation or Church hierarchy and often leads to complications. But the reader knows no matter what happens Father Frank will do the right thing.
– Amazon.com customer review
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Go behind the scenes of the daytime television soap opera industry with Boob Tube. Written by Lesleyann Coker (a former reporter for Soap Opera Weekly) and her husband Mark (of Smashwords), the two interviewed dozens of soap opera industry insiders for their stories and then fictionalized everything here.
Jason Christiansen’s actors demanded Xanax and organic tampons. He had one hour to retrieve the items before afternoon production ground to a halt.
As the publicist for Tranquility Bay, daytime television’s number-two rated soap opera, he was accustomed to such requests.
The first panicked call came from Eden Jordan, a popular actress on the show. The 27-year-old was stranded in her dressing room, ill-prepared for the early onset of her period, and too embarrassed to seek help from anyone else. She refused to leave her room until Jason brought her organic tampons from a store on Sunset Boulevard called Herganic.
Scud Hudson, the actor who played Eden’s love interest, was suffering from an agoraphobic panic attack. He wanted Jason to pick up a Xanax refill from the pharmacist
Jason took a deep breath.
– Excerpt
Boob Tube exposes the gritty sleaze of the soap subculture. An insider view of the desperation of underdog actors and actresses as they claw their way up the ladder, hostages to opportunistic producers and agents and their own near-sighted ambition — it portrays a unique slice of the Hollywood bubble.
– Anne Murray
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When a pig named Pig discovers a magic box able to make twenty-seven copies of anything you throw in it, his life is turned upside down with excitement! But as word spreads about his new toy, he finds it’s not as easy as it seems to be in charge of infinite possibilities, and he maybe overreacts just a smidge. Of course, it doesn’t help to have a crazy squirrel around, dancing ballet in his underwear. That never made anyone stay calm.
“The Pig and the Box” is a modern fable that teaches kids and adults alike that sharing is always a good idea.
“Who knew that barnyard animals would have so much to teach us about the evils of Digital Rights Management?”
— Cory Doctorow (Editor, Boing Boing; author of “Little Brother“)
PDF free, ePub $2.99
33 pages
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“The Way of the Bow” relates the story of Tetsuya, the best archer of the country, who conveys his teachings to a boy in his village. Using the metaphor of archery the author leads us through several essential thoughts : our daily efforts and work, how to overcome difficulties, steadfastness, and courage to take risky decisions.
‘Tetsuya.’
The boy looked at the stranger, startled.
‘No one in this city has ever seen Tetsuya holding a bow,’ he replied. ‘Everyone here knows him as a carpenter.’
‘Maybe he gave up, maybe he lost his courage, that doesn’t matter to me,’ insisted the stranger. ‘But he cannot be considered to be the best archer in the country if he has abandoned his art. That’s why I’ve been travelling all these days, in order to challenge him and put an end to a reputation he no longer deserves.’
The boy saw there was no point in arguing; it was best to take the man to the carpenter’s shop so that he could see with his own eyes that he was mistaken.
Tetsuya was in the workshop at the back of his house. He turned to see who had come in, but his smile froze when his eyes fell on the long bag that the stranger was carrying.
‘It’s exactly what you think it is,’ said the new arrival. ‘I did not come here to humiliate or to provoke the man who has become a legend. I would simply like to prove that, after all my years of practice, I have managed to reach perfection.’
– Excerpt
(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 10)
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Susie Brooks is a nineteen-year-old dance teacher whose main stability through an uncertain childhood was her best friend, Evan Scott, a guitarist with a flair for the business world. Evan’s other best friend is Duncan O’Neil, also a guitarist, but with a flair for attracting women’s attention while hiding his past. When Duncan moves into Evan’s world, he changes the dynamics not only within the band, but within Susie and Evan’s relationship. The three friends find themselves struggling with love, loss, and secret passions during the turbulent Seventies. “A Different Drummer” is the first of a series of four.
Rehearsal assembles an ensemble cast to tell the story of a rock band, Raucous, that comes of age in the 1970′s. The main plot focuses on the relationship between Evan, Susie, and Duncan. Ultimately, Susie pursues a relationship with Duncan, leaving Evan, her childhood friend, to wonder where he fits into her life. There are various subplots involving Kate and Mike, and the band’s adventures on the road as an opening act for an established band.
Hunsaker tells an engrossing tale that takes the reader through every facet of the character’s lives. There are numerous references to the 1970′s that evoke the era. The characterization is “spot on,” but the pacing slows the reader down. A satisfying ending leaves the reader looking forward to the sequel.
– Steph
(2 votes, average: 10.00 out of 10)
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Why is a young Westerner living in a seedy Tokyo apartment with a crew of crazed cultists? To end the world, of course…
“Cyberpunk meets a Tarantino Universe where every moment is filled with non-stop action and plot twists.”
The premise of Marc Horne‘s Tokyo Zero: “I want to end the human race. But not because I don’t like it. I just have a better idea.”
On this wildly amusing romp down a Vonnegut-like rabbit hole, you don’t learn this until you’re 93 percent of the way through the novel (commercial POD title from Amazon; free e-book from Horne and the multiformat Manybooks.net).
Originally bearing the far-superior title of My Tokyo Death Cult, the book is very loosely based on 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway. The “fulcrum of human history” is a plot to eliminate the human race by means of a device a device that “strongly resembles a drinking bird toy.” To get there, you cruise wildly imaginative waters where would-be fascist billionaires consort with female assassins, mothers are killed by the Khmer Rouge, plastic surgeons manipulate human DNA, bearded cult leaders levitate on the Tokyo subway, and a superpowerful artificial intelligence employs an irony filter.
Read the entire review
– Court Merrigan, TeleRead.org
(2 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)
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I feel better than I have in days. I want to make bumper stickers for politicians and gay rights advocates. They’ll read “My other pro-tolerance message is also condescending.”
I want to destroy something.
I’m tired of the moral high ground. We’ve already got more than our share of gay Gandhis. We need a General Patton.
No poor bastard ever won a war by dying for his country.
I feel the way bank robbers must feel just before they go out on that last big job that ends up getting them all killed.
That is to say, optimistic.
- from “Lockpick Pornography”
It’s impossible to talk about a book like Joey Comeau’s Lockpick Pornography without first considering the way things like terror, gender, family values, and even the publishing industry are currently constructed, because every page in this grenade of a novel is written to blow them to bits. Everything is fair game to be smashed and reconstituted, from the boundaries of gender to the proper way to handle a closed door.
This tiny spitfire also manages in turn to be funny, awkward and tender, all strung together with explicit, cover-your-kid’s-eyes sex and violence.
-junk magazine
(3 votes, average: 9.33 out of 10)
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Who is Connor Mackenzie? Is he the result of an illegal experiment…or is he the prophet foretold by an ancient text discovered in the Sinai wilderness? This is the question he and his pregnant wife must answer in a race across five continents, the targets of a sinister organization with an unthinkable agenda, and a journalist who believes he’s stumbled onto the biggest story of his career…
“I love you.”
“You don’t look like a man in love. You look terrified.”
“I am terrified.”
He twisted the gold wedding band on his finger. Even in the dim light, he could see the tiny infinity symbol engraved on it. He remembered the day they were married…standing before the preacher in that little church in Jerusalem, listening to him read from the Song of Solomon….
“Love is invincible facing danger and death…passion laughs at the terrors of hell…the fire of love stops at nothing…”
He recalled the day she brought him home from the hospital after his encounter with the desert horned viper. He’d been angry and frustrated by his temporary impotence-and she’d been angry with him for it.
“Is that all you think you have to offer? Is that all you believe you are to me? Listen to me-even if we could never have sex again, you are the only man I could ever love.”
He drew in a deep breath. He had to put an end to this insanity. He had to protect her and the baby.
All his life, he’d been disappointed by everyone he’d known, men and women. They’d all wanted something from him, whether it was his money, his connections, his genius, or even his body. Lynne was different. She loved him for the one thing only she could see.
His soul.
–Excerpt, Copyright 2008 by Norma and Collin Beishir
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“Newbury! Thank God you’re here.”
Sir Maurice Newbury swept into the hallway, his overcoat billowing open behind him as he marched across the marble floor towards his friend. His expression was serious. “Don’t thank God, Charles. Thank the cabbie who agreed to take my fare this close to Christmas.” His face was ruddy from the biting cold and his breath was shallow with exertion.
He began removing his black leather gloves, one finger at a time, eyeing the older man for any clue as to why he’d been called from his bed at such an early hour of the morning. Sir Charles Bainbridge, his grey moustache twitching with irritation, glanced over Newbury’s shoulder as if he were expecting someone else.
“Miss Hobbes?” He looked flustered.
Newbury shot his friend a stern look. “Charles. It’s Christmas Eve!”
Bainbridge nodded in acknowledgement, as if the date had only just dawned on the Chief Inspector. He glanced at his pocket watch. “Quite so, old man. Quite so.” He shook his head. “Well, Christmas or not, I’m afraid the situation here is rather grave.”
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Adelaide Binchley is probably the only fortysomething housewife and junior college dropout ever to be nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics, and she’s certainly the only one whose career was launched by a bedpan.
When Addie meets Physics professor Jakob Pankowicz, she discovers that having just one person see a greater potential in her, and believe in her even when she doesn’t believe in herself, is all she needs to escape her self-imposed limits. In this hilarious and touching novel, as she navigates the rough territory created by her teenage-feminist daughter, borderline delinquent son, philandering husband, and the friends in her embroidery circle, Addie finds when one person selflessly reaches out to another, that gesture has the power to change the world.
Hamilton has a real gift for drawing credible people who have equal potential for being hilarious and dramatic.
- Grady Harp, Amazon Top 10 Reviewer
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The Solomon Scandals is a Washington newspaper novel. This book is, yes, fiction. But it was inspired by such history as a powerful senator’s secret investment in a CIA-occupied building in Northern Virginia, as well as an unrelated building collapse.
CIA skulduggery. Hundreds dead in a fallen IRS building. Corruption and blackmail from the Oval Office. D.C.-quirky sex scandals. A gossip columnist’s suicide. The death of a shark-like editor in a car bombing. Reporter Jonathan Stone lives through it all, until one day he forsakes Washington for Hollywood to write history disguised as conspiracy movies.
Simply put, The Solomon Scandals serves up a mix of suspense, thrills and satire that you won’t find in any other Washington novels. It is a genre-bender with touches of science fiction and even Jewish fiction. Author David Rothman tells the story in the form of a Stone’s newspaper memoirs–discovered by a multiracial great-grandniece, Rebecca Kitiona-Fenton, Ph.D., of the Institute for the Study of Previrtual media. What other D.C. newspaper novel ends with a talking Afghan Hound named Thackeray II doing a Harry Truman act at the Cosmos Club in the late 21st century?
“The Solomon Scandals is a mordantly entertaining book that broadens the cast of the standard Washington novel beyond spymasters and politicians to include real estate barons and federal contract officers. David Rothman’s detailed knowledge of the D.C. scene comes through in his satire. Scandals is set in yesterday’s Washington, but is about truths behind today’s headlines—and about the troubled newspapers that publish the headlines.
“Like Boomsday and others of the best recent Washington novels, it amuses while broadening our understanding of how today’s government works—and doesn’t.”
– James Fellows, author of Breaking the News
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Inspired by true events, Global Collusion: The Cover Up is a taut and suspenseful novel about big business and lengths some will go to ensure financial gain. Anthony Brina is a Fortune 500 operations executive with a highly successful career. His involvement with the production of a revolutionary product is certain to secure his future and reap astronomical financial gains for the company. His friend, Mina, is a business reporter from California and she’s on board to report the biggest find of the century.
But when Anthony discovers a flaw that sets the product 2000% higher than its actual cost, he starts receiving anonymous notes and finds himself trapped in a sinister ordeal that hides a massive conspiracy. Will Mina betray him like others or will she help him reveal the biggest business cover up of the century? Who can the other trust and who is plotting to take down an international giant?
With adept twists and turns and an insider’s look into the world of the most powerful movers and shakers, Global Collusion: The Cover Up is an exhilarating roller coaster ride through the most influential and powerfully financial cities of the world.
Author Franklin Riga offers you a sharp mystery that looks at big business, government, sci-fi technology, the media, covert activities and intense seduction. He takes you to New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, Geneva, and Rome in this pseudo-fiction account.
(2 votes, average: 7.00 out of 10)
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Andrews McMeel Publishing and Scott Adams, creator of the Dilbert comic strips and #1 best-selling author of Dilbert humor books, have agreed to publish Mr. Adams’ new project called God’s Debris: A Thought Experiment. God’s Debris is Scott’s first non-Dilbert, non-humor effort. The author describes the book as “a thought experiment wrapped in a story. It’s designed to make your brain spin around inside your skull.” Some content of the book is nonfiction because the opinions and philosophies of the characters might have lasting impact on the reader. Others believe it is fiction because the characters don’t exist.
Imagine that you meet a very old man who—you eventually realize—knows literally everything. Imagine that he explains for you the great mysteries of life—quantum physics, evolution, God, gravity, light, psychic phenomenon, and probability—in a way so simple, so novel, and so compelling that it all fits together and makes perfect sense. What does it feel like to suddenly understand everything? God’s Debris isn’t the final answer to the Big Questions. But it might be the most compelling vision of reality you will ever read. The thought experiment is this: Try to figure out what’s wrong with the old man’s explanation of reality. Share the book with your smart friends then discuss it later while enjoying a beverage.
(1 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)
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