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A Memento to Uncle Eddie
Even Angels Wear Leather Jackets and Ride Motorcycles follows a man who learns his uncle is dying and reflects on cherished memories as he travels from Philadelphia to New Jersey to be with him. What inspired this story?
Inspired over a few years after I graduated college, this fictional autobiography, “Even Angels Wear Leather Jackets and Ride Motorcycles,” shares special moments experienced with my Uncle Eddie, our friendship, leading to his final days before unexpectedly passing. When I received the phone call working in Philadelphia – from start to finish is exactly how this moment transpired. Overall: the wild trips, the shared wisdom, the meaningful inspiring conversations took place, along with the dramatic inner family conflicts play crucial roles within the telling of this story.
A few of the moments read within this novel, for entertainment purposes, are jazzed up a bit but roughly ninety percent of the novel is accurate down to the dialogue exchanges, feelings portrayed, and shared moments. I took very close notes in a set of diaries I wrote throughout my life, next to many notebooks of poetry and prose, to serve as reference material. This novel is a memento to my uncle, who I loved and adored as a father figure, and a dedication to the concept so many don’t comprehend: when you’re standing up for what’s right, majority of the time, you will be standing alone. This concept comes from never letting anyone burn out your flame and to always keep the candle lit – whether: pursuing creative ambitions and endeavors, finding love, or discovering friendship.
Also, this novel serves as a testament to follow your dreams and never stop trying, even if only one person believes in the path you’re trailblazing – that is enough; sometimes, you won’t even be lucky to have one person and this novel serves as an awareness – if you’re lucky enough in this lifetime to find love, absolutely no one, should ever judge what it looks like.
Eddie is portrayed as a motorcycle-riding rebel, loving family member, mentor, and source of wisdom. How did you develop such a memorable and layered character?
When I set out to write the novel, “Even Angels Wear Leather Jackets and Ride Motorcycles,” I didn’t want the character Uncle Eddie on his deathbed to serve as a catalyst for the story to be told, I wanted him to be the heart of the story and every shared moment are the beats leading up to his final poem. While writing, the focus would be primarily the affects Uncle Eddie had on Peter with each shared moment; however, the interactions with family members at different events, the discussions with trials and heartbreaks Peter was experiencing throughout the novel, and the contributed fun moments during holidays – all of these attributes would develop Uncle Eddie’s beloved character arc – and after reading the journey, admiration will be felt when the final page is turned.
This novel was penned in his honor for the good, strong, wise man he was and what he meant to me during impressionable and challenging points traversing life at the time. Originally intended, the flashback moments were meant to serve as memories but when I realized I wanted to open up more vulnerability for Peter, internally, I dug emotionally deeper for sincere, honest, difficult, and transparent moments. Readers will realize Uncle Eddie and Peter are just like any other person sharing similar conversations and the actions surrounding conflicts within the story are relatable too.
When I realized Uncle Eddie as the heart of the novel he truthfully became the entire theme which is why I titled the narrative after him because Angels don’t just wear gowns or plated armor and have wings; they too, can wear leather jackets and ride motorcycles.
Eddie encourages Peter to follow his creative ambitions even when others may not understand them. Why was that message important to include?
The message following creative ambitions, whether others understand them or not, is extremely important – not from a point of seeking wealth with creative endeavors but to have a creative outlet even if just for yourself.
Many people don’t have creative ambitions or even talent and skills necessary to create original ideas in whatever form of art they would choose to explore. This being said, many people are jealous and envious and will discourage others not to follow their paths of self-expression or unjustly berate and shame an individual to quit. Unfortunately, this works for certain people and they put down their pen, paint brush, instrument, camera, sheet music, etc. – this is the most devastating and unforgivable act in my opinion – those unfortunate people, striving to better themselves and find a creative outlet literally didn’t affect anyone’s lives negatively with creating but now stopped from unnecessary bullying.
Personally, I’ve experienced this for twenty plus years between, “family,” “select friends,” “lovers,” “teachers,” “guidance counselors,” and the list could continue for an extremely long time. My journey included my Uncle Eddie, being the first person to start believing in me for most of the beginning of my artistic journey – I was lucky to have one person in my corner, most have none. It didn’t make it any easier struggling and learning to disconnect emotionally myself from so many people because of the shaming and insults I had to put up with but my uncle’s inspiring words and belief in me helped me continue to push forward one little step at a time.
It’s like one of my best friend’s, Joseph Fuoco, reminds me quite often – an old Japanese expression: When society tries to hammer you down, be the standing nail and never let them complete the drive. I’m grateful to my Uncle Eddie for believing in me and being supportive especially during my impressionable formative years which were extremely important while I was learning who I was to become, the journey I was trailblazing, and discovering my voice.
Are there other characters from the novel whose stories you would like to explore?
This novel has many redeeming characters I could explore or to serve the purpose, in the end we’re all imperfect human beings, and that’s enough for me to understand each character’s symbolism within the narrative. Many of these characters would be revisited again throughout other books, especially within my diaries I will be publishing in the future.
The story’s various characters: positive and negative impacts, as I chose the path of becoming an artist – this would be a very personal exploration into their character arcs and themes. These themes and characters are meant for inspirational purposes and to help people who are artists continue their path even when the challenges seem too taxing. More importantly, these themes are meant to stand within the concept of love: if you’re lucky enough in this life to find love, who is anyone to tell you what it should look like. I stand behind this statement with my entire soul – coming from many struggling experiences with love – romances and friendships because it didn’t fit into other’s narratives and it took a long time for me to come to the realization, someday, everyone will be dead and gone and myself included – always, I want to make the best decisions for myself first, no one else and their opinions. These select themes are to help others when reading know: even if they feel it, they’re not alone. With Love and Admiration, as my beloved Uncle Eddie believed in me – I believe in you. Thank you for taking the time and energy to read “Even Angels Wear Leather Jackets and Ride Motorcycles” and this interview
The Misadventures of Four Friends
Firecrackers follows a fourteen-year-old boy and his friends who investigate strange cries coming from a neighborhood house and find themselves in the middle of a real-life treasure hunt. What drew you to the classic idea of kids exploring their neighborhood and stumbling into a mystery much bigger than they expected?
I wanted to do something a little different: a humorous thriller. I thought the misadventures of four young friends focused on pirates, bi-planes, firecrackers, and mischief would present some pretty funny situations as they uncover the truth and outwit the criminal they call “Blackbeard” and his accomplices.
What qualities did you want each member of the group to bring to the friendship, and what do their homemade inventions, experiments, and elaborate plans reveal about how they approach the world?
All of them have a strong sense of adventure and loyalty. They are smart, energetic boys in a fairly open environment, left to explore and experience summer on their own but also as a team of friends. Nash approaches the world with a strong sense of friendship and humor. Stevie approaches it with an engineer’s innate ability to construct things. Leroy is a bit of an entrepreneur and outlaw. Bug is excitable, a bit younger, and less mature than the others. They approach the world with a lot of imagination, but they also must confront the very real dangers and mysteries surrounding Alice, Blackbeard, and the other “grown-ups” they encounter.
Why was the idea that “not everyone is who they seem” important to the story, and what do they learn about the difference between imagining who someone is and actually getting to know them?
They learn that not all “authority figures” are automatically worthy of their trust; genuine trust must be earned through direct experience.
Do you have more adventures planned for Nash, Bug, Leroy, and Steve?
I hope so!
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Nash and his mischievous friends embark on their summer adventures when old lady Alice is heard moaning outside her spooky house. As they investigate, a man they call “Blackbeard” misleads, bluffs, and threatens them. But as the danger to Alice rises, so does Nash’s determination to uncover the truth – until the boys discover it’s not just Alice who “Blackbeard” will kill to protect his treasure.
Join the fun and fireworks along the way.
But be careful: not everyone in the deadly game is who they seem.
Firecrackers
Firecrackers by A.W. Baldwin is a lively middle-grade adventure mystery built around the kind of summer where four fourteen-year-old boys have too much freedom, plenty of imagination, and access to far more fireworks than anyone should probably trust them with. Nash and his friends Bug, Leroy, and Stevie spend their days staging pirate battles, building traps around their tree fort, launching homemade contraptions, and generally treating their Colorado neighborhood like their own private adventure park. Then Nash hears a woman wailing behind the old Harris House and spots what looks like a ghost. His curiosity pulls the boys into a mystery involving Alice, an elderly woman living there, two intimidating men they nickname Blackbeard and Son of Blackbeard, surveillance cameras, strange stones, and a secret that turns their pretend adventures into something very real.
What makes this middle grade mystery especially fun is Nash’s voice. He tells the story with the absolute confidence of a kid who knows his latest terrible idea is probably brilliant, at least until something catches fire. His running pirate commentary, Bug’s spectacularly bad jokes, Leroy’s hustling instincts, and Stevie’s enthusiasm for building things give the friendship its own rhythm. The boys feel like a genuine crew because they tease each other, get scared together, argue over what to do, and still show up when somebody needs help. Baldwin also understands how a fourteen-year-old imagination can transform an ordinary setting. A creepy house becomes a haunted fortress, a suspicious man becomes Blackbeard, and a homemade PVC cannon becomes legitimate pirate artillery. That blend of reality and imagination gives this humorous middle grade adventure much of its personality.
The mystery grows steadily as the boys realize Alice really is frightened and the danger surrounding her isn’t imaginary. Their investigation sends them sneaking around the Harris House, following clues, tracking vehicles, discovering disguised criminals, and eventually uncovering a cache of stolen diamonds and a connection to someone they thought they could trust. The story has an old-school kids adventure quality, with bikes, woods, forts, homemade inventions, and friends solving problems largely on their own. At times the repeated experiments, pranks, and close calls make the book feel deliberately episodic, but that structure also captures the loose rhythm of a long childhood summer. As the stakes rise, seemingly separate pieces such as the fireworks, pirate cannon, mysterious stones, and the boys’ obsession with adventure begin feeding directly into the main crime story.
Under all the explosions and pirate talk, Firecrackers is also a coming-of-age adventure about courage, loyalty, and learning that grown-ups can be complicated people. Nash’s developing friendship with Alice gives the ending unexpected warmth, especially after so much of the book has been fueled by suspicion and comic chaos. The final chapters bring the mystery to a satisfying conclusion while letting the boys remain exactly who they’ve been all along: curious, reckless, inventive, loyal, and ready to turn the next ordinary afternoon into a story worth telling. Readers looking for a funny middle-grade mystery, friendship adventure, or action-packed coming-of-age story will find plenty here, particularly if they like secret treasure, homemade forts, neighborhood legends, dangerous villains, and the occasional firecracker going off where it absolutely shouldn’t.
Pages: 139 | ISBN: 979-8-9984981-0-7
Even Angels Wear Leather Jackets and Ride Motorcycles
J.A. McGovern’s Even Angels Wear Leather Jackets and Ride Motorcycles is an emotionally candid family drama about the people whose influence continues long after they’re gone. The story follows Peter as he learns that his beloved Uncle Eddie is dying and desperately races from Philadelphia to a New Jersey hospital. During that frantic journey, memories carry Peter through family celebrations, nights at local bars, youthful misadventures, romantic conflicts, and private conversations with the uncle who believed in his creative ambitions. These recollections build a vivid portrait of Eddie as a motorcycle-riding rebel, devoted father, loyal friend, and unexpected source of wisdom.
The book’s nonlinear structure reflects how memory often works during a crisis. A train ride, a song, a hospital corridor, or the sight of a leather jacket can send Peter into another moment from his relationship with Eddie. Some memories are funny and unruly, while others reveal Eddie guiding Peter through questions about love, prejudice, family expectations, and the uncertain path of becoming an artist. Eddie’s advice, “If you ever feel lonely pull out your pen and write. Be the guide other wanderers seek,” captures both his role in Peter’s life and the purpose behind the book itself. Peter isn’t simply remembering his uncle. He’s using storytelling to carry Eddie’s guidance forward.
McGovern gives this coming-of-age novel and family loss story much of its personality through working-class New Jersey settings, Italian American family gatherings, neighborhood bars, classic-rock songs, motorcycles, food, cigarettes, and relentless teasing. The family feels loud, imperfect, affectionate, and recognizably alive. Eddie emerges through accumulated details rather than formal descriptions, whether he’s supporting Peter after a performance, defending his relationship with Zoe, helping a stranger, or making a memorable exit on his Harley. That everyday intimacy gives the hospital and funeral scenes their emotional force because readers have spent so much time seeing what Eddie meant to the people surrounding him.
Readers familiar with Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie may recognize a similar relationship between a searching young man and an older mentor facing death. Both books explore how one person’s lessons can shape another person’s future, but McGovern’s story unfolds with the rowdy energy of family legend. Its world includes drinking, parties, racial tensions, artistic dreams, local humor, and the restless recklessness of early adulthood. Eddie’s philosophy isn’t delivered through scheduled conversations. It comes through shared meals, spontaneous drives, loud music, difficult choices, and the example of how he treats people.
The ideal audience for Even Angels Wear Leather Jackets and Ride Motorcycles includes adult readers who enjoy autobiographical fiction, family dramas, and emotional coming-of-age stories. It will speak especially strongly to anyone who’s lost an uncle, parent, mentor, or other larger-than-life family member and found that grief can preserve even the smallest memories. By the time Peter places a rose on Eddie’s casket and promises, “I will live in your memory Uncle Eddie,” the title feels fully earned. Eddie becomes the book’s leather-clad angel, roaring through Peter’s memories and reminding him to love bravely, follow his own path, and create something that might guide the next wanderer.
Noticing the Small Things
The Star Thrower follows three recent graduates on a trip to Bali, where they abandon their expected paths to pursue ones that give them purpose, learning along the way that small actions can make a big impact. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
The story and setup stems from the Loren Eiseley’s “The Star Thrower” (or “starfish story”) is part of a 26-page essay. In that story, a man sees a boy throwing stranded starfish back into the ocean. When told he can’t save them all, the boy replies, “It made a difference to that one.” I wanted to explore how “Generation Z” or recent grads or really anyone—who often feel paralyzed by the scale of global problems—can find agency by focusing on the “one” thing in front of them rather than the “everything” they can’t control.
Bali feels transformative rather than decorative. What made it the right setting for this moment of awakening?
Bali is often called the “Island of the Gods,” but its power lies in its Tri Hita Karanaphilosophy—the harmony between people, nature, and the spirit world. It introduces a paradox and a stark visual and spiritual contrast to the “corporate ladder” or the rigid academic structures the graduates just left that plays out throughout the book. The setting isn’t just a backdrop; the physical environment and getting lost force the characters to slow down and notice the “small things” they overlooked in their fast-paced lives back home.
Each character finds a different path, yet their journeys remain interconnected. What interested you about that balance?
I wanted to highlight the importance of friendship. Even as we travel paths, our growth is often fueled by the people who knew us before we changed. It highlights that “purpose” isn’t a one-size-fits-all destination. By keeping the characters interconnected, it shows that when one person finds their light, it makes it easier for their friends and others to find theirs, too. It’s a “rising tide lifts all boats” philosophy.
The novel is openly hopeful. What do you hope readers carry with them after finishing the book?
I hope readers can feel less overwhelmed by the “grand plan” of their lives and more empowered by their daily choices. Hope isn’t a feeling; it’s an action. The Star Thrower is presented as a disciplined choice and sometimes that choice involves making changes and perhaps finding a new direction. It’s not that the characters ignore the world’s problems; they simply choose to address them one “starfish” at a time. The “Star Thrower” isn’t a person who fixes everything; the “Star Thrower” is someone who refuses to do nothing. If you finish the book and feel like you can do one small, kind thing for your community, the book has done its job. What is one “starfish” action a reader can take today?
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Their summer of self-discovery takes a sharp turn when they become entangled in a legal battle against a powerful corporation responsible for a massive environmental spill. The stakes are immediate and personal: their coastal community’s health, its economy, and the survival of endangered wildlife.
The friends emerge victorious. While the community celebrates the win, the friends’ ultimate reward is deeper than the legal triumph. By protecting life and bringing a corporation to justice, Ava, Sam, and Leo discover their true purpose, realizing that their combined talents are the ‘how’—the essential tools—for the greater ‘why’—the fierce protection of their world. The book celebrates the profound benefit of teamwork, illustrating that true purpose is often found not in solitude, but in collaboration for a cause greater than oneself.
The Star Thrower: A Novel
The Star Thrower is a contemporary coming-of-age novel that blends personal reinvention with environmental activism. It starts with Ava Wainwright at graduation, caught between her father’s expectation that she pursue law and her own quieter pull toward art, storytelling, and wildlife. From there, the book opens outward through a trip to Bali, where Ava and her friends Sam and Leo begin to see their lives with fresh eyes and, just as importantly, begin to imagine futures that actually belong to them.
I liked that the novel knows exactly what kind of story it wants to be. It’s earnest, idealistic, and driven by purpose. Bali isn’t just a scenic backdrop. It becomes the place where the three friends start naming what matters to them, and the title image of the star thrower gives the whole book its moral center. When the old man on the beach says, “It matters to this one,” the novel makes its argument plainly and effectively: individual acts may be small, but they still count.
The book also works because it gives each member of the trio a distinct path. Ava moves toward writing and illustration, Leo toward forensic science and evidence-based advocacy, and Sam toward community action and ocean-centered leadership. That structure gives the novel a nice forward motion, because each character’s growth feeds the larger plot about pollution, corporate misconduct, and public pressure. I also appreciated that the book keeps returning to the question of purpose.
In style, the novel is direct, sincere, and easy to read. It wears its heart on its sleeve, and I think that openness is part of its appeal. The dialogue is often used to clarify where each character stands emotionally, and the scenic descriptions of beaches, forests, and wildlife give the story a steady sense of atmosphere. The courtroom and activism sections shift the novel into a more issue-driven register, but they still connect back to the characters’ search for meaning, which keeps the book grounded in human stakes rather than abstract causes.
The Star Thrower is a hopeful novel about choosing a life that feels true, then learning how to defend it. It’s about friendship, grief, vocation, environmental responsibility, and the way conviction grows from small moments of attention. More than anything, it’s a book that believes people can change course and that communities can change too. That belief is what gives the novel its warmth. By the end, it feels less like a story about grand destiny and more like a story about finding your bearings and moving toward them, one choice at a time.
Pages: 136 | ASIN : B0GQL5NMGG
Sincerely Yours…Written In The Stars And Inked In Destiny!
In Sincerely Yours, Sonia D. Hebdon drops readers into Haven Cove in 1989, where Josie, a sharp, music-soaked teenager with a gift for language, falls into a charged romance with her new neighbor Blaine while secretly writing an advice column called “Sincerely Yours.” What begins as an 80s-inflected love story of mixtapes, eyeliner, and illicit nights out steadily opens into something stranger: a paranormal narrative about writing itself, about stories that breathe, unfinished worlds, and the frightening possibility that words do not merely describe reality but conjure it. The novel openly frames itself as a paranormal love story rooted in 1980s music and in the idea that certain writers can create literal worlds, and that premise becomes the book’s true engine.
What I liked most was the book’s unabashed sincerity. Hebdon is not aiming for cool detachment; she wants feeling, and she goes after it in full view. Josie and Blaine are drawn with the kind of heightened, romantic glow that suits the novel’s cassette-tape heart, and the pages are thick with Cure songs, club lights, handwritten letters, and the intoxicating self-invention of adolescence. I found that atmosphere persuasive even when the prose grew ornate, because the book’s emotional weather is so clear: loneliness, awakening, first love, artistic hunger, the longing to be seen as oneself rather than as a role assigned by family or town. The advice-column scenes also give Josie a moral and emotional gravity that keeps her from becoming just another dreamy heroine; her anonymity becomes its own form of courage.
My reaction to the novel’s second half was more mixed, but still engaged. Once the Whitlock Society and the metaphysics of authorship move closer to center stage, the book shifts from nostalgic romance into meta-paranormal fantasy, and that turn is genuinely intriguing. I admired the ambition of a story that asks what happens to unfinished narratives and imagines rare writers as conduits who generate actual worlds. The book feels stuffed with mood, mythos, sentiment, and soundtrack, but that excess is also part of its personality. I never had the sense of a cynical machine at work; I felt the presence of a writer who loves 80s music, believes in the numinous charge of words, and is willing to let teenage feeling burn bright instead of sanding it down into irony.
I’d recommend Sincerely Yours to young adult readers, especially those who enjoy YA paranormal romance, clean fiction, coming-of-age fantasy, and music-laced stories with a gothic shimmer. Readers who love emotionally direct fiction and retro atmosphere will probably be its natural home crowd. In spirit, it sits somewhere between the swooning supernatural pull of Twilight and the mixtape melancholy of an 80s-mad Sarah Dessen alternate universe, though Hebdon’s metafictional streak gives it its own curious voltage. My verdict: this is a heartfelt, melodramatic, odd little spell of a book, and when it works, it reminds me that sincerity is not a weakness but a strength.
Pages: 170 | ASIN : B0FDWQSZLJ
Leaving My Mark
Legacy is a sprawling science-fantasy epic that follows the lives of several young warriors on the world of Utopia, a place where ancient magic coexists with advanced technology. This is an intriguing fantasy novel. Why was it important for you to write this book?
It’s a story that has stuck with me since childhood. It stayed in my mind and continued to expand in scope. I had thought about creating other media, but eventually settled on writing a story. It’s my way of leaving my mark in the sands of time, proof that I was once here, something I can leave behind.
Your characters are intriguing and highly engaging to readers. What character did you enjoy writing for? Was there one that was more challenging to write for?
I enjoyed writing for all of them. There were times when it got difficult, some of Ryker’s scenes in particular. He, unfortunately, suffers through some of the darker themes within the story. As I have previously mentioned, the story has grown within my mind, and so have these characters. I am telling a story that happened ages ago, which means I have to remind myself that these are younger versions of the characters. They can’t do certain things or wouldn’t react in the same ways that they would now.
I find that authors sometimes ask themselves questions and let their characters answer them. Do you think this is true for your characters?
Oh, most certainly. They are always with me. I’ve done what I can to keep the characters alive in my mind since childhood, as I wanted to write the story one day, but feared that as I got older, I would forget about them. I didn’t want to do that, so I found ways to keep them present and fresh in my mind. Creating new adventures or exploring new lands with them.
What is your background and experience in writing, and how did it help you write Legacy?
I have little to no experience in writing officially. The most I have done was write some short stories, many of which never got an ending, and write some poetry in my young teen years. I am not even an avid novel reader. I once was in my youth, but I lost that along the road, unfortunately. I’ll still read comics and manga occasionally, but even then. At one time, I thought I would create a Legacy series within a comic book or a manga, but my drawing skills aren’t as consistent as I would like them to be. I don’t have the means to hire an artist, but I know how to write. So, I decided on trying my hand at stringing words together and writing a book, a series of books if all goes as planned.
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A sci-fi fantasy epic of war, sacrifice, and the unbreakable power of friendship. For readers who crave rich characters, explosive action, and worlds where courage and conviction are the greatest weapons, Legacy delivers a thrilling beginning to a saga that will echo across galaxies.
Dark Angelus Everlast is a mystery to most. A local outsider with no known past, he rose to prominence after a decisive victory in one of Utopia’s most prestigious martial arts tournaments. Powerful, enigmatic, and reserved, he’s earned respect—but remains untested in the eyes of many. That changes when a brutal force from beyond the stars descends upon the planet, leaving devastation in its wake and catapulting Dark into a role he never sought.
Thrust into command as Planetary General, Dark must rally divided factions, earn the trust of wary allies, and master abilities that may cost him more than he’s willing to give. With his home on the brink of collapse, he stands as one of its final hopes—whether he’s ready or not.
At his side are Cory Ryker and Cogeta Fairway—steadfast friends whose loyalty runs deeper than blood. Cory, a quiet strategist with a sharp mind who must learn to confront and defeat his greatest enemy, himself. Cogeta, a charismatic warrior whose humor masks a lifetime of burdens, faces trials that will test the very foundation of his identity.
Together, they’ll navigate a galaxy where ancient forces and advanced civilizations collide, forging uneasy alliances, confronting devastating truths, and waging war against an enemy that embodies domination and despair.
Legacy is a bold fusion of military science fiction, epic fantasy, and political drama, exploring the price of heroism in a world where nothing comes without sacrifice. This is not a tale of chosen ones—it’s the story of young warriors standing against impossible odds, shaped not by destiny but by the choices they make when everything is on the line.
