Author Archives: Literary-Titan
Beauty, Hope, and Kindness
Beanie’s Web follows a gentle country spider who must show a wary city fly that kindness, generosity, and friendship can be stronger than fear and first impressions. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
Life on our planet is becoming more and more complex. The universal theme of peace, kindness, and joy expressed in Beanie’s Web offers an opportunity to step back from the complex and embrace the simple qualities that make us human.
Why was it important for Beanie to earn Frieda’s trust through his actions rather than simply persuade her with words?
Actions speak louder than words. Frieda’s intrinsic fear of spiders could not have been quelled by words alone. Beanie’s actions, such as freeing insects from his web and tending a bountiful garden of fruits and vegetables, gave tangibility to his words, “I am a vegetarian.”
How did the themes of peace, kindness, and joy develop as you were writing the story?
I believe that beauty, hope, and kindness can always be found if we choose to look for them in the world around us. As a Marine in Vietnam, I discovered that even in life’s darkest moments, light can still be found when we lift our eyes. Peace, kindness, joy, and other rays of light are the theme and matrix of Beanie’s Web.
What do you hope children and parents will talk about together after reading Beanie’s Web?
Beanie’s Web was written for a young audience whose hearts still hold a natural sense of love, joy, unity, and simplicity. By creating words and illustrations that reflect these lofty qualities, it is hoped that children and parents will discuss, develop, and nurture these attributes.
Author Links: GoodReads
The Rhythm of the Story
The Trouble with Hector is a playful rhyming children’s book about a lovable lizard whose fiery breath causes hilarious trouble at home and school. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
Like most writers and dreamers, I often ask, “What if?” and follow wherever the possibilities lead. If I find myself carried along by the scenes I imagine, I keep going. In the case of The Trouble With Hector, my starting point was the pet store, which was one of the usual outings when my children were little (and even now). After all, when you bring home a pet, how do you really know what you’re getting? Case in point: When my children were young, we adopted an adorable rescue puppy. She was always loved and well cared for, but she turned out to be a holy terror who barely tolerated us. What might have gone wrong if we had brought home a different kind of pet, a lizard, for example?
Did you imagine the story as a comedy from the beginning?
Absolutely. I love to laugh, so I write stories that keep me laughing. This one naturally called for bouncy rhyming couplets, and the rhythm of the story lent itself to fun and silliness.
How did you decide which everyday situations would become chaotic?
The story centered on the boy, so I chose places familiar to kids: home, the classroom, the school cafeteria, and the playground. Because these settings make up much of a child’s world, they were natural places for chaos to unfold.
Are there more adventures ahead for Hector?
We’ll have to wait and see. Stay tuned…
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Soul-Based Leadership
SOLAR COASTER is part business memoir, part history of the modern American solar industry, and part reflection on faith, purpose, and leadership. When did you first hear the phrase “solar coaster,” and why did it feel like the right title for the book?
I don’t remember the exact first time I heard the phrase, but if you spend enough time in the solar industry, you hear it. “Solar coaster” is how those of us who have lived through the industry’s ups and downs describe the ride. Policy changes, interest rates, financing, technology, commodity prices, and politics can completely change the economics of a project or the direction of the industry. You can have a plan, and then suddenly everything changes. To survive, you have to constantly adapt.
It felt like the perfect title because that has been my professional life for nearly two decades. But the title also took on a second meaning for me. My career has had its own tremendous highs and lows, and through all of those experiences I came to understand how much my faith and my soul were guiding the journey. That is why I play with the word in Part III of the book as my “SO(U)LARCOASTER.” The book is about the solar industry, but it is also about the much bigger ride of figuring out who you are, what your purpose is, and how to live your best life with the life you have been given.
You emphasize surrounding yourself with “A+ players.” What qualities make someone an A+ player in your view?
An A+ player is someone who is exceptionally good at what they do, but it goes beyond talent. They are driven. They want to win. They work hard because they genuinely care about the work; they are constantly learning, and they are always thinking several moves ahead. They understand their industry deeply and are never really satisfied with just being good enough.
I also think the best teams are built when those people share values, trust one another, and are committed to the same mission. At TurningPoint Energy, we made a conscious decision to hire the best people we could and then get out of their way. Give A+ players the resources they need, help them with the hard decisions, and make sure they have some balance in their lives. You don’t need to micromanage great people.
One of the lessons I learned, though, is that even A+ players can burn out. Growth for the sake of growth can destroy a great culture. Part of leadership is knowing when your team has too much on its plate, pulling back and giving people the time and space they need to continue doing great work.
Faith runs throughout your memoir. How has your spiritual life influenced the way you make business decisions?
My spiritual life has become my compass for making decisions. I grew up Catholic, went to a Jesuit university, and over the years, prayer and spiritual reflection became increasingly central to the way I approached both my personal life and my business life. I came to believe that you really can’t separate the two.
For me, soul-based leadership means strengthening your soul so that it becomes your moral compass, then having the courage to listen to it when you face difficult decisions. Some of the biggest decisions of my career were very prayerful ones, including decisions about the future of TurningPoint Energy and eventually my own exit from day-to-day leadership. I would ask: Is this the right thing for me? Is it the right thing for my partners, our employees, and their families? What am I being called to do?
That doesn’t mean I ignore financial analysis or business strategy. Those things are essential. But the most important decisions in life are rarely made by a spreadsheet alone. Faith has helped me think about success differently, not simply as what I can build or earn, but what I can contribute, whom I can help, and whether I am using what I have been given for something larger than myself.
SOLAR COASTER ultimately asks what we should do with the opportunities, talents, and time we’re given. How would you answer that question today?
We are all stewards of the gifts we’ve been given. Use them to help others. That is probably the simplest answer I can give.
I believe the best life is one where you connect your individual talents and abilities with causes you genuinely believe in. We all need to make money and support ourselves and our families, but money is a tool, not the purpose. The deeper purpose is figuring out how the particular gifts you have been given can create value for other people and for the world around you.
And giving back is not just about writing a check. I talk in the book about giving your “treasure, time, and talent.” You might begin by donating money, then give your time, and eventually realize that your professional skills and experience can be even more valuable to an organization or cause you care about.
That is really why I wrote SOLAR COASTER. After decades in business, I felt called to take what I had learned, including the successes, failures and mistakes, and pay it forward. I don’t think we’re given opportunities simply to accumulate more for ourselves. With success comes a greater responsibility to give back, help others, and leave things a little better than we found them.
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SOLAR COASTER is the untold story of the US solar industry—told through the eyes of a leader who rode its wild highs and crushing lows for nearly two decades. From boardrooms to backroads, Jared Schoch reveals the inside battles over clean energy, the political storms that shaped an industry, and the personal journey that transformed his life.
This is more than a business memoir; it’s a story of soul, fortitude, and purpose—how spiritual clarity guided bold decisions and sustained hope through chaos. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a believer, or simply curious about the future of energy, Solar Coaster will inspire you to find light in the darkest turns.
Positive Outlook and Courage
Sophie Moon and the Honeybees follows a curious young girl through four seasons of beekeeping with her grandfather as lessons from the hive help her navigate friendship, loss, courage, consequences, and change. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
The inspiration for the story was based on my own experience as a beekeeper. I have been keeping bees since 2016, and each season brings its own challenges. Spring is very busy; the natural world is waking up after a long, cold winter. A perfect time to start something new. Just like Sophie did in deciding to make a friend and be brave enough to speak up and give a presentation at school. This is the season when the bees start building up their hive to the peak of Summer. This season is hot; the hives are filled with honey and life. Sophie is the happiest with her new best friend Catalina and her success at school. Then, Fall arrives, bringing a big change in the natural world and Sophie’s life. She loses her friend, gets punished by her Grandpa, but she also gains confidence in her own abilities. Because of all the things she achieved in Spring, Summer, and Fall, Sophie goes through a soft arc of character development that gets much stronger in book two. Also, during winter, my beehives are very quiet. The bees stay inside, keeping warm, trying to outlast the winter months. This is the time of reflection and hard truths. Sometimes, some hives don’t make it through the cold months. Sophie spends time outside in the cold snow and realises that her Grandpa will always be her friend and a stout supporter. This means a lot for a shy, sweet girl who was afraid to speak up during class last spring. So, I guess it felt right to use the changing of the four seasons in a year to follow Sophie’s development. I think even we adults often measure achievements in terms of months when we look back at changes in our lives.
Sophie often connects what she learns about bees to friendship, belonging, and loss. How did you develop those parallels between the hive and her personal life?
When Sophie first heard about her Grandpa’s new hobby of beekeeping, she was afraid. She asked, “The stinging kind?” She is so right that starting something new in life may cause a lot of emotional pain, stress, and fear. A lot of people are afraid of bees. I don’t like to get stung, but I do every year, many times. It hurts. Rejections hurt; not knowing how to do something can be stressful; receiving negative feedback can be discouraging, and so watching Grandpa work with the bees, and him allowing the fact that “Yes, they can sting,” lets Sophie know that it is okay to be hurt sometimes. Children have to experience difficulties in a safe way to become confident and face hardships with a positive outlook and courage. This lesson perhaps comes out too strong in book two, but I think that is how children are. They watch the world, their parents, teachers, grandparents, and take away the best with proper guidance.
Grandpa teaches Sophie largely through questions, demonstrations, and natural consequences. Was there a particular person or relationship that inspired his character?
His character is inspired by my own beliefs and experiences. He is based on a mixture of people I have known and know. But once, I received a negative review regarding Grandpa’s character. It said that he was very flat, colourless, with no character arc at all. I wish I could have debated that opinion. I think Grandpa is what every child needs. He is a loving, steadfast, strong, patient, and unchanging family member. His house never changes; he is always present; he bakes cakes, tries new things, and encourages through unconditional love. He is a wall that Sophie can lean on. No child has ever grown up happily around unreliable adults. His unchanging state is what gives Sophie room to grow and become a confident girl.
What is the next book that you are working on, and when will it be available?
I have just published the second book in the Sophie Moon series, and right now I am working on two books. One is a spin-off for Sophie Moon, and the other is based in the Arctic, steeped in the Aurora lights, with creatures fighting for survival.
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Finding Bravery in a hive.
A young girl overcomes her fears with the help of her grandfather and his honeybees.
It is spring time and nine years old Sophie Moon is excited about spending time with her grandfather in his log cabin.
He has a surprise for her. A package of honeybees is waiting to be installed in a new hive. Although it isn’t the puppy Sophie hoped for; she is curious about the world of beekeeping.
During the passing seasons, the honeybees become the answer to many of her troubles and fears.
“‘Why don’t we suit up and whisper to the bees. They’ll hear you and mayhap give you advice,’ Grandpa said smiling.”
Supported by her loving grandfather and seeking solace by visiting the beehives in each season, Sophie’s fears and relationships rise and fall throughout the school year.
A charming and educational story about personal growth tied closely to the life of honeybees away from the digital world.
Repair-and-Recovery
Economic Problems in a Nonlinear World examines the economy as a complex adaptive system shaped by interconnected forces, inequality, and questions of resilience and justice. Why was this an important book for you to write?
Conventional equilibrium-based neoliberal economics has failed to promote freedom and human flourishing. Traditional economic analysis cannot explain income and wealth inequality, institutional capture, declining social mobility, and the extraordinary concentration of market power. Complexity economics is a relatively new school of thought (see J. Doyne Farmer and The Santa Fe Institute) that uses nonlinear dynamics to provide an analytical method to explain how these pernicious social problems, and a path to recovery that promotes broad-based prosperity and genuine freedom.
Who did you envision as your primary audience?
Professional economists, policymakers, and scholars.
How did you decide the order in which to introduce concepts and applications?
First, explain why equilibrium is a linear myth. Secondly, explain the concept of nonlinearity. Thirdly, explain complexity economics in the context of our highly interconnected economy and world. Fourthly, apply complexity and systems thinking to important social problems in a democratic market economy. Lastly, provide a repair-and-recovery intellectual framework for promoting a human-centric agenda for greater human flourishing, agency, and democratic freedom.
What do you hope economists, policymakers, and general readers take away from your work?
We created these problems. Therefore, we are not doomed to a static, sub-optimal lived experience. Strengthening the middle class, promoting unions, raising inheritance taxes, and making life’s essentials available (healthcare, education, reduced labor precarity, and social mobility) will reduce political polarization and social divisions for the betterment of us all.
Author Links: GoodReads | Website | Amazon
True Narcissists
The Ghost of Pickleball Past combines sports fiction, murder mystery, supernatural intrigue, and broad comedy as pickleball enthusiasts confront a new death, a Hollywood film about past crimes, and a ghostly spiritual mission. What did you most want to accomplish with this installment?
By providing Hollywood movie stars, humor, a ghost, a prison break, and murder, I am able to bring the world of pickleball into a more exciting light. Pickleball novels from other authors force upon the reader a boring, typical Sherlock Holmes feel, thrown in with a cheesy, forced romance. My novel introduces the reader to an unlimited pickleball world that combines adventure, mystery, and unconventional out-of-the-box methods to solve incredible problems. The ultimate protagonist, Ghost Elaine, guides the reader through this adventure as she haunts the man who previously murdered her, who is the ultimate antagonist – Peter Weatherford.
Did you want readers to sympathize with Peter, understand him, or simply witness his transformation?
Although it would be difficult for any sane person to sympathize with a serial killer, I do hope that the novel emphasizes the fact that there are very few true narcissists in the world who are completely incapable of developing a strong sense of morality. And yes, I do want the readers to witness his transformation. I am the director of the Larned State Hospital psycho-education program. Through education, role-playing activities, and classes that help the patients delve into the reasons they have committed horrendous crimes, over time most of our patients do change for the better. Some even go on to earn their freedom from this locked-down institution and develop into productive members of society.
How did you balance spiritual themes with the novel’s broad comedy?
I like this question because I do feel as though humor should be added to spirituality. I feel as though most churches push people away for not treating people as real individuals with real feelings. In many churches, God is portrayed as a serious person who loves you but is constantly warning you to follow a ton of unrealistic rules set by churches. The world I provide the reader expresses that people overall want to enjoy life without feeling confined to a set of rules that do not include sex, laughter, and fun. I view God as a funny being that not only loves us all but truly wants us to have a good time. Evidence of this is in the bible. Jesus chooses his first miracle to be turning water into wine at a massive days-long wedding celebration. Do you really think that people were simply drinking alcohol to quench their thirst?
If readers could take one idea from the novel into their own lives, what would you want it to be?
The idea I would like people to take to apply to their own lives is to know that no matter how bad their situation is, there is always a path to happiness. Enjoy life. Try your best not to hurt others, but if you do, there is always room for forgiveness and retribution.
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Meanwhile back in Wichita, Kansas, one of the greatest pickleball players in the world- Barrett Pineheart has fallen dead while playing against Keisha and Rusty in the Pondside Invitational. His sudden passing is attributed to heart problems that have been widely documented. But Randall Baines is not convinced of Barrett’s cause of death. Randall’s wild theory led to the capture of serial killer Peter Weatherford. Can Randall strike lightning twice with his insane idea that Barrett Pineheart was murdered? Will his adopted pickleball family, popularly known
as The Crew, entertain his supposition or ignore his plea for assistance?
TWO NOVELS INTERWOVEN AS ONE, CREATING FOR THE READER ONE WILD RIDE!!
Strong Women
Bootlegger’s Apprentice follows a young bootlegger through the violence and glamour of Prohibition-era Chicago as he discovers that escaping the criminal underworld may be the only way to protect his family. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I fostered an interest in Irish American organized crime from on-screen stories such as The Departed and Boardwalk Empire, through histories of Prohibition Chicago, and fiction such as Don Winslow’s City on Fire trilogy and Mary Miley’s Spirits and Smoke. My family is heavily influenced by my Irish American Grandma Margaret Miller (nee McCarthy), and I combined that with my own experience growing up Catholic (I am now Agnostic) surrounded by strong women to create Aiden McCarthy.
How did you balance real figures and events with Aiden’s fictional journey?
Figures like Louis Armstrong and Mezz Mezzrow, along with real clubs, allow me to really explore Aiden’s interaction with the jazz scene, intoxication, and the experience of African Americans. Much like my own growth from a predominantly white childhood to encountering folks of all different skin colors, Aiden finds beauty in those with different backgrounds. I wrote Aiden’s story to respect and be real about history and race. His friendship with William Crutchfield, Dean O’Banion’s actual porter, is written as a nod to my own experience. I aim to give the story more flavor.
Aiden grows from being bootlegging muscle to club negotiator to having to kill in self-defense. I textured his moral journey with actual events in Dean O’Banion’s history where O’Banion’s hubris eventually gets the best of him. Aiden comes to terms with life-and-death decisions as O’Banion makes a fatal mistake.
The novel writes O’Banion with a certain degree of charity, but he really was rather open-minded for his day on African Americans and homosexuals. “They can’t help how they are” is a direct quote from an O’Banion biography.
Al Capone, Johnny Torrio, and various politicians and police who encounter Aiden and O’Banion allow me to inject a certain amount of authenticity into how I imagine Jazz Age Chicago. I enjoy figures such as crusading journalist Robert St. John, who formed an uneasy defiance to Capone and is interesting to me because of my background in journalism. The corruption really existed as portrayed, but I did take quite a bit of liberty to make one of O’Banion’s antagonists into a juicy character.
The novel handles Al Capone as a human who cares for his family, his partially deaf son, and his older brother mainly. He is also a thug driven by an inability to cope with sorrow (no spoilers) and his place in the mob hierarchy.
At what point in developing the novel did you know that Aiden would spare Capone and bargain for his family’s safety instead?
Al Capone has to live, but I want Aiden to really challenge his morality when it comes to using lethal force. Aiden has a certain ethical code, sees the logic in his decisions, and is supported by strong women to make better choices. I don’t want to give away any spoilers.
What is the next book that you are working on, and when will it be available?
I have started a prequel to my Ron & Carey series. The series is about an Army veteran, Ron McCallister, who charms adversaries and his lover alike while outmaneuvering crooked politicians and bloodthirsty thugs from 2008 to 2009. I want to explore Ron’s return from Iraq around 2005 and run-ins with the Chicago Outlaw Motorcycle Club and corrupt authorities as he reconciles his new reality and eventual introduction to a stripper with a heart of gold. While Ron broods and kicks ass, his Aunt Peggy serves up homespun spitfire, much like my Grandma Margaret and Great Aunt Ethel.
I’ll maybe publish it in about five or so years. Good stories take time!
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Chicago, 1924. Prohibition has made criminals rich, politicians dangerous, and loyalty a currency all its own.
Aiden McCarthy is a young Irish American drawn toward a life far more dangerous than arranging bouquets.
Working under notorious gangster and florist Dean O’Banion, Aiden is drawn deeper into a world where bootleg whiskey, political corruption, and organized crime collide, and where men like Johnny Torrio and Al Capone are reshaping Chicago from the shadows.
Yet amid the violence and intrigue, Aiden has something worth protecting. His relationship with Sophia Golino offers the promise of a life separate from the dangerous men who increasingly depend upon him.
Around them, the clubs and speakeasies of Jazz Age Chicago pulse with music, temptation, and shifting social boundaries.
As rival gangs maneuver for power and a bitter political struggle threatens to turn deadly, Aiden must learn quickly whom to trust, when to fight, and just how much of himself he is willing to sacrifice to survive.
A richly imagined historical crime novel of gangsters, romance, jazz, family, faith, and ambition, set against one of Chicago’s most notorious eras.
Step into Prohibition-era Chicago, where love, loyalty, and one wrong choice can cost everything.
A Rich Inner Life
Somewhere Else follows a history professor who experiences the past through artifacts, becoming addicted to these encounters while awakening a sinister force. Where did the idea behind this novel come from?
Honestly, it came out of my own classroom. I’ve spent years teaching history, and the thing I always try to get students to do is feel their way into a moment, not just memorize dates. There’s actually a term for that: temporal empathy. One day I found myself thinking, what if that wasn’t just a mental exercise? What if the right object, in the right hands, could actually pull someone back into the moment it came from? I was also chewing on Einstein’s block universe theory, the idea that the past isn’t really gone; it’s still out there, somewhere else. Put those two things together, and you get Joe: a man whose gift for empathizing with history becomes a door he can’t stop walking through. And once you have a door like that, it’s not much of a stretch to wonder what dark forces might be waiting on the other side.
Why was it important that Joe knowingly makes choices that hurt the people closest to him?
Because I didn’t want to let him off the hook, and I didn’t want readers to either. Joe isn’t sleepwalking into this. He knows what it’s costing him with Margaret and with his own life, and he does it anyway. That’s what addiction actually looks like most of the time; it’s not blindness, it’s a kind of willful looking away. There’s also an irony I kept coming back to while writing: Joe has this huge well of empathy for people who have been dead for centuries, soldiers at Valley Forge, an artist in his final days, and almost none left over for the people sitting across the table from him. That gap felt like the real heart of the book.
How did you decide where historical fact should end, and imagination should begin?
I tried to be upfront about that instead of blurring it, which is part of why I wrote an Author’s Note that gets into it directly. The physics is real; the block universe theory is a genuine, debated idea in modern physics, not something I made up to make the plot work. Temporal empathy as a term is real too; it’s how historians talk about teaching people to feel the past rather than just study it. What I invented is the jump from those two real ideas to a person physically stepping into history. I also use a metaphor, a hallway of doors, when I explain the concept in interviews or marketing copy. That’s purely explanatory; it doesn’t literally appear anywhere in the book. My rule was simple: ground the premise in something true enough that readers trust it, then take the one leap the science itself will not take.
What do you hope readers take away from Joe and Margaret’s very different relationships with time?
Joe treats time like something to enter and collect, one door after another. Margaret is a visual artist, and she’s rooted in the present in a way Joe has completely lost; she’s making things with her hands while he’s disappearing into the past. I wanted that contrast to sit with readers a little uncomfortably. Is a rich inner life spent somewhere else worth more than actually being present in the life you already have? I purposely don’t answer that cleanly, and the ending won’t let you off easy either. But if someone closes the book thinking harder about where their own attention lives, that’s really all I was hoping for.
Author Links: GoodReads | Amazon
At sixty-six, history professor Joe Patterson discovers he can touch an artifact and step inside the moment it came from: Valley Forge, the fevered hours in Van Gogh’s room at Arles, the cramped cabin of Apollo 11 as it broke from Earth’s orbit. It feels like a miracle. It’s a trap.
The visions escalate, and the hunger for them becomes its own kind of addiction, one that costs Joe his marriage, his son’s trust, and, piece by piece, his grip on which century he’s actually standing in. Something on the other side of history has been feeding on minds like his for a very long time; it isn’t finished with Joe yet.
Somewhere Else is a literary novel with a horror pulse: a story about obsession, erasure, and the price of touching the past.
