Laughing at Life’s Changes
My Socks are Dirty, Too is a loose, goofy collection of short bits, gags, and cheeky observations about aging, marriage, senior-center hijinks, bodily mishaps, and everyday life. What made you want to write humor specifically about aging and senior life?
I come from a very large family on both sides of my parents. They were raised during the depression in a time when families were brought closer together.
We always had large family reunions so I was exposed to senior citizens’ life at a very young age. I remember the laughter between family members as they compared life’s changes. Some of the family members were grim and others faced the realities of aging head on with laughter. Those laughing were much more fun and seemed to live a more abundant life and maybe even a little longer. I choose to face my own personal setbacks as an opportunity to find some humor if possible when sharing.
You lean into bodily mishaps, memory lapses, and embarrassment instead of avoiding them. Do you think people take aging too seriously?
Yes, some people certainly do. I prefer to associate with those who don’t.
Beneath the jokes, there’s warmth and familiarity. Was that intentional or unavoidable?
That was very intentional so that readers can associate my antics with theirs. I did a wide range of chapters through three books so there would be something there for everyone.
A portion of the proceeds goes to charitable causes. Why was that important to you?
I had a good friend pass from the complications of Alzheimer disease. I saw what a tragedy it was and pain on his family, anything I can do to help, I want to.
We have always rescued our Boxer Dogs, and we support what is now Lone Star Boxer Rescue (formerly Austin Boxer Rescue) here in Texas. We have been donating to them for 20 years now, and there will always be that need after my wife and I are long gone. So, the legacy will live on after we are gone when our heirs continue to forward any proceeds if there are still book sales.
Author Links: Facebook | Website
Who Trains, Wins: How anyone can train for SUCCESS & WEALTH with THE MARTIAL ARTS Train and Grow Rich
Who Trains, Wins is a personal guide to growth through martial arts, written with a mix of tough love, lived experiences, and clear admiration for the warrior path. The book blends personal stories, practical training advice, and reflections on discipline, emotion, and mindset. It walks through the author’s own training across many countries and styles, and it ties each lesson back to everyday life. The message comes through loud and clear. Training shapes the body, the mind, and the choices we make.
Some parts felt almost like a coach shouting from the sidelines, and other parts felt like a quiet conversation late at night when you admit things you rarely say out loud. I liked that contrast. It kept me awake. Author Matthew Black writes with a kind of sharp honesty that sometimes pokes at you. I felt it most in the sections about discipline and frustration. They reminded me how often we get in our own way. The storytelling adds heart. His memories from childhood scraps or tough nights on the job land with real weight. They give the book grit and color, and I appreciated that he never tries to make himself look perfect. It made the lessons easier to trust.
His talk about training against yourself really resonated with me. It is easy to chase external markers of progress. It is harder to sit with your own limits and push past them. I liked how he tied emotional control to fighting, and how those thoughts spill into everyday challenges. He writes in a way that makes you feel both seen and pushed. At times, the tone got intense, yet it also carried warmth. It made me feel motivated and a bit humbled at the same time.
By the end, I felt the book had given me more than advice. It had given me a mood. A sense of wanting to do better for myself. I would recommend Who Trains, Wins to anyone who wants a mindset shift and not just a workout plan. It is perfect for people who crave discipline, or who feel stuck and want a spark to move forward, and for anyone curious about the deeper side of martial arts.
Pages: 290 | ASIN : B0G4NFFWX8
Dramatically Changed by Circumstance
Born Again American: Megan follows a wounded woman and the boy from her past as they reunite and slowly rebuild their lives and each other through friendship, patience, and imperfect healing. What were some sources that informed this novel’s development?
My wife is a country artist who has had several songs on the charts and was nominated for Best Female Artist in country music in 2002, She wrote a song about a decade ago called Born Again American. This is the story behind that song. It was intended to be inspirational, and at the same time, is written as the back story for Megan, one of the main characters in the Tachyon Tunnel series.
Why was Alaska the right setting for Isaac and Megan’s reunion, and how did it shape the emotional tone of the book?
Megan grew up in Alaska and Isaac was a military brat who spent 18 months there during a time when they both were learning to become adults. When he leaves, he continues along his trajectory, but hers is dramatically changed by circumstance. Alaska has significant mental health problems because of the long periods of darkness in the winter. This adds to the storyline.
How did you approach writing addiction and depression with honesty without letting them overwhelm the relationship arc?
The point of the story is not necessarily the depression as much as how solving problems and pulling oneself out of tough situations builds strength and character. The point of the book is not the depression, but instead how determination and belief in something can make a person stronger. Megan is the strongest character in the Tachyon Tunnel series, and this book shows the challenges she had to overcome to rise above and truly build the foundation of that strength. There’s a line from an old Dan Fogelberg song: “When faced with the past, the strongest man cries.” That line explains that strength is built in adversity.
What do you hope readers take away about healing and second chances after finishing the book?
Even the worst situations can be turned into something positive. Just pick a target, focus, and don’t let the chaos around you pull you under.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website
Megan Hoglund had every reason to give up. Life shattered around her, family lost, dreams abandoned, and nothing positive to turn her around.
Then one Marine picked her up… and taught her how to save herself.
Megan learned that American Dream doesn’t begin with success, but instead is forged in the hottest furnace, forcing her to rise in the wake of failure.
With discipline, grit, and a spark of genius she once believed was gone forever, Megan rebuilds her body, mind, and spirit. She becomes a fighter, a creator, a visionary, and a woman who refuses to be defined by tragedy. She turns tragedy into strength and renewed purpose.
And in that transformation, she discovers something profound: She is not just surviving.
She is becoming a born-again American.
In the process, Megan crafts a revolutionary technology that could change the world, and discovers the higher she climbs, the more powerful the forces that try to pull her back down.
This is the second in the Born Again American series, telling the early life of Tachyon Tunnel badass, Megan Hoglund.
Yasuke: Dead Man Walking
Yasuke: Dead Man Walking opens as a sweeping historical fantasy that follows two rising forces whose lives move toward eventual collision: a young Oda Nobunaga shaking off immaturity to claim power in a fractured Japan, and Majok, an enslaved African warrior whose journey through loss, love, survival, and purpose slowly shapes him into the man history will one day call Yasuke. The book blends political intrigue, action, and character-driven storytelling, shifting between Nobunaga’s ruthless ascent and Majok’s transformation with a pace that feels cinematic.
I was pulled into the grounded emotional beats first rather than the sword clashes. Nobunaga’s early chapters surprised me, especially the way they trace his shift from reckless youth to cold, decisive leader. His world is painted with detail: the scent of incense in Kyoto, the tense quiet after battle, the heavy expectations of lineage. The writing keeps these moments vivid without slowing things down. When the betrayals start hitting him from every direction, the story sharpens. The tone grows darker, hungrier. I noticed how the author lets Nobunaga learn painful lessons through blows rather than lectures, which makes the moments that change him feel earned. Majok’s chapters carry a different emotional weight. They’re quieter but more intimate, and they made me pause more often. His memories of home, the tenderness with Amara, and his love for his daughter create a softer countercurrent that keeps the book from drowning in war and ambition.
I also appreciated how the author plays with contrast. Nobunaga’s path is all fire and force while Majok’s is rooted in endurance and the slow rebuilding of self. Their stories feel like two storms forming on opposite horizons. The fantasy elements appear with restraint at first, which I liked, because it keeps the genre grounded in history while still promising something larger. The pacing sometimes jumps quickly between timelines or tones, but the shifts feel intentional, like the book wants you to stay just a bit off balance as these characters become who they must become. The action scenes hit hard, while the emotional ones are slow and thoughtful. And when brutality appears, it’s not glamorized; it’s presented as the cost of survival in a world shaped by war, pride, and fear.
By the end, I felt like I’d traveled through two very different lives carried by a single thematic spine: what a person becomes when the world refuses to let them remain who they were. The story sits firmly in the historical fantasy genre, but its emotional centers feel close enough to real history to make you think about the people behind the legends. If you enjoy tales of rising power, morally complex leaders, richly built worlds, and characters shaped by both tenderness and violence, this book will speak to you. It’s especially fitting for readers who like their fantasy threaded with cultural depth, political tension, and personal transformation.
ASIN : B0G4NSDKC2
Life After The Pandemic And Covid-19
Peaches and Jake and 19 Cobras Oh My! follows two rescue pups as they navigate curiosities and misunderstandings with humor and the help of their human mom. Where did the idea for this story come from?
This book is actually a continuation of my first book, “Peaches and the 19 Cobras”. It talks about more of our life after the Pandemic and Covid-19. Like my first book, the events in this book are also true things that happened and things about how we lived our life during this difficult time in history.
What made you decide to weave educational aspects into a children’s book?
I personally feel, that children’s books should not only be entertaining, but that they should be educational for children as well. With my first two books being about Pandemic and Covid-19, many children who are reading my books, or are having the book read to them were too young to remember what was happening at the time, and some weren’t even born yet when these events took place. So, I feel that it is important to tell about these things so that children can understand this particular time in our history and why things are the way they are today.
What is one thing you hope young readers take away from Peaches and Jake and the lessons they learn?
I would like young readers to take away the fact that they should be kind to other people and animals, and that they should be helpful and considerate to others. And … it is good to be able to laugh at yourself, because no one is perfect.
Author Links: Amazon | Website
Peaches and Jake and 19 Cobras! Oh My! is perfect for young readers aged 5 to 8. This engaging picture book combines action, humor, and heartwarming moments, making it a captivating read that will keep kids eagerly turning the pages. Whether they’re returning fans or new readers, children will be enchanted by Peaches and Jake’s latest adventure and inspired by their bravery and friendship.
The Bequest of John T Ward: Uncovering A Hidden Legacy in Black American History, Exploring Stories of Antebellum Resistance
The Bequest of John T. Ward traces the long arc of a family’s history from the violent beginnings of colonial Virginia to the fierce resistance of one man who chose courage over silence. The book follows John T. Ward’s journey from enslavement to manumission, then into his work as a conductor on the Underground Railroad. Alongside his story, the author weaves the deeper roots of the Ward lineage, exposing land grabs, plantation brutality, survival strategies, and the generational spirit that shaped a family determined to rise despite every force working against them. The narrative blends historical records with vivid storytelling that brings the past into sharp focus.
As I moved through the chapters, I felt pulled in by the immediacy of the writing. The author has a way of shifting from personal reflection to historical detail with a rhythm that feels alive. Sometimes the prose hit me hard, especially in sections that explored the emotional landscape of enslaved families. I found myself pausing, letting the weight of those moments settle before reading on. The writing shows how memory, trauma, love, and resistance lived in the same breath for people who had so little room to exist freely.
The voice jumps between past and present, and it carries a raw, personal tone that makes the history feel close and human. I liked that. It felt like someone talking directly to me about their family, not a distant academic piece. The intensity of the language sometimes crowded the quieter insights, and I wished for more calm pauses to let the facts open up on their own. Even then, the author’s passion gave the book a heartbeat. The ideas about inheritance, responsibility, and the duty to remember left me thinking long after I closed the file.
The book gave me a clearer picture of how individual lives fit into the larger struggle for freedom and how resistance did not start or end with famous names in textbooks. I would recommend this book to readers who want a deeply personal look at Black American history and to anyone who appreciates stories that mix truth-telling with emotional depth. It is especially fitting for people who enjoy family histories, hidden legacies, and accounts of courage that echo into the present.
Pages: 582 | ASIN : B0FBT3HTL8
ENTWINE
ENTWINE sweeps through forests, brooks, moonlit branches, and wingbeats, all woven with a steady pulse of wonder. The book moves through poems and meditations that circle hummingbirds, birches, hawks, seeds, storms, memory, and grief, and it builds a picture of the Hudson Highlands as a living, breathing companion. It feels like a record of attention, a long look at the more-than-human world, and a quiet insistence that our lives thread through soil and water, whether we notice or not. The poems shift between close observation and big feeling, and the book holds everything from scientific detail to spiritual yearning in one continuous braid.
Author Mary Newell writes with this mix of tenderness and excitement that made me lean in and then lean back as if I needed more room to breathe. Some poems rush with energy like the hummingbirds she studies, while others settle into slow, grounded rhythms. I loved that variation. It kept me off balance in a good way. I was wrapped up in her affection for trees and birds and rocks, and then suddenly swept into her grief for lost species or her worry that the land is shifting faster than we can keep up. That emotional jumpiness felt real to me. Life is like that. Beauty and ache and humor all at once. The writing invites that kind of response.
I also found myself reacting strongly to the way she folds her own life into the landscape. Her stories of drought, gardening, watching hawks, losing her mother, or waiting for a familiar hummingbird all cracked open something soft in me. None of it felt forced. I could sense how hard she listens to the world around her and how much she wants to meet it with honesty. Sometimes the imagery felt wild and tangled. Sometimes it hit with a clarity that made me stop reading for a moment so I could feel the point land. I appreciated the intimacy of that.
ENTWINE is perfect for readers who love nature writing that feels alive, for people who enjoy poetry that is tender. If you like work that blends science with feeling or work that welcomes you into the woods and asks you to stay awhile, ENTWINE will be a good companion.
Pages: 94 | ISBN : 1609644921
LITERARY TITAN 