Blog Archives
Drinking from the Stream
Drinking from the Stream follows two young men on the run from themselves. Jake, a Nebraska kid turned Louisiana roughneck, flees the guilt of a killing on an oil rig. Karl, a disillusioned American student at Oxford, escapes the wreckage of the sixties and a painful relationship. Their paths cross, and they drift through Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania in the early seventies, bumping into coups, massacres and love affairs as they go. The book stretches from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes region of Africa and on to Chile, and it ties private coming-of-age stories to state violence and postcolonial chaos.
I felt like the writing landed with real weight. The prose has muscle and rhythm, and it keeps a steady pace through long stretches of travel and talk. Scenes on the road, in trucks, on ferries, and in cheap guesthouses felt vivid to me. Dialogues carry a lot of the load. Characters argue about politics, race, faith, and guilt, and the conversations feel relaxed on the surface but tense underneath. I could sense the author’s years in Africa in the way a village lane or a border crossing appears in a few sharp strokes. The flip side is density. Historical detail piles up. I stayed invested in Jake and Karl, and in Beatrice, Bridget and the others, because the book lets them be flawed, funny and sometimes selfish, not just mouthpieces for a lesson.
The novel looks at racism and antisemitism inside Jake’s own story, then places him in countries where mass killing happens out in the open and on a terrifying scale. It plays with the dream of revolution and tears it apart. Young Westerners arrive full of ideals, then watch soldiers and militias burn those ideals along with villages. The book keeps asking who gets to walk away and who does not. Jake carries private guilt from the rig into places where guilt comes in rivers. Karl drags his Vietnam-era anger into a world where America is almost irrelevant. I felt anger, shame, and sadness while I read, and also a stubborn hope, because the story keeps circling back to friendship, loyalty, and small acts of courage. The novel does not pretend to solve anything. It simply puts you close to the fire and forces you to look.
I would recommend Drinking from the Stream to readers who enjoy historical fiction with grit, to people curious about East Africa in the early seventies, and to anyone who likes character-driven travel stories with real moral stakes. The book asks for patience and a strong stomach. It pays that back with a rich sense of place, big emotions, and a set of memorable characters.
Pages: 377 | ASIN : B0DXLQTN5M
The Winds of War
The Winds of War opens with a sweeping fantasy world marked by old grudges, broken continents, and horrors that crawl out of black oceans. It follows several threads at once. A historian condemned to a gruesome fate. A chieftainess defends her people as a hostile empire closes in. A dragonrider racing against time. A soldier wrestling with his worth. Their stories twist through war, myth, and rising dread, and the early passages make clear that the world is on the edge of something catastrophic. The tone is harsh, grim, sometimes tender, and always huge in scope.
As I read, I kept stopping just to feel the weight of the writing. The author paints with bold strokes. The violence is raw, and the quiet moments hit even harder because of it. I found myself getting swept up in the grit of the battles and the soft warmth of family scenes. I loved how the prose moved, sometimes sharp, sometimes lyrical, always sure of itself. The intensity kept ramping up, which actually left me excited for the next wild twist.
I loved the ideas this story explores. The way faith is twisted into cruelty. The way people cling to hope even when the ocean itself seems hungry for them. The book digs into power, sacrifice, and the awful choices leaders face. I kept thinking about how everyone tries to do right in their own way. Even when those ways collide. The ambition of the story and the world thrilled me. It felt like standing in the wind of something huge.
I would recommend The Winds of War to readers who enjoy dark fantasy with heart. Folks who like big worlds, messy heroes, and stories that don’t hold your hand. It reminded me of the sweeping grit of A Song of Ice and Fire and the wild, creature-soaked tension of The Witcher books, only this story hits with its own sharper bite and a faster heartbeat.
Pages: 526 | ASIN : B0F9SCV4CJ
She’s A Witch!
Toil and Trouble follows an eccentric witch, her daughter, and her grandchildren coping with the death of their father, who set out to visit her new home and encounter humorous adventures and a chance at healing. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
First and foremost, I wanted to entertain. I didn’t have a fun, loving, or even nice grandmother. She was quite mean. In fact, my daughter pulled my wife aside one day and said to her (very seriously), “I know why dad’s grandma is the way she is … it’s because she’s a witch!” And so I had to write a story about it. I actually based the villainous Lady Bishop on my own grandmother.
I loved how charismatic and compassionate Martha is. When creating her character, did you have a plan for her development and character traits, or did it grow organically as you were writing the story?
It was a little bit of both. Martha is based on the shared quirks between my daughter and me. I imagined, as best I could, the grandmother I would have liked to have had, magic or not, and then I took her to the extreme (in the best way), because let’s face it, grandmothers should be extreme in all that they do.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Kindness! To me, it is the most important and powerful gift every person can and should give. It’s free, for one, and just a smile can change someone’s day and even their life for the better. I also explored dealing with death and the way a loss can affect everyone differently, and the power of forgiveness and love, truth and support, and the bonds of family. I lost a dear friend at a young age without a good support system at home, and sometimes, unfortunately, that’s just how it goes. But I had other family members who impacted my life greatly, and still do to this day.
I loved following Martha May McKenzie and her adventures. Do you have more stories planned for her?
Yes! As of now, Toil and Trouble is unpublished, but even so, I am currently working on book 2, Boil and Bubble, which follows the witch on an even more chaotic adventure, not through time, but through a portal to another realm—the witches’ realm—where more secrets unfold, and the stakes are even greater.
The Kindred Chronicles: Shifting Sands
Shifting Sands follows the survivors of Sol Thalen in the immediate aftermath of its fall. The story opens on a city crushed into ruins and a people clinging to hope by the thinnest threads. Chris, Grace, Elline, Raham, Camille, and the thalenar struggle through endless hours of digging through collapsed halls, pulling survivors from the rubble, mourning the dead, and trying to understand what comes next. Their grief shapes every choice. Their loyalty holds them upright. And the central tension of the book becomes clear early on. How do you rebuild a culture when the ground beneath it has literally vanished? The novel is driven by emotion and community and a sense that every character must decide who they are now that their world has been unmade.
I found myself slipping into the atmosphere without effort. The author leans into sensory details, and the rubble and smoke and sand build a world that is both beautiful and bruised. What struck me most was how the story rarely lets the characters breathe. Grief becomes a kind of weather. it’s constant, pressing, and shaping them in ways they cannot fully articulate. I enjoyed that the book doesn’t rush healing or transformation. It lets emotions sit heavy and raw, and that made the characters’ quieter victories hit harder. At times, the prose felt a little lofty for the scenes it described, but even then, it carried an emotional punch that kept me invested.
I kept thinking about what it means to lose not just people, but culture. identity. the songs and rituals that tie a community together. The thalenar blade lore and the meaning of song within their traditions stood out as some of the most compelling worldbuilding in the book. And I found Raham’s arc especially moving. the quiet strength, the slow cracking, the way he tries to hold others together while he’s barely holding himself. Grace’s exhaustion and determination also pulled me in. Her efforts to see the essence of life while losing pieces of herself felt intimate and aching. If anything, I wish the story had paused more often to let certain emotional beats land, but the constant urgency also felt true to the setting.
This book would resonate with readers who enjoy character-driven fantasy, stories about surviving loss, and worlds built through culture as much as magic. I’d recommend it to anyone who likes tales that sit with hard emotions and still reach for light. Fans of the series will find this entry in The Kindred Chronicles especially satisfying, since it deepens the world and the characters in ways that feel rewarding.
Pages: 488 | ASIN : B0G64WJHFQ
Life, Love, and Happiness
Stikki the Squirrel follows a young grey squirrel who tumbles his way through one adventure after another and, along the way, makes some new friends. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
Some ideas for a book can come quite quickly, while at other times it can be a hard slog even to get going. But it was on this one rather memorable occasion, when I was standing beside my window gazing into our back garden, that I saw a family of squirrels climb tentatively over the wooden fence. A moment later, they were on the ground, moving slowly across our lawn, pausing to sniff and dig randomly in the grass. I watched their playful interactions quickly turn into a full-blown display of speed and agility as the youngsters abandoned the protection of their mother’s side to dart among our shrubs and trees with growing confidence, and of course, mischief. I smiled, then gasped, as a host of possibilities set my mind buzzing.
And so, Stikki the Squirrel was born – well, in my head to start with. I wanted to make the story light-hearted and entertaining for young children to read, and for them to imagine my little characters and the urban setting in which they live.
We, as a family, enjoy encouraging squirrels into our garden, filling their squirrel feeder daily with nuts and seeds for them to eat. We have witnessed several generations grow up and leave to find their way in the world. Ever since that day, we have been entertained by these intelligent, charming, furry little animals.
Although not every day, watching our squirrels is a happy, entertaining experience, because on occasion, urban foxes enter our garden on the hunt for an easy meal. Domesticated cats like to lie in wait among the shrubs, hoping to ambush a squirrel foraging on the ground. The squirrels’ acute senses warn them of danger, and they quickly climb over the fence or scale up the side wall of our house to escape. But when the three species meet, there is usually trouble. We have witnessed scuffles and near misses that have made us gasp in fear for the squirrels’ survival. But squirrels are quick and clever, usually evading these predators with ease.
We have grown very fond of our rodent visitors. Noting their athletic behaviour and individual personalities. They are adorable little animals that inspired me to write about a family of cheeky grey squirrels and the discoveries, dangers, lucky escapes, and the good friends they make along the way.
What were some educational aspects that were important for you to include in this children’s book?
Each of my characters in Stikki the Squirrel represents a unique glimpse into the world of nature from an individual animal’s perspective. I have combined a light-hearted tale with humour, interspersed with facts about squirrels’ lives, and their interactions with predators, including the natural habitat in which they thrive.
My little characters have hopes and dreams, which is quite normal as squirrels, like all animals, are intelligent, caring, and resourceful. Squirrels are good at problem-solving; we have all seen a squirrel navigate a maze, or climb a vertical pole, or scoot across a tightrope with ease in its determination to claim the food at the end of the man-made obstacle course. Squirrels show affection and anger, too. Squirrels are territorial and will respond to family members, warning each other of any approaching danger by issuing a rasping, throaty call that carries on the air.
Stikki the Squirrel carries a message about protecting endangered species to the detriment of others. A tale of adventure, learning about life, its pleasures, and its hazards. Whilst making wonderous discoveries, and friends who help and support each other on the road through life, love, and happiness.
What scene in the book did you have the most fun writing?
This is a hard question to answer because the entire book was such an enjoyable experience to write and illustrate. Without giving away any spoilers, I think one particular scene comes to mind that had me chuckling – it was when Stikki first met Rella. He was so awkward and unsure of himself. A typical teenager.
There were many other scenes in Stikki the Squirrel that end in a hilarious, eye-watering way. Read the book yourselves and see what happens to Stikki and his woodland friends.
What story are you currently in the middle of writing?
I am taking a break from writing at present, because I am busy finalising my new book. Title: Stikki the Squirrel: Tree Spirits, book two, publication date, February 28th, 2026. It is a very busy, exciting time, working with my publisher to get my new book and my illustrations ready for the printing press, plus tinkering with some weird and wild ideas for another book.
Author Links: Goodreads | X (Twitter) | Facebook | Website | Amazon
Readers’ Favorite – 5 Star Review.
“We must always be wary of the longlegs for they are unpredictable and puzzling.”
Join Stikki the Squirrel on his madcap adventures as he leaves his nest and sets off to explore the world around him. Mischievous and a little reckless, Stikki manages to get himself into scrapes at almost every turn.
When Stikki and his sisters, Mollie and Tia, venture out of their familiar surroundings for the first time, life changes dramatically for our little explorers.
Danger and peril lay on their chosen path – and, as with every exciting adventure, there are spills and thrills and good friends to be made along the way.
A whimsical, heartfelt story of friendship, bravery and love for each other.
The Third Twin: Love, Lies, and Billionaire Secrets
The Third Twin is a romance thriller that follows Sienna Casanova, an ER nurse whose world fractures the moment she feels her identical twin, Savannah, scream. Savannah, a famous investigative journalist, has gone dark, leaving behind only a bloodied necklace and a trail of danger. As Sienna races to find her, she’s pulled into a violent web involving black-market adoption rings, corrupt insiders, and Luca Stone, her sister’s brooding head of security. The story blends high-stakes suspense with an evolving, combustible romance. It’s very much a romance thriller at heart, stitched together with family secrets, danger, and the messy intensity of twinhood.
Reading it felt like riding in a car that never dips below fifty. The writing is fast and cinematic, with fight scenes that crack like glass and emotional beats that don’t waste time getting to the point. Parker leans fully into immediacy. Characters breathe hard, move fast, and react without overthinking. There were moments when I wanted the prose to linger or soften, but the clipped style fits the story’s heartbeat. Sienna’s voice oscillates between raw fear, jealousy, tenderness, and grit, and I found myself liking her more whenever she admitted something uncomfortable. Luca, meanwhile, carries that familiar romance-thriller energy: stoic, lethal, frustrating, and of course, irresistible. Their dynamic is chaotic in a way that feels intentional, like sparks thrown off metal.
What surprised me most was how the book knits an intimate relationship into the tension of a broader conspiracy. The author could have relied on the dangerous-man-protective-woman trope alone, but she gives the siblings’ bond real weight. The “twin sense” isn’t just a gimmick. It becomes the emotional spine of the story and gives the romance a stronger foundation than heat alone. Some emotional transitions happen fast. One chapter, you’re dodging gunmen, and the next, you’re collapsing into each other’s arms. But honestly, the abruptness works in a romance thriller. Bodies crash together under pressure. People cling to whatever feels solid. It all felt believable within the world that author Lexi Parker is building.
I’d recommend The Third Twin to readers who love romance thrillers packed with danger, devotion, and a relentless pace. If you enjoy bodyguard-romance energy, high stakes, and stories where fear and attraction tangle together until you can’t tell them apart, this one will hit the mark. And if you like your books to read like movies playing out in real time, you’ll have a good time here.
Pages: 190 | ASIN : B0FWC5VJFP
Eternal Search for Meaning
Flight of a Prodigy follows an eight-year-old street kid in ancient Rome who, after witnessing the death of his only friend, is captured and thrown into slavery, where he is trained to become an elite warrior. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
The inspiration came from my fascination with how traumatic events, particularly in our formative years, can affect the type of people we become, and how our perception of such events can either damage or expand our minds. I wanted to explore what happens when innocence refuses to yield to a predominant evil, and ancient Rome provided a platform where brutality and glory coexisted.
The death of the boy’s only friend symbolizes the loss of all he had, including his dreams and his childhood itself, while his capture into slavery reflects the harsh truth that fairness is rare. The exceptionally brutal training he is thrown into could be perceived as a punishment or a transformation, an allegory for resilience, identity, and strength through suffering. I wanted to reimagine them in a historical setting that feels both raw and epic.
What are some things that you find interesting about the human condition that you think make for great fiction?
What fascinates me most about the human condition is that, first of all, we are emotional creatures driven by hereditary traits in addition to our learned traits. And when we are forced into confrontation and must defeat the challenge or fall to it, emotions can be cast aside for incredible resolve or enhanced for a potential final stance. We all experience grief and hardship, but what makes great fiction is seeing how characters rise or fall when tested. I’m drawn to resilience because only in due time can we appreciate sadness for providing happiness, or weaknesses for providing strength, or hatred for providing love. For me, fiction thrives when it explores innocence colliding with a brutal reality, weakness evolves into power, and the eternal search for meaning in a chaotic world continues.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
I enjoy a good coming-of-age story, so one of the most important themes to explore in this book was the loss of innocence, how a kid is forced to confront a brutal reality and reshape his identity in a world that never allowed him to be a child. How, after his escape from servitude, he teeters on a fulcrum between good and evil as he strives to learn more about himself and how to survive in civilization.
Another key theme was poking a little fun at humanity’s futile need to understand everything. What we cannot fully wrap our minds around must be magic, the will of the gods, preordained fate, or perhaps ancient aliens. I leave it for the readers to decide.
Ultimately, I am fascinated by how transformation from grief, through struggle and survival, can propel someone into an event larger than life. Those explorations felt essential to me because they create the kind of epic, emotionally charged fiction I love to read and write.
Will this novel be the start of a series, or are you working on a different story?
Although I would never say never to a sequel, Flight of a Prodigy was written as a stand-alone story. I try to write what I want to read, no endings left open or loose ends untied, no poor editing to save time, and no short stories disguised as a book.
I am currently working on a new Historical Fiction, and I’m starting to get excited for it. It has the potential to be my best work… if I don’t screw it up.
Author Links: GoodReads | Amazon
Remy’s journey begins as a homeless eight-year-old surviving on the unforgiving streets of ancient Rome. When his situation could not possibly become worse, it of course does. Thrown in to slavery, he must undertake what would become an eight-year training regimen devised by evil people for evil purposes. Only a few hundred survive, to form an elite group of warriors. Remy not only endures but thrives, becoming its prodigy.
Remy escapes with his life, only to find freedom is full of more challenges than expected. Though merely sixteen he is a volatile and dangerous weapon, at home in a fight but lost in civilization. He gains employment to scout for a traveling wagon party in hopes of remaining unnoticed by those that may be searching for him.
His new employer and coworkers consist of three beautiful young ladies, Annabelle, Divina and Gee, along with their surviving family members and household guards. It is a slow, difficult, and humorous process of growth for Remy. Will his newfound friendships, acceptance, trust and maybe even love, allow him to overcome the evil psychological affects that manipulate his childhood traumas?
Unsolved Mystery
Hypocrisy drops readers right into a wild mix of government secrets, alien power plays, and strange visions that blur the line between what is real and what is imagined. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I have been intrigued by the UAP disclosure activity in Congress and the ongoing mystery and debunking of the entire UFO phenomenon. I felt that would be a terrific background to create conflict and have different points of view to set the story against, since it still remains an unsolved mystery.
When you first sat down to write this story, did you know where you were going, or did the twists come as you were writing?
The characters came first, and I wanted them to be distinct and different, and from that came the outline of the story.
How did you balance the action scenes with the story elements and still keep a fast pace in the story?
I think it was Dean Koontz who said, “Put a character in a terrible situation and keep making it worse,” and that helped serve as a guideline for how things go wrong to maintain the tension and active plot.
Will this novel be the start of a series, or are you working on a different story?
This will be the start of a series. I intentionally set it up so that the characters could have an ongoing life full of adventure, chaos, and immense conflict. With a little bit of humor and self-reflection thrown in on the side.
Author Links: GoodReads | Ghost Town | Instagram | Facebook | IMDB | X (Twitter) | Amazon
In the world’s most remote outpost—Antarctica—a covert excavation unearths something ancient, intelligent, and alive. CIA asset Charisma, her teenage protégée Leticia, and enigmatic xenoanthropologist Alen Innocent are drawn into a web of deception that spans governments, galaxies, and the very fabric of human consciousness. As shadow factions fight for control of the mysterious Veil of Hypocrisy, the boundaries between truth and illusion collapse.
From Milan’s glittering runways to military tunnels buried under polar ice, Hypocrisy blends science fiction, espionage, and moral satire in a gripping tale of identity, power, and survival. As alien technology exposes the lies that bind humanity, Charisma and Alen must decide whether saving the world means revealing its greatest hypocrisy—or becoming part of it.
Science-fiction fans will be drawn to this mind-bending, character-driven thriller where the ultimate battle is not between species, but between truth and self-deception.
LITERARY TITAN 