Blog Archives
OFF THE GRID
Gene Piotrowsky’s Off the Grid is a historical espionage novel set primarily in the Florida Keys during the tense period before the United States entered World War II. Its central character, Frank Smith, is a World War I veteran, journalist, skilled sailor, and boat builder who leaves New York hoping to begin a quiet life aboard his cutter, the Frieda-Ann. That plan takes a sharp turn when his former commanding officer recruits him as an unofficial intelligence agent, telling him, “I would like you to be my off-the-record agent.” From there, Frank’s journey becomes a mixture of maritime adventure, undercover investigation, and wartime suspense.
Much of the book’s appeal comes from its unusual setting. Piotrowsky spends considerable time describing sailing routes, reefs, mangrove passages, isolated anchorages, local businesses, and communities still recovering from the devastating 1935 Labor Day hurricane. These details give the novel the feeling of a personal logbook and place the reader directly aboard the Frieda-Ann. Frank’s routines, from checking his rigging to preparing meals and communicating through Morse code, make his secret life feel practical and lived-in. The Florida Keys aren’t simply scenery here. Their remoteness and scattered population make them a believable hiding place for spies, submarines, and people trying to disappear.
Frank is an engaging lead because he approaches espionage as a problem solver rather than as a glamorous action hero. He gathers gossip, studies accents, builds relationships with veterans, and carefully develops explanations for his movements. His background as a writer helps him ask questions without immediately attracting suspicion, while his knowledge of German gives him access to conversations others can’t understand. The story also gives him a dry, occasionally self-aware sense of humor. After accepting the assignment and considering its danger, he concludes, “This was not going to be an easy task. Time for another large rum.” That line captures Frank nicely. He’s thoughtful and capable, but he’s also a man who regularly processes danger over coffee, dinner, or a strong drink.
The novel unfolds patiently, following Frank as small observations grow into evidence of a larger Nazi network. Conversations at marinas, churches, taverns, and beach gatherings gradually connect suspicious veterans, German-speaking laborers, hidden operatives, and submarine landings. As the plot intensifies, Frank moves from gathering intelligence to conducting dangerous underwater surveillance and staging elaborate operations against enemy agents. The procedural detail gives these missions a distinctive texture. Readers see Frank plan routes, test equipment, create alibis, consider possible failures, and think through the consequences. His friendships with Stu, Selma, Carl, and the struggling veterans also give the story a community at its center, so the threat feels personal rather than abstract.
Off the Grid is a broad, detail-rich adventure about an ordinary-looking man quietly fighting a hidden war. It combines regional history, sailing knowledge, military intrigue, and the story of the Florida Keys’ transformation during World War II. By the epilogue, Frank’s active mission has evolved into journalism and informal intelligence work, allowing him to remain useful while building a life within the community he helped protect. The book’s strongest identity comes from that combination of secrecy and daily life. Frank may be hunting enemy agents, but he’s also repairing his boat, sharing rum with veterans, listening to local gossip, and learning to call the Keys home.
Pages: 170
Writing is Like Sculpting
The Summer of ’76 follows a young girl as a secret time machine sends her from Bicentennial-era Massachusetts into the American Revolution, where she must protect her family’s farm and uncover its buried legacy. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I began this story remembering an abandoned shed hidden in the woods behind my childhood home in Massachusetts. My friends and I used to imagine who lived there and why. While I was writing, the words of Longfellow’s poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride”, played in my head. I learned it when I was Betsy’s age and am still in awe of the brave people Longfellow memorialized. I knew I had to pay them tribute.
How did you balance the novel’s time-travel adventure with its more emotional story about family, healing, and legacy?
Reading each chapter out loud helped me think like a reader. I also asked for feedback from other authors I trust and respect. Writing is like sculpting. Little by little, I removed details that didn’t move the plot forward and added others that did until I knew I was done.
Betsy feels curious, impulsive, funny, and authentically twelve. How did you develop her narrative voice?
I was Betsy’s age in 1976. It was a more innocent time, which is why I picked it. I relied on my inner child to craft her point of view. Betsy comes to believe we can each make a difference, as do I.
What kind of historical research did you conduct to make Colonial life accessible and engaging for middle-grade readers?
I researched everything! The topics included the American Revolutionary War, life in Colonial Massachusetts, the Massachusett people, and the battles of Lexington and Concord. I visited Revolutionary landmarks in both towns and spoke with a number of people to get the details right.
Author Links: GoodReads | Website | Amazon
Twelve-year-old Betsy Ross thought the worst thing about the summer of 1976 was missing camp and being stuck on her grandmother’s farm in Lexington, Massachusetts. Her father has suffered a devastating emotional breakdown, her family is on the verge of losing their New York apartment, and now Betsy is trapped cleaning horse stalls and breathing through the smell of manure.
But the Ross Family Farm has secrets.
Hidden beneath the barn is a mysterious cellar, a forbidden button, and a journey through history Betsy never meant to take. When greedy developers threaten the farm and corner Betsy and her new friend Nate underground, they make a desperate choice that sends them hurtling back in time-to April 19, 1775.
The day the Revolutionary War began.
Now Betsy and Nate must survive Colonial America, avoid suspicion, and uncover the truth about Betsy’s family legacy before history-and their own future-is changed forever. Along the way, Betsy begins to realize that healing her father’s broken spirit may depend on understanding the generations of Rosses who came before him.
Blending heart, humor, mystery, and adventure, The Summer of ’76 is a fast-paced middle-grade novel about courage, family, friendship, and discovering where you truly belong.
The Popcorn Burglar
The Popcorn Burglar by Gloria G. Adams is the first entry in the Silvee Spoon, Junior Chef Science Mysteries series. This middle-grade mystery follows ten-year-old Silvee Spoon and her triplet siblings, Parker and Trina, after strange noises echo through their converted factory apartment building and someone sneaks into their father’s restaurant kitchen. Missing food, two abandoned milk glasses, a hidden doorway, and a trail of popcorn give the young detectives plenty to investigate. The setup is easy to grasp, but it has enough twists and suspicious characters to keep the case moving.
Silvee makes an engaging narrator because her curiosity feels active rather than merely described. She notices details, tests theories, and turns her knowledge of cooking into practical detective work. Parker contributes math skills and quick observations, while trivia-loving Trina adds humor, imagination, and the occasional ghost theory. Their orange cat, Hashbrown, brings some welcome chaos to the investigation. Together, the siblings have the comfortable teasing and cooperation of a real family, and their different interests give this children’s mystery book a lively group dynamic.
The strongest feature of this STEM children’s book is the way food science becomes part of the mystery instead of interrupting it. Short science sections explain why popcorn pops, why chocolate melts, and why tonic water glows under a blacklight. Silvee then applies those ideas in the kitchen, most memorably when she makes glow-in-the-dark popcorn balls to track the culprit. Recipes, trivia, and puzzles extend the experience after the story, making the book feel like a blend of science mystery, culinary adventure, and hands-on activity book. The illustrations also help establish the old building’s shadowy spaces, the bustling restaurant kitchen, and the personalities of the Spoon family.
Underneath the clues and experiments, The Popcorn Burglar is a warm story about responsibility, curiosity, and kindness. Chef Spoon’s rules provide a natural moral framework, particularly the reminders to clean up after yourself, control your anger, and sprinkle kindness over everything. The solution adds emotional weight without becoming heavy, showing Silvee that understanding someone’s circumstances matters as much as identifying what happened. With short chapters, playful dialogue, accessible science, and a satisfying case, this educational chapter book should connect especially well with young readers who enjoy mysteries, cooking, experiments, or all three.
Pages: 76 | ASIN : B0H94SYS7B
A Gray Cat Showed Up One Saturday
The Great Contagion follows an ancient, sharp-witted cat with a human soul who helps a man confront a deadly sickness sweeping the land. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
The idea for The Great Contagion came to me when I was working on Cat Sidhe, another novel in The Merliss Tales series. Cat Sidhe takes place about fifty years after the events in The Great Contagion. I mentioned that the results of a great plague were still visible at the time of Cat Sidhe. After calling attention to this plague numerous times, I decided that I needed to find out what had happened. The result of that exploration was The Great Contagion.
More interesting is the idea for Merliss herself who is based on a real feline. A very thin, sickly, gray cat showed up on our driveway one Saturday and tried to get into our breezeway. We gave it some food and then took it to an emergency vet. The cat had no microchip and was not terminally ill. She was suffering from a respiratory infection, an eye infection, malnutrition, and thousands of fleas. In other words, she needed antibiotics and TLC. A few hundred dollars later, we left the vet with a new cat named Smokey, who was the sweetest lap kitty you can imagine. We never knew how old Smokey was, possibly pushing twenty. She spent her last two and a half years being spoiled by us. Thanks to Smokey, I felt inspired with the idea for an ancient gray cat in a fantasy setting.
What drew you to writing a fantasy centered on healing rather than conquest or warfare?
Many fantasy stories centered on conquest and warfare focus on protagonists occupying the upper strata of society. If you want your characters to directly influence events and you’re dealing with politics and warfare, the characters will need to be in positions of power. I wanted to write stories about characters outside the circles of political and military power and show them dealing with events outside their control, struggling to have an impact on their environment. The healing arts are one area in which a relatively low-status character can impact many others, including high-status characters. Healers also travel through villages and the countryside as part of their work.
How do you build tension in a story that unfolds at a measured pace?
The Great Contagion is composed of numerous subplots that interact and conflict. Some of the subplots center on conflicts and problems related to the people. Others revolve around Merliss, the old gods, and other magical creatures. There is also a subplot involving Merliss and the local cat population. All the subplots are tied together by the contagion, and Merliss is a witness to all the events described. I build tension by staggering high points from the various subplots and planting seeds to set the stage for later scenes of intense action. The level of action increases throughout the book.
What is the next book you are working on, and when will it be available?
The next book in The Merliss Tales series is The Forging of Merliss. The origin tale, this novel is set thousands of years in the past and will tell how Merliss’s spirit came to occupy the body of a cat. I hope to release this book by spring 2027.
Author Links: GoodReads | BlueSky | Website
Merliss is no ordinary cat. She’s a young girl’s spirit trapped in a cat’s body. While the magic that banished her has snatched away her ability to speak to humans, it has given her a life spanning millennia. For centuries she has lived with the cunning folk, assisting their efforts to heal the sick and ward off malevolent creatures. Now a bleeding sickness has thrown the medieval community into chaos.
The cunning man Hailaird and his apprentice Fendrel are in danger from the disease. The life Merliss has worked so long to build is in jeopardy. Before she entered the cat, she had trained to be a shaman. Do her centuries of experience hold a secret to a cure? But disease isn’t her only nemesis.
A pair of malevolent creatures have crossed the moor into the forest, threatening more havoc. With disease and monsters ravaging the land, Merliss is hard-pressed to survive. It couldn’t be worse, until a mob looking for a scapegoat turns its wrath on Merliss. Tooth and claw and magic may not be enough.
Daywalker: Hybrid Vampire
Daywalker: Hybrid Vampire by Len Handeland is a supernatural horror novel that blends vampire fiction, historical horror, queer romance, and paranormal adventure. The story begins in postwar Norway, where Anna Beck becomes involved with Wolfgang Von Pritzker, a former German officer hiding a deadly identity. Their son, Christian, is born a dhampir, half human and half vampire, with a thirst for blood and the rare ability to survive in daylight. By letting Anna, Christian, and Christian’s lover Kjell narrate different parts of the story, Handeland gives the novel the feel of a collection of intimate confessions.
Christian’s journey gives this vampire horror story its emotional center. Abandoned as an infant and adopted as a child, he grows up trying to understand his unusual body, control his bloodlust, and find a place where he belongs. Music becomes both an escape and a clever disguise when Christian fronts a vampire-themed rock band called The Vamps. The irony is fun: the audience sees a theatrical gimmick while Christian is quietly revealing his real nature onstage. His rise through the European rock scene also adds an unexpected show-business angle to the paranormal fiction.
The novel’s relationships are as important as its supernatural confrontations. Christian and Kjell’s romance develops from friendship and attraction into a loyal partnership, while Christian’s reunion with Anna forces both of them to face the pain of his abandonment. Wolfgang brings a colder energy to the family story, representing the predatory side of vampirism that Christian fears inheriting. These connections turn the book into more than a vampire hunter adventure. It’s also a dark family drama about identity, inherited violence, forgiveness, and the choices people make when love and survival pull them in different directions.
Handeland writes in a direct, dramatic style, with plenty of blood, sensuality, emotional declarations, and classic vampire lore. The later chapters move firmly into paranormal action as Christian discovers the full range of his powers and battles the vampires created by his father. Readers who enjoy LGBTQ+ horror, dhampir stories, gothic vampire fiction, supernatural romance, and fast-moving battles between vampires and vampire hunters will find plenty to dig into here. Daywalker: Hybrid Vampire is a bold, personal take on the genre, combining family secrets, rock-and-roll ambition, romance, and monster-hunting in one expansive story.
Pages: 223 | ASIN : B0GXMX8DM6
The Galaxy of Kon-Ki: Waking on Earth
Colin Nimer’s The Galaxy of Kon-Ki: Waking on Earth is an energetic science-fantasy adventure that blends martial arts, alien civilizations, supernatural abilities, military training, and body-horror creatures into one large-scale story. The novel begins with a dangerous Devi hunt before shifting its attention to Eiki Akihiro, a talented young martial artist whose recurring dreams and unusual powers connect him to a much bigger universe. Once Eiki is recruited aboard the Lóuchuán, the book expands into a team-based adventure filled with training, rivalries, hidden agendas, and increasingly dangerous missions. It’s a big book with a big imagination, and it clearly wants readers to settle into its world for the long haul.
Eiki’s journey gives the story its emotional center. He’s skilled and determined, but he’s also impatient, insecure, and intensely focused on proving himself. His relationship with Katsu, his godfather and martial arts teacher, brings warmth to the early chapters and gives real weight to the choices Eiki makes later. David, Sìrù, Màn-Ruì, Taye, and the rest of the crew add different personalities and pressures, so the story often feels like an ensemble drama. The characters argue, tease each other, make painful mistakes, and carry personal struggles into combat. That emotional messiness makes the crew feel alive, especially when loyalty and ambition start pulling them in different directions.
The novel’s closest popular comparison may be Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson books. Both stories take a young person with unexplained abilities, reveal a hidden world operating alongside ordinary life, and surround the hero with mentors, rivals, monsters, and a larger destiny. Nimer’s approach has more of a martial arts and military flavor, though, with detailed combat systems, formal ranks, training exercises, and a large multicultural cast. Kon-Ki itself works as both a source of power and a reflection of identity, which gives the action a personal dimension. The fight scenes are highly choreographed and often inventive, although the level of physical detail can slow the pace when several battles arrive close together.
What stayed with me most was the book’s interest in growth through discipline. Characters don’t simply unlock power and become unstoppable. They train, fail, lose control, hurt people, and face the consequences. The story also leaves plenty of mysteries open, particularly around Eiki’s lineage, David’s changing abilities, the Devi-A, and the larger forces moving behind Kuno’s mission. That makes Waking on Earth feel like the opening movement of a much broader saga. Readers who enjoy expansive worldbuilding, martial arts action, alien cultures, complicated friendships, and stories that spend time explaining how their powers work will find a lot to dig into here.
Pages: 400
God Gave Us the Gift of Imagination
How the Winterlilies Grow follows a young woman desperate to save her mother, who sets out on a journey for a healing flower, meeting with tests of courage and spiritual challenges along the way. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
My desire is to return morality and Truth back into storytelling. I love fantastical media and learning more about theology. Specifically, I am obsessed with the movie about Rapunzel. Adventure, comedic quips, warmth, seeking belonging alongside beauty, the imagery of a magical healing flower. In this world, the flower isn’t magical, but rather a representation of elemental things created by God like medicine. God heals and doesn’t heal for reasons unknown, but they are reasons that are just. In this book, I wanted to showcase healing with medicine, healing by the creator, a time that the creator doesn’t heal, and how we can strive in the waiting. I wrote this book during a time of my own sickness, and I didn’t know if God would heal me. It was a time when I clung to my faith as my body whittled away, and I could no longer eat food. I wanted to write a story where the reader can find value in most lines whether they relate to Aradella’s pain or Lykke’s clumsy joy or Giselle’s sickness, daydream about visiting Thiddlestacks and Frosty Halo, find resilience like the Hunyljavekians, enjoy the many creatures, and learn about a creator who some claim to be absent, but is actively providing. I wrote this book for fantasy lovers, those grieving or dealing with church hurt, for those questioning God. Ultimately, this story was written intentionally with an engaging storyline and I am eager for people to read it.
The novel features dwarves, goblins, sirens, enchanted weapons, and hidden gardens alongside spiritual lessons. How did you balance classic fantasy elements with the book’s faith-centered message?
This is a fantastic question and one that I thought a lot about. God has given us the gift of imagination because he is an imaginative God, so both imagination and creation are a reflection of Him. These are fun elements to use, and we forget a fruit of the spirit is joy, so it is alright to bring joy to others and play and entertain. That being said, In literature, I am wary of the normalization that magic is a good tool and a way to solve problems. I tried to be intentional that magic and enchantment was used by those who do not know the creator while those who are followers of the creator relied on gifts of the creator like imagination, engineering, peace, prayer, teamwork, and intelligence. Fantasy is the vehicle to spread the gospel and talk about God. How the Winterlilies Grow is the perfect book for Christian parents to use as a tool to have faith-filled discussions with their kids who are in 8th grade and up.
Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and IngramSpark in print and e-book formats starting Oct 6, 2026.
The story visits a wide variety of places and introduces many different creatures and cultures. Which part of the world was your favorite to create, and why?
My favorite town is Hunyljavek – home of the dwarves. It is a place that once was riddled with hardship and pain, but instead of staying in their suffering, they turned their eyes and hearts towards “the creator” and made new traditions that were joyful. When you go there, you can see hints of the brokenness (not many women or children), but it has been redeemed. On a more stylistic note, I appreciate viking culture and I tried to incorporate small elements from them into Hunyljavekian society from their grooming to their armor. The aesthetic of the town and the food they eat is partly inspired by Icelandic culture which is a beautiful culture. From an aesthetic standpoint, I would live in Frosty Halo ~ the sledding, bakeries, angels, choir concerts, lights, community ~ it is a porcelain Christmas village come to life.
Without revealing spoilers, was there a character who surprised you during the writing process by taking the story in an unexpected direction?
There is a character in the book who I wrote to be the comedic relief or at times the moral guide. In a way, this character reminds me a bit of my father- the way he is able to bring joy into hard situations, yet in this book, an event occurs where he faces loss after having already gone through loss. I think his identity shift is a powerful one because as followers, sometimes we believe we have to force ourselves to be happy through pain because the Bible tells us to have a joy beyond circumstances. In fact, in a separate book I am writing, this character holds joy through trauma for the sake of others. His shift shows that it is alright to mourn, grieve, cry, and to be completely shaken by events that take place. It reminded me of Noami in the book of Ruth where her name meant pleasant and the grief made her “bitter” aka Mara. Jesus wept and grieved Lazarus even though He knew he would be resurrected. This character has been holding on to this grief for so long that this shift was inevitable. It is alright to experience it. Just remember that no one can take away Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross from you as you go through those highs and lows.
Author Links: GoodReads | Instagram | Facebook | Website | Amazon | Barnes and Noble
HOW THE WINTERLILIES GROW is an award-winning tale of adventure and rekindled faith. Aradella will encounter pirates, dwarves, goblins, elves, reindeer, wyverns, a kitten, and dragons who will either help her or stand in her way. A Love Knudsen wrote this book as a balance between faith and fantasy with the hope to give glory to God.
What If You Could Start Over?
One Chance follows a middle-aged man haunted by the consequences of his own choices who is offered an unexpected way out through a doorway leading him into a world of giants, witches, and enchanted objects. Where did the idea for this novel come from?
I think it started with the idea that if I could live my life over again, would I do anything differently? I think most people have that thought from time to time, and the main character exemplifies an extreme of that. It’s not just that he would change one thing or another, but that he would change the person he was. From there, the book explores ideas around why people make the decisions they make and ultimately become who they are as people. Finally, can we change and start over, or are we trapped by our place and circumstances? The challenges and obstacles he faces in the story, although pure fantasy, in many ways can be related to the challenges we face in everyday life.
Why did you choose a middle-aged protagonist instead of the younger heroes often found in portal fantasy?
One of the main issues for the character was a life filled with regrets. He had regrets about decisions he had made, possible life paths that he had not taken, and even regrets around the very person he had become. Those character issues fit much better with an older character with a lifetime of mistakes rather than someone younger. As he goes through the portal, he becomes young again, a change that is far better appreciated for an older character. I think the theme of starting over and becoming someone new wouldn’t have made as much sense with a young protagonist.
How long did it take to build the world of Wisteria before you began drafting the novel?
I actually started by developing the characters in the story and an overall theme. After that, I developed the general storyline and the first couple of chapters. The bulk of the world-building happened as I was writing the story. I wrote the storyline I had outlined and essentially built the world around it as I wrote. So I really didn’t start building the world until after I began drafting the novel.
What do you hope readers discover about themselves while following Chance’s journey?
In the story, Chance faces a lot of obstacles to becoming the person he wanted to be. Of course, the outward things included traps, monsters, and villains threatening him, but the greater obstacles came from within himself. He faced selfish temptations, old habits, personal vanity, and good old-fashioned fear. I hope readers would recognize that those same challenges exist in our own world, in different forms, but the greater barriers to growth and success are the ones we create ourselves. He’s only truly able to acknowledge those personal challenges and move forward when he fully lays down his own desires in order to become the person his friends needed him to be.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook
What he finds there is a world in crisis, with danger around every corner. He meets two friends who each have a unique power, and together they’re given a quest to save everyone from impending destruction. They will have to overcome monsters and villains as they are pursued by a legendary bounty hunter. Can Charlie and his friends overcome dragons, giants, and magic spells to save mankind? Can he overcome old habits and become the person that he’s always aspired to be?
