Blog Archives
Literary Titan Silver Book Award
Celebrating the brilliance of outstanding authors who have captivated us with their skillful prose, engaging narratives, and compelling real and imagined characters. We recognize books that stand out for their innovative storytelling and insightful exploration of truth and fiction. Join us in honoring the dedication and skill of these remarkable authors as we celebrate the diverse and rich worlds they’ve brought to life, whether through the realm of imagination or the lens of reality.
Award Recipients
Filaments by KZK Zuganelis Kasling
Visit the Literary Titan Book Awards page to see award information.
This Fight Inspired Me
Full Circle follows a counterterrorist organization that becomes the target of someone they thought was dead, who now has to find and eliminate the threat. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I spent 22 years in the CIA, primarily in the field of counterterrorism. I spent considerable time in the Philippines where we had to take on the New People’s Army (NPA) which was the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines. This fight inspired me to write this book.
How did you come up with the idea for the antagonist in this story, and how did it change as you wrote?
I wanted the antagonist to be an opponent that had not been seen before in novels. Having an NPA Sparrow (assassination) unit gunman as the killer felt to me to be a novel and different idea for a bad guy. It changed as I wrote as I decided to have a back story explaining how he ended up in the NPA when he started off as a good kid. He was still bad and had to be stopped by my protagonist, Jack Trench and his team, but I wanted to make the bad guy more than a one-dimensional character.
How did you balance the action scenes with the story elements and still keep a fast pace in the story?
I wanted the action scenes to grab the reader from the first chapter. But having too many action scenes makes a book too cartoonish. So, I made sure the story carried the day while the action sequences provided the necessary support to the story. I also made sure the action sequences were realistic based on my background in the CIA and as a police officer in Oakland, CA.
Where do you see your characters after the book ends?
I have written two more books in the Jack Trench series and in each one, the characters are drawn back into the world of covert action. But you also see more information revealed about them as the books progress. I want the readers to really feel like they know the characters and what makes them tick.
Author Links: Website | X | Facebook | GoodReads
Or, so he thought.
A phone call brings Jack back into the spy game. Someone is coming after his old team, critically wounding one and landing him in the ICU. Now Jack is out for revenge. And as the clues start emerging as to who might be behind the brutal assault, the team must reunite one more time to take on a lethal foe. A foe they thought no longer existed.
They were wrong. Once again, it’s kill or be killed.
Jack Trench is about to find out, in life, things can go full circle.
Falling on Southport
Falling on Southport tells the story of Abigail Lethican, a young woman from a prominent Chicago political family who falls for Jim Hardy, a charming yet manipulative athlete she meets in college. What begins as a picture-perfect romance quickly turns into a psychological descent through love, control, and deception. As Abigail becomes entangled in Jim’s world, author M. J. Slater pulls readers through the emotional wreckage that follows, layering suspense with the ache of self-doubt and the slow unmasking of lies. It’s part love story, part psychological thriller, and part study of how ambition and trauma can twist even the most romantic beginnings into tragedy.
I was hooked from the first chapter. The writing is tight and cinematic, with vivid scenes. Slater’s dialogue feels alive, the kind that crackles between people who think they know each other but really don’t. The pacing caught me off guard. It lulls you with sweetness before snapping like a whip. What hit hardest wasn’t the murder mystery, but the way Slater captures how smart people still fall for manipulation because they want to be seen. I felt angry, then sympathetic, then exhausted in the best way. There’s something painfully real about watching Abigail rationalize her own unhappiness. It reminded me of the small compromises people make in relationships that turn, inch by inch, into submission.
The story digs into the quiet violence of control, and that’s not easy to read. But it’s worth it. The characters aren’t neatly likable. They’re messy, relatable, and raw. I liked that Slater didn’t try to explain every emotion or tie up every question. The writing has a pulse. It’s not polished to death, and that makes it better. There’s beauty in the cracks. By the end, I felt both gutted and weirdly hopeful. The kind of hopeful that comes from realizing survival is its own kind of victory.
I’d recommend Falling on Southport to readers who love dark relationship dramas, who appreciate strong yet flawed female voices, and who can stomach emotional honesty without flinching. It’s not a breezy read, but it’s powerful, heartfelt, and painfully true.
Pages: 225 | ASIN : B0FMS6K2YC
Tequila
Tequila follows generations of the Ramirez family, from Sotero’s gamble on aging tequila in the 1950s Jaliscan Highlands to the modern corporate empire known as RAM Industries. What begins as a tale of sweat, soil, and ambition slowly becomes a saga of family betrayal, violence, and power. Across decades, we watch tequila move from rustic distilleries into the bloodstream of global trade, all while the Ramirez family wrestles with love, greed, and blood feuds that never seem to fade. It is a story that swings between passion and brutality, family devotion and ruthless ambition.
I admired the way author Tim Reuben captures place, especially the Mexican highlands where Sotero’s first plants take root. Those early chapters breathe with heat and dust, the struggle of a farmer dreaming big. Then, almost suddenly, the narrative shifts to boardrooms and courtrooms, and it struck me how ambition hardens with each generation. I found myself both hooked and unsettled. The violence was raw, sometimes shocking, yet it felt earned, a natural extension of the world Reuben built.
The writing itself is quick, sharp, and often cinematic. The dialogue snaps, the scenes cut hard, and there is little handholding. I enjoyed that rhythm because it gave the book urgency. But I also caught myself wishing for pauses, more room to breathe, especially when the story moved into modern-day plots with kidnappings, corporate lawyers, and family infighting. Still, I admired the boldness. Reuben doesn’t play it safe. He tells a story that spills over with energy, grit, and heat.
I’d recommend Tequila to readers who enjoy family sagas laced with crime, corporate drama, and old-world passion. Tequila felt like a mix of The Godfather’s family drama, the cutthroat energy of Succession, and the grit of Narcos, all poured together into one fiery shot of a story.
Pages: 407 | ASIN : B0FDH5FYHM
Literary Titan Gold Book Award: Fiction
The Literary Titan Book Award honors books that exhibit exceptional storytelling and creativity. This award celebrates novelists who craft compelling narratives, create memorable characters, and weave stories that captivate readers. The recipients are writers who excel in their ability to blend imagination with literary skill, creating worlds that enchant and narratives that linger long after the final page is turned.
Award Recipients
The Cauldron: A Struggle for Survival by Joe Clark
A Jericho’s Cobble Miscellany by Tom Shachtman
Childhood’s Hour: The Lost Desert by E.E. Glass
Visit the Literary Titan Book Awards page to see award information.
Literary Titan Silver Book Award
Celebrating the brilliance of outstanding authors who have captivated us with their skillful prose, engaging narratives, and compelling real and imagined characters. We recognize books that stand out for their innovative storytelling and insightful exploration of truth and fiction. Join us in honoring the dedication and skill of these remarkable authors as we celebrate the diverse and rich worlds they’ve brought to life, whether through the realm of imagination or the lens of reality.
Award Recipients
Witness in the Dust by Lorrie Reed
The Glass Pyramid by Vesela Patton
Visit the Literary Titan Book Awards page to see award information.
Street Brotherhood-Rise of the Underground
Street Brotherhood follows Johnny Álvarez, a teenage boy scraping by in 1970s New York City, navigating a dangerous life built on loyalty, survival, and the blurred lines between family and gang. What begins with high school hallways and subway tunnels quickly grows into a tale of ambition and brotherhood. Johnny’s hunger for stability and belonging pushes him into riskier choices, often with consequences that ripple through his crew, the Dogs of War. The book plunges deep into the grit of underground culture, giving us a fast-moving and often unsettling look at what it means to dream of more when the deck is stacked against you.
The writing is raw, sharp, and unapologetic. The dialogue snapped with energy, and the banter between the boys felt real in a way that made me smile even when the situation was grim. At times, the violence was harsh, but it didn’t feel gratuitous. It felt necessary, a reflection of the world these characters had no choice but to inhabit. The author’s pacing kept me on edge, and I often caught myself reading longer than I meant to because I wanted to see what Johnny would do next. There’s also a tenderness in how the author explores Johnny’s hidden vulnerabilities, and that contrast hit me harder than I expected.
I admired Johnny, but he frustrated me, too. His choices were reckless, even selfish, yet I couldn’t help rooting for him. That’s what made the story powerful. It didn’t paint him as a hero, and it didn’t excuse him either. The book forced me to sit with the messy reality of survival, where the lines between right and wrong blur. The scenes with family trauma and manipulation especially got under my skin. They left me angry, unsettled, but also deeply invested. This is the kind of storytelling that sticks with you, because it pokes at uncomfortable truths.
Street Brotherhood is a book I would recommend to anyone who loves gritty coming-of-age tales, stories about loyalty, or New York narratives that don’t romanticize but reveal. It’s tough, funny, heartbreaking, and hopeful all at once.
Pages: 343 | ASIN: B0FKKNR19R
Literary Titan Gold Book Award: Fiction
The Literary Titan Book Award honors books that exhibit exceptional storytelling and creativity. This award celebrates novelists who craft compelling narratives, create memorable characters, and weave stories that captivate readers. The recipients are writers who excel in their ability to blend imagination with literary skill, creating worlds that enchant and narratives that linger long after the final page is turned.
Award Recipients
Wednesday Night Whites by Marci Lin Melvin
Visit the Literary Titan Book Awards page to see award information.
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