Blog Archives
A Motif of Connection
Passages follows a man from his childhood in Greece through the challenges of his family’s history to his career as a physician caring for veterans. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
The factual history of a naval combat vessel active in the Vietnam conflict provided a motif of connection between principal characters, neatly laying down a plot line that would intertwine their rites of passage. The aging naval combat veteran and the young psychiatrist encounter one another under duress at parallel crossroads in their lives as their therapeutic relationship unfolds.
Can you share with us a little about the research that went into shaping your storyline?
My own training in medicine and the military provided a firm floor for a realistic representation of the formative milieu of the two protagonists. Structured interviews with sailors who were in the fight provided supportive resources on events, equipment, and tactics, and helped sharpen the context of combat events as well as the personal aftermath on the return to civilian life. Drawing on contemporaneous events in the news of Tulsa, Oklahoma served up a scenario for the make-or-break challenge that sets the story line in motion.
What was one scene in the novel that you felt captured the morals and message you were trying to deliver to readers?
Of many scenes that make a statement of conviction, an epiphany for many readers will arise from AJ’s description of the ramifications that the hyperfocus of battle can have on a young man much later in life.
What is the next book you are working on, and when will it be available?
The likely next release involves four women growing up together on Staten Island and lessons of empathy learned through their deep bonds. Look again in 6-12 months for Four Corners!
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook
Miko, the precocious son of a Greek fisherman, has weathered an indecisive path to adulthood in medicine and psychiatry. . . or has he? Dormant in his soul is a muse for writing and a smoldering guilt of abandoning his father. His training trajectory finds him in Tulsa, USA, of all places, where a 2 a.m. hospital admission, the aging, drunk, and potentially violent Vietnam veteran AJ becomes the young physician’s patient. A metaphysical quirk awaits them.
Unwitting confidants in the quest to understand what each is missing, the two trade insights best borne from meeting the other where he is. AJ is a prisoner of the exhilarating echoes of a confusing war; Miko suppresses his own psychological turmoil while exposing that of others.
A chance meeting of their wives leads to a bond kept hidden under norms of confidentiality. Each woman finds something of themselves in the other and the moxie to withstand battles in their own marriages, on their own terms.
Why AJ was brought to the hospital by the police that night pits a sense of duty against self-destruction. Why was there but a single round in his Luger that night?
In Passages, the author takes aim at our enigmatic humanity. Each of us is the hero in his or her own life, a contrast of magnificence and flaws, navigating the complexity of principles and barriers as best one can.
At once philosophical and deeply human, Passages explores identity, trauma, loyalty, and the invisible threads that tether us to the people we least expect. With poignancy and grit, it reminds us that healing often comes not from having the answers, but from simply being seen.
Within The Hearts And Minds
Morning of a Crescent Moon follows a young nurse-turned-teacher who arrives in an Illinois mining town on the brink of violence and discovers how ordinary lives, relationships, and quiet courage shape history. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
The inspiration for the very beginning and for the aeronaut descending into the town of Virden was to bring the reader down from the twenty-first century into this town in 1898. It’s my metaphor for bridging the distance between what we know from the academic articles and newspaper accounts to what was really going on within the hearts and minds of the people who lived through this event. I recently posted a blog that explains why I chose to write the Battle of Virden as historical fiction. https://njschrock.com/2026/01/13/why-historical-fiction/
The reason I chose the character of Cate Merry and her arrival as the setup is that the reader learns about the town through her experiences rather than me, the author, adding exposition. As Cate learns about the brewing trouble and becomes emotionally entangled with the people and events, so does the reader.
At least a couple of the characters were inspired by my family members. Cate’s Aunt Alice had qualities of my grandmother Mary, a coal miner’s wife, and Harry was based on my father as a young boy.
Why was it important to tell the labor struggle through relationships and daily routines rather than focusing on the events themselves?
The events themselves can be understood by reading summaries and academic articles. But I wanted readers to really care about this event and these people. I wanted them to become invested in a labor struggle so that they might then empathize with the ongoing labor struggles today. I wanted this event to be experienced by readers.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
The power of individuals is magnified by unity. If there is an injustice, the way for the populace to bring about change is to unify. Unity is the main way people who are not billionaires can bring about change. One way we do this is to vote. Other ways are to protest, to strike, to communicate. But all of these require people in numbers to be effective.
The interests of capital often are in conflict with the interests of its laborers. Businesses are under constant pressure to maximize profits, and if publicly held, maximize the return to shareholders. They are not obligated to maximize returns to stakeholders, such as employees, the communities in which they operate, or even the United States. I know this firsthand. I worked for twenty-five years at a large corporation and held a management role, serving on business and product development teams. The push by high-level management to acquire cheaper labor in China and India has parallels with the Virden mine operator’s plans to bring in Black workers from Alabama. I could see history repeating, and I felt there were lessons to be learned from the Battle of Virden. I wanted to broaden the public awareness of this historic event.
What do you hope modern readers take away from this period of labor history and its relevance today?
In Chapter 22, a coal miner and a leader in the 1897 strike, Alexander Bradley, gives a speech that I wrote based on the newspaper accounts of what he told the miners during the 1897 strike and what he says in his memoir. He clarifies for a Virden crowd what the stakes are in their fight: “The battle for workers’ rights, the right to exercise the only power we have, which is the right to organize, will be under threat—again—and again—and again. It’ll be fought in a thousand places: in coal fields, in factories, in railways, in dockyards, and anywhere workers are not paid the living wages they deserve for pouring the hours of their lives into their labors….”
I hope that readers will come to appreciate the sacrifices made by those who came before us and that in some industries, we still face many of the same challenges they faced in 1898. So, we have to “carry the torch,” and work to make this country a place where we want to live. That’s what these miners were fighting for.
Change can be brought about if enough people stand up for what they believe.
Author Links: GoodReads | Threads | Facebook | Website | X | Blue Sky
In Morning of a Crescent Moon, N. J. Schrock renders the tumult of the 1898 Battle of Virden with a storyteller’s grace, fusing historical truth with imagined lives.
Against the backdrop of labor unrest and the gathering storm of violence, Cate Merry-a young woman scarred by war and seeking renewal-steps into a town divided by strikes and shadows. There she encounters Noah McCall, a miner bound by duty to his siblings and by circumstance to the perils of the pit.
As Virden braces for conflict, their stories entwine with the fates of families, workers, and townsfolk caught in the crosscurrents of justice, sacrifice, and survival.
Both elegy and love story, the novel gives voice to the ordinary people whose courage and longing shaped one of America’s fiercest struggles for dignity.
From Misfit to Mastery
Shamaness: The Silent Seer follows a young girl born mute but also psychic, who, despite a childhood filled with cruelty, grows into a powerful shamaness. What was the first image or moment that sparked this story for you?
I literally dreamed the story of Kreya, the psychic but mute girl whose destiny takes her on a journey from misfit to mastery. Start to finish, including the main characters and events! It’s the only time that’s happened to me, and it took years after that dream to craft the story.
The shamanic teachings unfold slowly, almost as if the reader is being trained alongside Kreya. Was that intentional?
Yes. In high school when my classmates were exploring psychedelics, I was hunkered down on the floor of the dusty stacks at the local library, reading about ancient cultures and healing traditions. I wanted to share those traditions and beliefs in a way that makes sense for today’s readers. As a corollary, I also teach yoga:).
Kreya’s grandmother’s “rainbow voice” is a striking image. How do symbols like that function in your storytelling?
As a clinician working with individuals of all ages and brain-based conditions, I came to appreciate the role of multisensory experience and understanding. I perceive people in five senses! For me, sounds can inspire colors, just as sights can inspire physiological responses smells inspire memories. Amma’s presence seemed to me like a rainbow, so her speech carries that aspect.
You frame the novel between Kreya’s childhood and her sixtieth summer. Why was it important to tell the story from both ends of her life?
I rewrote the story three times, experimenting with different beginnings/endings and timelines. My wonderful critique partner read the second one and told me to “shred this and start over.” It was the best advice! I realized that the reader needed to know from the beginning that Kreya would not be defeated, that her future was solid.
Author Links: Facebook | Website
Operation Archer 2nd Edition.
Operation Archer is a wartime time-travel thriller that follows Simon — a grieving engineer in 2027 — whose recurring nightmares and unresolved trauma lead him to seek hypnotherapy. What begins as an attempt to heal from the anguish caused by his wife Lorna’s preventable death develops into something far stranger, as Simon’s sessions unlock vivid recollections of flying RAF bombers in WWII. Soon, the boundaries between memory, imagination and reality vanish until he participates in a dangerous mission with life – changing consequences. The book blends historical fiction with speculative adventure, grounding its big swings in a character who feels painfully human.
Beyond the aerial action, hypnotherapy and intrigue, this is really a story about grief and the mind’s strange ways of restoring balance after it has been shattered. The early chapters are heavy with loss. Simon’s memories of Lorna feel tender and raw, and his anger toward the medical system is explored in a way that feels honest rather than melodramatic. When the book shifts into regression, past-life imagery, and eventually full time-travel, the transition works better than I expected because the emotional groundwork is so solid. I found myself believing the unbelievable simply because Simon did, and because the narrative lets his curiosity and vulnerability drive the plot rather than spectacle alone.
The author makes some bold choices, especially in how he describes the procedural details of hypnosis, RAF aviation, and wartime operations in great detail. Sometimes I caught myself wishing the pace would move a little quicker, but then I would hit a passage where the sensory detail pulled me right back in. The roar of Merlin engines. The searing heat of a burning bomber’s fuselage. The eerie quiet of a hypnotic induction. When these moments appear, they feel less like exposition and more like slipping into someone else’s skin. And I appreciated the book’s willingness to stretch genre boundaries. It is a mixture of historical and science fiction plus psychological drama, which gives it a strange charm.
Operation Archer is reflective, occasionally surprising, and anchored by a protagonist whose pain feels real even when the plot turns surreal. If you enjoy historical thrillers with a speculative twist, or character-driven stories that explore trauma and transformation, you’ll enjoy this book. Readers who love World War Two aviation fiction or time-travel adventures will feel especially at home here. For me, Operation Archer is a compelling blend of heart, history, and imagination.
Pages: 223 | ASIN : B0G52L2ZL3
Everyone Deserves a Home
Baer Charlton’s historical fiction novel, Everyone Deserves a Home, traces the intertwined lives of Walter Humphrey, Leatha, Betsy Turner, and eventually Hannah Mariah Rose Humphrey. It begins in the American South of the mid-1800s, moves through New Orleans, crosses the ocean to England, and follows a family shaped by secrets of race, identity, and survival. From the first chapters, the story lays out a complicated inheritance: hidden parentage, passing as white, the legacy of enslavement, and the formation of a chosen family built not by blood but by loyalty. Even early on, you see how Hannah’s future as a surgeon grows out of this unconventional household where medicine, language, theater, and resilience are all part of daily life.
The writing moves with an intimate, memoir-like rhythm, especially in the prologue, where adult children recount their mother’s hidden Black heritage and how she “became white” at five years old. That moment alone sets the tone. It’s direct, a little painful, and strangely gentle. Scenes stretch out with detail you can almost smell or touch. Then, suddenly, a sentence snaps short and lands like a stone in the gut. I liked that mix. It mirrors the characters themselves. Walter’s voice, in particular, blends clinical precision with emotional restraint. Meanwhile, Leatha’s chapters feel grounded and visceral, as if she’s speaking while chopping vegetables or tying on an apron. And Betsy’s early chapters shimmer with that mix of bravado and fragility found in a teenager who has survived too much too young.
What surprised me most was how the novel lets relationships carry the ideas. Topics like passing, racial identity, gender, sexuality, and bodily autonomy are present, but they arrive wrapped inside the everyday details of meals, births, surgeries, and whispered conversations over kitchen tables. The story never lectures. It just unfolds. Sometimes I found myself pausing, not because something dramatic had happened, but because a small detail shifted my understanding of a character. A hand on a shoulder. A joke in sign language. A quiet refusal to leave someone behind. These moments gave the book a warm undercurrent even when the history it leans on is harsh. And although the novel spans continents and decades, its emotional center always comes back to the home this unconventional family creates together.
By the end, I felt like the title wasn’t just a claim but a philosophy that the book keeps proving. The story champions people who carve out belonging in a world determined to deny it to them. It’s historical fiction, yes, but it reads with the intimacy of family lore and the clarity of someone finally ready to tell the whole truth. I would recommend Everyone Deserves a Home to readers who enjoy character-driven historical fiction, stories about identity and chosen family, and novels that blend emotional honesty with rich, lived-in detail.
Pages: 263 | ASIN : B0FL13PG6X
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
Heat of Paris
Heat of Paris is a historical fiction novel that follows two Americans in 1951 France: Franz Stromeyer, a young journalist and WWII veteran searching for purpose, and Christie Mathews, a Harlem graduate student determined to carve out her own future. Their separate journeys through postwar Paris and the French countryside eventually cross, pulling them into a world of art, politics, race, class, love, and self-reinvention. The book moves between their perspectives, letting you feel the tension in their inner lives as they navigate a new country that is both freeing and fraught.
As I read, I kept feeling like the book was pulling me in. The writing has a steady rhythm. Franz’s chapters have this restless, searching energy. He wants adventure, but he also wants to outrun the secrets he carries. Christie’s chapters feel more interior. You watch her peel away years of caution, step by step, as Paris challenges the rules she grew up with. I liked how the author let their insecurities sit in the open. Nothing is rushed. Even small scenes, like Christie’s first dinner in Paris or Franz sharing drinks with farmers in Normandy, feel textured and honest.
What I enjoyed most was the way the novel handles race and identity. The author doesn’t shy away from the sharp edges. Christie’s experience as a Black woman abroad is full of contrasts. She’s stared at, underestimated, sometimes romanticized, sometimes pushed aside, yet often unexpectedly welcomed. Franz is dealing with ghosts of his own, especially those tied to the war and his family. They’re both pretending in different ways. Watching them shed those pretenses, slowly and sometimes painfully, gave the book its emotional weight. And Paris itself feels like a character, sometimes warm, sometimes unforgiving, always alive.
Heat of Paris feels a bit like The Paris Wife in the way it blends personal longing with the pulse of a changing city, though its focus on race, identity, and cross-cultural tension gives it a sharper and more contemporary emotional edge.
By the time I reached the final chapters, I felt like I had lived alongside these two. The tone stays true all the way through: thoughtful, curious, and candid. Nothing too polished. Nothing too sentimental. Just two people trying to figure out who they are when the world finally gives them a chance to choose. I’d recommend Heat of Paris to readers who love character-driven historical fiction, especially stories set in mid-century Europe. If you enjoy novels that explore race, culture, love, and ambition without heavy jargon or overly neat conclusions, this one will speak to you. It’s a warm, grounded book that I heartily enjoyed.
Pages: 315 | ASIN : B0FRL2V2J6
Awakening – There is Only One Truth
Awakening is a spiritual historical-fantasy novel that follows Dr. Stefano Mondi, a modern clinical researcher from Basel who is unexpectedly pulled into a vivid, fully embodied journey to first-century Jerusalem. The book begins with Stefano’s very ordinary, structured life, then drops him into an ancient world that feels startlingly real. What starts as a strange dream becomes a full immersion: the heat of the streets, the chaos of the marketplace, the brutality of Roman soldiers, and eventually the quiet mystery surrounding the Teacher of Righteousness. Through Stefano’s eyes, we watch historical, religious, and mystical elements intertwine as he tries to understand why he has been transported across time and what role he is meant to play. The story blends elements of spiritual fiction, adventure, and historical drama.
The writing is straightforward and clear, and it leans heavily into sensory detail. I liked how quickly I felt the weight of the sun on him, the claustrophobia of crowds, the tension of being an outsider. The author doesn’t rush the plot. Instead, the early chapters dwell on Stefano’s confusion and slow adaptation, which helped me feel grounded in the strangeness of his situation. Some passages move with a measured, almost reflective rhythm, letting the atmosphere build, while others jump into sharp, breathless moments of danger. That mix kept pulling me forward.
I also liked how the author handles the historical and spiritual material. The book is bold in how it reimagines familiar figures. Seeing Yeshua, Miriam of Magdala, Nicodemus, and even Saul through Stefano’s skeptical, modern eyes gave their scenes a refreshing angle. The Essenes, the politics of the Temple, and the tensions of Roman-ruled Judea are woven into the narrative in a way that feels accessible even if you don’t have a background in theology. Sometimes the novel leans close to spiritual allegory, then it swings back toward intimate character moments that feel almost like a conversation between past and present. It’s a curious balance, and while not every leap completely landed for me, I admired the ambition behind it.
I think Awakening is a story for readers who enjoy spiritual fiction with a historical edge. Its heart lies in personal transformation: one man waking up to a world far larger and more mysterious than the life he knew. If you like novels that explore faith, identity, and destiny through an accessible, story-driven lens, this one will speak to you. It’s a reflective, imaginative journey, and I think readers who appreciate thoughtful historical spiritual drama will connect with it most.
Pages: 193 | ASIN : B0F4M4PMLJ
LITERARY TITAN 