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One Cathartic Moment
Sage of the Mountains follows a broken blacksmith who journeys into the mountains in search of a sage, hoping to get a fresh start, and discovers that the path to healing requires confronting the self he’s been trying to escape. Why did you choose to tell this story as a fable rather than a traditional self-help book?
I chose to tell this story as a fable because real change doesn’t come from information alone. It comes from lived experiences. The journey Folly takes through the mountains is a mirror of our own inner journey that we all face when we’re trying to let go of the past and find peace.
I’ve always been drawn to self-help, but I’ve noticed something: even when the advice is excellent, it often doesn’t stick. It stays in the mind, but it doesn’t change me. A story, on the other hand, goes deeper. It allows us to feel the struggle, the resistance, and the transformation.
It’s like sitting in a classroom. After a few months, most of us won’t remember the bullet points the teacher says will be on the test. But we will remember an interesting story from the teacher about the topic. That’s what I wanted to create here. Instead of telling readers what to do, I wanted them to walk the path with Folly, experience it for themselves, and hopefully carry those lessons into their own lives.
What does the mountain represent to you beyond the obvious symbolism, and do you believe everyone has a “mountain,” and if so, how do we recognize it?
The mountain isn’t just the thing we are trying to avoid. It represents who we are capable of becoming.
Everyone has a mountain to conquer, but each person’s will be different. Some are about loss, failure, or even a realization that something isn’t working anymore, while for others, it can represent striving to be the best version of themselves.
We recognize it by what we resist the most. It’s the thing we keep avoiding but know we need to face. That tension, that pull and resistance that we feel, that’s the mountain we must face.
What is the most misunderstood idea about healing that you wanted to address?
To me, it’s that we believe too much in the Hollywood ending, that one cathartic moment brings a person back to reality. It doesn’t. Healing is gradual, and relapses are ever-present.
What do you hope someone in a difficult season takes away from Folly’s story?
That what they’re going through may have some purpose, even if they can’t see it yet. Sometimes it’s just realizing how much other people truly show up when everything has fallen apart.
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A story about losing everything…and finding yourself.
After losing the life he worked so hard to build, Folly finds himself in ruins with no direction, no certainty, and no map of where to go next. Drawn by whispers of a reclusive Sage that dwells high in the mountains, he sets out on a journey that he hopes will piece him back together. What he doesn’t yet understand is that transformation demands he face the very things he has tried to outrun and question the identity he constructed to protect himself.
Sage of the Mountains is a modern inspirational fable for those standing at a crossroads. In the spirit of symbolic journeys like The Alchemist, Siddhartha and The Celestine Prophecy, it unfolds slowly—inviting reflection, stillness, and a deeper listening in a world that rarely pauses.
We all have a mountain that we must conquer in our lives, something that is holding us back from becoming who we wish to be. For readers navigating loss, doubt, or the courage to begin again, Sage of the Mountains is more than a story—it is a mirror for your own path.
Your climb begins here.
Sage of the Mountains
Sage of the Mountains is a modern inspirational fable, really a self-help story dressed in the shape of a quest. Dr. George Cluen frames it around Folly, a blacksmith whose life has been wrecked by betrayal, heartbreak, and the slow grind of pain, then sends him into the mountains in search of a sage who might help him let go and start again. The book makes its purpose plain from the start. It’s about healing, self-discovery, reframing suffering, and learning how to move forward when your mind keeps dragging you back. That mix of allegory and personal growth sits at the heart of the book, and Cluen underlines it again in the reflective material at the end, where he ties Folly’s journey to his own search for peace.
This book doesn’t hide what it wants to say, and I think that honesty gives it some real warmth. Folly’s setbacks are heavy, but they are presented in simple, readable language that keeps the story moving, and Arabello’s guidance gives the novel its emotional backbone. At times, the dialogue feels less like natural conversation and more like the delivery system for a lesson, but in this genre, that is partly the point. This isn’t a literary puzzle box. It’s a book that wants to meet a reader in pain, sit them down, and say, keep going.
I was also struck by the author’s choice to build the story as a series of encounters, trials, and reminders, almost like stations on a climb. That structure gives the book a steady rhythm and makes Folly’s growth feel incremental instead of magical. The strongest idea running through it, for me, is that change isn’t something that arrives from outside. It has to be practiced, sometimes awkwardly, through attention, gratitude, restraint, and small wins. That is familiar territory in inspirational fiction and self-help, but Cluen gives it a personal pulse by linking the fable to his own period of loss and searching. You can feel that lived experience underneath the message. Even when the symbolism is broad, it doesn’t feel empty. It feels meant.
Sage of the Mountains will work best for readers who like uplifting, faith-leaning or spiritually open personal-growth books, especially ones that use story instead of straight advice. If you’re looking for a reflective, accessible book about hurt, resilience, and finding your footing again, I think it has something genuine to offer. I would most readily recommend it to readers of inspirational fiction, allegorical healing narratives, and anyone going through a rough patch who wants a gentle nudge toward hope.
Pages: 102 | ASIN : B0FFVSPZT3
The Breaking of Time: Chronicles of the Arvynth
The Breaking of Time drops you straight into a life coming apart at the seams. Daniel Ward looks like any middle-aged dad, but he’s actually a centuries-old sorcerer who has been hiding from a ruthless order known as the Arvynth. When he freezes time to save his son from being hit by a truck, he exposes the truth he has buried for twenty years. His wife sees everything. His children sense something they should never sense. The Arvynth find him again. The quiet suburban world he built starts to crack, and those cracks spread fast. The book follows Daniel as he struggles to protect his family while the old world he fled pushes its way back into his life. It blends magic, danger, family drama, and a growing sense that every choice Daniel makes costs him something huge.
I kept rooting for Daniel even when I wanted to shake him. His voice feels worn, tired, and trying so hard to pass for normal that when he breaks, it hurts. I liked how raw the family moments felt. His wife’s shock lands hard. His son’s confusion hits even harder. The scenes where Daniel feels the Arvynth closing in gave me this tight pressure in my chest, like the danger was creeping into the room with me. The writing is clean, quick, and vivid. The magic feels physical. I could almost hear the world stop when he speaks the old words. I found myself flipping pages just to see if he could hold his family together for one more chapter.
Daniel’s past stretches back centuries, and the book keeps teasing details without giving everything away too early. I loved that slow reveal. It made me feel off balance, like the story was letting me overhear secrets not meant for me. And the Arvynth are terrifying in a quiet way, which I really enjoyed. They barely appear at first, yet their presence fills every page. I also liked how the writing shifts between intimate family tension and sweeping magic that feels ancient and dangerous. The mix kept the pace unpredictable in a way that felt alive.
I think this book would land especially well with readers who enjoy fantasy woven into ordinary life, stories about families under impossible pressure, and characters who carry heavy pasts that finally catch up to them. If you like magic that feels tactile and real, or if you enjoy emotional stakes wrapped inside supernatural danger, this book will hit the spot.
Pages: 354 | ASIN : B0G3YH6638
Servant
Servant is a supernatural fantasy novel that blends family drama, ancient mystery, and time-crossed storytelling. The book follows two threads that eventually begin to echo one another: Zach, a middle-school kid from the Keane family who vanishes from his house under eerie circumstances, and Akolo, a boy living centuries earlier whose life is marked by war, trauma, and the demands of kings. As Zach’s family searches for him in the present day, he finds himself wandering through stone hallways, oil-lit corridors, and a world that feels pulled straight from his dad’s archaeology stories. Meanwhile, Akolo faces his own captivity in a foreign palace controlled by a ruler who insists he will “need” him. Both boys are caught in places where power, fear, and destiny collide. By the time the book reaches its epilogue, the story has cracked wide open into something larger, hinting at deep magic, interwoven timelines, and a house that is far more alive than anyone wants to admit.
I found myself pulled in by the writing style. It’s simple on the surface but has this steady emotional current running underneath. The authors don’t rush. They let each moment breathe. Even the small scenes, a father making coffee, a daughter complaining about pizza for breakfast, or the house creaking in the early morning, carry a sense of “something is happening here,” even if you can’t name it yet. I liked that. It made me feel like I was sitting inside the Keanes’ home, overhearing bits of life while the bigger mystery brewed just out of sight. And then we cut to Akolo’s story, which feels raw and grounded and ancient. Those chapters landed hardest for me. His fear. His confusion. The way he clutches the jeweled stone in his pocket just to feel connected to something familiar.
I also appreciated the author’s choices around pacing and perspective. Switching between timelines can easily feel gimmicky, but here it feels purposeful. Zach’s modern confusion mirrors Akolo’s ancient disorientation, and that parallel makes the supernatural elements feel earned. I liked how the book doesn’t give its secrets away too quickly. We get hints, symbols carved into doors, fog in places fog shouldn’t be, Marshall knowing more than he says, but the authors trust the reader to sit in the unknown for a while. That kind of patience is rare, and honestly, refreshing. The emotional beats hit hardest because they’re framed by that tension: the Keane parents’ terror when Zach goes missing, Ariel’s mix of resentment and fear, Akolo’s grief for his family, Marshall’s haunted loyalty to forces he doesn’t entirely understand. All of it builds toward that late-book shake of the earth, where the house itself moves as though waking up.
Servant doesn’t wrap everything up, but it feels like a middle chapter that knows exactly what it is. I’d recommend this book to readers who love supernatural fantasy with a human heart, people who enjoy stories about families surviving strange things, or anyone who likes time-slip mysteries tied to ancient cultures. If you want something atmospheric, character-driven, and a little eerie without tipping into horror, this one will hit the spot.
Pages: 262 | ASIN : B0FQ5ZGH1R
A Journey of Discovery
On a Sundown Sea follows a woman with the gifts of being a medium and clairvoyant who meets the leader of the American Theosophical Society, who guides her on a spiritual path that could make her mystical dreams a reality. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I grew up in Point Loma, near Madame Katherine Tingley’s Lomaland. Though she’s been gone nearly a century, stories of her remarkable life—and the extraordinary happenings on that hilltop—still echo throughout the region. I’ve long been fascinated by the mysteries surrounding her. Was she truly a medium and clairvoyant? How did she transform barren land into a flourishing Theosophical community with gardens, a school, and an arts colony? And did she really believe her husband had been reincarnated as a turtle?
Determined to uncover the truth, I spent five years researching and writing this biographical historical novel. While no full biography of Tingley exists, I immersed myself in her speeches, personal writings, and countless archival materials—newspaper articles, letters, photographs, court testimonies, ship logs, and passports. The Theosophists were prolific writers and publishers; Lomaland even had its own press that produced pamphlets and magazines. My greatest challenge was reconciling the many conflicting dates and facts I encountered.
To follow her journey, I traveled to her birthplace in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and to New York City, where her story first unfolds. And to better understand her esoteric world, I attended mediumship readings and worked with a shaman.
What are some things that you find interesting about the human condition that you think make for great fiction?
A novelist’s job is to place obstacles between the protagonist and their deepest desire—and Katherine’s childhood vision of building a white city had no shortage of them. Every compelling story thrives on conflict, and characters become truly memorable when they reveal their touchstones, quirks, humor, and emotions. I also believe love, in one form or another, should always be present—it adds depth, humanity, and hope to even the most challenging journeys.
What experience in your life has had the biggest impact on your writing?
After a twenty-year career as a public-school educator, I found myself drawn to writing. I began attending a weekly drop-in group, where the facilitator gave prompts and set a timer to get us started. Writing in community helped me keep my pen moving, even on days when I wanted to stop. Initially, I thought I’d write children’s books or a memoir about my time in the classroom—but that wasn’t what unfolded at all.
Instead, characters began appearing on the page seemingly out of nowhere, and I just kept following them. I’m an intuitive writer, composing all my first drafts by hand in a journal. When I started, I never imagined I would create the Anne McFarland Series, let alone On a Sundown Sea: A Novel of Madame Tingley and the Origins of Lomaland. It’s been a journey of discovery, both of the stories themselves and of who I am as a writer.
What is the next book that you are working on, and when can your fans expect it to be out?
I’d love to publish a collection of my nature poetry, as well as a personal development book inspired by my philosophy and blog, Crealivity. At the same time, I’m resisting the pull of a first chapter that has jumped onto the page for a fourth novel in the Anne McFarland Series. Over the past ten years, I’ve sent four novels and hundreds of poems out into the world, but right now my focus is on promoting On a Sundown Sea. I’ve many local events planned here in San Diego first, and then I’m taking the book on tour to other parts of the country.
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In 1888, Katherine Tingley, a medium and clairvoyant, continues to have a childhood vision of a white city on a sundown sea. While serving the poor at her Do-Good Mission on Manhattan’s East Side, she encounters William Q. Judge, a mesmerist and leader of the American Theosophical Society. He recognizes her potential, convinces her to become his student, and guides her on a spiritual path that could make her mystical dream become a reality.
After Judge’s passing, Katherine assumes leadership of the Society and embarks on a world crusade to spread brotherhood, learn from ancient cultures, and search for a Himalayan Mahatma. In 1900, she moves the Theosophical headquarters to San Diego. Here, she sets out to establish Lomaland—a sacred space of learning, artistry, and divine harmony, built on a barren peninsula yet brimming with hidden potential. As people from around the world converge to share in her vision, they form a community united in purpose to spread enlightenment. However, betrayals, lies, and libels accumulate until a monumental court case ultimately decides her future and the fate of the white city on a sundown sea.
On A Sundown Sea: A Novel of Madame Tingley and the Origins of Lomaland
When I first closed the final page of On a Sundown Sea, I sat with the feeling that I had been walking alongside Katherine Tingley, a woman caught between the raw struggles of the 19th century and her own restless visions of something more. The novel takes us through New York’s crowded tenements, the snowbound Great Blizzard of 1888, and finally into the swirl of spiritualism, social reform, and theosophy that defined her life. It is a story of Katherine’s yearning for justice, for connection, and for the dream of a golden city by the sea where harmony might prevail.
What struck me first about this book was how alive the writing felt. The historical detail pulled me in, yet it never read like a lecture. The voices of the poor at the mission, the creak of an empty bread cart, even the sound of a baby crying outside in the cold stayed with me. I admired the way author Jill G. Hall let Katherine be complicated, fierce and brave, but also vulnerable, flawed, and often unsure. The visions Katherine experiences could have been written as distant or mystical, but instead they felt immediate and human, even tender. I could sense her exhaustion, her longing to believe they meant something.
There were moments when the pacing slowed, especially when the story lingered on Philo’s inventions or the details of household frustrations. I found myself wanting to move back to Katherine’s work at the mission or her encounters with William Q. Judge, which carried a spark. Yet in a strange way, even these slower stretches made me feel more connected to Katherine, because life itself rarely moves in clean arcs of drama. It’s messy, filled with distractions, petty disappointments, and small betrayals, and the novel captured that truth.
I came away deeply moved by Katherine’s journey. Her search for meaning felt familiar to me, and I imagine it will resonate with many others who’ve ever wondered if they were meant for more than the roles life handed them. I would recommend On a Sundown Sea to readers who enjoy historical fiction rooted in real social movements, but also to anyone who loves a story about resilience and the desire to build a better world. It is a thoughtful, heartfelt novel, and though it is set in the past, it left me thinking about the present in fresh ways.
Pages: 384 | ASIN : B0DV6T8P8M
Self-Discovery Path
The 7th Dimension follows a plastic surgeon with mysterious tattoos he believes are connected to larger events unfolding around him, who embarks on a journey that leads him down a path toward the divine. I found Derek Hollinger to be an intriguing and well-developed character. What was your inspiration for this character?
I didn’t realize it until a few years later. Me. I had been diagnosed with stage three breast cancer and didn’t know if I would survive. This pulls the rug out from under your world. How you handle it is with the tools you have in your tool box. Some people don’t even have a tool box. That was Dr. Derek Hollinger.
What themes were particularly important for you to explore in this book?
Self-discovery path. Why we end up where we are and what to do about it.
When will the next book be available? Can you give us an idea of where that book will take readers?
The 6th Heaven September 17th, 2025. The Amazon jungle is captivating. Venturing into its depths is like exploring the hidden corners of the mind. The jungle hosts an array of remarkable creatures, including the mighty jaguar, the massive green anaconda, shocking electric eels, and flesh-eating piranhas. Just as travelers must remain vigilant and highly aware of their surroundings, we ourselves must be alert when exploring the concealed areas of our minds, where our deep personal thoughts and emotions reside. Like the jungle, it will reveal its secrets.
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Derek Hollinger isn’t sure, but he knows they’re all connected to the mysterious tattoos that suddenly appeared across his body.
Determined to untangle the web spun by the vicious thug known as “Spider,” Derek embarks on a journey of redemption that leads from his lavish Los Angeles penthouse to the seedy world of underground fighting and human trafficking. But as he ventures deeper down the rabbit hole, the self-exiled plastic surgeon realizes that the answer lies within his heart and mind … and soul.
Faith is the key to reclaiming his life, but choosing God may be difficult for Derek, who has spent his entire career valuing material success over spiritual growth.
In this thrilling sequel to 21Tattoos, Derek must face the hard truth about where his tattoos came from and an even harder truth about what it will take to be free of them once and for all.
Final Notes
Final Notes is a deeply introspective and brutally honest reflection on dying, memory, and meaning. Written from the imagined deathbed musings of a 107-year-old man, the book unfolds like a last conversation with a thoughtful, witty, occasionally cranky elder who has made peace with his fate. Muhlenfeld blends philosophy, science, personal anecdotes, and black humor to explore what it means to matter, if we matter at all, when we’re all destined for obscurity. It’s a farewell letter to existence, scribbled with elegance, sarcasm, and startling clarity.
Reading this book was a bit like sitting beside someone who’s holding nothing back. I laughed. I got choked up. I put it down more than once to think about my own life. The writing is smooth. It’s raw in the right places, poetic in others. There’s a rhythm to Muhlenfeld’s voice that kept me nodding along, even when I disagreed. The author never pretends to have all the answers, but he asks the right questions. The mix of stoicism and warmth, the gallows humor, the sudden emotional gut punches, they all land. He doesn’t flinch from the messiness of death, and that kind of honesty is rare. Refreshing, even.
At times, it circles back to familiar points, and there’s a stretch where the musings feel slightly indulgent. Still, I didn’t mind much. It felt earned. The digressions on legacy, digital immortality, AI death doulas, and even death row last meals aren’t just filler. They add texture. The real surprise is how comforting it all is. Muhlenfeld seems to have accepted the darkness without bitterness. Somehow, he makes it feel okay to disappear.
Compared to Oliver Sacks and Christopher Hitchens, Final Notes finds a middle ground between gentle reflection and sharp-edged wit. Like Sacks in Gratitude, Muhlenfeld writes with a calm acceptance of death, holding onto wonder even as the light dims. But there’s also a streak of Hitchens’ blunt irreverence. He’s not afraid to mock the euphemisms, the false hope, or even himself. In the end, I think Final Notes isn’t about death. It’s about living with eyes open. I’d recommend it to anyone wrestling with grief, aging, or just the big unspoken question of what any of this means.
Pages: 137 | ASIN : B0FDJDYQKP
