Blog Archives
Literary Titan 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
Talthybius by Jessie Holder Tourtellotte and Nathaniel Howard
Golem Mine by Donald Schwartz
A Trail in the Woods by Mallory O’Connor
Messenger of the Reaper Part 2 by Jimmy Straley
Missing in Lincoln Park by Staci Andrea
Medusa: Or, Men Entombed in Winter by Kyle Farnworth
Visit the Literary Titan Book Awards page to see award information.
Literary Titan Book Award: Nonfiction
The Literary Titan Book Award recognizes outstanding nonfiction books that demonstrate exceptional quality in writing, research, and presentation. This award is dedicated to authors who excel in creating informative, enlightening, and engaging works that offer valuable insights. Recipients of this award are commended for their ability to transform complex topics into accessible and compelling narratives that captivate readers and enhance our understanding.
Award Recipients
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
The Moments Between Choices by Harris Kamal
Secretos De Familia by Diego Uribe
Once Upon A Time In The Big Easy: Down On The Bayou by Wilson Jackson
Visit the Literary Titan Book Awards page to see award information.
Finding Joy
The Joy Molecule is a soulful blend of memoir and life guide that follows your journey from achievement-chaser to purpose-driven connector, revealing how real joy grows from self-awareness, compassion, and meaningful relationships. Why was this an important book for you to write?
For most of my life, I’ve seen personal growth as an ascension ladder. We climb through experiences, challenges, insights, and relationships. And wherever we are on that ladder, we have two responsibilities: to reach down and help those coming up behind us, and to reach up and learn from those who have already climbed higher.
At certain points on that ladder, something shifts. Instead of stepping onto the next rung, we feel called to build a platform, something sturdy enough for others to stand on, something that can support more than just our own next step. The Joy Molecule came from one of those moments for me.
I realized that the concepts in this book, understanding what we are, who we are, and why we are here, and how joy arises from conscious connection and purpose, were too important to keep climbing quietly with. They deserved a platform. They deserved to be shared in a way that could help others navigate their own journey, especially those who, like me, spent years chasing achievement while longing for something deeper.
Writing this book was my way of building that platform: a place where people can pause, reflect, reconnect with themselves, and find a more joyful, aligned path forward.
What moment or relationship first made you realize that joy and achievement weren’t the same thing?
There wasn’t a single moment, there were dozens. But the clearest shift happened during my trip to Africa in 2012. I met people with far fewer material resources than I had ever known, yet they radiated a depth of joy and connectedness that I couldn’t quite understand. Meanwhile, I had all the “achievement boxes” checked and still felt empty. That contrast shook something loose in me. It exposed the illusion that achievement automatically leads to fulfillment. Becoming a father to two extraordinary children deepened that lesson. Their struggles, and my desire to support them without projecting my own expectations, also showed me that joy comes from presence, compassion, and connection, not accomplishment.
How did writing this book change your own understanding of joy, if at all?
The title of the book came from the concept that Conscious Connection + Purpose (C2P) = Joy. When I started writing the book I thought I would focus on the concept of connection, yet when I started digging and reviewing the people that I know who have deep, meaningful joy, they all had something in common. They all knew What they were, Who they were and Why there are here. That concept came after I started writing the book, so that was a huge piece of awareness I didn’t have before writing this book.
For readers who feel stuck in their careers or identities, what’s the very first small step you’d urge them to take toward reconnecting with joy?
I think joy is about connection and knowing What you are, Who you are and Why you are here. The metaphor I use in my talks is a closed door. Most of us live in a very comfortable room, especially here in the US. We live for ourselves, rugged individualism, raising our children as isolated families rather than in community. With this in mind, if we want to find more joy we don’t need to look outside of ourselves, this is an inside job. By opening the door to a journey to finding self, we begin to shed the identity we’ve created since our birth and seek connection. Finding ourselves allows us to connect more deeply with others and I believe that is one of the biggest reasons we are here. The Harvard Study on Happiness over the past 85 years is clear that those who have deep meaningful relationships at 50 will be happy at 80. To me it all comes down to connection and connecting to self is the first step.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website
In The Joy Molecule, author Larry Kesslin introduces a simple but powerful idea:
Joy comes from knowing What you are, Who you are, and Why you are here. And it is deepened by personally connecting with others. Joy is not something to chase … it is something to live.
Kesslin reveals that joy isn’t about perfect circumstances. It’s about clear alignment.
Within these pages, he shares the stories of individuals who have taught him the most valuable lessons of his life.
Most spend their lives trying to succeed, impress, and keep up. But deep down, what they are really searching for is joy.
Through personal stories and the lives of remarkable individuals—from blind athletes to social impact leaders—each became the lightning rod for him to see a path to joy. Now he shares them with you. Their stories are profound. Their resiliency, creativity, and courage to take another step forward when no steps were readily apparent will leave you with wonder. Their lives are to be celebrated … as yours is.
Joy is rooted in deep human connection. It is a journey to love yourself, your life and surround yourself with peace that enables you to breathe with clarity and vision.
If you’re ready to live with more purpose, more connection, and more joy—
The Joy Molecule is your invitation to begin.
Pay Less for College: The Must-Have Guide to Affording Your Degree
Pay Less for College lays out a clear and practical roadmap for cutting the true cost of a college degree. The authors walk through the entire financial aid system step by step, from how schools build their cost of attendance to how families can understand their Student Aid Index and estimate real net prices. The book breaks everything into simple pieces, and it shows families how to lower their costs with smart planning, better timing, and more strategic college lists. I found that the book blends explanation with action in a way that makes the whole process feel less scary and a lot more doable.
I was impressed by how clear and direct the writing is. The topic is heavy. It is full of numbers, rules, odd quirks, and deadlines. Yet the authors talk like they are sitting next to you at a table with a big cup of coffee and a stack of forms. The tone feels calm. It feels friendly. It made me relax. I liked how the book avoids pretending that financial aid is simple. Instead, it acknowledges the mess. It untangles it little by little. I appreciated that honesty. It made me trust the advice more. And the tables of information help a lot. They turn confusing ideas into something you can actually follow.
The book pushes readers to face real numbers, and that hit me. The constant reminder that net price is what matters feels like a splash of cold water. I kept thinking how many families get blinded by the sticker price or by vague encouragement from colleges. The authors challenge that. They show how much schools differ in generosity and how much strategy matters. That message stuck with me. It made me feel a bit frustrated about how complicated the system is, but also relieved to have a guide that feels grounded and realistic.
Pay Less for College is a great fit for families who want clarity, control, and a plan. It works for parents who feel overwhelmed and for students who want to understand how the money side really works. It is especially helpful for anyone who likes checklists, examples, and concrete next steps. I would recommend it to households at any income level because everyone can save something with the strategies in this book. It really does make the whole process feel manageable, and that alone is worth the read.
Pages: 362 | ASIN : B0FQQ3WWSW
Where Did My Brain Go?
Where Did My Brain Go? is the true story of a man whose life split sharply into a before and after. The memoir follows Mitchell Miller from the bustle of Manhattan to a quiet Southern town and then through a devastating car crash that shattered his body, altered his mind, and derailed his future. Across the pages, he recounts the long march through surgeries, confusion, misdiagnoses, and nine lost years before doctors finally discovered his frontal-lobe traumatic brain injury. The book moves from the shock of survival to the slow, stubborn rebuilding of a life that no longer matched the one he remembered.
Reading this book put me through a mix of emotions. At times, I felt pulled into the raw terror of the crash and the surreal moments afterward. His memories of waking in the ICU, piecing together how badly he was hurt, and struggling through early recovery felt painfully intimate. I admired how directly he wrote about the confusion that followed him for years. He doesn’t dress it up. He lets the reader sit with that fog and frustration. I found myself angry on his behalf as he revealed how the brain injury went undiagnosed for nearly a decade and how the people closest to him sometimes failed him when he needed help most. The writing is plainspoken and almost blunt at times, and that made the emotional hits land harder for me.
What really stayed with me was the honesty about the small humiliations and the long stretch of not knowing who he had become. When he finally learns what happened to his brain, the relief is mixed with grief, and that contradiction hit me in the gut. I appreciated how he examined the way the injury reshaped his personality, his impulses, even his taste in food and habits. I could feel the years slipping by as he tried to anchor himself. His eventual escape from the “disability trap” and the chemical fog of prescribed stimulants made the later chapters feel lighter, almost like watching someone slowly open the blinds after a long night. Knowing how much he fought to regain a sense of self gave those moments real emotional weight.
Where Did My Brain Go? shows a man who survived more than he understood at the time and who rebuilt a life that finally felt steady again. The author writes with gratitude, even toward the hardest memories, and that grounded the book for me. I’d recommend this memoir to readers who appreciate personal stories told without pretense, especially those interested in traumatic brain injury, medical missteps, or the resilience of ordinary people pushed into extraordinary circumstances.
Pages: 96 | ASIN : B0FLYKYXTJ
Our Beloved Futures
Our Beloved Futures unfolds as a sweeping spiritual reflection on collapse, rebirth, and our tangled relationship with Earth. The book blends myth, ecology, futurism, and deeply personal experience into a poetic call for awakening. It moves from the author’s own encounters with grief and wonder to a larger vision of humanity rising through crisis into a renewed sense of interbeing. The early chapters weave Venus, Inanna, banyan trees, and butterfly metamorphosis into a single thread about losing the self we cling to and returning to a more ancient, peaceful way of being. It is a book about remembering who we are beneath the noise.
The writing is lush and vivid. Sometimes it feels like prayer, sometimes like myth retold in the glow of a campfire. I loved that softness. It slowed me down and opened space for feelings I usually push aside. The author writes about grief, collapse, and accountability with a kind of tender boldness that made me stop and breathe. I found myself nodding along when she described anxiety as an “animal” roaming at night that looks for a mind to inhabit. I’ve felt exactly that, and seeing it named so plainly surprised and comforted me.
The language can get mystical. I would catch myself wanting something firmer to grab onto. Still, the sincerity kept pulling me back. The book’s belief in our ability to change is infectious. I appreciated how the author doesn’t dodge the hard stuff. She talks about complicity, privilege, and the uncomfortable work of reckoning with modernity’s harms. She calls it the “age of consequence,” and it resonated with me because it feels exactly like where we are. Even when I didn’t fully track every metaphor, I never doubted the heart behind it.
The book invites you to see yourself as part of a larger unfolding, and even if you don’t share every spiritual frame in its pages, the emotional truth still lands. I’d recommend Our Beloved Futures for readers who enjoy poetic nonfiction, mythic storytelling, and spiritually grounded reflections on climate, culture, and personal transformation. It’s especially suited for people who like to sit with big feelings and big ideas at the same time.
Pages: 238 | ASIN : B0FV4NWFGB
This Is For MY Glory: A Story of Fatherlessness, Failure, Grace, and Redemption
This Is For My Glory is a memoir that follows Stephen B. Glenn’s journey from a childhood marked by fatherlessness and emotional chaos to a later life unraveling under the weight of financial collapse, legal consequences, and deep spiritual searching. The book moves between scenes of his upbringing, his complicated relationships with the various father figures who entered and exited his life, and the months he spent in federal prison. It’s a Christian memoir about failure, love, trauma, and redemption. It reads like a blend of personal testimony and reflective narrative, a kind of spiritual autobiography wrapped in a story of loss and return.
The author’s writing is unpolished in a way that feels relatable. He doesn’t hide the messy parts: the shame of prison, the generational wounds passed down through his family, the way fatherlessness shaped every corner of his inner world. What struck me most was how he layered scenes from prison next to scenes from childhood. One moment he’s describing the cold shock of learning the man he loved wasn’t his father, and the next he’s sitting in a holding cell decades later wondering how he became the man who broke trust and ended up stripped of everything. That back-and-forth rhythm works. It shows how the threads of our early lives tug on us long after we think we’ve cut them.
His descriptions of his mother’s pain and volatility felt raw, almost like he was opening a wound that still hasn’t fully closed. And in other places, especially the spiritual reflections, the tone softens into something quieter and more hopeful. Whether or not you share his faith, those moments feel genuine. There’s a scene in the prison gym where he hears a worship song and breaks open, realizing that all the failures he thought defined him were only pieces of a longer story. That moment stays with you. I wish he had gone even deeper into certain relationships, especially the ones that shaped him as a young adult.
The book feels like listening to someone who has finally stopped running and is trying to make sense of what happened. If you appreciate stories of redemption that don’t pretend the journey is smooth, or if you’re drawn to narratives about overcoming generational pain and finding identity through faith, you’ll probably connect with this one. It’s for readers who value honesty, reflection, and the reminder that even the most broken chapters can lead somewhere worth going.
Pages: 237
LITERARY TITAN 