Blog Archives
A Clean Slate
A Mother’s Promise follows a fed-up thirteen-year-old boy who runs away after his mom’s partner starts drinking again, and witnesses a brutal attack on a helpless stranger, where he steps in to help. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I always wanted to write a story that combined both magical, fantastical elements with real-life, everyday occurrences that a lot of families experience around Christmas. I wanted to show the harsh truth that leaving a volatile relationship like that is extremely difficult for some people, but with enough courage, it can be done.
Grace and Dylan are both looking for a Christmas miracle and find it in different ways. What were some of the emotional and moral guidelines you followed when developing your characters?
Throughout my life, I grew up knowing friends who are in the same position as Grace and Dylan. There are female friends of mine who wanted to remain loyal to a very flawed partner who, only when circumstances become dire, they see as very selfish. I wanted to keep the story grounded within reason and make the fantastical scenes feel a bit more real.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Hmm…that’s a tough one to answer because there were a lot. I guess if I were to narrow it down, the main themes were: the courage to do what’s right and knowing when to leave a bad situation. So courage, forgiveness, and redemption. Forgiveness is very important around Christmas time because nobody knows how much time we have left on Earth. So the one question I always ask is: do you want to leave here bearing a grudge and have others hating you? Or do you want to leave here with a clean slate and a clear conscience?
What is the next book that you are working on, and when can your fans expect it to be out?
The next book I’m getting ready is the final, action-packed book in the YA horror series, The Hopps Town Quadrilogy. That will be released in April 2026. Then I’m finishing, When Worlds Collide, the third book in my YA epic fantasy series, The Zargothian Saga. There are a number of screenplay scripts I’m working on, as well as making AI movies. So 2026 will be pretty busy, but I’m very grateful to be able to do all these wonderful things.
Author Links: GoodReads | X (Twitter) | Facebook | Website | Amazon
Dylan Sanchez used to love Christmas. But for the last three years, the holidays have been anything but festive. Like clockwork, Greg – his mother’s partner – gets intoxicated and spirals from awkward jokes to tense, needling arguments that drain the joy from the season. Every year, his mother says it’ll be different. Every year it isn’t. When Greg slips back into old habits just days before yet another Christmas, Dylan can’t take it anymore. He grabs his coat and walks out, leaving behind the wreckage of promises too thin to stand on.
But when he witnesses a brutal attack on a helpless stranger out in the dark streets, his split-second choice to intervene sets off a chain of events unlike anything he could have imagined — something that’s nothing short of a Christmas miracle.
Sometimes, a thirteen-year-old boy’s fierce heart is exactly what the world needs to remember the true meaning of Christmas.
The Solar Current Is Nuptially Tuned
Thomas M. Miovas, Jr.’s The Solar Current Is Nuptially Tuned is a lively, old-school science fiction adventure filled with invention, romance, and a touch of satire. The story follows Spencer Harling, a fiery engineer exiled from Lunar Industries who discovers that the so-called “alien ship” that crashes on the Moon is not an alien vessel at all; it’s piloted by his lost love, Adrian Lunar, the daughter of his former employer. What starts as a mysterious space exploration tale becomes a heartfelt reunion between two brilliant minds who combine science, love, and courage to outwit bureaucracy and rediscover their shared purpose. It’s an inventive mix of hard science fiction and playful romance, framed within the optimism of human ingenuity.
Reading this book, I felt like I’d stepped into a retro sci-fi movie from the golden age of the genre. The writing has that earnest energy, long paragraphs that brim with ideas, characters who speak in grand tones, and technology that’s both ambitious and oddly personal. Spencer is a classic idealist, the kind of scientist who believes knowledge and reason can solve anything, and I found that sincerity refreshing. Miovas has a knack for building tension in quiet moments, especially when Spencer debates the nature of communication and consciousness. The reunion with Adrian felt a little melodramatic, but in a way that fit the tone, like a satisfying reveal in an old pulp serial. The story’s heart lies in its belief that exploration, both scientific and emotional, is what makes life meaningful.
Some exchanges between characters feel a bit formal, which adds a unique charm. It is worth noting that the exposition can sometimes be heavy, but there’s also charm in that thoroughness. I could tell Miovas cares deeply about the science and the philosophy behind his fiction. I liked that the story wrestles with moral ideas, authority versus curiosity, fear versus discovery, and even what it means to be human when faced with the unknown. Beneath the space battles and romance, there’s a clear message about individual thought and integrity.
I’d recommend The Solar Current Is Nuptially Tuned to readers who love classic sci-fi with a philosophical edge, or anyone who appreciates a bit of romance mixed into their cosmic adventure. It’s a thoughtful and imaginative ride through human ideals and relationships. If you enjoy stories where love, reason, and invention all share the same orbit, this one will feel like a rare find.
Pages: 38 | ASIN : B0BRGCQBMR
What We Hold No Longer
Aaron Gedaliah’s What We Hold No Longer is a collection of poems that circle around memory, aging, identity, and the haunting void that lies beneath it all. The book moves through phases of transformation, wrestles with the Lacanian “Thing,” looks at the unraveling of society, and then slips into reflections on love, loss, desire, and imperfection. It blends the deeply personal with the philosophical, balancing childhood recollections with meditations on mortality, politics, and the quiet strangeness of being human.
Some of the poems struck like sudden jolts. They’re raw, unfiltered emotions that left me uneasy in the best way. Others drifted, slow and lyrical, catching on the edges of memory. Gedaliah doesn’t shy away from pain, whether it’s private grief or public horrors, and I respected that. I thought the psychoanalytic undertones and references added a fascinating depth to the collection. They gave the poems a layered richness that invited me to think as much as feel. What made the book especially strong, though, was the way those ideas blended with moments of plain vulnerability. The balance between theory and raw emotion kept the work dynamic, and the times when the language leaned into honesty and looseness stood out all the more because of that contrast.
The book feels like someone holding a mirror up to both his own past and the chaos of the present world. He talks about adolescence with brutal honesty, aging with rueful wit, and political violence with fury. I connected with the tenderness in “Birds on a String,” the ache in “Paradise Lost,” and the weary warning of “When the Shelves Are Empty.” There’s something relatable in the way he lets contradictions live side by side, rage and love, despair and beauty, the personal and the universal. It made me stop more than once and just sit with my own ghosts.
I’d say What We Hold No Longer is best for readers who like poetry that wrestles hard with ideas yet still finds room for confession and story. It would suit anyone interested in memory, loss, or the philosophical edges of spirituality.
Pages: 85 | ASIN : B0FPG8MLQ9
What If?
Waiting for Them to Come Back follows a boy growing up in a home filled with abuse and searching for love and comfort, only to be left yearning. Where did the idea for this story come from, and how did it develop over time?
I had thought about ‘what if.’ The question was ‘What if my siblings and I stopped talking to my mother?’ This is where the idea came to be, where I thought about that terrible thought over and over again. And imagined my mother looking out the window, waiting for her children to come home.
I knew I didn’t want a happy ending. I want to show that this is a reality for many people, for whatever reason. Life isn’t full of promises and happiness.
What are some things that you find interesting about the human condition that you think make for great fiction?
I think our selfishness and our ability to hurt one another are both fascinating and terrifying. What makes us human is what makes us inhuman too, for example: stubbornness, where we often learn the lesson the hard way. Pain is often a good place to start a great fiction, too.
What themes were particularly important for you to explore in this book?
Pain is a good theme for this book. Physical pain and emotional pain are what Walter experienced throughout the book. And then It was his mother’s turn.
What is the next book that you are working on, and when will it be available?
I’m working on this sci-fi (which is a departure from my first book, drama) called ‘Revenge In The Hospital.’ Hopefully, it will be available in August 2026.
Author Links: Facebook | Website
Waiting For Them to Come Back
The writing is raw, unfiltered, and relentless. The way Finley captures Walter’s inner turmoil feels painfully real. I could almost hear the silence in the house, the beatings, the slammed doors, and the endless need for comfort that never came. The style is unpolished in the best way. Sentences are jagged, like thoughts gasped out between sobs. I realized it mirrored Walter’s spiraling mind. The story doesn’t offer relief or lightness, and at times, I found myself desperate to look away. But the honesty kept me glued.
What hit me hardest were the moments of yearning. Walter wanting to laugh at dinner. Walter staring at his sister’s shoes, wishing she would speak. Walter clutching a dirty tissue from a kind police officer like it was gold. Those small details broke me more than the violent scenes. I’ll be honest, the mother’s perspective in the later part of the book stirred complicated feelings. I wanted to hate her fully, yet Finley doesn’t let you take the easy way out. Her regrets arrive too late, and they don’t erase what she’s done, but they force you to face the complexity of cruelty born out of misery. It left me unsettled, and I think that’s exactly the point.
By the end, I sat with a heavy chest, not knowing if I felt sad, angry, or just hollow. This isn’t a book for someone looking for comfort or escapism. It’s a story for readers who want to stare straight into the messy reality of trauma and what it does to families. If you can stomach the pain and you’re willing to walk alongside Walter in all his despair and fragile hope, then this book will stay with you long after you close it.
Pages: 42 | ASIN : B0F2GCS2LR
Humor is an Incredible Tool
Five Minutes from a Meltdown is a cheeky, offbeat, ridiculously entertaining mashup of punchline poetry and snarky cartoon fun. What was the initial idea behind this collection, and how did that transform as you were writing the book?
I originally started writing comedic poems to provide some joy to my friends and family who subscribed to my Substack, and they were very kind in their responses. Some might say they were too kind, as their positive feedback resulted in me writing hundreds of these poems. Some were sillier than others, some more thoughtful, and many (hopefully) a combination. The poetry collection came together slowly, until I had a manuscript of 100 poems that I thought might be a nice compilation. As I wrestled with which to include and in what order, I started with the funniest, but then began to consider those that I felt had some more meaning or sincerity to them (something I’m not always as comfortable with). I tried to strike a balance as the book came together, to get readers not just to laugh, but think just a teeny bit too.
The cartoons in this book are as entertaining as the writing, elevating this collection from amusing to laugh-out-loud enjoyment. What was the art collaboration process like with the illustrator Mark Hill?
I originally sent over some potential illustrations that I myself drew to my publishers at Yorkshire Publishing. They looked at my sketches and responded with a gist of…”Great ideas! We’ll find someone else who can actually draw” (they said this more kindly and diplomatically). That was the right choice. I’m a writer, not an illustrator. When Mark came onboard, it became clear immediately that he was going to be the right fit. His illustrations were the exact style of playfulness and thoughtfulness I hoped for, and every idea he had for the illustrations was complementary and elevated the humor and meaning of the poems. The process couldn’t have been easier, and I’m so grateful to have had him as a collaborator!
How did you decide on the themes that run throughout your book?
All the themes of the book have come up in my life. From the goofiest and most unrealistic of thoughts about our world to the most serious and real mental illness I’ve dealt with, I have personal experience with every concept in the book. For the book, I tried to navigate each topic humorously, but also treat those that needed more care both intentionally and thoughtfully. My publisher helped me pare down the plethora of poems in the first manuscript to those that had a cohesive or comedic idea, or preferably both. With their help, I am happy to say that we found the 60 poems that were the best for this collection.
What is one thing that you hope readers take away from Five Minutes from a Meltdown?
I hope to inspire a little reflection on how silly our world truly is, and remind everyone that humor is an incredible tool to help us all connect and relieve stress. If I can get a few chuckles or make any reader think about a topic more deeply, or both, I’ll be thrilled. I hope the message comes across to look around, laugh, and smell the roses (and presumably sneeze; I have terrible hay fever).
Author Links: GoodReads | X | Facebook | Website
Get ready to laugh out loud with this collection of awkward encounters, groan-worthy puns, clever turns of phrase, and hilarious cartoons. Through David Meyer’s perspective, discover the goofiness in the everyday and the idiosyncrasies of life. This collection of quick-witted, quick reads can be devoured in a single sitting or at a poem-a-day quota (to keep the doctor away).
The book is a perfect gift for a friend who likes to laugh, an enemy who hates to laugh, or a family member who needs a laugh (and to pay you back that money they borrowed).
Put it on your coffee table to be lovingly stained with hors d’oeuvres and good memories, on your bedside table to ward off nightmares, or perhaps in your bathroom, as everyone loves reading a book that other people on the toilet have been touching for years.
However you read, this comedic poetry book is sure to please.
5 Minutes From a Meltdown: A Comedic Poetry Collection
What do you get when a poet says they’re not really a poet, then proves they kind of are? You get Five Minutes from a Meltdown — a cheeky, offbeat, ridiculously entertaining mashup of punchline poetry and snarky cartoon fun. David Meyer isn’t trying to change your life. He’s trying to make you laugh out loud on a Tuesday afternoon. And he succeeds.
Right from the “this is not poetry” intro, Meyer sets the tone. No grand metaphors. No deep soul-searching. Just a parade of bite-sized poems, full of dad-joke energy, wry observations, and perfectly timed nonsense. The humor is sharp but not cruel, smart without being full of itself.
Each piece is like a mini comedy sketch. Some land like a classic stand-up punchline (“I’m the Next Great Supervillain” is a Teflon-coated jab at comic logic). Others are warm and weird, like the running gag of clueless parents and chaotic kids — see “Kids Like the Darndest Things” or the painfully real “My Biggest Fear, Ask My Exes”.
There’s a rhythm to the madness. Meyer plays with line breaks like a DJ dropping beats — awkward pauses, mid-sentence shifts, a lot of “wait, what?” moments that make the final line hit harder. The structure keeps you guessing, and that surprise is half the fun.
Now add in Mark Hill’s cartoons. They’re goofy in the best way — expressive, exaggerated, and full of that Sunday-paper charm. Each one is like a punchline’s wingman, jumping in with a wink and a smirk to make sure you get the joke. It’s not just poetry with pictures — it’s a tag team of absurdity.
This isn’t a book for your English lit professor. It’s for anyone who loves a good laugh, a clever pun, or needs a mental break from the world being on fire. Lighthearted, self-aware, and just the right amount of unhinged — Five Minutes from a Meltdown is like comedy comfort food. You’ll flip through it in a flash. You’ll quote it at brunch. You might even leave it on your coffee table, hoping guests pick it up and laugh.
Pages: 96 | ASIN : B0DK5P76RH
Red Dirt Part I: The Star Bearer
Red Dirt Part I kicks off in the dusty aftermath of humanity’s fall, where synthetic life forms—called the Vestige—have built their own societies on a Mars abandoned by Earth. It’s a story about memory, legacy, and survival. At the heart of it is Miri, a scrappy, half-synthetic woman with more attitude than caution, and the Star Bearer, a quiet, deeply complex Extant—one of the last organic humans with a mysterious past. Together, they’re caught in the crossfire of an old war being reignited by Commander Sutherland, a terrifying war-machine of a man hellbent on reclaiming Mars for what’s left of humanity. It’s sci-fi with soul. And it’s damn good.
First off, the writing is tight but poetic, with lines that just land. One that stuck with me was when Miri, heartbroken after losing her droid companion Lazer, asks, “What happens when we die?” The Star Bearer answers, “We are remembered by those who miss and honor us.” That hit me. It’s not just pretty language—this book digs into what it means to be alive, to be remembered, to matter. There’s something really haunting about a post-human Mars where machines are the ones asking the big questions. It flips the usual sci-fi trope on its head. And Miri is wild. She crashes a grav bike through a ventilation shaft to save the Star Bearer. Like, that’s the kind of unhinged loyalty and heart you only get when a character is real on the page.
The worldbuilding is top tier. Saint Forsaken is this grimy, neon-drenched underground city filled with holograms, synth food, and old Earth relics. It’s like Blade Runner moved to the outback. There’s this moment when the Star Bearer enters a club full of all women—an ex-military hideaway—and everything is both sensual and surreal. You can feel the tension and the hidden history. Also, the action scenes are solid. They don’t drag, and they don’t try too hard. Just the right amount of grit.
Red Dirt Part I: The Star Bearer is less about machines and more about meaning. It’s for readers who like their sci-fi with heart and grit. If you loved The Mandalorian, Mass Effect, or The Expanse, but wanted a bit more raw emotion and fewer lectures on quantum physics, this is your jam. It’s got action, found family, ethical dilemmas, and the kind of quiet, devastating moments that stick with you.
Pages: 40 | ASIN : B0DVVLXML5
LITERARY TITAN 