my books and where to find them
SMOKING MIRRORS AND OTHER STORIES
Smoking Mirrors—Salvatore Cifero, a gorilla in a man suit known as Sal, is a low level enforcer for the Medici Crime Family. He sits in Pancrizio's Italian Restaurant at his corner booth with a stack of books, and a terrifying aura fed by rumors of his unimaginable capacity for violence and mayhem. It’s said that he spins webs far more intricate than the tales the dream weavers spin of this gorilla in a man suit.
Gods and Cows and Aliens—What do gods, cows, and aliens have in common? That would be the Panhandler’s Saloon in Verdeville, a forgotten Arizona town somewhere between here and there along Route 66. Of course, there’s also Y’Naug, a former alien soldier, Higgins Cavanaugh, a retired engineer turned rancher turned detective, a couple of alien assassins, and the corpulent body of a murdered bar patron with a perfectly round 2-inch diameter cauterized hole in the middle of his forehead.
Ficus in the Doorway—Duncan Gilchrist was the perfect companion to Gisela Van Aken, the heir to the vast Van Aken fortune; he was thoughtful, a fabulous chef, and attended to her every need and whim. What does a thoughtful boyfriend give a busy woman who has everything? A ficus, which, with careful cultivation over time, can be grown into anything the heart desires. What does her heart desire?
Bauthrough—When John Lothenstein finished the painting, it was a swirling mess of colors unlike anything he’d ever created before. His usual was hyper-realistic subjects layered with elements of swirling chaos. This work was different. He had started with the swirling chaos first, and now he felt something in it calling him, pulling him in, a shadowy figure in its swirling chaos called Bauthraugh.
Smoking Mirrors and Other Stories is available in print or ebook at Amazon and other fine retailers where books and ebooks are sold.
K’Zarina of the Olkanian Clan is on her wander, a tradition of her people where young adults find their place in the world. Idyllisus, an Earthlike planet, was settled by transhuman colonists thousands of years ago by a people whose DNA was modified for their dangerous mission, and their descendents have long forgotten their star faring colonial past. In Sydjordal, those who are discovered with these latent attributes are labeled as witches and put to death. After K’Zarina, new to the city, is attacked, a strange blood trait is exposed. Now labeled a witch, For K’Zarina it’s a dangerous place in the world, but for her, or everyone else?
K'Zarina the Blood Queen is available in print or ebook at Amazon and other fine retailers where books and ebooks are sold.
Humans have dreamed of immortality for as long as we’ve existed. What if the ancient gods and demons of myths and legend dream of mortality. Who are they? What are they? In some cases, they are the humans, personas, and players of the game, a game that’s been played for tens of thousands of years. There’s William Drake who dreams of a prior life as Manacle, a crippled young man who hosted Greaper, an ancient energy sentient. There’s Professor Fyren Chase, CEO of Chase Enterprises, who hosts Tharga the Chaotic; there’s the beautiful and exotic Dennah, who hosts Naktia, the serpent goddess; and Jack who hosts Famdis the rotter. There’s also Captain Ahmed Bin Halim who hosts Bemoth the Destroyer, and who’s deeply in love with Princess Samirah. There’s Chronsa the watcher who sees it all, hosted in the mind of Nicholas Stafford, CFO of Chase Enterprises. Behind it all are the Druindhi. Who are the Druindhi, and what is this game, and why are they playing it?
Greaper & Associates, Inc. is available in print or ebook at Amazon and other fine retailers where books and ebooks are sold.
FAN OF THE GENRE AND OTHER STORIES
Fan of the Genre—Lyesha Volkov, senior at Greenfield High School, a lettered athlete, and likely valedictorian living the life of an all-American girl in Greenfield, that’s if she isn't arrested for stalking Greenfield's newest deputy, “Handsome” Sean Healy. Her mother had left Russia with her as an infant to escape her father, a dangerous man with a dark and twisted past. She’s fascinated by criminal psychology, and with that fascination, her interest in Sean may have uncovered his own dark secret.
Butterfly—Breen Mogin, founder of MuIon, inventor of the Neurosynth-Orb, and creator of the first successful genetic, biosynthetic 3D printing process to create a real synthetic lifeform, a butterfly. Now Breen, the genius who had worked his entire life to create a bridge to eternity, was dying. To upload or not to upload, that was the question, or was the question, what is life, and does life continue after uploading into a synthetic brain, or is uploading its own type of death?
Stories Before the Fear—Rosario Byrne was headed back home to Paiste Oileán to revisit her childhood memories, the problem was that the island had been abandoned since 1947, and she was in her mid-twenties. Were these false memories, or was there something far more sinister?
Five Meters—Only five meters and Travict would reach the top of the highest surviving structure his people had ever built, a 770-meter tower nearly 1000-years old. It was a tower built before the wars that devastated his people, a tower built in another place, many light years away. Who then are the real aliens?
Predictable Uncertainty—Vaughna Jenkins has powerful daydreams, dreams bordering on hallucinations, or nightmares, dreams of other beings, other dimensions, and other times. Her grasp of this time, this place, and this body are tenuous, held in place by, of all things, her love of food. Who is Vaughna, or maybe, what is Vaughna?
Death Bird Song—Who was this spy with over 70-years of experience, yet barely looked 20? Was she Regina Thompson, the “daughter” of Svetmila and James Venn Thompson, WWII OSS operatives, or was she Svetmila herself, forever young?
Fan of the Genre and Other Stories is available in print or ebook at Amazon and other fine retailers where books and ebooks are sold.