Southern California Novelist Todd Easterling, discovered by New York's Jay Garon-Brooke Agency (of John Grisham fame), weaves a well-written, character-rich story with cinematic potential.With a topic right out of today's headlines, this story follows Tom Lassiter in a fast paced race to separate facts from propaganda, and ends in a heart stopping glimpse of the new world we live in and threats posed by rogue states set on nuclear weapons development.On his journey, Tom finds friendship and loyalty with his sidekick from The Washington Post, and unexpectedly develops a romantic interest while interviewing key players behind the scenes.The book might be compared to an early Tom Clancy type story (such as The Hunt for Red October) or Harrison Ford type thriller movie involving espionage and covert government actions (Air Force One), yet relationships and suspense play a stronger role in The First Witness. Never delving too deep into technical details to avoid a pure military thriller, the story focuses on uncovering clues, determining who is involved and trying to avoid capture before getting the story out. In the end, Tom Lassiter finds himself and the United States in a mission to fix what he admittedly and inadvertently help set in motion.

    Written as fiction to protect the innocent, the book exposes the explosive dark truths of the Winelands' elite. All is revealed through the eyes of stay at home mom, 49-year-old Jen, who is the wife of John, a renowned wine farmer and businessman. Jen, like many of her privileged friends, lives a charmed life provided by her husband, in exchange for conjugal sex and obligatory wifely gratitude. When Jen stumbles upon her playboy husband in a compromising position with his sexy employee, things fall apart. Jen is forced to choose between leaving her marriage, jeopardising her standing and stability in the community or turning a blind eye to his infidelity. The book follows Jen's passage to self-discovery and self-fulfillment, while other characters' perspectives move the story forward as each is privy to (and eventually reveals) at least one 'truth' or 'lie' which Jen must face. Jen's exposition of her husband's infidelity inadvertently mirrors the underbelly of the patriarchal and often duplicitous community of the seemingly perfect Stellenbosch. Led by prominent wine farmers, international businessmen and renowned academics, business and private interests, even if ethically compromised, are staunchly guarded. The unfolding chapters irreverently explore both the emotional growth of the protagonist, Jen, as well as the moral ambiguities of the other players in the book. Characters like Lee, John's childhood friend and unknown ally to Jen, and marriage wrecker, Patty, blur lines between right and wrong and what is decent and moral. The alluring opulence of the rich and privileged setting of the famed Cape Winelands is complemented by the very real, often funny and indeed relatable crises that Jen is forced to confront. Sex,Lies & Stellenbosch is a page turner - sexy, fast-paced and entertaining.

    Even the selfless physician who saves him cannot soften the boy's hardened spirit. Angry with the world and desiring vengeance against those who caused his parents' suicides, Hachiro feels rejection almost everywhere and reacts in kind. This anger he forges into an amazing skill with a sword. He becomes the most famous swordsman in the city. Many deaths are due to Hachiro’s reputation, until he seeks solitude and redemption by leaving the capital.The love of women proves even less kind than the cut of a sword. His obsession with a forbidden passion forces Hachiro to join the war between two powerful clans where he finds another dangerous woman and treachery.When at last he returns home, he finds Kyoto in ruin and his beloved master dead. In the midst of the tragedy of this ravaged city, he discovers his redemption, something he had given up hoping for. But first he must face the danger of losing all when a secret enemy sets his trap.

    Down-on-his-luck Clay Chandler takes the marshal’s job out of desperation. Clay has barely settled into the job when Vance Hopkins drunkenly guns down a black man. Clay arrests Vance for murder, but Wes Hopkins and his gang run Topaz, and they demand that Vance be released -- or else. Clay has given his word to uphold the law, though, and he’ll do that even if it means losing his life. No one else in Topaz thinks a dead black man is worth taking on the Hopkins gang -- no one but a former slave named Essex Johnson, who was the murdered man’s friend. Ex-Confederate Clay and Essex can’t stand each other, but Clay reluctantly swears Essex in as his deputy. The two of them are aided by a prostitute named Julie, who had her face carved up by the Hopkins gang. Wes Hopkins gives Clay a deadline to release Vance, or the gang is going to come and take him. The question is, will the Hopkins gang kill Clay and Essex, or will they kill each other first?

    In this stunning debut novel by writer Cheryl Shireman, the main character, Grace Adams, is a woman who faces an uncertain future. Despite the fact that she built her life around them, her daughter and husband have created lives that no longer include her. Thought provoking, sometimes frightening, and often funny, Life Is But a Dream is the powerful story of a woman redefining herself and taking control of her life as she struggles to understand her present circumstances. It is the story of the power of love, the devastating consequences of depression, and the strength of the human spirit.Ready to get lost in the pages of a novel? Life is But a Dream will capture your attention from the first word to the last.Be swept away today!And be sure to check out the sequel: Life Is But A Dream: In the Mountains. NOTE: THIS IS THE PROFESSIONALLY EDITED VERSION OF THE ORIGINAL NOVEL.If you enjoyed this book, you might also enjoy Cheryl Shireman's Cooper Moon series. Available as a paperback or ebook on Amazon.

    But even that can't protect him and his wife, Sally. Somebody knows their new identity - somebody who shouldn't.Frank Tong is an artist who finds inspiration for his paintings from the violence of his criminal life. When his brother is put away for murder he wants revenge. And Frank has a mole in the Witness Protection Scheme.Dan and the pregnant Sally have no choice. They have to flee. They go on the run from both sides of the law.They must learn to lie, steal, shoot and fight to survive. They can't use their credit cards, cash machines, mobile phones - anything that will give away their location. They must constantly look over their shoulder. It's living life like a criminal - a difficult task for two law abiding people.What will it take to return to a normal life? How far are they prepared to go? What will they sacrifice for their freedom?'Run, Run, Run' is a crime thriller that will have your heart racing and your mind buzzing....Sometimes the best way to get justice is to run away from it...(2014 REVISED EDITION)

    So when Roxanne finds the body of a beautiful young woman the week before Halloween, she is more than happy to leave the detecting to her son Marc, an Eastport, Virginia homicide detective...until a retired astronaut who also happens to be an old flame is arrested and the abbess from a nearby monastery insists Roxanne must help clear his name. Only neither woman realizes that by unmasking a killer, Roxanne is placing someone she loves in mortal danger.MURDER IN A GOOD NEIGHBORHOOD was the 2009 winner of the Best Unpublished Novel Contest sponsored by James River Writers and Richmond Magazine. (63,800 words)The author is currently writing a sequel.

    Floundering, Moira grabs on to a surprise inheritance, her husband’s childhood home in a Midwestern town she’d never seen and had always thought of as Nowhere. Discovering her husband harbored secrets in the town makes Moira's arrival there anything but a soft landing. When a visit by her stepson and his newshound mother threatens to destroy the social fabric of the tiny town and reveal its heartaches, Moira must choose between her love for her stepson and her desire to protect a place she never expected to call home.

    2nd in the Fergus O'Neill Series

    But shortly after Ivy’s untimely death she is contacted by a secretive businessman who offers her the chance at the fame and fortune she so desperately craves.While Emily initially gets to experience the things she has always wanted, it soon becomes clear that her new employer had sinister motives for approaching her and it isn’t long before she discovers that the life of her dreams comes with the kind of conditions that are the stuff of nightmares. Social media isn’t life or death. It’s more important than that.

    He is sent into exile to Spinalonga, a rock island of Crete where there is no food, no electricity, no medical help, no supplies, nothing. He catches an eagle as a unique way to source food then, armed with his education and natural instincts he decides to create a life of dignity for the inhabitants of Spinalonga in the style of the city state system of Ancient Greece. Pavlos a thug criminal sent there by the state from prison does everything in his power to maintain chaos and terror so as to keep control of the island. World War 2 breaks out and the Nazis invade and inflict horrors upon the Greek people. Nikos and the people of Spinalonga outsmart the Nazis and play a major role in the resistance.

    She’s been jilted at the altar by Stephen-the-indecisive, is paying off a mountain of wedding debt by holding down two jobs, and her flat is mostly made of cardboard and spackle. Then at work she meets a man in need of a date to his ex-fiancée’s wedding. Annie goes, and one wedding and four bottles of wine later, she finds herself getting married in Vegas to Dorian, an erotic illustrator.Of course, it’s all great and romantic, until someone loses an eye, which here means, ‘until Annie gets home, and realizes that her best friend (and boss) Will, has kind of been working up to popping the question himself. Will is not happy to see Annie married, in fact he’s willing to trade his Mohawk and every Ke$ha CD he owns to get Dorian out of the way.As if that wasn’t enough to make things tense at work, Annie’s best-work-friend Yvonne (who knows something really fun you can do with a rugby player, some roller skates and chocolate spread) can’t resist getting involved in Annie’s love life. Neither can Dorian’s kleptomaniac sister Fifi, Dorian’s ex-bride and Annie’s mother.In between breaking into cafés, having her door kicked down by the police and trying not to kill each and every one of her friends and relatives, Annie tries to work out how the hell her life got so complicated.

    She taught her family how to read Scott’s medical chart and to ask pointed questions, no longer leaving his care to the medical professionals who had overdosed him with drugs to the very brink of death in less than three days.“Jo, you have to tell people what they’ve done to me. You have to tell them!”pleaded her little brother, as he lay writhing in agony.In “For the Love of Scott!”, the author recollects her family’s poignant story of love, bewilderment, and lingering frustration when faced with catastrophic medical mistakes. Read the experiences of Scott Hamilton’s family members as they struggle through a storm of horrific medical errors that could have been prevented and recognize what you need to do when someone you love is faced with life-threatening circumstances created by health experts.It took Jo 27 years to put this heartbreaking event down on paper. Writing opened old wounds and required hours of research and documentation. It forced her family to relive a chapter in their own lives that they desperately wanted closed. Yet, they rallied together to help Jo with her mission to keep that promise.To help further her goals, Jo Hamilton will be donating a portion of the proceeds from the sale of her book, to the 1984 Olympic Gold Medal Winner, Scott Hamilton's foundation, The Scott Hamilton CARES Initiative. The Scott Hamilton CARES Initiative was created to help with cancer research, support cancer patients and their families, and find a cure cancer.

    Deep Rough takes the reader inside The Masters, revealing not only the historical backdrop of the famed tournament, but of a plot that could destroy the very fabric of the tournament itself. Filled with hole by hole descriptions, high stakes and even murder, Deep Rough will make even the casual golfer ponder what really goes on at the most famous golf course in the country.

    I’ll never forget that day. The Vietnam War had ended with the fall of Saigon that April, and the world was mired in one of its worst recessions ever. Unemployment in the United States was nearly nine percent, inflation even higher, and leadership lacking. The Watergate scandal had cast a smear across American politics, resulting in Richard Nixon’s resignation in August 1974 to avoid impeachment, and his successor’s immediately pardoning him to close the book on an unhappy chapter in U.S. history.It was not a good time for anyone and a particularly hard time for the old Victorian town of Cape May. The crown jewel of the New Jersey shore had fallen into neglect and disrepair and was dying a slow death. Once the elegant summer home to presidents and kings, it had become the last refuge of the deposed.That’s where I met Tom Ryan. Tom was a king, or so he would have you believe, but unlike Richard Nixon, when Tom was dethroned, he wasn’t sent home with a slap on the wrist. He was sent to prison. He was a convicted draft dodger, but one of the lucky ones released early by President Ford as part of his mass clemency after Nixon’s pardon. The problem was, Tom had nowhere to go when he got out, so he took the money his dad mailed to him and spent it on a bus ticket to get as far away as possible to a place where nobody cared who he was or what he had done, a place where nobody cared about anything. That place was Cape May.As hard a time as it was for everyone, it was harder for me because that was the day I met Tom Ryan. I should have turned and walked away. I knew it when he first looked at me, but I didn’t, not my first mistake, but one that would make Monday, May 19th, 1975 the hardest day of my life. This is the story of how Tom Ryan and I met and how things never quite work out the way you think. You might find a love story in here somewhere. You might not. You might find a message hidden in one of the nickel pop bottles collected by the beachcombers from some of the most beautiful white sand beaches in the world. You might even find a little mystery, but life is a mystery, isn’t it?