Novels
Upcoming: Cry of the Quetzal
The year is 1950 and the Quakers of Fairhope, Alabama, are leaving their homes. Their new world contains the apprehension of the unknown but it also holds the promise of a fresh start. America is preparing for war in Korea and young Quaker men are serving prison time for refusing to enter the draft. Several in the small community decide that Costa Rica is the country that understands best the ideals of the Quakers. As the journey nears and prison terms expire, families are separated by the complex issues involved in leaving a place that for generations was called home. Two young Quakers, Anna and Jacob, are bound by their secret love for each other yet they also must face the tragedy associated with war. The actual events surrounding the founding of the famous Monteverde Rain Forest Preserve provide the backdrop for Anna and Jacob’s story. The trauma of war, separation, and the wrath of nature will confront them in their search for love and honor.
Medea, an Amazon Short
While working on a biography of a formerly homeless man and ex-con, Mike and I discovered the story of Medea. We only heard bits and pieces about this great woman from her relatives, but decided her story was unique enough to tell. Using our imaginations, we filled in the gaps and added some of our characterizations to tell the story of this unique and heart-warming faith healer. The story takes place in Alabama in the early 1900s,a time when blacks suffered from extreme discrimination and violent death at the hands of many white people. Medea teaches her preacher husband that love, not hate, is the way to overcome prejudice. But, unfortunately, Medea's household suffers from its own violence and discrimination. "Medea" depicts the strength of one woman's battle against the violence of her society, and the abuse inside her own home.
Upcoming: Fat Boy Chronicles
The Fat Boy Chronicles delves into the issues of teenage obesity and its psychological impact on youth. Told through the voice of Jimmy Winterpock, an overweight teenager, the story paints an offbeat and often sardonic view of growing up in today’s world.
"A massive blob of runaway fat, the only photogenic parts of my body are my man-boobs, but they'd only be good if superimposed on an aging movie star who has been lipo-suctioned to the point of hanging flesh," our hero writes about himself.
At age thirteen, 4’ 8” Jimmy weighs 197 pounds. Outside the comfort of his family and church, life for Jimmy is a constant struggle. The taunts of his classmates make going to school or playing sports a humiliating experience. He seeks comfort in his favorite foods and becomes increasingly reclusive and fatter by the day.
During a routine visit to his pediatrician, Jimmy receives grim news. If he doesn’t lose weight now, his suffering might never end. The thought of more ridicule combined with the doctor’s implication of an early death gives Jimmy the needed incentives to change his life. And, his blossoming affection for a gothic girl in class surely doesn’t hurt his transformation.
The Fat Boy Chronicles tells Jimmy’s story through entries in the year-long journal assigned by his ninth-grade English teacher. Through his writings, Jimmy reveals thoughts and feelings about his family, classmates, teachers, and about high school life as an obese teenager. He discusses his love-hate relationship with food and the steps he takes to lose weight and regain his self esteem. Jimmy’s poignant and, at times, entertaining interactions with his friends, family, and tormentors acquaint the reader with many of the issues facing young people today.
Micah's Child
Archaeology in the Southeastern US and reef diving off the coast of Central America provide a soulful backdrop to this adventurous love story. Micah's Child begins during the death and decay of autumn and ends as spring evokes its time of renewal and hope. An isolated mangrove tree and the rustic dock beneath it await the return of the novel's main characters, Catherine and Micah. To Catherine, the tree comes to represent sin, penance, forgiveness and redemption.
For years, Catherine suffers through the death of her child, and her self-imposed guilt keeps her locked within a suburban wasteland of addictions, obsessions, and loneliness. Through a chance encounter, she meets Micah, a teacher with a spirit of adventure and inquisitiveness about the world around him. He reveals to her the redemptive power of nature, allowing her to see the wonder of life within herself. He teaches her how to dig through the earth and into mankind's past, and she examines her own connections to those who have influenced her to those who have manipulated her. Through her journey, Micah learns how to recover from his own hidden tragedy.
The story culminates under azure Caribbean waters with a diving trip that allows Catherine to learn from the voices and images of her present and past lives. Only then, does she recognize the collective guilt within her. And now free to listen to her own voices, she speaks out and prevents a final trauma. She begins a journey that moves her toward the person her loving father always knew she could be and back to the tree that reflects the upward movement of her wild spirit and the downward need to be rooted in a complex and loving relationship.