Jayna on Facebook asked for this . . .
All these classes I teach and workshops I lead have been (I hope) helpful to budding authors in various ways. Here's a list of some of the books published by some of my students.
A few of these books were actually the result of a class; others were well underway or completed and just there for feedback and fine tuning. My input varied from lots to almost none.
The descriptions and covers of the novels are taken from Amazon.
It's quite a variety, as you can see . . .
AS SICK AS OUR SECRETS – Adair Sanders
We all have dirty little secrets buried somewhere in our pasts…but for some of us, those secrets aren’t so little, and they must be protected—no matter what it costs. As Sick As Our Secrets is a gripping legal mystery that shows just how far some folks are willing to go to keep their secrets from being discovered by outside eyes. The story follows a successful young attorney named Allison Parker as she tries to get to the bottom of the mysterious circumstances surrounding a case from which she was unexpectedly removed.
Allison hires private investigator Frank Martin to help her sort through the mess, and together, they discover a complex web of murder, blackmail, and sex entangling the firm’s managing partner and a defendant in the case. Just as the secrets surrounding the case begin to unravel, so do secrets from Allison’s own past—and everything she learns, about strangers and family alike, threatens to destroy her life, if not end it entirely.
As Sick As Our Secrets is the first installment in the forthcoming Allison Parker mystery series by maverick author Adair Sanders, whose previous work includes Biologically Bankrupt: Sins of the Fathers, a 2012 Colorado Independent Publishers Association EVVY Awards finalist.*****
DREAM THE DAWN – Jon Michael Riley
Devastated by the death of both his father and a lover, New York photographer, Channey Moran, accepts an easy assignment in Ireland. He soon becomes accidentally enmeshed in a bizarre ship hijacking by eco-mercenaries led by an eccentric ex-CIA operative who fascinates the world's news media while horrifying Big Energy.
Local photographer, Glennie MacDonald, searches the high seas for Channey and finds him moments from drowning. Seeing in him a kindred soul - one she now loves - Glennie nurses him back to life as Ireland erupts in chaos trying to find the elusive leader and his men.
***
EVA OF THE BEASTS –Julia Valder
Twelve year-old Eva has a Gift – the ability to change into an animal – any animal - at any time. To keep this Gift and save her father, she must go on a daring quest. With her two unpredictable sisters in tow, as well as members of the tribe that hold her father hostage, Eva battles giant beasts and wily Feliz fairies. Yet, these may be the least of her struggles, as Eva quickly discovers, for her greatest foe may be the beast within herself.
***
FINE DINING – Gale DeitchTrudie Fine’s romantic dinner with Detective Daniel Goldman is cut short by a gruesome murder. When her good friend May Dubois is discovered sitting by the body of her dead brother, holding a bloody knife, the case seems as cut and dried as sliced okra. From the start, however, Trudie believes in her friend and sets out to prove May’s innocence.
But if May isn’t the killer, who is?
Taking over as temporary manager at May’s New Orleans-themed restaurant to do some sleuthing plunges Trudie into a jambalaya of dangerous waters.
*Recipes Included
***
FIREHAMMER – Ric Hunter
FIREHAMMER is a novel based on a true story about the final battle of the Vietnam War. Written by Ric Hunter, a fighter pilot who participated in this event, this book educates, entertains and excites the reader. It also honors those who served including the author's high school friend, Tim Davies, USMC -- who died earlier in the war.
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GHOSTS OF THE HEART -- Lourdes Carrillo
When Catherine Alexander discovers the body of Alice Balboa on the bathroom floor of a Los Angeles homeless shelter, she decides to honor her destitute friend with a memorial service. Catherine is a single woman of Mexican heritage who ruthlessly overcomes adversity to succeed, while Alice, born into Texas wealth, ironically ends her final years as a vagrant. As Catherine begins a desperate search for her friend’s family her emotional journey into Alice’s past takes her into the extravagant world of the Texas elite, a society plagued by racism, forcing Catherine to confront her own discarded past and the bigotry she has spent her life trying to escape. Catherine realizes she and Alice are, in every respect, negative images of one another. Alice stood up against racism and sacrificed everything for love, while Catherine ran away from her ethnicity and abandoned love for wealth. And while Alice had a difficult but rich life, a life full of love, Catherine’s is singularly empty. Ghosts of the Heart is a tale of a Hispanic woman driven to succeed in America, who loses all that is precious to her. In order to find inner peace and love, Catherine must return to where she first became lost.
***
LIMESTONE GUMPTION – Bryan Robinson
When Brad Pope returns to his boyhood hometown to confront his long-lost father, the 35-year-old psychologist becomes a prime suspect in the murder of cave diver, Big Jake Nunn. Whitecross, Florida, is known for its natural crystal-clear springs and underwater caverns where townsfolk die of natural causes, not murder. Until now. The psychologist's hopes of settling the debt with his father and reconnecting with his cantankerous Grandma Gigi are hindered by the surprised horror surrounding his father's whereabouts and sinister secrets of the Women's Preservation Club, founded by Grandma Gigi.
With its blend of humor and dark plot, Limestone Gumption witnesses beauty and brutality in a small Southern town. This fast-paced cozy mystery's twists and turns will keep you on the edge of your seat or make you fall out of it laughing
***
MAGENTA RAVE – Janna Zonder
Prisons are releasing violent sex offenders early. Magenta Rave, disgusted and distraught, tracks them down and punishes them. Her wrath is downright biblical. Detectives assigned to the case don't know if they're chasing one woman or a dozen. Witness descriptions vary wildly from one crime scene to the next. The investigation leads detectives to a sexual assault survivors' therapy group. Could one of these damaged women be Magenta?
Magenta Rave is a thinker’s thriller for people who love a good mystery and are unafraid to view the world without rose-colored glasses. It exposes the crime of sexual abuse with courage and humor. Colorful, nuanced characters and a complex plot keep you guessing as it gathers speed and careens relentlessly towards its startling conclusion.
***
PARTNERS - A Saga of Texas and Texans (Book 1) -- JC Walkup
Ian McPhelen’s Uncle Gerald McPhelen wants him dead. Ian is the legitimate heir to the Wintake estate. He escapes his uncle and goes to Glasgow to work in a foundry. An assassin sent to kill Ian throws Ian’s partner into a red hot bubbling slag pit and falls in himself. Ian watches both men dissolve. A desire for revenge is kindled in Ian that drives him to focus on a way to grind his uncle into dust and retake Wintake. First, he must survive. He determines to recreate the Wintake of his youth and find a woman like his mother. His father had invested in a shipment of iron castings bound for Texas on a ship, the Theophelia. Ian signs on as an ordinary seaman. To achieve his goals he must cross the Atlantic Ocean and the Texas desert.
***
PROJECT NEPHILI – T.L. Farmer
"Project Nephili is a southern gothic thriller, but it is much more than that. Tim Farmer has gone all the way into America's heart of darkness and far beyond, and he has done it with a relentless honesty that I would call courage. He has also written a marvelous story of personal redemption. I fell in love with Angie McDowell, the newspaper reporter with a drinking problem. Her search for the story—Mr. Farmer's story—will keep you on the edge of your seat. This is an ambitious novel that succeeds on all levels."
***
RAISING INDIGO -- Tawney S. Sankey
"The only thing twelve-year-old Indigo Lightner really wants is to be normal. Yet, this seems very unlikely for a girl who communicates with trees, heals with her hands, and reads others thoughts and feelings by the color of light surrounding them. Her mother wants her to stop her imaginary nonsense and act normal. But because Indigo’s highly sensitive nervous system has her in constant sensory overload, she has minimal control over her odd behavior, eliciting the mockery of peers, frustration of teachers, her mother’s disapproval, and her own self-judgment and doubt. Until one day, an incident occurs in the middle school cafeteria, leading Indigo to discover that Dayton Smith, the teen next door, also possesses special powers.
Dayton reveals to Indigo that they are both integral players in a divine plan, devised by beings of a higher realm to save the Earth from the forces of darkness. Together, they embark on a fantastic journey, traveling on the backs of their magical Gris Gris flyers to the realm of Mictlan, where they meet other gifted children from indigenous cultures all over the globe.
***
THE GOAT WOMAN OF LARGO BAY – Gillian Royes
The Goat Woman of Largo Bay begins the detective series featuring Shad, a bartender in a fishing village in Jamaica, who is the community problem solver and right hand of Eric, an American who owns the bar and a hotel left in ruins by a hurricane.
When Shad sees movement on the island offshore, he thinks it’s just a goat. But it turns out to be Simone, an American who has run away from her professional and personal life in the U.S., an intriguing woman who captures Eric's heart. Always keeping his ear to the ground, Shad discovers that a gunshot heard near Simone’s place late one night isn’t exactly friendly fire, but tied to a plot to harm Simone and ultimately manipulate local elections. But why does someone want to harm Simone? And what does she have to do with the elections? Only Shad can find out.
An irresistible character is born inThe Goat Woman of Largo Bay and Royes wonderfully blends suspense and the soul of the islands in this smart debut.
***
TOTEM-- Eruch Adams
TOSH CLOUDTREE is a nineteen-year-old art student living in the shadow of his overachieving brother. Tosh loves his brother enough to follow him 1000 miles to Seattle, but couldn't care less about politics or "native rights." Tosh is not a traditional Indian, preferring kung fu movies and comic books to Hopi ceremonials and pow wows, so when he starts having vision-like nightmares he doesn't know what to do except turn them into a series for art class. But Tosh discovers you can't keep a bad dream down. Peaceful intentions turn riot and Tosh's world crumbles at the end of a police baton. He compromises to save lives, while navigating the line between taking a stand and becoming a terrorist.
A vision leads him home to Hopi, where his grandfather and the elders agree: the prophesied time of cleansing is at hand. It's time to initiate a Totem to protect the Hopi . . . they just don't believe Tosh has what it takes. Which is just fine with Tosh. But when the spirits call Tosh and his friends, they have to answer.
