With the emerald Dragonsight of Hesper

Fierce Nyber surveys the land

Over swaying fields of poppies blood red

And a deep blue lake ringed in silver sand.

Over mossy, ancient fir trees

Whose gnarled roots house gentle Gnomes

Over a magic singing stream

Where fair Water Fairies keep secret homes.

All is well in the emerald forest land

Watchful Nyber's eyes shine glee

For no human has crossed the boundary land

As far as young, proud Nyber can see.

Hesper's Wizard is a mythic tale designed to help people transcend the two-camp continuum of "them" and "us" that always dominates bigotry, intolerance, and conflict. It focuses on the power of "Right action" and embraces the idea of acceptance and hope when faced with adversity. Written in quatrains, it is a tale for campfires, gatherings, and outdoor adventures.

Where Angels dare to tread, humanity hangs in the balance...

Unable to get spirit guide Lindsay Featherstone out of his head, billionaire Cole Hollingsworth is drawn back to the mysterious island that he and Lindsay helped spawn in the Caribbean Sea over six months ago, while searching for his deceased parents. Cole is convinced Lindsay lives on inside the mountain. Determined to find her, Cole abandons his CEO position at his publishing empire in a desperate attempt to reconnect with the only woman he has ever loved.

Now the tallest mountain on the planet and still growing, what is taking place inside the volcano may be the strangest aspect of all. Whispers of new life forms abound. Cole struggles to find an entrance inside, only to be met by otherworldly creatures bent on blocking his passage, while issuing a dire warning of an impending environmental catastrophe if humanity fails to change its ways.

How to Love Your Pug is the first in a series of delicately designed picture books focused on the purest kind of love between a child and a pet.

There are 10 simple rules to caring for pugs in the peculiar and special ways the roly-poly breed craves. Always have the treats. Lots of downward dogs. Precious pillow fort naps.

Skip along on spirited park sessions. Strategically tuck treats. And bring on the knock-knock jokes.

How to Love Your Pug is a magical friendship story sprinkled with humor and designed with rich, beautifully focused illustrations. 

Author Bio:

Lisa Blake is a freelance writer and editor based in Breckenridge, Colorado. When she’s not penning family guidebooks, children’s stories and articles on wellness and food, she’s out playing in forests and on rivers with her husband, son and Mojo the pug.

Shop the How to Love Your Pet series

How to Love Your Rescue Pup is the second book in a series of delicately designed stories focused on the purest kind of love between and child and a pet.

There are 10 simple rules for loving your rescue pup in the special and mindful way they deserve. This sweet picture book is a gentle lesson in patience, trust, bonding and play. Dream big, love big, get silly and go wild as this beautiful story unfolds.

How to Love Your Rescue Pup is a heartfelt and genuine gift designed with rich, intimate illustrations and written for all rescue families and dog lovers. 

Author Bio:

Lisa Blake is a freelance writer and editor based in Breckenridge, Colorado. When she’s not penning family guidebooks, children’s stories and articles on wellness and food, she’s out playing in forests and on rivers with her husband, son and Mojo the pug.

Shop the How to Love Your Pet series

Former elementary school teacher and mom of 3, Melissa McCann, presents readers with a new and encouraging way to help wiggly toddlers calm down and read with their loved ones. Inspired by her own bedtime routine with her son, Melissa introduces us to Mama and Little Fox. Join them as they get ready for bed with snuggling, counting, and so many different ways to say. "I love you." The book has a simple message, yet its colorful and playful art will keep your toddler enamored. Now more than ever, kids need to hear how special they are. This book is a great way to show how much your little sunshine means to you in a beautifully easy way.

About the Author
McCann, Melissa: - Former elementary school teacher, mother of 3 young rascals. Melissa grew up in Santa Barbara, CA where she currently resides with her husband and children. Melissa attended UC Berkeley for college. Having lived in New York, Italy, San Francisco after college, Melissa found herself wanting to be back in her beautiful home town of Santa Barbara to continue her teaching career and start a family. Melissa is a foodie to her core, a lover of travel, adventure, and firmly believes in trying new things and stepping out of one's comfort zone. Being a mother is Melissa's favorite part about herself, however that has not come without its challenges. Her first book was a project inspired by her son, Charlie, and the strategies she used to help navigate her way through those infamous toddler years and the struggle to inspire a love of reading. Her hope in writing this book is for it to find its place with other mothers who might also be in the throws of toddlerhood and in need of some new ways to show and receive that intense yet incredible love.

A spark can ignite a revolution.

Tommy and Careen have been vilified in the media for the Resistance's failed attempt to take down the Office of Civilian Safety and Defense. Both teens struggle to survive the circumstances that thrust them into the national spotlight, and this time, they don't have each other to lean on. They're on opposite sides.

Even though both the OCSD and the Resistance believe Careen's convincing defection, Tommy refuses to believe her loyalties have shifted. How can she be in favor of the OCSD's latest plan to monitor all minors with the Cerberean Link, a device that will track their every move?

 "...a joy to read!"  —Readers' Favorite

"In the Heart of a Mustang is one of the finest books ever written for teens and preteens." —Literary Classics

Hunter was told that his father was a brave soldier and virtuous man. Someone that Hunter needed to emulate. The only problem is that the whole story was a lie, all of it. The truth is that his father has spent the entirety of Hunter’s life in jail, paying his sorry debt to society. Angry and hurt, Hunter gets into some serious trouble and is sent to Promise Ranch, a home for troubled teenage boys. 

A wild mustang mare and her herd are rescued from certain starvation by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). In a sandy corral at Promise Ranch, Hunter and the mare meet. It takes a weathered, old cowboy to bring them together—a mentor for one, a trainer for the other. The bond that forms between boy and horse becomes one that saves the lives of both.

Awards:

2016 Literary Classics Gold Medalist
2016 Nautilus Book Awards Silver Medalist
2017 Readers' Favorite International Book Award Silver Medalist
2017 Equus Film Festival Gold Medalist

Author Bio:

M.J. Evans is the multi-award winning author of middle-grade and young adult fantasies and novels. She is best known for her horse stories such as In the Heart of a Mustang and PINTO!, as well as her fantasies, The Mist Trilogy and The Centaur Chronicles. Mrs. Evans is a life-long equestrian, a former teacher of middle-grade and high school students, and the proud mother of five grown children. She loves to ride her horses in the Colorado mountains.

“Here's a new kind of sleuth with an ecological bent and an unlikely sidekick, a sometimes tense, sometimes funny murder mystery with a touch of romance.” —P.B. Parris, author of Waltzing in the Attic and His Arms are Full of Broken Things

Callahan Banks returns to her beloved Timicau Island near Charleston, South Carolina, to settle her mother's estate. Her grief is compounded by Pepper Dade's plans to develop the island and destroy the only home she's ever known. When the body of a bikini-clad blonde washes up on the beach, Callahan is pulled into a web of intrigue that has her questioning all she thought she knew about her own life. Struggling to resist her attraction to Pepper, Callahan suspects he may be involved in the death of the blonde. She ignores her misgivings until nine-year-old, freckle-faced Harry Applegate, her sidekick, disappears. Now Callahan must muster all her skills as a naturalist and tracker to find the little boy before it's too late.

Author Bio:

Dershie McDevitt, a Wilma Dykeman Writing-Excellence Award Winner at UNC-Asheville, lives outside Asheville, North Carolina with her rescue dog, Sassafras, her opinionated calico cat, Orphan Annie, and her first and second husbands. Dershie and Larry, who have had the good fortune to have married each other twice, own a whimsical vacation home off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina on a buried island teeming with wildlife—the perfect setting for the fictional biology professor Callahan Banks to use her knowledge of nature to solve challenging mysteries.

Shop the Callahan Banks Mystery series

"A gripping true story from beginning to end... It is intelligent, humorous at times, and overflowing with spiritual insights. One of the most thought-provoking books I've ever encountered." -Cathy Byrd, author of The Boy Who Knew Too Much

"I'm not a believer and I'm not a father. So why do I like Guidroz's book so much? Because Letters to My Son in Prison makes the grade as literature worthy of reading in depth. It's raw, straight from the heart. No treacle for effect. Ken has laid his heart and soul on the table and done it with unflinching courage." -David Booth, coauthor of Own the Room

"Guidroz shares his wisdom and insight in a relatable way. This makes it easy to connect with and feel invested in the story. If you are looking for a deeply moving and inspirational read, I highly recommend this book. It will renew your faith in love and redemption and give you a sense of hope." -Barbara Legere, author of Keven's Choice

Ken raised his three sons in a squeaky-clean suburb of Los Angeles. He envisioned fatherhood as coaching their sports teams, taking them to church (where he was the pastor), and visiting colleges one day. Instead, he got an education on the street names of opioids, fluency in rehab vernacular, and an insider's view of the California prison system, when his middle son, Lucas, accidentally killed a man with his car while high on heroin.

Ken was tormented by doubt. What did I do wrong as a dad? Will my son ever be okay? Will my marriage survive this trauma?

Estranged from his son, Ken strived to rebuild their relationship. Face-to-face visits made them feel like they were in a fishbowl and phone calls were interrupted with inmates screaming. Letter writing turned out to be the best way to connect. Writing the letters proved cathartic for Ken. And they were clarifying for Lucas, as he made sense of losing his way, ultimately writing a heart-wrenching apology to the widow of his victim.

The written word became the perfect medium for a father to reconnect with his son-and himself.

Ken is most revealing, however, about the impact all this had on his faith. To go from the podium to the back pew and then out the back door disoriented him. How could he redefine his faith outside the four walls of religion?

With a distinct voice and disarming honesty, Letters to My Son in Prison offers a candid snapshot of fatherhood, a refreshing take on marriage, and a creative vision of faith.

Can a cat really start his own band? Warren the Honking Cat decides to do just that, and Little Honker and the Swinging Tails is born ... but not without some surprises A delightful read about creativity and persistence for second and third graders.

Warren's meow is a honk.

He doesn't sound like his Seal Point Siamese family or look like them. His brothers and sisters will not play kitty games with him. And, then, on a backyard adventure things change. He saves his family from an unwanted visitor and his honking is important after all.

Can a cat have magical powers?
Are cats able to predict a future event?

From Egyptian times to the present, cats in many cultures are considered both lucky and magical. Is Little Honker one of those magical cats? Little Honker seems to have some magical powers and predicts an upcoming event.

What could a polydactyl cat add to the Swinging Tails band?

Bongos, of course Jack moves from Key West to Little Honker's neighborhood and discovers his love of music can continue when the Tails invite him to join their band. The band gives a paw-some dream performance during the Independence Day celebration and then an unusual flare makes this celebration a day never to be forgotten.

"Little Honker has quite the talented musical Patriotic Paws I can't imagine anyone--young or old--not enjoying this book."
-- Margie Smith, Music Teacher, Denton, NE

Little Honker can and did. First he plays a duet and then the bells with the rest of the band. When the bells get loose, the kitty inside him takes over and the excitement begins as Little Honker chases them around the auditorium. Did Little Honker ruin the concert or make it the most memorable one ever?

Little Joe Smileyhead describes a day in the life of one little boy whose youthful attempts to lend a hand result in amusing and heartwarming mishaps along the way. Written with an uplifting message that will bring smiles to both children and adults alike.

Author Bio:

Most comfortable in jeans and cowboy boots, award-winning author Lexi Kinney is an LA city girl with a cowgirl's heart. Lexi has 10 siblings, and is mother to 5 and granny to 5 more. As the author of 4 picture books  she draws from her many life experiences to inspire children everywhere.

2020 Mom's Choice Award Winner

"A delightful read." -- Readers' Favorite

"...thoroughly entertaining delightful scripted rhyming story about the rodeo and the bonds of friendship." -- Children's Bookwatch, Midwest Book Review

Little Rosie Rodeo loves to race as fast as she can to win the prize: those sparkly buckles. She couldn't do this without the help of her horse B-Bar, who's also her best friend. Together they race for those buckles that twinkle like stars. This delightful rhyming story teaches children about the rodeo, dedication, and the special bonds of friendship.

"There has always been something magical about the relationship between little girls and their equine friends. Little Rosie Rodeo captures that bond perfectly and tells an inspiring story of two best friends--a little girl and her horse." --Kent L. Sturman, Direction, ProRodeo Hall of Fame and Museum of the American Cowboy

"A delightful story that showcases rodeo lifestyle and explores the love and bonds our children share with their horses." --Annie Walker, Executive Director, National Little Britches Rodeo Association

“B.J. Herron is a deft storyteller who perfectly captures the feelings of dread that a person can experience in an environment filled with painful memories. Constantly able to make familiar and normal surroundings feel oppressive through association, Herron’s prose is consistently high quality, and the author's understanding of trauma is evident throughout the work. Losing Love is an incredible journey and a very worthwhile character study of a trauma survivor.” —K.C. Finn for Readers Favorite (5 Stars)

There is more than one way to lose love…

Still struggling from a broken past, lawyer Faith Shields is stronger and braver than the girl who left home 15 years ago. After years of therapy, Faith recognizes that change is hard and must be embraced in order to grow. But when her beloved grandmother, the woman who supported and encouraged her in life, suffers a tragedy, she is thrust back into the environment that left her scarred and bleeding. Facing the demanding family that damaged her, Faith must find the courage to confront the demons of her past once and for all. Along with her husband Nicholi Shields, a neurosurgeon who’s dedicated to saving lives and his wife, she returns to her hometown on the South Side of Chicago, where murky waters of family and pain await and where she learns at last what it means to grow, what it takes to heal, and, most importantly, what it means to love.

More Reviews:

"Full of feelings of passion and emotion, Losing Love may teach us to understand the importance of both love and loyalty and the difference between them. A beautifully written story...will have readers cheering until the end." —Seattle Book Review

"Losing Love by B.J. Herron is well worth reading from cover to cover for it explains and shows so much of a world that some of us have never imagined, and how this affects families, and how they progress in life... B.J. Herron writes with sensitivity so that you feel as if you are in the story." —Bernadette Longu for Reader's Favorite (5 Stars)

Author Bio:
B.J. Herron was born in Chicago and raised in the South Suburban area outside of the city. Growing up, she was fascinated with words and storytelling, and the meaning behind them. This interest led to some early exposure to reading since she was drawn to poetry and stories about people who looked like her. Later, B.J. received her BS in Mass Communications from Tennessee State University and her MFA in Creative Writing from Full Sail University. She also worked for eleven years as a writer and editor for a myriad of publications, including the Chicago Defender. She now lives in Nashville, Tenn. Losing Love is her first novel.

"As the murder reveals a political conspiracy with international implications, Rosemaria finds herself pulled in different directions, and she must face the possibility that she may not be able to save everyone she loves..." —Kirkus

Rosemaria Baker, a cop whose blood runs true blue, has become a prosecutor who now gets to put the perpetrators in jail instead of just arresting them.

She is blissfully happy living with the love of her life, Josh Sibley, who is about to make a major breakthrough in his career as a singer-songwriter. But real life interrupts their perfect world when two girls who Rosemaria rescued from the streets of Hollywood become the targets of ruthless assassins after a third girl is murdered. Rosemaria must arrange protection for the girls, continue working her caseload at the courthouse, investigate the murder, and deal with a coworker who seeks to destroy her career. Through it all, the love and support Rosemaria and Josh have for each other is unfailing. When it finally seems that some semblance of order is falling into place, Rosemaria faces an unexpected, terrifying threat, and she must depend on those who love her to rescue her from certain death.

AUTHOR BIO

Britt Lind is an actress, singer and writer who has performed in television shows, movies and on stage in Los Angeles, New York and Vancouver, B.C. She has written several screenplays and wrote and directed a short film titled Obsession. She came in as runner-up in the Washington State Screenwriting Competition for her screenplay A Light in the Forest and recently won the Beverly Hills Book Awards for her memoir Learning How to Fly. Britt lives in Thousand Oaks, California with her husband, Nick Alexander, a screenwriter, and their three feral cats, Teeny, Toughie and Baby Hughie who used to live a hardscrabble life in the cold and rain in the frozen north and now enjoy a life of luxury in the sun as is their due. Britt is also president of a nonprofit, People for Reason in Science and Medicine, a pro-health, pro-environment, anti-vivisection organization.

Can friendship last a lifetime?

Everyone says that hindsight is 20/20. If that's true, how much of that image in the rear view affects who we are today, or who we will become tomorrow?

Jo Felsenthal and Gina Ingram were the closest of childhood friends back in Polk Ridge, Arkansas. Growing up in this beautiful, close-knit Ozark community, they were surrounded by love and laughter.

But as these girls grew into women, choices were made, and life took them in very different directions.

Now, they're just hours away from a reunion several decades in the making. An out-of-the-blue Facebook "friend" request has snowballed into a face-to-face meeting. Both women are dealing with mixed emotions-excitement, nostalgia, and more than a little apprehension.

In Memories of Tomorrow, Jo and Gina weave their way through childhood memories and difficult life choices. They ponder how to cross over all their yesterdays to the girls they once were. Can they find anything in common after so many years spent living such different lives?

If you like The Sometimes Sister and Hurricane Season, you'll love the Women of the Ozarks Scrapbook Series.

Millie the Monster was really small.

There wasn't much of her at all.

Her tiny feet and tiny toes,

and tiny ears and eyes and nose.

Meet Millie-the smallest and cutest monster in the land. Join her as she navigates her world where everyone else is larger than her!

After moving to California with her parents in 1967 and saying goodbye to her father as he leaves for Vietnam, Bets tries to settle into a small town routine. It doesn't take long before the town's most mysterious resident pushes Bets to reconsider how she feels about her mother, the war that has taken her father far away, and her own role in the events that show up in newspaper headlines and flash across her TV screen. "The characters unfold beautifully. They are complex, intriguing, and most of all, real." Sarah Milne, English teacher, Kilmer Middle School, Fairfax County, Virginia.

"A stirring book that offers an ideal blend of direction and comfort to fellow caregivers." —Kirkus

Pssst ... is your life being rearranged?

You are not alone. Alzheimer's and dementia will turn your life inside out and upside down. In fact, there are many days you won't know if you are coming or going. Susan Miller knows those days. Her husband was diagnosed with Early-Onset Alzheimer's. She became the long distance caregiver for her father's medical issues, followed by her mother's diagnosis of dementia and then a diagnosis of Alzheimer's for her mother-in-law. After decades of caregiving and years of widowhood, Susan met a wonderful widower, only to discover signs of dementia. My Life Rearranged gives voice to what many caregivers think, but are reluctant to admit.

You will discover:

• The issues of love, loss, responsibility, duty, and self-preservation while navigating the stages of the disease.
• What it's like to struggle with a disease that strikes terror in people's hearts and offers ways to come through intact.
• How to lessen the isolation and loneliness of caregiving, and bring honest insight into the life of a caregiver.

Imagine coming home from the store and laying your package down, only to find it gone thirty minutes later, nowhere to be found.

Imagine looking for your favorite cereal in the morning, not finding it anywhere, and only later when you go to do a load of wash, do you find it.

Imagine living with your spouse of many years, only to awaken one day and find he has turned into a child.

Imagine thinking you are living in a house of cards, or that you are imagining it all, or perhaps it's just a dream and you'll soon awaken, but it's not and you don't.

Imagine repeating this scenario over and over again.

My Life Rearranged will tug at your heart, touch your soul, inspire you, and help you believe in your capabilities.

Author Bio:

Susan Miller is a former caregiver, support group leader, lecturer and workshop presenter on the various facets of Alzheimer's for family and professional caregivers. She is a strong advocate for caregivers—the second victim in a disease that steals something from everyone it touches. Susan has walked the walk, and knows the steps along the journey. Her background, which includes wife, mother, school teacher, realtor, corporate trainer in both corporate America and the healthcare world, counselor, and outplacement specialist, reflects her impressive versatility. Susan has a master's in counseling. Combining her education and work experience with her personal caregiving experience, she brings extensive expertise and wisdom to the issue of caregiving, loss, and letting go. As a national speaker, she has traveled to Washington to present on behalf of caregivers, lectured at various Alzheimer's Associations, nursing homes and assisted livings. She and her past husband were featured in a CBS three-part series on this dreaded disease. When Susan is not speaking, you will find here in San Diego by the beach, where she and her dog, Lulu, spend hours walking and enjoying the calm the beach brings to one's soul.

The epitome of success, gorgeous Nina Bryant has everything under control or at least that is what she wants everyone to believe. Appearances can be deceiving. Her MO is to run but running isn't an option when mistakes in her life start to catch up with her. She comes face-to-face with the main ingredient of a past hurt, in the package of the sexiest, most frustratingly charming man she's ever known, Harrison McCall. To complicate the situation, her best friend, Addie Snyder is marrying his best friend, Jameson Ford. How bad could it be? There are a few challenges along the way that include a surprise spouse, a drag queen with a gambling problem, among other things. Even with the obstacles facing them, can Nina and Harrison finally get their second chance at love, or will outside entities rip them apart?



“…My Unusual Talent is perfect for teen readers who enjoy a fast-paced read that spans several genres and generations.” —Amy Powers for Readers' Favorite

Cooper O'Neil, a high school senior from the small town Parkway, strives for a normal teenage existence. One of Cooper’s greatest fears is that everyone will discover that he has telekinetic abilities, and inevitably turn him into a science experiment. Only his parents and his sister, Amber, know about his incredible abilities. Cooper keeps his abilities a secret, especially from the love of life because he worries that she would no longer love him if she discovered his secret. However, soon Cooper has more to worry about once the townspeople of Parkway begin to disappear. Once Cooper discovers his late grandfather’s journal in his attic, he realizes that history is repeating itself, and just like over forty years ago, the townspeople are being kidnapped. In order to solve the mystery of the recent kidnappings, he must find out how his grandfather died, and the connection between the kidnappings from over forty years and the present day before it is too late.

More Reviews:

“I would highly recommend My Unusual Talent for fans of heartfelt coming-of-age stories with a wonderful science fiction twist and relatable heroes with some very inventive gifts.” —K.C. Finn for Readers' Favorite

”My Unusual Talent by Jenna Marcus is an exciting young adult novel packed with intrigue and suspense. It is an engaging story with appealing characters, a fascinating plot, and a dramatic storyline. Starting with a thrilling prologue, the story's pace and intensity build as the story develops, escalating to a splendid conclusion. It is a sensational paranormal novel filled with drama, mystery, excitement, and teenage angst that promises to satisfy those who enjoy adventures with adolescent protagonists.” —Susan Sewell for Readers' Favorite

Author Bio:

Jenna Marcus is an academic leader and published author of the YA novel, My Unusual Talent. She has a fervent passion for leveraging her decade of expertise to robustly enhance and redefine the quality of teaching and learning. As an avid reader, she believes that every child should find a book to love. In addition to her profession experience, she holds a MS. ED in Educational Leadership, a MS. ED in Middle Childhood & Adolescent English Education and a BA in Literature; she is also certified in School Building Leadership and ELA. Currently, she lives in New Rochelle, NY.

Shop all Jenna Marcus books

“Stephanie Alexander has perfected the cozy paranormal genre with the Tipsy Collins Series, and [Palmetto Rose] triumphs in every aspect.” —Readers’ Favorite

Clairvoyant single mom Tipsy Collins spent the last year focused on her kids and her artistic endeavors. No dating. No fighting with her irascible ex-husband. No ghostly shenanigans. Life is drama free, but it feels stagnant, personally and professionally.

Enter a new supernatural mystery and a new beau, both replete with potential complications. After her teenage daughter ends up in the psychiatric ward, domineering retired executive Jillian Yates hires Tipsy to rid her historic Charleston mansion of spirits. The Victorian ghost-in-residence, Thomas Bonneau, is a charmer, but Tipsy senses something hiding behind his unusual amiability. In the meantime, her unexpected romance with psychiatrist Scott Brandt—her ex-in-law—stokes her former husband’s wrath.

Tipsy struggles to trust her heart, and friends and loved ones—living and dead—offer support as old insecurities threaten to keep her moribund. In order to truly blossom, Tipsy must conquer her fear of life’s thorns.

Author Bio:

Stephanie Alexander is a writer and a family law attorney. She lives in Charleston, South Carolina, with her husband, their blended family of five children, and their miniature dachshunds, Trinket and Tipsy.

Shop the Tipsy Collins series

"McDevitt’s standout follow up to Just Holler Bloody Murder expertly blends romance and mystery…" —BookLife, Editor’s Pick

Perfect for fans of Danielle Collins and Aloha Alibi’s Murder Mystery Book Club and Jasmine Webb's Charlotte Gibson Mysteries series.

Ferociously independent biology professor, Callahan Banks, is thirty-two years old, six months pregnant, and happily single living in the wilds of her childhood home on Timicau Island, South Carolina. But there are complications. The baby’s father, a wealthy forty-two-year-old bachelor, Pepper Dade, owns the island and is determined to marry her and raise their child together.
When nine-year-old triplets relocate to the island and stumble upon the body of a stranger wrapped in barbed wire and drowned in a tidal creek, the hodgepodge cast of island inhabitants are thrown into a tizzy. From FaLa Jo Digsby, the four-time divorcee who sold Avon from her motorcycle, to Teelia Moultrie, a newly divorced single mother competing for Pepper’s affections, to Chalmers Redpath, a reclusive obstetrician drawing suspicion for his curious architectural eccentricities—everyone on the island seems to have something to hide.

When two more bodies are found, tensions on the island reach a fever pitch. Callahan’s due date is nearing. Pepper is growing more frantic, and Teelia is waiting in the wings. Worse yet, the ever-observant Callahan is starting to suspect that the murderer may be one of the island’s own. Will she keep fighting for her freedom or marry a man she may be learning to love? And can she and her young sidekick, Harry Applegate, the bright outlier in the triplet gang, find the murderer in time?

More Reviews:

"…a great piece of ‘chick-lit’ as well as a mystery story." —Readers’ Favorite

"[A] wonderfully layered story that brings together a fun cast of Southern characters... hard to put down." —San Francisco Book Review

"…lyrical and poetic…(A) wonderfully evocative novel…" —IndieReader

"An indomitable protagonist, a quirky supporting case, and plenty of Southern charm make this mystery a treat." —Kirkus

Author Bio:

Dershie McDevitt, a Wilma Dykeman Writing-Excellence Award Winner at UNC-Asheville, lives outside Asheville, North Carolina with her rescue dog, Sassafras, her opinionated calico cat, Orphan Annie, and her first and second husbands. Dershie and Larry, who have had the good fortune to have married each other twice, own a whimsical vacation home off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina on a buried island teeming with wildlife—the perfect setting for the fictional biology professor Callahan Banks to use her knowledge of nature to solve challenging mysteries.

Shop the Callahan Banks Mystery series

"...an incomparably mesmerizing read...and stunningly interwoven plot." —OnlineBookClub

She will sacrifice herself to save them all...

Once again, it's up to SeaQuarium volunteer Shannon Kendricks to protect her friends, an alien child, Essi, and a rare beluga whale, Juneau. Winning Juneau a "free pass" for one day out of captivity, Shannon eagerly awaits for the whale's return. But when an explosion of water washes her out into the chilling Alaskan Sea, Shannon must fight for her survival.

Unexpectedly, Essi returns to Earth riddled with a life-threatening virus that could easily wipe out the entire planet. Now, two aliens from another world are determined to find Essi to gain access to the virus. If unleashed, the virus will cause massive loss of life.

As Shannon embarks upon a strange and perilous journey to save her friends and everyone on Earth, the stakes are at all-time high.  Survival of life on another planet as well as on Earth rests on the shoulders of this strong-willed and courageous SeaQuarium volunteer. With a powerful alien on her side, her powers are multiplied, giving her a fighting chance to defeat her enemies. But will it be enough—or will she lose it all?

Author Bio:

Like her protagonist Shannon Kendricks, Cathy Parker is an attorney. She volunteered as a zoo keeper's aide for eight years and did have a very special beluga buddy, Mauyak. As to encounters with alien children, she is not saying. She was also a radio and print journalist and once was the 'Jill of all trades' for a small satellite paper in Wyoming. She did everything from taking to the photos to writing the articles and op-ed pieces to helping with layout and hauling the newspapers through blizzards once a week. As a result, she saw lambs being born and went on a cattle drive and ate her first (and last) Rocky Mountain Oyster. She has seen mountain gorillas in the wild in Rwanda and orangutans in Borneo and even rocked an orphaned baby orangutan to sleep on her chest. She has volunteered with a chimpanzee sanctuary for former research subjects. So you can see where her heart lies. Currently she is happy at home with her black brindle mastiff and her black cat. All similarities between her cat and Narcissus are purely and probably coincidental.

"The story was very entertaining and the characters wonderful!...Cathy Parker is a gifted writer and she knows how to tell a story. I would recommend it to anyone who likes a book that is hard to put down...It was so much fun to read. I started it and literally read it in one sitting."  —Book Garden Reviews

An alien child catapults by sheer chance to earth. A beluga whale longs for freedom from the cruel confines of her small blue pool. Two powerful other-worldly beings seek to plunder our world, destroying our people and our resources. 

In this fast-paced, science fiction thrill ride, it falls to the fiercely independent bystander, Shannon Kendricks, attorney and Seaquarium volunteer, to return the child Essi to her world. To find a way to free the desperate beluga, Juneau. To defeat the ancient aliens. On the upside, with the arrival of Essi, Shannon is startled to find not only does her physical appearance change dramatically, but she now possesses useful, near-magical traits to help her with barriers that appear insurmountable. 

But Shannon soon learns the most terrible threat comes from within: a bizarre lavender lightning strike has caused the minds of the beluga and child to enter Shannon’s own mind. Their presence consumes many more calories than Shannon can possibly take in. They are killing her. In a desperate attempt to finish what she’s set out to do before she dies, Shannon enlists the help of her friends. Not everyone will survive. And... who or what is the other dark force that Shannon discovers lurking in the shadows with the alien invaders?

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Book Excerpt:

Part 1: Lavender Lightning
Chapter 1: Sunday

Shannon Kendricks burst through the SeaQuarium fish house door, whipped her unruly hair behind her shoulders, and spun around toward the towering figure following close behind.

“‘No’ means ‘no.’ We’re quits. Leave it alone. Now go,” she said, her voice firm, louder than she intended. She slammed the door in his face. Stood and scowled for a moment, poised for the mother of all pitched battles if the man dared open the door.

Do it. Double dare you.

All remained quiet. The hapless fellow stood outside, still and scowling, a distorted mirror image of herself. Then an angry fist knocked along the fish house wall, tracing the path of his footsteps back toward the Admin Building.

Shannon smacked the last of the fish buckets onto the counter and, with great splashy fanfare, filled the sink with hot steaming water to grind through scrubbing of the last of the day’s feeding containers. She spared a moment to catch her hair in a loose ponytail.

On her path back to the fish house from the last otter feeding, she’d been waylaid by her would-be suitor. Nice guy, good looking, bright, one of the marine biologists over at the Aquarium. But in recent weeks he had started asking for “emotional closeness,” as he put it. Where did they hide all those guys who wanted nothing to do with emotional closeness? She wanted one of those. But she always ended up with the softies most women would kill for. There’s irony for you.

Emotional closeness? Shannon refused to go there. Ever. And this fellow didn’t want to hear the message. Steam arose from the hot water in the sink. She plunged her hands in. Well. Now he understood.

But she hadn’t handled it well. She sighed.

“You always want to let them down gently. You’re too nice about it,” her supervisor and best friend Becky Anderson said from her stool without looking up from her logbooks, always knowing her friend’s unspoken train of thought much too well, to Shannon’s ongoing discomfort. “Cold. That’s the way to clear them off. Act as cold as a frozen mackerel.”

Not just cold; keep clear of relationships altogether; that’s the ticket.

The grit of her encounter still scraped on her mood and, she suspected, her voice. Poor guy, not his fault she preferred going it alone. Tears clouded her vision. She didn’t to turn around when she spoke.

“Otters looked good,” she said, in a raspy effort at normal. “Nome chittered up a storm, took everything I offered, but didn’t eat much. Katmai ate enough for both of them. Shuyak waited her turn like a good girl. The usual.”

Shannon could feel Becky’s gaze on her back at the sink.

“Okay,” Becky said.

Neither spoke for a moment.

A volunteer breezed in, grabbed his backpack, and as he took off out the door, hollered behind him, “Walruses all present and accounted for. Cleanest underwater windows this side of the Windex Company. Been fantastic as usual, ladies. See you Monday after classes, Becky. Next weekend, Shannon. Ciao.”

Even Shannon had to laugh to herself. Oh, for the untroubled energy and irreverence of the very young.

Silence resettled on the fish house, broken by the periodic scratchings of Becky filling out the daily paperwork and Shannon scrubbing buckets.

“You want to talk about it?” Becky asked at last.

“No.” The angry edge to Shannon’s abrupt answer surprised even her. Becky raised her hands as if to deflect her words.

“Okay. Don’t bite my head off.”

“I’ll deal with it,” Shannon said.

Becky nodded at her and kept right on nodding. “When’re you gonna get it through that brilliant yet thick head of yours that (a) some things come along that one person just can’t deal with alone, (b) even if people could do some things for themselves, others would love to share the load and thus make the load lighter, and (c) even if people could do some things for themselves, if they try, they make a piss-poor job of it? Not to mention any names, Shannon.”

Shannon muttered to herself. She wasn't some people. She’d deal with it. She always did.

“If you say so,” Becky said, and returned to her paperwork.

The minutes stretched on without the usual banter between the two friends at the end of Shannon’s weekend volunteer duty. Was it Shannon’s imagination or had the second hand on the wall clock started ticking like Big Ben? She listened, poised for each next click, as if hoping that something, anything, would disrupt the rhythm of the clock’s beat.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Tick.

Odin’s eye, as her Norse grandmother would say, and as Shannon always said in loving memory of the kind, patient old woman. Enough.

“What’s called for here,” Shannon said, “is some non-toxic glue to keep these scales on the fish.” She glanced over. Did Becky take the bait?

Her friend didn’t look up from her paperwork. “Mmm hmm,” she said.

Shannon made a face at Becky and returned her attention to her fingertips. She needed just one fingernail long and stiff enough to pry that last stubborn fish scale off her stainless steel bucket. A difficult task for a woman whose fingernails sported the tensile strength of wet tissue. Those damn scales stuck like a bad reputation on a fun-loving girl.

“Ah ha,” she said, spying an eighth-inch of nail, little finger, left hand. She applied it to the sticky translucent oval. “Victory is mine.” She dried the bucket and added it to the stacks on the rear shelves of the fish house.

“I will wash absolutely, positively, and unconditionally no more buckets today,” she said, trying one more time get a rise out of Beck, who looked up from her log sheet and said, “Okay, Ms. Kendricks, what if I absolutely, positively, and unconditionally will no longer permit volunteers to fraternize with any creature in the Ocean City SeaQuarium Marine Mammal Center unless said volunteers wash as many buckets as I say? That ban would include the sea otters, the

seals, the sea lions, the orcas, and yes, my dear, the beluga whales.”

Shannon ran her fingers through her long dark ponytail, as if pausing to ponder Becky’s words. “Then I would say—hand me another bucket.”

“Thought so. Lucky for you everything’s clean. Go away.”

“I still need to wash this counter….” Shannon said without enthusiasm. She’d worked her patooti off today. She slumped against the counter searching for one last tiny spark of energy. No luck.

She sighed. And yet, even a hard day at the SeaQuarium rated higher than the one facing her tomorrow. Back to her “real” job. She must finish a difficult legal brief on one of her cases, conduct a deposition, attend a staff meeting with her petulant, petty, pasty-faced boss, who was, unfortunately, the head of the County Legal Department, and work her way through a mountain of legal paper sitting on her desk. She once loved days like that. Where had the joy gone?

Ah well. Who needed joy? People admired her, respected her. Some of the jokers she faced in court even feared her. Satisfaction enough.

Becky bent over her logs, her feet curled over the bars between stool legs, her head nodding to music she alone could hear. After a moment, she put down her paperwork and looked at her friend. “You sound tired. Why don’t you skip Juneau tonight and get on home to your big-eyed kitty and giant dog—what kind of dog is Indy again? Elephant dog?”

“Elephant dog? Elephant dog?” Shannon crumpled a wet paper towel sitting on the counter and aimed at Becky’s head. “Sofa-sized, max.”

Becky watched the wad fly off to her left. “You are one lousy shot, lady. That the best you’ve got?”

“I missed on purpose. Lucky thing I know you love my babies as much as I do, or—right between the eyes, kiddo,” Shannon said.

“You dream. So go home and feed your sofa.”

As Shannon opened her mouth to protest, Becky lifted her hands in defense. “Don’t say it. What was I thinking, suggesting you go home without your dose of SeaQuarium’s most stubborn, most intelligent, chubby white whale? You’re addicted, sweetheart, might as well face it. Go see the spithead.”

Addicted. True.

No need to ask twice. “All righty then,” Shannon said. “And thanks.” She picked up her backpack and headed for the door. As she left, she turned and caught a glimpse of Becky burying her face back in her paperwork, one hand waving in Shannon’s general direction, a leg jiggling to that unheard beat.

Shannon called a farewell, pushed the fish house door closed and made her way down the behind-the-scenes pathway.

Eager to see Juneau, the infamous spitting beluga, she struggled to pick up her pace.

Wouldn’t happen. She’d run out of pizazz. A squashed-flat penny on a train track. She surrendered to her exhaustion, and ambled past the equipment lining her route, taking comfort from its familiarity.

The whales’ enrichment toys—hoops as blue as the deepest ice, slick and squeaky balls, hose sections, buoys.

The stretcher designed for the belugas, with soft padded holes for short beluga fins, hanging on the generator room wall. For emergencies. Never needed during the ten years Shannon had volunteered. With any luck, it never would.

Heading downhill, she could see Juneau floating alone in the middle of the back whale pool, the rounded top of her head, her blow hole, her wide, white back, bobbing above the water. The other four belugas lingered out front in the big public pool; Juneau chose to remain in the private pool. A loner, Juneau, just like Shannon.

“Becky called you a spithead,” she said as she approached the rim of the aqua-colored tank. “Feel free to give her a whacking big spit bath next time she comes down. But you won’t spit at me, right, my bright yet moody friend? I’m your favorite volunteer, right? And you’re, no question, my favorite whale. Pals don’t spit at pals, right?”

Right. Odds, maybe 50/50.

And the worst part—the staff biologists had started it all by design, when they encouraged the belugas’ natural ability to press ice-cold mouthfuls of water through their lips in forceful streams, creating lovely upward spraying fountains. The belugas performed the behavior on cue, a good husbandry measure and crowd pleaser. However, Juneau would often spit without warning to send messages like “take a hike.” Shannon’s kind of girl. Except when the whale lobbed a torrent of salty water right at her face.

Shannon reached the rim of the tank, three feet high on her side, and twenty feet down on the whales’ side. Juneau swam to greet her, the whale’s snow-white, plump body gliding through the water. The beluga raised her head, with the broad, unmarked forehead, ebony button eyes set well back on each side, short soft curving nostrum, and the mouth that reached so far around each side she always appeared to smile. Beautiful as ever. Shannon grinned at the sight—she couldn’t help herself.

Shannon studied her for a moment. No sign of her pebble today. Shannon had no idea where the whale hid it. For safety reasons, the staff removed rocks of any size from the pool area whenever they spotted one, yet they’d never found this little round pebble the size of a pea that Juneau loved to bring to Shannon. Clever girl. Shannon should’ve taken it from her, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Often she would take the little stone off Juneau’s tongue and drop it for Juneau to dive and find. Perhaps she found the pebble hunt more of a challenge, preferring to search for this tiny dull-colored object rather than for those big bright rings and buoys the trainers sent her to retrieve. In any case, Juneau had elected not to play today. Today she wanted rubs along her back and fluke, and scratches under her small pectoral fins. She did love her back rubs.

Shannon reached out to give Juneau’s smooth white head a gentle stroke.

The whale floated closer to the pool’s edge.

Fingers met forehead.

At that instant, a bolt of lavender lightning flashed over the pool and surrounded them. A jolting pain, like the electric shock of grabbing a live wire rippled through Shannon. The crackle of a hundred firecrackers erupted. A strong scent, spicy and exotic, filled her nose. The taste of salt water bit her tongue. Her ears rang as if the lightning had touched off sirens.

What the—? Can’t move, can’t breathe.

A second piercing shock ripped through her, shaking her like hands on a jackhammer. She jerked as shimmering, lavender energy captured her and Juneau in a tight net. Flashes of lavender branded miniature strands of light on the inside of her eyelids and scalded her eyes. The pool began to slide up.

Correction.

The pool remained stable; Shannon began a rapid collapse. No! She gripped the rough, rounded pool rim until she couldn’t feel her fingers. She fought the dizziness.

No good. Blackness circled inward from the edges of her vision, stealing the view of a hazy twilight sky. Her legs buckled.

Shit. She never fainted.

She dropped to the concrete like an anchor in shallow water.

* * *

Shannon fought her way from a thick black void toward light. Her head hurt. Thor had taken his hammer to her skull and continued to pound. She raised a shaky hand to explore her scalp. Her fingers found a hard lump the size of a dinner roll. She must have cracked her head when she fell. An exotic aroma floated on her skin, mingling with the familiar bleach-washed smell of the pool deck.

What had happened? Why was she sitting on her keister next to the back beluga pool with a knot on her head and her mind imitating twirling helicopter blades? So confused…she was missing something important…oh no, Juneau! What had happened to the beluga when the lightning hit her? Shannon grabbed the pool rim with aching fingers and pulled herself to her feet.

So weak.

Panic bubbled toward the surface. She clung to the rim of the pool. Steady.

Steady.

She squinted down into the well-lit tank.

The water. Dive into the water. Safe. Cold water. Go. Now.

No! That made no sense. She stiffened her arms and pushed hard against the rim. She took a deep breath, then forced out the air and tried to push her head fuzzies out with it.

She surveyed the results. Urge to swim gone. Good. Head fuzzies just where she’d left them. Crap.

Forget that, focus on Juneau. She peered down again. One of Juneau’s listless eyes stared at her. The beluga’s body floated on its side, sinking, the blow hole inches from the water. Water in Juneau’s blow hole meant water in her lungs. And that meant death.

“Juneau,” Shannon said, her voice a whisper. She listened. The whale exhaled a weak breath. Still alive. She pulled the whale’s head toward her. Juneau’s tail fluke sank another few inches. No good. Shannon spun and stumbled toward the fish house, screaming for Becky and the SeaQuarium vet Andy Fernandez.

The wind had picked up. It pressed her back, like an ocean wave. She leaned into it, but too far—she fell forward, flat on her forearms, skinning them on the rough cement.

Tired. Dizzy. Hurting. Hungry.

Wait. Hungry? At a time like this? Forget hungry.

She rested her head on the pavement for a moment.

Her mind swirled and jumped, as if a greyhound ran around a race track inconveniently located in her mind. As if something inside her fought to escape.

Her head would explode. No joke. She would shatter.

Afraid, so afraid…water, get in the water….

Then, out of nowhere, a humming rose in her whirling mind, slow, calm, like a rich, musical blanket to warm her shivering spirit. Shannon’s wild thoughts quieted. She experienced the strangest sensation, as if some small…something had brushed across her mind with a velvet glove.

The chaotic internal bouncing and battering departed. Not so much died down as went away, deep into her mind somewhere.

The humming hadn’t dissipated the confusion, dizziness, nausea, and headache, though, so she continued to rest her head on the walkway. The cool concrete soothed the side of her face. She’d just lie here until she stopped hurting and her head stepped off the merry-go-round. So tired. She closed her eyes. Lavender lightning flashed through her vision. Her eyes flew open.

Right. Juneau needed help. Get up and move. To the fish house. Go.

Shannon pushed herself to her hands and knees. Shaky. She scooted over to the generator room and pushed with her hands and legs until she could lean against it and stand. Still woozy, but she could walk. Her ponytail whipped in the wind. She kept one hand on the uneven unshimmery gray wall as she took one halting step at a time.

Unshimmery?

She wove back and forth and faltered, her steps unsteady, as she advanced toward the fish house. “Becky,” she shouted, her voice straining, “Juneau’s in trouble.” Her words blew back in her face, thrown by the wind as if by a petulant child.

Just as she reached the fish house, Becky opened the door. “Get Andy, it’s Juneau,” Shannon said, exhausted, leaning on the nearest counter. Without a moment’s hesitation, Becky whipped out her radio and called the vet.

“Come down to the pool and tell me what happened,” Becky said as she raced by Shannon.

Becky would handle it. Shannon relaxed. What little energy she’d mustered seeped out the soles of her boots.

Can’t rest. Get back down there and help. Well. Maybe she would grab an energy bar from Becky’s stash. She pushed off the counter with a groan, stumbled to the cabinet where Becky kept her snacks, unpeeled the energy bar, and began the slow, unsteady journey back to Juneau.

Andy rushed her way from the walrus pools. He charged past as the hare would pass the turtle, but she kept moving, wobbling, the wind swirling around her. At last she reached the pool. Becky barked into the radio she held in one hand, and into the cell phone she held in the other.

She didn’t shimmer either. This troubled Shannon. But why?

Shannon found herself looking at Becky’s legs. Andy’s too. Two legs. Her eyes wandered to her own legs. Yes, two.

She blinked. So strange, these thoughts.

Becky stepped in front of her, grabbing her under both arms and easing her to the ground. “You sit, girlfriend. Our friendly neighborhood paramedics are on the way.”

Then Becky turned back to Juneau. More staff arrived, other people Shannon didn’t recognize.

Shannon chewed on her energy bar and tried to focus on bits of conversation over the next few minutes, voices raised above the noise of the wind, but she couldn’t concentrate for more than a second or two.

“…some kind of biochemical leak?”

“…getting hazmat down here right now.”

“Juneau can’t breathe on her own. We haven’t got the equipment to deal with it….”

“The research center has agreed take the whale; they’ve got their water tank truck coming.”

“Where’s the woman who saw it happen?” an unidentified voice asked. Becky pointed at Shannon and took a step over to her. “Are you feeling better? Can you tell us what’s wrong with her?”

Shannon mumbled, but didn’t know if anyone understood her, didn’t even know what she’d said.

Someone, maybe Andy, said, “…don’t see anything obvious, but something happened here.”

Shannon Kendricks thought all she had to do was venture to a strange world and face a giant race of aliens to save her friend Roebor. Boy, was she wrong.

In this action-packed conclusion to the science fiction-fantasy trilogy, Power Rising, Shannon answers the call from the tiny Seladoran Salesti to travel to FireWorld to rescue her friend, the magnificent dragonpanther Roebor. She realizes that to save her friend, she must make a great sacrifice. To make matters worse, while she is on FireWorld, a terrible tragedy strikes, with consequences that will set Shannon on a mission fraught with danger.

Back on Earth, as she seeks a way to overcome a Power of untold magnitude, she learns that to save her planet and the entire solar system, she may be required to sacrifice her life.

Obstacles await her at every turn—dragonpanthers from FireWorld set on revenge, her Seladoran friend Essi trapped and in need of rescue, Homeland Security agents bent on discovering Shannon's secrets, and a FireWorld monster terrorizing whales in the Gulf of Alaska. With the help of her ever-loyal and beloved Luke, the indomitable attorney Tourmaline Kulkarney, and her cat Nascissus, Shannon attempts to fight through the obstacles and find a way to defeat the Power—and somehow stay alive.

Author Bio:
Like her protagonist Shannon Kendricks, Cathy Parker is an attorney. She volunteered as a zoo keeper's aide for eight years and did have a very special beluga buddy, Mauyak. As to encounters with alien children, she is not saying. She was also a radio and print journalist and once was the 'Jill of all trades' for a small satellite paper in Wyoming. She did everything from taking to the photos to writing the articles and op-ed pieces to helping with layout and hauling the newspapers through blizzards once a week. As a result, she saw lambs being born and went on a cattle drive and ate her first (and last) Rocky Mountain Oyster. She has seen mountain gorillas in the wild in Rwanda and orangutans in Borneo and even rocked an orphaned baby orangutan to sleep on her chest. She has volunteered with a chimpanzee sanctuary for former research subjects. So you can see where her heart lies. Currently she is happy at home with her black brindle mastiff and her black cat. All similarities between her cat and Narcissus are purely and probably coincidental.