BookSpeak Network

Mavericks, Mystics, and Misfits: Americans Against the Grain takes the reader on a journey across American history through the lives of exemplary men and women whose stories capture the spirit of their time and place and reveal the American character.

Arthur Hoyle is a writer, educator, and independent filmmaker. His documentary films have won numerous awards and have aired on PBS, and he received a media grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Before becoming an author, he produced corporate communications materials in print and video for a broad array of clients. He received Bachelors and Masters Degrees in English from the University of California, Los Angeles, and taught English, coached tennis, and served as an administrator in independent schools. He currently volunteers as a naturalist in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, leading interpretive walks on Chumash Indian culture. His biography of Henry Miller, The Unknown Henry Miller: A Seeker in Big Sur, was published in March 2014 by Skyhorse/Arcade. He has also published essays in Huffington Post, Empty Mirror, Across the Margin, Counterpunch, and AIOTB: As It Ought To Be. He lives in Pacific Palisades, California.

Love Is the Seed       Three Supreme Gifts

Lisa Hromada is the author of two books: Three Supreme Gifts: A Practical Approach to Self-Mastery and to Transforming Your Life Here and Now and LOVE IS THE SEED: TEACHINGS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD: One Woman. One Man. Over 150 Sessions with Souls and Wise Ones

LISA HROMADA is an author and speaker of timeless spiritual teachings. She shares a simple, yet profound message: You have all that you need to create a life of your choosing. She brings a practical approach to understanding the truth of love and how we can live a more fulfilling, purposeful life. www.LoveIsTheSeed.com     https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaBd5RZ0SAc_BQCkH-SuAqw

On this episode of The Milford House Mysteries, cohosts JM West and Sherry Knowlton interview author Sharon Marchisello. We'll be talking to Marchisello about her latest novel, Secrets of theGalapagos, as well as her first novel Going Home and her other writing, including travel articles, short stories, corporate training manuals, screenplays, book reviews, a nonfiction book, and a personal financial blog. Secrets of theGalapagos is a suspense novel set in, you guessed it, the Galapagos and involves a luxury cruise, a missing passenger,and a heroine in danger. Susan Crawford, Bestselling author of The Pocket Wife and The Other Widow calls Secrets of the Galapagos: "A compelling mystery filled with intrigue, vivid scenery, and a kaleidoscope of quirky characters, as their cruise ship wends its way through troubled waters. I was on board from the first page to the last. Marchisello is a master storyteller!"

Milford House Mysteries Hosts - Sherry Knowlton is the author of the Alexa Williams series of murder mysteries including Dead of Autumn, Dead of Summer, Dead of Spring, and Dead of Winter. Joan West is the author of the Carlisle Crime Cases series including Dying for Vengeance, Courting Doubt and Darkness, Darkness at First Light, Had a Dying Fall and Things Strangled.

A New York native, Tom Wells graduated from Bates College in Maine in 1976, and landed a job teaching English in the Augusta School System the very same day. Forty-one years later, some of Wells' Cony High School students presented him with a handmade book: students, present and past, told him what a positive influence he'd been to them. 

"Dear Mr. Wells" is an examination of his growing up in a small town, his education in Maine, and stories of the unique kids who passed through his classroom. Wells examines the changes in the teaching profession, and its vital role in shaping young people to become confident difference-makers in society.

Tom Wells brings us "Dear Mr. Wells: His Students Speak," his first book, by Maine Authors Publishing.

Entering the growing genre of Climate Fiction is "Rainwalkers," a novel set in the near-distant future. With a failing environment, a deconstructed United States and endless war against indistinct enemies, a once-thiriving agricultural region is now "The Valley," a dying land overseen by dictators. A desperate attempt to bring back the rain has made it toxic to all but a handful of children, called Rainwalkers.

A former soldier, Willie Taft is in a race to find his daughter, while staying one step ahead of a law that is discretionary. A scientist with a moral conscience considers what he has done, and others merely fight to stay alive.

Matt Ritter is a professor of biology in San Luis Obispo, California. He writes of the state's natural history, including the award-winning "California Plants."

A stolen guitar, an insurance investigator, her wisecracking tomboy driver and a lot of shady, sometimes dangerous characters make up "Special Risk," the first of a new series by author Sandy Nork. Set in the Philadelphia area, Valerie Sloan must track down a museum-piece axe, deal with her twisted family history and come face to face with foreign organized crime.

Sandy is a former librarian, fabric inspector and clerk, among many careers. Her musician husband Bill inspired the heroine of the series. A member of Pennwriters, Sandy was published in the Sunbury Press Books collection of short stories, "Strange Magic." 

Sandy considers herself a musical tourist, coffee drinking, baking devotee, a lover of tiny toys and "most dogs." You can find Sandy posting #todayscoffee on social media, as well as exploits with her various gadgets!

IN THE COMPANY OF PATRIOTS

Virginia Brackett seeks the truth about patriotism and loss as embodied by her father, WWII and Korean Conflict veteran Captain Edmund C. Roberts, from many historic sources – journalism, history texts, and military communiques, as well as personal documents. Her memoir details her journey to come to know a father lost to an ideal of service.

Over ten years of research, she learns about her family’s slave-owning history and attempts to escape personal tragedy by moving from Kentucky to Missouri and into Illinois, of her parents’ romance through aging scrapbooks, discovers a letter written by her father among a rare documents collection, and hears her mother’s words read on a national broadcast. However, she discovers the real truth exists in the personal stories of those on the front, including her father, their lives permanently changed through service. Their voices educate her about Captain Roberts, an inspiration to troops, a war prisoner and an escapee, a decorated hero who met with General Patton, a ferocious infantryman. Killed by a sniper in the Korean Conflict, he would come to symbolize the shared values of his military community that became lifelong bonds for those who survived.

As Brackett will learn, memories of her father run deep, and the extraordinary loyalty and devotion of those who remember Captain Roberts move her beyond feelings of betrayal that haunted her for decades. The crucial truth she discovers is that we must keep alive those lost by telling their stories. That is because their stories belong to everyone.

Virginia Brackett, Professor Emeritus of English, retired in 2016 from Park University where she received varied teaching and service awards, including Faculty of the Year, 2013, Exceptional Services to Student Veterans.

Denis Akinmolasire is the author of "Love, War and Glory," a series of poems and short pieces about these emotional subjects, and more. In 2019, Denis released "The Mission to End Slavery: What if Slavery Never Existed?" The first of a time travel series, racism and prejudice are examined in a cautionary tale. Both are available on Akinster Books.

Denis is a native of London, England. A graduate of Loughborough University, Denis describes himself as "friendly, likeable, nuts at times." A keen football fan, Denis is a supporter of Manchester United, and says there are four cardinal sins of football...Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City.

CRUEL DEATH, HEARTLESS AFTERMATH: My Family's End-of-Life Nightmare and How To Avoid It

Ninety-three-year-old Joseph Yourshaw knew his end was near and had carefully planned so that he would have a peaceful and dignified death. He completed an advance directive, appointed his daughter, Barbara Mancini, as his health care proxy, and enrolled in home hospice care. He made it clear -- he wanted to die at home, not at a hospital. But it was not to be. A simple act of compassion on Barbara’s part led her father to a medically intensive, horribly painful death in the hospital – and left her an accused felon, facing 10 years in prison for allegedly assisting a suicide. Barbara fought back, in a case that consumed a year, cost over $100,000, and drew national media attention. Cruel Death, Heartless Aftermath is a compelling memoir about this injustice.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Barbara Mancini graduated from Penn State University and Widener University with degrees in nursing. She has worked in emergency nursing for over three decades. In 2013, she was arrested and prosecuted in Pennsylvania on the charge of aiding the attempted suicide of her dying 93-year old father after handing him his prescribed morphine five days before his death. A hospice nurse and police ignored his written advanced directives, and he was then hospitalized and treated in defiance of his end-of-life wishes. Barbara’s prosecution lasted a year, during which time it garnered national and global attention, and it was roundly criticized throughout the media. Barbara is now an advocate for end-of-life care and works as a paralegal in the Montgomery County Public Defender’s Office. She lives in Philadelphia.

RABBIT STEW FOR YOUR SOUL: 20 Recipes with a Dash of Storytelling

Bob Ford has been hunting rabbits since he was a kid and has traveled the country with hunting beagles. Over the years, Ford has developed many recipes for rabbit, and you will find just a few of them here. He developed these recipes over more than three decades. Some go back to meals that the author’s mother made. Visits to restaurants inspired others. An abundance of harvested rabbits inspired some of the recipes, while others were created for those hunts where just one rabbit is brought to the game vest. Rabbit meat (domesticated) is now very popular, and while Bob created these recipes with wild game, they certainly would work well with domesticated rabbits as well, making adjustments for the increased size of domesticated rabbits. Rabbits are a sustainable source of protein and very low in fat. The contents of this book are recipes developed by a good hunter, who is a good home cook.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Bob Ford is a United Methodist pastor who has lived most of his life in the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania, except three years at seminary in Ohio. He has spent 23 years in the pulpit and 34 years following beagles in the same Alleghenies where he was born, raised, and worked. Ford is an award-winning magazine columnist, blogger, and author. His work has appeared in The American Beagler, Better Beagling, Hounds & Hunting, HARK-N, Sporting Classics Daily, and Fur-Fish-Game. He is also the author of the Beagle Tales series of books. He lives in the hills with his wife, Renee, and a pack of hunting house beagles, where he serves as a pastor.