A Friend of King Neptune

A Friend of King Neptune…A Brief Synopsis

1991 ST LOUIS — Leo Kraszewski aka Dingus has come to visit his old army pal, Francis Lenihan, now a busy process server. It’s been 18 years but Dingus is still the same—impulsive, foolish, quick with a wisecrack, uncouth yet worldly.

Dingus leans on Francis to accompany him to Southern Illinois, the town of Bunting, where spoils from World War II—the Speer Collection—may lie hidden in a peculiar private museum. Francis declines and soon, after causing trouble in Francis’ ribald world, Dingus finds himself hitchhiking in the Illinois cornfields—an odyssey which has him nearly sucked into a tornado, having to deal with a suicidal Indian, a malevolent sheriff’s deputy, and a crew of wastrels who inhabit an old general store.

The story has legs as Dingus aka Hercules is given a task by Anselm, the museum’s curator and a stand-in for King Eurystheus of yore, to retrieve a stolen historical artifact. Dingus does Anselm’s bidding, at a dear price, and of course it’s never enough. Meanwhile Dingus’ court date for cannabis distribution looms. Will Francis wrangle a lawyer for his penniless friend? Will Dingus sort through various confusing clues and get his mitts on the treasure? And more importantly, when will he stop itching?

An eclectic cast of characters join in—a high school detective, the next Nancy Drew; a raffish voodooist; a scholarly recluse whose solitude is rudely interrupted, a bawdy masseuse, an angry rapper and his entourage, and the beer-soaked regulars at Murphy’s Tavern in Dogtown St. Louis. The usual suspects in an unusual story.

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Deadly Droppings/Humble Pie

Deadly Droppings/Humble Pie…A Brief Synopsis

Deadly Droppings

Max Morgan, private detective, takes on what he mistakenly thinks is  a missing juvenile delinquent case that turns out to instead involve a missing hero named Homer Crowe. Unfortunately, however, Home is conscripted into a Paul Reverends militia and — under the influence — is sent on a mission to bombard the Arkansas State Capitol. Thanks to an intercepted message, Max takes matters in hand  and possibly saves dozens of lives.

 

Humble Pie

Max Morgan, a private detective, is confronted by what appears to be a plot to murder a local cattle baron. Suspect numero uno is the baron’s socially ambitious wife who aspires to be recognized by the Queen of England as the Virgin Baroness of Bridgewater Abbey. Her stepdaughter and/or the son of a longtime rival appear to be cooking up a comeuppance in the mode of Sweeney Todd: Demon Barber of Fleet Street. But Max sticks a thumb into a meat pie, so to speak, and pulls out a plum, also so to speak.

 

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We Are All Made of Scars

We are All Made of Scars…A Brief Synopsis

What is “normal” anyway?

As Chris’s home life deteriorates and he descends into an abyss, he’s showing up for high school finals so high he can’t even remember his locker combination. While other kids are having Thanksgiving dinner, Chris is chasing his drunk mom down the sidewalk of a strip mall, trying to take her to rehab. He’s winning a cruise to the Bahamas, drinking and pretending to be in his twenties to hook up with someone much older. Bad decisions and misadventures abound when Chris tries his best to be “normal” having no idea how.

Set in the mid-90s outside of Chicago, this riveting memoir—by turns heartbreaking and uplifting—chronicles how a family broken by alcoholism creates an uncertain world for Chris as he stumbles through suburbia, trying to find a way out. Both a cautionary tale and coming-of-age story, “We Are All Made of Scars” is also a rarely seen glimpse into the world of addiction from a teenage boy’s perspective.

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Far Out

Far Out…A Brief Synopsis

Hollywood movie star Goldie Saint Helen comes out of a coma after a car accident with an altered identity. She now believes she is a hippie detective living in the sixties, hired to find a missing teenage girl who is about to end up a guinea pig in a CIA drug experiment.

Goldie also thinks screenwriter Blake Deco, her husband, is an intern at her detective agency. For the time being, Blake plays along as advised by the hospital until she recovers her memory.

However, sinister plotters think it is better that Goldie does not wake up from her fantasy -and they have their reasons.

The couple finds themselves embroiled in a dangerous situation. Blake must use his part military skills as he races against the clock to save his wife before she loses her mind forever.

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This Too Shall Pass

This Too Shall Pass…A Brief Synopsis

Life is a gift. A fleeting, complicated, painful gift. Life holds death, it holds struggle with God, and it holds precious relationships we easily take for granted. And with every event that threatens life as we know it, our perspective on it changes, whether it’s a pandemic, a shift of politics, the tragedy of war, or personal loss. This Too Shall Pass is an exploration of life—sorrowful, mysterious, funny, and beautiful—through a collection of poems, prose, memoir, and commentary written from a mostly Christian perspective. Life is no small thing. Life is no easy thing. Life is uncertain. But one thing is certain about life: it’s miraculous.

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The Chancer

The Chancer…A Brief Synopsis

In 1989, in the west of Ireland, Donnie McNamara, tired of being the family disappointment buys a one-way ticket to Tinseltown to pursue his ridiculed dreams of acting.

Abe Nelson, a fallen Hollywood legend, now wallows in LA dive bars.

Their worlds collie. Abe becomes an unlikely mentor and is catapulted into Donnie’s fantastical endeavour.

But will the journey to stardom end in red carpets or red faces?

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The Epic of Gilgamesh

The Epic of Gilgamesh…A Brief Synopsis

The Epic of Gilgamesh: A Poetic Version offers a readable edition for this ancient tale that is seldom read. The story relates how King Gilgamesh develops his humanity from a tyrant to a man capable of compassion and genuine love.

First, King Gilgamesh must discover friendship, which comes through a beast-like man known by the country folks as Enkidu. Both Gilgamesh and Enkidu complement each other, providing the missing part of their humanness to the other. The two men share several adventures until Enkidu is mortally wounded.

Now Gilgamesh must bare the sorrow of the death of his friend. Yet he refuses to accept the finality of death and decides to search for the source of eternal life. His search for eternal life leads Gilgamesh to strange lands as he meets some very interesting people. The wise Utnapishtim offers his version of the biblical flood and provides Gilgamesh the key to everlasting life.

Even though being he earliest examples of literature, The Epic of Gilgamesh remains timeless, because the tale speaks to the soul about the human condition and the desire to have purpose in life. The author set out to write this edition suitable for all readers, both young and old. The text is written in iambic pentameter and includes twenty (20) full-size color illustrations.

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Vessels of Wrath

The Vessels of Wrath: A Big Ray Elmore Novel…A Brief Synopsis

Ring Johnson shot himself.  Or did he?  For Police Chief Ray Elmore, it’s all too clear that someone is targeting the people in the sleepy, delta town of Split Tree, Arkansas, and it’s now up to him to catch the killer before he can claim another victim.  But “Big Ray” is a man haunted by his own past.  Physically and emotionally wounded in the Pacific, he must confront the ghosts of his dreams even as he  chases the evil in his waking world.

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The Zone

The Zone: A Cyberpunk Thriller…A Brief Synopsis

In a tech-addicted dystopia, a young cop struggling to survive is forced into a high-octane gladiatorial grudge match, where sinister corporate overlords pull the strings and humanity’s fate hangs in the balance.

ONE WAY IN. NO WAY OUT

In the super-city of Neo Terminus, millions of tech-addicted fans surround a walled-off inner-city wasteland to watch nano-boosted gladiators called Enforcers fight to the death in the Conglomerate-controlled event known as The Zone. Enforcers are promised wealth and celebrity—if they survive.

Officer Chance Griffin fights to clean up the mean streets of Neo Terminus, and scrape together enough money for his infant son’s vital surgery. Driven by his family’s need, Chance signs on as an Enforcer for The Conglomerate.

As Chance rises to the top of the Enforcer ranks, The Glom’s mysterious Founders coerce him into competing in the greatest Zone trial ever conceived. Chance knows he’s the favorite to win. He believes his family is safe. He believes his son will get the medical care he urgently needs.

Chance is wrong.

Too late, he uncovers a plot by The Glom to rig the trial and enslave the citizens of Neo Terminus, ensuring obedience—forever.

Blinded by fame and fortune, and used as a pawn by the corporate machine, Chance resists. But he is about to discover that every deal with the devil has its price…

Blade Runner meets Judge Dread and The Running Man in this no-holds-barred dystopic thriller from Dragon Award Nominee Stu Jones.

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all hope of becoming human

All Hope of Becoming Human…A Brief Synopsis

The world is about to change in unimaginable ways…

Earthquakes rock the planet, revealing massive metallic objects and vast subterranean graveyards. One such location is in the Arizona desert. Scientists believe this incredible discovery may hold answers to the origins of man, but when the site is suddenly shut down due to seismic activity, one researcher knows she must return. Assistant archaeologist Rebecca Duccati sneaks into the compound alone, and will have to dig deep to find clues in these strange underground caves and tunnels. The work is dangerous and frightening, but she feels a connection to this bizarre phenomenon that even she isn’t fully aware of yet.

FBI Special Agent Demzey knows nothing about archaeology; his specialty— anomalous crimes, the fringe edge of the aberrant and the unknown. Demzey is investigating a recent rash of vicious and brutal murders, the clues surrounding the killings both disturbing and inexplicable. He and his assistant Connie Wegman catch a break when they discover remains of two monstrous creatures unknown to science, believed to be a race of aliens responsible for attacks on humans across the globe.

With the death toll ticking ever higher, scientists and intelligence agencies on every continent search for the source of these vicious creatures, until the combined efforts of Duccati and Demzey begin to unravel the mystery, though what they uncover could spell the end for the human race.

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