The Black Bridge

During the summer of 1954 Ludlow Falls is celebrating its Sesquicentennial. The entire town has turned out for the birthday party. But if it were up to Shorty Long, Mary Gordon, Lake Jagger, and Lord Baltimore, the party wouldn’t go according to plan. On the surface, this small Midwestern town has enjoyed a rich and colorful one hundred and fifty years - even though Moon Erhart always said, “The only thing they did when they put up this town was to ruin a perfectly good cornfield.” But something was lurking in the Falls’ past. And an accidental discovery by a young boy is about to expose a century old secret. A secret that will change lives and split the old town right down the middle.

The Black Bridge is a story of two widows, one self-made, and her friend who becomes an unwilling investigator. Vivian Schwartzer has made great sacrifices so that her husband can run for governor of South Dakota. When he loses the nomination, they argue violently and she pushes him off an abandoned railroad bridge into the frozen Missouri river forty feet below. Her friend, Elinore Blair, is sent out to investigate Max's death. Elinore is a widow, and comforts Vivian while she tries to discover what happened to Max. As Elinore becomes a threat to Vivian, Vivian reacts to the threat. The situation is complicated by the proposed closing of the local college and the problems of Elinore's two children. The Black Bridge is about the strength and power of women and their terrible loneliness when they lose the men they love. It is about powerlessness in politics. It raises the question of justice and the price of that justice. The Black Bridge also portrays the instant connection that occasionally occurs between a man and a woman, a connection without rhyme or reason, without plan, but always with consequences.

What does it take to kill your fellow man? The horrors of World War One yield the answer for one troubled young man from Littlemore who finds himself at war on two fronts: at home and in the trenches where his enemies number comrades as well as Germans. His pursuit of inner peace leads to the ultimate sacrifice. A terrified teenage boy plunges from a bridge into a river before a baying mob of his peers. Jumping from the Black Bridge is a rite of passage for every Littlemore lad on the cusp of manhood. It is meant to represent a test of courage. But Max Lanham is a self-reliant only-child, unafraid to walk alone, a maverick who regards this as a futile gesture. He is torn: scared to jump but even more scared of the consequences of not doing so. The ordeal marks Max Lanham out as a misfit and a man constantly at war with his conscience. His isolation is replicated in his dysfunctional family presided over by a manipulative mother Intellectual comfort he draws from a former teacher, now a conscientious objector; fellowship he derives from a simple farm-lad who hero-worships him; while physical solace he finds in the arms of the village prostitute. Ultimately, he seeks peace of mind by forgoing his place at Oxford University in favour of volunteering to fight in the trenches with the Ox & Bucks. The horrors of war deepen his anguish. He sees operations botched; men routinely slaughtered. Even first-love cannot halt his slide toward madness. Then a final family row reveals a secret that sends him hurtling toward his destiny. He must brave an ordeal worse than the Black Bridge.

Continuation of stories of Jimmy, growing up in Northern Idaho and Western Canada. Book 3 of the series "A Time Before Facebook", first in the series and "Ghosts and Skeletons", the second book in the series. Come join the adventure.

In the final book of the whimsical Polar Bear Explorers’ Club series, Stella and the gang go on their most perilous adventure yet to find a cure for their cursed friend. Stella Starflake Pearl has been expelled from the Polar Bear Explorers’ Club. But that’s not going to stop her and the rest of the junior explorers from embarking on another exceptionally perilous expedition. It hasn’t been long since Shay was bitten by a witch wolf, but he’s in danger of turning into one himself. Only an ice queen’s long-lost spell book and Stella’s ice princess magic has the power to break the curse. The one thing standing in their way is a treacherous monolith no explorer has ever returned from…the Black Ice Bridge. In this final, daring installment of the Polar Bear Explorers’ Club series, Stella and the rest of the gang embark on their most fearsome quest yet, plagued by distrustful mermaids, screeching red devil squids, irksome trolls, and a centuries-old curse.

As an IT expert and hacker extraordinaire, Wren Nelson is no stranger to discovering all sorts of secrets online. He’s a warrior…when he’s behind his computer, that is. And awkward at best in social situations. His long hours with Blackbridge Security don’t really provide many opportunities to go out and meet people. So what is he supposed to do when a wrong delivery—a questionably large box of bedroom toys—ends up in his hands instead of its intended target? Online stalking has always been his go-to to accumulate information on people, but only seeing Whitney through digital displays isn’t enough. Approaching her doesn’t seem like the best plan either. What he doesn’t know is that this woman is possibly the only one in existence able to give him a run for his money.

An enthralling literary tour-de-force that pays tribute to Detroit's legendary neighborhood, a mecca for jazz, sports, and politics, Black Bottom Saints is a powerful blend of fact and imagination reminiscent of E.L. Doctorow's classic novel Ragtime and Marlon James' Man Booker Award-winning masterpiece, A Brief History of Seven Killings. From the Great Depression through the post-World War II years, Joseph “Ziggy” Johnson, has been the pulse of Detroit’s famous Black Bottom. A celebrated gossip columnist for the city’s African-American newspaper, the Michigan Chronicle, he is also the emcee of one of the hottest night clubs, where he’s rubbed elbows with the legendary black artists of the era, including Ethel Waters, Billy Eckstein, and Count Basie. Ziggy is also the founder and dean of the Ziggy Johnson School of Theater. But now the doyen of Black Bottom is ready to hang up his many dapper hats. As he lays dying in the black-owned-and-operated Kirkwood Hospital, Ziggy reflects on his life, the community that was the center of his world, and the remarkable people who helped shape it. Inspired by the Catholic Saints Day Books, Ziggy curates his own list of Black Bottom’s venerable "52 Saints." Among them are a vulnerable Dinah Washington, a defiant Joe Louis, and a raucous Bricktop. Randall balances the stories of these larger-than-life "Saints" with local heroes who became household names, enthralling men and women whose unstoppable ambition, love of style, and faith in community made this black Midwestern neighborhood the rival of New York City’s Harlem. Accompanying these “tributes” are thoughtfully paired cocktails—special drinks that capture the essence of each of Ziggy’s saints—libations as strong and satisfying as Alice Randall’s wholly original view of a place and time unlike any other.