When The Smoke Cleared

Following the Attica prison uprising in September 1971, Celes Tisdale—a poet and then professor at Buffalo State College—began leading poetry workshops with those incarcerated at Attica. Tisdale’s workshop created a space of radical Black creativity and solidarity, in which poets who lived through the uprising were able to turn their experiences into poetry. The poems written by Tisdale’s students were published as Betcha Ain’t: Poems from Attica in 1974. When the Smoke Cleared contains the entirety of Betcha Ain’t, Tisdale’s own poems and journal entries from the three years he taught at Attica, a previously unpublished collection of poems by Attica poets, and a critical introduction by poet Mark Nowak. In addition to the poetry, Tisdale’s journal entries give readers a unique opportunity to experience what it was like to enter Attica as an educator and return week after week to discuss poetry. When the Smoke Cleared showcases these poets’ achievements, their desire for self-determination, and their historical role as storytellers of Black life in a prison monitored exclusively by white guards and administrators.

In this thrilling romantic suspense, smokejumper Alexia Allen returns home to face her past only to find a long-buried secret that threatens her life.

As a member of the North Cascades Smokejumpers, Alexia Allen always takes care of the equipment that keeps her safe. So when she nearly dies in a fire due to equipment failure, she knows something is up. Ordered to take time off while the investigation continues, Alexia makes a last-minute decision to recuperate at her mother's home and attend her high school reunion. Yet trouble seems to be following her, and within hours of arriving home she's involved with murder, arson--and a handsome detective. But the conflicts ahead are nothing compared to the ghosts of her past. As she strives to remember and forgive her family history, she must also decide if the secret she's been guarding for the last ten years must finally come to light. Chock-full of the suspense and romantic tension readers have come to expect from Lynette Eason, When the Smoke Clears is the explosive first book in the Deadly Reunions series.

This innovative book takes its audience on a journey of a young girl who experiences pain but yet perseveres through it. Through the continuous chaos and unanswered questions she decides to walk along side God trusting that he will deliver her from the fire, and clear up the smoke. Isaiah 43:2 states “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you: and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”

On 23 July 2018, in the seaside town of Mati in Greece, Zoe Holohan and her husband of four days were enjoying the beginning of their honeymoon. Then disaster struck. Unprecedented wildfires swept through the area, killing 102 people. Zoe and Brian fled their villa, chased by the flames, running for their lives. Ultimately Zoe was one of the few survivors from the area, having been miraculously rescued from the boot of a burning car just seconds from death. She suffered severe burns all over her face and body, and her beloved husband Brian lost his life before her eyes. In this remarkable story Zoe reveals the emotional journey of grappling with the loss of her true love and partner, as well as her own incredible fight for survival, learning how to walk, talk and use her limbs again, and a future facing PTSD and a heavily scarred body. As the Smoke Clears is a deeply personal journey through a life-altering year which, at its heart, teaches us to seek hope and happiness in even the most tragic of circumstances, and to find comfort in the enduring kindness of our fellow human beings.

Virginia is for lovers, but in the heartless and unforgiving streets of Virginias 7even Cities: where disillusioned hustlers pitch narcotics on project blocks without a conscience, disgruntled stick up kids terrorize the streets with their ambitions attached to ski masks and twin pistols, and dispirited young females strip themselves of their self-worth and sell their most sacred possessions all for a piece of the Devils Pie, love is an ideal often spoke about, but seldom seen. The 7even Cities, where the disenfranchised take to the streets to obtain the American Dream of lavish homes, luxury automobiles, and tailored garments, while the aristocracy relentlessly aim to squander their hopes with oppressive laws and a multi-million dollar penal system. This is Virginia through the clairvoyant eyes of Marquis Cream Cureton in his classic debut novel, When the Smoke Clears: An Urban Novel. Inspired by true events, Cream narrates the story of Secoya Smoke Harris, a promising college basketball player with ambitions as vast as the oceans are blue, who tip-toed the fine line between success and the streets. Originally from the gang infested streets of Compton, California, Smoke cant resist the lure of the underworld of the 7even Cities, and in one costly decision finds himself incarcerated in Virginias Department of Corrections and marked for death by his big homie. His basketball career ruined and future bleak, Smoke apprehensively makes the decision to dive head first into the streets and get money the only way he sees possibletrafficking marijuana. Beef inevitable, bodies dropping, and indictments looming, Smoke drowns himself in a cloud of haze from the finest bud California has to offer in order to escape the harsh reality that in the streets nothing last forever, and no one ever wins; there are only those that survive the game and live to tell about it behind penitentiary walls, and those that lose, taking their last breath in the streets. Which side will Smoke find himself? Only God knows, When the Smoke Clears.

A powerful true story of a young man that falls to his vices, but finds a way to rise again. And through his rise he finds a way to help others who have fallen."I sat in the detective's office for quite awhile. He could tell I was lying. My story was just too perfect." - Circumstance"Someone once told me that a man could see his life flash before his very eyes, but that person never told me that it could happen twice." - Lost in the Fire

Talia Brighton, the young widow of a Los Angeles firefighter is drowning in grief, plagued with nightmares and a terrifying sleepwalking habit as she struggles to overcome the horrific death of her husband. As Talia—who prides herself as “not a hugger, not a crier”—battles regret for the role she may have played in Russ’s death, she starts seeing things she can’t explain and begins to question if she is fit to raise their daughter Riley. To make matters worse, a puzzling phone call from a dying old man in Australia thrusts Talia and her deeply cynical sister, Naomi into confronting the mysterious tragedies of their past and their family’s generational traumas. Together they endeavor to solve the 1964 murder of their mother, and unravel a diabolical, decades-long plot to rob them of their family fortune and true identities. Talia must navigate the emotional destruction of both past and present if she is to triumph, and this means having the courage to cast aside the Teflon exterior that has shielded her for so many years.